Entrepreneurship and country-level innovation: investigating the role of entrepreneurial opportunities

Since the work of Schumpeter, entrepreneurship has been regarded as a concept that is in close relation to innovation. However, recent country level investigations show that technology innovation and new business creation can be regarded as two separate phenomena. In this paper we provide an explanation for the above contradiction through the distinguishing between two types of entrepreneurship, necessity and opportunity entrepreneurship. Building on opportunity theory and rational choice theory, we investigate the influence of both types of entrepreneurship on country-level innovation, and furthermore, pay particular attention to the interaction between opportunity entrepreneurship and the amount of opportunities available. We find that necessity entrepreneurship is inversely related to country-level innovation, whereas opportunity entrepreneurship is positively linked to technological progress. The positive effect of opportunity entrepreneurship, however, diminishes with an increased amount of entrepreneurial opportunities. This interaction indicates that opportunity availability is an important element of a country’s entrepreneurship environment.     

Suicidality of chronic schizophrenic patients in long-term community care

In the provision of mental health care for chronic schizophrenic patients, the specific problems and requirements of long-term community care of suicidal behavior is an area of research not yet fully explored. This study focuses on a 4 1/2-year prospective assessment of normative and subjective needs for care related to this specific area for a cohort living in the Dresden region (Germany). One significant result of this study shows the constant high level of needs for care in the area of suicidal behavior imposed on community services by 30-40% of this diagnostic group. Furthermore, the study identified a special high-risk subgroup for suicides as well as specific needs for care. This subgroup is characterized by clinical reasons for the index hospitalization (suicidal risk or attempt) as well as by psychopathological features (suicidal thoughts and higher levels of anxiety/depression) 1 month after release from index hospitalization. Four items of care were rated as potentially effective for addressing suicidality in the community setting: clinical assessment, increased supervision or systematic recording of (suicidal) behavior, medication, and a sheltered environment. Because these care measures are provided, the percentage of unmet normative needs for the area of suicidal behavior was rather low. Due to limitations of the instrument used for assessment of normative needs, the Needs for Care Assessment (NFCAS), the care measures most frequently provided do not define a quality standard of community care for this problem. A subjective needs assessment differing from the normative approach has to be integrated in establishing guidelines for effective community care.     

Cell line DNA typing in forensic genetics--the necessity of reliable standards

The incorporation of reference DNA is crucial to the validation of any DNA typing protocol. This paper aims to provide a panel of reference DNAs for actual forensic profiling strategies, i.e. autosomal and gonosomal STR typing as well as mtDNA sequencing. We have characterised three human lymphoid cell lines, GM9947, GM9948 and GM3657, and considered 58 autosomal and gonosomal microsatellites as well as the mitochondrial control region sequence. Well-established markers and STRs recently developed for forensic use were involved. K562 DNA samples which we purchased from two different suppliers were also analysed. They revealed conflicting results with regard to the ChrX STR marker genotype. Hence, we suggest that K562 is no longer used for the calibration of profiling techniques. Our investigation establishes a panel of one female and two male DNA samples as an STR allelic ladder calibration tool and offers information on six alleles of each autosome (AS) marker, three alleles of each X chromosome (ChrX) marker and two alleles of each ChrY marker. In addition, sequences of the mitochondrial control region of the three DNAs are communicated in order to provide sequencing quality control.     

Demokratie und Imperium. Tocqueville in Amerika und Algerien

Zusammenfassung Im Zentrum des Aufsatzes steht der Versuch, Tocquevilles Rechtfertigung der Kolonialisierung Algeriens aus seiner sozialen und politischen Analyse der Demokratie in Amerika zu erkl?ren. Die Eroberung und Besiedlung Algeriens ist für Tocqueville die M?glichkeit, die unaufhaltsam expansive und gewaltf?rmige Seite der demokratischen Lebensform zu nutzen, um die Gef?hrdungen, die zugleich von ihr ausgehen (Individualismus, Konformismus, Gleichgültigkeit), zu kompensieren. Mit dem imperialen Projekt zur Errichtung einer nordafrikanischen Kolonie sollte eine konformistische und erwerbsorientierte Bourgeoisie zu einer politisch führenden und tugendhaften Klasse erzogen und dem demokratischen Frankreich wieder der gebührende machtpolitische Platz unter den europ?ischen Nationen einger?umt werden. Erst sp?t erkennt Tocqueville, dass der brutale Verwüstungskrieg des franz?sischen Milit?rs gegen die indigene Bev?lkerung sich als das genaue Gegenteil erweist: n?mlich als Brutst?tte für Rassismus, Gewalt und Unterdrückung.

