Open Access

In idea creation and assessment processes the accruement and the description of an idea are mostly allocated to a fixed point in time, defined as the end of the generating process and the start of the idea assessment. This static approach does not fit the reality in industrial idea processes. A dynamic approach for idea assessment is therefore introduced. An idea is not seen as a static but as a dynamic state, characterized by different degrees of maturity. Maturity is understood as a measure of the assessability of the individual evaluation characteristics. Based on Crosby’s maturity model and on classical Capability Maturity Models, a new Idea Maturity Model (IMM) has been developed and is introduced for the first time. The five Idea Maturity Levels (IML) are named Initial, Awareness, Appraisability, Valuation, and Realisability and harmonize well with other maturity models. The levels are described by general characteristics, although the development of the maturity model focussed on new product or service development. The compatibility of the IMM with idea assessment processes and conditions in organisations and companies has been checked.

This paper introduces ideas to reduce talent scarcity by binding female talent in India. As a theoretical lens Neo-Institutionalism in the Indian context is combined with the family-relatedness of work decision model. The qualitative research design and first results as well as propositions for companies are included.

This study investigates how microenterprises in Ethical Fashion (EF) retail adopt and make use of social media. Drawing on an explorative case study, supplemented by an action research approach, we first examine the antecedents of a successful Adoption based on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework. Subsequently, we shed light on the benefits and drawbacks of social media adoption for the three microenterprises of our case study on the operational and the strategical level. More particularly, we present how they improve value creation through the employment of social media in their value networks and how they overcome the lack of a sophisticated IT infrastructure. Finally, we investigate the reluctance of the three microenterprises to adopt inter-organizational information systems. The findings of our study also reveal a halo effect in the adoption process that may mislead the adopting organization.

Distributed Energy Management (DEM) will play a vital role in future smart grids. An important and often overlooked factor in this concept is privacy. This paper presents two privacy-preserving DEM algorithms called PrivADE+ and PPPM. PrivADE+ uses a round-based energy management procedure for switchable and dynamically adaptable loads. PPPM utilises on the market-based PowerMatcher approach. Both algorithms apply homomorphic encryption to privately gather aggregated data and exchange commands. Simulations show that PrivADE+ and PPPM achieve good energy management quality with low communication requirements and without negative influences on robustness.

Teachers in health informatics have a broad variety of international and national educational recommendations to rely on when designing programmes, curricula, courses and educational material. However, in addition they often need very specific information for their setting, blue-prints, hands-on experience and encouragement to try something new. This workshop presents three case studies from European universities who have implemented inter-professional, technology enabled health informatics courses in undergraduate, postgraduate and open university settings. These approaches will be put into the context of the TIGER recommendation framework that includes priority ratings of health informatics competencies and case studies to illustrate them. The workshop attendees will have ample opportunity to exchange ideas with the presenters and start a mutual learning process for health informatics teachers.

Purpose Attracting skilled students is an important aim of many cities in a knowledge-based society. This paper focuses on urban factors of attractiveness from a student's perspective and analyses their influence on locational choices of students. The criteria found were also used to evaluate how the City of Osnabrück, Germany, is rated in terms of these criteria and to reveal the greatest discrepancies. Design / Methodology / Approach The paper is based on a multi-level empirical research concept, including qualitative and quantitative approaches. A survey of 2,300 students was conducted in Osnabrück on the basis of focus group discussions with students and interviews with various experts such as a neighbourhood manager, an urban planner, a district mayor, a college president, a real estate manager. Originality/value To date, little research has been undertaken to empirically examine the specific requirements that German students look for in a place to live and study. According to the author’s present state of knowledge (January 2018), a comparable study has not been done. The main contribution of this paper is the empirical analysis of what makes cities attractive to students. In contrast to the findings of Richard Florida about the Creative Class, the cleanliness of a city, beautiful city scenery, and attractive apartments are more important to students than cultural offers, interesting job opportunities, or a multicultural population. Practical Implications Insights from the empirical survey can both help to analyse important factors in students' decision-making process and provide possible measures that the city stakeholders can take. Keywords 1. Knowledge-based urban development 2. Mobility decisions by students and skilled professionals 3. Location factors 4. Place branding Proposed paper: Academic Research Paper

Talent scarcity in many parts of the world leads to the necessity to enlarge talent pools in order to provide enough future holders of key positions. Taking the scholarly discussion at the overlap of talent management and current careers literature as a starting point our qualitative empirical research provides insights in talent’s career decisions in an eastern emerging market, India, and a western developed country, Germany. 49 interviews with internationally experienced knowledge-workers were held to find out how to they come to career decisions throughout their career. Special focus was the balancing act of professional and private life sphere. An inductive-deductive approach was used to develop categories in MaxQda. Results show the impact of institutional frame, cultural context, and gender differences. Consequently, a stronger focus on talent’s different life phases with context specific deviations when configuring Talent Management in Multinational Enterprises can be advised.

The increasing complexity of caseloads in SLT practice, e.g. due to higher comorbidity, lacking information or experience in the treatment of complicated cases, calls for support from experienced as well as specialist practitioners from within the field - especially for novice therapists. One way to tackle these challenges may be peer coaching and how it can be employed within the educational and professional SLT setting. Peer coaching was implemented across five semesters of a successive SLT study programme at a University of Applied Sciences in Germany. The approach was embedded in a clinical reasoning seminar with 25 SLT students who each presented a challenging case study from their current workload. All participants completed a short online survey to evaluate the feasibility of the team approach within this setting as well as their personal benefit and development re. the discussed case studies. Students felt encouraged by being able to share their experience and tackle actual challenges. They particularly valued receiving answers from a broad range of other SLTs but also contributing to other students’ queries and providing practical solutions for them. All participants felt that peer coaching was an appropriate approach for clinical reasoning to support their professional as well as personal development. Other outcomes were a perceived increased ability to employ metacognitive reflection to be used with their whole caseload but also a prospective need for further training. Some students suggested the employment of peer coaching within their work setting. In the educational as well as professional SLT setting, peer coaching can be successfully employed, triggering metacognitive reflection re. practitioner’s thinking and acting, resulting in an increased awareness of needs and skills as part of the clinical reasoning process.

