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One of the biggest challenges faced by many tech start-ups from developed markets is to have validated market-fit products/services and to see their solutions implemented. In several sectors, stringent regulations, and the law of handicap of head start at home can be hurdles that limit the development and even the survival potential of theses start-ups. Tech start-ups seeking implementation, learning, and legitimacy may have a solution in expanding into emerging markets. Emerging markets offer both business opportunities in sectors in need of new technologies as they are “fertile grounds” for developing and testing internationalisation business models. We present here a process designed to help tech start-ups to identify, access, shape and seize these opportunities and to overcome their own specificities and emerging markets specificities. The three phases of the proposed process cover entry node concept, partnership, and business, operating and revenue joint models’ development. DesignScience Research Paradigm is used for the design and evaluation of the process. To show the relevance of this process, a case study on the expansion in Morocco of a Dutch start-up active in e-health is used. The study shows the importance of the process for the embeddedness in a local relevant value network with a relevant adopter’s system, a key enabler to achieve time and cost-effective expansion in that specific business and institutional contexts. A pilot to assess the proposed models and evidence of benefits is under development. To boost their chances of growth tech start-ups from developed markets should consider expansion into emerging markets in their strategy. It would be beneficial that policy makers adopt a strategy by which to assist tech start-ups in accessing value networks in emerging markets. It is also important for policy makers from emerging markets to consider developing schemes to attract tech start-ups from developed markets.
The article explores SME (Small and Medium Sized Enterprises) brand strategies as a means to position and successfully engage in competitive markets. A derived typology of brand strategy types deals with social profiling and sheds light on brand strategy internalization of two current managerial paradigms—sustainability and co-creation. N = 895 German SME wineries were examined, leaning on a netnographic analysis of predominantly websites and social media interactions. A two-step clustering method thereby identified eight winery SME brand strategy types. The importance of sustainability across the identified eight brand strategy types is significant. Co-creation turned out to be a key profiling trait characterizing one brand strategy type. The typology illustrates strategic richness, with brand strategies leaning predominantly on traditional values, on sustainability, on external reputation, or on more innovative customer centric concepts such as co-creation. Hereby, the typology and the identified brand levers invite to strategically design brand management, governance, and sustainability. Wineries which focus on traditional positioning and legitimacy were found to be cautious in deploying co-creation through social media. Winery brands that are characterized by engagement in digital co-creation apparently either tend to expand their scope or partially combine it with traditional values, making them the most diverse type identified. Sustainability obviously needs to be addressed by all brand strategies. Despite industry and country focus, the analyses illustrate the relevance of socially-oriented profiling and highlights that sustainability has reached a status of a fundamental business approach still allowing to differentiate thereon. Furthermore, the business models of the SMEs need to deliver communicated values.
This study sought to apply the Structure Conduct Performance paradigm to Africa´s air transport landscape in general. To do that, it examines the past, present, and future expectations of four of Sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest aviation economies, namely South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Nigeria. Secondary data containing historical passenger traffic was analysed, and predictions for growth in the next ten years were proposed. The findings suggest that the experience of the existing liberalization initiatives, such as the Yamoussoukro Declaration (YD), has produced less than expected benefits. However, the future of aviation in Africa is somewhat positive, with a growth trajectory expected to follow a linear and gradual path supported by various initiatives, including the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCTA). The study’s contribution is to illuminate the current discourse on the aviation sector in Africa through the Structure-Conduct-Performance theory paradigm and suggests a conceptual model that could be applied to future studies relating to aviation in Africa.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide [183], with lung tumors being the most frequent cause of cancer deaths in men as well as one of the most common cancers diagnosed in woman [40]. As symptoms often arise in advanced stages, an early diagnosis is especially important to ensure the best and earliest possible treatment. In order to achieve this, Computed Tomography (CT) scans are frequently used for tumor detection and diagnosis. We will present examples of publicly available CT image data of lung cancer patients and discuss possible methods to realize an automatic system for automated cancer diagnosis. We will also look at the recent SPIE-AAPM Lung CT Challenge [10] data set in detail and describe possible methods and challenges for image segmentation and classification based on this data set.
