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This paper investigates how the meaning and nature of work, and the extent to which work can be modified, impact the transition to retirement. Narrative employment history interviews with soon-to-retire surgeons showed that these professionals looked upon retirement as a negative, high-risk break, and that therefore they often refused to retire at all. Ultimately the reasons for this lie in their high level of work commitment and lack of leisure. This is particularly true among surgeons in the public sector, whereas work in the private sector is considered less meaningful. After retirement, surgeons lose their professional position for good. In a society where work is seen as the core foundation for a meaningful life, retirement may mark a dramatic life change. It emerges clearly from the surgeons' interviews that when one's life revolves around work, when work is all-important, there is nothing else in life that can fill that void after retirement. When life is mainly about work, it is impossible to enjoy one's leisure to its fullest. If, on the other hand, one has enough leisure and can enjoy that leisure, retirement may be a less stressful experience and one might even look forward to planning ahead. Many studies have shown that for people whose work ability and health in general have deteriorated, retirement can be a more attractive option. On the other hand, the interview data here indicate that when people experience their work as meaningful enough, they may stay on even when their work ability and health are not optimal. When work is dependent on a certain infrastructure, as is the case for surgeons, it is not easy for the individual to choose and influence the way they want to retire. Retirement happens suddenly, once and for all, without giving the individual the opportunity to let go gradually. Certain jobs do allow for a less dramatic shift by providing positions and titles for retirees; this is the case in academia and the military, for instance. It seems that this gradual transition in which individuals can hold on to their professional identity for some time, makes it easier for them to find meaning for life outside the realm of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blends of microcrystalline chitosan (MCCh) with cellulose xhanthate alkaline solutions were prepared to investigate the effects of aqueous MCCh gel concentration and additives on the spinnability of hybrid cellulose/chitosan fibers and their properties. The properties of the spinning solution were mainly dependent on the concentration of MCCh in the aqueous gel-like dispersion and the amount mixed into the cellulose xhanthate solution. Sodium alginate chemically close to cellulose and chitosan was used as an additive to improve the miscibility of chitosan due to the ionic bonds formed with chitosan 2-amino groups. Using an optimized ratio of 2 : 1 of MCCh to the sodium alginate, a maximum of 6% of MCCh calculated from alpha-cellulose content could be introduced into the sodium xhanthate solution containing originally 9% of alpha-cellulose. The yield of MCCh in the resulting fibers was dependent on the molecular mass, and varied between 73–82%. The strength, elongation, and color of the resulting hybrid fibers were only slightly changed and the WRV remarkably increased compared to standard fibers. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 76: 1725–1730, 2000

Higher education institutions promote academic entrepreneurship through organizational arrangements such as innovation programs, incubators, and accelerators aimed at implementing the third mission of the university. While research has examined how these multi-professional arrangements support entrepreneurial efforts, less is known about their individual level implications which emerge as researchers are exposed to different professional values and practices. This article draws on a longitudinal qualitative study on an innovation program to investigate through what kinds of identity processes nascent academic entrepreneurs construct their professional identities and how as part of these processes they position themselves in relation to different professional domains. The analysis demonstrates three identity construction processes (hybridization, rejecting hybridization, and transitioning) and their associated identity work tactics (compartmentalizing, protecting, and reframing) at the boundaries of professional domains. Our contribution is in demonstrating how nascent academic entrepreneurs’ identity construction processes are influenced by internally and externally oriented identity work and their interactive dynamics. Moreover, the findings advance our understanding of how individuals can purposefully mould the fluidity of domain boundaries through identity work by making boundaries bridgeable, impermeable, or permeable. These findings have value for those developing organizational arrangements for the promotion of academic entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial identities.