Why startups fail: cross-industrial failure patterns in the German food and sexual wellness industry

This research paper aims to analyze factors that cause failures and turnaround strategies in German food and sexual wellness startups. After identifying eight failure patterns and general failure causes, the authors developed targeted turnaround approaches for those patterns. The patterns were then used to create a framework that included operational and relationship dynamics and ranked them according to their difficulty and business impact of the turnaround initiatives. The authors conclude that startups should use the framework to analyze failure and solve their problems quicker and more efficiently

Biological responses to spider silk - antibiotic fusion protein

The development of a new generation of multifunctional biomaterials is a continual goal for the field of materials science. The in vivo functional behaviour of a new fusion protein that combines the mechanical properties of spider silk with the antimicrobial properties of hepcidin was addressed in this study. This new chimeric protein, termed 6mer + hepcidin, fuses spider dragline consensus sequences (6mer) and the antimicrobial peptide hepcidin, as we have recently described, with retention of bactericidal activity and low cytotoxicity. In the present study, mouse subcutaneous implants were studied to access the in vivo biological response to 6mer + hepcidin, which were compared with controls of silk alone (6mer), polylactic–glycolic acid (PLGA) films and empty defects. Along with visual observations, flow cytometry and histology analyses were used to determine the number and type of inflammatory cells at the implantation site. The results show a mild to low inflammatory reaction to the implanted materials and no apparent differences between the 6mer + hepcidin films and the other experimental controls, demonstrating that the new fusion protein has good in vivo biocompatibility, while maintaining antibiotic function.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - SFRH/BD/28603/2006, Chimera project (No. PTDC/EBB-EBI/109093/2008), Proteo-Light (No. PTDC/FIS/68517/2006), NIH (Grant No. P41 EB002520) Tissue Engineering Resource Center; and the NIH (Grant Nos EB003210 and DE017207).Tissue Engineering Resource Center - Bolsa No. P41 EB002520, bolsa Nos EB003210 and DE017207European - Projeto EXPERTISSUES (No. NMP3- CT-2004-500283

Leakage Flux Modelling of Multi-Winding Transformer using Permeance Magnetic Circuit

The size and position difference of the windings determine the leakage flux path and give rise to unbalance of the short-circuit impedances, which strongly affects the transient behaviour of the transformer. This work proposes a new approach of modelling with magnetic equivalent circuit, making use of the transformer geometry and permeance magnetic equivalent circuit, which is suitable for system-level simulation in terms of complexity. Equivalent model requires limited number of parameters and for verification purposes, FEM simulations as well as measurement on the experimental prototype have been performed

Leakage Flux Modeling of Multi-Winding Transformers for System-Level Simulations

In multiwinding transformers, different geometry of the individual windings leads to unbalanced leakage flux paths. The unbalance affects the behavior of the power electronic converters, where these transformers are used. This paper proposes an approach to model the leakage flux path of transformer with repetitive multiwinding structure using permeance magnetic circuit. The model is composed of lumped components, it can be seamlessly integrated into system-level simulation of power electronic circuits and achieve good accuracy in time-domain simulation. Taking advantage of the repetitive structure, the model requires very limited number of parameters, which can be easily obtained from the geometry information together with only a few experimental tests. The fidelity of the model is experimentally confirmed on a multiwinding transformer prototype connected to power electronic devices

Permeance Based Modeling of Magnetic Hysteresis with Inclusion of Eddy Current Effect

Magnetic hysteresis together with eddy current effects are typically present in metal based core materials and contribute significantly to the nonlinearity and power loss of the magnetic components operating in power electronic converters. In order to investigate their influence on the system’s behavior in time domain, model which is accurate and simple enough to be integrated into circuit simulation environment, is desired. This work proposes a modeling’s approach using permeance-capacitance based magnetic circuit, which combines the hysteresis and eddy current effect of the magnetic components in system-level time domain simulation