Enhancing recognition as HR-Business Partner by implementing Workforce-Differentiation?

Workforce Differentiations (WD) as applied strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) has many potential benefits as well as risks; the preliminary WD concept needs more theoretical and practical research, though. Successful implementation depends largely on the scope of segmentation already applied in organizations, on the company context and culture and needs to be embedded in a professional change management approach

Optimization and performance of an optical cardio-magnetometer

Cardiomagnetometry is a growing field of noninvasive medical diagnostics that has triggered a need for affordable high-sensitivity magnetometers. Optical pumping magnetometers are promising candidates satisfying that need since it was demonstrated that they can map the heart magnetic field. For the optimization of such devices theoretical limits on the performance as well as an experimental approach is presented. The promising result is a intrinsic magnetometric sensitivity of 63 fT / Hz^1/2 a measurement bandwidth of 140 Hz and a spatial resolution of 28 mm

The Nature of SN 1961V

The nature of SN 1961V has been uncertain. Its peculiar optical light curve and slow expansion velocity are similar to those of super-outbursts of luminous blue variables (LBVs), but its nonthermal radio spectral index and declining radio luminosity are consistent with decades-old supernovae (SNe). We have obtained Hubble Space Telescope STIS images and spectra of the stars in the vicinity of SN 1961V, and find Object 7 identified by Filippenko et al. to be the closest to the optical and radio positions of SN 1961V. Object 7 is the only point source detected in our STIS spectra and only its H-alpha emission is detected; it cannot be the SN or its remnant because of the absence of forbidden lines. While the H-alpha line profile of Object 7 is remarkably similar to that of eta Car, the blue color (similar to an A2Ib supergiant) and lack of appreciable variability are unlike known post-outburst LBVs. We have also obtained Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations of SN 1961V at 18 cm. The non-detection of SN 1961V places a lower limit on the size of the radio-emitting region, 7.6 mas or 0.34 pc, which implies an average expansion velocity in excess of 4,400 km/s, much higher than the optical expansion velocity measured in 1961. We conclude the following: (1) A SN occurred in the vicinity of SN 1961V a few decades ago. (2) If the SN 1961V light maximum originates from a giant eruption of a massive star, Object 7 is the most probable candidate for the survivor, but its blue color and lack of significant variability are different from a post-outburst eta Car. (3) The radio SN and Object 7 could be physically associated with each other through a binary system. (4) Object 7 needs to be monitored to determine its nature and relationship to SN 1961V.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, accepted by the Astronomical Journal for the 2004 May issu

Initial Field Deployment Results of Green PCB Removal from Sediment Systems (GPRSS)

Purpose of Study: (a) Develop/optimize technology capable of removing PCBs from contaminated sediments; (b) Develop design for functional GPRSS unit; (c) Produce and prove functionality of prototype units in a laboratory settings; (d) Produce fully-functional GPRSS units for testing at a demonstration site in Altavista, VA; and (e) Evaluate efficacy of GPRSS technology for the remediation of PCB-contaminated sediments

Polarimetric Evidence of Non-Spherical Winds

Polarization observations yield otherwise unobtainable information about the geometrical structure of unresolved objects. In this talk we review the evidences for non-spherically symmetric structures around Luminous Hot Stars from polarimetry and what we can learn with this technique. Polarimetry has added a new dimension to the study of the envelopes of Luminous Blue Variables, Wolf-Rayet stars and B[e] stars, all of which are discussed in some detail.Comment: 8 pages, 2 encapsulated Postscript figures, uses lamuphys.sty. Invited review to appear in IAU Coll. 169, Variable and Non-Spherical Stellar Winds in Luminous Hot Stars, eds. B. Wolf, A.Fullerton and O. Stahl (Springer

High glucose disrupts oligosaccharide recognition function via competitive inhibition : a potential mechanism for immune dysregulation in diabetes mellitus

