The Gender Gap in Start-up Funding: The Role of Investors\u27 Benevolent Sexism

Past research has consistently shown that female-led ventures tend to receive less funding than male-led ventures, but the reasons for this gap are unclear. Drawing on the ambivalent sexism theory, this study examines how investors’ benevolent sexism influences funding allocations to male- and female-led ventures. In particular, I propose that individuals who endorse benevolent sexism are less likely to perceive female-led ventures as viable because they may believe that entrepreneurship is too challenging for women due to their dual roles as home-makers and entrepreneurs. As a consequence, they may want to protect women from failure by giving women less funding as that would make their ventures smaller and easier to manage. I conducted an experimental vignette study where investors, i.e., business students with experience with early-stage venture context, rated their perceptions of the venture viability and made funding allocations for an early-stage venture. Contrary to expectations, benevolent sexism was not related to perceptions of venture viability or funding allocation for female-led ventures. However, investors’ benevolent sexism was positively associated with perceptions of venture viability for male-led ventures, which, in turn, was related to greater funding allocations. Although not entirely in line with my hypotheses, the results provided preliminary evidence for the role of benevolent sexism in underfunding of female-led ventures by giving men an advantage in venture evaluation and funding, while equally qualified women do not get the same advantages. Thus, benevolent sexism might be subtly and unnoticeably undermining success of female-led ventures

Planckian Scattering Beyond the Eikonal Approximation in the Functional Approach

In the framework of functional integration the non-leading terms to leading eikonal behavior of the Planckian-energy scattering amplitude are calculated by the straight-line path approximation. We show that the allowance for the first-order correction terms leads to the appearance of retardation effect. The singular character of the correction terms at short distances is also noted, and they may be lead ultimately to the appearance of non-eikonal contributions to the scattering amplitudes.Comment: 15 pages, no figure

Contributions of the pore-forming toxin Listeriolysin O to Listeria monocytogenes pathogenesis

Listeriolysin O (LLO) is an essential determinant of Listeria monocytogenes pathogenesis that mediates the escape of L. monocytogenes from host cell vacuoles, thereby allowing replication in the cytosol without causing appreciable cell death. As a member of the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin (CDC) family of pore-forming toxins, LLO is unique in that it is secreted by a facultative intracellular pathogen, whereas all other CDCs are produced by pathogens that are largely extracellular. Deletion of the gene encoding LLO, hly, or replacement of LLO with other CDCs results in strains that are 10,000-fold less virulent during mouse infections. Deletion of LLO also results in a strain that is immunosuppressive in mice. LLO has structural and regulatory features that allow it to function intracellularly without causing cell death, most of which map to a unique N-terminal region of LLO referred to as the PEST-like sequence. Yet, while LLO has unique properties required for its intracellular site of action, extracellular LLO, like other CDCs, affects cells in myriad ways. Because all CDCs form pores in cholesterol-containing membranes that lead to rapid Ca2+ influx and K+ efflux, they consequently trigger a wide range of host cell responses, including MAPK activation, histone modification, and caspase-1 activation. There is no debate that extracellular LLO, like all other CDCs, can stimulate multiple cellular activities, but the primary question we wish to address is whether LLO secreted in the cytosol has an impact on pathogenesis.To address whether LLO secreted in the cytosol impacts the pathogenesis of L. monocytogenes we engineered a strain, referred to as hlyfl, that deletes hly after escape from phagocytic vacuoles. Using hlyfl, we determined that LLO secreted in the cytosol causes cytotoxicity that impairs the growth of L. monocytogenes in macrophages. However, this strain was less virulent in mice than WT L. monocytogenes because it had a defect in cell-to-cell spread. Furthermore, the strain was not as effective at inducing protective immunity in mice as a strain that was defective in cell-to-cell spread due to a defect in actin-based motility. We hypothesized that hlyfl was not as effective at inducing protective immunity because, like LLO-deficient strains, it induced IL-10. Administration of anti-IL-10 receptor blocking antibody improved the protective capacity of vaccination with hlyfl, indicating that bacterial localization in primary and secondary vacuoles leads to the induction of IL-10, which is immunosuppressive.To determine the bacterial components that lead to the induction of IL-10 by bacteria that cannot escape phagocytic vacuoles, we performed a genetic screen of transposon mutants for their ability to induce enhanced or diminished IL-10 from infected bone marrow-derived macrophages. We identified bacterial lipoproteins, which are recognized by TLR2, as the primary signal for IL-10 induction in macrophages. However, bacterial mutants that had increased lysis induced enhanced IL-10, which was dependent on signaling of endosomal TLRs. In mice, IL-10 induction and immune suppression was primarily mediated by endosomal TLRs. In summary, though LLO may cause some cytotoxicity it is absolutely required for escape from primary and secondary vacuoles. LLO-deficient mutants are avirulent, and they also lyse in vacuoles and induce expression of IL-10, which is immunosuppressive

