Open Access

This textbook contains and explains essential mathematical formulas within an economic context. A broad range of aids and supportive examples will help readers to understand the formulas and their practical applications. This mathematical formulary is presented in a practice-oriented, clear, and understandable manner, as it is needed for meaningful and relevant application in global business, as well as in the academic setting and economic practice.

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 study examined social values that accounted for electronic waste recycling and reuse behaviours. Via a crosscommunity survey of 193 of households in the Cape Coast Metropolis, a correlational design was employed in the study. Partial Least Squares-Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data. Results from the analysis showed the influence of altruistic values (β = 0.275, p < 0.05) on reuse behaviour. Similarly, environmental awareness (β = 0.213, p<0.05) also showed significant influence on participation in recycling, whereas psychological ownership significantly influenced both reuse (β = 0.319, p < 0.05), and participation in recycling (β = 0.339, p < 0.05), The joint significance of altruistic values, environmental awareness and psychological ownership to explaining recycling participation was 21.3% (R2 = 0.213, p < 0.05) and that of reuse was 24.6% (R2 = 0.246, p < 0.05). The results of the study showed that individuals who are knowledgeable about the state of their environment were more likely to participate in recycling. On the other hand, individuals with altruistic values preferred giving unwanted electronic equipment to others for reuse. Altruistic values are particularly true of collectivist cultural orientation. Psychological ownership was significant in predicting both behaviours, however, the effect size on reuse was moderate. Psychological ownership due to waste aversion and frugality lead consumers to keep, and subsequently give to close relatives in their social network. It was recommended that individuals should be encouraged to patronize formal recycling services. as a way to show concern for the well-being of others by reducing pollution due to improper waste treatment. Again, like in developed economies, second-hand collection systems for unwanted electronic products can be developed, and made convenient for individuals with reusable items, who may be willing to donate or even resell.

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.

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.

There is severe clinical vitamin A deficiency (VAD) prevalence among Ghanaians and many African countries. Foodbased diets has been suggested as a more sustainable approach to solving the VAD situation in Africa. In this study, A participatory action research between orange flesh sweet potato farmers, gari processors within central region and academia was adopted to develop gari containing provitamin A beta-carotene. Gari is a major staple for Ghanaians and people in the West African subregion due to its affordability and swelling capacity. It is mainly eaten raw with water, sugar, groundnut and milk as gari-soakings or with hot water to prepare gelatinized food called gari-kai in Ghana or “eba” among Nigerians. However, gari is limited in provitamin A carotenoids. Orange fleshed sweet potato (OFSP) is known to contain large amount of vitamin A precursor. Therefore, addition of OFSP to gari would have the potential to fight the high prevalence rate of vitamin A deficiency amongst less developed regions of Africa. To develop this, different proportions of orange fleshed sweet potatoes (OFSP) was used to substitute cassava mash and fermented spontaneously to produce composite gari - a gritty-crispy ready-to-eat food product. Both the amount of OFSP and the fermentation duration caused significant increases in the β-carotene content of the composite gari. OFSP addition reduced the luminance while roasting made the composite gari yellower when compared with the cake used. Addition of OFSP negatively affected the swelling capacity of the gari although not significant. The taste, texture, flavour and the overall preferences for the composite gari decreased due to the addition of the OFSP but fermentation duration (FD) improved them. The sample with 10% OFSP and FD of 1.81 days was found to produce the optimal gari. One-portion of the optimal gari would contribute to 34.75, 23.2, 23.2, 27, 17 and 16% of vitamin A requirements amongst children, adolescent, adult males, adult females, pregnant women and lactating mothers respectively. The study demonstrated that partial substitution of cassava with OFSP for gari production would have the potential to fight the high prevalence rate of vitamin A deficiency amongst less developed regions of Africa while involvement of farmers and processors prior to the design of research phase enhanced the adoption of intervention strategies.

Studies in entrepreneurship education in hospitality and tourism has indicated that further attention could be given toward helping students to develop creativity and critical thinking skills, engage in deeper self-discovery experiences, and understand tourism more fully to help prepare them for entrepreneurial roles. This study aims at evaluating Hospitality entrepreneurial modules offered in Tourism programs in Ghanaian institutions. The curriculum of Tourism in two tertiary institutions in Ghana offering Tourism is studied. The research highlights on the need to integrate hospitality technical skills into Tourism education to create a culture that will enhance the growth of entrepreneurial hospitality into Tourism as culinary Tourism is becoming common. Some of the challenges faced by tourism students and entrepreneurship educators are highlighted. Structured interview technique was used to collect data from 20 purposive sampled students of the selected institutions. The results revealed that the level of importance and attention given to hospitality skills in tourism and the perception of students on acquisition of the required competencies is minimal. It is therefore recommended that more skills and competences in hospitality operation, food and beverage production and service be introduced in tourism education in a more holistic manner with emphasis on skill acquisition in order to make the tourism graduate more creative and critical thinker in today’s global competitive environment.

