De Nederlandse watermijten (Acari: Hydrachnidia). The Dutch water mites (Acari: Hydrachnidia). Harry Smit

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Capabilities, policy and institutions in the emergence of venture capital in the UK and US

Venture capital (VC) is widely perceived by UK policymakers to be a key requirement for the growth and development of successful and innovative early stage firms. This thesis examines how government policy has impacted the emergence of VC sectors in the UK and US. Using historical, qualitative and quantitative methods it argues that the public rationale behind UK policy has been largely framed in ways that underestimate the importance of capabilities, demand for capital, and institutional differences. The thesis examines venture capitalists’ key supply‐demand relationships: with funded firms; with limited partners; and with the markets that allow exit via IPO. It argues that the US VC sector has developed unique capabilities enabling the assembly of complementary assets to bring firms to successful IPO. In the UK, policy aimed at addressing the ‘equity gap’ has focused on the provision of capital rather than developing the capabilities that have characterised the US sector. We perform quantitative analysis examining the effectiveness of recent UK schemes at providing VC funding to small firms. Drawing upon two proprietary datasets, including one new hand‐collected dataset of all investments made under the Venture Capital Trust scheme, the thesis provides new quantitative evidence on the success of government policy interventions, demand for capital by firms, and investment exit opportunities. The thesis then compares principal‐agent and evolutionary framing perspectives of the VC sector, arguing the evolutionary view explains some nuances more readily than a pure principal‐agent view. It concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications of the research

The life, death, and afterlife of the "terminator gene": the intersection of biotechnology, globalization, and politcs in India

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 27-28).In March 1998, the United States government granted a patent for a new technology that allowed for the production of seeds that would grow for only one generation. The intent of the patent was to protect intellectual property and to prevent gene flow from genetically modified crops to other plants. Opponents of genetically modified organisms seized on the patent as a symbol of the danger of biotechnology, dubbing the new technology the "terminator gene." News of the gene soon spread to the developing world, especially India, where angry farmers' groups burned test plots of genetically modified cotton that did not contain the suspect gene. This controversy was one of the first flash points in the developing world in the global debate about agricultural biotechnology. In this project, I used contemporary news accounts and recent critical papers to examine the events in India, with specific focus on the reactions of major stakeholders to the controversy. The responses of government officials ranged from silence at upper levels of government to angry cries by state ministers for the expulsion of all multinational corporations. Monsanto, which received the brunt of the protesters' anger, shifted its response from a cold, corporate message to a friendly perspective voiced by Indians. Non-governmental organizations fomented the controversy by providing the protesting farmers groups with media coverage. For most of the major stakeholders, the events in India proved to be a source of much negative publicity at the time, but ultimately became a learning experience that helped them to adapt to the unique political and social climate surrounding the introduction of biotechnology in the developing world

Genome-wide inference of ancestral recombination graphs

The complex correlation structure of a collection of orthologous DNA sequences is uniquely captured by the "ancestral recombination graph" (ARG), a complete record of coalescence and recombination events in the history of the sample. However, existing methods for ARG inference are computationally intensive, highly approximate, or limited to small numbers of sequences, and, as a consequence, explicit ARG inference is rarely used in applied population genomics. Here, we introduce a new algorithm for ARG inference that is efficient enough to apply to dozens of complete mammalian genomes. The key idea of our approach is to sample an ARG of n chromosomes conditional on an ARG of n-1 chromosomes, an operation we call "threading." Using techniques based on hidden Markov models, we can perform this threading operation exactly, up to the assumptions of the sequentially Markov coalescent and a discretization of time. An extension allows for threading of subtrees instead of individual sequences. Repeated application of these threading operations results in highly efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo samplers for ARGs. We have implemented these methods in a computer program called ARGweaver. Experiments with simulated data indicate that ARGweaver converges rapidly to the true posterior distribution and is effective in recovering various features of the ARG for dozens of sequences generated under realistic parameters for human populations. In applications of ARGweaver to 54 human genome sequences from Complete Genomics, we find clear signatures of natural selection, including regions of unusually ancient ancestry associated with balancing selection and reductions in allele age in sites under directional selection. Preliminary results also indicate that our methods can be used to gain insight into complex features of human population structure, even with a noninformative prior distribution.Comment: 88 pages, 7 main figures, 22 supplementary figures. This version contains a substantially expanded genomic data analysi