This article provides insights into the modalities of business-model change and innovation. On the basis of an analysis of empirical data of small and medium enterprises, a transition from wine production centrism to its expanded use in hospitality and tourism is explored. Previous research on wine tourism and hospitality predominantly focuses on a destination perspective, neglecting the organizational winery perspective. The article deploys a mixed methods approach, combining netnography and a content analysis for data collection with grounded research and clustering for theory building. The sample size included 885 German wineries. Data stemmed from two distinct sources (websites and a secondary publication in form of a wine guide) and has been analyzed through a two-step clustering algorithm as well as a Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The two-step clustering algorithm resulted in nine different business models while the PCA analysis grouped the variables into the following two categories: basic winery business model (BM) and BM extension into hospitality and tourism, thereby validating the difference between the two constructs. The results point to the diverse nature of business model extensions of wineries in tourism and hospitality, depending on their organizational type and size. This study offers a classification of small and medium sized enterprise’s strategic business model expansion, and explores the expansion of the wine industry through wine hospitality and tourism services, starting with the winery organizational perspective, which has not been done before.
Most people use disaster apps infrequently, primarily only in situations of turmoil, when they are physically or emotionally vulnerable. Personal data may be necessary to help them, data protections may be waived. In some circumstances, free movement and liberties may be curtailed for public protection, as was seen in the current COVID pandemic. Consuming and producing disaster data can deepen problems arising at the confluence of surveillance and disaster capitalism, where data has become a tool for solutionist instrumentarian power (Zuboff 2019, Klein 2008) and part of a destructive mode of one world worlding (Law 2015, Escobar 2020). The special use of disaster apps prompts us to ask what role consumer protection could play in safeguarding democratic liberties. Within this work, a set of current approaches are briefly reviewed and two case studies are presented of what we call appropriation or design against datafication. These combine document analysis and literature research with several months of online and field ethnographic observation. The first case study examines disaster app use in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the second explores COVID Contact Tracing in Taiwan in 2020/21. Against this backdrop we ask, ‘how could and how should consumer protection respond to problems of surveillance disaster capitalism?’ Drawing on our work with the is IT ethical? Exchange, a co-designed community platform and knowledge exchange for disaster information sharing, and a Societal Readiness Assessment Framework that we are developing alongside it, we explore how co-design methodologies could help define answers.
Most economies across the globe rely on entrepreneurship for growth. There is evidence to suggest that entrepreneurship creates job opportunities and spurs economic growth and development (Pacheco, Dean, & Payne, 2010; Mojica, Gebremedhin, & Schaeffer, 2010, and Solomon, 2007). Even though entrepreneurship is one of the fastest growing education disciplines globally, researchers are still divided on what should be taught and how it should be taught in institutions of higher learning. Entrepreneurial decision-making is laced with uncertainty and drawbacks. Hence, entrepreneurship learners must be taught using practical and conceptual methodologies to equip them with the requisite knowledge and skill that will enable them to confront such challenges in their entrepreneurial activities. This calls for entrepreneurship teachers to be innovative and to also encourage their learners to be innovative as entrepreneurship involves the generation of new business ideas. This paper sought to examine teaching methodologies for entrepreneurship education in institutions of higher learning in Kenya. A mixed-method approach that involved triangulation as the main data collection technique was used. Interviews were administered with teachers and learners of entrepreneurial education in Kenya, with a view to identifying the most commonly used teaching methodologies of entrepreneurial education and their shortcomings. Course outlines and curricula borrowed from twenty (20) institutions of higher learning in Kenya were reviewed. Results indicate that entrepreneurial education in Kenya is largely theoretical and does not meet the needs of the modern entrepreneur. The paper therefore recommends innovative teaching methodologies of entrepreneurial education that can be utilised by the teacher to prepare students adequately to generate entrepreneurial ideas and to identify entrepreneurial opportunities. For this reason, the paper recommends the use of such methodologies as business plan generation, idea generation, innovation, creativity, networking, opportunity recognition, expecting and embracing failure, and adapting to change.
