Der Einfluss institutioneller Rahmenbedingungen auf die Gründungsneigung von Wissenschaftlern an deutschen Hochschulen

Wissenschaftlerinnen und Wissenschaftler an Hochschulen verfügen über ein hohes Maß an innovativem Wissen, das die ideale Ausgangsbasis für eine Unternehmensgründung darstellen kann. Bisher fehlte jedoch eine umfassende empirische Analyse, inwieweit die bestehenden Rahmenbedingungen tatsächlich die Gründungsneigung von Hochschulmitarbeitern beeinflussen. Hier setzt die vorliegende Studie an, indem sie die Wirkung der verschiedenen Einflussfaktoren (die Arbeitsbedingungen, Netzwerkbeziehungen und gründungsfördernde Hochschulangebote) untersucht und potenzielle institutionelle Handlungsfelder identifiziert. Die Befragung von 5.992 Wissenschaftlern an 73 deutschen Hochschulen hat dabei gezeigt, dass insbesondere Forschungsanreize und die erfolgreiche Vermarktung eigener Forschungsergebnisse, aber auch Rollenvorbilder im kollegialen Umfeld, Netzwerke - hier insbesondere zu externen Partnern - und spezifische Infrastrukturangebote gründungsfördernd wirken.Knowledge of great commercial value is unexploited in universities. Thus, policy makers have started to foster knowledge transfer activities by incentivizing academic entrepreneurship. To date, however, little is known whether the incentives provided so far by the universities have raised the start-up inclination of their scientific staff. Using data of 5,992 academic scientists in 73 German universities, we analyze how working conditions, network structures, and institutions affect the likelihood of the scientific staff to get engaged in entrepreneurial activity. We find that for example role models ("peers") as well as the infrastructure - namely consulting offers, start-up camps, awards and patent exploitation agencies - have a strong positive impact on the entrepreneurial propensity of scientists

Individual and structural influences on the entrepreneurial activities of academics

In this paper we study how and to what extend (i) individual working conditions (e.g. peers, working atmosphere, work contract incentives, wage satisfaction), (ii) institutions (e.g. technology transfer offices, patent exploitation agencies, chair in entrepreneurship or awards for academic entrepreneurship) and (iii) network relationships simultaneously affect the likelihood of engaging in entrepreneurial activities (nascent entrepreneurship) in academia. Using unique data collected from 5.992 academic scientists in 73 German Universities Germany, we find that entrepreneurial peers and performance based monetary incentives have a strong positive effect on the entrepreneurial intentions. We show that, although there is a comprehensive support infrastructure for start-ups in German academic institutions, these services are little known amongst their staff. Finally we find that market related networks show a high correspondence with high entrepreneurial intentions, whereas networks within the own university do not have any impact. Several mentioned aspects were analyzed before, but mostly on a limited sample (e.g. only stem field), isolated personal variables (e.g. gender) or isolated environmental aspects (e.g. peer groups). Our study provides a holistic view on the impact of several university-specific structural factors on entrepreneurial intentions among academic scientists in Germany by simultaneously focusing on personal and occupational characteristics for different faculties.Wissenschaftliches Hochschulpersonal generiert im Rahmen seiner Forschungstätigkeit Innovationen und verfügt über aktuelles Wissen, das als Basis für eine innovative Unternehmensgründung betrachtet werden kann. Bisher fehlte jedoch eine umfassende empirische Analyse, inwieweit die bestehenden institutionellen Rahmenbedingungen die Gründungsneigung von Wissenschaftlern beeinflussen. Hier setzt die vorliegende Studie an, indem sie die Wirkung personenbezogener und institutioneller Einflussfaktoren (wie Arbeitsbedingungen, Netzwerkbeziehungen und gründungsfördernde Hochschulangebote) untersucht und potenzielle institutionelle Handlungsfelder identifiziert. Die Befragung von 5.992 Wissenschaftlern an 73 deutschen Hochschulen hat gezeigt, dass insbesondere monetäre Anreize im Forschungskontext aber auch Rollenvorbilder im kollegialen Umfeld, Netzwerke - hier insbesondere außerhalb der eigenen Institution - und spezifische Infrastrukturangebote gründungsfördernd wirken

Impact of effervescent atomization on oil drop size distribution of atomized oil-in-water emulsions

In this work the application of effervescent atomization to spray drying of food liquids like emulsions is explored. Therefore the influence of the atomization process on the breakup of oil drops inside the emulsion is investigated. It is expected that the oil drop size distribution of the emulsion is influenced by the stress inside the nozzle orifice and the following atomization. According to Grace the viscosity ratio between disperse and continuous phase is a crucial factor for drop breakup. A model oil-in-water emulsion was used. The viscosity of the continuous phase was adjusted by adding maltodextrin or gelatinized corn starch thus varying the viscosity ratio in the range between 15 and 0.1. The dry matter content and corresponding viscosity show only low influence on the spray drop size distribution. However, the atomized emulsions contain mostly smaller oil drops compared to the original emulsions. The influence of the atomization on the oil drop size distribution decrease with decreasing viscosity ratios. An influence of increasing stress due to increased atomization gas mass flow is present but less significant. The viscosity ratio thus allows controlling the influence of the atomization on the oil drop size distribution in the spray. The invariance of the spray drop size distribution on minor changes in fluid properties like viscosity is a favorable characteristic in food processing where such changes are common

