Percepción de la calidad y fidelidad en servicios deportivos privados / Percepçã de qualidade e lealdade nos serviços desportivos privados / Perception of Quality and Loyalty in private sports services

Actualmente las instituciones deportivas se enfrentan a nuevos retos, que los impulsan a realizar cambios constantes con la finalidad de introducirse y posicionarse como instituciones competitivas del sector deportivo privado, al mismo tiempo que buscan nuevos enfoques para atraer la atención de antiguos y nuevos consumidores orientados en perspectivas como; la calidad y la fidelidad, por lo cual, el objetivo de este estudio es analizar la percepción de la calidad y fidelidad en instituciones deportivas privadas respecto a la edad, género y tiempo de permanencia de los usuarios. Para dicho análisis se recabó una muestra de 347 voluntarios, pertenecientes a tres clubes deportivos privados (108 mujeres y 239 hombres), a la cual se le realizaron análisis de fiabilidad descriptivos y comparativos. Los resultados en las variables de calidad y fidelidad muestran diferencias significativas con respecto a la edad y género de los consumidores, contrario a lo obtenido en el tiempo de permanencia, donde los resultados no muestran una diferencia importante. (AU)

Currently, sports institutions are facing new challenges, which drive them to make constant changes in order to introduce and position themselves as competitive institutions in the private sports sector, while seeking new approaches to attract the attention of old and new consumers oriented inperspectives such as; quality and loyalty, therefore, the objective of this study is to analyze the perception of quality and loyalty in private sports institutions with respect to age, gender and time of permanence of the users. For this analysis, a sample of 347 volunteers belonging to three private sports clubs (108 women and 239 men) was collected and subjected to descriptive and comparative reliability analyses. The results for the quality and loyalty variables show significant differences with respecttothe age and gender of the consumers, in contrast to the results obtained for the time spent, where the results do not show a significant difference. (AU)

Atualmente, as instituições desportivas enfrentam novos desafios, que as impulsionam a realizar constantes mudanças para se apresentarem e se posicionarem como instituições competitivas no setor desportivo privado, ao mesmo tempo em que buscam novas abordagens para atrair a atençãode antigos e novos consumidores orientados em perspectivas como qualidade e fidelização, portanto, o objetivo deste estudo é analisar a perceção de qualidade e fidelização em instituições desportivas privadas em relação à idade, sexo e tempo de permanência dos usuários. Para esta análise, foi recolhida uma amostra de 347 voluntários de três clubes desportivos privados (108 mulheres e 239 homens), que foi submetida a análises descritivas e de fiabilidade comparativa. Os resultados para as variáveis qualidade e lealdade mostram diferenças significativas em relação à idade e ao género dos consumidores, ao contrário dos resultados obtidos para o tempo de permanência, onde os resultados não mostram uma diferença significativa. (AU)

Impacts of child sexual abuse: The mediating role of future orientation on academic outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) has significant impacts on an individual's physical and mental well-being including substance use, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, relationship issues, as well as sexual revictimization in adulthood. Positive future orientation is associated with higher educational outcomes and successful goal attainment, but CSA survivors have lower educational attainment and less employment opportunities leading to less financial security in adulthood. OBJECTIVE: Our study seeks to examine whether future orientation mediates the relationship between CSA and academic outcomes using data from the Kaplan Longitudinal and Multigenerational Study (KLAMS). PARTICIPANTS & SETTING: KLAMS is a U.S. based panel study which captures information about the mental health, relationships, academic outcomes, and deviant behavior of two generations of family members at multiple points in time. In the present study, we use data from two separate interviews with the children (N = 2084) of the original respondents. METHODS: We estimated a series of regressions using generalized structural equation modeling to examine the relationship between child sexual abuse, future orientation, and three different types of academic outcomes. RESULTS: Youth who experienced sexual abuse had lower grades in school, were more likely to drop out, and had lower levels of education than children with no history of sexual abuse. Negative future orientation mediated the relationship between child sexual abuse and all three outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: In support of existing research, we found child sexual abuse has a negative impact on positive future orientation, and positive future orientation contributes to better academic outcomes.