Künstliche Intelligenz im autonomen Fahrzeug verarbeitet enorme Mengen an Daten. Beim Betrieb eines solchen Fahrzeugs basiert jede Bewegung auf einer datenbasierten, automatisierten und adaptiven Entscheidungsfindung. Aber auch, um Regeln zur Erkennung und Entscheidung in komplexen Situationen wie den hochindividuellen Verkehrsszenarien entwickeln zu können (KI-Training), sind bereits beachtliche Datenmengen von Fahrzeugen im Realverkehr erforderlich – zum Beispiel Videosequenzen aus Kamerafahrten. Für das Training Künstlicher Intelligenz ist es aus Sicht der Fahrzeugentwicklung attraktiv, auf den Datenschatz zuzugreifen, den die Gesamtheit der Fahrzeuge im realen Anwendungskontext erzeugen kann. Als Nutzer:innen und Insassen sind Verbraucher:innen so Teil einer groß angelegten Testdatenerhebung durch Fahrzeughersteller und Anbieter. Das wirft Datenschutzfragen auf. Ziel des vorliegenden Beitrags ist es herauszuarbeiten, inwiefern sich hierdurch Implikationen für die Rechte und Freiheiten von Verbraucher:innen ergeben und welche Mechanismen das geltende Recht sowie aktuelle legislative Entwicklungen bereithalten, den „Datenhunger“ der KI mit den Interessen an Datensouveränität und informationeller Selbstbestimmung in Einklang und Ausgleich zu bringen. Im Fokus steht dabei insbesondere, wie Anforderungen schon im Produktdesign „mitgedacht“ werden und damit für Verbraucher:innen rechts- und vertrauensfördernd wirken können.
Datenschutz und informationelle Selbstbestimmung sind Bestandteile aktueller Leitbilder einer Digitalen Bildung in der Schule. Im Kontext der Schulschließungen und der vorrangigen Nutzung digitaler Medien zeigte sich jedoch, dass Datenschutz weder als Thema noch als Gestaltungsprinzip digitaler Lernumgebungen in der bildungsadministrativen und pädagogisch-praktischen Schulwirklichkeit systematisch verankert ist. Die Diskrepanz zwischen aktuellen Leitbildern einer digitalen Bildung und der sichtbar problematischen Praxis des digitalen Notfalldistanzunterrichts markiert den Ausgangspunkt des Beitrages, der sich der übergeordneten Frage widmet, welche Herausforderungen sich bei der Realisierung von Datenschutz in der Schul- und Unterrichtswirklichkeit in einer digital geprägten Welt stellen. Im Sinne einer Problemfeldanalyse werden prototypische Handlungsprobleme der Schule herausgearbeitet. Fokussiert betrachtet werden exemplarische Herausforderungen und Anforderungen an Technologien und Akteur:innen der inneren und äußeren Schulentwicklung auf den Ebenen der Unterrichtsentwicklung, der Personalentwicklung, der Technologieentwicklung und der Organisationsentwicklung.
Hinreichende Datensouveränität gestaltet sich für Verbraucher:innen in der Praxis als äußerst schwierig. Die Europäische Datenschutzgrundverordnung garantiert umfassende Betroffenenrechte, die von verwantwortlichen Stellen durch technisch-organisatorische Maßnahmen umzusetzen sind. Traditionelle Vorgehensweisen wie die Bereitstellung länglicher Datenschutzerklärungen oder der ohne weitere Hilfestellungen angebotene Download von personenbezogenen Rohdaten werden dem Anspruch der informationellen Selbstbestimmung nicht gerecht. Die im Folgenden aufgezeigten neuen technischen Ansätze insbesondere KI-basierter Transparenz- und Auskunftsmodalitäten zeigen die Praktikabilität wirksamer und vielseitiger Mechanismen. Hierzu werden die relevanten Transparenzangaben teilautomatisiert extrahiert, maschinenlesbar repräsentiert und anschließend über diverse Kanäle wie virtuelle Assistenten oder die Anreicherung von Suchergebnissen ausgespielt. Ergänzt werden außerdem automatisierte und leicht zugängliche Methoden für Auskunftsersuchen und deren Aufbereitung nach Art. 15 DSGVO. Abschließend werden konkrete Regulierungsimplikationen diskutiert.
