Ideology and Ethics of Transitional Entrepreneurs: Legitimacy, Soft Law, and Overcoming a Distressed Economy

Purpose – Transitional entrepreneurship in distressed economies is a fairly new concept with respect to new ventures in such challenging economic environments. Formal institutional voids are sometimes held up as a reason for the difficulties present in distressed economies, along with exogenous shocks and other upheavals. In this research, the authors seek to contribute empirically and theoretically as to ways in which formal institutions voids can be filled by a culture developed by transitional entrepreneurs. Indeed, in transition economies, formal institutions need to be enhanced by informal institutions to control corruption and other misbehavior by authorities. Iranian economists emphasize these essential reforms to be able to manage current difficulties, yet top down policies cannot help transitional entrepreneurs benefit from the country’s value adding cultural heritage to informally address this. To study this, qualitative research methods were used to interpret transitional entrepreneurs’ ideology and ethical routines as the ingredients of a commercial culture that can establish soft law that substitutes for formal institutions. This helps to reduce the disfunctionality of formal institutions in distressed economies. Design/methodology/approach – A thematic analysis interviewing key Iranian entrepreneurs and economists is conducted. Also based on an interpretive paradigm, a hermeneutic cycle has been carried out on selected texts. Results have been verified throughout related literature as to come up with a solid synthesized interpreted outcome. Findings – This paper contributes to theory from a new perspective by discussing transitional entrepreneurship and navigating a distressed economy; in which, ideology and ethics as the ingredients of soft law (Newman and Posner, 2018) are discussed as the base to further develop a commercial culture that fills voids of formal institutions. The formal–informal institutional cycle in distressed economies as the major difficulty entrepreneurs face (Peng and Luo, 2000) is important, because they try to increasingly enhance their move toward a market orientation (Bruton et al., 2008). The authors contribute as to how transitional entrepreneurs can complete this process of adaptation and also the fact that those informal institutions do actually respond to those adaptations. The other contribution is to enrich theories about institutions from the point of view of culture. Knowing these facts helps transitional entrepreneurs, because in distressed communities, formal institutions’ function has an important effect on economic performance (Amoros, 2009). This research’s contributions shed light to help government leaders understand the pros and cons of their actions forced on the industry. As it has been characterized in this research, it can turn in to new formal set of legitimacies (Ahlstrom et al., 2008) to root out corruption and help set the economy on a path to innovation and new venture creation. Originality/value – Transitional entrepreneurs can depend on the less formal cultural-cognitive aspect of ethics and ideology. These entrepreneurs can be working on the burgeoning private sector, who want to connect with the outside effectively to overcome an economy in distress. Transitional entrepreneurs may face governmental institutional intermediaries as a barrier. Formal intermediaries tend to benefit from inefficiencies caused by hierarchal orders and will improve informality in order to overcome difficulties. In this research, institutional theory from the third pillar of the cultural-cognitive sheds light on transitional entrepreneurship in distressed economies, where inquiry is to fill voids of formal institutions as a process of possible linking between new generated soft law derived by beliefs, ideology and professional morality in order to influence (old) legitimacies. The research’s focus evolves on values transitional entrepreneurs utilize to build informal institutions and then impact further on formal institutions to handle distressed communities. This theoretical background expands on subsections to define conceptual building blocks for the study, essential aspects such as individuals as transitional entrepreneurs, the values they utilize to generate soft law, informal institutions and soft law, to manage voids in formal institutions and legitimacy building aspects in policy agenda setting for transitional entrepreneurship in distressed economies

Studies of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon-based organic materials for optoelectronic applications