Bienestar eudaimónico y meditación mindfulness en los contextos laborales: una revisión sistemática / Eudaimonic Well-Being and Mindfulness Meditation in the Work-place: A Systematic Review

El objetivo de este estudio es analizar los efectos de las intervenciones basadas en mindfulness (IBMs) sobre variables relacionadas con el bienestar eudaimónico en contextos laborales. Para ello, se realizó una revisión sistemática de ensayos controlados aleatorizados, efectuándose una búsqueda de publicaciones relevantes en las bases de datos PsycInfo, Pubmed y ProQuest (acotando desde enero de 2009 a diciembre de 2019). Los términos de búsqueda incluyeron variables relacionadas con la eudaimonia (p. ej. resilience, maturity, wisdom, etc.). 9006 estudios fueron revisados, de los que 16 fueron incluidos finalmente. Se identificaron 9 variables psicológicas relacionadas con el modelo de bienestar eudaimónico de Ryff (2018). Los estudios diferían en el tipo de IBM, duración de la intervención, tiempo de práctica y variables eudaimónicas evaluadas. En general, las IBMs son eficaces, con tamaños de efecto medios, para mejorar autoaceptación, relaciones positivas y crecimiento personal. No obstante, son necesarios nuevos estudios de mayor calidad.(AU)

This systematic review analyzes the effects of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) on variables related to eudaimonic well-being in or-ganizational contexts. A searchfor relevant publications was conducted in the PsycInfo, Pubmed, and ProQuest databases, ranging from January 2009 to December 2019. The search terms included variables related to Ryff's psychological well-being model (2018) (e.g., resilience, maturity, wis-dom, autonomy, etc.). 9006 studies were reviewed following the PRISMA guidelines, of which 16 were included. Nine psychological variables related to eudaimonia were identified. The studies differed in the type of MBI, du-ration of the intervention, time of practice and eudaimonic variables evalu-ated. MBIs are effective, with medium effect sizes, to improve self-acceptance, positive relationships, and personal growth. However, high-quality studies are needed.(AU)

[Organization of children's otorhinolaryngological care in conditions of biological risks: international experience].

The COVID-19 pandemic has spurred the introduction of new devices and technologies into the organization of otorhinolaryngological care, the development of safety measures and clinical work protocols in order to increase the safety of doctors and patients. Virtual outpatient clinics have been integrated into the pediatric and basic outpatient services, the potential of which for pediatric otolaryngology is considered quite significant. In otorhinolaryngological practice, the transition to the expanded use of telemedicine technologies (individual gadgets for examining ENT patients, including a direct access otoscope connected to an otolaryngologist's computer) was especially significant. The practice of pediatric ENT services tends to combine virtual and face-to-face visits, even after the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. When organizing otorhinolaryngological care, it is necessary to pay special attention to dialogic consensus - an inclusive and reflective dialogue between a doctor and a patient.

The effect of academic supervision, managerial competence, and teacher empowerment on teacher performance: the mediating role of teacher commitment.