Developing the Circular Economy in Uganda: Prospects for Academia-Public-Private-Partnerships
(2021)
Issues: Circular economy is a production system that optimizes the reusability of by-products/waste as raw materials. As the global population threatens to reach 9 billion by 2050, consumption levels grow proportionally, raising food, material, and energy demands. In Uganda, soil nutrient depletion and energy poverty are key challenges faced by urban and rural communities. Rampart depletion of natural resources calls for transit from the linear economic models towards sustainable production/consumption technologies. This study investigated prospects for APPP to optimize the reusability of by-products/waste as raw materials. Approach: Quantitative and qualitative tools were used to collect data via document analysis, interviews, and participant observations. The tools were administered to municipal authorities, private waste-collecting agencies in cities and municipalities; officials in Ministries of energy and Agriculture; officials in universities research units and entrepreneurs that deal in agricultural and energy products; officials from civil society organizations. Findings: there are a number of sustainability projects being undertaken by Universities and High schools, Government agencies, companies, and civil society organization isolation. Singlehandedly, individual agencies lack the requisite capacity to develop closed-loop production/consumption models. Analysis of a few successful RRR projects suggests that APPP is positioned to promote CE. Transiting towards a circular economy requires joint ventures to optimize human, technological, and financial resources and develop policy and institutional frameworks. In Uganda, recycling biotic by-products can promote environmental sustainability; reduce stress on natural resources; enable cost savings; promote green entrepreneurship, and create jobs/livelihoods. Conclusion: working jointly, CE could be enhanced via technical and business models by the academia, private capital investment by companies, community engagement by CSOs, and development of supportive policy and institutional frameworks to facilitate decision-making processes. The APPPs are positioned to use interactive platforms for creating awareness and promote sensitization about green values through education and multimedia communication platforms.
Unsere interdisziplinäre Forschungsarbeit „Die Gestaltung wirksamer Bildsymbole für Verarbeitungszwecke und ihre Folgen für Betroffene“ („Designing Effective Privacy Icons through an Interdisciplinary Research Methodology“) baut auf dem „Data Protection by Design“-Ansatz (Art. 25(1) DSGVO) auf und zielt auf folgende Forschungsfragen ab: Wie müssen das Transparenzprinzip (Art. 5(1)(a) DSGVO) und die Informationspflichten (Art. 12-14 DSGVO) insbesondere im Hinblick auf die Festlegung der Verarbeitungszwecke (Art. 5(1)(b) DSGVO) umgesetzt werden, damit sie die Nutzer:innen effektiv vor Risiken der Datenverarbeitung schützen? Mit welchen Methoden lässt sich die Wirksamkeit der Umsetzung ermitteln und diese auch durchsetzen?1 Im vorliegenden Projekt erweitern wir juristische Methoden um solche aus der HCI-Forschung (Human Computer Interaction) und der Visuellen Gestaltung. In einer ersten Phase haben wir mit empirischen Methoden der HCI-Forschung untersucht, welche Datennutzungstypen Nutzer:innen technologieübergreifend als relevant empfinden. Diese Erkenntnisse können als Ausgangspunkt für eine neue Zweckbestimmung dienen, die bestimmte Datennutzungstypen deutlicher ein- oder ausschließt. Erste Umformulierungen von Zweckbestimmungen haben wir in zwei Praxisworkshops mit Verantwortlichen der Datenverarbeitung getestet. In einer darauffolgenden qualitativen Studie untersuchten wir dann die Einstellungen und Erwartungen von Internetnutzerinnen und -nutzern am Beispiel der Personalisierung von Internetinhalten, um die entsprechenden Zwecke anhand eines konkreten Beispiels, in unserem Fall der personalisierten Werbung, neu zu formulieren. Auf dieser Basis haben wir nun die zweite Forschungsphase begonnen, in der wir Designs für Datenschutzhinweise und Kontrollmöglichkeiten unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Verarbeitungszwecks entwickeln. Da der Einsatz von Cookies eine wichtige Rolle bei der Personalisierung von Werbung spielt, ist eine zentrale Aufgaben die Neugestaltung des sogenannten „Cookie-Banners“.