Diabetic complications include infection and cardiovascular disease. Within the immune system, host-pathogen and regulatory host-host interactions operate through binding of oligosaccharides by C-type lectin. A number of C-type lectins recognise oligosaccharides rich in mannose and fucose – sugars with similar structures to glucose. This raises the possibility that high glucose conditions in diabetes affect protein-oligosaccharide interactions via competitive inhibition. Mannose binding lectin, soluble DC-SIGN & DC-SIGNR, and surfactant protein D, were tested for carbohydrate binding in the presence of glucose concentrations typical of diabetes, via surface plasmon resonance and affinity chromatography. Complement activation assays were performed in high glucose. DC-SIGN and DC-SIGNR expression in adipose tissues was examined via immunohistochemistry. High glucose inhibited C-type lectin binding to high-mannose glycoprotein and binding of DC-SIGN to fucosylated ligand (blood group B) was abrogated in high glucose. Complement activation via the lectin pathway was inhibited in high glucose and also in high trehalose - a nonreducing sugar with glucoside stereochemistry. DC-SIGN staining was seen on cells with DC morphology within omental and subcutaneous adipose tissues. We conclude that high glucose disrupts C-type lectin function, potentially illuminating new perspectives on susceptibility to infectious and inflammatory disease in diabetes. Mechanisms involve competitive inhibition of carbohydrate-binding within sets of defined proteins, in contrast to broadly indiscriminate, irreversible glycation of proteins

Site-specific and synergistic stimulation of methylation on the bacterial chemotaxis receptor Tsr by serine and CheW

BACKGROUND: Specific glutamates in the methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins (MCPs) of Escherichia coli are modified during sensory adaptation. Attractants that bind to MCPs are known to increase the rate of receptor modification, as with serine and the serine receptor (Tsr), which contributes to an increase in the steady-state (adapted) methylation level. However, MCPs form ternary complexes with two cytoplasmic signaling proteins, the kinase (CheA) and an adaptor protein (CheW), but their influences on receptor methylation are unknown. Here, the influence of CheW on the rate of Tsr methylation has been studied to identify contributions to the process of adaptation. RESULTS: Methyl group incorporation was measured in a series of membrane samples in which the Tsr molecules were engineered to have one available methyl-accepting glutamate residue (297, 304, 311 or 493). The relative rates at these sites (0.14, 0.05, 0.05 and 1, respectively) differed from those found previously for the aspartate receptor (Tar), which was in part due to sequence differences between Tar and Tsr near site four. The addition of CheW generated unexpectedly large and site-specific rate increases, equal to or larger than the increases produced by serine. The increases produced by serine and CheW (added separately) were the largest at site one, ~3 and 6-fold, respectively, and the least at site four, no change and ~2-fold, respectively. The rate increases were even larger when serine and CheW were added together, larger than the sums of the increases produced by serine and CheW added separately (except site four). This resulted in substantially larger serine-stimulated increases when CheW was present. Also, CheW enhanced methylation rates when either two or all four sites were available. CONCLUSION: The increase in the rate of receptor methylation upon CheW binding contributes significantly to the ligand specificity and kinetics of sensory adaptation. The synergistic effect of serine and CheW binding to Tsr is attributed to distinct influences on receptor structure; changes in the conformation of the Tsr dimer induced by serine binding improve methylation efficiency, and CheW binding changes the arrangement among Tsr dimers, which increases access to methylation sites

Carniceiros em qualquer parte: comida, fome e a intempestiva liberalização dos mercados no México insurgente

