Context and social enterprises:which environments enable social entrepreneurship?

Societal challenges such as inequalities, poverty, poor health and environmental degradation are growing. Social enterprises – organisations that use market based-based activities to alleviate societal needs – and social entrepreneurs –individuals working for their own account to pursue prosocial goals to benefit others – can help to address such societal challenges. But how can social entrepreneurship be supported through policies and other support measures? To start answering these questions, we explored which environments enable social entrepreneurship across countries globally and across European regions. We did so by taking an institutional perspective, considering (1) formal institutions such as regulation, the welfare state and the rule of law, (2) informal institutions including cultural values and norms, social capital and religiosity, as well as (3) the alignment of formal and informal institutions. We also examined similarities and differences with commercial entrepreneurship to help start understand whether both types of entrepreneurship benefit from similar contexts, or whether there may be competing effects

SEFORIS Country Report - Social Enterprises in the United Kingdom

This country report shares first insights from the World's Largest Panel Study of Social Enterprises for the United Kingdom. It captures the behavior and characteristics of a representative sample of UK social enterprises who are employers. The report covers a range of topics from profiling social enterprise directors and their social enterprises, to innovation activities and barriers, their entrepreneurial orientation, social missions, social impact metrics to summarizing policy recommendations that social entrepreneurs would like to see being implemented. Who should read this report? The report is written for social enterprises, social enterprises support organisations and policy makers who want to get an overview of social enterprise in the UK. Thank you to all the social entrepreneurs who made this report possible by participating in our study

Brief report: a comparison of child mental health inequalities in three UK population cohorts

There are substantial health disparities between children from low and higher income families. The study aimed to test changes in child mental health inequalities across three large UK population cohorts of 11-year old children assessed in 1999, 2004 and 2012 as part of the British Child and Adolescent Mental Health Surveys and Millennium Cohort Study. Child mental health was assessed using parent and teacher versions of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. There were substantial differences in parent and teacher reported symptom scores between children from low and higher income families in each cohort. Differences in parent reported symptoms increased over time (ES = 0.35 [95%CI = 0.20, 0.49] in 1999, ES = 0.39 [95%CI = 0.17, 0.61] in 2004, ES = 0.54 [95%CI = 0.49, 0.58] in 2012); cohort interaction: p = 0.01). This study found that marked child mental health inequalities exist. The mental health gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children has not reduced over the last 20 years and may be getting worse

Social enterprise: Market trends 2017

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) jointly commissioned a report focused on improving the methodology, which allows identification of social enterprises in the UK small business population. Based on this improved methodology and a dedicated survey of a representative sample of the UK small business population, this report provides estimates of the number of social enterprises in the UK, describes the key characteristics of social enterprises and compares these to those of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The survey employed the approach, sampling strategy and telephone survey questionnaire used in the UK Small Business Survey (SBS) and included 1,300 business owners and managers as respondents. Aston Business School and BMG, independent research organisations, carried out the work and survey on behalf of DCMS and BEIS from 2016 to 2017. Previous reports on Social enterprise market trends have been published for 2012 and 2014. Note that due to methodological changes the findings from previous reports cannot be directly compared to the 2017 report

Generating single photons at gigahertz modulation-speed using electrically controlled quantum dot microlenses

This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Appl. Phys. Lett. 108, 021104 (2016) and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4939658.We report on the generation of single-photon pulse trains at a repetition rate of up to 1 GHz. We achieve this speed by modulating the external voltage applied on an electrically contacted quantum dot microlens, which is optically excited by a continuous-wave laser. By modulating the photoluminescence of the quantum dot microlens using a square-wave voltage, single-photon emission is triggered with a response time as short as (281 ± 19) ps, being 6 times faster than the radiative lifetime of (1.75 ± 0.02) ns. This large reduction in the characteristic emission time is enabled by a rapid capacitive gating of emission from the quantum dot, which is placed in the intrinsic region of a p-i-n-junction biased below the onset of electroluminescence. Here, since our circuit acts as a rectifying differentiator, the rising edge of the applied voltage pulses triggers the emission of single photons from the optically excited quantum dot. The non-classical nature of the photon pulse train generated at GHz-speed is proven by intensity autocorrelation measurements with g(2)(0) = 0.3 ± 0.1. Our results combine optical excitation with fast electrical gating and thus show promise for the generation of indistinguishable single photons at rates exceeding the limitations set by the intrinsic radiative lifetime.BMBF, 03V0630, Entwicklung einer Halbleiterbasierten Einzelphotonenquelle für die Quanteninformationstechnologie (QSOURCE)DFG, 43659573, SFB 787: Halbleiter - Nanophotonik: Materialien, Modelle, Bauelement

Challenges in PhD education due to COVID-19 - disrupted supervision or business as usual: a cross-sectional survey of Swedish biomedical sciences graduate students