π-Conjugated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) have found increasing applications in the fields of organic photonics and optoelectronics owing to their highly tunable photophysical properties, redox activity, and supramolecular self-assembling behavior. This PhD thesis mainly focuses on the studies of four classes of PAH-based organic materials, namely diphenyl dibenzofulvenes (DP-DBFs), pentacenetetraone-derived π-extended tetrathiafulvalene analogues (TTFAQ-AQ),donor/acceptor(D/A)-functionalized phenanthroimidazoles(PIs), and bis(diarylmethylene)dihydroanthracenes (Ar₄-DHAs). DP-DBFs have been known to show intriguing crystallization-induced emission enhancement(CIEE) and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) properties; however, the molecular origins for them to exhibit such unique photophysical properties have not yet been clearly reported in the literature. In the first project of this thesis work, we designed and prepared a series of DP-DBFs with various substituents. With the aid of solution and solid-state fluorescence spectroscopic analysis, the AIE and CIEE properties of DP-DBFs we reinvestigated. Our studies confirmed that the twist angle around the C=C bond in the DP-DBF is a key factor to control its fluorescence behavior. In the second study, the structure-property relationship of TTFAQ-AQs were systematically examined. Analyses of their redox properties and electronic band gaps suggested that they could be promising organic semiconducting materials. Moreover, the synthesized TTFAQ-AQs featured double curved π-surfaces that contain both electron-deficient and electron-rich segments. In this way, they can serve as versatile supramolecular partners to interact with 3-dimensional π-conjugated host molecules such as fullerenes. A benzo-fused TTFAQ-AQ derivative was observed to form organized organic co-crystals with electron deficient C₇₀ fullerene through concave- convex shape complementarity and strong donor-acceptor interactions. The results point to promising application in redox-active organic electronic materials. The third project embarked on the design of novel PI-derived organic chromophores and fluorophores. PI derivatives containing electron-donating dithiafulvenyl (DTF) groups and electron-accepting aldehyde groups were synthesized and characterized in terms of their fluorescence and electrochemical properties. The DTF-functionalized PI derivatives were found to show fluorescence sensitivity to singlet oxygen through a chemiluminescent mechanism. Moreover, the chemical oxidative dimerization of DTF end groups led to the construction of a new type of TTFV-PI macrocycles, which showed interesting fluorescence turn-on/off behavior when they interacted with C₆₀ and C₇₀ fullerenes at different ratios. These features make the synthesized PI materials interesting candidates in the fabrication of efficient fluorescence sensors for singlet oxygen and fullerenes. The last project focuses on the synthesis, characterization, and mechanistic analyses on the photocyclization of a series of Ar₄-DHAs. We have made three different derivatives functionalized with methoxy groups at various positions of the phenyl ring, a tethered Ar₄-DHA derivative as a rigid model compound, and their photocyclized products. Although the cyclodehydrogenation reaction of this class of PAHs through the Scholl reaction has been well studied, photocyclization reaction still lacks sufficient understanding and evidence to support detailed mechanisms. In our work, it has been observed that the photocyclization only happens on one side of Ar₄-DHA through a two-fold Mallory reaction. To better understand the mechanisms involved and the molecular reasons behind the two-fold Mallory reaction, we have utilized experimental and theoretical approaches including X-ray crystallographic analyses and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The frontier molecular orbital (FMO) analyses offered convincing explanation for the regioselectivity of the two-fold Mallory reaction on a Ar₄-DHA. In addition, the importance of the position of the methoxy substituent on the mechanism of photocyclization has been revealed; in particular, when the methoxy groups are at the ortho positions, cyclodemethoxylation occurred instead of cyclodehydrogenation. Collectively, the work in Chapter 5 offers in-depth understanding of the photochemical properties of Ar₄-DHAs as well as valuable guidance for future work on the synthesis of π-extended PAHs and nanographenes from readilly accessbile Ar₄-DHA precursors

A new dimension for magnetosensitive e-skins: active matrix integrated micro-origami sensor arrays

Magnetic sensors are widely used in our daily life for assessing the position and orientation of objects. Recently, the magnetic sensing modality has been introduced to electronic skins (e-skins), enabling remote perception of moving objects. However, the integration density of magnetic sensors is limited and the vector properties of the magnetic field cannot be fully explored since the sensors can only perceive field components in one or two dimensions. Here, we report an approach to fabricate high-density integrated active matrix magnetic sensor with three-dimensional (3D) magnetic vector field sensing capability. The 3D magnetic sensor is composed of an array of self-assembled micro-origami cubic architectures with biased anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) sensors manufactured in a wafer-scale process. Integrating the 3D magnetic sensors into an e-skin with embedded magnetic hairs enables real-time multidirectional tactile perception. We demonstrate a versatile approach for the fabrication of active matrix integrated 3D sensor arrays using micro-origami and pave the way for new electronic devices relying on the autonomous rearrangement of functional elements in space

