Leveraging entrepreneurship through private investments: Does gender matter?

Using project data from a random sample of Phase II research awards from the National Institutes of Health SBIR program, we estimate the relative probability that woman-owned firms are able to attract private investments to fund the transition of the technology developed under the sponsorship of the SBIR program to an innovation to enter the market. We find that women-owned firms are as much as 16% points less likely to attract private investment dollars compared to male-owned firms, factors excluding the size of the SBIR award held constant. Women-owned firms that received larger awards performed substantially better. Although the SBIR program has a legislated directive to increase the participation of woman-owned firms in the program, our findings suggest that it might not be sufficient to overcome market perceptions about the profitability of such investments actually bringing a developed technology to market

On the economic performance of nascent entrepreneurs

This paper assesses the R&D performance of nascent and established technology-based small firms that receive a Phase II R&D award from the U.S. Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Our empirical analysis is based on a two-stage selection probit model, which is used to estimate the probability of commercialization conditional on the Phase II project having not failed. Our model predicts, and our analysis confirms, that nascent firms are more likely to fail in their SBIR-supported R&D endeavors. Further, we find that nascent firms that do not fail have a higher probability of commercializing their developed technology

Innovative activity and gender dynamics

We explore the innovative performance of firms resulting from their Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) research-funded projects in terms of the gender dynamics of the firms. Using commercialization as the relevant performance metric, we find that Phase II projects led by a female principal investigator (PI) have greater probability of being commercialized in female-owned firms than in male-owned firms. This result is consistent with the findings from other settings that females tend to perform better when working under a female supervisor

Public sector entrepreneurship, politics, and innovation

We suggest that a political leader or a political administration can be described in terms of a public sector entrepreneurship framework. To illustrate, we define the actions of US President Donald Trump’s Administration to refocus the emphasis of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an innovative public policy initiative. And, we explore empirically the social consequences of those actions in terms of changes in the number of STEM employees at the EPA and the number of attendant innovative scientific publications. We find that declining experienced STEM employees at the EPA during President Trump’s Administration is associated with declining innovative environmental scientific publications

The gender gap in federal and private support for entrepreneurship

The role of gender in entrepreneurship has been thoroughly investigated. However, less is knownabout gender differences in access to private investment when attempting to develop a new technology. In this paper, we use data collected by the National Research Council of the National Academies to estimate differences between the probability that a female-owned firm and a male-owned firm, both conducting research funded by the Small Business Innovation Research program, will receive private investment funding to help to commercialize the funded technology. We find that female-owned firms are disadvantaged in their access to private investment, especially in the West and Northeast regions of the USA

Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron-derived outer membrane vesicles promote regulatory dendritic cell responses in health but not in inflammatory bowel disease

Background: Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron (Bt) is a prominent member of the human intestinal microbiota that, like all Gram-negative bacteria, naturally generates nanosized outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) which bud off from the cell surface. Importantly, OMVs can cross the intestinal epithelial barrier to mediate microbe-host cell crosstalk involving both epithelial and immune cells to help maintain intestinal homeostasis. Here we have examined the interaction between Bt OMVs and blood or colonic mucosa-derived dendritic cells (DC) from healthy individuals and patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) or ulcerative colitis (UC). Results: In healthy individuals, Bt OMVs stimulated significant (p<0.05) IL-10 expression by colonic DC, whereas in peripheral blood-derived DC they also stimulated significant (p<0.001 and p<0.01, respectively) expression of IL-6 and the activation marker CD80. Conversely, in UC Bt OMVs were unable to elicit IL-10 expression by colonic DC. There were also reduced numbers of CD103 + DC in the colon of both UC and CD patients compared to controls, supporting a loss of regulatory DC in both diseases. Furthermore, in CD and UC, Bt OMVs elicited a significantly lower proportion of DC which expressed IL-10 (p<0.01 and p<0.001, respectively) in blood compared to controls. These alterations in DC responses to Bt OMVs were seen in patients with inactive disease, and thus are indicative of intrinsic defects in immune responses to this commensal in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Conclusions: Overall, our findings suggest a key role for OMVs generated by the commensal gut bacterium Bt in directing a balanced immune response to constituents of the microbiota locally and systemically during health which is altered in IBD patients

The antenatal causes of cerebral palsy - Genetic and viral associations

Cerebral palsy is the most common neurological disorder in children. Epidemiological evidence suggests that antenatal origins are a major cause. Currently there is no antenatal test for cerebral palsy, no proven preventable measures in late pregnancy, and no known cure. Cerebral palsy affects not only the diagnosed child, but also their family and the community, requiring considerable social and financial resources to assist these children in their daily lives.Catherine S. Gibson, Alastair H. MacLennan, Paul N. Goldwater, and Gustaaf A. Dekker for The South Australian Cerebral Palsy Research Grou

Research of interaction of a natural and forced convection in a vortex chamber of the chemical reactor

In this paper, a chemical reactor for producing refractory metals was considered. A physical and mathematical model of fluid motion and heat transfer in a vortex chamber of the chemical reactor under forced and free convection has been described and simulated. The numerical simulation was carried out in “velocity–pressure” variables by using an alternating direction implicit scheme. The velocity field and the temperature distribution in the reactor were obtained. Parametric studies on effects of the Reynolds, Prandtl and Rossbi criteria on the flow characteristics were also performed. The graphs presented show that natural convection has a significant impact on the hydrodynamics of the flow and intensifies the heat transfer. Reliability of the calculations was verified by comparing the results obtained by another method

Research of interaction of a natural and forced convection in a vortex chamber of the chemical reactor

In this paper, a chemical reactor for producing refractory metals was considered. A physical and mathematical model of fluid motion and heat transfer in a vortex chamber of the chemical reactor under forced and free convection has been described and simulated. The numerical simulation was carried out in “velocity–pressure” variables by using an alternating direction implicit scheme. The velocity field and the temperature distribution in the reactor were obtained. Parametric studies on effects of the Reynolds, Prandtl and Rossbi criteria on the flow characteristics were also performed. The graphs presented show that natural convection has a significant impact on the hydrodynamics of the flow and intensifies the heat transfer. Reliability of the calculations was verified by comparing the results obtained by another method

Research of interaction of a natural and forced convection in a vortex chamber of the chemical reactor

In this paper, a chemical reactor for producing refractory metals was considered. A physical and mathematical model of fluid motion and heat transfer in a vortex chamber of the chemical reactor under forced and free convection has been described and simulated. The numerical simulation was carried out in “velocity–pressure” variables by using an alternating direction implicit scheme. The velocity field and the temperature distribution in the reactor were obtained. Parametric studies on effects of the Reynolds, Prandtl and Rossbi criteria on the flow characteristics were also performed. The graphs presented show that natural convection has a significant impact on the hydrodynamics of the flow and intensifies the heat transfer. Reliability of the calculations was verified by comparing the results obtained by another metho