Co-founder selection is a pivotal decision in new venture formation, yet how lead founders evaluate potential partners remains underexplored. Drawing on insights from marriage market theory, we conceptualize co-founder selection as an act of individuated judgment guided by cooperative logic and associated joint utility projection, wherein lead founders assess co-founder candidates based on social-emotional, instrumental, and distributive considerations reflected in interpersonal attraction, resource contributions, and equity demand. We further propose that lead founders' dark triad shifts this judgmental process from joint utility logic to personal utility maximization. Using a conjoint experiment with 206 entrepreneurs making 3296 co-founder selection decisions, we find that interpersonal attraction and resource contributions positively influence willingness to select a co-founder candidate, whereas higher equity demand reduces candidate attractiveness. Critically, lead founders higher in the dark triad display distinct patterns: they discount interpersonal attraction and display heightened sensitivity to equity dilution—assessments that indicate their prioritization of personal over joint value creation. Taken together, these findings reveal how dispositional tendencies influence the judgments underlying co-founder selection, indicating a shift away from the cooperative logic assumed in marriage market theory and co-founder selection toward greater emphasis on personal utility considerations. We discuss theoretical implications of these findings and offer practical guidance for navigating the complexities of co-founder selection.
Marine Reserves (MRs) play a central role in international and regional biodiversity strategies, such as the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The Marine Protected Area (MPA) of “Cape Stupišće” (Croatia, Adriatic Sea), designated in 2025 as a Special Marine Reserve (SMR), aims to conserve marine biodiversity while supporting the recovery of exploited fish stocks. However, the effectiveness of strict marine protection largely depends on local stakeholder support, particularly from small-scale fishers who are directly affected by fishing restrictions. We assess small-scale fishers’ attitudes toward the design of this SMR and its forthcoming implementation, and examine their perceptions of its anticipated ecological and socioeconomic outcomes. Specifically, we investigate whether support for strict marine protection is linked to stakeholder participation in the consultation process and sociodemographic characteristics. Twenty face-to-face interviews were conducted with fishers at Komiža harbor between September and October 2025, representing approximately 40% of the active fishing population in the SMR’s vicinity. We found that participation in the consultation process was not associated with significant differences in fishers’ perceptions of the potential ecological or socioeconomic outcomes of the SMR. However, participation was positively associated with fishers’ willingness to engage in future consultation processes, suggesting that early involvement may facilitate stakeholder engagement during the implementation phase. Fishers also identified several conditions likely to influence the future effective implementation of the Cape Stupišće SMR, including the importance of adequate size to generate ecological benefits, stronger enforcement to address illegal fishing and competing uses (e.g., recreational fishing), and greater integration of fishers’ local ecological knowledge into management processes. Overall, our results highlight the heterogeneity of small-scale fishers’ perceptions and emphasizes the importance of participatory governance for strengthening social acceptance, compliance, and long-term effectiveness of strict marine protection in data-poor Mediterranean contexts while providing insights to inform the design and implementation of MRs in similar small-scale fisheries systems.
Sieve elements (SEs) represent one of the most specialized cell types in plants, yet several fundamental aspects of their structure, regulation, and physiological integration remain incompletely understood. Despite recent advances that refined our understanding of SE function, persistent questions and controversies remain concerning key aspects of SE biology, such as the disputed presence of a proteolytic machinery and a cytoskeleton, the functions of plastids and mitochondria, the roles of sieve-element reticulum (SER) and its membrane contact sites, the mechanisms and significance of sieve-element occlusion by SEOs and SEORs and phloem protein (PP) families, the nature and operation of Ca2+ channels involved in sieve-tube occlusion and electrical signal propagation, and the mechanisms that compensate for SE enucleation. Here, we examine current concepts of SE biology, with particular emphasis on unresolved, conflicting, and emergent issues. We highlight experimental and conceptual approaches that may help resolve outstanding questions and to test hypotheses derived from existing data sets. Rather than providing a comprehensive catalogue of phloem functions, this review aims to delineate key conceptual bottlenecks and to outline future directions required to achieve a mechanistic understanding of SE function within the living plant. To this end, several hypothetical models of SE-functioning are included for further exploration.
