bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Policy and institutions facilitating entrepreneurial spin-offs: USA, Asia and Europe
Authors: Caiazza Rosa , Audretsch David , Volpe Tiziana , Debra Singer Julie 
Published: October 2014

Purpose– Existing work documents the role that institutional setting plays in the process of spin-off creation. However, despite decades of studies, scholars have not clearly explained why some regions are more involved in spin-off activity than others. Drawing from institutional theory, the purpose of this paper is to compare different institutional settings identifying factors affecting the general environment capability to support spin-off activity of a specific region.Design/methodology/approach– The authors utilize a cross-national analysis of American, Asian, and European areas identifying factors affecting their different rate of spin-off activity. This study contributes to the policy debate concerning entrepreneurship and how best to spur spin-off activities.Findings– In this paper, the authors identify the general and specific factors that explain the cross-national diversity in spin-off creation. The authors then perform an analysis of the impact of these factors in various regions of the USA, Asia, and Europe, providing evidence for the necessity of specific combinations of these factors.Originality/value– The paper offers a new perspective on the causes of spin-offs through a cross-national analysis of many areas around the world.
Enclaves and entrepreneurial success
Authors: Braymen Charles , Neymotin Florence 
Published: October 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of immigrant and ethnic enclaves on the success of entrepreneurial ventures as measured by firm profits and viability.Design/methodology/approach– Data on entrepreneurs and their new firms were provided by the Kauffman Foundation and covered the years 2004-2008. These firm-level data were linked to Census 2000 Summary Files at the ZIP Code level and were used to empirically investigate the effect of enclaves.Findings– The paper found a statistically significant negative effect of immigrant representation in an area on firm profitability. This effect operated on native, rather than immigrant, firm owners, which suggested that native-owned firms locating in immigrant enclaves may experience difficulty assimilating the benefits that enclaves offer.Practical implications– Cultural connections within local communities play a key role in the success of new businesses. Potential firms should recognize the importance of these connections when making firm location decisions. Likewise, the findings suggest that connections within local communities should be considered when designing aid programs.Originality/value– The authors used a unique measure of enclave representation to incorporate both immigrant, as well as ethnic, representation in the local area. The authors examined the effect of immigration on both immigrant- and native-owned firms in order to provide a broader scope and a more complete understanding of the effects of immigration on entrepreneurial ventures.
What obstacles do entrepreneurs encounter?
Authors: Lougui Monia , Nyström Kristina 
Published: October 2014

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to identify the obstacles encountered by current and potential entrepreneurs. The authors explore the areas associated with starting and running a business in which entrepreneurs find difficulties. Furthermore, the authors explore which entrepreneurs experience most difficulties. What issues do entrepreneurs in different sectors need help with? What issues do entrepreneurs with different current positions in the labor market need help with?Design/methodology/approach– The authors use a unique database that includes information regarding the questions that entrepreneurs ask when they call a government helpline established to provide information about how to start and run a business. The database consists of more than 30,000 observations during the period from 2005 to 2009.Findings– The results indicate that aside from general questions and concerns, taxes, laws and permits are the issues with which entrepreneurs most frequently need help. The authors do not find any gender differences regarding the need for help. Currently or future unemployed entrepreneurs more often need help related to financing, grants and business plans. Self-employed entrepreneurs need help with issues related to operating the firm, such as questions regarding employment, accounting, permits and laws.Originality/value– The research provides unique insights into the problems that entrepreneurs encounter during the entrepreneurial process. Hence, the paper identifies areas in which better or additional counseling and support from public policy agencies may be needed to improve the development and performance of new ventures.
Public policy rules and norms in choice of a nesting place of a social enterprise
Authors: J. Bryce Herrington 
Published: October 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to consider how public policy rules and norms embedded in the operation and financing of firms and nonprofits may affect the choice of one or the other for nesting a social enterprise while reducing the risk of failure due to an initial bad choice.

Design/methodology/approach
– The paper is conceptual and literature based. It identifies and evaluates factors in public policy that are embedded in the rules and norms of operating and financing firms and nonprofits that could materially affect the choice of a nesting place of a social enterprise. It treats the choice as a two-stage process: whether firm or nonprofit and what type of firm or what type of nonprofit.

Findings
– The choice of a structural form for nesting a social enterprise is dependent upon the public policies embedded in each form that affect the probability of venture success and entrepreneurial remorse.

Research limitations/implications
– This paper suggests that public policy norms and rules are deserving variables in the empirical and experimental determinants of choice and success in social enterprises.