Structural Change in the Demand for Housing Services and Policy Implications

This research paper estimates the demand for housing services across the United States and studies public policy implications based on estimation results. More specifically, the research paper examines the price and income elasticity of demand in the United States and tests for structural change in the demand for housing services between two different time periods. The empirical analysis on 33 Metropolitan Statistical Areas in 2005 and 2011 suggests that the demand for housing services is inelastic with respect to price per unit of housing services, and the income elasticity of demand has a relatively larger magnitude than the price elasticity of demand. In addition, there is a structural change in the demand for housing services between 2005 and 2011. Finally, the parameters estimated from the housing demand model are used to perform a preliminary policy analysis of households’ response to a housing allowance program. The estimated housing demand equation allows the assessment of the impact of housing allowance programs on the price of housing services and thus, may help policy makers to ensure adequate housing stock in an area

Impact of Maxwellian averaged neutron capture cross-sections for 182W(n,γ)183W reaction on W isotopic compositions

The W isotopic compositions have been investigated within the classical approach to the s-process nucleosynthesis. The Maxwellian averaged neutron capture cross-sections (MACS) adopted in the calculation are obtained from the TALYS-1.9 code with four nuclear level density models: the constant temperature plus Fermi gas, the back-shifted Fermi gas, the generalised superfluid, and the microscopic method of Goriely. The results show that the uncertainty from MACS values is already propagated in the W isotopic ratios, and the generalised superfluid prediction exhibits the largest deviation from the observed 182W/184W ratio. In addition, since branching points have not been considered in this work, the MACS values of the 182W(n,γ)183W reaction are found not to affect the estimated 183W/184W ratio

NGUYEN BINH KHIEM'S THOUGHT AND THE BUILDING OF ECOLOGICAL ETHICS IN THE CURRENT PERIOD

Ecological disasters have affected all countries and regions around the world. It hinders the process of social modernization, and threatens the survival of all mankind. In that context, the building of ecological ethics becomes one of the urgent and practical needs to contribute to environmental protection, ensuring sustainable development. Researching the history of Vietnamese thoughts in the 15th - 16th centuries reveal that Nguyen Binh Khiem is one of the typical thinkers whose moral philosophy is not only valuable for that historical period, but there are still many values for all areas of today's social life, including the area of ecological ethics. In this article, the author focuses on analyzing his three typical thoughts, including: thought on loving peace; thought on nature, thought on the relationship between man and nature; the philosophy of living in harmony with nature, thereby drawing the value of these thoughts for the issue of ecological ethics building in the current period. Article visualizations

職場における感情的知性の役割

内容の要約広島大学(Hiroshima University)博士(学術)Doctor of Philosophydoctora

Spin-On Glass: Materials and Applications in Advanced IC Technologies

This thesis deals with the study of shallow PN junction formation by dopant diffusion from Spin-On Glass (SOG) for future deep sub-micron BiCMOS technology. With the advantages of no transient enhanced diffusion and no metal contamination, diffusion from highly doped SOG (also called spin-on dopant - SOD) is a good technology for shallow junction formation. In this thesis, diffusion of impurities from SOD into Si and polysilicon on silicon structure has been studied. This shallow junction formation technique using SOD has been applied in realisation of two important devices, i.e. high frequency bipolar transistor and deep sub-micron elevated source/drain MOSFET

A development method of cutting force coefficients in face milling process using parallelogram insert

This paper presents a modeling method of cutting force and a combination approach of theory and experimental methods in the determination of cutting force coefficients in the face milling process using a parallelogram insert. By the theoretical method, the cutting forces were modeled by a mathematical function of cutting cutter geometry (Cutter diameter, the number of inserts, the insert nose radius, insert cutting edge helix angle, etc.), cutting conditions (depth of cut, feed per flute, spindle speed, etc.), and cutting force coefficients (shear force coefficients, edge force coefficients). By the theoretical method, the average cutting forces in three directions (feed – x, normal – y, and axial – z) were modeled as the linear functions of feed per flute. By the experimental method, the average cutting forces in these three directions were also regressed as the linear functions of feed per flute with quite large determination coefficients (R2 were larger than 92 %). Then, the relationship of average cutting forces and feed per flute was used to determine all six cutting force coefficient components. The validation experiments were performed to verify the linear function of average cutting forces, to determine the cutting force coefficients, and to verify the cutting force models in the face milling process using a cutter with one parallelogram insert. The cutting force models were successfully verified by comparison of the shape and the values of predicted cutting forces and measured cutting forces. These proposed methods and models can be applied to determine the cutting force coefficients and predict the cutting force in the face milling process using a parallelogram insert and can be extended with other cutting types or other insert type