BackgroundIt remains unclear to what extent the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the normal progression of biomedical and medical science graduate programs and if there was a lasting impact on the quality and quantity of supervision of PhD-students. To date, multiple editorials and commentaries indicate the severity of the disruption without providing sufficient evidence with quantifiable data.MethodsAn online survey was submitted to the administrative offices of biomedical and medical PhD-programs at eight major universities in Sweden to gauge the impact of the pandemic on the students. It consisted of multiple-choice and open-ended questions where students could provide examples of positive and/or negative supervision strategies. Open answered questions were coded as either examples of positive or negative support.ResultsPhD students were divided into two groups: those with improved or unchanged supervision during the pandemic (group 1, n = 185), versus those whose supervision worsened (group 2, n = 69). Group 1 received more help from supervisors and more frequent supervision via both online and alternative platforms (email/messages and telephone). There was no significant difference in educational-stage, gender or caretaking responsibilities between the groups.ConclusionsIt is important for the scientific community to learn how to provide the best possible supervision for PhD students during the pandemic. Our data suggests that more frequent supervision, and using a diverse array of meeting platforms is helpful. In addition, it is important for the students to feel that they have their supervisor's emotional support. Several students also expressed that they would benefit from an extension of their PhD programs due to delays caused by the pandemic

Students at a crossroad: A cross‐sectional survey gauging the impact of COVID‐19 on medical and biomedical graduates in the United States and Sweden

Graduate programs in medicine and biomedical sciences have been severely impacted by the SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic over the last 2 years. Following 2 years since beginning of the pandemic, data on student support, educational and academic performance as well as sentiment on changes to educational programs are starting to emerge. We performed and compared results of two cross-sectional surveys of Swedish and U.S.-based medical and biomedical graduate students on how the pandemic has affected their studies, research productivity and career trajectory. Students were also asked to assess support provided by the university and supervisors. The surveys also captured student demographics and a range of other factors, such as pressures brought on by caretaking and financial responsibilities. We analyzed answers from 264 and 106 students attending graduate programs in universities in Sweden and the United States, respectively. U.S.-based students faced more severe restrictions on their research program compared to students in Sweden, reporting more delays in productivity, scientific output and graduation, and increased worries about their career trajectory. Swedish students had more caretaking responsibilities, although these did not cause any delays in graduation. While support by universities and supervisors was comparable between the countries, financial worries and mental health concerns were particularly prominent in the U.S. cohort. Student performance and outlook was hugely dependent on the breadth of the restrictions and the available support. Besides the governmental and university-led approach to counter the pandemic, societal differences also played a role in how well students were handling effects of the pandemic

Zwischen traditioneller Dialektologie und digitaler Geolinguistik: Der Audioatlas siebenbürgisch-sächsischer Dialekte (ASD)

Der vorliegende Band markiert für die Herausgeber einen Wendepunkt: Er war zunächst ausschließlich als gedrucktes Buch für die Veröffentlichung einer Reihe von Vorträgen zur Arbeitstagung des vom Bundesbeauftragten für Kultur und Medien geförderten Projekts „Audioatlas Siebenbürgisch-Sächsischer Dialekte“ konzipiert worden. Die Tatsache, dass diesem Projekt jedoch im Wesentlichen eine Sammlung von Tonaufnahmen zu Grunde liegt, ließ diese Publikationform schnell als unzulänglich erscheinen. So reifte ganz selbstverständlich der Entschluss, die hier vorgelegten Texte zusätzlich in zeitgemäßer Form im Internet zu veröffentlichen und dabei, die dort gegebenen Möglichkeiten konsequent nutzend, auch Hörbeispiele aus dem Audioatlas einzubinden (http://www.kit.gwi.uni-muenchen.de/). Die doppelte Publikation als Buch und im Netz symbolisiert aus Sicht der Herausgeber den Übergang von der traditionellen zu einer zeitgemäßen Veröffentlichungspraxis mit all ihren technischen Möglichkeiten und ökonomischen Vorteilen

Hunted game birds - Carriers of foodborne pathogens

Game birds may carry zoonotic bacteria in their intestines and transmit them to hunters through bird handling or through the handling and consumption of contaminated meat. In this study, the prevalence of foodborne bacteria was screened from game bird faeces and mallard breast meat using PCR. The sampling occurred in southern Finland from August to December during the hunting season. Isolates were characterized by multi-locus sequence typing. Mesophilic aerobic bacteria and Escherichia coli counts were used to assess the microbial contamination of mallard meat. In total, 100 woodpigeon (Columba palumbus), 101 pheasants (Phasianus colchicus), 110 mallards (Anas platyrhynchos), and 30 teals (Anas crecca) were screened during the hunting season. Additionally, 100 mallard breast meat samples were collected. Campylobacter and Listeria were commonly detected in the faeces and Listeria on mallard meat. L. monocytogenes of sequence types associated with human listeriosis were frequently found in game bird faeces and on mallard meat. Good hygiene during game bird handling, storing the game bird meat frozen, and proper heat treatment are important measures to minimize the health risk for hunters and consumers.Peer reviewe