Ethnic Minority Self-Employment in Germany: Geographical Distribution and Determinants of Regional Variation

In Germany self-employment among foreigners increased significantly in recent years. We study the geographical distribution of ethnic minority self-employment in Germany and find determinants for variations in start-up activities across 440 administrative German regions. We analyze the Statistic of Business Notifications and provide an extensive overview about start-up activities of foreigners in the time period 2001-2005. Moreover we apply a count data model on the number of business registrations in a particular region. We find that business foundations by foreigners are mainly enhanced by population growth, a higher population density and a large fraction of foreigners on overall population.Ethnic Minority Business, Entrepreneurship, Germany, Count Data Model

The Quality of Insurance Intermediary Services – Empirical Evidence for Germany

Insurance intermediaries help consumers to economize on information and transaction costs in insurance markets. However, competing insurance intermediaries provide heterogeneous services, which are difficult to assess by incompletely informed consumers. Transaction costs economics, search theory and principal agent theory provide arguments on product quality differences between the two main distribution channels in insurance markets (exclusive agents vs. independent intermediaries). The present paper uses a sample of 927 insurance intermediaries in Germany. By performing OLS estimations we test the impact of the different distribution channels, but also of other factors relating to the information processing activities on intermediaries’ service quality. Depending on the proxies used for service quality, we find mixed evidence for the “product quality” hypothesis according to which independent intermediaries provide better service quality than exclusive agents. We find that service quality depends also to a large extent on the information gathering and processing activities of the individual intermediaries.Insurance Distribution Channels, Service Quality

An Intelligent Decision Support System for the Empty Unit Load Device Repositioning Problem in Air Cargo Industry

Unit load devices (ULDs) are containers and pallets used in the air cargo industry to bundle freight for efficient loading and transportation. Mainly due to imbalances in global air transportation networks, deficits and surpluses of ULDs are the result and require stock balancing through the repositioning of (empty) ULDs. Following a design science research approach, we (1) elaborate the hitherto uninvestigated problem class of empty ULD repositioning (EUR) and (2) propose an intelligent decision support system (IDSS) that incorporates a heuristic for the given problem and combines artificial intelligence (i.e., rule-based expert system technology) with business analytics. We evaluate the IDSS with real-world data and demonstrate that the proposed solution is both effective and efficient. In addition, our results provide empirical evidence regarding the positive economic and ecological impact of leveraging the potential of ULD pooling in multi-carrier networks

Big Data and the Data Value Chain: Translating Insights from Business Analytics into Actionable Results - The Case of Unit Load Device (ULD) Management in the Air Cargo Industry

Business intelligence and analytics enjoy a great deal of attention today. However, there is a lack of studies considering the full data value chain from (raw) data through business analytics to valuable decisions, i.e. also scrutinizing the latter stages of the data value chain, namely timely deployment and operational usage of valuable insights as demanded by practice. Following a design science approach, we develop a concept for the fast and flexible integration of valuable insights into daily decision support. A key feature of our concept is to provide valuable insights from business intelligence in an understandable manner to decision makers using a rule-based expert systems approach. In order to demonstrate the feasibility of our concept, we implemented a prototype in a complex real-world scenario, i.e. unit load device (ULD) management in the air cargo industry. This research in progress presents our preliminary findings and outlines the potential of the proposed concept

Untersuchungen zur Beteiligung von Proteasen an der kälteinduzierten Apoptose von Rattenleberendothelzellen

