Turning Unemployment into Self-Employment: Effectiveness and Efficiency of Two Start-Up Programmes

Turning unemployment into self-employment has become a major focus of German active labour market policy (ALMP) in recent years. If effective, this would not only reduce Germany's persistently high unemployment rate, but also increase its notoriously low self-employment rate. Empirical evidence on the effectiveness of such programmes is scarce. The contribution of the present paper is twofold: first, we evaluate the effectiveness of two start-up programmes for the unemployed. Our outcome variables include the probability of being employed, the probability of being unemployed, and personal income. Second, based on the results of this analysis, we conduct an efficiency analysis, i.e., we estimate whether the Federal Employment Agency has saved money by placing unemployed individuals in these programmes. Our results show that at the end of the observation period, both programmes are effective and one is also efficient. The considerable positive effects present a stark contrast to findings from evaluations of other German ALMP programmes in recent years. Hence, ALMP programmes aimed at moving the unemployed into self-employment may prove to be among the most effective, both in Germany and elsewhereStart-up subsidies, evaluation, effectiveness, efficiency, self-employment

Existenzgründungsförderung für Arbeitslose: neue Ergebnisse für Deutschland

Die Existenzgründungsförderung für Arbeitslose gewinnt als arbeitsmarktpolitisches Instrument in Deutschland zunehmend an Bedeutung. Während es im Jahre 1994 nur knapp 37 000 geförderte Gründungen gab, waren es 2004 schon mehr als 350 000. Ausschlaggebend für diese Entwicklung war u. a. die Einführung des Existenzgründungszuschusses (Ich-AG) zum 1. Januar 2003 im Rahmen der Hartz-Reformen. Neben dem schon seit längerem bestehenden Überbrückungsgeld steht seitdem ein zweites Förderinstrument für gründungswillige Arbeitslose zur Verfügung. Erste Ergebnisse zur Effektivität beider Programme aus einem Evaluationsprojekt für das ehemalige Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Arbeit zeigen, dass beide Programme hinsichtlich der Vermeidung einer Rückkehr in die Arbeitslosigkeit als erfolgreich angesehen werden können. Die Teilnehmer beider Programme haben - im Vergleich zu einer Kontrollgruppe von nichtgeförderten Arbeitslosen - sechzehn Monate nach Beginn der Maßnahmen eine deutlich geringere Wahrscheinlichkeit, arbeitslos gemeldet zu sein. Insbesondere für das Überbrückungsgeld kann diese Aussage bereits auf einen längeren Zeitraum nach Beendigung der Förderung gestützt werden, während bei der Ich-AG die Förderung noch andauert und somit erst ein Zwischenfazit möglich ist. Deutlich wird auch, dass beide Programme unterschiedliche Personengruppen ansprechen, wobei die Überbrückungsgeldempfänger im Durchschnitt höher qualifiziert sind als Teilnehmer am Existenzgründungszuschuss und diese wiederum besser qualifiziert sind als nicht geförderte Arbeitslose. Hinsichtlich der durch die Förderungen induzierten zusätzlichen Beschäftigungseffekte zeigen sich ebenfalls merkliche Unterschiede zwischen beiden Programmen: 90 % aller durch einen Existenzgründungszuschuss geförderten Gründer/ innen arbeiteten zum Untersuchungszeitpunkt nach wie vor in der klassischen Ein-Personen- Ich- AG. Dagegen haben bereits etwa 30 % der durch Überbrückungsgeld geförderten Männer und 22 % der Frauen mindestens einen Mitarbeiter.

NSs protein of Schmallenberg virus counteracts the antiviral response of the cell by inhibiting its transcriptional machinery

Bunyaviruses have evolved a variety of strategies to counteract the antiviral defence systems of mammalian cells. Here we show that the NSs protein of Schmallenberg virus (SBV) induces the degradation of the RPB1 subunit of RNA polymerase II and consequently inhibits global cellular protein synthesis and the antiviral response. In addition, we show that the SBV NSs protein enhances apoptosis in vitro and possibly in vivo, suggesting that this protein could be involved in SBV pathogenesis in different ways

