| 1. |
- Aadland, Torgeir, et al.
(författare)
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Levelling the playing field: Could entrepreneurship education compensate the lack of entrepreneurial pedigree and prior experience?
- 2022
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Questions we care about: In the last four decades, the importance of entrepreneurship education for societal renewal has seen a dramatic rise. Policy arguments state that to spur economic development, a more entrepreneurially oriented workforce is needed. To increase our understanding of how entrepreneurship education impacts entrepreneurial careers, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how entrepreneurship education, in the form of venture creation programs (VCPs), mitigate or surpass a lack of entrepreneurial career antecedents, such as entrepreneurial pedigree or prior entrepreneurial experience. We ask: What role do VCPs play in the subsequent career choice of graduates regarding career impact relative to prior entrepreneurial experience and entrepreneurial pedigree? Approach: This paper investigates the role of VCPs, entrepreneurial pedigree, and prior entrepreneurial experience regarding early career choice. A broad perspective of entrepreneurial career is considered, across four occupational forms: self-employed, entrepreneurial employment (intrapreneur), hybrid (self-employed and employed in parallel), and conventional employment. To investigate career choice, data from graduates of VCPs at three universities in Northern Europe was collected through an online survey. Questions addressed graduate background prior to education, yearly occupational employment subsequent to graduation, and graduates’ own perception of entrepreneurial activity in employment positions. The survey was sent to 1326 graduates (total graduate population = 1568) and received 692 responses (52.2% response rate). Results: The educational context of VCPs, whether Ind-VCP or Corp-VCP, mitigated prior entrepreneurial experience. Although prior entrepreneurial experience interacted with Ind-VCP in making a career as self-employed more likely, this was not the case for Corp-VCP, in subsequently choosing intrapreneurial careers. Entrepreneurial pedigree had no significant effect on career choice other than for hybrid careers. Implications: Entrepreneurial experience gained from VCPs seems to influence graduates towards future entrepreneurial careers. For some, a VCP is the first entrepreneurial experience, while others are building existing entrepreneurial experiences. Evidence supports the conclusion that many VCP graduates lacking prior entrepreneurial experience instead develop entrepreneurial competencies (knowledge, skills, and judgmental abilities) through the program, which prepares them to engage in subsequent entrepreneurial careers. For policy and practice, entrepreneurship education can level the playing field for students aspiring to an entrepreneurial career but lacking prior entrepreneurial experience or entrepreneurial pedigree. This is an important insight when considering the need to spur innovativeness among businesses transitioning towards sustainable futures and/or recouping from the economic downturns created and perpetuated by the pandemic. Our evidence illustrates that action-based, contextualized education in entrepreneurship creates graduates that engage either as self-employed or as change agents (working with initiating and developing new opportunities) in established businesses. Value/Originality: This study offers novel evidence that entrepreneurship education can level the playing field for students preparing for entrepreneurial careers but lacking prior entrepreneurial experience or an entrepreneurial pedigree.
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| 2. |
- Aadland, Torgeir, et al.
(författare)
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The gender gap in entrepreneurship: The role of the relative pay off from entrepreneurship
- 2022
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Ingår i: RENT Proceedings. - 2219-5572. ; 2022
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Objectives Entrepreneurship education garners increasing interest, with current trends showing a greater number of women applying. However, less is known about how attendees experience the use of their education post-education in general, in regard to the relative pay-off in graduates’ subsequent careers. Similarly, the extent to which applied entrepreneurial competencies gained may differentiate in careers of women compared to men is also understudied. Research on the distinct gender populations, focusing on occupational differences have limited space in literature. The objective of this paper is to investigate the career metrics in income and work-life balance, comparing and contrasting a population of entrepreneurship education graduates, along gender lines. Literature review Literature points an underlying gender bias in entrepreneurship, where opportunity-based entrepreneurial careers and self-concept of an entrepreneur has predominantly been studied from a male perspective. For example, studies have highlighted aspects of gender bias towards women engaging in opportunity-based entrepreneurship such as difficulty in obtaining necessary funding for growth, challenges in accessing entrepreneurial networks, lower levels of self-belief and self-efficacy regarding entrepreneurial activity, differences in education, and imbalance in work expectations relative to home life. However, these studies have predominantly focused on a new firm formation definition of entrepreneurship. The utilization of entrepreneurial competencies, as developed through entrepreneurship education that focuses on experience- and reflection-based approaches to learning, have in recent studies shown to be equally important for intrapreneurs as self-employed entrepreneurs. This reflects the broader contextual spread of applied entrepreneurial competence in graduate careers. The entrepreneurial careers of the female graduates who engage in ideation and implementation of new business activity after an entrepreneurship education, may