Background: Teacher commitment and performance are important factors contributing to student achievement and the quality of education. Therefore, it is critical to draw attention to this issue by identifying factors that influence these two variables.  Methods: A survey, consisted of 34 closed-ended questions, was used. The total sample comprised 2,203 teachers, including 832 men and 1,371 women. Data analysis was performed using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM). Model measurement employed indicator loading, convergent and discriminant validity, Cronbach's testing, composite reliability and average variance extracted (AVE) for internal consistency. Structural model measurement employed coefficient determination (R2), effect size (F2), variant inflation factor (VIF), predictive relevance (Q2) and path analysis measures.  Results: The results of the study reveal that academic supervision has a significant positive effect on commitment (ß; 0.085, t-statistics; 3.792 and p-value 0.000), academic supervision also affects teacher performance (ß; 0.096, t-statistics; 4.416 and p-value 0.000), managerial competence affects teacher commitment (ß; 0.195, t-statistics; 8.046 and p-value 0.000), managerial competence also affects teacher performance (ß; 0.149, t-statistics; 6.561 and p-value 0.000), organizational commitment affects teacher performance (ß; 0.163, t-statistics; 7.263 and p-value 0.000), teacher empowerment affects teacher commitment (ß; 0.489, t-statistics; 22.601 and p-value 0.000), and teacher empowerment affects teacher performance (ß; 0.489, t-statistics; 22.601 and p-value 0.000). Academic supervision affects teacher commitment mediating by teacher performance (ß; 0.014, t-statistics; 3.178 and p-value of 0.001). Managerial competence affects teacher commitment with teacher performance mediation (ß; 0.032, t-statistics; 5.588 and p-value 0.000), and teacher empowerment affects teacher commitment with teacher performance mediation (ß; 0.080, t-statistics; 7.050 and p-value 0.000).  Conclusion: Academic supervision, managerial competence, and teacher empowerment significantly positively affect teacher performance directly and through teacher performance as mediating variable. Teacher empowerment is the most significant factor influencing teacher performance and commitment.

Health care leaders' perspectives on the business impact of mobile health clinics.

BACKGROUND: By analyzing how health care leaders in the United States view mobile health programs and their impact on the organization's bottom line, this study equips those who currently operate or plan to deploy mobile clinics with a business case framework. Our aim is to understand health care leaders' perspectives about business-related incentives and disincentives for mobile healthcare. METHODS: We conducted 25 semi-structured key informant interviews with U.S. health care leaders to explore their views and experiences related to mobile health care. We used deductive and inductive thematic analysis to identify patterns in the data. An advisory group with expertise in mobile health, health management, and health care finance informed data collection and analysis. RESULTS: In addition to improving health outcomes, mobile clinics can bolster business objectives of health care organizations including those related to budget, business strategy, organizational culture, and health equity. We created a conceptual framework that demonstrates how these factors, supported by community engagement and data, come together to form a business case for mobile health care. DISCUSSION: Our study demonstrates that mobile clinics can contribute to health care organizations' business goals by aligning with broader organizational strategies. The conceptual model provides a guide for aligning mobile clinics' work with business priorities of organizations and funders. CONCLUSIONS: By understanding how health care leaders reconcile the business pressures they face with opportunities to advance health equity using mobile clinics, we can better support the strategic and sustainable expansion of the mobile health sector.

The impact of executive compensation incentive on corporate innovation capability: Evidence from agro-based companies in China.

This paper aims to examine the impact of executive compensation incentive on corporate innovation capability by dividing executive compensation incentive into short-term monetary incentive and long-term equity incentive. We also investigate the interaction between the two types of executive compensation incentive. Data are collected from China's agro-based companies during 2012-2019, and multiple regression analysis is utilized. The empirical results show that short-term monetary incentive has no impact on innovation capability, while long-term equity incentive stimulates innovation capability. Regarding company ownership, the impact of long-term equity incentive in state-owned enterprises is greater than that in private-owned enterprises. In addition, the complementary effect between short-term and long-term compensation incentive has a positive impact on innovation capability regardless of company ownership. The findings of this paper could help agribusiness managers to design the reasonable incentive system to incentivize corporate executives and enhance the capability of independent innovation.

Interconnected pathways: The role of integrated programs, safety climate, and safety professional engagement in safety and other organizational outcomes.