Movable Thin Glass Elements in Façades

Façades play an important role in the control of energy flow and energy consumption in buildings as they represent the interface between the outdoor environment and the indoor occupied space. The option of regulating internal and external conditions acquires great relevance in new approaches to sustainable building solutions. Studies on climate adaptive façades show a very high potential for improved indoor environmental quality conditions and energy savings by moveable façades. A number of movable façades were realized in the past, but the use of thin glass with a thickness of 0.5 mm to 3 mm opens a brand-new field, that allows for playing with the geometry of the outer skin and the opportunity to make it adaptive by movement. Thin glass requires for curved surfaces in order to gain structural stiffness in static use. In kinetic façades the high flexibility of thin glass allows for new options for changes in size and position by bending of elements rather than implementing hinges in a system of foldable rigid panels. The geometry is based on the known theory of developable surfaces for keeping a low stress-level during movement. This allows for façades created from cold bent thin glass or curved laminated safety glasses produced by laminating of thin glass plies which provide better sealing, greater simplicity in construction and robustness and durability of moveable components which may be actuated autonomously. Some concepts based on the before mentioned theories were created to explain some principles and discuss their principles and applicability

Bistatic Experiment Using TerraSAR-X and DLR’s new F-SAR System

A bistatic X-band experiment was successfully performed early November 2007. TerraSAR-X was used as transmitter and DLR’s new airborne radar system F-SAR, which was programmed to acquire data in a quasi-continuous mode to avoid echo window synchronization issues, was used as bistatic receiver. Precise phase and time referencing between both systems, which is essential for obtaining high resolution SAR images, was derived during the bistatic processing. Hardware setup and performance analyses of the bistatic configuration are pre-sented together with first processing results that verify the predicted synchronization and imaging performance

Development of a constitutive model for friction in bulk metal forming

This paper presents a systematic procedure for the development of a constitutive model of friction with focus on the application in bulk metal forming simulations. The empirically based friction model describes friction as a function of sliding distance and the most relevant friction influencing parameters. The latter were determined by means of designed experiments. An optimal friction model is obtained as a trade-off between model accuracy and complexity by using stepwise nonlinear regression and a modified version of the Akaike information criterion. Within this study, the procedure is applied to determine a friction model for tube drawing. However, the same approach can also be used for modeling friction of any other bulk metal forming process

Feasibility and Acceptability of an INtervention TO Increase MOBility in Older Hospitalized Medical Patients (INTOMOB): A Mixed-Methods Pilot Study.

Background: To reduce adverse outcomes of low hospital mobility, we need interventions that are scalable in everyday practice. This study assessed the feasibility and acceptability of the INTOMOB multilevel intervention addressing barriers to hospital mobility without requiring unavailable resources. Methods: The INTOMOB intervention, targeting older patients, healthcare professionals (HCPs) and the hospital environment, was implemented on acute general internal medicine wards of three hospitals (12/2022-03/2023). Feasibility and acceptability of the intervention were assessed and two types of accelerometers compared in a mixed methods study (patient and HCP surveys and interviews). Quantitative data were analyzed descriptively and qualitative data using a deductive approach. Results were integrated through meta-inferences. Results: Of 20 patients (mean age 74.1 years), 90% found the intervention helpful and 82% said the environment intervention (posters) stimulated mobility. The majority of 44 HCPs described the intervention as clear and helpful. There was no major implementation or technical issue. About 60% of patients and HCPs preferred a wrist-worn over an ankle-worn accelerometer. Conclusions: The INTOMOB intervention is feasible and well accepted. Patients' and HCPs' feedback allowed to further improve the intervention that will be tested in a cluster randomized trial and provides useful information for future mobility-fostering interventions

Exploration of Spanish olive oil quality with a miniaturized low-cost fluorescence sensor and machine learning techniques

This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Analysis Methods for Food Safety, Authenticity and Traceability AssessmentExtra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is the highest quality of olive oil and is characterized by highly beneficial nutritional properties. The large increase in both consumption and fraud, for example through adulteration, creates new challenges and an increasing demand for developing new quality assessment methodologies that are easier and cheaper to perform. As of today, the determination of olive oil quality is performed by producers through chemical analysis and organoleptic evaluation. The chemical analysis requires advanced equipment and chemical knowledge of certified laboratories, and has therefore limited accessibility. In this work a minimalist, portable, and low-cost sensor is presented, which can perform olive oil quality assessment using fluorescence spectroscopy. The potential of the proposed technology is explored by analyzing several olive oils of different quality levels, EVOO, virgin olive oil (VOO), and lampante olive oil (LOO). The spectral data were analyzed using a large number of machine learning methods, including artificial neural networks. The analysis performed in this work demonstrates the possibility of performing the classification of olive oil in the three mentioned classes with an accuracy of 100%. These results confirm that this minimalist low-cost sensor has the potential to substitute expensive and complex chemical analysis