Managing the urban food supply was a crucial function of colonial governance and late-colonial officials in Mexico City relied on two key dynamics to ensure both subsistence and orderliness: private monopolies and state regulation. Authorities did not directly control the production and sale of food, as they did other key sectors of the economy, nor did they abandon them to the “free” market, as some liberal reformers advocated. Rather they entrusted food to private monopolies that, in theory at least, were subject to close supervision by official inspectors. This model undergirded authorities’ sense of buena policía, a concept that combined a paternalist concern for the wellbeing of the populace and the containment of disorderly behavior. The ten-year insurgency transformed the structures of urban provisioning by forcing authorities to substitute “liberty of commerce” for strict monopolist control. The collapse of the absolutist model evened out the playing field of the market and allowed for a wave of small food suppliers to enter the market. With their squealing pigs in tow, small producers rescued the city from famine but upended the urban ideal of orderliness, control, and paternal oversight of the public wellbeing. That disorderliness resulted will not surprise scholars of early-nineteenth-century Mexico, who emphasize the instability and disasters that occurred during and after the war of independence. This article instead highlights how, in the absence of oligarchic monopolies and restrictive regulations that favored them, the urban market became more egalitarian after the late-colonial liberalization of commerce.El manejo del suministro de comida fue una función crucial del gobierno colonial y los oficiales del período tardo-colonial en Ciudad de México. Este descansó en dos dinámicas esenciales para asegurar tanto la existencia como el orden en torno a los alimentos: monopolios privados y regulación estatal. Las autoridades no controlaron directamente la producción ni la venta de comida como se hizo con otros sectores de la economía. Tampoco lo abandonaron todo al “libre mercado”, como querían algunos reformistas. En cambio, confiaron el tema de los alimentos a monopolios privados que, al menos en la teoría, eran supervisados muy de cerca por inspectores oficiales. Este modelo aseguraba el sentido de buena policía de las autoridades, un concepto que combinaba tanto la preocupación paternalista por el bienestar del pueblo como la contención de aquellos comportamientos propios del desorden. Los diez años de insurgencia transformaron las estructuras del aprovisionamiento urbano forzando a las autoridades a sustituir la “libertad de comercio” por un estricto control de los monopolios. El colapso del modelo absolutista emparejó el campo del mercado y permitió a toda una red de pequeños proveedores de alimentos entrar al mercado. Con sus cerdos arrastrados chillando, los pequeños productores rescataron la ciudad del peligro de la hambruna, pero impidieron el establecimiento del ideal del orden, el control y la supervisión paternalista en pos del bienestar público. El desorden resultante no sorprenderá a los especialistas de los inicios del siglo XIX en México, quienes ponen énfasis en la inestabilidad y los desastres del período. Sin embargo, este artículo resalta cómo, ante la ausencia de monopolios oligárquicos y regulaciones restrictivas que los favorecieran, el mercado urbano llegó a ser mucho más equitativo luego de la liberalización comercial de fines del periodo colonial.O manejo do subministro de comida foi uma função crucial do governo colonial e os oficiais do período tardo-colonial na Cidade do México. Este descansou em duas dinâmicas essenciais para assegurar tanto a existência como a ordem em torno aos alimentos: monopólios privados e regulação estatal. As autoridades não controlaram diretamente nem a produção nem a venda de comida como se fez com outros setores da economia. Tampouco abandonaram completamente ao “livre mercado”, como queriam alguns reformistas. Em cambio, confiaram o tema dos alimentos a monopólios privados que, ao menos na teoria, eram supervisados bem de perto por inspetores oficiais. Este modelo assegurava o sentido de buena policía das autoridades, um conceito que combinava tanto a preocupação paternalista pelo bem-estar do povo a contenção de aqueles comportamentos próprios da desordem. Os dez anos de insurgência transformaram as estruturas do aprovisionamento urbano forçando as autoridades a substituir a “liberdade de comércio” por um controle estrito dos monopólios. O colapso do modelo absolutista empatou o campo do mercado e permitiu aos pequenos provedores de alimentos entrar ao mercado. Com seus porcos arrastados gemendo, os pequenos produtores resgataram a cidade do perigo da fome, mas impediram o estabelecimento do ideal da ordem, o controle e a supervisão paternalista em pró do bem-estar público. A desordem resultante não surpreenderá aos especialistas dos inícios do século XIX no México, quem põe ênfase na instabilidade e nos desastres do período. Porém, este artigo ressalta como, ante a ausência de monopólios oligárquicos e regulações restritivas que os favorecesse, o mercado urbano chegou a ser muito mais equitativo depois da liberalização comercial do fim do período colonial