A New Model of Opportunity Recognition: Linking Individual Agency, Entrepreneurial Action, and the Innovation Process

The purpose of this study is to explore how individuals go about identifying new business opportunities, also known as opportunity recognition. Opportunity recognition is the first and most critical step in the entrepreneurship and innovation process. Past models of opportunity recognition took a narrow approach, subscribing to a single perspective of opportunity recognition and tended to overemphasize either the person or the process rather than examining all possible mechanisms and their interaction effects. This study has taken a holistic approach, with a focus on both serial entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs, aimed at exploring a range of conditions present in small startups and large organizations. Data findings were distilled down into ten proposition statements and presented in a visual process model of opportunity recognition. A total of 23 variables emerged in the research study, 12 of which were new concepts not identified in previous models. The most salient and profound insight from the study was the importance of reframing the opportunity until the “real opportunity” emerged. This back and forth reframing process occurred in cycles until a clear problem-solution fit was identified. The major contribution of this model is that it expands upon cognition theory by showing how the idea enactment process feeds back into the individual’s thought process, emphasizing the interaction effects between thinking and action. The resulting model follows a clear flow and sequence of events but also illustrates the organic nature of the ideation process and allows for multiple pathways into an innovative idea. This study bridges an important divide between the entrepreneurship and innovation literature and shows how different perspectives in the literature such as creation and discovery, identification and enactment, and active and passive search can coexist. This research provides the foundation from which to operationalize the model and develop training and educational materials for management, consultants, and educators. The study has the potential to help business leaders and aspiring entrepreneurs unlock new market opportunities, navigate a broad mix of innovation tools and techniques, and enhance cognitive skills that are central to the opportunity recognition process. Cultivating this talent is critical to achieving a sustainable competitive advantage and the successful value creation of new ventures

Dynamic effects of Wolbachia on Drosophila Oogenesis and coordination of infection with stem cell niche morphogenesis

Wolbachia are widespread obligate intracellular bacteria that are maternally transmitted and modulate reproduction of their invertebrate host. Mosquitoes transinfected with Wolbachia have reduced capacity for transmitting vector borne diseases and can replace native populations in the field because of a reproductive advantage. The cellular mechanisms of how reproduction is altered by Wolbachia are poorly understood. In this work Wolbachia-induced reproductive changes in the model organism Drosophila were used to pinpoint underlying cellular processes affected by the bacteria. Specifically, egg production (or fecundity) of Wolbachia-infected Drosophila mauritiana was compared to non-infected flies that had been generated by antibiotic treatment of infected flies. Immediately before the fecundity experiment backcrossing of both fly lines ensured an equivalent nuclear genetic background. Initially egg production in Wolbachia-infected flies was increased by 4-fold but in less than 30 generations this changed to a 0.84 fold decrease with a slight advantage for the non-infected line. Additional backcrossing experiments determined that selection on the host nuclear genome is one of the factors underlying this reversion of fecundity gains. Other non-Mendelian factors, such as the microbiota, may also play a role in this rapid change. Wolbachia alterations in egg production were always linked to Wolbachia induced changes in programmed cell death (PCD) in the germarium during oogenesis and germline stem cell (GSC) division. Germline stem cells are maintained and regulated through their interaction with the germline stem cell niche (GSCN). Interestingly, these cells are both frequently infected with Wolbachia and possess a high bacterial titer. A developmental time course revealed the mechanism of how Wolbachia accumulate in the niche cells. The data suggest that the bacteria actually coordinate their replication with the differentiation of the niche cells. Future work on understanding the cellular and molecular basis of Wolbachia - host interaction will not only give insight into novel mechanisms of host manipulation by a pathogen, but will also expand our current understanding of stem cell niche morphogenesis and modulation of stem cell proliferation.2018-06-05T00:00:00

Oxygen reduction reaction and proton exchange membrane fuel cell performance of pulse electrodeposited Pt-Ni and Pt-Ni-Mo(O) nanoparticles

Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICProton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) are an important alternative to fossil fuels and a complement to batteries for the electrification of vehicles. However, their high cost obstructs commercialization, and the catalyst material, including its synthesis, constitutes one of the major cost components. In this work, Pt-Ni and Pt-Ni-Mo(O) nanoparticles (NPs) of varying composition have been synthesized in a single step by pulse electrodeposition onto a PEMFC's gas diffusion layer. The proposed synthesis route combines NP synthesis and their fixation onto the microporous carbon layer in a single step. Both Pt-Ni and Pt-Ni-Mo(O) catalysts exhibit extremely high mass activities at oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) with very low Pt loadings of around 4 μg/cm2 due to the favorable distribution of NPs in contact with the proton exchange membrane. Particle sizes of 40-50 nm and 40-80 nm were obtained for Pt-Ni and Pt-Ni-Mo(O) systems, respectively. The highest ORR mass activities were found for Pt67Ni33 and Pt66Ni32-MoOx NPs. The feasibility of a single-step electrodeposition of Pt-Ni-Mo(O) NPs was successfully demonstrated; however, the ternary NPs are of more amorphous nature in contrast to the crystalline, binary Pt-Ni particles, due to the oxidized state of Mo. Nevertheless, despite their heterogeneous nature, the ternary NPs show homogeneous behavior even on a microscopic scale

