The Importance of Universities of Applied Sciences for Regional Development – Theory and empirical Evidence for the German Middle Lower Rhine Area

The existence of an adequate research- and development-environment is seen as a locational factor of extraordinary importance for a region. A university of applied sciences as one component of such an environment should be able to influence the innovation behaviour of enterprises positively, although those universities traditionally are noticed as educational institutions. But the education of students can be interpreted as a "supply side effect of those universities, too, because education of students and further education of employees will improve the regions equipment with human capital and so will yield a higher labour productivity. Additionally the transfer of knowledge from science to the entrepreneurial practice is able to increase productivity within the region in question. Another aspect is the strengthening of the adjustment flexibility of regions regarding processes of structural change. The flexibility will be the higher, the higher the qualification level of employees is. The last aspect of universities of applied science in opposite to (ordinary) universities is their stronger regional orientation. The educational supply especially is directed to younger people, who are living in the region. As a result the existing reserves of talents will be exhausted as best as possible. The paper is organised as follows: First a classification of regional supply side effects as mentioned above as well as demand side effects (income and employment effects of the institutions activities) will be presented. In the second part of the paper estimation results of income and employment effects of the University of Applied Sciences Lower Rhine on the basis of a regional multiplier analysis will be described. Supply side effects of this university have been evaluated by using the results of an enterprise poll. In the third part results of that poll about the enterprises knowledge, notices and assessments of the university activities are presented as well as the innovation behaviour of the enterprises and the related impacts of the university. The paper closes with a summary and suggestions regarding further research.

Distribution and reasons explaining mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the EU countries and the US

The M&A phenomenon has more than one century and has reached a particular highlight as the previous millenium went away. In fact, several mega operations occurred in the late nineties, particulary between 1998 and 2000, and it was very well widespread by worldwide media. The growing importance and dimension of the capital markets and also new business strategies seem to provide a major role for business combinations in a more global economy. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the M&A distribution among EU countries and the US. To achieve that we used several data, such as M&A activity and market capitalization, from 1990 to 1999. We also present some reasons that could explain the evolution of M&A activity in the EU in the nineties. The methodology used in the study is based on the regression model and in the 2000 European Comission M&A report.Instituto Politécnico de Braganç

Biothermal conditions on Mt. Zlatibor based on thermophysiological indices

This paper presents part of the research in the field of human bioclimatology and refers to biothermal conditions in different geographical environments in Serbia: an urban area and a mountain of medium height. The goal of the paper was to show bioclimatic differences during the summer between the city of Belgrade (116 m a.s.l.) and the mountain resort of Zlatibor (1498 m a.s.l.). The basic principle of bioclimatic analysis is the human heat balance between man and environment. This methodological approach is a combination of physiological and meteorological parameters that result in thermophysiological bioclimatic indices: heat load (HL) in man and the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). For this analysis, weather data for July, as the warmest month, was obtained, using daily meteorological data for the decade from 2000 to 2010. Results for July indicate a considerable difference between the two abovementioned environments. HL in Belgrade was dominated by degrees of comfort "hot" and "extremely hot, with the highest value of 4.540, while for Zlatibor the dominant degree of comfort was "warm". The UTCI in Belgrade has dominated by strong heat stress and moderate heat stress, compared to Zlatibor where the UTCI is dominated by moderate heat stress. In addition, a significant part of the monitored decade on Mt. Zlatibor was without heat stress, with the exception of 2006 and 2007, indicating favorable biothermal characteristics. Therefore, compared to Belgrade, with its considerably lower overall heat stress Zlatibor has the characteristics of a site with favorable bioclimatic qualities

Precipitation of niobium carbonitrides in ferrite: chemical composition measurements and thermodynamic modelling

High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and electron-energy loss spectroscopy have been used to characterize the structure and chemical composition of niobium carbonitrides in the ferrite of a Fe–Nb–C–N model alloy at different precipitation stages. Experiments seem to indicate the coexistence of two types of precipitates: pure niobium nitrides and mixed substoichiometric niobium carbonitrides. In order to understand the chemical composition of these precipitates, a thermodynamic formalism has been developed to evaluate the nucleation and growth rates (classical nucleation theory) and the chemical composition of nuclei and existing precipitates. A model based on the numerical solution of thermodynamic and kinetic equations is used to compute the evolution of the precipitate size distribution at a given temperature. The predicted compositions are in very good agreement with experimental results

Childhood tuberculosis: progress requires an advocacy strategy now

Childhood tuberculosis (TB) is a preventable and curable infectious disease that remains overlooked by public health authorities, health policy makers and TB control programmes. Childhood TB contributes significantly to the burden of disease and represents the failure to control transmission in the community. Furthermore, the pool of infected children constitutes a reservoir of infection for the future burden of TB. It is time to prioritise childhood TB, advocate for addressing the challenges and grasp the opportunities in its prevention and control. Herein, we propose a scientifically informed advocacy agenda developed at the International Childhood TB meeting held in Stockholm, Sweden, from March 17 to 18, 2011, which calls for a renewed effort to improve the situation for children affected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis exposure, infection or disease. The challenges and needs in childhood TB are universal and apply to all settings and must be addressed more effectively by all stakeholders

Projekt MUSE: Muster und Strukturen in der Schuleingangsphase erkunden

Inwieweit profitieren – insbesondere die schwächeren – Kinder in der Schuleingangsphase von der Förderung der Muster- und Strukturierungsfähigkeit? Ziel dieses Projekts im Schnittfeld von Forschung und Entwicklung ist die Konzeption und Erprobung von Aufgaben und Materialien zur Förderung von Muster- und Strukturierungsfähigkeiten im Rahmen des mathematischen Anfangsunterrichts. Vorgestellt werden das Konzept und erste Ergebnisse einer Interventionsstudie

Unravelling mucosal immunity to poliovirus

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