Mitigating agency risk between investors and ventures’ managers

The general management literature has long focused on the agency risks involved in the relationship between general managers and shareholders. Shareholders can deploy contractual and non-contractual mechanisms to reduce these inefficiencies. This study examines - based on a broad international sample of investment contracts - how the use of contractual and non-contractual mechanisms is related to the degree of risks associated with the venture’s development stage as well as how these practices differ across countries. Hypotheses are tested using a proprietary dataset of 265 hand-collected investment contracts associated with ventures in the U.S., Israel and nine European countries. Findings suggest that the use of mitigating contractual and non-contractual mechanisms is related to the degree of agency risks, and that these practices vary across countries. This study draws implications for how investors can best deploy their capital in different institutional settings whilst nurturing their relationships with managers and entrepreneurs

The effect of the UP4FUN pilot intervention on objectively measured sedentary time and physical activity in 10-12 year old children in Belgium: the ENERGY-project

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Bakckground</p> <p>The first aim was to examine the effect of the UP4FUN pilot intervention on children’s total sedentary time. The second aim was to investigate if the intervention had an effect on children’s physical activity (PA) level. Finally, we aimed to investigate demographic differences (i.e. age, gender, ethnicity, living status and having siblings) between children in the intervention group who improved in sedentary time and PA at post-test and children in the intervention group who worsened in sedentary time and PA at post-test.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The six weeks UP4FUN intervention was tested in a randomized controlled trial with pre-test post-test design with five intervention and five control schools in Belgium and included children of the 5^th and 6^th grade. The children wore accelerometers for seven days at pre- and post-test. Analyses included children with valid accelerometer data for at least two weekdays with minimum 10h-wearing time and one weekend day with 8h-wearing time.</p> <p>Result</p> <p>Final analyses included 372 children (60% girls, mean age = 10.9 ± 0.7 years). There were no significant differences in the change in sedentary time or light PA between intervention and control schools for the total sample or for the subgroup analyses by gender. However, children (specifically girls) in the intervention group had a higher decrease in moderate-to-vigorous PA than children in the control group. In the intervention group, children who lived with both parents and children with one or more siblings were less likely to reduce sedentary time after exposure to the intervention. Older children, girls and children who lived with both parents were less likely to increase light PA after the intervention.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The UP4FUN intervention did not result in an effect on children’s sedentary time. Based on the high amounts of accelerometer-derived sedentary time in this age group, more efforts are needed to develop strategies to reduce children’s sedentary time.</p

A life course examination of the physical environmental determinants of physical activity behaviour: A “Determinants of Diet and Physical Activity” (DEDIPAC) umbrella systematic literature review.

Background: Participation in regular physical activity is associated with a multitude of health benefits across the life course. However, many people fail to meet PA recommendations. Despite a plethora of studies, the evidence regarding the environmental (physical) determinants of physical activity remains inconclusive. Objective: To identify the physical environmental determinants that influence PA across the life course. Methods: An online systematic literature search was conducted using MEDLINE, ISI Web of Science, Scopus and SPORTDiscus. The search was limited to studies published in English (January 2004 to April 2016). Only systematic literature reviews (SLRs) and meta-analyses (MAs) of observational studies, that investigated the association between physical determinants and physical activity outcomes, were eligible for inclusion. The extracted data were assessed on the importance of determinants, strength of evidence and methodological quality. Results: The literature search identified 28 SLRs and 3 MAs on 67 physical environmental characteristics potentially related to physical activity that were eligible for inclusion. Among preschool children, a positive association was reported between availability of backyard space and outdoor toys/equipment in the home and overall physical activity. The availability of physical activity programs and equipment within schools, and neighbourhood features such as pedestrian and cyclist safety structure were positively associated with physical activity in children and adolescents. Negative street characteristics, for example, lack of sidewalks and streetlights, were negatively associated with physical activity in adults. Inconsistent associations were reported for the majority of reviewed determinants in adults. Conclusion: This umbrella SLR provided a comprehensive overview of the physical environment determinants of physical activity across the life course and has highlighted, particularly amongst youth, a number of key determinants that may be associated with overall physical activity. Given the limited evidence drawn mostly from cross-sectional studies, longitudinal studies are needed to further explore these associations

