Betriebswirtschaftliche Ziele und Effekte einer familienbewussten Personalpolitik

Die Analyse betriebswirtschaftlicher Ziele und Effekte einer familienbewussten Personalpolitik stellt vor dem Hintergrund eines nicht zuletzt demografiebedingten Bedeutungszuwachses der betrieblichen Familienpolitik ein zentrales Forschungsdesiderat dar. Vor der konzeptionellen Folie eines Input-Output Modells wird in vorliegendem Arbeitspapier zunächst gezeigt, dass mit dem berufundfamilie-Index ein dienliches Instrument zur Quantifizierung betrieblichen Familienbewusstseins vorliegt, es jedoch bisher an einer Systematik fehlt, welche die Output-Seite konsistent erfasst. Diese Forschungslücke wird im ersten Teil vorliegender Arbeit geschlossen, indem theoretische Ansätze und metaanalytische Befunde hinsichtlich der Ziele familienbewusster Personalpolitik in einem Zielsystem konzentriert werden. In dessen Zentrum stehen Mitarbeiterbindung und Mitarbeitergewinnung als überlagernde Ziele, welche hinsichtlich aktueller Beschäftigter in Wirkungsbeziehungen zu deren Arbeitszufriedenheit und Motivation, zu Fehlzeiten, Humankapitalakkumulation, Kundenbindung, Kostensenkung und Mitarbeiterproduktivität stehen; hinsichtlich potenzieller Mitarbeiter lassen sich die Wirkungsbeziehungen in Bezug auf den Bewerberpool, die Bewerberqualität sowie die Senkung von Opportunitätskosten unbesetzter Stellen beschreiben. Aufbauend auf dieser Systematik wird im zweiten Teil der Arbeit ein empirisches Forschungsdesign entwickelt und in einer Betriebsstättenbefragung in Deutschland (n=1.001) angewandt. Quantitative Datenanalysen zeigen einerseits, dass familienbewusste Personalpolitik bei allen beschriebenen Zielbereichen einen signifikant positiven Beitrag leistet. Andererseits führen Untersuchungen der Wirkungsintensität familienbewusster Personalpolitik zu dem Ergebnis, dass Unternehmen mit einem hohen betrieblichen Familienbewusstsein die beschriebenen Ziele zum Teil deutlich besser erreichen als die Vergleichsgruppe nicht familienbewusster Unternehmen.Due to the increasing relevance of demographic developments for human resources management, the analysis of goals and effects of corporate family-consciousness has become a central field of research. The concept of an input/output analysis presented in the paper shows that the berufundfamilie-index offers a quantification of corporate family-consciousness but also reveals that the output has not yet been conceptualized consistently. The first part of this paper closes this gap of research by issuing a system of goals of corporate family-consciousness. Central goals are employee loyalty and recruiting. With regard to current employees these goals relate to job satisfaction and motivation, absenteeism, accumulation of human capital, customer loyalty, cost reduction and efficiency of labour. With regard to potential employees they relate to the pool and quality of applicants as well as to the reduction of opportunity costs caused by vacancies. The second part of the paper describes the survey of 1001 companies in Germany based on the construction mentioned before. It shows that corporate family-consciousness significantly contributes to achieving the goals. Furthermore it proves that the more family-conscious a company is, the better the goals mentioned can be achieved. The empirical findings indicate that family friendly human resources management constitutes an important parameter in managerial decision making

Hacking Digital Ethics

This book is not a critique of digital ethics but rather a hack. It follows the method of hacking by developing an exploit kit on the basis of state-of-the-art social theory, which it uses to breach the insecure legacy system upon which the discourse of digital ethics is running. This legacy system is made up of four interdependent components: the philosophical mythology of humanism, social science critique, media scandalization, and the activities of many civil society organisations lobbying for various forms of regulation. The hack exposes the bugs, the sloppy programming, and the false promises of current digital ethics, and, because it is an ethical hack, redesigns digital ethics so that it can address the problems of the global network society. The main idea of the book is that the social world of meaning is based on information, which, because of its relational nature, must be understood more as a common good than as private property. A digital ethics that relies upon humanistic individualism cannot address the issues arising from the global network society based upon information. This demands a complete revision of the philosophical foundations of current digital ethics by means of a redesign of ethics as a theory of governance by desig

Measured solid state and subcooled liquid vapour pressures of nitroaromatics using Knudsen effusion mass spectrometry

Knudsen effusion mass spectrometry (KEMS) was used to measure the solid state saturation vapour pressure (PsatS) of a range of atmospherically relevant nitroaromatic compounds over the temperature range from 298 to 328 K. The selection of species analysed contained a range of geometric isomers and differing functionalities, allowing for the impacts of these factors on saturation vapour pressure (Psat) to be probed. Three subsets of nitroaromatics were investigated: nitrophenols, nitrobenzaldehydes and nitrobenzoic acids. The PsatS values were converted to subcooled liquid saturation vapour pressure (PsatL) values using experimental enthalpy of fusion and melting point values measured using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The PsatL values were compared to those estimated by predictive techniques and, with a few exceptions, were found to be up to 7 orders of magnitude lower. The large differences between the estimated PsatL and the experimental values can be attributed to the predictive techniques not containing parameters to adequately account for functional group positioning around an aromatic ring, or the interactions between said groups. When comparing the experimental PsatS of the measured compounds, the ability to hydrogen bond (H bond) and the strength of the H bond formed appear to have the strongest influence on the magnitude of the Psat, with steric effects and molecular weight also being major factors. Comparisons were made between the KEMS system and data from diffusion-controlled evaporation rates of single particles in an electrodynamic balance (EDB). The KEMS and the EDB showed good agreement with each other for the compounds investigated

