Hurdles for the Voluntary Disclosure of Information on Intangibles - Empirical Results for 'New Economy' Industries

The importance of intangible assets like brands, customer relationships, knowledge or organisational capabilities is increasing in most western economies. Recent concepts like knowledge management or intellectual capital underline the growing importance of these "soft" production factors. The financial as well as the managerial accounting are still focusing on "hard" production factors, especially the production area with their typically physical and tangible assets and the finance and investment area with financial assets. This paper is focusing on possibilities and limits of reporting on intangible resources seen from the companies point of view. We examined 343 German listed corporations of the German C-DAX indices for industries where intangible resources play a significant role for the business models of the companies (Pharmaceuticals & Health, Software, Technology, Media and Telecommunications).Using a pre-tested questionnaire the sample finally consits of 54 companies (response rate = 16 %),that could be used for the analysis

Herausforderung regionale Nachhaltigkeit

Regionalwirtschaftliche Ansätze als Konzept zur nachhaltigen Entwicklung sto­ßen in den letzten Jahren auf hohes Interesse. Viele Aspekte nachhaltigen regi­onalen Wirtschaftens sind jedoch noch ungeklärt. Drei Kernprobleme sind die noch zu lösenden Organisationsfragen, die Frage einer generellen Bevorzugung von regionalen Kreisläufen und die notwendigen politischen Förderungen. Diese werden anhand ausgewählter Praxiserfahrungen diskutiert

Modeling Microblogging Adoption in the Enterprise

Despite a broad range of collaboration tools already available, enterprises continue to look for ways to improve internal and external communication. Microblogging is such a new communication channel with some considerable potential to improve intra-firm transparency and knowledge sharing. However, the adoption of such social software presents certain challenges to enterprises. Based on the results of four focus group sessions, we identified several new constructs to play an important role in the microblogging adoption decision. Examples include privacy concerns, communication benefits, perceptions regarding signal-to-noise ratio, as well codification effort. Integrating these findings with common views on technology acceptance, we formulate a model to predict the adoption of a microblogging system in the workspace. Our findings serve as an important guideline for managers seeking to realize the potential of microblogging in their company

Licht ausknipsen reicht nicht!

Öffentliche Beschaffung als Instrument der Umweltpolitik ist nicht gerade ein neues Konzept. Das Potential von Beschaffung ist aber immer noch stark unter­schätzt. Kommunalpolitiker, die größte Gruppe öffentlicher Beschaffer, haben es in der Hand, umweltfreundlichen Produkten einen Markt zu öffnen und die damit verbundenen Umweltentlastungspotentiale zu realisieren. Um eine breite Wirkung zu erzielen, kommt es jedoch auf eine möglichst flächendeckende Anwendung an

Complex patterns of secondary spread without loss of genetic diversity in invasive populations of the Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus takanoi (Decapoda) along European coasts

Genetic studies of introduced non-native species are a valuable tool to investigate invasion history and pathways, source populations and multiple introductions of alien species, as well as evolutionary genetic changes following establishment in a new environment. We used a set of nine polymorphic microsatellites to analyse the population genetic structure of the introduced Asian shore crab Hemigrapsus takanoi along European coasts. Our dataset covered the complete known European range of the species, including the most recent records from Great Britain and the southwestern Baltic Sea. The results showed a similarly high genetic diversity of H. takanoi throughout Europe, and no indication of genetic bottlenecks during secondary spread, even in the most recently established populations. Analyses for population structure along geographic regions gave support for a separation between the Bay of Seine populations (northern France) and all other populations. Genetic differentiation within the North and Baltic Seas was more subtle and patchy, hinting to potential unrecognised introduction events, dispersal barriers and anthropogenic vector activity. The populations from the Baltic Sea and Great Britain clustered with the Wadden Sea populations, suggesting secondary introductions from the southeastern North Sea as likely invasion pathways. In summary, we suggest that a combination of anthropogenic secondary spread and the species’ reproductive biology have prevented a loss of genetic diversity during its ongoing expansion. We argue that genetic data depicting population status shortly after an introduction event—like the British and Baltic Sea populations of H. takanoi—may provide important baseline data for investigations of genetic changes during establishment and adaptation processes

