Franchising as a Strategy for Combining Small and Large Group Advantages (Logics) in Social Entrepreneurship:A Hayekian Perspective

This article develops a Hayekian perspective on social franchising that distinguishes between the end-connected logic of the small group and the rule-connected logic of the big group. Our key claim is that mission-driven social entrepreneurs often draw on the small-group logic when starting their social ventures and then face difficulties when the process of scaling shifts their operations toward a big-group logic. In this situation, social franchising offers a strategy to replicate the small group despite systemwide scaling, to mobilize decentrally accessible social capital, and to reduce agency costs through mechanisms of self-selection and self-monitoring. By employing a Hayekian perspective, we are thus able to offer an explanation as to why social franchising is a suitable scaling strategy for some social entrepreneurship organizations and not for others. We illustrate our work using the Ashoka Fellow Wellcome

Application of COMPOCHIP Microarray to Investigate the Bacterial Communities of Different Composts

A microarray spotted with 369 different 16S rRNA gene probes specific to microorganisms involved in the degradation process of organic waste during composting was developed. The microarray was tested with pure cultures, and of the 30,258 individual probe-target hybridization reactions performed, there were only 188 false positive (0.62%) and 22 false negative signals (0.07%). Labeled target DNA was prepared by polymerase chain reaction amplification of 16S rRNA genes using a Cy5-labeled universal bacterial forward primer and a universal reverse primer. The COMPOCHIP microarray was applied to three different compost types (green compost, manure mix compost, and anaerobic digestate compost) of different maturity (2, 8, and 16 weeks), and differences in the microorganisms in the three compost types and maturity stages were observed. Multivariate analysis showed that the bacterial composition of the three composts was different at the beginning of the composting process and became more similar upon maturation. Certain probes (targeting Sphingobacterium, Actinomyces, Xylella/Xanthomonas/ Stenotrophomonas, Microbacterium, Verrucomicrobia, Planctomycetes, Low G + C and Alphaproteobacteria) were more influential in discriminating between different composts. Results from denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis supported those of microarray analysis. This study showed that the COMPOCHIP array is a suitable tool to study bacterial communities in composts

Social Entrepreneurship and Social Business: Retrospective and Prospective Research

Ye

Search for neutron dark decay: n → χ + e⁺e⁻

In January, 2018, Fornal and Grinstein proposed that a previously unobserved neutron decay branch to a dark matter particle (χ) could account for the discrepancy in the neutron lifetime observed in two different types of experiments. One of the possible final states discussed includes a single χ along with an e⁺e⁻ pair. We use data from the UCNA (Ultracold Neutron Asymmetry) experiment to set limits on this decay channel. Coincident electron-like events are detected with ∼ 4π acceptance using a pair of detectors that observe a volume of stored Ultracold Neutrons (UCNs). We use the timing information of coincidence events to select candidate dark sector particle decays by applying a timing calibration and selecting events within a physically-forbidden timing region for conventional n → p + e⁻ + ν̅_e decays. The summed kinetic energy (E_(e⁺e⁻)) from such events is reconstructed and used to set limits, as a function of the χ mass, on the branching fraction for this decay channel

New result for the neutron β\beta-asymmetry parameter A0A_0 from UCNA

The neutron $\beta$-decay asymmetry parameter $A_0$ defines the correlation between the spin of the neutron and the momentum of the emitted electron, which determines $\lambda=\frac{g_{A}}{g_{V}}$, the ratio of the axial-vector to vector weak coupling constants. The UCNA Experiment, located at the Ultracold Neutron facility at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center, is the first to measure such a correlation coefficient using ultracold neutrons (UCN). Following improvements to the systematic uncertainties and increased statistics, we report the new result $A_0 = -0.12054(44)_{\mathrm{stat}}(68)_{\mathrm{syst}}$ which yields $\lambda\equiv \frac{g_{A}}{g_{V}}=-1.2783(22)$. Combination with the previous UCNA result and accounting for correlated systematic uncertainties produces $A_0=-0.12015(34)_{\mathrm{stat}}(63)_{\mathrm{syst}}$ and $\lambda\equiv \frac{g_{A}}{g_{V}}=-1.2772(20)$.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, updated to as-published versio

The potential of trading activity income to fund third sector organisations operating in deprived areas

In the United Kingdom, as in other countries, Third Sector Organisations (TSOs) have been drawn towards income sources associated with trading activities (Teasdale, 2010), but many remain reliant on grant funding to support such activities (Chell, 2007). Using a multivariate analysis approach and data from the National Survey of Charities and Social Enterprises (NSCSE), it is found that trading activities are used relatively commonly in deprived areas. These organisations are also more likely to attempt to access public sector funds. This suggests policy-makers need to consider the impact of funding cuts on TSOs in the most deprived areas as TSOs are unlikely achieve their objectives without continuing support

Final results for the neutron β-asymmetry parameter A₀ from the UCNA experiment

The UCNA experiment was designed to measure the neutron β-asymmetry parameter A0 using polarized ultracold neutrons (UCN). UCN produced via downscattering in solid deuterium were polarized via transport through a 7 T magnetic field, and then directed to a 1 T solenoidal electron spectrometer, where the decay electrons were detected in electron detector packages located on the two ends of the spectrometer. A value for A0 was then extracted from the asymmetry in the numbers of counts in the two detector packages. We summarize all of the results from the UCNA experiment, obtained during run periods in 2007, 2008–2009, 2010, and 2011–2013, which ultimately culminated in a 0.67% precision result for A₀