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated interconnected pathways of the use of safety management systems (SMS), environmental management systems (EMS), Lean, participatory programs, and integrated systems and their effect on safety management and other organizational outcomes from the perspective of safety professionals working within complex work systems. METHOD: Data were collected from 136 safety professionals. A structural path analysis assessed direct and indirect effects within the model and a confirmatory factor analysis evaluated high impact risk management practices and safety incidents as a model to assess safety management outcomes. RESULTS: SMS implementation had significant direct effects on safety climate and high impact risk management practices. EMS implementation had significant direct effects on environmental management outcomes. Integration of SMS and EMS with Lean had significant direct effects on safety climate and safety professional engagement. Participatory programs had significant direct effects on high impact risk management practices and safety incidents. Safety professional engagement and safety climate had significant mediating effects on safety and organizational outcomes as did the use of high impact risk management practices. CONCLUSION: Results of this study present a case for the use of high impact risk management practices and safety incidents as a measurement of safety management outcomes and the use of participatory programs, SMS, and integrated systems, driven by highly engaged individuals to influence safety and organizational outcomes.

Sustainability as part of a quality framework for the organisation of oral healthcare.

This paper aims to highlight to the reader that the organisation of dentistry at a system level lags behind other healthcare professions in regulation, policy, education and research. It argues that seeing sustainability as being as important as safety in oral healthcare quality would begin to rectify this. For the practitioner, it also identifies existing guidance on practising sustainably and reinforces that it does not require radical change but evidence-based care.

Executive compensation controls and corporate cash holdings.

As a crucial component of internal corporate governance, remuneration controls possess the potential to influence the cash holdings of firms. However, identifying the causal relationship between these controls and such holdings presents a considerable challenge. To address this research gap, this paper leverages the implementation of China's Guidance on Further Regulating the Remuneration Management of Heads of Central Enterprises as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate the relationship between executive remuneration controls and firms' cash holdings, utilizing a double-difference approach. Based on an analysis of a sample of listed companies from 2007-2012, the results indicate that firms subject to regulated executive compensation exhibit lower cash holdings. To ensure the robustness of these findings, various statistical techniques such as parallel trend tests, variable replacement, propensity score matching, and placebo tests were employed. Additionally, a mechanism test was conducted, whereby the mediating effect of executive compensation controls on firms' cash holdings was examined, revealing a reduction in internal agency costs. Finally, the analysis of heterogeneity demonstrated that the impact of executive compensation controls on firms' cash holdings was more pronounced in companies with high-quality internal controls, stronger management oversight, and lower information asymmetry.

"It's a preventable type of harm": Evidence-based strategies to prevent sexual abuse in schools.

The last two decades have seen global public recognition of the scale and impact of adult-perpetrated institutional child sexual abuse. A sizeable body of knowledge about generalized safeguarding measures has since been generated to inform organizations' prevention efforts. Apparent in the extant literature, however, is a notable lack of evidence-based and context-specific prevention strategies targeting perpetration in distinct institutional environments. This absence extends to educational settings where most reported contemporary cases occur or originate. The recommendations outlined in this article contribute to this gap. Derived from empirical findings establishing the role of context-specific rather than person-specific factors, a range of prevention strategies framed by Situational Crime Prevention are proposed for secondary educational settings. These recommendations are supplemented by the unique insights of interviewed experts with specialist professional knowledge. Recommendations center around targeting features of the environment such as high-risk locations, available guardians, and intimacy-promoting situations available in educational contexts. Taken together, this robust prevention and control agenda can create conditions for safer educational environments.

Heavy Work Investment, Workaholism, Servant Leadership, and Organizational Outcomes: A Study among Italian Workers / [La inversión en trabajo pesado, la adicción al trabajo, el liderazgo de servicio y los resultados organizativos: un estudio en trabajadores italianos]

Heavy Work Investment (HWI) is a construct that comprises both workaholism and work engagement. We tested a path analysis model on 364 Italian workers, with servant leadership as a predictor of HWI and HWI as a predictor of Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCB) and Counterproductive Work Behaviors (CWB). We also performed ANOVAs and MANOVAs. Among the main findings, servant leadership is a positive predictor of both workaholism and work engagement. Work engagement is a positive predictor of OCB and a negative predictor of CWB. Conversely, workaholism, is a positive predictor of CWB, but it does not predict OCB. Hence, we encourage implementing soft-skills interventions aimed at making leaders aware of the different worker types in their organization to develop tailored measures to foster work engagement rather than workaholism. Also, we recommend controlling for work engagement when analyzing workaholism, given the different findings that arose when controlling or not controlling for work engagement.(AU)

