To be financed or not : the role of patents for venture capital financing

This paper investigates how patent applications and grants held by new ventures improve their ability to attract venture capital (VC) financing. We argue that investors are faced with considerable uncertainty and therefore rely on patents as signals when trying to assess the prospects of potential portfolio companies. For a sample of VC-seeking German and British biotechnology companies we have identified all patents filed at the European Patent Office (EPO). Applying hazard rate analysis, we find that in the presence of patent applications, VC financing occurs earlier. Our results also show that VCs pay attention to patent quality, financing those ventures faster which later turn out to have high-quality patents. Patent oppositions increase the likelihood of receiving VC, but ultimate grant decisions do not spur VC financing, presumably because they are anticipated. Our empirical results and interviews with VCs suggest that the process of patenting generates signals which help to overcome the liabilities of newness faced by new ventures

For whom and under what circumstances do school-based energy balance behavior interventions work? Systematic review on moderators

The aim of this review was to systematically review the results and quality of studies investigating the moderators of school-based interventions aimed at energy balance-related behaviors. We systematically searched the electronic databases of Pubmed, EMBASE, Cochrane, PsycInfo, ERIC and Sportdiscus. In total 61 articles were included. Gender, ethnicity, age, baseline values of outcomes, initial weight status and socioeconomic status were the most frequently studied potential moderators. The moderator with the most convincing evidence was gender. School-based interventions appear to work better for girls than for boys. Due to the inconsistent results, many studies reporting non-significant moderating effects, and the moderate methodological quality of most studies, no further consistent results were found. Consequently, there is lack of insight into what interventions work for whom. Future studies should apply stronger methodology to test moderating effects of important potential target group segmentations

Twitter language use reflects psychological differences between Democrats and Republicans

Previous research has shown that political leanings correlate with various psychological factors. While surveys and experiments provide a rich source of information for political psychology, data from social networks can offer more naturalistic and robust material for analysis. This research investigates psychological differences between individuals of different political orientations on a social networking platform, Twitter. Based on previous findings, we hypothesized that the language used by liberals emphasizes their perception of uniqueness, contains more swear words, more anxiety-related words and more feeling-related words than conservatives' language. Conversely, we predicted that the language of conservatives emphasizes group membership, contains more certainty and more references to achievement and religion than liberals' language. We analysed Twitter timelines of 5,373 followers of three Twitter accounts of the American Democratic and 5,386 followers of three accounts of the Republican parties' Congressional Organizations. The results support most of the predictions and previous findings, confirming that Twitter behaviour offers valid insights to offline behaviour

Creation of Software within the Academic Context: Knowledge Transfer, Intellectual Property Rights, and Licences

Using the method of comparative analysis, this paper explores different legal issues related to software management within universities. It is organized in two sections. The first section will deal with the crucial issue of ownership of intellectual property rights in copyrights and patents, outlining the discussion with reference to the specific objective of this review. The regulatory framework in this field, which is often opaque due to the different regulations that characterize the diverse forms of intellectual property rights, is made even more incomprehensible by providing different legal regimes according to the status of the person who has carried out the research (professors, lecturers, fellows, graduate students, etc.). The second section provides an explanation of the role that contract law, and specifically licensing, has in the exploitation of software. Finally, considerations of a general nature will be developed and some operational solutions proposed, primarily aimed at emphasizing the importance of a systematic approach to the transfer of knowledge in a university environment

Software industry

The software industry produces a pervasive technology with a large share of software being developed by users in different sectors. An independent software industry emerged from vertical disintegration of the computer industry and IT-intensive users such as financial organizations and telecommunications. With the diffusion of Internet, the strategies of software firms converge with those of information technology services (e.g., data processing and outsourcing market, IT consulting) and Internet software and services. Although the sources of competitive advantage in these markets remain different, several traditional software firms diversify in the service sector by offering software applications as a service

Attendance of exercise referral schemes in the UK: a systematic review

Objective The aim of this review was to explore attendance of UK exercise referral schemes (ERS), who attends them, why participants drop out of schemes and to compare evaluations of existing ERS with randomised controlled trials (RCTs).Design Systematic review. Method A search of major databases was conducted to identify studies investigating ERS interventions that were based in primary care in the UK, reported attendance-related outcomes and were published in peer- reviewed journals.Results Five evaluations of existing ERS and four RCTs met the inclusion criteria. Method of participant recruitment was the only marked difference between the two types of study. In RCTs and evaluations, rates of referral uptake and attendance were varied but comparable. Attendance was generally poor; approximately eighty per cent of participants who took up referral dropped out before the end of programmes. More women than men took up referral (60 vs. 40 per cent) but there was no evidence of higher attendance in women. None of the participant characteristics reported were consistently associated with attendance. Most of the reasons for attrition and negative comments from participants related to practical problems associated with attending leisure facilities. Conclusion The present review highlighted a high level of attrition in ERS. However, poor measurement and reporting of attendance, and inadequate participant profiling, prevented us from identifying which sections of the population were most likely to attend or drop out. Adequate data collection regimens, beginning at the point of referral would enable us to learn whom exactly ERS are proving successful for