Specific managerial human capital,firm age,and venture capital financing of biopharmaceutical ventures: A contingency approach

In this article we investigate how specific human capital in biopharmaceutical ventures' management teams impacts the financial commitment of venture capital investors. Further, we explore how this impact changes with the venture's age. We draw on data from 138 VC financing rounds in the US and Europe to show that biopharmaceutical ventures with greater portions of specific managerial human capital in the fields of management, law, medicine, and biosciences acquire more money in venture capital financing rounds, but this effect is contingent on the age of the venture. We discuss the implications of these findings for the literature on VC financing of high technology ventures.     

Robots: ethical by design

Among ethicists and engineers within robotics there is an ongoing discussion as to whether ethical robots are possible or even desirable. We answer both of these questions in the positive, based on an extensive literature study of existing arguments. Our contribution consists in bringing together and reinterpreting pieces of information from a variety of sources. One of the conclusions drawn is that artifactual morality must come in degrees and depend on the level of agency, autonomy and intelligence of the machine. Moral concerns for agents such as intelligent search machines are relatively simple, while highly intelligent and autonomous artifacts with significant impact and complex modes of agency must be equipped with more advanced ethical capabilities. Systems like cognitive robots are being developed that are expected to become part of our everyday lives in future decades. Thus, it is necessary to ensure that their behaviour is adequate. In an analogy with artificial intelligence, which is the ability of a machine to perform activities that would require intelligence in humans, artificial morality is considered to be the ability of a machine to perform activities that would require morality in humans. The capacity for artificial (artifactual) morality, such as artifactual agency, artifactual responsibility, artificial intentions, artificial (synthetic) emotions, etc., come in varying degrees and depend on the type of agent. As an illustration, we address the assurance of safety in modern High Reliability Organizations through responsibility distribution. In the same way that the concept of agency is generalized in the case of artificial agents, the concept of moral agency, including responsibility, is generalized too. We propose to look at artificial moral agents as having functional responsibilities within a network of distributed responsibilities in a socio-technological system. This does not take away the responsibilities of the other stakeholders in the system, but facilitates an understanding and regulation of such networks. It should be pointed out that the process of development must assume an evolutionary form with a number of iterations because the emergent properties of artifacts must be tested in real world situations with agents of increasing intelligence and moral competence. We see this paper as a contribution to the macro-level Requirement Engineering through discussion and analysis of general requirements for design of ethical robots.     

Assessment of the decision-making process for re-use of a historical asset: The example of Diyarbakir Hasan Pasha Khan,Turkey

The requirements of historical environments that are related to social and economical changes sometimes necessitate the re-use of historical buildings that no longer serve their functions. Deciding how to re-use historical buildings is a difficult problem when the concerns of decision makers are not aligned. This paper proposes a methodology for the appropriate re-use of historical patterns that have lost their original functions and discusses the results of such re-use. Appropriate re-use can result in a sustainable preservation of both historical assets and the environment. Thus, the respectful conversion of structures for new uses based on economic and social needs ensures the authenticity of the structure and of the historical environment. In this study, the historical pattern of Diyarbak?r Hasan Pasha Khan was evaluated through the application of the proposed method. Adaptation of the structure required knowledge of traditional construction techniques. The results reveal that the proposed methodology can be effectively used for historical patterns to prioritise between various re-use criteria. This methodology can be applied in the context of re-use problems and provides solutions for such problems in historical buildings.     

First Year Turkish Science Undergraduates’ Understandings and Misconceptions of Light

The present study aims to identify first year Turkish Science undergraduates’ understandings and misconceptions of the concept of light and its propagation. For this purpose, an instrument composed of four open-ended questions was developed by the researchers. The diagnostic test was piloted with twenty students and modifications were made prior to the final administration of the test. The content validity of the test questions was assessed by two physics researchers and one lecturer. These questions were administered to a hundred first year undergraduates (aged 16–18) enrolled in the Science Teacher Training Department in Ataturk University in Turkey. In addition, the semi-structured interviews of 30–40 min were conducted with the four students whose responses involved common misunderstanding. All interview records were transcribed and analysed. The findings showed that undergraduates’ understanding of light is poor and also they have important and prevalent misconceptions. Identified misconceptions, some of which have been reported in the literature, are discussed qualitatively. The misunderstandings identified were compared with those in the literature. The results have some implications for teaching light, suggesting that a substantial revision of teaching strategies is needed.

