The influence of individual characteristics on getting involved in an entrepreneurial team: The contingent role of individualism

A traditional stereotype of the entrepreneur is that of a lone hero. However, many entrepreneurs engage in new businesses as members of entrepreneurial teams. These teams usually perform better in terms of employment generation, innovation, and profits. Thus, a relevant question is why some individuals get involved in entrepreneurship through a team rather than alone. Our explanation is focused on two variables related to the entrepreneur''s human capital: their educational level and their intrapreneurial experience. There are conflicting arguments on how these variables lead an entrepreneur to join a team, and we argue that the degree of individualism of the society helps us understand the discrepancies. We use a sample of 66, 716 early-stage entrepreneurs from 66 countries surveyed by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor between 2014 and 2017. Our results show that entrepreneurs with higher levels of education and intrapreneurial experience are more likely to be involved in the entrepreneurship process as members of teams. However, the effect of educational level is less pronounced in individualist contexts. In addition, we find that the motivation to enter entrepreneurship partially mediates these relationships, as individuals endowed with higher human capital are likely to enter entrepreneurship driven by an opportunistic motivation, which in turns makes them likely to need or join teams to reach their goals

Utilización de subproductos industriales en la alimentación de cerdos de engorde en Cuba

Fifty-four pigs averaging 75 days of age and ± 22.0 kg live weight. The pigs were allotted according to a random blocks design in three treatments, two replicas (house side) and nine repetitions for treatment in each replica. The effect of a foodstuffs "B" (balanced feed of medium quality with soybean and corn and 30% of the wheat Cuban byproduct)1 in diets of sugar cane molasses type B (MB), and the inclusion in the diet of 10% of distiller dried grains with soluble obtained from the maize (DDGS)2, on the animal performance traits in comparison with a concentrated feedstuffs3, was studied. There were no significant differences for the consumptions of MB in the diets of feedstuffs B + MB and the diet with 10% of DDGS inclusion; there were significant differences (P< 0.01) for the animals fed with the concentrated feedstuffs. The alimentary conversion was very significant (P< 0.001). The slaughter weight had significant differences (P< 0.01) among treatments. It is concluded, that diets of a feedstuffs B plus MB of sugar cane and diets including 10% of DDGS generate excellent productive indexes and constitute alternative sources under tropical conditions that substitute imports of cereals in the Cuban pig feeding

Examining links between anxiety, reinvestment and walking when talking by older adults during adaptive gait

Falls by older adults often result in reduced quality of life and debilitating fear of further falls. Stopping walking when talking (SWWT) is a significant predictor of future falls by older adults and is thought to reflect age-related increases in attentional demands of walking. We examine whether SWWT is associated with use of explicit movement cues during locomotion, and evaluate if conscious control (i.e., movement specific reinvestment) is causally linked to falls-related anxiety during a complex walking task. We observed whether twenty-four older adults stopped walking when talking when asked a question during an adaptive gait task. After certain trials, participants completed a visual-spatial recall task regarding walkway features, or answered questions about their movements during the walk. In a subsequent experimental condition, participants completed the walking task under conditions of raised postural threat. Compared to a control group, participants who SWWT reported higher scores for aspects of reinvestment relating to conscious motor processing but not movement self-consciousness. The higher scores for conscious motor processing were preserved when scores representing cognitive function were included as a covariate. There were no group differences in measures of general cognitive function, visual spatial working memory or balance confidence. However, the SWWT group reported higher scores on a test of external awareness when walking, indicating allocation of attention away from task-relevant environmental features. Under conditions of increased threat, participants self-reported significantly greater state anxiety and reinvestment and displayed more accurate responses about their movements during the task. SWWT is not associated solely with age-related cognitive decline or generic increases in age-related attentional demands of walking. SWWT may be caused by competition for phonological resources of working memory associated with consciously processing motor actions and appears to be causally linked with fall-related anxiety and increased vigilance.This research was supported by The Royal Society (IE131576) and British Academy (SG132820)

Genetic Background Can Result in a Marked or Minimal Effect of Gene Knockout (GPR55 and CB2 Receptor) in Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis Models of Multiple Sclerosis

PMCID: PMC379391

Design, development and field evaluation of a Spanish into sign language translation system

This paper describes the design, development and field evaluation of a machine translation system from Spanish to Spanish Sign Language (LSE: Lengua de Signos Española). The developed system focuses on helping Deaf people when they want to renew their Driver’s License. The system is made up of a speech recognizer (for decoding the spoken utterance into a word sequence), a natural language translator (for converting a word sequence into a sequence of signs belonging to the sign language), and a 3D avatar animation module (for playing back the signs). For the natural language translator, three technological approaches have been implemented and evaluated: an example-based strategy, a rule-based translation method and a statistical translator. For the final version, the implemented language translator combines all the alternatives into a hierarchical structure. This paper includes a detailed description of the field evaluation. This evaluation was carried out in the Local Traffic Office in Toledo involving real government employees and Deaf people. The evaluation includes objective measurements from the system and subjective information from questionnaires. The paper details the main problems found and a discussion on how to solve them (some of them specific for LSE)

Acute hepatic failure and multi-system organ failure secondary to replacement of the liver with metastatic melanoma

BACKGROUND: Metastatic malignant melanoma to the liver resulting in fulminant hepatic failure is a rare occurrence. CASE PRESENTATION: A 46 year old man presented to hospital with massive hepatomegaly, elevated liver enzymes and increased lactate three weeks following resection of a malignant melanoma from his shoulder (Clark level 5). Initially stable, he decompensated 24 to 48 hours subsequent to presentation with respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation, distributive shock requiring high dose vasopressor infusion, coagulopathy refractory to plasma infusion, progressive rise in liver enzymes and severe metabolic abnormalities including hyperkalemia, acidosis, hyperphosphatemia, hyperuricemia and hypocalcemia. Refractory to aggressive physiologic support he received palliation. Autopsy revealed >80% liver infiltration by metastatic malignant melanoma. CONCLUSION: We report a case of fulminant hepatic failure secondary to metastatic malignant melanoma infiltration of the liver