Practical implications
– This paper may be used for conducting experiments of choice, as a teaching or other pedagogical tool, and for guiding entrepreneurs in making informed choices as to where to nest a social enterprise.

Originality/value
– The literature contains several articles on how personality, alertness, opportunity, context, and similar factors affect entrepreneurial behavior. This paper is unique in that it adds public policy to that list by demonstrating that the norms and rules derived from policy (federal and state) are determinative of an informed choice.
Emerging scenario of online counseling services in India: a case of e-government intervention
Authors: Amritesh  , Chandra Misra Subhas , Chatterjee Jayanta 
Published: October 2014

Purpose
– This paper aims to understand the emerging state of online counseling practices in India, highlight the benefits of process transition and explore potential research issues in this domain. Changing demands of labor market and growing availability of wide range of education and training options in the higher/technical education sector underscore the need of counseling services for an individual’s career guidance requirements. “Online counseling” in this context, as an e-government intervention, is expected to meet this requirement by extending support to individuals’ decision-making process and optimally match their interest with appropriate kind of education.

Design/methodology/approach
– The authors have highlighted some key contributions from the literature to build theoretical insight about contextual factors of counseling, and presented a detailed case analysis of online counseling practices in one of the states of India.

Findings
– With a critical perspective, it is noticed that design of online counseling services in India has largely been developed from the requirements of service provider’s to support the conventional set of practices, with less attention given to students’ decision support. More research is required in the direction of service gap analysis, information quality issues and more interactive website functionalities from user’s viewpoint.

Research limitations/implications
– Aligning the objectives of online counseling services with the relevant theories of career guidance should essentially be considered by the government/online counseling managers. Furthermore, managers must understand the importance of information quality and self-help tools for online information accessibility to facilitate student’s decision-making process.

Originality/value
– The article reports a research scenario/case of a unique service of its kind under the education sector in India which is weighted high on both the dimensions – technical/operational elements, because of multiple stakeholders’ involvement, and informational service elements, as viewed through e-government service maturity research lens.
Jordan’s e-Government at the crossroads
Authors: R. Al-Soud Anas , Al-Yaseen Hussein , H. Al-Jaghoub Saheer 
Published: October 2014

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to assess the maturity level of the Jordanian electronic Government (e-Government) program from the citizen’s perspective. This assessment aims to help in determining whether the Jordanian e-Government strategy, set back in 2002, has achieved its main objectives which are delivering services to people across society, irrespective of location, economic status, education or ICT ability; improving the ICT readiness and infrastructure; and developing new service delivery channels and increase the involvement of citizens through the use of ICTs. Jordan started a national e-Government initiative aiming to streamline government procedures and provide government information and services to the public online. This paper reveals the levels of citizens’ awareness, acceptance, usage and willingness to use the e-Government services in Jordan. It investigates issues such as Jordan’s e-Government maturity level, citizen’s preferences when dealing with e-Government, citizen’s attitude toward using various e-services, citizen’s concerns and the required services.

Design/methodology/approach
– To achieve the research purposes, which needed a high rate of respondents to generalize the findings, we opted for quantitative research through questionnaires as an appropriate instrument base to address the citizens’ awareness and usage of e-Government services. In total, 7,238 distributed surveys were conducted across Jordan. The average of the responses rate in the three regions was 58.6 per cent.

Findings
– The citizen’s interest in e-Government services is declining, as the citizens’ level of awareness of e-Government and its services is still modest after more than ten years of the start of the e-Government program in Jordan. Citizens’ attitude toward using e-Government services is changing and determined by various factors and issues reported in the paper.

Research limitations/implications
– The selected governorates might not be the best governorates to represent the three regions of Jordan, the data took almost 15 months to be collected and analyzed which may have resulted in some changes to the reality. Finally, developing countries are not a homogenous group and, therefore, the results of this paper may not be generalizable.

Originality/value
– The findings present a number of key factors that hinder Jordan’s e-Government development. These findings can be useful for researchers and practitioners, as they provide rich insights on e-Government development. The findings can be also useful to other developing countries, as they can help them in understanding citizen related challenges when designing, planning and implementing their e-Government initiatives.
Resource implications of a national health target: The New Zealand experience of a Shorter Stays in Emergency Departments target
Authors: Jones Peter , Sopina Elizaveta , Ashton Toni 
Published: October 2014