In agriculture, soil amendments like compost, manure, superabsorbent polymers (SAP) and biochar (BC) are already in use to mitigate the effects of water shortage and to obtain a higher yield and survivability. The present study focuses on the impact of BC and SAP under moderate and reduced soil water content (SWC) on the physiological and biochemical response of Chenopodium quinoa Willd. (cv. UDEC-5), a naturally drought-resistant and strategic crop in arid regions, with the aim of further improving its resilience and biomass production. Plants were grown in the presence or absence (control) of SAP (1% or 0.1% g/100 g SAP) or BC (3% g/100 g BC) by taking into account the smallest possible amount of irrigation necessary for optimal growth of the control. Sixty-five days after sowing, the reduced watering approaches started. The irrigation amount was reduced slowly until plants without any amendment showed a significant reduction in CO2/H2O gas exchange and further significant changes in 23 morphological, physiological and biochemical symptoms of water shortage. Each amendment already caused individual plant response in wet conditions: The soil amendments of SAP (1% and 0.1%) and BC had no significant effect on biomass production but caused changes in PS I (portion of oxidized and open centers in PS I), the C/N ratio and N content. The addition of SAP (0.1% and 1%) led to a decrease in gH+, ECStmAu & times; gH+, RD, RL, the Ci/Catm ratio and ETR/Agross ratio and to an increase in water use efficiency (WUE), especially in the 0.1% SAP treatment. In moderate conditions, 0.1% SAP and 3% BC caused a significant increase in both the LOP and C/N ratio. In the moderate treatments, the application of 0.1% SAP promoted an increased Anet, while 3% BC promoted a significant reduction in malondialdehyde (MDA). The results of the present quinoa experiment indicate the drought avoidance mechanism of the control under low SWC. The reduced transpiration led to increased WUE due to the efficient use of the substomatal CO2 reservoir under low Cs and low E. It could also be confirmed that quinoa plants balanced low soil water potential by the accumulation of compatible solutes to lower the LWP and LOP. Drought led, especially in leaves in the 1% SAP treatment, to significant reductions in CO2/H2O gas exchange (Anet, RD), decreases in Y (II) and ETR in PS II, and an increase in the ETR/A ratio and over-reduced centers in PS I, pointing to an increased appearance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the chloroplasts. The latter change was indicated by higher levels of lipid peroxidation (MDA). It could be shown that the response of the test species Chenopodium quinoa to the addition of BC and SAP proved to be highly adaptable. The plant reacted in a very coordinated and specific way to both the danger of oversupply of SAP soil amendments under water shortage conditions and an effective adaptation to a limited water supply with 3% BC and 0.1% SAP by increasing WUE and proline content. However, BC also had a mitigating effect on the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS). It can be assumed that this effect is based on a more plant-compatible, less one-sided ion composition of BC. The results presented indicate that SAP and BC can have an impact on the water and nutrient accessibility for plants. Therefore, optimal biomass production and plant response can only be reached if plant soil interactions and competition between SAP, BC and the plant roots are taken into account when planning for climate-resilient, water-saving agriculture.
Academic Abstract Without recognizing how past failures bias subsequent choices, managers risk decisions that waste resources or prematurely abandon promising opportunities. This study draws on risk-type preference-shift theory and extends it with individual and organizational boundary conditions to examine how distinct failure experiences shape managers' willingness to persist with underperforming innovation projects. We conceptualize failure as a dichotomy, distinguishing commission errors (flops) from omission errors (missed opportunities). Our findings from two studies indicate that a recent commission error reduces the likelihood of persisting, while an omission error increases it. At the individual level, action-oriented decision-makers show a larger reduction in persistence after experiencing a commission error. Furthermore, rational thinkers do not differ in susceptibility to past failures; instead, they weigh specific attributes of the ongoing project more heavily when deciding whether to persist. At the organizational level, we observe that this effect depends on an organization's strategic orientation, that is, an exploratory orientation weakens (strengthens) the negative (positive) impact of commission (omission) errors. In contrast, an exploitative orientation amplifies the negative effects of commission errors. Together, these findings advance risk-type preference-shift theory and provide managers with clear guidance on when prior failures will lead them to persist with or abandon innovation projects.Managerial Abstract Decisions about whether to continue funding an underperforming innovation project are influenced by the most recent failure. After a flop, persistence decreases; after a missed opportunity, persistence increases. Action-oriented decision-makers emphasize the decline following a flop. State-oriented decision-makers are largely unaffected by a prior flop. Rational thinkers do not differ in their reactions to past failures but place greater emphasis on current project attributes, particularly proximity to completion and innovativeness. An exploration orientation reduces reactions to flops and boosts persistence after missed opportunities. An exploitation orientation increases the tendency to exit after flops. We recommend that companies and their managers keep a failure log that distinguishes between flops and missed opportunities; conduct structured postlaunch and postmortem reviews to classify failure types; seek neutral second opinions when previous failures might bias judgments; use reframing prompts to avoid anchoring on past outcomes; assemble review panels that include action- and state-oriented managers and involve rational thinkers for projects that are near completion or highly innovative; in exploratory settings, verify whether continued investment aligns with strategy rather than serving as a fallback for earlier inaction; in exploitative settings, implement delayed second-look procedures to prevent premature termination of projects with hidden potential.
