WP 41 - The work-family balance on the union's agenda

h3. English summary High employment rates of both young parents and women increase the need for good childcare provi-sions. Employers can allocate time and money to their employees for this purpose, and trade unions are the appropriate actors to bargain over the relevant terms and conditions. But is the employees’ apparent need for childcare provisions reason enough for unions to make it an agenda item? What other factors can play a role in the unions’ agenda setting? A quantitative analysis of 278 distinct FNV bargaining agendas shows that, contrary to expectations, nei-ther the share of women nor the share of young parents, covered by the collective labour agreement, are related to trade union agenda setting with respect to childcare issues. Rather, central recommenda-tions and history dependence play important roles, along with the concept of communities of practice within FNV unions. h3. Nederlandse samenvatting Uit eerder onderzoek bleek dat er geen direct verband bestaat tussen vraag naar arbeid-en-zorgregelingen in CAO’s en het aanbod ervan – deze regelingen komen voornamelijk in CAO’s voor wanneer de werkgever daar de financiële ruimte voor heeft. Betekent dit dat nu ook dat vakbonden niet daar waar dat nodig is inspelen op de vraag naar arbeid-en-zorgregelingen? Met andere woorden, komt de vraag van de achterban naar dit soort regelingen terug op de onderhandelingsagenda voor de desbetreffende CAO? Onderzoek in 556 CAO’s (278 recente CAO’s en van elk de direct er aan voorafgaande CAO) laat zien dat, met uitzondering van het CAO-jaar 2001, alleen de mate waarin arbeid-en-zorgregelingen voorko-men in de vorige CAO bepalend zijn voor de onderhandelingsagenda. En in 2001, het jaar waarin de Wet arbeid & zorg tot stand kwam, is nog iets meer aan de hand. Hoe kunnen we het schijnbare gebrek aan relatie tussen vraag en aanbod van arbeid-en-zorgregelingen verklaren? Ligt hier gebrekkige communicatie tussen de sociale partners, of tussen vakbonden en hun achterban aan ten grondslag? Of moeten we de oorzaak in een andere hoek zoeken?

WP 28 - The work-family balance in collective agreements more female employees, more provisions?

h3. English summary No one will question that the share of women working in the Dutch labour market increased over the last decades. It is also apparent that there is a rapid development of childcare and other work-family balance provisions in collective labour agreements (CLAs): either these provisions are being included in collective agreements, or existing provisions are being expanded. The reasons for this are obvious: from the employee’s point of view, childcare provisions make it interesting for women to join or stay in the labour market; from the employer’s point of view, although it may be a costly issue, these provisions may help attract and retain female employees. The main question is the following: to what extent can the share of female employees covered by a CLA explain the presence of work-family provisions in CLAs? Furthermore, does the gender of the union negotiator have a significant additional affect? The DUCADAM dataset, a digital database on collective labour agreements in the Netherlands, is used to tackle these questions. The findings show that the hypothesised relationships do not exist. Appar-ently, the supply of work-family provisions in CLAs is not a response to female employees’ demands, nor is it affected by the negotiator’s gender. Rather, economical factors seem to underlie work-family developments in CLAs, as indicated by the positive correlation between work-family provisions and yearly wage increase levels. h3. Nederlandse samenvatting Het lijdt geen twijfel dat het percentage vrouwen op de Nederlandse arbeidsmarkt de afgelopen jaren is toegenomen. Het is ook bekend dat steeds meer kinderopvang– en andere werk-zorgregelingen in col-lectieve arbeidsovereenkomsten (CAO’s) worden opgenomen. De redenen hiervoor liggen voor de hand. Uit het oogpunt van de werknemer bezien maken kinderopvangregelingen het interessant voor de vrouwelijke werknemer om te gaan of blijven werken; uit het oogpunt van de werkgever bezien kunnen deze regelingen, hoewel kostbaar, helpen om vrouwelijke werknemers aan te trekken en te behouden. De kernvraag is: in hoeverre kan de aanwezigheid van werk-zorgregelingen in CAO’s verklaard worden door het aandeel vrouwen dat onder de CAO valt? Is verder het geslacht van de CAO-onderhandelaar van significant belang? Deze vragen worden beantwoord met behulp van de DUCADAM dataset, een digitale CAO-databank waarin Nederlandse CAO’s zijn opgeslagen. De resultaten van het onderzoek laten zien dat de veronderstelde verbanden niet bestaan. Blijkbaar zijn de werk-zorgontwikkelingen in CAO’s niet het antwoord op de vraag daarnaar door vrouwelijke werknemers, noch op het geslacht van de CAO-onderhandelaar. De verklaring lijkt gezocht te moeten worden in economische motieven, gezien de positieve samenhang tussen werk-zorgregelingen in de CAO en jaarlijkse structurele loonsverhoging.

