Entrepreneurial potential: connecting some dots

The present study proposes an entrepreneurial potential theoretical model and scale. Connecting the previous research evidences from entrepreneurs’ literature, we define entrepreneurial potential as the individuals’ readiness to engage on entrepreneurship typical activities, and we propose that the entrepreneurial potential includes four main dimensions (entrepreneurial motivations, management competencies, psychological competencies and social competencies) and eleven subdimensions. To assess the entrepreneurial potential we created the Entrepreneurial Potential Assessment Inventory (EPAI). In three studies, we present evidences of content, convergent and discriminant validity of the scale. The Inventory can be established as a tool of high value to the community to help identify competencies requiring development, and to help design or adjust training courses in entrepreneurship

Business Opportunities Prototypical Dimensions in Recognition and Decision Stages of the Entrepreneurial Process

Entrepreneurship‟s research field focuses on how, by whom and by what means business opportunities are discovered, evaluated and exploited (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000; Baum, Frese, Baron & Katz, 2007). In this study we intend to understand how individuals use the business opportunity prototype (Baron and Ensley, 2006), in different stages of the entrepreneurial process: recognition and decision stages. We used a methodology based on scenarios and on the dimensions of the business opportunity prototype. The study is experimental with a design 2 (scenario A and B) X 3 (business‟ characteristics: customer‟s problem solving; cash flow; manageable risk). Results allowed to understand how individuals use the prototype in two stages of the entrepreneurial process. Both in business opportunity recognition and decision to launch a venture stages, risk plays a fundamental. Following, in recognition stage money and profit are something very considered. However when it comes to actually launch the venture (decision making) customers occupy individuals‟ attention. These results bring important contributions on how individuals recognize business opportunities and how they evaluate their characteristics according to a prototype framework

Design of a case management model for people with chronic disease (Heart Failure and COPD). Phase I: modeling and identification of the main components of the intervention through their actors: patients and professionals (DELTA-ICE-PRO Study

Background Chronic diseases account for nearly 60% of deaths around the world. The extent of this silent epidemic has not met determined responses in governments, policies or professionals in order to transform old Health Care Systems, configured for acute diseases. There is a large list of research about alternative models for people with chronic conditions, many of them with an advanced practice nurse as a key provider, as case management. But some methodological concerns raise, above all, the design of the intervention (intensity, frequency, components, etc). Methods/Design Objectives: General: To develop the first and second phases (theorization and modeling) for designing a multifaceted case-management intervention in people with chronic conditions (COPD and heart failure) and their caregivers. Specific aims: 1) To identify key events in people living with chronic disease and their relation with the Health Care System, from their point of view. 2) To know the coping mechanisms developed by patients and their caregivers along the story with the disease. 3) To know the information processing and its utilization in their interactions with health care providers. 4) To detect potential unmet needs and the ways deployed by patients and their caregivers to resolve them. 5) To obtain a description from patients and caregivers, about their itineraries along the Health Care System, in terms of continuity, accessibility and comprehensiveness of care. 6) To build up a list of promising case-management interventions in patients with Heart Failure and COPD with this information in order to frame it into theoretical models for its reproducibility and conceptualization. 7) To undergo this list to expert judgment to assess its feasibility and pertinence in the Andalusian Health Care. Design: Qualitative research with two phases: For the first five objectives, a qualitative technique with biographic stories will be developed and, for the remaining objectives, an expert consensus through Delphi technique, on the possible interventions yielded from the first phase. The study will be developed in the provinces of Almería, Málaga and Granada in the Southern Spain, from patients included in the Andalusian Health Care Service database with the diagnosis of COPD or Heart Failure, with the collaboration of case manager nurses and general practitioners for the assessment of their suitability to inclusion criteria. Patients and caregivers will be interviewed in their homes or their Health Centers, with their family or their case manager nurse as mediator. Discussion First of a series of studies intended to design a case-management service for people with heart failure and COPD, in the Andalusian Health Care System, where case management has been implemented since 2002. Accordingly with the steps of a theoretical model for complex interventions, in this study, theorization and intervention modeling phases will be developed.This research was carried out with the support of one research grant, awarded by the Regional Health Ministry of Andalusia (Exp. 0222/2008