The Advantages Of Paramagnetic NMR

In der Kernspinresonanzspektroskopie (NMR) treten drei Effekte auf, die paramagnetische und diamagnetische Moleküle in isotroper Lösung unterscheiden: residuale dipolare Kopplung (RDC), Pseudokontaktverschiebung (PCS) und paramagnetische Relaxationsverstärkung (PRE). Alle drei Effekte sind abhängig von intermolekularen Winkeln und Abständen und können daher Informationen über die Struktur und Dynamik des Moleküls liefern. Um diese Informationen zu erhalten, muss das Molekül paramagnetische Eigenschaften aufweisen. Eine der heutzutage gebräuchlichen Methoden verwendet kleine molekulare Tags, die paramagnetische Metallionen koordinieren. Die meisten dieser Tags binden über eine Disulfidbrücke an Cysteine an der Proteinoberfläche. Um diese Methode für DNA anzuwenden werden daher neue Taggingstrategien benötigt. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde eine modifizierte Nukleobase synthetisiert, mit der ein Schwefelatom in die DNA eingebracht werden kann. Diese Methode erlaubt es, jeden Tag an die DNA zu binden, der als Verbindungsmethode eine Disulfidbrücke nutzt. Mit der Nukleobase wird eine Kohlenstoff-Dreifachbindung in die DNA eingefügt und mit Hilfe einer dipolaren Cycloaddition wird die freie Thiolgruppe eingebracht. Die modifizierte Nukleobase wurde erfolgreich an einem selbstkomplementären DNA-Strang (24 Nukleobasen) getestet. Die Nukleobase wurde während der Synthese der DNA eingefügt und der mit Lutetium, Terbium oder Thulium vorbeladene Cys-Ph-TAHA Tag wurde über eine Disulfidbrücke an die DNA gebunden. Die Beladung des Tags und die Taggingreaktion verliefen hierbei quantitativ. Nach diesem Erfolg war es ein Hauptaspekt dieser Arbeit, eine verlässliche und reproduzierbare Aufreinigungs- und Probenvorbereitungsmethode zu entwickeln. Diesem Punkt kommt besondere Bedeutung zu, da das Phosphatrückgrat der DNA, im Gegensatz zu Proteinen, Metallionen koordinieren kann. Im Theorieteil dieser Arbeit ist eine komplette Herleitung der drei Hauptmerkmale paramagnetischer NMR gegeben. Diese Herleitung beginnt bei Grundbegriffen des Magnetismus und neben den Gleichungen für RDCs, PCSs und PREs werden Ausdrücke für den dipolaren Hamiltonoperator, Kreuzrelaxationsraten, kreuzkorrelierte Relaxationsraten, durch Alignment induzierte RDCs, Korrelationsfunktionen und spektrale Dichten gegeben. Das zweite Thema dieser Arbeit basiert auf einem weiteren paramagnetischen Effekt. Um der reduzierten Empfindlichkeit der Kernspinresonanzspektroskopie verglichen mit anderen Spektroskopiemethoden entgegenzuwirken, wurden viele Methoden entwickelt, die auf eine Erhöhung der Polarisierung der Atomkerne zielen, d.h. um sogenannte hyperpolarisierte Kerne zu erzeugen. Eine dieser Methoden, die photochemisch erzeugte dynamische Kernpolarisierung (photo CIDNP), basiert auf kurzlebigen Radikalen, die durch direkte Laserbestrahlung der Probe im Magneten erzeugt werden. Im Rahmen dieser Arbeit wurde ein photo CIDNP Aufbau entworfen, gebaut und getestet. Die ersten Experimente und Resultate mit Triethylendiamin, L-Tyrosin und 3-Fluor-L-tyrosin zeigen die Vorteile und Grenzen dieser Methode auf. Für 3-Fluor-L-tyrosin wurde eine komplette Analyse des Relaxationsverhaltens, einschließlich der Kreuzrelaxation und der kreuzkorrelierten Relaxation, durchgeführt