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Decision-makers’ underestimation of user innovation

In the past few decades, much research has documented the importance of users as sources of innovations. Over the last 10 years, Research Policy alone has published 56 research articles investigating this phenomenon. We ask to what degree the findings of users as innovators have been absorbed by decision-makers responsible for new product development (managers) and by those who shape the contextual conditions for innovation (policy makers and public administration). A realistic perception of the sources of innovation is important as it constitutes the basis for a rational allocation of resources and thus indirectly impacts the innovation performance of companies and societies at large.In a large-scale survey of n?=?1500 decision-makers, we found support for a substantial underestimation of users as a source of innovation: While the true proportion of user innovation among the most valuable 1678 innovations in nine industries is 54.4% (as established in existing research articles), decision-makers estimate it to be 21.7%. A content analysis of transfer media (450 academic textbooks, popular innovation books, and business articles) underscores this theory-practice gap: Of 3469 text paragraphs dealing with the sources of innovation, only 2.7% mention users as innovators. We develop six propositions on the reasons for and consequences of this underestimation that may serve as a starting point for future research and practical consequences.     

Acute exercise-induced irisin release in healthy adults: Associations with training status and exercise mode

There is a growing interest in exploring irisin response to acute exercise; however, the associations of acute exercise-induced irisin release with training status and exercise mode are not fully understood. This study was primarily designed to evaluate these associations. Sixteen healthy adults (8 trained versus 8 untrained) underwent a bout of cycling at 80% of maximal oxygen uptake (VO_2max) for 50?min, with blood drawn pre-, 10-, and 180-min post-exercise. Another 17 healthy adults performed 2 bouts of graded exercise (cycling and running) until exhaustion on separate days using a randomized cross-over design, with blood taken pre-, 0-, 10-, and 60-min post-exercise. Circulating irisin, creatine kinase (CK), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and myoglobin (Mb) were measured, and their respective areas under the curves (AUCs) were calculated. Irisin increased 10-min after 50?min of cycling at 80% of VO_2max, while its changes from baseline to post-exercise and the amount of exercise-induced irisin release (presented as AUC) were comparable between trained and untrained adults (all P?>?.05). Irisin remained elevated 10-min post-exhausting running but decreased towards baseline 10-min post-exhausting cycling. Exhausting running induced an increase in irisin release for the whole course of exercise and recovery periods, but cycling did not. Acute exercise-induced irisin changes seemed not related to changes of CK, aspartate AST, and Mb in general. In conclusion, acute exercise-induced irisin release is not associated with training status but might be affected by training mode. Future studies are required to investigate which exercise mode might be most efficient in altering irisin.     

Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity,executive functions and prefrontal brain oxygenation in children: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study

Despite accumulating evidence that regular exercise improves executive functioning, the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms have rarely been investigated. The present study aimed to compare cognitive performance as well as task-specific concentration changes in oxygenated haemoglobin in the prefrontal cortex between children with higher and lower moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Physical activity was measured over 7 consecutive days using actigraphy. Afterwards, participants (N = 50) completed verbal fluency tests (VFTs) and mental arithmetic (MA) for the assessment of cognitive flexibility and working memory capacity. During the tasks, changes of oxygenated haemoglobin were measured with functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Using average MVPA of 11-year-old children as cut-point, the sample was divided into children with lower and higher MVPA. Analyses of variance revealed no significant differences in correct and false responses on the cognitive tests between groups. With regard to oxygenated haemoglobin, no group differences were found for concentration changes in response to the cognitive tasks. In conclusion, VFTs and MA increased children’s activation in prefrontal regions associated with cognitive flexibility and working memory, respectively. However, these executive functions and cortical activation were not different between children with lower and higher MVPA.     

Klassifikation von Leistungsprofilen im Handballsprungwurf

The jump throw is one of the most applied techniques in handball. Therefore, analyzing its underlying performance factors is important since they may provide a basis to adjust training interventions. Currently, the coach decides what needs to be improved in order to enhance the overall performance of an athlete. The aim of this study is to break down the performance factors in jump throws and to assign athletes to subgroups. This classification should allow athletes to benefit from the resulting group-specific training contents and may support a coach in deciding about the next steps in his training program. A total of 113 male handball players (age 15 ± 0.38 years, height 184.07 ± 7.1?cm, weight 74.83 ± 9.31?kg) participated in this study. From each athlete the standing reach height (SRH), the jumping reach height achieved with a countermovement jump (JRH), the maximal ball height achieved with a handball-specific single-legged jump and straight arm (BHJ), and the ball release height achieved in a jump throw (BHT) were measured. Performance factors were derived as differences between these measurements (JRH ? SRH = UJA for unspecific jump ability, BHJ ? JRH = SJT for specific jump technique, BHT ? BHJ = STT for specific throwing technique). A hierarchical cluster analysis was used to find groups of athletes based on the derived and scaled difference measures (UJA, SJT, STT). The dendrogram shows a clear distinction of four groups of athletes. Average values within each cluster reveal (A) one group with high UJA values, (B) one with low UJA values, (C) one with high SJT but low STT, and (D) one with low SJT but high STT. These results may be interpreted with respect to consequences for training because group (B) seems to benefit most from a general strength training while the properties of group (A), (C), and (D) recommend a focus on technical aspects of performance.