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Summary Tocqueville’s justification of the French conquest and colonization of Algeria is not merely a blind spot of an otherwise liberal and enlightened thinker. It is a consequence of his social and political analysis of democracy as a dangerous way of life. For Tocqueville, the imperial conquest and occupation of Algeria was a kind of escape from the crisis and vulnerability democracy caused in the domestic politics of France, i.e. individualism, conformism and apathy. With the national project to raise a French colony on the coast of North Africa he intended to forge a political class of virtuous citizens out of a rather commercial and depoliticized bourgeoisie. At the same time a democratic France should recapture its former powerful position among the European nations. It is only in his late writings on Algeria that Tocqueville recognizes the disastrous outcome of this nation- and class-building politics: the ruthless war waged by the French military against the indigenous population proved to be a hotbed of racism, violence and domination.

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Résumé Cet article tente d’expliquer les raisons qui ont poussé Tocqueville à justifier la colonisation de l’Algérie à partir de son analyse politique et sociale de la démocratie en Amérique. Tocqueville voit dans la conquête et le peuplement de l’Algérie la possibilité de tirer parti des tendances expansionnistes et violentes du mode de vie démocratique pour neutraliser les dangers (individualisme, conformisme, indifférence) qui lui son inhérents. Le projet impérial d’établir une colonie nord-africaine était destiné à transformer une bourgeoisie conformiste et matérialiste en une classe politiquement dominante et vertueuse ainsi qu’à redonner à la France démocratique le rang qui lui revenait parmi les nations européennes. Ce n’est que tardivement que Tocqueville a compris que la guerre brutale et impitoyable menée par l’armée fran?aise contre la population indigène s’avérait être l’exact contraire: le terreau du racisme, de la violence et de l’oppression.

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Der Aufsatz ist die erweiterte Fassung meines Habilitationsvortrags, der am 4. Juli 2005 vor der Philosophischen Fakult?t III der Humboldt Universit?t zu Berlin gehalten wurde. Für Anregungen und Hinweise danke ich Harald Bluhm, Hans-Christoph Schr?der, Skadi Krause und Effi B?hlke.     

Deaths associated with electric shock injuries in children and adults: A 10-year retrospective examination in Şanlıurfa,Southeast Turkey (2012–2022)

Electric shock injuries (EIs) have high rates of morbidity and mortality in both children and adults. The aim of this study was to examine autopsy cases resulting from EIs and to compare pediatric and adult groups with respect to sociodemographic data, clinical characteristics, location of the incident, electricity entry–exit wound characteristics, current direction, pathological effects of the electric shocks on the body, and cause of death. A total of 8075 autopsies conducted between 2012 and 2022 were retrospectively examined. Şanliurfa is a city in the southeast of Turkey with the highest birth rate in the country. Of 123 cases of death resulting from EIs in Şanliurfa, 58 (47.2%) were children (age < 18 years). In the majority of children (81%), a low-voltage injury resulted from a domestic appliance while the children were playing at home in a rural area. In the vast majority of adults, a high-voltage injury (HVI) resulted from a workplace accident due to working with HVI materials in an area outside the home. The manner of death was accidental in all the electric shock injuries. The electricity entry and exit wounds formed as a result of EIs had similar characteristics in both children and adults, with no significant difference identified. In the province of Şanliurfa, Turkey, which borders Syria and where the main occupation is agricultural activities, there is a need to increase electrical safety precautions within the home, educate parents, and increase electrical safety conditions and worker education in the workplace.     