The life, death, and afterlife of the "terminator gene": the intersection of biotechnology, globalization, and politcs in India

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 27-28).In March 1998, the United States government granted a patent for a new technology that allowed for the production of seeds that would grow for only one generation. The intent of the patent was to protect intellectual property and to prevent gene flow from genetically modified crops to other plants. Opponents of genetically modified organisms seized on the patent as a symbol of the danger of biotechnology, dubbing the new technology the "terminator gene." News of the gene soon spread to the developing world, especially India, where angry farmers' groups burned test plots of genetically modified cotton that did not contain the suspect gene. This controversy was one of the first flash points in the developing world in the global debate about agricultural biotechnology. In this project, I used contemporary news accounts and recent critical papers to examine the events in India, with specific focus on the reactions of major stakeholders to the controversy. The responses of government officials ranged from silence at upper levels of government to angry cries by state ministers for the expulsion of all multinational corporations. Monsanto, which received the brunt of the protesters' anger, shifted its response from a cold, corporate message to a friendly perspective voiced by Indians. Non-governmental organizations fomented the controversy by providing the protesting farmers groups with media coverage. For most of the major stakeholders, the events in India proved to be a source of much negative publicity at the time, but ultimately became a learning experience that helped them to adapt to the unique political and social climate surrounding the introduction of biotechnology in the developing world

Do resource constraints trigger or hamper innovation?:a longitudinal study of UK high-tech firms

This paper explores whether firms resource constraints trigger or hamper innovation using a ten-year longitudinal study. It contributes to the longstanding theoretical debate between the resource-based and entrepreneurship views of the firm. Scholars from the resource-based perspective argue that resource constraints increase delays and unpredictable results, which thereby to impede innovation. Entrepreneurship research however suggests that organizations avoid experimentation if resources are available, and that resource scarcity therefore stimulates managers to adopt entrepreneurial practices that foster innovation. This points to our imperfect understanding on the issue.This paper contributes to both theoretical advance and managerial practice. First, to correct the bias from a disproportionate amount of interest to financial barriers, we provide a more balanced and integrated view by considering other important resource constraints. Second, to observe the difference of two types of innovation, we augment the literature by studying the effects of resource constraints on both incremental and radical innovativeness and on firms’ performance of sales and R&D growth. Finally, the issue of resource constraints is an inevitable challenge, and the findings of the paper provide some guidance to managers and innovators who are struggling with the lack of resources on one hand and with the pressure of innovation and competitiveness on the other hand. This paper is unique in presenting a long-term, longitudinal analysis of the impact of resource constraints on innovation, both radical and incremental. It presents a ten-year longitudinal study following 362 firms through the life cycle. We use panel analysis techniques to observe the impact of resource constraints on subsequent innovative performance. A research framework is derived from the literature review. We examine the knowledge shortfalls of: management; market; sales; production; R&D and finance. This analysis is based upon a unique, longitudinal panel dataset of 241 UK and German firms in six technology-based sectors over ten years. The dataset draws upon performance data as well as the results of detailed managerial surveys that were carried out in the UK and Germany. This, combined with information provided by interviewees about the firms’ characteristics upon founding, provides a unique and rich longitudinal perspective on factors contributing to the long-run performance of these firms. This study is based on two surveys that were carried out in 1997 and again in 2003. Using these databases, all firms with at least three employees in 1997 that were operating in one or more high-tech sectors and having been founded as legally independent companies between 1987 and 1996 were selected; the mean year of founding was 1991. Our approach to the problem involves initial use of panel logit models to predict the likelihood of a firm engaging in incremental or radical innovation. Our model is specified in a manner that we consider the lagged effect of the resource constraints in t0 on propensity for innovation in period t1. Our other controls listed above all are used for period t1. Given challenges in interpreting logit models we present the results in the form of marginal effects. Following from this analysis we then use panel OLS models to explore the impact of these constraints on subsequent innovation and growth performance. Does the lack of knowledge hamper or trigger innovation? The answer is rather mixed. While our study indicates that the lack of knowledge may not hamper innovation development for both incremental and radical, it suggests that the lack of knowledge does matter when considering sales growth and R&D growth.For radical innovation, our study suggests that the lack of management knowledge may trigger sales growth. Un-surprized, the lack of R&D knowledge triggers R&D growth of firms. This may be explained in two ways. First, the lack of R&D knowledge leads firm to increase R&D investment. Furthermore, the nature of radical innovation may also lead the innovative firms to discard prior R&D knowledge in order to build up new R&D knowledge. Finally, our study echoes the extant literature that the lack of financial knowledge hampers the R&D growth.For incremental innovation, our study once again stresses the significant impact of the lack of financial knowledge on innovation and suggests that the shortfall of financial knowledge hampers sales growth. It further suggests that the lack of market knowledge hampers R&D growth. This result also suggests that market knowledge is critical for firms in deciding their R&D investment. Finally, our study suggests that the lack of production knowledge triggers R&D growth. Managers tend to increase R&D investment when they need production knowledge.Through a ten-year longitudinal study, our study contributes to the existing literature by advancing the understanding of the association between resources constraints and innovation. Building on the theories of human capital, entrepreneurship and RBV, we shed light about the impact of knowledge shortfalls on both radical and incremental innovation. Finally, our study helps to explain the disputes of whether resource constraints hamper or trigger innovation. The study also has implications for executives and managers. It demonstrates that managers can harness the entrepreneurship practices by minimizing their interference for radical innovativeness. Managers and innovators hare encouraged to update their market knowledge that serves an important indicator for R&D investment. Furthermore, as suggested by many researchers, financial knowledge is always important in operating and managing innovation for both sales and R&D growth. Indeed, innovative firms face problems and more innovative firms have more problems. The issue of resources constrains is not only critical but also difficult to deal with. We hope our paper inspires researchers to conduct further research in the future