Spatially varying density dependence drives a shifting mosaic of survival in a recovering apex predator (Canis lupus)

Understanding landscape patterns in mortality risk is crucial for promoting recovery of threatened and endangered species. Humans affect mortality risk in large carnivores such as wolves (Canis lupus), but spatiotemporally varying density dependence can significantly influence the landscape of survival. This potentially occurs when density varies spatially and risk is unevenly distributed. We quantified spatiotemporal sources of variation in survival rates of gray wolves (C. lupus) during a 21-year period of population recovery in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA. We focused on mapping risk across time using Cox Proportional Hazards (CPH) models with time-dependent covariates, thus exploring a shifting mosaic of survival. Extended CPH models and time-dependent covariates revealed influences of seasonality, density dependence and experience, as well as individual-level factors and landscape predictors of risk. We used results to predict the shifting landscape of risk at the beginning, middle, and end of the wolf recovery time series. Survival rates varied spatially and declined over time. Long-term change was density-dependent, with landscape predictors such as agricultural land cover and edge densities contributing negatively to survival. Survival also varied seasonally and depended on individual experience, sex, and resident versus transient status. The shifting landscape of survival suggested that increasing density contributed to greater potential for human conflict and wolf mortality risk. Long-term spatial variation in key population vital rates is largely unquantified in many threatened, endangered, and recovering species. Variation in risk may indicate potential for source-sink population dynamics, especially where individuals preemptively occupy suitable territories, which forces new individuals into riskier habitat types as density increases. We encourage managers to explore relationships between adult survival and localized changes in population density. Density-dependent risk maps can identify increasing conflict areas or potential habitat sinks which may persist due to high recruitment in adjacent habitats

Dual Magnetic Separator for TRIμ\muP

The TRI$\mu$P facility, under construction at KVI, requires the production and separation of short-lived and rare isotopes. Direct reactions, fragmentation and fusion-evaporation reactions in normal and inverse kinematics are foreseen to produce nuclides of interest with a variety of heavy-ion beams from the superconducting cyclotron AGOR. For this purpose, we have designed, constructed and commissioned a versatile magnetic separator that allows efficient injection into an ion catcher, i.e., gas-filled stopper/cooler or thermal ionizer, from which a low energy radioactive beam will be extracted. The separator performance was tested with the production and clean separation of $^{21}$Na ions, where a beam purity of 99.5% could be achieved. For fusion-evaporation products, some of the features of its operation as a gas-filled recoil separator were tested.Comment: accepted by Nucl.Instr. Meth., final versio

Remote and long-term self-monitoring of electroencephalographic and noninvasive measurable variables at home in patients with epilepsy (EEG@HOME) : protocol for an observational study

©Andrea Biondi, Petroula Laiou, Elisa Bruno, Pedro F Viana, Martijn Schreuder, William Hart, Ewan Nurse, Deb K Pal, Mark P Richardson. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (http://www.researchprotocols.org), 19.03.2021. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Research Protocols, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.researchprotocols.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.Background: Epileptic seizures are spontaneous events that severely affect the lives of patients due to their recurrence and unpredictability. The integration of new wearable and mobile technologies to collect electroencephalographic (EEG) and extracerebral signals in a portable system might be the solution to prospectively identify times of seizure occurrence or propensity. The performances of several seizure detection devices have been assessed by validated studies, and patient perspectives on wearables have been explored to better match their needs. Despite this, there is a major gap in the literature on long-term, real-life acceptability and performance of mobile technology essential to managing chronic disorders such as epilepsy. Objective: EEG@HOME is an observational, nonrandomized, noninterventional study that aims to develop a new feasible procedure that allows people with epilepsy to independently, continuously, and safely acquire noninvasive variables at home. The data collected will be analyzed to develop a general model to predict periods of increased seizure risk. Methods: A total of 12 adults with a diagnosis of pharmaco-resistant epilepsy and at least 20 seizures per year will be recruited at King's College Hospital, London. Participants will be asked to self-apply an easy and portable EEG recording system (ANT Neuro) to record scalp EEG at home twice daily. From each serial EEG recording, brain network ictogenicity (BNI), a new biomarker of the propensity of the brain to develop seizures, will be extracted. A noninvasive wrist-worn device (Fitbit Charge 3; Fitbit Inc) will be used to collect non-EEG biosignals (heart rate, sleep quality index, and steps), and a smartphone app (Seer app; Seer Medical) will be used to collect data related to seizure occurrence, medication taken, sleep quality, stress, and mood. All data will be collected continuously for 6 months. Standardized questionnaires (the Post-Study System Usability Questionnaire and System Usability Scale) will be completed to assess the acceptability and feasibility of the procedure. BNI, continuous wrist-worn sensor biosignals, and electronic survey data will be correlated with seizure occurrence as reported in the diary to investigate their potential values as biomarkers of seizure risk. Results: The EEG@HOME project received funding from Epilepsy Research UK in 2018 and was approved by the Bromley Research Ethics Committee in March 2020. The first participants were enrolled in October 2020, and we expect to publish the first results by the end of 2022. Conclusions: With the EEG@HOME study, we aim to take advantage of new advances in remote monitoring technology, including self-applied EEG, to investigate the feasibility of long-term disease self-monitoring. Further, we hope our study will bring new insights into noninvasively collected personalized risk factors of seizure occurrence and seizure propensity that may help to mitigate one of the most difficult aspects of refractory epilepsy: the unpredictability of seizure occurrenceThis study is funded by Epilepsy Research UK (award 1803). MPR, PFV, and EN are supported by the Epilepsy Foundation of America’s Epilepsy Innovation Institute My Seizure Gauge grant.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Systematic investigation of the elastic proton-deuteron differential cross section at intermediate energies