Waist circumference as a vital sign in clinical practice: a Consensus Statement from the IAS and ICCR Working Group on Visceral Obesity

Despite decades of unequivocal evidence that waist circumference provides both independent and additive information to BMI for predicting morbidity and risk of death, this measurement is not routinely obtained in clinical practice. This Consensus Statement proposes that measurements of waist circumference afford practitioners with an important opportunity to improve the management and health of patients. We argue that BMI alone is not sufficient to properly assess or manage the cardiometabolic risk associated with increased adiposity in adults and provide a thorough review of the evidence that will empower health practitioners and professional societies to routinely include waist circumference in the evaluation and management of patients with overweight or obesity. We recommend that decreases in waist circumference are a critically important treatment target for reducing adverse health risks for both men and women. Moreover, we describe evidence that clinically relevant reductions in waist circumference can be achieved by routine, moderate-intensity exercise and/or dietary interventions. We identify gaps in the knowledge, including the refinement of waist circumference threshold values for a given BMI category, to optimize obesity risk stratification across age, sex and ethnicity. We recommend that health professionals are trained to properly perform this simple measurement and consider it as an important 'vital sign' in clinical practice

Short-Wave Excitations in Non-Local Gross-Pitaevskii Model

It is shown, that a non-local form of the Gross-Pitaevskii equation allows to describe not only the long-wave excitations, but also the short-wave ones in the systems with Bose-condensate. At given parameter values, the excitation spectrum mimics the Landau spectrum of quasi-particle excitations in superfluid Helium with roton minimum. The excitation wavelength, at which the roton minimum exists, is close to the inter-particle interaction range. It is shown, that the existence domain of the spectrum with a roton minimum is reduced, if one accounts for an inter-particle attraction.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, UJP style; presented at Bogolyubov Kyiv Conference "Modern Problems of Theoretical and Mathematical Physics", September 15-18, 200

Chronic Supplementation With a Mitochondrial Antioxidant (MitoQ) Improves Vascular Function in Healthy Older Adults.

UNLABELLED: Excess reactive oxygen species production by mitochondria is a key mechanism of age-related vascular dysfunction. Our laboratory has shown that supplementation with the mitochondrial-targeted antioxidant MitoQ improves vascular endothelial function by reducing mitochondrial reactive oxygen species and ameliorates arterial stiffening in old mice, but the effects in humans are unknown. Here, we sought to translate our preclinical findings to humans and determine the safety and efficacy of MitoQ. Twenty healthy older adults (60-79 years) with impaired endothelial function (brachial artery flow-mediated dilation 7.60 m/s; n=11). Plasma oxidized LDL (low-density lipoprotein), a marker of oxidative stress, also was lower after MitoQ versus placebo (P0.1). These findings in humans extend earlier preclinical observations and suggest that MitoQ and other therapeutic strategies targeting mitochondrial reactive oxygen species may hold promise for treating age-related vascular dysfunction. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT02597023.This work was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) awards AG049451, AG000279, AG053009, Colorado CTSA UL1 TR001082, and an industry contract with MitoQ Limited (MitoQ Limited provided MitoQ and some financial support). M.P. Murphy is supported by UK MRC MC_U105663142 and as a Wellcome Trust Investigator (110159/Z/15/Z)