Using Zebrafish to Study Pathways that Regulate Hematopoietic Stem Cell Self-Renewal and Migration

This perspective describes the usefulness of zebrafish as a model to study interaction of hematopoietic stem cells with the associated niche in vivo, explains how such interactions influence regeneration, migration, and clonality of HSCs, and defines their fate during differentiation

The Planetary Health Academy—a virtual lecture series for transformative education in Germany

The planetary crises require health professionals to understand the interlinkages between health and environmental changes, and how to reduce ecological harm (ie, ecological footprint) and promote positive change (ie, ecological handprint). However, health professions’ education and training are mostly lacking these aspects. In this Viewpoint, we report findings from the evaluation of the Planetary Health Academy, the first open online lecture series for transformative planetary health education in Germany. In a retrospective online survey, 458 of 3656 Planetary Health Academy participants reported on their emotions towards climate change, attitudes towards health professionals’ responsibilities, self-efficacy, and the contribution of the Planetary Health Academy to their knowledge and actions. Additionally, motivators and barriers to acting were assessed. Our findings provide insights that can inform future efforts for transformative education. Combined with network and movement building, education could act as a social tipping element toward actions to mitigate global environmental changes

The gut commensal microbiome of Drosophila is modified by the endosymbiont Wolbachia

Endosymbiotic Wolbachia bacteria and the gut microbiome have inde- pendently been shown to affect several aspects of insect biology, including repro- duction, development, life span, stem cell activity, and resistance to human patho- gens, in insect vectors. This work shows that Wolbachia bacteria, which reside mainly in the fly germline, affect the microbial species present in the fly gut in a lab-reared strain. Drosophila melanogaster hosts two main genera of commensal bac- teria—Acetobacter and Lactobacillus. Wolbachia-infected flies have significantly re- duced titers of Acetobacter. Sampling of the microbiome of axenic flies fed with equal proportions of both bacteria shows that the presence of Wolbachia bacteria is a significant determinant of the composition of the microbiome throughout fly de- velopment. However, this effect is host genotype dependent. To investigate the mechanism of microbiome modulation, the effect of Wolbachia bacteria on Imd and reactive oxygen species pathways, the main regulators of immune response in the fly gut, was measured. The presence of Wolbachia bacteria does not induce signifi- cant changes in the expression of the genes for the effector molecules in either pathway. Furthermore, microbiome modulation is not due to direct interaction be- tween Wolbachia bacteria and gut microbes. Confocal analysis shows that Wolbachia bacteria are absent from the gut lumen. These results indicate that the mechanistic basis of the modulation of composition of the microbiome by Wolbachia bacteria is more complex than a direct bacterial interaction or the effect of Wolbachia bacteria on fly immunity. The findings reported here highlight the importance of considering the composition of the gut microbiome and host genetic background during Wolbachia-induced phenotypic studies and when formulating microbe-based disease vector control strategies.1R56AI97589-01A1 - National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; 1225360 - National Science Foundatio

Identification of novel regulators of developmental hematopoiesis using Endoglin regulatory elements as molecular probes.

Enhancers are the primary determinants of cell identity, and specific promoter/enhancer combinations of Endoglin (ENG) have been shown to target blood and endothelium in the embryo. Here, we generated a series of embryonic stem cell lines, each targeted with reporter constructs driven by specific promoter/enhancer combinations of ENG, to evaluate their discriminative potential and value as molecular probes of the corresponding transcriptome. The Eng promoter (P) in combination with the -8/+7/+9-kb enhancers, targeted cells in FLK1 mesoderm that were enriched for blast colony forming potential, whereas the P/-8-kb enhancer targeted TIE2+/c-KIT+/CD41- endothelial cells that were enriched for hematopoietic potential. These fractions were isolated using reporter expression and their transcriptomes profiled by RNA-seq. There was high concordance between our signatures and those from embryos with defects at corresponding stages of hematopoiesis. Of the 6 genes that were upregulated in both hemogenic mesoderm and hemogenic endothelial fractions targeted by the reporters, LRP2, a multiligand receptor, was the only gene that had not previously been associated with hematopoiesis. We show that LRP2 is indeed involved in definitive hematopoiesis and by doing so validate the use of reporter gene-coupled enhancers as probes to gain insights into transcriptional changes that facilitate cell fate transitions.National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia, Australian Research Council, Dr Tom Bee Stem Cell Research Fund, Cancer Research UK, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, The Leukaemia and Lymphoma Society, core support grants by the Wellcome Trust to the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research and Wellcome Trust - MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute (Grant IDs: R01 HL04880, P015PO1HL32262-32, 5P30 DK49216, 5R01 DK53298, 5U01 HL10001-05, R24 DK092760)This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Society of Hematology via http://dx.doi.org/10.1182/blood-2016-02-69787