Heidebeheer en fauna : verslag veldwerkplaats Droog Zandlandschap Strabrechtse Heide, 4 juni 2009

De Strabrechtse Heide is een 1500 hectare groot heidegebied ten zuidoosten van Eindhoven. Het is een zeer gevarieerd gebied met onder andere hoogteverschillen, waterpartijen, zandverstuivingen, Calluna (dopheide) en akkercomplexen. Het gebied is grotendeels in eigendom van Staatsbosbeheer sinds 1954. De belangrijkste beheermaatregelen die Staatsbosbeheer neemt zijn grazen (koeien en schapen), plaggen (visgraat), maaien (Pijpenstro) en branden, daarnaast is er een actief beheer voor het behoud van het stuifzandgebied en ligt er zo’n 15 hectare akkerland waar biologische landbouw op bedreven wordt. Deze akkercomplexen worden tevens gebruikt om het plagsel op te verwerken. Van mei tot november maakt de Staatsbosbeheer ook gebruik van twee soorten runderen: Black Angus en Blonde d’Acquitaine. Deze runderen kunnen zich verder vrij door het gebied bewegen. De Black Angus graaft gaten, op zoek naar mineralen, waardoor er dynamiek ontstaat. Sinds 1967 wordt er gebruik gemaakt van schapen. Tegenwoordig bestaat de kudde uit zo’n 350 tot 400 dieren, plus 300 lammeren na de lammertijd. De schaapherder volgt met de kudde een door Staatsbosbeheer gemaakt begrazingspla

Heidebeheer en fauna : verslag veldwerkplaats Droog Zandlandschap Strabrechtse Heide, 2 september 2008

De Strabrechtse heide is 2000 hectare groot waarvan 1500 hectare heide. Staatsbosbeheer beheert daarvan ongeveer 1100 hectare, bestaande uit water, heide, stuifzand en vennen. De andere beheerders zijn het Brabants Landschap en de gemeente Someren