Software Ecosystem Orchestration: The Perspective of Complementors

Software ecosystems (SECOs) driven by platform business models have changed how consumer software is produced and marketed. Also in the enterprise software segment, value networks in the form of SECOs are replacing traditional business models and linear value chains. These SECOs involve three main types of actors: platform sponsor, complementors, and customers. Platform sponsor strategies have been researched broadly, but not the view of complementors. Further, there are few studies of real-world SECOs. In our research, we have investigated the complementor’s perspective on SECOs and their partnership with the platform sponsor. Through exploratory qualitative research using a practical case from the enterprise software industry, we have developed a partner management framework comprising the complementors ’ value creation process, goals, enablers, and instruments. The model can be used generally to gain a better understanding of complementors, and by platform sponsors to improve their partner management processes

The Power of Alumni Networks - Success of Startup Companies Correlates With Online Social Network Structure of Its Founders

In this paper we analyze the success of startups in Germany by looking at the social network structure of their founders on the German-language business-networking site XING. We address two related research questions. First we examine university-wide networks, constructing alumni networks of 12 German universities, with the goal of identifying the most successful founder networks among the 12 universities. Second, we also look at individual actor network structure, to find the social network attributes of the most successful founders. We automatically collected the publicly accessible portion of XING, filtering people by attributes indicative of their university, and roles as founders, entrepreneurs, and CEOs. We identified 51,976 alumni, out of which 14,854 have entrepreneurship attributes. We also manually evaluated the financial success of a subsample of 80 entrepreneurs for each university. We found that universities, which are more central in the German university network, provide a better environment for students to found more and more successful startups. University networks whose alumni have a stronger “old-boys-network”, i.e. a larger share of their links with other alumni of their alma mater, are more successful as founders of startups. On the individual level the same holds true: the more links founders have with alumni of their university, the more successful their startup is. Finally, the absolute amount of networking matters, i.e. the more links entrepreneurs have, and the higher their betweenness in the online network of university alumni, the more successful they are

Bericht über das Forschungsprojekt "Bürgerschaftliches Engagement und Altersdemenz: Auf dem Weg zu einer neuen 'Pflegekultur'? Eine vergleichende Analyse"

"Die Folgen des demografischen Wandels und der damit verbundenen Zunahme demenzieller Erkrankungen, aus denen wiederum ökonomische und gesellschaftliche Folgen resultieren, sind kaum mehr zu übersehen. Bereits heute sind mehr als eine Million Menschen von Altersdemenz betroffen. Ziel des durch das Wissenschaftsministerium des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen über einen Kompetenzwettbewerb geförderten Projektes ist es, Erkenntnisse darüber zu gewinnen, wie Bürgerengagement im Bereich der Altenhilfe nachhaltig gefördert werden kann, um den Herausforderungen der alternden Gesellschaft gerecht zu werden. Das Projekt zielt darauf ab, Möglichkeiten der Mobilisierung von Freiwilligen für niedrigschwellige Betreuungsangebote nach dem Pflegeleistungsergänzungsgesetz bzw. Hemmnisse ihres Einsatzes aufzuzeigen und zu evaluieren. Im Kern geht es um die soziale Integration sowohl der Dementen als auch der Freiwilligen, aber auch um die kulturellen, gesellschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen des freiwilligen Engagements. Im Rahmen einer Primärerhebung in sechs Einrichtungen für demenziell Erkrankte wurde eine qualitativ-empirische Untersuchung durchgeführt. Auf der Grundlage der in Interviews, Dokumentenanalysen und Beobachtungen gewonnenen Daten wird eine detaillierte Typisierung der Freiwilligen erstellt (Projektteil 1). Anhand einer Kosten-Nutzen-Analyse des freiwilligen Einsatzes wird dessen nachhaltige Wirkung überprüft (Projektteil 2). Darüber hinaus wird die Wechselwirkung von Erwerbsarbeit und freiwilliger Tätigkeit in diesem Engagementfeld analysiert (Projektteil 3). Sekundäranalysen in der Schweiz und den Niederlanden werden zur vergleichenden Gegenüberstellung der Strukturen freiwilligen Engagements erhoben (Projektteil 4), und daraus entsprechende Schlüsse, auch im Hinblick auf Verbesserungsmöglichkeiten in Deutschland, gezogen. Soziologische, betriebswirtschaftliche und sozialpolitische Perspektiven werden sowohl in der personellen Zusammensetzung des Forschungsteams als auch in der inhaltlichen Arbeit des Projektes zusammengeführt. Als theoretische Klammer dienen Ansätze der Sozialkapitaltheorien." (Autorenreferat