Investigating German Higher Education Institutions\u27 Transfer Activities: New Measurements Based on Web Mining

In recent years, higher education institutions (HEI) have expanded their involvement in diverse transfer activities (TA), extending beyond traditional teaching and research roles. These TA are often heterogeneous and informal, which makes measuring their full scope and effects challenging. In this article, we propose a new and straightforward to implement approach for mastering this task. In a first step, we theoretically derive three different dimensions of transfer, namely the transfer of knowledge, technology and personnel. For each of these categories, we develop an artificial intelligence (AI) optimized keyword list. Finally, we use these lists and apply web mining techniques and natural language processing (NLP) to measure TA from German HEI. To this end, we analyze a total of 299,229 texts from 376 German HEI websites. Our study shows that our proposed approach represents an effective and valuable tool for measuring TA from HEI and provides a foundation for further research

Pictures in Your Mind: Using Interactive Gesture-Controlled Reliefs to Explore Art

Tactile reliefs offer many benefits over the more classic raised line drawings or tactile diagrams, as depth, 3D shape, and surface textures are directly perceivable. Although often created for blind and visually impaired (BVI) people, a wider range of people may benefit from such multimodal material. However, some reliefs are still difficult to understand without proper guidance or accompanying verbal descriptions, hindering autonomous exploration. In this work, we present a gesture-controlled interactive audio guide (IAG) based on recent low-cost depth cameras that can be operated directly with the hands on relief surfaces during tactile exploration. The interactively explorable, location-dependent verbal and captioned descriptions promise rapid tactile accessibility to 2.5D spatial information in a home or education setting, to online resources, or as a kiosk installation at public places. We present a working prototype, discuss design decisions, and present the results of two evaluation studies: the first with 13 BVI test users and the second follow-up study with 14 test users across a wide range of people with differences and difficulties associated with perception, memory, cognition, and communication. The participant-led research method of this latter study prompted new, significant and innovative developments

Morphometric characterisation of wing feathers of the barn owl Tyto alba pratincola and the pigeon Columba livia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Owls are known for their silent flight. Even though there is some information available on the mechanisms that lead to a reduction of noise emission, neither the morphological basis, nor the biological mechanisms of the owl's silent flight are known. Therefore, we have initiated a systematic analysis of wing morphology in both a specialist, the barn owl, and a generalist, the pigeon. This report presents a comparison between the feathers of the barn owl and the pigeon and emphasise the specific characteristics of the owl's feathers on macroscopic and microscopic level. An understanding of the features and mechanisms underlying this silent flight might eventually be employed for aerodynamic purposes and lead to a new wing design in modern aircrafts.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A variety of different feathers (six remiges and six coverts), taken from several specimen in either species, were investigated. Quantitative analysis of digital images and scanning electron microscopy were used for a morphometric characterisation. Although both species have comparable body weights, barn owl feathers were in general larger than pigeon feathers. For both species, the depth and the area of the outer vanes of the remiges were typically smaller than those of the inner vanes. This difference was more pronounced in the barn owl than in the pigeon. Owl feathers also had lesser radiates, longer pennula, and were more translucent than pigeon feathers. The two species achieved smooth edges and regular surfaces of the vanes by different construction principles: while the angles of attachment to the rachis and the length of the barbs was nearly constant for the barn owl, these parameters varied in the pigeon. We also present a quantitative description of several characteristic features of barn owl feathers, e.g., the serrations at the leading edge of the wing, the fringes at the edges of each feather, and the velvet-like dorsal surface.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The quantitative description of the feathers and the specific structures of owl feathers can be used as a model for the construction of a biomimetic airplane wing or, in general, as a source for noise-reducing applications on any surfaces subjected to flow fields.</p

Spitzer Space Telescope evidence in NGC 6791: no super-mass-loss at super-solar metallicity to explain helium white dwarfs?

We use archival Spitzer Space Telescope photometry of the old, super-solar metallicity massive open cluster NGC 6791 to look for evidence of enhanced mass loss, which has been postulated to explain the optical luminosity function and low white dwarf masses in this benchmark cluster. We find a conspicuous lack of evidence for prolificacy of circumstellar dust production that would have been expected to accompany such mass loss. We also construct the optical and infrared luminosity functions, and demonstrate that these fully agree with theoretical expectations. We thus conclude that there is no evidence for the mass loss of super-solar metallicity red giants to be sufficiently high that they can avoid the helium flash at the tip of the red giant branch.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJ Letter