Orphan drugs: Unmet societal need for non-profitable privately supplied new products

Due to the severity of rare diseases, the societal need for biopharmaceutical treatments for these diseases is high, despite low numbers of patients. Therefore, we investigated the barriers currently hindering the willingness to develop orphan drugs in the Netherlands. To this end, a robust, small sample, exploratory analysis of Dutch multi-actor development of orphan drugs was performed. Various factors that were expected to stimulate the adoption of orphan drug development were found to be important barriers. Concerted actions of producers, users, and especially regulators are necessary to overcome these barriers, but the prerequisite of a shared problem definition is lacking.     

Antecedents of children's comprehension of television advertising

This study compared the importance of role taking and logical operations stage in predicting children's understanding of the purpose of television advertising. Role taking was found to be the more critical variable.     

GENI体系结构的中间件GMC建立开放真实的试验环境

2006年11月1日，GENI的网站上发布了GENI体系结构中间件的阐述文章，该文从GENI体系结构的管理核心——GMC（GENI Management Core）出发。描述GENI系统的体系结构。作者指出，该文并不描述一个特殊的关于链路、节点、子网等的部署，其定义的框架只是简单地统筹了这些组件在逻辑上怎样组成一个紧密联系的设施。GMC的目的是为建立一个开放的、大规模的，真实的试验设施框架。这个试验设施将允许研究人员用试验来回答复杂网络系统的问题，评估另一个体系结构以及评价工程开销。[编者按]     

Assessing personal talent determinants in young racquet sport players: a systematic review

Since junior performances have little predictive value for future success, other solutions are sought to assess a young player’s potential. The objectives of this systematic review are (1) to provide an overview of instruments measuring personal talent determinants of young players in racquet sports, and (2) to evaluate these instruments regarding their validity for talent development. Electronic searches were conducted in PubMed, PsychINFO, Web of Knowledge, ScienceDirect and SPORTDiscus (1990 to 31 March 2014). Search terms represented tennis, table tennis, badminton and squash, the concept of talent, methods of testing and children. Thirty articles with information regarding over 100 instruments were included. Validity evaluation showed that instruments focusing on intellectual and perceptual abilities, and coordinative skills discriminate elite from non-elite players and/or are related to current performance, but their predictive validity is not confirmed. There is moderate evidence that the assessments of mental and goal management skills predict future performance. Data on instruments measuring physical characteristics prohibit a conclusion due to conflicting findings. This systematic review yielded an ambiguous end point. The lack of longitudinal studies precludes verification of the instrument’s capacity to forecast future performance. Future research should focus on instruments assessing multidimensional talent determinants and their predictive value in longitudinal designs.     

Gen/Ethics? Organizational Ethics and Student and Instructor Conflicts in Workplace Training

This article takes a critical-analytical perspective on the concept of generational ethics at a corporate university site. Specifically, the article seeks to answer whether or not student-employees between the ages 21-35, commonly referred to as “generation x”, hold different ethical stances than their instructors and older employees in the organization. Surveys were distributed to 68 students and 8 instructors at the facility to determine the extent to which students differed on six work-related values. Results indicate that students in the 21-35 age cohort did not exhibit popular expectations for “generation x.” However, differences were found in the ways each generation reported work-related values. The study concludes that younger students conflicted with older students and instructors on issues involving organizational values. It is concluded that the younger students had not yet been fully socialized into the dominant organizational values of this company.     

Kinematic and kinetic analysis of the goalkeeper’s diving save in football

Kinetics and full body kinematics were measured in ten elite goalkeepers diving to save high and low balls at both sides of the goal, aiming to investigate their starting position, linear and angular momentum, and legs' contribution to end-performance. Our results showed that goalkeepers adopted a starting position with a stance width of 33 ± 1% of leg length, knee flexion angle of 62 ± 18° and hip flexion angle of 63 ± 18°. The contralateral leg contributed more than the ipsilateral leg to COM velocity (p < 0.01), both for the horizontal (2.7 ± 0.1 m·s^?1 versus 1.2 ± 0.1 m·s^?1) and for the vertical component (3.1 ± 0.3 m·s^?1 versus 0.4 ± 0.2 m·s^?1). Peak horizontal and peak angular momenta were significantly larger (p < 0.01) for low dives than for high dives with a mean difference of 55 kg·m·s^?1 and 9 kg·m²·s^?1, respectively. In addition, peak vertical momentum was significantly larger (p < 0.01) for high dives with a mean difference between dive heights of 113 kg·m·s^?1. Coaches need to highlight horizontal lateral skills and exercises (e.g. sideward push-off, sideward jumps), with emphasis on pushing-off with the contralateral leg, when training and assessing goalkeeper’s physical performance.     

Can an early perceptuo-motor skills assessment predict future performance in youth table tennis players? An observational study (1998–2013)

This study intended to investigate the capability of the 4 test items “sprint”, “agility”, “speed while dribbling” and “throwing a ball” of the Dutch perceptuo-motor skills assessment used at the age of 7–10 years to predict table tennis performance (U13, U15 and U18) in an observational study. Data of 1191 young table tennis players, collected from 1998 to 2013, were analysed in univariable and multivariable logistic and linear regression models. The test items “sprint” and “throwing a ball” showed to be significant predictors for table tennis performance outcomes in boys (P < 0.05). For girls, besides these test items also “speed while dribbling” had a significant contribution (P < 0.05). Since the accuracies of the models were low, it is advised to include other determinants to enhance the predictive value of a model for table tennis performance. Nevertheless, it can be concluded that a perceptuo-motor skills assessment might improve the effectiveness of talent programmes in table tennis as an additional method to objectively estimate a youth players’ potential. Future research focusing on the inclusion of test items specifically assessing eye hand coordination and other domains, for example, the psychological and the environmental domain, related to table tennis performance are recommended.     

The effectiveness of health disclosures within children's television commercials

In a study involving 164 children ages 3 to 14, the effectiveness of incorporating health information disclosures into actual television commercials was tested. Results indicated that most children were able to recall and make sense of such disclosures.     

Benefits of Peer Mentoring to Mentors,Female Mentees and Higher Education Institutions

In this article, we discuss a study of a pilot mentoring program for early career female researchers at a university that addressed the under-representation of female researchers in senior academic positions. Embracing a grounded theory approach, we draw on a design comprising an ex-ante and an ex-post evaluation. We disclose that development mentoring was at play. Benefits for the mentees consisted of guidance to career planning, competence awareness, establishment of networks, navigating in the research environment, and moral support. In our study we also show that the mentor–mentee relationship was reciprocal, as also mentors benefited. Benefits for the mentors comprised professional development, institutional recognition, and personal satisfaction. We conclude with an inventory of benefits, including for the institution in terms of a strengthened research environment.