Micro-Blogging Adoption in the Enterprise: An Empirical Analysis

Given the increasing interest in using social software forcompany-internal communication and collaboration, this paperexamines drivers and inhibitors of micro-blogging adoption at theworkplace. While nearly one in two companies is currentlyplanning to introduce social software, there is no empiricallyvalidated research on employees’ adoption. In this paper, we buildon previous focus group results and test our research model in anempirical study using Structural Equation Modeling. Based on ourfindings, we derive recommendations on how to foster adoption.We suggest that micro-blogging should be presented to employeesas an efficient means of communication, personal brand building,and knowledge management. In order to particularly promotecontent contribution, privacy concerns should be eased by settingclear rules on who has access to postings and for how long theywill be archived

Novel ETFE based radiation grafted poly(styrene sulfonic acid-co-methacrylonitrile) proton conducting membranes with increased stability

Styrene radiation grafted ETFE based proton conducting membranes are subject to degradation under fuel cell operating conditions and show a poor stability. Lifetimes exceeding 250 h can only be achieved with crosslinked membranes. In this study, a novel approach based on the increase of the intrinsic oxidative stability of uncrosslinked membranes is reported. Hence, the co-grafting of styrene with methacrylonitrile (MAN), which possesses a protected α-position and strong dipolar pendant nitrile group, onto 25 μm ETFE base film was investigated. Styrene/MAN co-grafted membranes were compared to a styrene based membrane in durability tests in single H2/O2 fuel cells. It is shown that the incorporation of MAN considerably improves the chemical stability, yielding fuel cell lifetimes exceeding 1000 h. The membrane preparation based on the co-grafting of styrene and MAN offers the prospect of tuning the MAN content and introduction of a crosslinker to enhance the oxidative stability of the resulting fuel cell membranes

Investigating the energy consumption of the PECM process for consideration in the selection of manufacturing process chains

The initial planning of manufacturing process chains provides the opportunity to sustainably influence the energy requirement for the manufacturing of industrial products by selecting the process chain with the lowest energy consumption. However, the task is still challenging due to the need for energy consumption data of manufacturing equipment. In this paper, the analysis of the energy consumption of a manufacturing process is illustrated by the example of the Pulse Electrochemical Machining (PECM) process. A comparison of two machine tool generations of the same manufacturer shows the improvement in energy consumption. Based on the information gained from the analysis, an approach for the provision of energy consumption data is presented

How to track cellular aging of mesenchymal stromal cells?

Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSC) are currently tested in a large number of clinical trials and raise high hope in regenerative medicine. These cells have to be expanded in vitro before transplantation and several studies demonstrated that long-term culture evokes continuous changes in MSC: proliferation rate decays, the cell size increases, differentiation potential is affected, chromosomal instabilities may arise and molecular changes are acquired. Long-term culture of cell preparations might also have therapeutic consequences, although this has hardly been addressed in ongoing trials so far. Reliable therapeutic regimens necessitate quality control of cellular products. This research perspective summarizes available methods to track cellular aging of MSC. We have demonstrated that gene expression changes and epigenetic modifications are continuously acquired during replicative senescence. Molecular analysis of a suitable panel of genes might provide a robust tool to assess efficiency and safety of long-term expansion

Assessment of the immune capacity of mammary epithelial cells: comparison with mammary tissue after challenge with Escherichia coli

We examined the repertoire and extent of inflammation dependent gene regulation in a bovine mammary epithelial cell (MEC) model, to better understand the contribution of the MEC in the immune defence of the udder. We challenged primary cultures of MEC from cows with heat inactivated Escherichia coli pathogens and used Affymetrix DNA-microarrays to profile challenge related alterations in their transcriptome. Compared to acute mastitis, the most prominently activated genes comprise those encoding chemokines, interleukins, beta-defensins, serum amyloid A and haptoglobin. Hence, the MEC exert sentinel as well as effector functions of innate immune defence. E. coli stimulated a larger fraction of genes (30%) in the MEC belonging to the functional category Inflammatory Response than we recorded with the same microarrays during acute mastitis in the udder (17%). This observation underscores the exquisite immune capacity of MEC. To more closely examine the adequacy of immunological regulation in MEC, we compared the inflammation dependent regulation of factors contributing to the complement system between the udder versus the MEC. In the MEC we observed only up regulation of several complement factor-encoding genes. Mastitis, in contrast, in the udder strongly down regulates such genes encoding factors contributing to both, the classical pathway of complement activation and the Membrane Attack Complex, while the expression of factors contributing to the alternative pathway may be enhanced. This functionally polarized regulation of the complex complement pathway is not reflected in the MEC models