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.

In March 2020, the world was hit by the coronavirus disease (COVID‐19) pandemic which led to all‐embracing measures to contain its spread. Most employees were forced to work from home and take care of their children because schools and daycares were closed. We present data from a research project in a large multinational organisation in the Netherlands with monthly quantitative measurements from January to May 2020 (N = 253–516), enriched with qualitative data from participants' comments before and after telework had started. Growth curve modelling showed major changes in employees' work‐related well‐being reflected in decreasing work engagement and increasing job satisfaction. For work‐non‐work balance, workload and autonomy, cubic trends over time were found, reflecting initial declines during crisis onset (March/April) and recovery in May. Participants' additional remarks exemplify that employees struggled with fulfilling different roles simultaneously, developing new routines and managing boundaries between life domains. Moderation analyses demonstrated that demographic variables shaped time trends. The diverging trends in well‐being indicators raise intriguing questions and show that close monitoring and fine‐grained analyses are needed to arrive at a better understanding of the impact of the crisis across time and among different groups of employees.

Off-lattice Boltzmann methods increase the flexibility and applicability of lattice Boltzmann methods by decoupling the discretizations of time, space, and particle velocities. However, the velocity sets that are mostly used in off-lattice Boltzmann simulations were originally tailored to on-lattice Boltzmann methods. In this contribution, we show how the accuracy and efficiency of weakly and fully compressible semi-Lagrangian off-lattice Boltzmann simulations is increased by velocity sets derived from cubature rules, i.e. multivariate quadratures, which have not been produced by the Gauß-product rule. In particular, simulations of 2D shock-vortex interactions indicate that the cubature-derived degree-nine D2Q19 velocity set is capable to replace the Gauß-product rule-derived D2Q25. Likewise, the degree-five velocity sets D3Q13 and D3Q21, as well as a degree-seven D3V27 velocity set were successfully tested for 3D Taylor–Green vortex flows to challenge and surpass the quality of the customary D3Q27 velocity set. In compressible 3D Taylor–Green vortex flows with Mach numbers on-lattice simulations with velocity sets D3Q103 and D3V107 showed only limited stability, while the off-lattice degree-nine D3Q45 velocity set accurately reproduced the kinetic energy provided by literature.

Womöglich ist das social distancing dieser Tage gar kein soziales sondern einfach nur ein körperliches, ein body distancing. Sozial können wir heute auch sein, ohne uns physisch zu begegnen. Wir können sogar "gemeinsam einsam" musizieren oder im Chor singen. Trotzdem geht etwas verloren - und am Ende wissen wir Zusammenkünfte in Vereinen welcher Art auch immer vielleicht wieder besonders zu schätzen.

Sharing economies enabled by technical platforms have been studied regarding their economic, legal, and social effects, as well as with regard to their possible influences on CSCW topics such as work, collaboration, and trust. While a lot current research is focusing on the sharing economy and related communities, there is little work addressing the phenomenon from a socio-technical point of view. Our workshop is meant to address this gap. Building on research themes and discussion from last year’s ECSCW, we seek to engage deeper with topics such as novel socio-technical approaches for enabling sharing communities, discussing issues around digital consumer and worker protection, as well as emerging challenges and opportunities of existing platforms and approaches.

While academic research on recovery was rather segregated between occupational health psychology and management research at the beginning of the 20s century and streams of research developed independently, recent developments hint at a closing divide and better integration of recovery research across disciplines. This for example becomes evident in publications of researchers across the traditional outlets within both fields, as well as increasing close collaborations of researchers firmly rooted in one of the fields. In preparation of this special issue, the editors were interested in whether this development represents a convergence or even a true merging of research in these different disciplines. We therefore interviewed Prof. Sabine Sonnentag as expert from occupational health psychology research and Prof. Ute Stephan with expertise in management research. Both are excellent and world-famous researchers in their disciplines. We discussed the current state, the advances during the last years, and the future directions of recovery research in their respective fields. We also talked about their perspectives on integrative topics and about specific issues in both domains that might stimulate a new recovery management research agenda.