La inversión en trabajo pesado (ITP) es un constructo que abarca la adicción al trabajo y la implicación en el mismo. Pusimos a prueba un modelo de análisis de trayectorias con 364 trabajadores italianos utilizando el liderazgo de servicio como predictor de la ITP y esta como predictora a su vez de comportamientos de ciudadanía organizativa (CCO) y de comportamientos contraproductivos en el trabajo (CCT). Llevamos a cabo también ANOVA y MANOVA. Entre los resultados obtenidos está que el liderazgo de servicio predice positivamente el CCO y negativamente la implicación en el trabajo. Por el contrario, la adicción al trabajo predice positivamente el CCT pero no el CCO. De este modo proponemos llevar a cabo intervenciones en destrezas “blandas”, que hagan conscientes a los líderes de los diferentes tipos de trabajadores en su empresa para desarrollar medidas adaptadas, que potencien la implicación en el trabajo antes que la adicción al mismo. También recomendamos que se controle la implicación en el trabajo al estudiar la adicción al mismo, siendo el resultado diferente si ese control se produce o no.(AU)

Assessing the Utility of ChatGPT Throughout the Entire Clinical Workflow: Development and Usability Study.

BACKGROUND: Large language model (LLM)-based artificial intelligence chatbots direct the power of large training data sets toward successive, related tasks as opposed to single-ask tasks, for which artificial intelligence already achieves impressive performance. The capacity of LLMs to assist in the full scope of iterative clinical reasoning via successive prompting, in effect acting as artificial physicians, has not yet been evaluated. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate ChatGPT's capacity for ongoing clinical decision support via its performance on standardized clinical vignettes. METHODS: We inputted all 36 published clinical vignettes from the Merck Sharpe & Dohme (MSD) Clinical Manual into ChatGPT and compared its accuracy on differential diagnoses, diagnostic testing, final diagnosis, and management based on patient age, gender, and case acuity. Accuracy was measured by the proportion of correct responses to the questions posed within the clinical vignettes tested, as calculated by human scorers. We further conducted linear regression to assess the contributing factors toward ChatGPT's performance on clinical tasks. RESULTS: ChatGPT achieved an overall accuracy of 71.7% (95% CI 69.3%-74.1%) across all 36 clinical vignettes. The LLM demonstrated the highest performance in making a final diagnosis with an accuracy of 76.9% (95% CI 67.8%-86.1%) and the lowest performance in generating an initial differential diagnosis with an accuracy of 60.3% (95% CI 54.2%-66.6%). Compared to answering questions about general medical knowledge, ChatGPT demonstrated inferior performance on differential diagnosis (ß=-15.8%; P<.001) and clinical management (ß=-7.4%; P=.02) question types. CONCLUSIONS: ChatGPT achieves impressive accuracy in clinical decision-making, with increasing strength as it gains more clinical information at its disposal. In particular, ChatGPT demonstrates the greatest accuracy in tasks of final diagnosis as compared to initial diagnosis. Limitations include possible model hallucinations and the unclear composition of ChatGPT's training data set.

Employee-Driven Innovation in Health Organizations: Insights From a Scoping Review.

