The Knowledge Production of 'R' and 'D'

Many studies investigate the relationship between R&D expenditures as an input and patents as an intermediate product or output of a knowledge production function. We suggest that the productivity of research in patent production functions has been underestimated in the literature, as scholars typically use information about R&D, i.e. the sum of research expenditure and development expenditure, due to data availability. However, in most industries only (applied) research will lead to patentable knowledge, and development happens after the initial research phase that may have led to a patent. Instead of using data on R&D, we separate the knowledge creating process into 'R' and 'D'. This data stems from R&D surveys of Belgian firms. It turns out that only the 'R' part of R&D expenditure has a significant effect on patents and that development expenditure are insignificant. Thus previous literature relying on R&D expenditure suffers from a measurement error, such that the coefficient of R&D is biased towards zero, as R&D includes a large fraction of irrelevant expenditure, i.e. development expenditure, with respect to patenting. --Patents,Research,Development,Knowledge Production Function

On the Value of Penalties in Time-Inconsistent Planning

People tend to behave inconsistently over time due to an inherent present bias. As this may impair performance, social and economic settings need to be adapted accordingly. Common tools to reduce the impact of time-inconsistent behavior are penalties and prohibition. Such tools are called commitment devices. In recent work Kleinberg and Oren [EC, 2014] connect the design of a prohibition-based commitment device to a combinatorial problem in which edges are removed from a task graph G with n nodes. However, this problem is NP-hard to approximate within a ratio less than n^(1/2)/3 [Albers and Kraft, WINE, 2016]. To address this issue, we propose a penalty-based commitment device that does not delete edges, but raises their cost. The benefits of our approach are twofold. On the conceptual side, we show that penalties are up to 1/beta times more efficient than prohibition, where 0 < beta <= 1 parameterizes the present bias. On the computational side, we improve approximability by presenting a 2-approximation algorithm for allocating penalties. To complement this result, we prove that optimal penalties are NP-hard to approximate within a ratio of 1.08192

The Knowledge Production of ‘R’ and ‘D’

Many studies investigate the relationship between R&D expenditures as an input and patents as an intermediate product or output of a knowledge production function. We suggest that the productivity of research in patent production functions has been underestimated in the literature, as scholars typically use information about R&D, i.e. the sum of research expenditure and development expenditure, due to data availability. However, in most industries only (applied) research will lead to patentable knowledge, and development happens after the initial research phase that may have led to a patent. Instead of using data on R&D, we separate the knowledge creating process into R’ and D’. This data stems from R&D surveys of Belgian firms. It turns out that only the R’ part of R&D expenditure has a significant effect on patents and that development expenditure are insignificant. Thus previous literature relying on R&D expenditure suffers from a measurement error, such that the coefficient of R&D is biased towards zero, as R&D includes a large fraction of irrelevant expenditure, i.e. development expenditure, with respect to patenting

LOWER EXTREMITY MUSCLE ACTIVITIES AND GAIT KINEMATICS IN HIKING USING TREKKING SHOES AND HIGH-CUFF HIKING BOOTS

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of high-cuff hiking boots on gait kinematics and lower extremity muscle activities compared with standard trekking shoes. 16 participants walked on a treadmill at 0°and 12° inclination uphill with both, a high-cuff hiking boot and a standard trekking shoe. Kinematics was collected with a 12 camera IR system. The activities of the mm. tib. ant., soleus, gastroc., rect. fem., vast. lat. and bic. fem. was recorded. For all muscles substantially higher muscle activities have been found for the uphill condition. While the activity of the mm. bic. fem. and tib. ant. was higher using high-cuff hiking boots, the activity for the mm. gastroc., soleus and vast. lat. was reduced. These results might help to understand more specifically the effect of footwear in hiking in general and to support the development of hiking footwear

Component-Resolved Diagnosis (CRD) of Type I Allergy with Recombinant Grass and Tree Pollen Allergens by Skin Testing

The diagnosis of Type I allergy is based on the measurement of allergen-specific IgE antibodies and on provocation with allergens, most frequently conducted by skin testing. Both forms of diagnosis are currently performed with allergen extracts that are difficult to standardize regarding their allergen contents, and which contain additional undefined nonallergenic components. We report the expression in Escherichia coli and purification of some of the most relevant timothy grass- and birch pollen allergens. Recombinant timothy grass- (rPhl p 1, rPhl p 2, rPhl p 5) and birch pollen (rBet v 1, rBet v 2) allergens were purified and used for the measurement of allergen-specific IgE and IgG subclass responses as well as for skin prick testing in 55 pollen allergic patients and 10 nonatopic individuals. Results obtained showed that the recombinant allergens allowed in vivo allergy diagnosis in 52 of 54 of the grass pollen and in 35 of 36 of the birch pollen allergic patients. Positive skin reactions were observed almost exclusively in patients containing detectable allergen-specific IgE antibodies but not in the nonatopic group; however, sensitivity to a given allergen as measured by skin reactivity was weakly correlated with the levels of allergen-specific IgE. Our results demonstrate that recombinant allergens can be used for component-resolved skin test diagnosis (CRD) of the patients’ allergen sensitization profile, whereas allergen extracts at best allow to identify allergen-containing sources. CRD may thus represent the basis for novel forms of patient-tailored immunotherapy