Spontaneous DC Current Generation in a Resistively Shunted Semiconductor Superlattice Driven by a TeraHertz Field

We study a resistively shunted semiconductor superlattice subject to a high-frequency electric field. Using a balance equation approach that incorporates the influence of the electric circuit, we determine numerically a range of amplitude and frequency of the ac field for which a dc bias and current are generated spontaneously and show that this region is likely accessible to current experiments. Our simulations reveal that the Bloch frequency corresponding to the spontaneous dc bias is approximately an integer multiple of the ac field frequency.Comment: 8 pages, Revtex, 3 Postscript figure

The turbulent gas structure in the centers of NGC253 and the Milky Way

We compare molecular gas properties in the starbursting center of NGC253 and the Milky Way Galactic Center (GC) on scales of ~1-100 pc using dendograms and resolution-, area- and noise-matched datasets in CO (1-0) and CO (3-2). We find that the size-line width relations in NGC253 and the GC have similar slope, but NGC253 has larger line widths by factors of ~2-3. The $\sigma^2/R$ dependency on column density shows that, in the GC, on scales of 10-100 pc the kinematics of gas over $N>3\times10^{21}$ cm$^{-2}$ are compatible with gravitationally bound structures. In NGC253 this is only the case for column densities $N>3\times10^{22}$ cm$^{-2}$. The increased line widths in NGC253 originate in the lower column density gas. This high-velocity dispersion, not gravitationally self-bound gas is likely in transient structures created by the combination of high average densities and feedback in the starburst. The high densities turns the gas molecular throughout the volume of the starburst, and the injection of energy and momentum by feedback significantly increases the velocity dispersion at a given spatial scale over what is observed in the GC.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables; accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Informing investment to reduce inequalities: a modelling approach

Background: Reducing health inequalities is an important policy objective but there is limited quantitative information about the impact of specific interventions. Objectives: To provide estimates of the impact of a range of interventions on health and health inequalities. Materials and methods: Literature reviews were conducted to identify the best evidence linking interventions to mortality and hospital admissions. We examined interventions across the determinants of health: a ‘living wage’; changes to benefits, taxation and employment; active travel; tobacco taxation; smoking cessation, alcohol brief interventions, and weight management services. A model was developed to estimate mortality and years of life lost (YLL) in intervention and comparison populations over a 20-year time period following interventions delivered only in the first year. We estimated changes in inequalities using the relative index of inequality (RII). Results: Introduction of a ‘living wage’ generated the largest beneficial health impact, with modest reductions in health inequalities. Benefits increases had modest positive impacts on health and health inequalities. Income tax increases had negative impacts on population health but reduced inequalities, while council tax increases worsened both health and health inequalities. Active travel increases had minimally positive effects on population health but widened health inequalities. Increases in employment reduced inequalities only when targeted to the most deprived groups. Tobacco taxation had modestly positive impacts on health but little impact on health inequalities. Alcohol brief interventions had modestly positive impacts on health and health inequalities only when strongly socially targeted, while smoking cessation and weight-reduction programmes had minimal impacts on health and health inequalities even when socially targeted. Conclusions: Interventions have markedly different effects on mortality, hospitalisations and inequalities. The most effective (and likely cost-effective) interventions for reducing inequalities were regulatory and tax options. Interventions focused on individual agency were much less likely to impact on inequalities, even when targeted at the most deprived communities

TIA1 Mutations in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Frontotemporal Dementia Promote Phase Separation and Alter Stress Granule Dynamics.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are age-related neurodegenerative disorders with shared genetic etiologies and overlapping clinical and pathological features. Here we studied a novel ALS/FTD family and identified the P362L mutation in the low-complexity domain (LCD) of T cell-restricted intracellular antigen-1 (TIA1). Subsequent genetic association analyses showed an increased burden of TIA1 LCD mutations in ALS patients compared to controls (p = 8.7 × 1

The factor structure of the Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale in thirteen distinct populations

There is considerable evidence that self-criticism plays a major role in the vulnerability to and recovery from psychopathology. Methods to measure this process, and its change over time, are therefore important for research in psychopathology and well-being. This study examined the factor structure of a widely used measure, the Forms of Self-Criticising/Attacking & Self-Reassuring Scale in thirteen nonclinical samples (N = 7510) from twelve different countries: Australia (N = 319), Canada (N = 383), Switzerland (N = 230), Israel (N = 476), Italy (N = 389), Japan (N = 264), the Netherlands (N = 360), Portugal (N = 764), Slovakia (N = 1326), Taiwan (N = 417), the United Kingdom 1 (N = 1570), the United Kingdom 2 (N = 883), and USA (N = 331). This study used more advanced analyses than prior reports: a bifactor item-response theory model, a two-tier item-response theory model, and a non-parametric item-response theory (Mokken) scale analysis. Although the original three-factor solution for the FSCRS (distinguishing between Inadequate-Self, Hated-Self, and Reassured-Self) had an acceptable fit, two-tier models, with two general factors (Self-criticism and Self-reassurance) demonstrated the best fit across all samples. This study provides preliminary evidence suggesting that this two-factor structure can be used in a range of nonclinical contexts across countries and cultures. Inadequate-Self and Hated-Self might not by distinct factors in nonclinical samples. Future work may benefit from distinguishing between self-correction versus shame-based self-criticism.Peer reviewe

Search for the Standard Model Higgs Boson with the OPAL Detector at LEP

This paper summarises the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV performed by the OPAL Collaboration at LEP. The consistency of the data with the background hypothesis and various Higgs boson mass hypotheses is examined. No indication of a signal is found in the data and a lower bound of 112.7GeV/C^2 is obtained on the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson at the 95% CL.Comment: 51 pages, 21 figure