Search

Due to the increased flexibilization of work, more and more employees are required to structure their own work and coordinate it with others and thus need to handle the cognitive demands of flexible work. However, research to date has not provided clear results regarding the impact of these cognitive demands on employees. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of cognitive demands on psychological detachment and cognitive flexibility in the home domain and to uncover the specific psychological processes that underlie these associations. Specifically, we analyzed whether two types of cognitive demands of flexible work (structuring one’s work and coordinating work with others) were associated with psychological detachment and cognitive flexibility via two distinct processes that involve cognitive load and learning. Using a diary study with two daily measurement points over 10 workdays, we collected data from 54 employees of an IT company who provided 334 day-level datasets. Bayesian multilevel mediation analyses revealed that the two cognitive demands sparked distinct processes. Daily demands for structuring one’s work are linked to an enrichment process that includes daily learning and, subsequently, daily cognitive flexibility at home. In contrast, daily demands for coordinating work with others are linked to a conflict process that encompasses daily cognitive load and subsequently reduced psychological detachment at home. These findings suggest that, depending on the specific cognitive demand, cognitive demands have either beneficial or adverse effects on employees’ functioning at home and therefore lead to either an enrichment or conflict process., Fonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung P 29408-G29, Accepted version

For the chemical analysis of food, drugs, and environmental samples it becomes more and more important to find substances of a certain (biological) activity. For this, several biological screening assays are available. One of the most versatile is the luminescent bacteria test according to an international norm (DIN EN ISO 11348), a rapid cuvette test on cytotoxicity. The assay employs the naturally bioluminescent bacterium Vibrio fischeri, which emits blue-green light under good living conditions. Because the energy-consuming luminescence metabolism is linked directly to the bacterium?s respiratory chain, a disturbance of the bacterium?s metabolism affects the luminescence, whereas the degree of toxicity is proportional to the luminescence inhibition. Major advantage was achieved by coupling this biotest with previous separation by high-performance thin-layer chromatography (HPTLC), which allowed for a screening for individual components. The workflow consists of sample application onto an HPTLC plate, separation, drying the plate, application of the Vibrio fischeri suspension, and detection with a light-sensitive CCD camera. In the resulting image, dark zones on a brightly luminizing background indicate substances that affect the bacteria?s metabolism. No suitable image evaluation program for the effective correction and quantitative evaluation of the image after Vibrio fischeri detection was available, which was regarded as a great disadvantage. In literature, adaptations of the special corrections based on the cuvette test calculations were described, including horizontal background correction and the recalculation of the sigmoid dose-response-relationship of the bacteria?s reaction. This served as a basis for the development of a new method using existing software which did not only perform the necessary calculations but was easy and convenient enough for use in routine evaluations. Furthermore, the process of applying the aqueous bacteria suspension onto the H