Financial literacy and risk-taking propensity as predictors of undergraduates' entrepreneurial intention

Entrepreneurial intention, as one of the best entrepreneurship predictors, is related to the individual's choice to start a new business. Entrepreneurship education is, without a doubt, the topic that arouses the greatest interest in the entrepreneurship research community. However, empirical evidence is contradictory regarding the influence of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial intention, leading academics to the recent claim to delve into the existing heterogeneity regarding the relationship between knowledge, skills and competencies and entrepreneurial intention. Consequently, this article proposes individuals' financial literacy as a relevant predictor of undergraduates' entrepreneurial intention. Financial literacy-entrepreneurship evidence is scarce and limited: (1) they do not focus on entrepreneurial intention; (2) they incompletely measure the multidimensional construct of financial literacy; (3) they do not analyse undergraduates, despite being an important starting point for entrepreneurship. Therefore, this article applies covariance-based structural equation models to 568 Spanish undergraduates with business and tourism degrees to obtain the impact of financial literacy (measured through its three dimensions, i.e., financial knowledge, attitude, and behaviour) on entrepreneurial intention through the mediating role of risk-taking propensity. The results show that: (1) financial knowledge positively influences indirectly; (2) financial attitude negatively influences indirectly; (3) financial behaviour positively influences both directly and indirectly. These findings are highly relevant for the entrepreneurship research community in general and policymakers in particular since we demonstrate the entrepreneurial potential derived from undergraduates' financial literacy thanks to the mediating role of risk-taking propensity, which establishes a novel channel to promote entrepreneurship and, thus, solve the serious youth unemployment problems.Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional. Formación de Profesorado Universitario (FPU20/02328). Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Development of MRM methods to quantify proteins isoforms of poliphenol oxidase

Comunicaciones a congreso

Polyamines as an ecofriendly postharvest tool to maintain fruit quality

Polyamines (PAs) are natural compounds involved in a wide range of plant growth and developmental process, such as cell division, dormancy breaking, germination, development of flower buds, fruit set, growth and ripening, as well as in plant responses to environmental stresses including chilling injury. This chapter will focus on the role of PAs in fruit growth and ripening, with special emphasis on the effects of pre- and postharvest PA treatment on fruit quality attributes, bioactive constituents with antioxidant activity, and tolerance of fruit to chilling injury damage. The results of this chapter provide evidence for the numerous beneficial effects of the exogenous PA treatments, both at pre- and postharvest time in fruit quality attributes including their concentration in antioxidant compounds. Taking into account that PAs are naturally occurring molecules their application as pre- or postharvest treatment could be considered as an environmentally compatible tool as they can be metabolized by fruit cells. In addition, it should be pointed out that although exogenous application of PAs enhances their endogenous levels, the concentrations remain far lower than the toxic ones. Since modern agriculture is searching for effective biological molecules with well-known metabolic effects but without toxicological effects, a possible answer may be related to PA treatments

Methyl jasmonate effects on table grape ripening, vine yield, berry quality and bioactive compounds depend on applied concentration

In the present research the effect of preharvest metyil jasmonate (MeJA) treatment on the ripening process and fruit quality parameters at harvest was evaluated, for the first time, in two table grape cultivars, ‘Magenta’ and ‘Crimson’, during two years, 2016 and 2017. MeJA treatments (applied when berry volume was ca. 40% of its final one, at veraison and 3 days before the first harvest date) affected grape ripening process and vine yield differently depending on applied concentration. Thus, MeJA at 5 and 10mM delayed berry ripening and decreased berry weight and volume as well as vine yield, in a dose-dependent way, in both cultivars, although the effect on ‘Crimson’ was more dramatic than in ‘Magenta’. However, treatments with MeJA at 1, 0.1 and 0.01mM accelerated ripening and increased total phenolics and individual anthocyanin concentrations, the major effects being obtained with 0.1mM concentration. In addition, total soluble solids (TSS) and firmness levels were also increased by these MeJA treatments. These results might have a great agronomic and commercial importance since fruit with higher size and harvested earlier would reach higher prizes at markets and berries with higher firmness and TSS would be more appreciated by consumers. Moreover, MeJA treatments increased the content of antioxidant compounds, such as phenolics and individual anthocyanins, leading to enhance the homogeneous pigmentation of the whole cluster, with additional effects on increasing the health beneficial effects of grape consumption