In Deutschland im Allgemeinen sowie in der Region Bonn-Rhein-Sieg im Konkreten ist ein Startup-Trend sichtbar, der sich insbesondere auf den digitalen Bereich erstreckt. Dies äußert sich z.B. durch die Realisierung verschiedener Digital Hubs, unter anderem auch dem Digital Hub Bonn, sowie diversen Netzwerken und Communities, die sich mit dem Thema Unternehmensgründung befassen. Die Studierenden der Hochschule Bonn-Rhein-Sieg (H-BRS) stellen dabei potenzielle Unternehmensgründer dar. Das Centrum für Entrepreneurship, Innovation und Mittelstand (CENTIM) hat als Hochschulinstitut zur Aufgabe unter anderem den Bereich Entrepreneurship zu vertreten. Um die Studierenden in ihren Gründungsaktivitäten besser unterstützen zu können, soll ein Überblick über das Gründungsverhalten sowie das Gründungsinteresse der Studierenden erstellt werden. Dabei sollen ebenfalls mögliche Optimierungsfelder der Lehr- und Beratungsangebote identifiziert werden.

Fabry disease (FD) is an X‐linked lysosomal storage disorder. Deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme alpha‐galactosidase (GLA) leads to accumulation of potentially toxic globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) on a multisystem level. Cardiac and cerebrovascular abnormalities as well as progressive renal failure are severe, life‐threatening long‐term complications. The complete pathophysiology of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in FD and the role of tubular involvement for its progression are unclear. We established human renal tubular epithelial cell lines from the urine of male FD patients and male controls. The renal tubular system is rich in mitochondria and involved in transport processes at high energy costs. Our studies revealed fragmented mitochondria with disrupted cristae structure in FD patient cells. Oxidative stress levels were elevated and oxidative phosphorylation was up‐regulated in FD pointing at enhanced energetic needs. Mitochondrial homeostasis and energy metabolism revealed major changes as evidenced by differences in mitochondrial number, energy production and fuel consumption. The changes were accompanied by activation of the autophagy machinery in FD. Sirtuin1, an important sensor of (renal) metabolic stress and modifier of different defense pathways, was highly expressed in FD. Our data show that lysosomal FD impairs mitochondrial function and results in severe disturbance of mitochondrial energy metabolism in renal cells. This insight on a tissue‐specific level points to new therapeutic targets which might enhance treatment efficacy.

Nudging stellt eine Methode zur positiven Verhaltensbeeinflussung unserer Mitmenschen dar. Mit diesem Instrument kann das Sicherheits- und Gesundheitsverhalten von Arbeitnehmern gestärkt werden. Allerdings findet sie trotz intensiver Forschung bislang wenig Anwendung im betrieblichen Kontext. Daher lautet die Forschungsfrage dieser Arbeit: „Wie lässt sich Nudging seitens der Unternehmen als Präventionsmaßnahme während der Corona-Pandemie einsetzen?“. Mit der Übertragung von Nudging in der Arbeitswelt auf die derzeitigen Herausforderungen der aktuellen Corona-Pandemie leistet diese Arbeit einen wichtigen Beitrag zur Entwicklung neuer Präventionsmaßnahmen in Unternehmen. In der Arbeit konnte festgestellt werden, dass die Entwicklung von Nudges im Unternehmen unter Einbeziehung der Mitarbeiter in einem proaktiven und partizipativen Prozess stattfinden sollte. Mithilfe eines solchen Prozesses werden Gründe für das mögliche Fehlverhalten der Arbeitnehmer analysiert. Anschließend sollten Nudging-Techniken eingesetzt werden, die genau an diesen Punkten anknüpfen – am Fehlverhalten der Menschen. Über den partizipativen Nudging-Prozess wird die Akzeptanz der Arbeitnehmer im Hinblick auf etwaige Maßnahmen gefördert. Es wird am reflektierten Entscheidungssystem der Arbeitnehmer angesetzt. Unter Berücksichtigung der Corona-Pandemie sollte im betrieblichen Kontext zur Förderung des Sicherheitsverhaltens besonders auf den Wirkmechanismus „Norms“ gesetzt werden. Im Home-Office eignen sich aufgrund der Distanz zu den Arbeitnehmern Nudges mit technischer Natur, wie z.B. automatisierte Anmeldungen zu Maßnahmen des Gesundheitsmanagements. Hier greift der Wirkmechanismus „Defaults“. Diese Bachelorarbeit wurde als theoretische Arbeit auf Grundlage einer Literaturrecherche verfasst.

This article explores the opportunities, challenges, as well as the activities of the Chinese governmental and commercial stakeholders to promote cross-border e-commerce trade between China and Africa, based on the classification and correlation analysis of the literature from 2011 to 2019. The results show that the biggest driver for the development of China-Africa cross-border e-commerce trade is the gap between the rapid growth of the African population, especially the middle class, and the limited local capability to satisfy their demand. The rapid development of the internet and mobile internet is another driving factor. The biggest challenge is the last mile delivery of logistics, and online payment issues in Africa. At the macro-level the Chinese government has promoted measures such as infrastructure investment, e-commerce test zones and the establishment of pilot projects. At the firm level, Chinese companies have focused on solving practical micro-level local operational problems such as logistics, online payment, and talent training. The results also show that the referred literature is still in its infancy, mostly theoretical and less practical, and requires more in-depth domain specific analysis in the future.