Konstruktive Annäherungen an EQF und DQR: das Modell "Grund- und Fortbildungszertifikat für Lehrende in der Weiterbildung"

One important piece of groundwork for the EQF debate in the adult education profession is to explore relevant competence profiles. In the run-up to a European conference, as part of an EU-funded project, profiles of this type in the countries of Europe were studied, compared and checked to discover whether they could be linked in to the qualifications framework. The article, originally published in English, is available here in an abridged German version.Im Mai 2007 hat eine vom DIE veranstaltete internationale Konferenz Entwicklungs- und Forschungsdesiderata erörtert, die zur Verbesserung der Professionalität des Weiterbildungspersonals beitragen sollen. Zugleich sind Wissenschaftler gebeten worden, einen Überblick über die Professionalisierungs- und Professionalitätsdebatten in den einzelnen Ländern zu geben. Schon damals wurde der Europäische Qualifikationsrahmen zu einem zentralen Bezugspunkt. Aus der Abschlusspublikation zu der Konferenz, die unter dem Titel "Qualifying Adult Learning Professionals in Europe" Anfang 2008 erschienen ist, dokumentieren wir den Beitrag Bechtel 2008 in gekürzter Fassung und deutscher Übersetzung. Er gibt Aufschluss darüber, wie Querverbindungen zwischen den Anforderungen eines Qualifikationsrahmens und der Situation des Personals in der Erwachsenenbildung in europäischen Ländern gezogen werden

Field assisted sintering of Ta–Al2_2O3_3 composite materials and investigation of electrical conductivity

Ta–Al$_2$O$_3$ composite samples with different compositions are prepared using Field Assisted Sintering Technique (FAST). Two different alumina powders are used to investigate the influence of the starting powders particle size on the microstructural features and the resulting electrical conductivity of the prepared composite materials. Percolation threshold of the two material systems is influenced by the metal fraction, as well as the alumina particle size of the starting powder. The percolation threshold for the fine- and the coarse-grained alumina is found to be at 15 vol.-% Ta and 7.5 vol.-% Ta, respectively. Microstructural investigations show significant differences in terms of particle shape of both, Ta and Al$_2$O$_3$ after sintering, most likely being the reason for the different percolation thresholds of the investigated materials. Anisotropy effects resulting from the processing using FAST and the influence on electrical properties are also shown

Export of Importin α from the Nucleus Is Mediated by a Specific Nuclear Transport Factor

AbstractNLS proteins are transported into the nucleus by the importin α/β heterodimer. Importin α binds the NLS, while importin β mediates translocation through the nuclear pore complex. After translocation, RanGTP, whose predicted concentration is high in the nucleus and low in the cytoplasm, binds importin β and displaces importin α. Importin α must then be returned to the cytoplasm, leaving the NLS protein behind. Here, we report that the previously identified CAS protein mediates importin α re-export. CAS binds strongly to importin α only in the presence of RanGTP, forming an importin α/CAS/RanGTP complex. Importin α is released from this complex in the cytoplasm by the combined action of RanBP1 and RanGAP1. CAS binds preferentially to NLS-free importin α, explaining why import substrates stay in the nucleus

Field‐Assisted Sintering of Nb–Al2_2O3_3 Composite Materials and Investigation of Electrical Conductivity

Field-assisted sintering technique (FAST) is used for the preparation of Nb–Al$_2$O$_3$ composite materials. The electrical conductivity is investigated depending on the particle size of the used starting powders and under varying volume contents of the refractory metal in the starting powder mixture. The percolation threshold is investigated and found to be influenced not only by the metal fraction but also by the particle size of the alumina used for sample preparation. For the fine- and coarse-grained alumina, a percolation threshold of 17.5 and 10 vol% Nb is estimated, respectively. Furthermore, the microstructure is investigated to gain a basic understanding of the dependency between microstructural features and the resulting material properties on the macroscopic scale. Also, the influence of the sintering process and the resulting microstructure–properties relationship is considered. It could be shown that the electrical properties are anisotropic because of anisotropy effects caused by the FAST process