The Effects of Salicylic Acid and Its Derivatives on Increasing Pomegranate Fruit Quality and Bioactive Compounds at Harvest and During Storage

In the present research two experiments were performed to evaluate the effect of preharvest salicylic acid (SA), acetyl salicylic acid (ASA), and methyl salicylate (MeSa), applied as a foliar spray to pomegranate “Mollar de Elche,” on crop yield, fruit quality parameters, and bioactive compounds at harvest and during storage. In the 2017 experiment, trees were treated with SA, ASA, and MeSa at 1, 5, and 10 mM and a higher crop yield (kg tree1 and number of harvested fruit tree1) and quality parameters (firmness, aril color, and individual sugars and organic acids) at harvest were obtained, as well as a higher concentration of phenolics, anthocyanins, and ascorbic acid. The best results were achieved with 10 mM dose of the three assayed compounds, which was chosen for the 2018 experiment, and results for crop yield and fruit quality attributes were confirmed. These quality traits and the concentration of phenolics, anthocyanins, and ascorbic acid were maintained at higher levels in pomegranate fruit from treated trees than in controls during prolonged storage at 10 C. In addition, the effects of salicylate treatments on increasing total and individual anthocyanin concentration in pomegranate arils led to arils with a deeper red color (Graphical Abstract) and, in turn, fruit that would be more appreciated in the international market. This fact, together with the increased crop yield, would contribute to the increased profit of this crop. Thus, pre-harvest treatment with salicylates, and especially SA at 10 mM concentration, could be a safe, natural, and new tool to improve fruit quality and its content on antioxidant compounds with health beneficial effects (namely, ascorbic acid, phenolics, and anthocyanins) at harvest and during storage

Las redes sociales en la Educación Primaria: conocimiento y uso por parte de maestros participantes en un entorno formativo

In recent years, the use of social networks has grown to currently become important communication tools. In school education it is possible to take profits to the potential of social networks to work with students of different educational stages several curricular contents. At the same time, pupils can develop skills to use social networks properly. In the present study we asses­sed the degree of knowledge about social networks and the kind of use of a sample of Primary teachers. Furthermore, we  compare teachers’ perception of utility and their disposition to use social networks after a training process. The majority of the parti­cipants consider social networks as useful or very useful. Nevertheless they have dee­per knowledge of common social networks than of specific educational networks. Addi­tionally, they seem to be unconscious of the characteristics and possibilities of the later. After training, the teachers increased their perception of utility and their disposition to incorporate social networks to their educa­tional activities.En los últimos años, el uso de las redes sociales ha aumentado hasta convertirse actualmente en importantes herramientas de comunicación. En la educación escolar se pueden aprovechar las posibilidades de las redes sociales para trabajar contenidos curriculares con alumnos de diferentes etapas a la vez que se fomenta que estos desarrollen competencias para su correcto uso. En este estudio indagamos el grado de conocimiento y el uso que hacen de las redes sociales una muestra de docentes de Primaria. Además, comparamos su percepción de utilidad y de disposición a usarlas tras un breve proceso formativo. La mayoría de los participantes consideran útiles o muy útiles las redes sociales, pero conocen y usan en mayor medida redes generalistas que redes específicamente educativas, mostrando desconocimiento sobre las características y posibilidades de estas últimas. Tras la formación, aumenta la percepción sobre su utilidad y se muestra una alta disposición a la incorporación a las actividades docentes

“To be myself again”: Perceived benefits of group-based exercise for colorectal cancer patients.

