Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities as a Means to Maintain Entrepreneurial Talent in Corporations

This paper considers how to retain the right talent to support corporate entrepreneurial interests such as internal corporate ventures by taking a new look at why individuals leave corporations and become entrepreneurs. We sought to first examine why entrepreneurs leave. The job satisfaction model tests the popular belief that individuals quit due to dissatisfaction. This is compared to the person-environment (P-E) fit model that theorizes individuals are pushed away and pulled into environments that present a better fit. In all, 715 nascent entrepreneurs were compared with 399 employees by regression and graphic analyses. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we found that for these entrepreneurs, dissatisfaction does not precede the entrepreneurial exodus from established companies. Rather, the perceptions of their new venture’s competitive certainty and financial certainty pull them into new business ventures. Implications and suggestions for the managers are discussed

Anthropology and GIS: Temporal and Spatial Distribution of the Philippine Negrito Groups

The Philippine negrito groups comprise a diverse group of populations speaking over 30 different languages, who are spread all over the archipelago, mostly in marginal areas of Luzon Island in the north, the central Visayas islands, and Mindanao in the south. They exhibit physical characteristics that are different from more than 100 Philippine ethnolinguistic groups that are categorized as non-negritos. Given their numbers, it is not surprising that Philippine negritos make up a major category in a number of general ethnographic maps produced since the nineteenth century. Reports from various ethnological surveys during this period, however, have further enriched our understanding regarding the extent and distribution of negrito populations. Using the data contained in these reports, it is possible to plot and create a map showing the historical locations and distribution of negrito groups. Using geographic information systems (GIS), the location and distribution of negrito groups at any given time can be overlaid on historical or current maps. In the present study, a GIS layer was compiled and extracted from the 2000 Philippine Census of population at the village level and overlaid on existing maps of the Philippines. The maps that were generated from this project will complement ongoing anthropological and genetic studies of negrito groups that inhabit different locations within the Philippine archipelago

The DZHK research platform: maximisation of scientific value by enabling access to health data and biological samples collected in cardiovascular clinical studies

The German Centre for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK) is one of the German Centres for Health Research and aims to conduct early and guideline-relevant studies to develop new therapies and diagnostics that impact the lives of people with cardiovascular disease. Therefore, DZHK members designed a collaboratively organised and integrated research platform connecting all sites and partners. The overarching objectives of the research platform are the standardisation of prospective data and biological sample collections among all studies and the development of a sustainable centrally standardised storage in compliance with general legal regulations and the FAIR principles. The main elements of the DZHK infrastructure are web-based and central units for data management, LIMS, IDMS, and transfer office, embedded in a framework consisting of the DZHK Use and Access Policy, and the Ethics and Data Protection Concept. This framework is characterised by a modular design allowing a high standardisation across all studies. For studies that require even tighter criteria additional quality levels are defined. In addition, the Public Open Data strategy is an important focus of DZHK. The DZHK operates as one legal entity holding all rights of data and biological sample usage, according to the DZHK Use and Access Policy. All DZHK studies collect a basic set of data and biosamples, accompanied by specific clinical and imaging data and biobanking. The DZHK infrastructure was constructed by scientists with the focus on the needs of scientists conducting clinical studies. Through this, the DZHK enables the interdisciplinary and multiple use of data and biological samples by scientists inside and outside the DZHK. So far, 27 DZHK studies recruited well over 11,200 participants suffering from major cardiovascular disorders such as myocardial infarction or heart failure. Currently, data and samples of five DZHK studies of the DZHK Heart Bank can be applied for

Approaches in biotechnological applications of natural polymers

Natural polymers, such as gums and mucilage, are biocompatible, cheap, easily available and non-toxic materials of native origin. These polymers are increasingly preferred over synthetic materials for industrial applications due to their intrinsic properties, as well as they are considered alternative sources of raw materials since they present characteristics of sustainability, biodegradability and biosafety. As definition, gums and mucilages are polysaccharides or complex carbohydrates consisting of one or more monosaccharides or their derivatives linked in bewildering variety of linkages and structures. Natural gums are considered polysaccharides naturally occurring in varieties of plant seeds and exudates, tree or shrub exudates, seaweed extracts, fungi, bacteria, and animal sources. Water-soluble gums, also known as hydrocolloids, are considered exudates and are pathological products; therefore, they do not form a part of cell wall. On the other hand, mucilages are part of cell and physiological products. It is important to highlight that gums represent the largest amounts of polymer materials derived from plants. Gums have enormously large and broad applications in both food and non-food industries, being commonly used as thickening, binding, emulsifying, suspending, stabilizing agents and matrices for drug release in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. In the food industry, their gelling properties and the ability to mold edible films and coatings are extensively studied. The use of gums depends on the intrinsic properties that they provide, often at costs below those of synthetic polymers. For upgrading the value of gums, they are being processed into various forms, including the most recent nanomaterials, for various biotechnological applications. Thus, the main natural polymers including galactomannans, cellulose, chitin, agar, carrageenan, alginate, cashew gum, pectin and starch, in addition to the current researches about them are reviewed in this article.. }To the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientfíico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for fellowships (LCBBC and MGCC) and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nvíel Superior (CAPES) (PBSA). This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, the Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462) and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) (JAT)

Mechanical and electromyographical gait parameters in the course of rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction

T. Schmalz, J. Freiwald, A. Greiwing, L. Kocher, H. Ludwig, and S. Blumentritt: mechanical and electromyographical gait parameters in the course of rehabilitation after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Eur. J. Sports Traumatol. rel. res. 23: 146-151, 200 1. We compared the results of the analysis of important biomechanical and electromyographical gait parameters of patients who were treated by means of an autologic patella graft reconstruction after isolated rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). A complex gait analysis was conducted on a group of leisure sportsmen (n=19) in the 12(th) post operative week. The gait data of healthy individuals gathered in earlier studies served as reference basis. An optoelectronic camera system (PRIMAS) and two force plates (KISTLER) were used to determine the kinematic and kinetic data (ground reaction forces and torques) of the patient's gait. The surface of the M. tibialis anterior, M. gastrocnemius, M. biceps femoris und M. vastus lateralis electromyograms were recorded by means of a NORAXON-EMG-amplifier. We were not able to detect the frequently described "quadriceps avoidance pattern" in the patient's gait. Rather, there was a significant 7degrees reduction of the knee joint extension at the injured joint during stance phase which was caused by significantly reduced extending torques. These torques normalcy appear in the second part of the stance phase. The uninjured side shows no differences to normal gait. The time structure of the ON-OFF phases of muscle activation shows no differences to the gait of uninjured individuals. The analysis of muscle activation intensify shows a clear reduction of the M. gastrocnemius activity of the injured leg during main activation phase of this muscle, whereas all the other recorded muscles show no activation differences. The activation reduction of the M. gastrocnemius correlates with the reduction of the extending moments which affect the knee joint. Apparently the changes of the mechanical parameters of the knee joint, caused by injury and operation, lead to specific reactions on the neuromuscular level which are mainly constituted by the activation pattern of the M. gastrocnemius and to a lesser extent by the activation pattern of the hamstrings, or the knee extensors. The results indicate that the M. gastrocnemius plays an important part in controlling cyclic movement processes of the knee joint according to its two-joint nature, a fact which has been underestimated up to now. It is likely that modified activation patterns with increased intensities of the hamstrings and the knee extensors as a means of protection are only needed in situations which represent a distinct higher load in contrast to ground level walking. (C)2001, Editrice Kurtis