Higher Glycemic Index and Load Could Increase Risk of Dyslipidemia

Background: To quantify carbohydrates, various indicators such as glycemic load (GL) and glycemic index (GI) were introduced. In order to address the effect of dietary carbohydrate content on lipid profile, we investigated the relationship between dietary GI and GL with lipid profile in adults living in Shiraz, Iran.Methods: In a cross-sectional study, 236 participants aged between 20 and 50 years were selected using cluster random sampling in Shiraz, Iran. For assessing the food intake, a 168-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) was utilized. Dietary GI and GL were calculated based on food items intake.Results: Higher GI was associated with increased odds ratio (OR) of lowdensity lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C, OR: 2.51; p-trend=0.008), nonhigh-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL, OR: 2.34; p-trend=0.01) and LDL to HDL ratio (OR: 2.13; p-trend=0.02) in crude model. In adjusted model, direct association was observed between GI and total cholesterol (TC, OR: 2.40; p-trend=0.01), LDL-C (OR: 2.50; p-trend=0.01) and non-HDL-C (OR: 2.48; p-trend=0.01). Association was noted between higher GL with TC (OR: 2.50; p-trend=0.01), LDL-C (OR: 2.22; p-trend=0.02), non-HDL-C (OR: 2.49; p-trend=0.005) and LDL-C to HDL-C ratio (OR: 2.29; p-trend=0.01) in crude model. After adjusting for potential cofounder, association remained for TC (OR: 3.97; p-trend=0.01), LDL-C (OR: 4.39; p-trend=0.005) and non-HDL-C (OR: 3.72; p-trend=0.008).Conclusion: Dietary GI and GL may have an association with higher odds of abnormal lipid profile. It seems that a diet with a low GI and GL (which full of whole grains, fruits, vegetables, nuts and legumes) can play an effective role in favorable lipid profile

The effect of cognitive behavioral therapy on the burden in drug dependent persons' caregivers: A randomized controlled clinical trial

Background: Drug dependence is one of the current problems that leads to the drug dependents persons' suffer and imposes a huge mental burden to their family members. This study aimed investigating to determine the effect of cognitive- behavioral therapy (CBT) on the burden of the caregivers of drug dependent people. In CBT, caregivers discover thought and behavioral mistakes and recover them. Materials and Methods: This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 64 caregivers of drug dependent individuals referring to one of the clinical and educational centers in Isfahan, Iran, which were randomly assigned to two equal groups (intervention and control) in 2016. Intervention group under went eight 90-min CBT sessions, whereas control group attended 3 group sessions to express their experiences. Data were collected by Zarit Burden scale and the demographic questionnaire and analyzed by independent t-test, Chi-square, and ANCOVA repeated measure through SPSS 18. Results: Before the intervention, no statistical difference was observed among two groups in the mean scores of burden (t = 0.75,p= 0.46).There was a significant difference between three time points in the intervention group (F = 3.24, p < 0.001). However, care burden mean score did not show a significant reduction in the control group (F = 0.17,p= 0.96). Conclusions: The CBT can lead to reduction of burden in drug dependent caregivers'. We suggest encouraging nurses to establish educational programs such as CBT to maintain and improve caregiver's mental health

Oral findings in chronic kidney disease. A cross-sectional study in Shiraz, Iran.

Background: In hemodialysis patients, there are some oral hard and soft tissue changes. Objectives: The aim of this single-center, cross-sectional study was to evaluate oral findings in hemodialysis patients. Patients and Methods: A total of 144 patients participated. Of them, 28 patients (19%) had diabetes mellitus (DM), 17 patients (12%) had systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and 15 patients (10%) had severe hypertension. The oral cavity was inspected by an oral medicine specialist using proper light, mirror and explorer. The lips, cheek, tongue, palatal mucosa, floor of the mouth, gingiva, pharyngeal fauces, dentures, teeth and occlusion were checked. The significance level was P<0.05. Results: Around 78% of the studied population had oral manifestations. The most diagnosed finding in hemodialysis patients was dryness of the mouth followed by tooth loss due to mobility and poor oral hygiene. Diabetic cases showed numerous oral symptoms than nondiabetic subjects. Conclusions: Oral lesions in hemodialysis patients is a prominent finding and untreated lesions may cause severe side effects

Modelling The Spatio-Temporal Distribution Of Ambient Nitrogen Dioxide And Investigating The Effects Of Public Transit Policies On Population Exposure