When faced with an execution failure, an intelligent robot should be able to identify the likely reasons for the failure and adapt its execution policy accordingly. This paper addresses the question of how to utilise knowledge about the execution process, expressed in terms of learned constraints, in order to direct the diagnosis and experience acquisition process. In particular, we present two methods for creating a synergy between failure diagnosis and execution model learning. We first propose a method for diagnosing execution failures of parameterised action execution models, which searches for action parameters that violate a learned precondition model. We then develop a strategy that uses the results of the diagnosis process for generating synthetic data that are more likely to lead to successful execution, thereby increasing the set of available experiences to learn from. The diagnosis and experience correction methods are evaluated for the problem of handle grasping, such that we experimentally demonstrate the effectiveness of the diagnosis algorithm and show that corrected failed experiences can contribute towards improving the execution success of a robot.

Since its advent, the sustainability effects of the modern sharing economy have been the subject of controversial debate. While its potential was initially discussed in terms of post-ownership development with a view to decentralizing value creation and increasing social capital and environmental relief through better utilization of material goods, critics have become increasingly loud in recent years. Many people hoped that carsharing could lead to development away from ownership towards flexible use and thus more resource-efficient mobility. However, carsharing remains niche, and while many people like the idea in general, they appear to consider carsharing to not be advantageous as a means of transport in terms of cost, flexibility, and comfort. A key innovation that could elevate carsharing from its niche existence in the future is autonomous driving. This technology could help shared mobility gain a new boost by allowing it to overcome the weaknesses of the present carsharing business model. Flexibility and comfort could be greatly enhanced with shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs), which could simultaneously offer benefits in terms of low cost, and better use of time without the burden of vehicle ownership. However, it is not the technology itself that is sustainable; rather, sustainability depends on the way in which this technology is used. Hence, it is necessary to make a prospective assessment of the direct and indirect (un)sustainable effects before or during the development of a technology in order to incorporate these findings into the design and decision-making process. Transport research has been intensively analyzing the possible economic, social, and ecological consequences of autonomous driving for several years. However, research lacks knowledge about the consequences to be expected from shared autonomous vehicles. Moreover, previous findings are mostly based on the knowledge of experts, while potential users are rarely included in the research. To address this gap, this thesis contributes to answering the questions of what the ecological and social impacts of the expected concept of SAVs will be. In my thesis, I study in particular the ecological consequences of SAVs in terms of the potential modal shifts they can induce as well as their social consequences in terms of potential job losses in the taxi industry. Regarding this, I apply a user-oriented, mixed-method technology assessment approach that complements existing, expert-oriented technology assessment studies on autonomous driving that have so far been dominated by scenario analyses and simulations. To answer the two questions, I triangulated the method of scenario analysis and qualitative and quantitative user studies. The empirical studies provide evidence that the automation of mobility services such as carsharing may to a small extent foster a shift from the private vehicle towards mobility on demand. However, findings also indicate that rebound effects are to be expected: Significantly more users are expected to move away from the more sustainable public transportation, leading to an overcompensation of the positive modal shift effects by the negative modal shift effects. The results show that a large proportion of the taxi trips carried out can be re-placed by SAVs, making the profession of taxi driver somewhat obsolete. However, interviews with taxi drivers themselves revealed that the services provided by the drivers go beyond mere transport, so that even in the age of SAVs, the need for human assistance will continue – though to a smaller extent. Given these findings, I see action potential at different levels: users, mobility service providers, and policymakers. Regarding environmental and social impacts resulting from the use of SAVs, there is a strong conflict of objectives among users, potential SAV operators, and sustainable environmental and social policies. In order to strengthen the positive effects and counteract the negative effects, such as unintended modal shifts, policies may soon have to regulate the design of SAVs and their introduction. A key starting point for transport policy is to promote the use of more environmentally friendly means of transport, in particular by making public transportation attractive and, if necessary, by making the use of individual motorized mobility less attractive. The taxi industry must face the challenges of automation by opening up to these developments and focusing on service orientation – to strengthen the drivers’ main unique selling point compared to automated technology. Assessing the impacts of the not-yet-existing generally involves great uncertainty. With the results of my work, however, I would like to argue that a user-oriented technology assessment can usefully complement the findings of classic methods of technology assessment and can iteratively inform the development process regarding technology and regulation.