Near infrared ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy with ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3-NaF fiber supercontinuum

We report on the performance of a setup designed for femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy in the near infrared (NIR) spectral region. We generate a supercontinuum (SC) probe by coupling 140 fs light pulses at 1550 nm into a ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3-AlF3-NaF (ZBLAN) fiber. The combined high nonlinearity and transparency of the ZBLAN fluoride glass allows us to obtain a SC probe from 1 to 2.6 μm. The NIR pulses are used to demonstrate a proof of principle experiment probing the relaxation of photo induced excitations in a conjugated polymer:fullerene blend film. The results show the possibility to perform fibre based NIR SC femtosecond spectroscopy at >100 KHz repetition rate and using lasers with pulse energy just above 300 nJ

Patterns of Alcohol Consumption Among Individuals With Alcohol Use Disorder During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Lockdowns in Germany

Importance Alcohol consumption (AC) leads to death and disability worldwide. Ongoing discussions on potential negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on AC need to be informed by real-world evidence. Objective To examine whether lockdown measures are associated with AC and consumption-related temporal and psychological within-person mechanisms. Design, Setting, and Participants This quantitative, intensive, longitudinal cohort study recruited 1743 participants from 3 sites from February 20, 2020, to February 28, 2021. Data were provided before and within the second lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in Germany: before lockdown (October 2 to November 1, 2020); light lockdown (November 2 to December 15, 2020); and hard lockdown (December 16, 2020, to February 28, 2021). Main Outcomes and Measures Daily ratings of AC (main outcome) captured during 3 lockdown phases (main variable) and temporal (weekends and holidays) and psychological (social isolation and drinking intention) correlates. Results Of the 1743 screened participants, 189 (119 [63.0%] male; median [IQR] age, 37 [27.5-52.0] years) with at least 2 alcohol use disorder (AUD) criteria according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) yet without the need for medically supervised alcohol withdrawal were included. These individuals provided 14 694 smartphone ratings from October 2020 through February 2021. Multilevel modeling revealed significantly higher AC (grams of alcohol per day) on weekend days vs weekdays (β = 11.39; 95% CI, 10.00-12.77; P < .001). Alcohol consumption was above the overall average on Christmas (β = 26.82; 95% CI, 21.87-31.77; P < .001) and New Year’s Eve (β = 66.88; 95% CI, 59.22-74.54; P < .001). During the hard lockdown, perceived social isolation was significantly higher (β = 0.12; 95% CI, 0.06-0.15; P < .001), but AC was significantly lower (β = −5.45; 95% CI, −8.00 to −2.90; P = .001). Independent of lockdown, intention to drink less alcohol was associated with lower AC (β = −11.10; 95% CI, −13.63 to −8.58; P < .001). Notably, differences in AC between weekend and weekdays decreased both during the hard lockdown (β = −6.14; 95% CI, −9.96 to −2.31; P = .002) and in participants with severe AUD (β = −6.26; 95% CI, −10.18 to −2.34; P = .002). Conclusions and Relevance This 5-month cohort study found no immediate negative associations of lockdown measures with overall AC. Rather, weekend-weekday and holiday AC patterns exceeded lockdown effects. Differences in AC between weekend days and weekdays evinced that weekend drinking cycles decreased as a function of AUD severity and lockdown measures, indicating a potential mechanism of losing and regaining control. This finding suggests that temporal patterns and drinking intention constitute promising targets for prevention and intervention, even in high-risk individuals