Purpose: To explore the perceived benefits of a group-based exercise program for patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Methods: In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with all participants (n = 25) at the end of the exercise program (patients, relatives and healthcare professionals). The exercise instructor in charge of the exercise program with CRC patients also collected observational field notes throughout a research diary. Results: Three main themes related to exercise as a coping strategy were obtained: (a) physical recovery; (b) psychosocial well-being, and (c) reconnection with their embodied selves and normal lives. Physical recovery included a perceived increase in fitness and a reduction in physical side-effects. Psychosocial well-being included perceived benefits in self-confidence, sense of control, reduced fear, feeling of being useful, sense of achievement, positive thinking and avoiding depression. All the physical and psychosocial benefits helped patients reconnect with their embodied selves, engage in activities practised before the diagnoses, improve their body image, avoid stigma, and increase their social life beyond cancer diagnoses. In this sense, some patients held on to their past selves, trying to keep or recover normality in their lives, while others acknowledged that they might not be the same person anymore, with exercise being part of this new identity. Conclusions: This study shows that exercise is a coping strategy that benefitted CRC patients in several ways related to their physical and psychosocial quality of life

Identification and mapping of a locus conferring plum pox virus resistance in two apricot-improved linkage maps

Sharka disease, caused by the plum pox virus (PPV), is one of the major limiting factors for stone fruit crops in Europe and America. In particular, apricot is severely affected suffering significant fruit losses. Thus, PPV resistance is a trait of great interest for the apricot breeding programs currently in progress. In this work, two apricot maps, earlier constructed with the F1 ‘Goldrich × Currot’ (G×C) and the F2 ‘Lito × Lito’-98 (L×L-98) populations, have been improved including 43 and 37 new simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci, respectively, to facilitate PPV resistance trait mapping. Screening of PPV resistance on the segregating populations classified seedling phenotypes into resistant or susceptible. A non-parametric mapping method, based on the Kruskal–Wallis (KW) rank sum test, was initially used to score marker–trait association, and results were confirmed by interval mapping. Contrary to the putative digenic model inferred from the phenotypic segregations, all significant markers for the KW statistic (P < 0.005) mapped in a unique region of ~21.0 and ~20.3 cM located on the upper part of the G1 linkage group in ‘G×C’ and ‘L×L-98’ maps, respectively. According to the data, PPV resistance is suggested to be controlled by at least one major dominant locus. The association between three SSRs distributed within this region and the PPV resistance was tested in two additional populations (‘Goldrich × Canino’ and ‘Lito × Lito’-00) and breeding program parents. The marker ssrPaCITA5 showed the highest KW value (P < 0.005) in all cases, pointing out its usefulness in marker-assisted selection.This research was supported by a grant from the Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología (AGL2004-04126-C02-02/AGR).Peer reviewe

Sensory, Nutritive and Functional Properties of Sweet Cherry as Affected by Cultivar and Ripening Stage

In this article 11 commercial sweet cherry cultivars were selected to evaluate sensory, nutritive and functional properties over the maturation process on tree. Fruit quality was significantly different among cultivars and maturity stages at harvest, with the highest quality scores being found in the harvest which was 4 days beyond current commercial harvest maturity for all the cultivars tested. Taking into account all of the measured parameters (weight, firmness, color, acidity and total soluble solids), ‘NY-6479’, ‘Prime Giant’ and ‘Sunburst’ could be classified as having the highest quality in terms of sensory attributes. However, ‘Cristalina’ and ‘Sonata’ had the highest functional quality, as determined by the measurement of bioactive compound content and antioxidant capacity. We conclude that a delay of a few days in harvesting of sweet cherries would lead to achieve maximal nutritional (highest sugar and organic acid contents), sensory (greatest firmness and color development) and functional (greatest phenolics content, anthocyanins and antioxidant capacity) quality to provide both eating enjoyment and health benefits to the consume