Die moderne Lebertransplantation wäre ohne die Verwendung von Hypothermie (4°C) und Konservierungslösungen nicht möglich. Trotz der Fortschritte der Lebertrans-plantation in den letzten Jahren kommt es auch heute noch zur Konservierungsschädigung der Leber; von dieser sind vor allem die Leberendothelzellen betroffen. Der Schädigungsfaktor Kälte/Wiedererwärmung führt in kultivierten sinusoidalen Leberendothelzellen über einen Anstieg des chelatisierbaren Eisenpools mit konsekutiver Freisetzung reaktiver Sauerstoffspezies zur kälteinduzierten Apoptose. Ob und, falls ja, welche Proteasen an diesem Prozess beteiligt sind, war Gegenstand der vorliegenden Arbeit. In kultivierten konfluenten Rattenleberendothelzellen wurden zunächst verschiedene Proteaseinhibitoren eingesetzt und ihr Effekt auf die Vitalität und Morphologie der Zellen nach Kaltinkubation beurteilt. Hierbei wurde ein sehr guter Schutzeffekt durch den Serin- (und Cystein-) Proteaseinhibitor 3,4-Dichloroisocumarin (DCI) beobachtet. In der Folge wurden die einzelnen Proteaseaktivitäten, insbesondere Serin- und Cysteinproteaseaktivitäten, fluorimetrisch bestimmt. Es ließ sich jedoch keine erhöhte Aktivität von Calpainen, Caspasen, Cathepsin B oder auch Aspartatproteasen nachweisen. Stattdessen konnte eine erhöhte Suc-Leu-Leu-Val-Tyr-AMC und eine Suc-Ala-Ala-Ala-AMC spaltende Aktivität nachgewiesen werden. Weitere Untersuchungen zeigten, dass es sich bei diesen beiden (erhöhten) Aktivitäten um zwei unterschiedliche Proteasen handelt. Die Suc-Leu-Leu-Val-Tyr-AMC spaltende Aktivität, wahrscheinlich für den Zelltod bedeutsamer, ließ sich durch DCI und die Proteasominhibitoren Lactacystin und MG-132 signifikant inhibieren. Sie wies einen Km-Wert von ca. 25 µM für Suc-Leu-Leu-Val-Tyr-AMC und einen Ki-Wert von ca. 25 nM für MG-132 auf und konnte über Immunopräzipitation mit einem Antiproteasomantikörper als Chymotrypsin-ähnliche Aktivität des Proteasoms identifiziert werden. Bei der anderen Protease handelt es sich um eine Serinprotease von bisher unbekannter Art und Bedeutung. Die Aktivierung beider Proteasen (nicht jedoch ihre Aktivität) erwies sich als eisenabhängig. Die Hemmung des Proteasoms (und seiner eisenabhängigen Aktivierung) kann die Schädigung der Leberendothelzellen deutlich reduzieren. Der Einsatz von Eisenchelatoren und/oder Proteasominhibitoren in den Konservierungslösungen während der Kaltlagerung der Leber könnte also über eine Verminderung von Endothelzellschädigung und Mikrozirkulationsstörungen zur Verbesserung der Konservierung führen und das unmittelbare Transplantatversagen reduzieren

Conceptualization of the Human-Machine Symbiosis – A Literature Review

The vision of a symbiotic partnership between humans and machines has existed since the 1960s. With this paper we provide the first conceptualization of the human-machine symbiosis (HMS) and make three important contributions: we present the fundamentals of HMS by focusing on objectives, requirements, and boundaries; we propose a framework for the design of HMS; and we review HMS research and, specifically, what the literature says with respect to whether HMS has already been achieved

Exploring Design Principles for Human-Machine Symbiosis: Insights from Constructing an Air Transportation Logistics Artifact

This paper reports the findings of a proactive design science research project involving the construction, evaluation, and organizational introduction of an information technology (IT) artifact in the context of air transportation logistics. Drawing on our insights from instantiating an IT artifact and embedding it into the organization of a major provider of unit load device management for airlines, we explore the idea that IS-driven automation in digitalizing environments is more limited by socio-economic factors than digital-technological capabilities. Both our IT artifact and the abstracted design principles we generated through heuristic theorizing (HT) are novel, enhancing the information system (IS) design knowledge base of human-machine symbiosis and IT artifacts. Overall, our findings contribute to a better understanding of how to design human-machine symbiosis in information systems