it be in firm formation or in employed roles, remains understudied. Therefore, the question is raised: What is the relative pay-off (i.e., income and work-life balance) of entrepreneurship in relation to occupational choice and gender for graduates of entrepreneurship educations? Approach/Method Alumni from three master-level venture creation programs at three universities in Northern Europe were contacted for this study. From a total population of 1103 (graduating between 1997-2018),531 graduates responded, resulting in a response rate of 48.1 percent. The gender distribution in the total population is 28.5 percent female, and within the respondent sample it is 29.5 percent female. Two dimensions of career progress: income and work-life balance, was then analyzed with a set of dependent variables and control variables in ordinal regression. These regressors include career start-up experience and to what extent ideation and implementation of new business activity in employed occupations impacts the independent variables. Models are based on separate regressions on men and women with the purpose to highlight gendered differences in career progression and what regressors contributes to this. Results/Findings The findings were divided into separate sets by the two dependent variables, income and work-life balance. For income levels, career length is shared by both men and women as being a strong predictor. Beyond that, the regression analysis gives different versions for women and men of what contributes to a high income. Men in paid employment (as conventional employees or intrapreneurs) earns more than their self-employed and hybrid (combining employment and self-employment) peers. For women, there is no significant differences among the occupations. For both genders, type of industry is also influential towards the income level. Work-life balance generated regressions that points towards small influences of the regressors for women. For men, having a partner indicates a higher work-life balance, which is not significant for women. Also, having less work related to entrepreneurial competencies (i.e., being conventional employed), results in a more positive work-life balance. Value & Implications Entrepreneurship education is shown to have many positive impacts on subsequent careers. However, entrepreneurial competencies developed through education do not appear to counteract the general gender differences seen in society, as differentiation between male and female graduates is evident through the study. Where previous research has focused on studying these differences, this study instead focuses on how income and work-life balance unfolds across gender categories of venture creation program graduates. These programs have shown to produce graduates who have developed and later utilized entrepreneurial competencies to a high degree in both employed and self-employed contexts. Though in the subsequent careers, the progression of income and work-life balance falls under different mechanisms depending on the gender of the graduate. Women seems to have more stable progression compared to men, with less variation between occupations. Though a limitation lies within that the regressors builds lesser models for women compared to men. This indicates that future research should consider an expanded set of variables or focus on designing qualitative studies target towards career progression of female entrepreneurs. In conclusion this study informs the need to consider the entrepreneurial career progression of women as different compared to their male graduates.
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| 3. |
- Aalto, Susanne, 1964, et al.
(författare)
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OH megamaser emission in the outflow of the luminous infrared galaxy Zw049.057
- 2022
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union. - 1743-9213 .- 1743-9221. ; 18, s. 40-44
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- High resolution (0.”26 × 0.”13 (70 × 35 pc)) L-band (18 cm) OH megamaser (OHM) e-Merlin observations of the LIRG Zw049.057 show that the emission is emerging from a low velocity outflowing structure - which is foreground to a fast, dense and collimated molecular outflow detected by ALMA. The extremely dusty compact obscured nucleus (CON) of Zw049.057 has no (or only little) OHM emission associated with it - possibly because of too high number densities that quench the OHM. In contrast we detect 6 cm H2CO emission primarily from the CON-region. We suggest that the OHM-region of Zw049.057 is not directly associated with star formation, but instead occurs in a wide-angle, slow outflow that surrounds the fast and dense outflow. The OHM is pumped by IR emission that likely stems from activities in the nucleus. We briefly discuss how OHM emission can be used as a probe of LIRG-CON galaxies.
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| 4. |
- Abad, Tahereh, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Universal Fidelity Reduction of Quantum Operations from Weak Dissipation
- 2022
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Ingår i: Physical Review Letters. - 1079-7114 .- 0031-9007. ; 129:15
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Quantum information processing is in real systems often limited by dissipation, stemming from remaining uncontrolled interaction with microscopic degrees of freedom. Given recent experimental progress, we consider weak dissipation, resulting in a small error probability per operation. Here, we find a simple formula for the fidelity reduction of any desired quantum operation, where the ideal evolution is confined to the computational subspace. Interestingly, this reduction is independent of the specific operation; it depends only on the operation time and the dissipation. Using our formula, we investigate the situation where dissipation in different parts of the system has correlations, which is detrimental for the successful application of quantum error correction. Surprisingly, we find that a large class of correlations gives the same fidelity reduction as uncorrelated dissipation of similar strength.
