Human Resource Flexibility as a Mediating Variable Between High Performance Work Systems and Performance

Much of the human resource management literature has demonstrated the impact of high performance work systems (HPWS) on organizational performance. A new generation of studies is emerging in this literature that recommends the inclusion of mediating variables between HPWS and organizational performance. The increasing rate of dynamism in competitive environments suggests that measures of employee adaptability should be included as a mechanism that may explain the relevance of HPWS to firm competitiveness. On a sample of 226 Spanish firms, the study’s results confirm that HPWS influences performance through its impact on the firm’s human resource (HR) flexibility

Characterization and amino-terminal sequence of apolipoprotein AI from plasma high density lipoproteins in the preruminant calf, BOS spp

International audienc

Plasma lipid transport in the preruminant calf, Bos spp : Primary structure of bovine apolipoprotein A-I

International audienc

The essential roles of cytidine diphosphate-diacylglycerol synthase in bloodstream form Trypanosoma brucei

Funded by Wellcome Trust: Senior Research Fellowship, Grant Number: 067441 and Wellcome Trust, Grant Numbers: 082596, 093228.Lipid metabolism in Trypanosoma brucei, the causative agent of African sleeping sickness, differs from its human host in several fundamental ways. This has lead to the validation of a plethora of novel drug targets, giving hope of novel chemical intervention against this neglected disease. Cytidine diphosphate diacylglycerol (CDP-DAG) is a central lipid intermediate for several pathways in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes, being produced by CDP-DAG synthase (CDS). However, nothing is known about the single T. brucei CDS gene (Tb927.7.220/ EC 2.7.7.41) or its activity. In this study we show TbCDS is functional by complementation of a non-viable yeast CDS null strain and that it is essential in the bloodstream form of the parasite via a conditional knockout. The TbCDS conditional knockout showed morphological changes including a cell-cycle arrest due in part to kinetoplast segregation defects.Biochemical phenotyping of TbCDS conditional knockout showed drastically altered lipid metabolism where reducing levels of phosphatidylinositol detrimentally impacted on glycoylphosphatidylinositol biosynthesis. These studies also suggest that phosphatidylglycerol synthesised via the phosphatidylglycerol-phosphate synthase is not synthesised from CDP-DAG, as was previously thought. TbCDS was shown to localised the ER and Golgi, probably to provide CDP-DAG for the phosphatidylinositol synthases.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Buoyancy-assisted mixed convective flow over backward-facing step in a vertical duct using nanofluids

Laminar mixed convective buoyancy assisting flow through a two-dimensional vertical duct with a backward-facing step using nanofluids as a medium is numerically simulated using finite volume technique. Different types of nanoparticles such as Au, Ag, Al2O3, Cu, CuO, diamond, SiO2 and TiO2 with 5 % volume fraction are used. The wall downstream of the step was maintained at a uniform wall temperature, while the straight wall that forms the other side of the duct was maintained at constant temperature equivalent to the inlet fluid temperature. The walls upstream of the step and the backward-facing step were considered as adiabatic surfaces. The duct has a step height of 4.9 mm and an expansion ratio of 1.942, while the total length in the downstream of the step is 0.5 m. The downstream wall was fixed at uniform wall temperature 0 = ?T= 30 °C, which was higher than the inlet flow temperature. The Reynolds number in the range of 75 = Re = 225 was considered. It is found that a recirculation region was developed straight behind the backward-facing step which appeared between the edge of the step and few millimeters before the corner which connect the step and the downstream wall. In the few millimeters gap between the recirculation region and the downstream wall, a U-turn flow was developed opposite to the recirculation flow which mixed with the unrecirculated flow and traveled along the channel. Two maximum and one minimum peaks in Nusselt number were developed along the heated downstream wall. It is inferred that Au nanofluid has the highest maximum peaks while diamond nanofluid has the highest minimum peak. Nanofluids with a higher Prandtl number have a higher peak of Nusselt numbers after the separation and the recirculation flow disappeared