Postural development in school children: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Little information on quantitative sagittal plane postural alignment and evolution in children exists. The objectives of this study are to document the evolution of upright, static, sagittal posture in children and to identify possible critical phases of postural evolution (maturation). METHODS: A total of 1084 children (aged 4–12 years) received a sagittal postural evaluation with the Biotonix postural analysis system. Data were retrieved from the Biotonix internet database. Children were stratified and analyzed by years of age with n = 36 in the youngest age group (4 years) and n = 184 in the oldest age group (12 years). Children were analyzed in the neutral upright posture. Variables measured were sagittal translation distances in millimeters of: the knee relative to the tarsal joint, pelvis relative to the tarsal joint, shoulder relative to the tarsal joint, and head relative to the tarsal joint. A two-way factorial ANOVA was used to test for age and gender effects on posture, while polynomial trend analyses were used to test for increased postural displacements with years of age. RESULTS: Two-way ANOVA yielded a significant main effect of age for all 4 sagittal postural variables and gender for all variables except head translation. No age × gender interaction was found. Polynomial trend analyses showed a significant linear association between child age and all four postural variables: anterior head translation (p < 0.001), anterior shoulder translation (p < 0.001), anterior pelvic translation (p < 0.001), anterior knee translation (p < 0.001). Between the ages of 11 and 12 years, for anterior knee translation, T-test post hoc analysis revealed only one significant rough break in the continuity of the age related trend. CONCLUSION: A significant linear trend for increasing sagittal plane postural translations of the head, thorax, pelvis, and knee was found as children age from 4 years to 12 years. These postural translations provide preliminary normative data for the alignment of a child's sagittal plane posture

Population Substructure and Control Selection in Genome-Wide Association Studies

Determination of the relevance of both demanding classical epidemiologic criteria for control selection and robust handling of population stratification (PS) represents a major challenge in the design and analysis of genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Empirical data from two GWAS in European Americans of the Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) project were used to evaluate the impact of PS in studies with different control selection strategies. In each of the two original case-control studies nested in corresponding prospective cohorts, a minor confounding effect due to PS (inflation factor λ of 1.025 and 1.005) was observed. In contrast, when the control groups were exchanged to mimic a cost-effective but theoretically less desirable control selection strategy, the confounding effects were larger (λ of 1.090 and 1.062). A panel of 12,898 autosomal SNPs common to both the Illumina and Affymetrix commercial platforms and with low local background linkage disequilibrium (pair-wise r2<0.004) was selected to infer population substructure with principal component analysis. A novel permutation procedure was developed for the correction of PS that identified a smaller set of principal components and achieved a better control of type I error (to λ of 1.032 and 1.006, respectively) than currently used methods. The overlap between sets of SNPs in the bottom 5% of p-values based on the new test and the test without PS correction was about 80%, with the majority of discordant SNPs having both ranks close to the threshold. Thus, for the CGEMS GWAS of prostate and breast cancer conducted in European Americans, PS does not appear to be a major problem in well-designed studies. A study using suboptimal controls can have acceptable type I error when an effective strategy for the correction of PS is employed

Working passionately does not always pay off : the negative moderating role of passion on the relationship between deliberate practice and venture performance

Deliberate practice, an iterative process that leads to expertise, is found to be positively associated with superior performance in domains such as sports, education, and entrepreneurship. At the same time, deliberate practice is also seen as being less than enjoyable and difficult to pursue consistently. As such, passion is considered to be a vital motivator of engagement in and maintenance of deliberate practice. Despite the evident importance of passion, the relationship between passion and deliberate practice in entrepreneurship has not been subject to sufficient empirical evaluation. Therefore, in this study, we consider the way in which passion moderates the relationship between deliberate practice and venture performance. We hypothesize that deliberate practice is positively related to venture performance and that passion positively moderates this relationship. We find support for our first hypothesis, in line with previous studies. However, contrary to our second hypothesis, we find that entrepreneurial passion negatively moderates the deliberate practice-venture performance relationship. In response to this finding, we provide possible explanations as to why this negative moderation effect was observed by drawing on Kolb’s experiential learning cycle