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| 5. |
- Abadikhah, Marie, 1992, et al.
(författare)
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Evidence of competition between electrogens shaping electroactive microbial communities in microbial electrolysis cells
- 2022
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Microbiology. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-302X. ; 13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In single-chamber microbial electrolysis cells (MECs), organic compounds are oxidized at the anode, liberating electrons that are used for hydrogen evolution at the cathode. Microbial communities on the anode and cathode surfaces and in the bulk liquid determine the function of the MEC. The communities are complex, and their assembly processes are poorly understood. We investigated MEC performance and community composition in nine MECs with a carbon cloth anode and a cathode of carbon nanoparticles, titanium, or stainless steel. Differences in lag time during the startup of replicate MECs suggested that the initial colonization by electrogenic bacteria was stochastic. A network analysis revealed negative correlations between different putatively electrogenic Deltaproteobacteria on the anode. Proximity to the conductive anode surface is important for electrogens, so the competition for space could explain the observed negative correlations. The cathode communities were dominated by hydrogen-utilizing taxa such as Methanobacterium and had a much lower proportion of negative correlations than the anodes. This could be explained by the diffusion of hydrogen throughout the cathode biofilms, reducing the need to compete for space.
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| 6. |
- Abadikhah, Marie, 1992
(författare)
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Influence of electrode material and stochastic factors on the performance and microbial community assembly in microbial electrochemical systems
- 2022
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Licentiatavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Microbial electrolysis cells (MECs) are systems with microbial communities in the form of biofilms on electrode surfaces. The electrogenic bacteria in the anode biofilm act as catalysts for the oxidization of organic compounds, leading to release of electrons, generation of electrical current, and production of hydrogen and methane at the cathode. In addition to production of energy carriers, MECs can be used for other applications as well; for example, as biosensors to monitor biochemical oxygen demand or toxicity. The performance of MECs is determined by both deterministic and stochastic factors influencing the microbial communities on the electrode surfaces, most of which as still poorly understood. In this thesis, the effects of electrode materials on microbial community assembly and MEC performance was investigated. Two experiments were carried out. In the first, three cathode materials (carbon nanoparticles, titanium, and steel) were compared. In the second, three anode materials (carbon cloth, graphene, and nickel) were compared. The cathode materials had no significant effect on the performance of the MECs, as opposed to the anode materials where carbon cloth MECs had the highest current density and the shortest lag time during startup. The differences seen in lag time of replicate systems at the start of the experiment indicated a stochastic initial attachment of the electrogenic bacteria on the anode. Different microbial communities develop in the biofilms on the anodes and cathodes. Electrogens from the Desulfobacterota phylum dominated the anode, while various hydrogenotrophic methanogens, e.g., Methanobacterium, were found to dominate on the cathodes. Diversity and null model analysis of the electrode communities highlighted stochasticity and not electrode material as the important factor in the community assembly. Network analysis showed that the cathode communities had fewer negative interactions between taxa in comparison to the anode. Since hydrogen gas generated at the cathode surface can diffuse through the biofilm, all microorganisms on the cathode have access to the substrate, reducing the need for competition between species. In contrast, electrogens require a short distance to the anode to be able to use it as electron acceptor. Limited space on the anode and competition between electrogens shaped the anode communities and explain the higher number of negative interactions observed. Based on the findings in this thesis, it is suggested that stochastic factors have more influence than electrode material on the anode community even though there is a selective pressure for electrogenic bacteria.
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| 7. |
- Abarenkov, Kessy, et al.