Growth of nanocolumnar thin films on patterned substrates at oblique angles

The influence of one dimensional substrate patterns on the nanocolumnar growth of thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering at oblique angles is theoretically and experimentally studied. A well‐established growth model has been used to study the interplay between the substrate topography and the thin film morphology. A critical thickness has been defined, below which the columnar growth is modulated by the substrate topography, while for thicknesses above, the impact of substrate features is progressively lost in two stages; first columns grown on taller features take over neighboring ones, and later the film morphology evolves independently of substrate features. These results have been experimentally tested by analyzing the nanocolumnar growth of SiO2 thin films on ion‐induced patterned substrates.University of Seville: V PPIUSUniversity of Seville: VI PPIT-USEuropean Development Funds program (EU-FEDER) / Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) : MAT2013-40852-REuropean Development Funds program (EU-FEDER) / Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) : MAT2016- 79866-REuropean Development Funds program (EU-FEDER) / Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) : MAT2015-69035-REuropean Development Funds program (EU-FEDER) / Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) : MAT2015-69035-REDCEuropean Development Funds program (EU-FEDER) / Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) : MAT2017-85089-C2-1- RComunidad Autónoma de Madrid S2013/MIT-3029Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid IND2017/IND766

Effect of the aniline fragment in Pt(II) and Pt(IV) complexes as anti-proliferative agents. Standard reduction potential as a more reliable parameter for Pt(IV) compounds than peak reduction potential

The problems of resistance and side effects associated with cisplatin and other chemotherapeutic drugs have boosted research aimed at finding new compounds with improved properties. The use of platinum(IV) prodrugs is one alternative, although there is some controversy regarding the predictive ability of the peak reduction potentials. In the work described here a series of fourteen chloride Pt(II) and Pt(IV) compounds was synthesised and fully characterised. The compounds contain different bidentate arylazole heterocyclic ligands. Their cytotoxic properties against human lung carcinoma (A549), human breast carcinoma (MCF7) and human colon carcinoma (HCT116 and HT29) cell lines were studied. A clear relationship between the type of ligand and the anti-proliferative properties was found, with the best results obtained for the Pt(II) compound that contains an aniline fragment, (13), thus evidencing a positive effect of the NH2 group. Stability and aquation studies in DMSO, DMF and DMSO/water mixtures were carried out on the active complexes and an in-depth analysis of the two aquation processes, including DFT analysis, of 13 was undertaken. It was verified that DNA was the target and that cell death occurred by apoptosis in the case of 13. Furthermore, the cytotoxic derivatives did not exhibit haemolytic activity. The reduction of the Pt(IV) compounds whose Pt(II) congeners were active was studied by several techniques. It was concluded that the peak reduction potential was not useful to predict the ability for reduction. However, a correlation between the cytotoxic activity and the standard reduction potential was found.This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MCIU), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) (RTI2018-100709-B-C21 to BRM, RTI2018-100709-B-C22 to AM, RTI2018-094093-B-I00 to RSP), Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha-FEDER (JCCM) (grant SBPLY/19/180501/000260 to BRM), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Project PID2019-104381GB-I00 to GC), Fundación Leticia Castillejo Castillo to MJRH, Junta de Castilla y León, Consejería de Educación y Cultura y Fondo Social Europeo (Projects BU263P18 and BU087G19 to JVC) as well as UCLM-FEDER (grants 2019-GRIN-27183 and 2019-GRIN-27209 to BRM) and University of Girona (MPCUdG2016/076 to AM)

Política laboral y funcionamiento del mercado de trabajo en la Unión Europea

Entre las políticas laborales se encuentran las que promueven acciones con el objeto de paliar los desequilibrios y desajustes del mercado de trabajo, distinguiéndose entre las que lo hacen con carácter anticipador (las denominadas políticas activas) o de forma compensadora (pasivas). Tras el Tratado de Amsterdam (1997) y la puesta en marcha de la Estrategia Europea de Empleo (EEE), la política laboral adquiere una especial relevancia, fomentándose la utilización de políticas activas en detrimento de las predominantes políticas pasivas. En este trabajo se analiza la eficiencia del gasto en las diferentes acciones de política activa, respecto a los objetivos planteados en la EEE (en cuanto a las variables de volumen y calidad del mercado de trabajo), mediante un modelo de datos de panel, con el fin de contrastar la preferencia demostrada por este tipo de políticas en el ámbito Europeo