AbstractBackgroundThe Shorter Stays in Emergency Departments health target was introduced in New Zealand in 2009. District Health Boards (DHBs) are expected to meet the target with no additional funding or incentives. The costs of implementing such targets have not previously been studied.MethodA survey of clinical/service managers in ED throughout New Zealand determined the type and cost of resources used for the target. Responses to the target were classified according to their impact in ED, the hospital and the community. Quantifiable resource changes were assigned a financial value and grouped into categories: structure (facilities/beds), staff and processes. Simple statistics were used to describe the data, and the correlation between expenditure and target performance was determined.ResultsThere was 100% response to the survey. Most DHBs reported some expenditure specifically on the target, with estimated total expenditure of over NZ$52 m. The majority of expenditure occurred in ED (60.8%) and hospital (38.7%) with little spent in the community. New staff accounted for 76.5% of expenditure. Per capita expenditure in the ED was associated with improved target performance (r = 0.48, P = 0.03), whereas expenditure in the hospital was not (r = 0.08, P = 0.75).ConclusionThe fact that estimated expenditure on the target was over $50 million without additional funding suggests that DHBs were able to make savings through improved efficiencies and/or that funds were reallocated from other services. The majority of expenditure occurred in the ED. Most of the funds were spent on staff, and this was associated with improved target performance.
The shortened dental arch concept: awareness and opinion of dentists in Victoria, Australia
Authors: Abuzar MA , Humplik AJ , Shahim N 
Published: October 2014

AbstractBackgroundThe occlusion of a complete dental arch is generally desirable but not necessary nor always achievable in many individuals. It is, however, relevant for dentists to consider what minimum number of teeth is required by individuals for oral function. This study investigated dentists’ awareness and opinion of the shortened dental arch (SDA) concept in an Australian context.MethodsA self‐administered voluntary and anonymous questionnaire was mailed to a sample of 434 dentists, randomly selected from both rural and metropolitan locations in Victoria, Australia. The information collected included awareness of the SDA concept and its application as a treatment option.ResultsMore than half of the respondents (61%) were aware of the SDA concept. All respondents ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ with the seven criteria of SDA proposed in this study based on Käyser (1989). The majority (78.4%) believed that the SDA concept is useful in clinical practice. Dentists with <20 years of experience expressed more awareness compared to others (χ2 test, p = 0.004).ConclusionsMost dentists who responded to this survey agreed that the SDA is a practical and useful treatment modality for older adults with limitations to complex restorative care. However, application of the SDA varied considerably among dentists.
“The World's Back Womb?”: Commercial Surrogacy and Infertility Inequalities in India
Authors: Singh Holly Donahue 
Published: October 2014

ABSTRACTWhile transnational commercial surrogacy in India has recently attracted the attention of journalists and feminist scholars critical of a novel and particularly intimate example of labor outsourcing, surrogacy in India is not only about global inequalities. In this research report, I call attention to silences in the most well‐known accounts of surrogacy to the persistent local inequalities that structure infertility treatment in general—and surrogacy in particular. I argue that the disappearance of medical professionals’ perceptions of surrogates as “laborers” and of Indian infertility experiences in these accounts occurs not only because of significant challenges to data collection, but also because of widespread naturalization of inequality. Local inequalities that structure transnational surrogacy in India, in particular, and infertility treatment, in general, tend to escape the purview of examinations that employ a transnational frame. Most research on gestational surrogacy in India does not focus on the options available to Indians who face infertility. The few studies that put the dynamics of infertility among people living in India at the center of analysis have yet to explore fully the “reproscapes” of infertility among people in India. [surrogacy, infertility, inequality, India, transnational]
Non‐timber Forest Product Harvest does not Affect the Genetic Diversity of a Tropical Tree Despite Negative Effects on Population Fitness
Authors: Gaoue Orou G. , Lemes Maristerra R. , Ticktin Tamara , Sinsin Brice , Eyog‐Matig Oscar 
Published: October 2014

AbstractThe level of genetic diversity in a population can affect ecological processes and plant responses to disturbance. In turn, disturbance can alter population genetic diversity and structure. Populations in fragmented and logged habitats often show reduced genetic diversity and increased inbreeding and differentiation. Long‐term harvesting of wild plants (for foliage, bark, and roots), can affect population genetic diversity by altering individual fitness and genetic contribution. Our understanding of these changes in genetic diversity due to the harvesting of plant organs is still limited. We used nine microsatellite markers to study the effect of long‐term bark and foliage harvest by Fulani people on the genetic diversity and structure of 12 populations of African mahogany (Khaya senegalensis) in Benin. We sampled 20 individuals in each population to test the effect of harvesting. For each population, we divided the samples equally between seedling and adults to test if the effects are stronger in seedlings. We found moderate genetic diversity (He = 0.53 ± 0.04) and weak but significant differentiation among local populations (FST = 0.043, P < 0.001). There was no significant effect of harvest on genetic diversity or structure, although previous work found significant negative effects of harvest on the reproduction of adults, offspring density, and population fitness. Our results suggest that demographic responses to disturbance precede a detectable genetic response. Future studies should focus on using parentage analysis to test if genotypes of harvested parents are directly represented in the offspring populations.
Habitat Loss Reduces the Diversity of Frog Reproductive Modes in an Atlantic Forest Fragmented Landscape
Authors: Almeida‐Gomes Mauricio , Rocha Carlos F. D. 
Published: October 2014