(författare)
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The curse of the uncultured fungus
- 2022
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Ingår i: MycoKeys. - 1314-4057 .- 1314-4049. ; 86, s. 177-194
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The international DNA sequence databases abound in fungal sequences not annotated beyond the kingdom level, typically bearing names such as “uncultured fungus”. These sequences beget low-resolution mycological results and invite further deposition of similarly poorly annotated entries. What do these sequences represent? This study uses a 767,918-sequence corpus of public full-length fungal ITS sequences to estimate what proportion of the 95,055 “uncultured fungus” sequences that represent truly unidentifiable fungal taxa – and what proportion of them that would have been straightforward to annotate to some more meaningful taxonomic level at the time of sequence deposition. Our results suggest that more than 70% of these sequences would have been trivial to identify to at least the order/family level at the time of sequence deposition, hinting that factors other than poor availability of relevant reference sequences explain the low-resolution names. We speculate that researchers’ perceived lack of time and lack of insight into the ramifications of this problem are the main explanations for the low-resolution names. We were surprised to find that more than a fifth of these sequences seem to have been deposited by mycologists rather than researchers unfamiliar with the consequences of poorly annotated fungal sequences in molecular repositories. The proportion of these needlessly poorly annotated sequences does not decline over time, suggesting that this problem must not be left unchecked.
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| 8. |
- Abbas, Nada, et al.
(författare)
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Information Needs of Gravel Road Stakeholders
- 2022
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Ingår i: Infrastructures. - : MDPI. - 2412-3811. ; 7:12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Within any ecosystem, information sharing is essential. In this paper, the Swedish gravel road ecosystem is studied, where information plays a crucial role for the effective management of operations and maintenance. However, efficient information sharing is not enabled due to the lack of appropriate information systems. For addressing this issue, this paper intends to elicit information needs of gravel road stakeholders to support the design of a cloud-based information system. The main purpose is to explore the information needs of stakeholders within the Swedish gravel road ecosystem. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews with 11 participants representing key stakeholders in the ecosystem. Template analysis was used for analyzing the interview results. The major findings were a set of information needs covering road identification and condition, weather conditions, accessibility and traffic, maintenance policy, and sensor data. The results form a comprehensive information model for the further development of a cloud-based gravel road management system that would contribute to increased traffic safety and comfort, lower maintenance and management costs, and better decision-making abilities.
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| 9. |
- Abdel Hady, Ahmed Wagih Abdallah, 1990, et al.
(författare)
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In situ microstructural evolution of spruce wood during soda pulping using synchrotron X-ray tomography
- 2022
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Ingår i: Holzforschung. - : Walter de Gruyter GmbH. - 1437-434X .- 0018-3830. ; 76:7, s. 611-621
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A new laboratory reactor to perform in situ studies of structural changes in wood during soda pulping using synchrotron X-ray tomography is presented. The reactor is of recirculation type to provide stable reaction conditions and mimic the industrial situation. Experiments have been performed using this reactor in situ at a synchrotron microtomography beamline to provide sequences of 3D images from which measurement of wood cell wall thickness have been possible for the first time. The results showed that the cell wall thickness increased significantly in the early stage of pulping (<10 min), which is due to the transportation of cooking chemicals through the tracheids, resin channels and pits into the cell wall, which is swollen with the increased pH. Subsequently, the cell wall thickness reduces over the processing time up to 60 min with a high rate, which is inferred to be due to the dissolution and transport of lignin and hemicellulose from the secondary walls, allowing for better transportation of active chemicals deep through the cell wall layers. After 60 min processing, the cell wall thickness reduction rate reduced, as dissolution of lignin and hemicelluloses from the cell walls ceased, while the remaining dissolution occurs mainly at the middle lamella.
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| 10. |
- Abdolshahi, Anna, et al.
(författare)
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Edible Film Based on Lallemantia peltata L. Seed Gum: Development and Characterization
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Chemical Health Risks. - 2251-6719 .- 2251-6727. ; 12:1, s. 47-61
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A novel edible film was developed using Lallemantia peltata (L.) seed gum (LSG), and its water sensitivity, physico-mechanical, barriers, microstructural and thermal properties as a function of glycerol concentration (20, 30, 40, 50 and 60% w/w) were studied. Different models were also used to investigate the water sorption of the LSG films. Unplasticized LSG films were brittle and difficult to handle which were effectively modified by glycerol addition. Water sensitivity, oxygen permeability, and elongation of LSG films were increased with increasing glycerol concentration. Also, increasing of glycerol concentration resulted in reduction of tensile strength, glass transition temperature (Tg) and melting temperature (Tm) of the films. Electron scanning micrographs revealed a smooth surfaceand compact cross-section microstructure in LSG films.The films showed sigmoid shape type II water sorption isotherms, representing typical features of most of biopolymers. Accordingly, the results suggest that LSG films containing desired glycerol concentration could potentially be used as edible films in food packaging.
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