Does Qualification Drive Innovation? A Microeconometric Analysis Using Linked-employer-employee Data

Degree-level science and engineering skills as well as management and leadership skills are often referred to as a source of innovative activities within companies. Broken down by sectoral innovation patterns, this article examines the role of formal education and actual occupation for product innovation performance in manufacturing firms within a probit model. It uses unique micro data for Germany (LIAB) that contain detailed information about innovative activities and the qualification of employees. We find significant differences of the human capital endowment between sectors differentiated according to the Pavitt classification. Sectors with a high share of highly skilled employees engage in product innovation above average (specialized suppliers and science based industries). According to our hitherto estimation results, within these sectors the share of highly skilled employees does not, however, substantially increase the probability to be an innovative firm.innovation, human capital, qualification, sectoral innovation system

Neural network based path collective variables for enhanced sampling of phase transformations

We propose a rigorous construction of a 1D path collective variable to sample structural phase transformations in condensed matter. The path collective variable is defined in a space spanned by global collective variables that serve as classifiers derived from local structural units. A reliable identification of local structural environments is achieved by employing a neural network based classification. The 1D path collective variable is subsequently used together with enhanced sampling techniques to explore the complex migration of a phase boundary during a solid-solid phase transformation in molybdenum

Relatedness facilitates cooperation in the subsocial spider, Stegodyphus tentoriicola

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Cooperative hunting and foraging in spiders is rare and prone to cheating such that the actions of selfish individuals negatively affect the whole group. The resulting social dilemma may be mitigated by kin selection since related individuals lose indirect fitness benefits by acting selfishly. Indeed, cooperation with genetic kin reduces the disadvantages of within-group competition in the subsocial spider <it>Stegodyphus lineatus</it>, supporting the hypothesis that high relatedness is an important pre-adaptation in the transition to sociality in spiders. In this study we examined the consequences of group size and relatedness on cooperative feeding in the subsocial spider <it>S. tentoriicola</it>, a species suggested to be at the transition to permanent sociality.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We formed groups of 3 and 6 spiders that were either siblings or non-siblings. We found that increasing group size negatively affected feeding efficiency but that these negative effects were reduced in sib-groups. Sib groups were more likely to feed cooperatively and all group members grew more homogenously than groups of unrelated spiders. The measured differences did not translate into differential growth or mortality during the experimental period of 8 weeks.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The combination of our results with those from previous studies indicates that the conflict between individual interests and group interests may be reduced by nepotism and that the latter promote the maintenance of the social community.</p

Educational inequality after high school graduation - there is a way to change that: An inquiry into the effectiveness of an intensive counseling program 1.5 years after high school graduation

The German education system is characterized by strong social inequalities in university access. These may be reduced by offering individual counseling sessions to students in their final two years of high school. The study "Zukunftsund Berufspläne nach dem Abitur" (ZuBAb) examines how such intensive and individual guidance counseling affects participants' educational trajectories using an experimental design that allows for making internally valid inferences regarding the program's causal effects. Based on data (N = 1,064) collected about 1.5 years after participants earned their university entrance diploma (Abitur), we looked at whether the program promotes university enrollment among persons of low educational origin, whether it reduces educational inequalities at the transition from school to higher education, and how educational trajectories change in the period between 0.5 years and 1.5 years after graduation, depending on whether students received counseling or not. The results show a strong program effect of 8 percentage points on university enrollment rates among persons of low educational origin and a strong inequality-reducing effect of the counseling program (15 percentage points or 71 percent in relative terms). The program's positive impact stems from the fact that participation tends to improve fit between a student's academic performance and the educational pathway chosen after graduation. Moreover, the results show that positive program effects begin to emerge only after 1.5 years post-graduation (whereas no positive effect was found 0.5 years after graduation) because persons who start a gap year experience (e.g., voluntary community service year) right after earning their Abitur are especially likely to benefit from program participation. Additionally, a detailed breakdown of educational trajectories over time shows that the program not only promotes university enrollment among persons of low educational origin and enrollment in vocational training schemes among persons of high educational origin but also, in descriptive terms, helps graduates start any kind of post-school educational pathway. The findings make clear that studies designed to make comprehensive inferences about the effects of educational programs should also consider persons of high educational origin and should look not only at university enrollment but also at the smooth transition to any kind of postsecondary educational pathway. They also show that researchers and practitioners need to be patient because there may be some delay until measurable positive effects of individual counseling sessions begin to unfold

Mate availability does not influence mating strategies in males of the sexually cannibalistic spider Argiope bruennichi

