Feminisme en wetenschap

Rede Wageninge

Soft controls and employee well-being:An analysis of SMEs in Europe

How can small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) take care of their employees’ wellbeing so that they can retain a productive and satisfied workforce? The present study examines the relation between soft controls and the well-being of employees in small and medium-sized enterprises. Soft controls are defined in terms of social safety, autonomy, support and empowerment. We use the job demands resources (JD-R) model and the self determination theory (SDT) to develop hypotheses on how soft controls are related to well-being. The research was based on data collected from the European Working Conditions Survey 2015. The sample consisted of 9255 salaried employees, working in SMEs across 35 European countries. Structural equation modelling showed that soft controls affect employee well-being. In European SMEs especially social safety is an important form of soft control. Social safety appears to promote employees’ jobsatisfaction and engagement, while preventing burnout and workaholism

Soft controls and employee well-being:An analysis of SMEs in Europe

How can small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) take care of their employees’ wellbeing so that they can retain a productive and satisfied workforce? The present study examines the relation between soft controls and the well-being of employees in small and medium-sized enterprises. Soft controls are defined in terms of social safety, autonomy, support and empowerment. We use the job demands resources (JD-R) model and the self determination theory (SDT) to develop hypotheses on how soft controls are related to well-being. The research was based on data collected from the European Working Conditions Survey 2015. The sample consisted of 9255 salaried employees, working in SMEs across 35 European countries. Structural equation modelling showed that soft controls affect employee well-being. In European SMEs especially social safety is an important form of soft control. Social safety appears to promote employees’ jobsatisfaction and engagement, while preventing burnout and workaholism

Thalamic Lesions in Vascular Dementia: Low Sensitivity of Fluid-Attenuated Inversion Recovery (FLAIR) Imaging

Background and Purpose—The criteria of the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)– Association Internationale pour la Recherche et l’Enseignement en Neurosciences (AIREN) include thalamic lesions for the diagnosis of vascular dementia (VaD). Although studies concerning VaD and brain aging advocate the use of fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) or T2-weighted images (T2-WI) to detect ischemic lesions, none compared the sensitivity of these sequences to depict thalamic lesions. Methods—We performed a blinded review of T2-WI and FLAIR images in 73 patients fulfilling the radiological part of the NINDS-AIREN criteria (mean age, 71 years; range, 49 to 83 years). This sample was drawn from a large multicenter trial on VaD and was expected to have a high prevalence of thalamic lesions. In a side-by-side review, including T1-weighted images as well, lesions were classified according to presumed underlying pathology. Results—The total number of thalamic lesions was 214. Two hundred eight (97%) were detected on T2-WI, but only 117 (55%) were detected on FLAIR ( 2 5.1; P 0.05). Although the mean size of lesions detected on T2-WI and not on FLAIR (4.4 mm) was significantly lower than the mean size of lesions detected on both sequences (6.7 mm) (P 0.001), 5 of the 29 lesions 10 mm on T2-WI were not visible on FLAIR. FLAIR detected only 81 (51%) of the 158 probable ischemic lesions and 30 (60%) of the 50 probable microbleeds. Conclusions—FLAIR should not be used as the only T2-weighted sequence to detect thalamic lesions in patients suspected of having VaD

Vrouwen en ontwikkelingen : de spanning tussen integratie en autonomie

Rede Wageningen, 23 maart 198

Experimental results and model calculations of a hybrid adsorption-compression heat pump based on a roots compressor and silica gel-water sorption

Part of: Thermally driven heat pumps for heating and cooling. – Ed.: Annett Kühn – Berlin: Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin, 2013 ISBN 978-3-7983-2686-6 (print) ISBN 978-3-7983-2596-8 (online) urn:nbn:de:kobv:83-opus4-39458 [http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:83-opus4-39458]Thermally driven sorption systems can provide significant energy savings, especially in industrial applications. The driving temperature for operation of such systems limits the operating window and can be a barrier for market-introduction. By adding a compressor, the sorption cycle can be run using lower waste heat temperatures. ECN has recently started the development of such a hybrid heat pump. The final goal is to develop a hybrid heat pump for upgrading lower (<100⁰C) temperature industrial waste heat to above pinch temperatures. The paper presents the first measurements and model calculations of a hybrid heat pump system using a water-silica gel system combined with a Roots type compressor. From the measurements can be seen that the effect of the compressor is dependent on where in the cycle it is placed. When placed between the evaporator and the sorption reactor, it has a considerable larger effect compared to the compressor placed between the sorption reactor and the condenser. The latter hardly improves the performance compared to purely heat-driven operation. This shows the importance of studying the interaction between all components of the system. The model, which shows reasonable correlation with the measurements, could proof to be a valuable tool to determine the optimal hybrid heat pump configuration

Membrane protein insertion and assembly by the bacterial holo-translocon SecYEG-SecDF-YajC-YidC

Protein secretion and membrane insertion occur through the ubiquitous Sec machinery. In this system, insertion involves the targeting of translating ribosomes via the signal recognition particle and its cognate receptor to the SecY (bacteria and archaea)/Sec61 (eukaryotes) translocon. A common mechanism then guides nascent transmembrane helices (TMHs) through the Sec complex, mediated by associated membrane insertion factors. In bacteria, the membrane protein ‘insertase’ YidC ushers TMHs through a lateral gate of SecY to the bilayer. YidC is also thought to incorporate proteins into the membrane independently of SecYEG. Here, we show the bacterial holo-translocon (HTL) — a supercomplex of SecYEG–SecDF–YajC–YidC — is a bona fide resident of the Escherichia coli inner membrane. Moreover, when compared with SecYEG and YidC alone, the HTL is more effective at the insertion and assembly of a wide range of membrane protein substrates, including those hitherto thought to require only YidC