Analysis of Human Exhaled Breath in a Population of Young Volunteers

Analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in human breath can provide information about the current physiological state of an individual, such as clinical conditions and exposure to exogenous pollutants. The blood-borne VOCs present in exhaled breath offer the possibility of exploring physiological and pathological processes in a noninvasive way. However, the field of exhaled breath analysis is still in its infancy. We undertook this study in order to define inter-individual variation and common compounds in breath VOCs of 48 young human volunteers. Alveolar breath samples were analyzed by automated thermal desorption, gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (FID) and electron capture detector (ECD) using SUPELCO standards with 66 compounds. Predominant compounds in the alveolar breath of analyzed subjects are ethylbenzene, 1-ethyl-4-methylbenzene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene and 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene (over 50% of the subjects). Isopropyl alcohol, propylene, acetone, ethanol were found as well. We detected substituted compounds in exhaled breath

Entrepreneurial Orientation of the Female Students of Educational Professions

The complex professional demands placed on teachers include the demand that they should act formatively and encourage the development of entrepreneurial competencies of their students, especially the development of entrepreneurial orientation – the dynamic dimension of these competencies. The development of the entrepreneurial orientation of the pre-service and in-service teachers, visible in action, is an important model for students. In this paper, the entrepreneurial orientation scale was used to examine this orientation of female students – future preschool and primary school teachers. The sample included 237 female students from three different faculties. It was established that female students assessed their own entrepreneurial orientation as moderate, although the degree of their conscious, declarative entrepreneurial orientation is relatively high. Proactivity is more emphasized than the other components, whereas competitiveness is the least emphasized component. The internal locus of control positively correlates with willingness to take risks and proactivity, but not with other components of entrepreneurial orientation. The structure and degree of entrepreneurial orientation of the female students of different educational professions, as well as of different years of study, are similar, which indicates the homogeneity of the population of the female students of educational professions in terms of this orientation, but also that it is necessary to enrich university entrepreneurial education as a factor of strengthening determination for entrepreneurial behavior