BACKGROUND: Employee-driven innovation (EDI) occurs when frontline actors in health organizations use their firsthand experience to spur new ideas to transform care. Despite its increasing prevalence in health organizations, the organizational conditions under which EDI is operationalized have received little scholarly attention. METHODS: This scoping review identifies gaps and assembles existing knowledge on four questions: What is EDI in health organizations and which frontline actors are involved? What are the characteristics of the EDI process? What contextual factors enable or impede EDI? And what benefits does EDI bring to health organizations? We searched seven databases with keywords related to EDI in health organizations. After screening 1580 studies by title and abstract, we undertook full-text review of 453 articles, retaining 60 for analysis. We performed a descriptive and an inductive thematic analysis guided by the four questions. RESULTS: Findings reveal an heterogeneous literature. Most articles are descriptive (n = 41). Few studies are conceptual and empirical (n = 15) and four are conference papers. EDI was often described as a participatory, learning innovation process involving frontline clinical and non-clinical staff and managers. Majority EDI were top-down, often driven by the organization's focus on participatory improvement and innovation and research-based initiatives. Five categories of methods is used in top-down EDI, two thirds of which includes a learning, a team and/or a digital component. Hybrid EDI often involves a team-based component. Bottom-up EDI emerged spontaneously from the work of frontline actors. Enablers, barriers, and benefits of EDI are seen at macro, organizational, team and individual levels; some benefits spread to other health organizations and health systems. CONCLUSION: This scoping review provides a comprehensive understanding of the organizational conditions under which EDI is operationalized. It offers insights for researchers, health organizations, and policy-makers about how and why frontline actors' involvement is crucial for the transformation of care.

The side effects of local government debt: Evidence from urban investment bonds and corporate pollution in China.

Local government debt plays a vital role in achieving financial financialization and regional economic growth. However, the environmental side effects of the debt-financed infrastructure development model have received little attention. Using a large panel data of Chinese enterprises from 2007 to 2016, we explored the relationship between local government debt in terms of urban investment bonds and corporate pollution emission. We observe that the increase in local government debt exaggerates the intensity of COD emission, equal to 26% of the average. This pollution-promoting effect remains after a series of robust checks. In heterogeneous analysis, local government debt is more likely to affect enterprises located in coastal areas, from pollution intensive industry, operating in regions with weak fiscal strength and operating in regions with low governance quality. The mechanistic exploration from government environmental governance and financial constraint reveals that the local government debt increases corporate pollution when the local fiscal finance emphasizes economy over environmental governance, which has been alleviated after the central government advocates the construction of an environmentally friendly and resource-saving society; An increase of corporate pollution is also possible when local government debt increases the financing constraints of enterprises. We also unveil the source of corporate pollution, and find that if enterprises do not actively adopt environmental strategies either in terms of "end-of-pipe" or "source prevention", they choose to emit more to face with the onslaught of local debt. This study uncovers the environmental impacts of government debt, and explores the potential mechanisms, which can help reduce pollution from local government debt and achieve global climate governance.

Temporal organization of stride-to-stride variations contradicts predictive models for sensorimotor control of footfalls during walking.

Walking exhibits stride-to-stride variations. Given ongoing perturbations, these variations critically support continuous adaptations between the goal-directed organism and its surroundings. Here, we report that stride-to-stride variations during self-paced overground walking show cascade-like intermittency-stride intervals become uneven because stride intervals of different sizes interact and do not simply balance each other. Moreover, even when synchronizing footfalls with visual cues with variable timing of presentation, asynchrony in the timings of the cue and footfall shows cascade-like intermittency. This evidence conflicts with theories about the sensorimotor control of walking, according to which internal predictive models correct asynchrony in the timings of the cue and footfall from one stride to the next on crossing thresholds leading to the risk of falling. Hence, models of the sensorimotor control of walking must account for stride-to-stride variations beyond the constraints of threshold-dependent predictive internal models.

The flow of corporate control in the global ownership network.

We propose a model and algorithm to measure the amount of influence a shareholder has over the flow of corporate control held by the ultimate owners. Existing models of corporate ownership and control either focus on the ultimate owners' influence or inadequately evaluate the influence possessed by intermediate shareholders in a ownership network. As it extends Network Power Index (NPI) that describes the the power of corporate control possessed by the ultimate owners, our new model, Network Power Flow (NPF), delineates the distribution of ownership influence among shareholders across the network and identifies the channels through which the ultimate owners' corporate control travel through the global shareholding network. Our analysis of NPI and NPF values for 7 million ultimate owners and 16 million shareholders reveals a new landscape of ownership and control in the global shareholding network that remained opaque before.