This paper gives an overview of how we can benefit from using container technology in our academic work. It aims to be a starting point for fellow researchers which also think about applying these technologies. Hence, we focus on decribing our own experiences and motivations instead of proving hard scientific facts.
A school leader’s achievement is not what they study in learning institutions but the way they organize themselves into problem solving and realistic decision making. While this includes some taught hard skills, the bulk of school activities rely on soft skills. Soft skills, however, are frequently neglected, although they play an important role in school principals’ daily operations as an instructional supervisor. This study aimed to examine the relationship between soft skills training and Principals' performance. The study adopted a cross-sectional mixed survey design. Using Yamane formulae, the sample comprised of 167 principals from 286 public secondary schools in Kiambu County. These were spread proportionally across all the 12 sub-counties in the County. The principal research instrument was primarily a questionnaire. The reliability of the instrument using the Cronbach Alpha coefficient was deemed reasonable at.73. The findings showed that a substantial relationship exists between the training of the principal on soft skills and their good performance of the duties. The study suggests routine in-service training should be undertaken in the county to improve the development of soft skills. It is also advisable that undergraduate, postgraduate, or in-service training include soft skills as a unit, to build knowledge of the value of soft skills.
Die soziale Netzwerkanalyse versucht menschliche Interaktion in einen analytischen und auswertbaren Zusammenhang zu bringen. Sie hat sich als Methode in den letzten Jahrzehnten über die Sozialwissenschaften hinaus in die Geschichtswissenschaften, Archäologie und Religionswissenschaften verbreitet. Dabei fanden verschiedene Paradigmenwechsel statt, zum Beispiel vom statischen Netzwerken mit dem Schwerpunkt auf quantitativ-struktureller Analyse hin zu heterogenen Handlungsnetzwerken wie zum Beispiel in der der Actor Network Theory (ANT) gewandelt. Der Fokus liegt aktuell eher auf der Frage des Informationsaustauschs und der Dynamik nicht statischer Netzwerke.
Research on entrepreneurial eco-systems is evolving with exhortations for empirical studies at regional and local levels to augment national surveys. The study, therefore, sought to explore the entrepreneurial eco-system of the Central Region, which is relatively well-endowed with natural resources but lags behind in economic advancement in Ghana. Through descriptive research design, quantitative data were collected using self-administered questionnaires from a convenience sample of 44 entrepreneurs under the presidential business support programme in the Central Region of Ghana, in 2019. Data were analysed, by conducting descriptive analysis such as means (M) and percentages and by exploratory factor analysis, with the IBM SPSS Version 25. Descriptive results of 37 valid responses showed that the respondents were satisfied, in varying degrees (M = 4.19-5.65), with 11 factors within the eco-system; the top three factors were demand, security and availability of raw materials. Respondents were, however, not satisfied with access to business development services, access to finance, rent charges and access to repairers of equipment and thus, pose as challenges to their entrepreneurial pursuits. Principal component analysis revealed inter-connectedness among the factors in the eco-system with strong loadings of measures of institutions and resource endowment under the two components of the solution. Based on the findings, it is concluded that the entrepreneurs surveyed were satisfied with more factors in the EES of the Central Region while they were dissatisfied with relatively few but critical factors in the EES, thereby posing as major challenges to their entrepreneurial activities. As an exploratory study, the findings suggest that the entrepreneurial eco-system of the Central Region of Ghana is, to some extent, supportive of entrepreneurial activities but has key challenges. To achieve maximum outcomes, policy interventions should collectively address, at a time, factors that interact strongly to influence entrepreneurship within the system.
BACKGROUND
Biallelic loss-of-function variants in NCF1 lead to reactive oxygen species deficiency and chronic granulomatous disease (CGD). Heterozygosity for the p.Arg90His variant in NCF1 has been associated with susceptibility to systemic lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, and Sjögren's syndrome in adult patients. This study demonstrates the association of the homozygous p.Arg90His variant with interferonopathy with features of autoinflammation and autoimmunity in a pediatric patient.
