Dothistroma needle blight (DNB) is one of the most important diseases of pine. Although its notoriety stems from Southern Hemisphere epidemics in Pinus radiata plantations, the disease has increased in prevalence and severity in areas of the Northern Hemisphere, including Europe, during the last two decades. This increase has largely been attributed to expanded planting of susceptible hosts, anthropogenic dispersal of the causative pathogens and changes in climate conducive to disease development. The last comprehensive review of DNB was published in 2004, with updates on geographic distribution and host species in 2009. Importantly, the recognition that two species, Dothistroma septosporum and D. pini, cause DNB emerged only relatively recently in 2004. These two species are morphologically very similar, and DNA-based techniques are needed to distinguish between them. Consequently, many records of host species affected or geographic location of DNB prior to 2004 are inconclusive or even misleading. The objectives of this review were (i) to provide a new database in which detailed records of DNB from 62 countries are collated; (ii) to chart the current global distribution of D. septosporum and D. pini; (iii) to list all known host species and to consider their susceptibility globally; (iv) to collate Drenkhan et al. 410 |

This article explores what we do (and do not) know about entrepreneurial finance and its relationship with growth. Broadly, there is a need for research to go beyond traditional supply side/market failure issues to better understand the role of entrepreneurial cognition, objectives, ownership types and firm life-cycle stages in financing/investment decisions. We show that little is known about the pivotal relationship between access to external finance and growth due to limitations in current approaches to testing financial constraints. Instead, we propose that the relationship between funding gaps and business performance as a direct and nuanced approach to identifying financial constraints in different entrepreneurial finance markets requires scrutiny. There is also a necessity for research to disentangle cognitive from financial constraints and to better understand the role of financiers in enabling growth. In particular, there is a need to explore the relationship between non-bank sources of finance and growth, shorn of inherent survival and selection bias. We outline an agenda for future research to address gaps in our understanding.

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This paper develops an occupational choice model in which entrepreneurs, who are initially uncertain about their true talent, learn from experience. As a consequence, both optimistic bias in talent beliefs and uncertainty diminish with experience. The model gives rise naturally to a heteroscedastic probit estimator of occupational choices, in contrast to the commonly used homoscedastic estimator. The model is applied to British data on self-employment and optimism for the period 1984-99. The empirical analysis supports the main propositions of the model: principally, entrepreneurs are found to be more optimistic than employees, and both optimism and uncertainty diminish with experience. Copyright (c) The London School of Economics and Political Science 2006.

The ability to engineer the mouse genome has profoundly transformed biomedical research. During the last decade, conventional transgenic and gene knockout technologies have become invaluable experimental tools for modeling genetic disorders, assigning functions to genes, evaluating drugs and toxins, and by and large helping to answer fundamental questions in basic and applied research. In addition, the growing demand for more sophisticated murine models has also become increasingly evident. Good state-of-principle knowledge about the enormous potential of second-generation conditional mouse technology will be beneficial for any researcher interested in using these experimental tools. In this review we will focus on practice, pivotal principles, and progress in the rapidly expanding area of conditional mouse technology. The review will also present an internet compilation of available tetracycline-inducible mouse models as tools for biomedical research ( http://www.zmg.uni-mainz.de/tetmouse/ ).

We investigate the multiple effects of writing a business plan prior to start-up on new venture performance. We argue that the impact of business plans depends on the purpose for and circumstances in which they are being used. We offer an empirical methodology which can account for these multiple effects while disentangling real impact effects from selection effects. We apply this to English data where we find that business plans promote employment growth. This is found to be due to the impact of the plan and not selection effects. Copyright (c) 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and Society for the Advancement of Management Studies.

A large-scale survey of UK small business finances is analysed for evidence of ethnic discrimination in the credit market. A summary analysis of credit outcomes (loan denials , loan interest rates and discouragement) reveals large differences across ethnic groups with Black and Bangladeshi businesses, in particular, experiencing poorer outcomes than White and Indian businesses. Econometric analysis indicates that ethnic differencs in denial rates and interest rates can be explained by variations in non-ethnic risk factors such as missed loan repayments and overdraft excesses. This suggests there is no ethnic discrimination in credit markets. However, ethnicity appears to influence whether business owners felt discouraged from applying for loans even after controlling for differences in loan application costs and risk. This suggests some ethnic groups may be affected by misperceptions of ethnic discrimination. The implications of these findings for UK policy are discussed.

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