What Inspires Leisure Time Invention?

This paper seeks to understand the intriguing but only sparsely explored phenomenon of “leisure time invention,” where the main underlying idea for the new product or process occurs when the inventor is away from the workplace. We add to previous research by focussing on the inventive creativity of the individual researcher, and reassessing the image of researchers inventing during unpaid time – who have often been dispatched as “hobbyists”. Based on the responses from a survey of over 3,000 German inventors, we tested hypotheses on the conditions under which leisure time invention is likely to arise. Results suggest that the incidence of leisure time invention is positively related to exposure to a variety of knowledge inputs – but, surprisingly, not to the quality of prior inventive output. Leisure time inventions are more frequently observed in conceptual-based technologies than in science-based technologies, in smaller R&D projects, and in externally financed R&D projects

What Inspires Leisure Time Invention?

This paper seeks to understand the intriguing but only sparsely explored phenomenon of “leisure time invention,” where the main underlying idea for the new product or process occurs when the inventor is away from the workplace. We add to previous research by focussing on the inventive creativity of the individual researcher, and reassessing the image of researchers inventing during unpaid time – who have often been dispatched as “hobbyists”. Based on the responses from a survey of over 3,000 German inventors, we tested hypotheses on the conditions under which leisure time invention is likely to arise. Results suggest that the incidence of leisure time invention is positively related to exposure to a variety of knowledge inputs – but, surprisingly, not to the quality of prior inventive output. Leisure time inventions are more frequently observed in conceptual-based technologies than in science-based technologies, in smaller R&D projects, and in externally financed R&D projects.Leisure Time; Inventiveness; Organizational Creativity

Liquid transport generated by a flashing field-induced wettability ratchet

We develop and analyze a model for ratchet-driven macroscopic transport of a continuous phase. The transport relies on a field-induced dewetting-spreading cycle of a liquid film with a free surface based on a switchable, spatially asymmetric, periodic interaction of the liquid-gas interface and the substrate. The concept is exemplified using an evolution equation for a dielectric liquid film under an inhomogeneous voltage. We analyse the influence of the various phases of the ratchet cycle on the transport properties. Conditions for maximal transport and the efficiency of transport under load are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

International Research Symposium on Talent Education, Part 5: The challenges of offering group class

This is the fifth installment in a series of articles reporting on a large‐scale demographic survey of North American Suzuki teachers. The last article in this series examined some of the perceived benefits of group class. In this article, we will review participants’ perceptions of the challenges of group class. Participating teachers were asked to respond to the open‐ended question, "What is the greatest challenge of group class?" Their responses were coded and analyzed for important themes

International Research Symposium on Talent Education, Part 6: Parent education in Suzuki studios

This is the sixth installment in a series of articles reporting on a large‐scale demographic survey of North American Suzuki teachers. The previous article in this series examined some of the perceived challenges of group class. In this article, we will review teachers' descriptions of the parent education offerings within their studios. Teachers were asked to provide information about the structure, content, and intensity of their parent education programs. The survey questions included both initial education for new families entering their studios, as well as ongoing education for returning families

Economic and Spatial Impacts of a Wildlife Habitat Policy on Forest Management

Regulations protecting habitat of forest-dwelling species often impact forest management practices. Those impacts may be mutually beneficial to both wildlife and forestry or they may lead to unanticipated negative outcomes, such as an associated economic cost compared to management free from habitat regulations. One example of a regulation that impacts forest management is the zoning of winter habitat of white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) in Maine, where deer abundance has been consistently below socially desired levels in most areas of the State since the 1970s due in part to the heavy toll of severe winter weather. To mitigate winter-related mortality, the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) sought to establish protected zones for winter deer habitat (or deeryards) in areas of dense softwood forest cover and traditional deer use. MDIFW also developed an approval process to ensure timber harvests maintained zoned habitat. While there are benefits to supporting the deer population, there are also potential drawbacks to managing for winter habitat on land used primarily for timber production. This thesis assessed both the stand-level economic and landscape-level habitat implications of this wildlife policy. The first research component evaluated the economic implications of Maine’s winter deer habitat zoning policy by quantifying the cost to landowners of managing deeryards on their land. Using the Forest Vegetation Simulator, I modeled six silvicultural management scenarios and calculated the financial outcomes by wood product stumpage price. Results were dependent on site and the influence of landowner objectives on past forest management and ranged from lower harvest revenues inside deeryards because of less stand tending to higher revenues inside deeryards because of commercially favorable species composition. Adaptive implementation of novel silvicultural regimes holds opportunities for positive habitat-level outcomes with commercially viable timber management. Clearer habitat management guidelines based on standard forest inventory metrics may facilitate the harvest approval process and help foresters realize the potential of silvicultural management within deeryards. In the face of persistently low deer numbers in northern Maine, MDIFW is reevaluating its guidelines regarding maintenance of habitat features within zoned deeryards and the biological basis of zone delineation. I used maps of tree species abundance and harvest history to evaluate and compare forest characteristics within existing zoned deeryards to areas that would be delineated based on a proposed new zoning method. This analysis of northern Maine led to identification of areas that currently exhibit the desirable characteristics of white-tailed deer winter habitat and a quantitative evaluation of that habitat’s distribution. The original zoned deeryards effectively protected patches of softwood-dominated forest from intensive timber harvests. Many patches of potential wintering habitat persist across northern Maine and tend to be aggregated on the landscape. These findings provide new information to aid in revision and improvement of winter deer habitat regulations and guidelines and to mitigate their unintended side effects

International Research Symposium on Talent Education, Part 4: The joys and benefits of Suzuki group class

This is the fourth article in a series reporting the findings of a large-scale demographic study of Suzuki teachers in Canada and the United States. Previous articles introduced the research, reporting on basic demographic statistics, teacher training, studio size, and structure of group classes. In this article we report on the results of an open-ended response question regarding the benefits of student participation in Suzuki group class

Current induced rotational torques in the skyrmion lattice phase of chiral magnets

In chiral magnets without inversion symmetry, the magnetic structure can form a lattice of magnetic whirl lines, a two-dimensional skyrmion lattice, stabilized by spin-orbit interactions in a small range of temperatures and magnetic fields. The twist of the magnetization within this phase gives rise to an efficient coupling of macroscopic magnetic domains to spin currents. We analyze the resulting spin-transfer effects, and, in particular, focus on the current induced rotation of the magnetic texture by an angle. Such a rotation can arise from macroscopic temperature gradients in the system as has recently been shown experimentally and theoretically. Here we investigate an alternative mechanism, where small distortions of the skyrmion lattice and the transfer of angular momentum to the underlying atomic lattice play the key role. We employ the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation and adapt the Thiele method to derive an effective equation of motion for the rotational degree of freedom. We discuss the dependence of the rotation angle on the orientation of the applied magnetic field and the distance to the phase transition.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures; minor changes, published versio