Relationship between maternal obesity and infant feeding-interactions

BACKGROUND: There are no data regarding the relationship between maternal adiposity and interaction and feeding of infants and possible contribution to childhood obesity. In this study we determined the relationship between maternal body weight and composition and infant feeding patterns and maternal-infant interaction during 24-hour metabolic rate measurements in the Enhanced Metabolic Testing Activity Chamber (EMTAC). METHODS: The amount of time four obese (BMI = 33.5 ± 5.3 kg/m(2)) and three normal weight (BMI = 23.1 ± 0.6 kg/m(2)) biological mothers, spent feeding and interacting with their infants, along with what they ingested, was recorded during 24-hour metabolic rate measurements in the EMTAC. The seven infants were 4.9 ± 0.7 months, 69 ± 3 cm, 7.5 ± 0.8 kg, 26 ± 3 % fat and 29 ± 25 percentile for weight for length. Energy and macronutrient intake (kcal/kg) were assessed. Maternal body composition was determined by air displacement plethysmorgraphy and that of the infants by skin-fold thicknesses. Pearson correlations and independent t-tests were utilized for statistical analysis (p < 0.05). RESULTS: Infants born to obese biological mothers consumed more energy (87.6 ± 18.9 vs. 68.1 ± 17.3) and energy as carbohydrate (25 ± 6 vs.16 ± 3; p < 0.05) than their normal weight counterparts. Most of the increased intake was due to complementary feedings. Twenty-four hour infant energy intake increased with both greater maternal body weight (r = 0.73;p < 0.06) and percent body fat. Furthermore, obese biological mothers spent less total time interacting (570 ± 13 vs. 381 ± 30 minutes) and feeding (298 ± 32 vs.176 ± 22 minutes) (p < 0.05) their infants than their normal weight counterparts. Twenty-four hour interaction time negatively correlated with both maternal body weight (r = -0.98; p < 0.01) and percent body fat (r = -0.92; p < 0.01). Moreover, infants of obese mothers slept more (783 ± 38 vs. 682 ± 32 minutes; p < 0.05) than their normal weight counterparts. However, there were no differences in total 24-hour energy expenditure, resting and sleeping metabolic rates (kcal/kg) for infants born to obese and normal weight biological mothers. CONCLUSION: Greater maternal body weight and percent body fat were associated with greater infant energy intakes. These infants were fed less frequently and consumed more carbohydrates in a shorter period of time as compared to infants from normal weight biological mothers. These variations in feeding patterns may predispose certain infants to obesity

To formalize or not to formalize: women entrepreneurs’ sensemaking of business registration in the context of Nepal

Despite the depiction of decisions to formalize informal firms as rational and ethical, many entrepreneurs in developing countries continue to operate informally regardless of its perceived illicit status. While existing research on why entrepreneurs choose informality emphasizes the economic costs and benefits of such decisions, this often overlooks the realities of the informal economy and the constraints which marginal populations—particularly women—face. In this paper, we use institutional theory and sensemaking to understand the experiences of women in the informal economy and what formalization means to them. We use a qualitative approach to collect data from 90 women entrepreneurs in three different cities in Nepal. In our findings, we identify three groups of women with distinctive understandings of formalization—business sustainability, livelihood sufficiency and strategic alignment. Their interpretation of formalization reveals the complex, dynamic, and cyclical nature of formalization decisions. Decisions are also guided by the optimization of social and emotional logics, whereby formalization is conceived differently depending on different life stages, experiences within the informal economy and wider socio-cultural contexts. Our findings highlight the ethical implications of formalization where being a ‘good citizen’, rather than complying with formal rules and regulations, is about attuning to and fitting in with socially prescribed roles. Our research provides a nuanced view of formalization decisions, challenging idealized and ethical notions of formalization as a desired end state

Triad pattern algorithm for predicting strong promoter candidates in bacterial genomes

Abstract Background Bacterial promoters, which increase the efficiency of gene expression, differ from other promoters by several characteristics. This difference, not yet widely exploited in bioinformatics, looks promising for the development of relevant computational tools to search for strong promoters in bacterial genomes. Results We describe a new triad pattern algorithm that predicts strong promoter candidates in annotated bacterial genomes by matching specific patterns for the group I σ70 factors of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase. It detects promoter-specific motifs by consecutively matching three patterns, consisting of an UP-element, required for interaction with the α subunit, and then optimally-separated patterns of -35 and -10 boxes, required for interaction with the σ70 subunit of RNA polymerase. Analysis of 43 bacterial genomes revealed that the frequency of candidate sequences depends on the A+T content of the DNA under examination. The accuracy of in silico prediction was experimentally validated for the genome of a hyperthermophilic bacterium, Thermotoga maritima, by applying a cell-free expression assay using the predicted strong promoters. In this organism, the strong promoters govern genes for translation, energy metabolism, transport, cell movement, and other as-yet unidentified functions. Conclusion The triad pattern algorithm developed for predicting strong bacterial promoters is well suited for analyzing bacterial genomes with an A+T content of less than 62%. This computational tool opens new prospects for investigating global gene expression, and individual strong promoters in bacteria of medical and/or economic significance.</p