An unusual case of a triple suicide pact at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic

In December 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared SARS-CoV2 a global pandemic. Home confinement, low social contacts, and fear of virus transmission played a major role as risk factors for suicides during the following period. Suicide pacts, in particular, showed a different pattern. A rare case of a triple suicide pact among members of the same family nucleus is presented. The victims were an elderly, severely ill woman and her adult children (a son and daughter), linked by a morbid relationship. The last time the family was seen alive was 40 days before the discovery. All corpses presented decompositional changes. After a full autopsy, the cause of death was determined to be a lethal intake of morphine for the mother and acute blood loss due to self-stabbing at the neck for the siblings. The younger woman was under the effects of a large amount of heparin. Toxicological analysis was positive for opioids and alcohol in both siblings. Suicide pacts have rarely been described during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the few cases reported, the victims were more often relatives than people in a romantic relationship. The involvement of three people is unusual, as is the use of different suicide methods among the victims. In the presented case, the elderly mother's imminent death from terminal cancer, her concern over dying in a nondomestic environment, and the siblings' fear of being alone likely led to the conception of the suicide pact. Social isolation and economic difficulties also played a contributing role.     

Knowledge of child abuse and neglect in nursing students: Assessment and perspectives

Misdiagnosis of child abuse and neglect can delay early treatment. Some authors have pointed out that nurses can miss child abuse and neglect diagnoses due to a lack of knowledge. It is unclear whether the lack of knowledge is due to students' insufficient preparation in nursing school and/or a deficiency in continuing education. An 18-item questionnaire was administered to final-year nursing students to assess their degree of knowledge on child abuse and neglect and to evaluate if the lack of knowledge was due to insufficient teaching/training during nursing school. The students were also asked to evaluate themselves by assigning a score to their knowledge. A statistical comparison was performed to define whether sufficient/insufficient results were associated with the following variables: sex, pediatric or general nursing student, attending pediatric lectures, training in pediatric wards/ambulatories, and attending specific lectures on child abuse and neglect. The study population comprised 175 students (154 females, 20 males, 1 unknown). Exactly 66.3% of the participants had ≤9/18 correct answers. Of all students, 77.7% self-evaluated their level of knowledge as ≤5/10. The comparisons yielded statistically significant differences between the groups with sufficient objective knowledge and those unrelated to training in pediatric wards/ambulatories or pediatric nursing students. Overall, there was little objective knowledge on the subject, which may be related to insufficient teaching/training in nursing schools. Useful corrective strategies include further teaching on child abuse and neglect, preferably using a practical approach. Further, common teaching/training programs should be conducted by both pediatric and general nursing schools.     

A systematic approach to improve downstream single-cell analysis for the DEPArray™ technology

Most commercially available STR amplification kits have never been fully validated for low template DNA analysis, highlighting the need for testing different PCR kits and conditions for improving single-cell profiling. Here, current strategies rely mainly on adjusting PCR cycle number and analytical threshold settings, with a strong preference for using 30 amplification cycles and thresholds at 30–150 RFU for allele detection. This study aimed to (1) determine appropriate conditions for obtaining informative profiles utilizing a dilution series, and (2) test the outcome on single cells using the DEPArray™ technology. Four routinely applied forensic STR kits were compared by using three different amplification volumes and DNA dilutions down to 3.0 pg, while two well-performing kits were used for single/pooled leucocyte and sperm cell genotyping. Besides reduced costs, the results demonstrate that a 50%–75% PCR volume reduction was beneficial for peak height evaluation. However, this was counteracted by an increased artifact generation in diluted DNA volumes. Regarding profile completeness, the advantage of volume reduction was only prominent in samples processed with Fusion 6C. For single and pooled cells, ESIFast and NGMDetect provided a solid basis for consensus profiling regarding locus failure, although locus dropouts were generally observed as stochastic events. Amplification volume of 12.5 μL was confirmed as appropriate in terms of peak heights and stutter frequencies, with increased stutter peaks being the main artifact in single-cell profiles. Limitations associated with these analyses are discussed, providing a solid foundation for further studies on low template DNA.