AbstractSeveral amphibian species have ecological traits that can make them vulnerable to landscape changes, such as habitat preference and reproductive strategies. We evaluated how anuran species and their respective reproductive modes were distributed in an Atlantic Forest fragmented landscape, Southeastern Brazil. We sampled through visual encounter surveys three continuous forest sites, 12 forest fragments and five pasture areas (matrix) between July 2007 and March 2010. We recorded 50 anuran species with 15 reproductive modes, a third of them (33.3%) recorded only in continuous forest sites (modes 3, 8, 19, 25 and 36). These reproductive modes found only in continuous forest sites are typically forest‐associated, and seem to be more vulnerable to habitat loss. Additionally, we found a trend for larger fragments to harbor both higher number of types of reproductive sites and diversity of frog reproductive modes. Our findings suggests that fragment sizes can better predict the number of frog reproductive modes than the species richness in Atlantic Forest fragmented landscapes, and highlights the need to consider frog reproductive traits in future studies.
Immune homeostasis, dysbiosis and therapeutic modulation of the gut microbiota
Authors: Peterson C T , Sharma V , Elmén L , Peterson S N 
Published: October 2014

Summary
The distal gut harbours ∼1013 bacteria, representing the most densely populated ecosystem known. The functional diversity expressed by these communities is enormous and relatively unexplored. The past decade of research has unveiled the profound influence that the resident microbial populations bestow to host immunity and metabolism. The evolution of these communities from birth generates a highly adapted and highly personalized microbiota that is stable in healthy individuals. Immune homeostasis is achieved and maintained due in part to the extensive interplay between the gut microbiota and host mucosal immune system. Imbalances of gut microbiota may lead to a number of pathologies such as obesity, type I and type II diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), colorectal cancer (CRC) and inflammaging/immunosenscence in the elderly. In-depth understanding of the underlying mechanisms that control homeostasis and dysbiosis of the gut microbiota represents an important step in our ability to reliably modulate the gut microbiota with positive clinical outcomes. The potential of microbiome-based therapeutics to treat epidemic human disease is of great interest. New therapeutic paradigms, including second-generation personalized probiotics, prebiotics, narrow spectrum antibiotic treatment and faecal microbiome transplantation, may provide safer and natural alternatives to traditional clinical interventions for chronic diseases. This review discusses host–microbiota homeostasis, consequences of its perturbation and the associated challenges in therapeutic developments that lie ahead.
Comparison of fixed implant‐supported prostheses, removable implant‐supported prostheses, and complete dentures: patient satisfaction and oral health‐related quality of life
Authors: Oh Sung‐Hee , Kim Younhee , Park Joo‐Yeon , Jung Yea Ji , Kim Seong‐Kyun , Park Sun‐Young 
Published: October 2014

AbstractObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to compare patient satisfaction and oral health‐related quality of life (OHRQoL) among fully edentulous patients treated with either fixed implant‐supported prostheses (FP), removable implant‐supported prostheses (RP), or complete dentures (CD).Material and MethodsEighty‐six patients – 29 FP, 27 RP, and 30 CD patients – participated in this study. The survey was conducted using face‐to‐face interviews with a questionnaire that included a patient satisfaction scale and Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP‐14). We measured patient satisfaction after prosthetic treatments and OHRQoL before and after the treatments.ResultsAfter prosthetic treatments, OHRQoL increased in all three groups (P < 0.05). The FP and RP groups showed no significant difference in patient satisfaction and OHRQoL, and both groups showed greater improvement compared with the CD group. Specifically, the OHRQoL dimensions of functional limitation, physical pain, psychological discomfort, and psychological disability in the FP group, and functional limitation in the RP group, improved greatly in comparison with the CD group (P < 0.05).ConclusionsAlthough further research is still needed, prosthetic treatments may provide superior OHRQoL for fully edentulous patients. In particular, both the FP and RP treatments provided significantly greater improvement of OHRQoL and patient satisfaction than the CD treatment. Reliable information of OHRQoL and patient satisfaction helps experts and patients choose the best prosthetic treatment option.