Background Sexual selection theory predicts that male investment in a current female should be a function of female density and male competition. While many studies have focused on male competition, the impact of female density on male mating investment has been widely neglected. Here, we aimed to close this gap and tested effects of mate density on male mating decisions in the orb-web spider Argiope bruennichi. Males of this species mutilate their genitalia during copulation, which reduces sperm competition and limits their mating rate to a maximum of two females (bigyny). The mating rate is frequently further reduced by female aggression and cannibalization. Males can reduce the risk of cannibalism if they jump off the female in time, but will then transfer fewer sperm. An alternative solution of this trade-off is to copulate longer, commit self-sacrifice and secure higher minimal paternity. The self-sacrificial strategy may be adaptive if prospective mating chances are uncertain. In A. bruennichi, this uncertainty may arise from quick changes in population dynamics. Therefore, we expected that males would immediately respond to information about low or high mate availability and opt for self-sacrifice after a single copulation under low mate availability. If male survival depends on information about prospective mating chances, we further predicted that under high mate availability, we would find a higher rate of males that leave the first mating partner to follow a bigynous mating strategy. Method We used naïve males and compared their mating decisions among two treatments that differed in the number of signalling females. In the high mate availability treatment, males perceived pheromone signals from four adult, virgin females, while in the low mate availability treatment only one of four females was adult and virgin and the other three were penultimate and unreceptive. Results Males took more time to start mate searching if mate availability was low. However, a self-sacrificial strategy was not more likely under low mate availability. We found no effects of treatment on the duration of copulation, the probability to survive the first copulation or the probability of bigyny. Interestingly, survival chances depended on male size and were higher in small males. Discussion Our results do not support the hypothesis that mate density variation affects male mating investment, although they clearly perceived mate density, which they presumably assessed by pheromone quantity. One reason for the absence of male adjustments to mating tactics could be that adaptations to survive female attacks veil adaptations that facilitate mating decisions

Nudging and boosting children's restaurant menus for healthier food choice: A blinded quasi-randomized controlled trial in a real life setting.

Background: Restaurants are ideal settings for implementing food interventions targeted at children. Studies with adults suggest that changes to the physical menu can lead to healthier food choices; online studies with parents indicate that specific menu designs facilitate healthier choices. However, it is unknown whether applying well-established nudging and boosting methods to children’s menus also increases their choice of healthier meals in a real-world restaurant setting. Methods: The effects of two versions of a restaurant menu on the frequency of choosing a healthy meal (newly created, healthy target dish) were tested in a blinded quasi-randomized controlled trial. The menu in the control condition contained all dishes (including the healthy target dish) in a standardized format. The intervention menu included nudging (e.g. comic character, fun attractive name for the dish) and boosting elements (e.g. information on low calorie density) next to the healthy target dish. Over five months, the control and intervention menus were switched every two weeks and records were made of how often the healthy target dish was ordered. Results: In total, 607 orders were made from the children’s restaurant menu (57% from the intervention menu). During the intervention phase, 4.2% of all ordered dishes from the children’s menu were the healthy target dish, during the control phase, 4.4% of orders were for the target dish (p=.896). Conclusions: Contrary to our hypothesis, a modified children’s menu did not lead to a significant increase in the number of orders for a healthy dish compared with a neutral control menu. Importantly, given that parents and children often choose the child’s dish together, particularly boosting methods that focus on social processes and joint decision making could be promising to increase children’s frequency of healthy food choices in restaurants

Rejoinder to “The Prevalence of Cognitive Impairment Is Not Increasing in the United States: A Critique of Hale et al. (2020)”

Non peer reviewe

Specific DTI seeding and diffusivity-analysis improve the quality and prognostic value of TMS-based deterministic DTI of the pyramidal tract

Object Navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) combined with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is used preoperatively in patients with eloquent-located brain lesions and allows analyzing non-invasively the spatial relationship between the tumor and functional areas (e.g. the motor cortex and the corticospinal tract [CST]). In this study, we examined the diffusion parameters FA (fractional anisotropy) and ADC (apparent diffusion coefficient) within the CST in different locations and analyzed their interrater reliability and usefulness for predicting the patients' motor outcome with a precise approach of specific region of interest (ROI) seeding based on the color-coded FA-map. Methods Prospectively collected data of 30 patients undergoing bihemispheric nTMS mapping followed by nTMS-based DTI fiber tracking prior to surgery of motor eloquent high-grade gliomas were analyzed by 2 experienced and 1 unexperienced examiner. The following data were scrutinized for both hemispheres after tractography based on nTMS-motor positive cortical seeds and a 2nd region of interest in one layer of the caudal pons defined by the color-coded FA-map: the pre- and postoperative motor status (day of discharge und 3 months), the closest distance between the tracts and the tumor (TTD), the fractional anisotropy (FA) and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). The latter as an average within the CST as well as specific values in different locations (peritumoral, mesencephal, pontine). Results Lower average FA-values within the affected CST as well as higher average ADC-values are significantly associated with deteriorated postoperative motor function (p = 0.006 and p = 0.026 respectively). Segmental analysis within the CST revealed that the diffusion parameters are especially disturbed on a peritumoral level and that the degree of their impairment correlates with motor deficits (FA p = 0.065, ADC p = 0.007). No significant segmental variation was seen in the healthy hemisphere. The interrater reliability showed perfect agreement for almost all analyzed parameters. Conclusions Adding diffusion weighted imaging derived information on the structural integrity of the nTMS-based tractography results improves the predictive power for postoperative motor outcome. Utilizing a second subcortical ROI which is specifically seeded based on the color-coded FA map increases the tracking quality of the CST independently of the examiner's experience. Further prospective studies are needed to validate the nTMS-based prediction of the patient's outcome