CASE PRESENTATION
A 5-year old female of Indian ancestry with early-onset recurrent fever and headache, and persistently elevated antinuclear, anti-Ro, and anti-La antibodies was found to carry the homozygous p.Arg90His variant in NCF1 through exome sequencing. Her unaffected parents and three other siblings were carriers for the mutant allele. Because the presence of two NCF1 pseudogenes, this variant was confirmed by independent genotyping methods. Her intracellular neutrophil oxidative burst and NCF1 expression levels were normal, and no clinical features of CGD were apparent. Gene expression analysis in peripheral blood detected an interferon gene expression signature, which was further supported by cytokine analyses of supernatants of cultured patient's cells. These findings suggested that her inflammatory disease is at least in part mediated by type I interferons. While her fever episodes responded well to systemic steroids, treatment with the JAK inhibitor tofacitinib resulted in decreased serum ferritin levels and reduced frequency of fevers.
CONCLUSION
Homozygosity for p.Arg90His in NCF1 should be considered contributory in young patients with an atypical systemic inflammatory antecedent phenotype that may evolve into autoimmunity later in life. The complex genomic organization of NCF1 poses a difficulty for high-throughput genotyping techniques and variants in this gene should be carefully evaluated when using the next generation and Sanger sequencing technologies. The p.Arg90His variant is found at a variable allele frequency in different populations, and is higher in people of South East Asian ancestry. In complex genetic diseases such as SLE, other rare and common susceptibility alleles might be necessary for the full disease expressivity.
In times of climatic or political grievances that affect not only human life worldwide, but also the environment and the economic situation of a country, a change in the way of thinking about tourism is beginning and the sector of ecotourism is also becoming increasingly important in Germany. The applicability of this form of tourism in the East African destination Kenya in the form of a travel package that is both partly unique and can be designed individually describes the subject matter of this elaboration and is illustrated using the example of the charitable organization Mully Children's Family and the related registered tourism company, MCF Africa Safaris. The underlying research aims to determine how to transform the organisation's own tree planting initiative into a niche tourist market and how this must be geared to gain the interest of the German eco-tourist. Based on the evaluation of the research results, there is high potential, which is dedicated to the implementation of a form of travel consisting of the active support of the named charity and its initiative as well as individually selectable holiday activities in the target market Kenya. As a result, there are basic prerequisites, the consideration of which is essential for the successful integration of the so-called niche market tree planting and the branch-specific nature of ecotourism in the Kenyan travel market.
Kenya as a touristic destination is well known as an exotic country offering many different landscapes as well as the diversity of wildlife; this is typical for several African countries. To ensure a sustainable tourism development, different forms of tourism have to be considered. One of these forms could be eco-mountain bike cycling tours, as these tours are gaining in popularity, for example in Germany. The aim of this study was to obtain results regarding the market potential for mountain bike eco-tourism in Kenya. The up-and-coming tourism branch of mountain biking was examined in connection with the increasing demand for long-distance travel. The results of this study showed that mountain biking in exotic countries like Kenya has market potential in principle. However, it was also found that mountain biking alone is not a sufficient pull factor for tourists. The combination with other activities turned out to be promising. It was found that tourist packages that include mountain biking as an activity are perceived as attractive. Moreover, it was obtained that not only tourists who ride a mountain bike regularly are addressed as a target group. Even "regular" tourists find mountain biking an attractive (touristic) activity, especially in combination with game drives. Experts also assess the market potential for eco-mountain bike tourism as positive and find existing routes and accommodation attractive. The findings are giving indications for the possibilities to develop eco-mountain bike tourism as a touristic alternative and addition to existing touristic products.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact that various types of business model extensions (hospitality and tourism, online sales platforms, and sustainability) have on the winery business. The research is based on company data and online observations of N = 886 German wineries and deploys a content analysis, netnography, and structural equation modeling (SEM) in order to test the hypothesis on business model extensions of wineries, which have been set forth in the previous literature. The findings indicate that business model extensions related to online sales platforms have a positive impact on winery business size. These results mean that developing online sales platforms enlarges the winery BM (business model) size and type (manager-run, state-owned, or cooperatives). The paper presents in detail the impact of winery BM extensions on winery BM model type and size, thereby contributing to the literature on business model innovation.