So far in this course we have dealt entirely with the evolution of characters that are controlled by simple Mendelian inheritance at a single locus. There are notes on the course website about gametic disequilibrium and how allele frequencies change at two loci simultaneously, but we didn’t discuss them. In every example we’ve considered we’ve imagined that we could understand something about evolution by examining the evolution of a single gene. That’s the domain of classical population genetics. For the next few weeks we’re going to be exploring a field that’s actually older than classical population genetics, although the approach we’ll be taking to it involves the use of population genetic machinery. If you know a little about the history of evolutionary biology, you may know that after the rediscovery of Mendel’s work in 1900 there was a heated debate between the “biometricians” (e.g., Galton and Pearson) and the “Mendelians” (e.g., de Vries, Correns, Bateson, and Morgan). Biometricians asserted that the really important variation in evolution didn’t follow Mendelian rules. Height, weight, skin color, and similar traits seemed to

Human biochemical genetics

世界経済・社会統計 = World development indicators

计量经济分析 = Econometric analysis

How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

The reference human genome sequence set the stage for studies of genetic variation and its association with human disease, but epigenomic studies lack a similar reference. To address this need, the NIH Roadmap Epigenomics Consortium generated the largest collection so far of human epigenomes for primary cells and tissues. Here we describe the integrative analysis of 111 reference human epigenomes generated as part of the programme, profiled for histone modification patterns, DNA accessibility, DNA methylation and RNA expression. We establish global maps of regulatory elements, define regulatory modules of coordinated activity, and their likely activators and repressors. We show that disease- and trait-associated genetic variants are enriched in tissue-specific epigenomic marks, revealing biologically relevant cell types for diverse human traits, and providing a resource for interpreting the molecular basis of human disease. Our results demonstrate the central role of epigenomic information for understanding gene regulation, cellular differentiation and human disease.

Integrative analysis of 111 reference human epigenomes

textThe study of the determinants of entrepreneurship at the country level
has been dominated by economic influences. The relative stability of 
differences in levels of entrepreneurship across coun-tries suggests
that other forces such as certain institutional and/or cultural 
factors are at play. The objective of this paper is to explore how 
post-materialism explains differences in entrepreneurial activity 
across countries. Entrepreneurial activity is defined as the percent 
of a country?s popula-tion that is self-employed, using a broad 
definition that also includes CEOs of both unincorporated and legally 
incorporated establishments. The measure for post-materialism is based 
upon Ingle-hart?s four-item post-materialism index. Because of the 
known interactions between economic and cultural factors found in 
previous research, a set of economic and cultural factors is included
to provide a clearer picture of the independent role post-materialism 
plays in prediction of self-employment levels. In particular, education, 
life satisfaction, church attendance and political (left or right) 
extremism are used as control variables in our analyses using data of 14 
OECD countries over in recent period. Findings confirm the significance
of post-materialism in predicting self-employment even when controlling
for economic and cultural factors. However, strong covariation between
post-materialism and other cultural factors makes it difficult to 
clearly discriminate be-tween the effects.

/pdf/post-materialism-as-a-cultural-factor-influencing-2m3e0vulee.pdf

Post-Materialism as a Cultural Factor Influencing Entrepreneurial Activity across Nations

Time pressure and team member creativity within R&D projects: The role of learning orientation and knowledge sourcing

textEntrepreneurship has emerged as an important element in the organization of economies. This emergence did not occur simultaneously in all developed countries. Differences in growth rates are often attributed to differences in the speed with which countries embrace entrepreneurial energy. This led to the political mandate to promote entrepreneurship. Hence, a clear and organized view is needed of what the determinants and consequences of entrepreneurship are. The present contribution tries to provide this view with a particular view on emerging economies. Entrepreneurship, its drivers and its consequences can be best understood using the model of the Entrepreneurial Economy which explains the functioning of the modern economy. This model differs from that of the earlier Managed Economy. Policies in emerging economies should aim at combining the two models.

https://repub.eur.nl/pub/13318/ERS-2008-060-ORG.pdf

Entrepreneurship, Economic Growth and Policy in Emerging Economies

Despite the pervasive phenomenon of scale economies, the majority of firms have always been small firms. The emergence of small firms as a means of economic development on both sides of the Atlantic has been one of the major new topics of economic policy since the 1980s. This has drawn renewed attention to the question: How are small firms able to exist? The theories of strategic niches and dynamic complementarity imply that small firms seek out markets where they are able to avoid competition with their larger counterparts. This paper tests the validity of these theories by examining the extent to which small-firm profitability is set by large-firm profitability. Considerable evidence shows that the price-cost margins of small firms do not tend to follow those of large firms. This supports the theory that small firms pursue a strategy of producing in distinct product niches.

/pdf/do-small-firms-compete-with-large-firms-4ea6gcf3tk.pdf

Do Small Firms compete with Large Firms

This study investigates the link between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms and entrepreneurial orientation (EO). EO is known to be a crucial factor for small firm survival and growth, conceptualised as a business characteristic but influenced by the personality of the small business owner and measured at her individual level. There is ample anecdotal evidence claiming that ADHD symptoms have helped entrepreneurs in their careers. Using a data set of French small firm owners, we are the first to go beyond the anecdotal level in linking ADHD symptoms and EO. Our study contributes to our understanding of entrepreneurship, particularly the determinants of EO, and to “destigmatising” ADHD, which is considered solely a clinical disorder that should be treated.

Roy Thurik

Papers

Post-Materialism as a Cultural Factor Influencing Entrepreneurial Activity across Nations

Time pressure and team member creativity within R&D projects: The role of learning orientation and knowledge sourcing

Entrepreneurship, Economic Growth and Policy in Emerging Economies

Do Small Firms compete with Large Firms

ADHD Symptoms and Entrepreneurial Orientation of Small Firm Owners