Omeprazole Inhibits Proliferation and Modulates Autophagy in Pancreatic Cancer Cells

BACKGROUND: Omeprazole has recently been described as a modulator of tumour chemoresistance, although its underlying molecular mechanisms remain controversial. Since pancreatic tumours are highly chemoresistant, a logical step would be to investigate the pharmacodynamic, morphological and biochemical effects of omeprazole on pancreatic cancer cell lines. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Dose-effect curves of omeprazole, pantoprazole, gemcitabine, 5-fluorouracil and the combinations of omeprazole and 5-fluorouracil or gemcitabine were generated for the pancreatic cancer cell lines MiaPaCa-2, ASPC-1, Colo357, PancTu-1, Panc1 and Panc89. They revealed that omeprazole inhibited proliferation at probably non-toxic concentrations and reversed the hormesis phenomena of 5-fluorouracil. Electron microscopy showed that omeprazole led to accumulation of phagophores and early autophagosomes in ASPC-1 and MiaPaCa-2 cells. Signal changes indicating inhibited proliferation and programmed cell death were found by proton NMR spectroscopy of both cell lines when treated with omeprazole which was identified intracellularly. Omeprazole modulates the lysosomal transport pathway as shown by Western blot analysis of the expression of LAMP-1, Cathepsin-D and β-COP in lysosome- and Golgi complex containing cell fractions. Acridine orange staining revealed that the pump function of the vATPase was not specifically inhibited by omeprazole. Gene expression of the autophagy-related LC3 gene as well as of Bad, Mdr-1, Atg12 and the vATPase was analysed after treatment of cells with 5-fluorouracil and omeprazole and confirmed the above mentioned results. CONCLUSIONS: We hypothesise that omeprazole interacts with the regulatory functions of the vATPase without inhibiting its pump function. A modulation of the lysosomal transport pathway and autophagy is caused in pancreatic cancer cells leading to programmed cell death. This may circumvent common resistance mechanisms of pancreatic cancer. Since omeprazole use has already been established in clinical practice these results could lead to new clinical applications

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Die Bezugsnormorientierung von Mathematiklehrkräften am Ende der Sekundarstufe I: Konvergenz verschiedener Messverfahren und Wirkung auf motivational-affektive Aspekte des Mathematiklernens und Leistung?

Lehrkräfte unterscheiden sich in den Normen, die sie zur Bewertung von Schülerleistungen heranziehen. Bisherige Studien zeigten, dass eine individuelle Bezugsnormorientierung der Lehrkraft positive Effekte auf die Entwicklung von Schülermotivation und -leistung hat. Wir untersuchten die Generalisierbarkeit früherer Befunde anhand von längsschnittlichen Daten (9. und 10. Klasse) der COACTIV-Studie (NSchüler = 2465; NLehrkräfte = 106). Hierzu analysierten wir die Effekte von multimethodal und mehrperspektivisch erfasster Bezugsnormorientierung auf die Entwicklung zentraler Aspekte der Lernmotivation und der Leistung im Fach Mathematik getrennt für die Schulformen Gymnasium und Realschule. Korrelationsanalysen wiesen darauf hin, dass die verschiedenen Maße zur Erfassung von Bezugsnormorientierung höchstens moderat über Methoden oder Perspektiven hinweg konvergierten. Analysen hierarchisch linearer Modelle zeigten, dass insgesamt viele affektiv-motivationale Schülermerkmale nur geringe Variabilität auf Klassenebene aufwiesen. Effekte von Bezugsnormorientierungen auf die Entwicklung von Motivation und Leistung waren klein, meist statistisch nicht signifikant, sowie inkonsistent für verschiedene Erhebungsmethoden und Schulformen. Zukünftige Forschung sollte Probleme bei der Modellierung und Messung der Bezugsnormorientierung sowie die Analyse von Effekten der Lernumwelt bei nur geringer Variabilität auf der Klassenebene stärker in den Blick nehmen