To investigate the importance of three-nucleon forces (3NF) systematically over a broad range of intermediate energies, the differential cross sections of elastic proton-deuteron scattering have been measured at proton bombarding energies of 108, 120, 135, 150, 170 and 190 MeV at center-of-mass angles between $30^\circ$ and $170^\circ$. Comparisons with Faddeev calculations show unambiguously the shortcomings of calculations employing only two-body forces and the necessity of including 3NF. They also show the limitations of the latest few-nucleon calculations at backward angles, especially at higher beam energies. Some of these discrepancies could be partially due to relativistic effects. Data at lowest energy are also compared with a recent calculation based on \chipt

The added value of immediate breast reconstruction to health-related quality of life of breast cancer patients

Background: Postmastectomy immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) may improve the quality of life (QoL) of breast cancer patients. Guidelines recommend to discuss the option IBR with all patients undergoing mastectomy. However, substantial hospital variation in IBR-rates was previously observed in the Netherlands, influenced by patient, tumour and hospital factors and clinicians’ believes. Information provision about IBR may have a positive effect on receiving IBR and therefore QoL. This study investigated patient-reported QoL of patients treated with mastectomy with and without IBR. Methods: An online survey, encompassing the validated BREAST-Q questionnaire, was distributed to a representative sample of 1218 breast cancer patients treated with mastectomy. BREAST-Q scores were compared between patients who had undergone mastectomy either with or without IBR. Results: A total of 445 patients were included for analyses: 281 patients with and 164 without IBR. Patients who had received IBR showed significantly higher BREAST-Q scores on “psychosocial well-being” (75 versus 67, p < 0.001), “sexual well-being” (62 versus 52, p < 0.001) and “physical well-being” (77 versus 74, p = 0.021) compared to patients without IBR. No statistically significant difference was found for “satisfaction with breasts” (64 versus 62, p = 0.21). Similar results were found after multivariate regression analyses, revealing IBR to be an independent factor for a better patient-reported QoL. Conclusions: Patients diagnosed with breast cancer with IBR following mastectomy report a better QoL on important psychosocial, sexual and physical well-being domains. This further supports the recommendation to discuss the option of IBR with all patients with an indication for mastectomy and to enable shared decision-making

A participatory physical and psychosocial intervention for balancing the demands and resources among industrial workers (PIPPI): study protocol of a cluster-randomized controlled trial

Background: Need for recovery and work ability are strongly associated with high employee turnover, well-being and sickness absence. However, scientific knowledge on effective interventions to improve work ability and decrease need for recovery is scarce. Thus, the present study aims to describe the background, design and protocol of a cluster randomized controlled trial evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention to reduce need for recovery and improve work ability among industrial workers. Methods/Design: A two-year cluster randomized controlled design will be utilized, in which controls will also receive the intervention in year two. More than 400 workers from three companies in Denmark will be aimed to be cluster randomized into intervention and control groups with at least 200 workers (at least 9 work teams) in each group. An organizational resources audit and subsequent action planning workshop will be carried out to map the existing resources and act upon initiatives not functioning as intended. Workshops will be conducted to train leaders and health and safety representatives in supporting and facilitating the intervention activities. Group and individual level participatory visual mapping sessions will be carried out allowing team members to discuss current physical and psychosocial work demands and resources, and develop action plans to minimize strain and if possible, optimize the resources. At all levels, the intervention will be integrated into the existing organization of work schedules. An extensive process and effect evaluation on need for recovery and work ability will be carried out via questionnaires, observations, interviews and organizational data assessed at several time points throughout the intervention period. Discussion: This study primarily aims to develop, implement and evaluate an intervention based on the abovementioned features which may improve the work environment, available resources and health of industrial workers, and hence their need for recovery and work ability