Biopharma innovation trends during COVID-19 and beyond: an evidence from global partnerships and fundraising activities, 2011-2022.

BACKGROUND: Co-development alliances and capital-raising activities are essential supports for biopharmaceutical innovation. During the initial outbreak of the COVID-19, the level of these business activities has increased greatly. Yet the magnitude, direction, and duration of the trend remain ambiguous. Real-time real-world data are needed to inform strategic redirections and industrial policies. METHODS: This observational study aims to characterize trends in global biopharma innovation activities throughout the global pandemic outbreak. Our extensive deal dataset is retrieved from the commercial database GlobalData (12,866 partnership deals and 32,250 fundraising deals announced between 2011 and 2022). We perform Chi-squared tests to examine the changes in qualitative deal attributes during and beyond the outbreak. Our deal-level sample is further aggregated into category-level panel data according to deal characteristics such as therapy area, molecule type, and development phase. We run a series of regressions to examine how the monthly investment amount raised in each category changed with the onset of the pandemic, controlling for the US Federal funds rate. RESULTS: The temporary surge of partnership and capital-raising activities was associated with the increase in infectious disease-related deals. Academic and government institutions played an increased role in supporting COVID-related co-development partnerships in 2020, and biopharma ventures had been securing more investments in the capital market throughout 2020 and 2021. The partnership and investment boom did not last till the later pandemic in 2022. The most significant and enduring trend was the shifting focus toward discovery-phase investments. Our regression model reveals that the discovery-phase fundraising deals did not suffer from a bounce back in the late pandemic, consistent with a persistent focus on early innovation. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the reduced level of partnership and fundraising activities during 2022, we observe a lasting change in focus toward biopharmaceutical innovation after the pandemic outbreak. Our evidence suggests how entrepreneurs and investors should allocate resources in response to the post-pandemic tight monetary environment. We also suggest the need for policy interventions in financing private/public co-development partnerships and non-COVID-related technologies, to maintain their research capacity and generate breakthroughs when faced with unforeseen diseases.

How Industrial Policy Could Accelerate Innovation In The Life Sciences.

The US is expanding public investment in the technology-based industries, including the life sciences, in a move driven by anger, fear, and hope. Anger at high drug prices is leading to downward pressures and eroding traditional private-sector funding for research and development, fear of China's technological and political ambitions is creating bipartisan support for intervention, and the successful development of COVID-19 vaccines has spurred hope for analogous publicly funded breakthroughs in other therapeutic domains. The instruments of industrial policy used by other nations include grants for scientific research, equity investments in start-ups, tax incentives for corporate research and development, credit guarantees for asset-intensive sectors, governmental procurement, and product pricing. In the face of ever-stronger competition, if the US is to retain its leading position in the life sciences, public policy must consider competition among nations as well as among firms. This article analyzes emerging innovation and industrial policy in the three principal sectors in the life sciences: research universities and laboratories; entrepreneurial startups and "scale-ups," and large pharmaceutical and medical device corporations.

Using Personas to Raise Acceptance of Digital Tools in Social Organizations - Introducing the Easy Reading Framework.

The Easy Reading Framework is a digital tool that can be used to make existing web pages accessible to the individual needs of a wide range of people. The core of this Framework is a toolbar, which currently includes 13 different functions. The potential for multiple applications of the Easy Reading Framework is being investigated and promoted in the recent Easy Reading follow-up project "EVE4all". In this project, Personas play an important role in the first project phase to raise end-user acceptance. Personas represent specific target groups and share the same characteristics, traits, social environments, and circumstances as the intended target group. Working with this method enables developers and project participants to identify with the users of their products and their lifeworld. Our project shows that this method can be used to reflect on and use the introduction of any technology in institutions in a theoretically well-founded way. Thus, this paper aims to illustrate how this method can be successfully transferred into the pedagogical context and show how this method's usage can contribute increasing user acceptance.