Background Forced migration significantly endangers health. Women face numerous health risks, including sexual violence, lack of contraception, sexually transmitted disease, and adverse perinatal outcomes. Therefore, sexual and reproductive healthcare is a significant aspect of women asylum seekers’ health. Even when healthcare costs of asylum seekers are covered by the government, there may be strong barriers to healthcare access and specific needs may be addressed inadequately. The study’s objectives were a) to assess the accommodation and healthcare services provided to women asylum seekers in standard and specialised health care, b) to assess the organisation of healthcare provision and how it addresses the sexual and reproductive healthcare needs of women asylum seekers. Methods The study utilised a multi-method approach, comprising a less-dominant quantitative component and dominant qualitative component. The quantitative component assessed accommodation conditions for women in eight asylum centres using a survey. The qualitative component assessed healthcare provision on-site, using semi-structured interviews with health and social care professionals (n = 9). Asylum centres were selected to cover a wide range of characteristics. Interview analysis was guided by thematic analysis. Results The accommodation in the asylum centres provided gender-separate rooms and sanitary infrastructure. Two models of healthcare were identified, which differed in the services they provided and in their organisation: 1) a standard healthcare model characterised by a lack of coordination between healthcare providers, unavailability of essential services such as interpreters, and fragmented healthcare, and 2) a specialised healthcare model specifically tailored to the needs of asylum-seekers. Its organisation is characterised by a network of closely collaborating health professionals. It provided essential services not present in the standard model. We recommend the specialised healthcare model as a guideline for best practise. Conclusions The standard, non-specialised healthcare model used in some regions in Switzerland does not fully meet the healthcare needs of women asylum seekers. Specialised healthcare services used in other regions, which include translation services as well as gender and culturally sensitive care, are better suited to address these needs. More widespread use of this model would contribute significantly toward protecting the sexual and reproductive integrity and health of women asylum seekers.

Background: Muscle fatigue has been reported as a risk factor for the development of performance-related musculoskeletal disorders (PRMD) in musicians. However, little research exists to support this claim. The aim of this study was to investigate whether changes occur in muscle activity patterns during high string performance over a prolonged playing period, and whether this is influenced by PRMD. Methods: High string musicians were divided into a PRMD and a non-PRMD group. They played a chromatic scale pre and post and a self-chosen “hard” (Borg scale 16-17) piece of music for one hour. Electromyography data recorded from arm, shoulder and trunk muscles was analyzed: the amplitude to measure muscle activity characteristics and the lower frequency to measure muscle fatigue. Differences between and within groups and the frequency spectrum were analyzed using linear mixed models. Results: Fifteen musicians participated (7 PRMD: 22.8 years, 2 male/5 female and 8 non-PRMD: 34.3 years, 2 male/6 female). Changes in muscle activation patterns were observed between and within both groups, however changes varied significantly depending on group affiliation. Significant low frequency spectrum changes between groups were observed in overall muscles of the right arm (p=0.04) and left forearm flexors (p=0.05) following one hour of playing. Conclusions: Muscle activity and frequency spectrum shifts differ in high string musicians with and without PRMD, suggesting possible differential muscle fatigue effects between the groups.

As of the reporting year 2017, extended non-financial reporting requirements will apply to certain large companies within the EU on the basis of the EU-Directive 2014/95/EU. The aim is to provide an overview of selected regulations for the new non-financial statements. This includes the analysis of the German Sustainability Code as well as the German Accounting Standard No. 20. The analysis shows a tightening of disclosure on non-financial reporting and an increased focus of disclosures on non-financial concepts, objectives and measures. Hence, the risk management of a preparer gains in importance with regard to non-financial aspects of the business activity.

In Germany, a lot of young children at risk of language difficulties still go undetected or are not assessed before preschool-age. For children where parents may suspect a disorder, this practice causes a lot of emotional distress alongside lost time for intervention. Thus, what contribution can parents and nursery staff make for the earlier detection of language difficulties? 34 children from four German kindergartens were tested with a standardized preschool screening for language problems by an SLT. Parents and nursery staff completed a questionnaire (FEE 3-4) that was designed to collect potential risk-factors and included the rating of children’s abilities across the main language domains. Outcomes from the FEE 3-4 were compared between parents and nursery staff as well as triangulated with results from the standardized screening. Agreement between parents and nursery staff re. individual children’s potential language difficulties was moderate (Kappa = 0.44, p = .050). Overall, nursery staff rated children’s language abilities more strictly and precisely than parents. Especially their rating of ‘word order’ (p = .022) and ‘verb endings’ contributed significantly to the identification of potential language difficulties similar to the standardized screening. The screening identified two children at risk without caregiver's concern, but not two others who were at risk of language disorder and for whom caregivers expressed concern. Caregiver’s awareness of early language difficulties appears to be rather intuitive. Young children at risk are most reliably detected if standardized instruments are used in combination with caregiver questionnaires. Ideally, this process includes data from parents and nursery staff to be interpreted by an experienced SLT, as the use of a standardized screening alone may lead to missed or mistaken identification where essential information about the child’s environment (e.g. risk factors) is not provided. If parents are concerned about children’s language, full assessment is clearly justified.