Barriers for hiring personnel

Studie naar de vraag hoeveel eigenaren van kleine bedrijven minder personeel in dienst hebben dan ze werkelijk nodig hebben, en de verklarende factoren voor dit verschijnsel. Uit gegevens van meer dan 3000 Nederlandse kleinbedrijven blijkt dat ongeveer 18% minder personeel in dienst heeft dan noodzakelijk.

Aspects of leucocyte and fat filtration during cardiac surgery

Na een hartoperatie treden vaak door het hele lichaam ontstekingsreacties op. Door het bloed tijdens de operatie te filteren, lopen patiënten minder risico op beschadigingen in longen, hart en hersenen, ontdekte Hans de Vries. Tijdens een hartoperatie neemt de hart-longmachine een aantal lichaamsfuncties over. Deze machine vormt door zijn grote contactoppervlak met het bloed van de patiënt een enorme prikkel voor stollings- en ontstekingsreacties. De ontstekingen kunnen het hele lichaam treffen en zorgen daar voor weefselbeschadigingen. Een sleutelrol in dit schadelijke proces spelen witte bloedlichaampjes (leukocyten) en vetdeeltjes die tijdens de operatie in de bloedbaan komen. De Vries experimenteerde met twee filters die respectievelijk leukocyten en vetdeeltjes uit het bloed verwijderen. Hij ontdekte dat er minder ontstekingsreacties en weefselbeschadigingen optreden wanneer de leukocyten worden gefilterd uit het restbloed van de hart-longmachine. De patiënten blijken dan na de operatie een betere longfunctie te hebben. Het filter vangt overigens niet alle leukocyten weg; het verwijdert vooral de geactiveerde, ziekmakende witte bloedlichaampjes. Ook een vetdeeltjesfilter zorgt voor minder ontstekingsreacties. Voor de patiënten had dit echter geen merkbare gevolgen. Vermoedelijk laat de effectiviteit van dit filter nog te wensen over.

Quantum key distribution beyond the repeaterless secret key capacity

Quantum communications promise to provide information theoretic security in the exchange of information. However, unlike their classical counterpart, they utilise dim optical pulses whose amplification is prohibited. Consequently, their transmission rate and range is confined below a theoretical limit known as repeaterless secret key capacity. Overcoming this limit with today’s technology was believed to be impossible until the recent proposal of Twin-field (TF) quantum key distribution (QKD), a scheme that uses phase-coherent optical signals and an auxiliary measuring station to distribute quantum information. Here, TF-QKD and its main variations are initially explored and compared in simulations, to assess their performance in different attributes. Such schemes are also practically implemented for the first time in two experiments. The first is a proof-of-principle implementation over significant channel losses, in excess of 90 dB. In the second, the setup is developed further and the protocol is implemented over real fibre channels exceeding 600 km in length, representing the first fibre-based secure quantum communication beyond the barriers of 600 km and 100 dB. In both cases, in the high loss/distance regime, the resulting secure key rates exceed the repeaterless secret key capacity, a result never achieved before.EPSRC, Toshiba Research Europ

Organizational Theories Within the Context of Human Resource Marketing

Human Resource Marketing with all its sub-processes, sub-fields and research areas is subject to constant development and change. External circumstances like unemployment, lack of qualified and trained employees etc. force organizations to constantly rethink their approach to human Resource Marketing processes like e.g. recruiting. Organizational theories may hereby support the understanding of these complex and sometimes abstract procedures as they give guidance how to cope with this issue. The paper displays recent approaches to connect Human Resource Marketing and Organizational Theories in a way that can be used in different contexts. Hereby organizational Theories are one possibility to explain the need of change for Human Resource Marketing and its processes. The discussions about the different models of change and the variety of views of management and organization fortify - at the end of the paper - the difficult task to decide for only one model. It must be clear that Human Resource Marketing should be treated as a multidimensional concept. Nevertheless, Organizational Theories can be recommended as one approach to measure a company´s organizational performance. Human Resource Marketing´s integration into Organization Theory is not an easy to fulfill task and leaves way to further considerations in the area of Human Resource Management and its Marketing approach

Effectieve vuurbestrijding in lelies : minder middel - minder kosten

Vuur (Botrytis spp.) kan tijdens de teelt van lelie en tulp problemen veroorzaken. Dit resulteert vooral in een verlies in bolopbrengst en de kwaliteit van de bol. In het teeltseizoen zetten telers vaak elke week vuurbestrijdingsmiddelen in.Vergeleken met de bestrijding van andere ziekten en plagen worden er zelfs relatief veel middelen ingeze

A Single Question of Parent-Reported Physical Activity Levels Estimates Objectively Measured Physical Fitness and Body Composition in Preschool Children: The PREFIT Project

Physical inactivity is recognized as a determinant of low physical fitness and body composition in preschool children, which in turn, are important markers of health through the lifespan. Objective methods to assess physical activity, physical fitness and body composition in preschool children are preferable; however, they have some practical limitations in the school context. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test whether a single question regarding physical activity level of preschool children, reported by their parents, could be used as an alternative screening tool of physical fitness and body composition. The information was obtained from 10 different cities throughout Spain, gathering a total of 3179 healthy preschool children (52.8% boys and 47.2% girls) aged 3-5 years. Physical activity levels of preschool children were reported by parents using a single question with five response options (very low, low, average, high, or very high). Physical fitness and body composition were assessed with the PREFIT fitness battery. The results showed that parents' perception of their children's physical activity was positively associated with all objectively measured physical fitness components (beta(range) = -0.094 to 0.113; all p < 0.020); and negatively with body composition indicators as measured (beta(range) = -0.113 to -0.058; all p < 0.001). The results showed significant differences in all physical fitness and body composition z-scores across the parent-reported physical activity levels (all p < 0.017 and all p < 0.001, respectively), as well as, for the fitness index (p < 0.001). Our study suggests that in school settings with insufficient resources to objectively assess fitness and body composition, parents-reported physical activity level by means of a single question might provide useful information about these important health markers in preschool children