Estimating the future state of air quality associated with transport policies and infrastructure investments is key to the development of meaningful transportation and planning decisions. This paper describes the design of an integrated transportation and air quality modelling framework capable of simulating traffic emissions and air pollution at a refined spatio-temporal scale. For this purpose, emissions of Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) were estimated in the Greater Montreal Region at the level of individual trips and vehicles. In turn, hourly Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) concentrations were simulated across different seasons and validated against observations. Our validation results reveal a reasonable performance of the modelling chain. The modelling system was used to evaluate the impact of an extensive regional transit improvement strategy revealing reductions in NO2concentrations across the territory by about 3.6% compared to the base case in addition to a decrease in the frequency and severity of NO2hot spots. This is associated with a reduction in total NOxemissions of 1.9% compared to the base case; some roads experienced reductions by more than half. Finally, a methodology for assessing individuals’ daily exposure is developed (by tracking activity locations and trajectories) and we observed a reduction of 20.8% in daily exposures compared to the base case. The large difference between reductions in the mean NO2concentration across the study domain and the mean NO2exposure across the sample population results from the fact that NO2concentrations dropped largely in the areas which attract the most individuals. This exercise illustrates that evaluating the air quality impacts of transportation scenarios by solely quantifying reductions in air pollution concentrations across the study domain would lead to an underestimation of the potential health gains

Individual Exposure To Traffic Related Air Pollution Across Land-Use Clusters

In this study, we estimated the transportation-related emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) at an individual level for a sample of the Montreal population. Using linear regression, we quantified the associations between NOx emissions and selected individual attributes. We then investigated the relationship between individual emissions of NOx and exposure to nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentrations derived from a land-use regression model. Factor analysis and clustering of land-uses were used to test the relationships between emissions and exposures in different Montreal areas. We observed that the emissions generated per individual are positively associated with vehicle ownership, gender, and employment status. We also noted that individuals who live in the suburbs or in peripheral areas generate higher emissions of NOx but are exposed to lower NO2 concentrations at home and throughout their daily activities. Finally, we observed that for most individuals, NO2 exposures based on daily activity locations were often slightly more elevated than NO2 concentrations at the home location. We estimated that between 20% and 45% of individuals experience a daily exposure that is largely different from the concentration at their home location. Our findings are relevant to the evaluation of equity in the generation of transport emissions and exposure to traffic-related air pollution. We also shed light on the effect of accounting for daily activities when estimating air pollution exposure

Relationship between Moral Sensitivity and Moral Intelligence in Nurses Working in Intensive Care Units

Background and purpose: Nurses working in intensive care units (ICUs) are sometimes faced with ethical decision making which requires ethical sensitivity and moral intelligence. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between moral sensitivity and moral intelligence in nurses working in intensive care units. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional correlational study was conducted in 112 nurses working in adult ICUs who were selected by census sampling in Amol, Iran 2019. The Moral Sensitivity Questionnaire and Moral Intelligence Questionnaire were administered and data were analyzed applying descriptive and analytical statistics. Results: No significant relationship was found between moral intelligence and moral sensitivity (r= 0.14, P= 0.15). But, there was a significant positive relationship between moral intelligence and the dimension of knowing how to communicate with the patient as one of the areas of moral sensitivity (P<0.05). Conclusion: According to current study, high levels of moral intelligence would help nurses in having better relationships with patients. Therefore, developing appropriate programs are suggested to improve ethical sensitivity in nurses

Body mass index is important determinant of blood pressure in adolescents

Abstract Background and Objective: Obesity is an important risk factor for development of hypertension. We investigated the association between body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure in adolescents. Methods: The cross-sectional study was performed on 694 adolescents aged 12-18 years from middle and high schools located in 4 districts of Shiraz, Iran. Height, weight, and systolic and diastolic blood pressures were measured according to standard procedures. Results: The prevalence of overweight/obesity and elevated systolic and diastolic blood pressure was 22.0%, 16.8%, and 13.3%, respectively. Compared to girls, boys had higher rates of overweight/obesity and elevated blood pressure. With increasing age, the prevalence of overweight decreased (20.6% in 15-18 years compared to 34.3% in 12-14 years) and that of elevated blood pressure increased (33.2% vs.14.6% for systolic and 22.2% vs. 10.3% for diastolic blood pressure) in boys whereas the prevalence of overweight/obesity and elevated blood pressure did not change among girls. In both sexes, elevated blood pressure had a positive association with BMI categories independent of age and this association was observed even in normal versus low BMI categories. Conclusion: A strong association between BMI and elevated blood pressure advocates using strategies for the control of weight and prevention of obesity in adolescents