Entrepreneurship and international trade

Exporting can be viable solution for struggling entrepreneurial firms. However the different procedures and regulations that need to be addressed prior to export may be enough to discourage firms from engaging in exporting. This thesis examines the aforementioned obstacles and provides a checklist in order to facilitate the process of exporting the product into a foreign market. This thesis then goes on to test the viability of the checklist using two separate case studies. Results from the case studies indicate that the checklist can aid entrepreneurial firms by reducing the possibility of oversights and eliminate additional costs that are associated with these oversights

Epistemological access in Marketing – a demonstration of the use of Legitimation Code Theory in Higher Education

Having epistemological access to an academic discipline means that one is able toparticipate effectively in its ‘Discourse’. However, understanding what such participationentails and putting this into practice is complicated as much about it is tacit and contested.This article argues that a more explicit understanding of what legitimate participation in adisciplinary Discourse involves is facilitated by using an analytical toolkit provided byLegitimation Code Theory (LCT) to bring to the surface the discipline’s underlyingprinciples and ‘rules of the game’. To support this argument and demonstrate the efficacy ofthis toolkit, the article foregrounds one discipline (Marketing) at the University ofKwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). Using the LCT analytical tools to explore the ‘languages oflegitimation’ in interview data, documents and the discipline’s scholarly literature, insight isgained into what constitutes legitimate participation and achievement in Marketin

Changing words and worlds?: a phenomenological study of the acquisition of an academic literacy

This study is contextualised within the field of post-graduate, continuing teacher education, and the vibrant and demanding policy context that has characterised higher education in post-apartheid South Africa. Situated within a module specifically designed to address what is commonly understood to be the academic literacy development needs of students in the Bachelor of Education Honours programme at the former University of Natal, it aims to unveil the lived experiences of students taking this module. The module, Reading and Writing Academic Texts (RWAT), was developed in direct response to academics’ call that something be done about the ‘problem’ of students’ reading and writing proficiency. As a core, compulsory module, RWAT was informed by Systemic Functional Linguistics and drew on Genre Theory for its conceptual and theoretical framework. It foregrounded the genre of the academic argument as the key academic literacy that was taught. The motivation for this study came from my own increasing concern that the theoretical and conceptual framework we had adopted for the module was emerging as an inherently limiting and formulaic model of literacy, and was resulting in students exiting the module with little or no ‘critical’ perspective on any aspect of literacy as social practice. I was also keen, in a climate of increasing de-personalisation and the massification of education, to reinstate the personal. Thus, I chose to focus on individual lives, and through an exploration of a small group of participants’ ‘lived’ experiences of the RWAT module, ascertain what it is like to acquire an academic literacy. The key research question is, therefore: What is it like to acquire an academic literacy? The secondary research question is: How is this experience influenced by the mode of delivery in which it occurs? For its conceptual and theoretical framing, this study draws on social literacy theory and phenomenology, the latter as both a philosophy and a methodology. However, although the study has drawn significantly on the phenomenological tradition for inspiration and direction, it has not done so uncritically. Thus, the study engages with phenomenology-as-philosophy in great depth before turning to phenomenology-as-methodology, in order to arrive at a point where the methods and procedures applied in it, are justified. The main findings of the study suggest that, despite the RWAT module espousing an ideological model (Street, 1984) of literacy in its learning materials and readings, participants came very much closer to experiencing an autonomous model of literacy (Street, 1984). The data shows that the RWAT module was largely inadequate to the task of inducting participants into the ‘situated practices’ and ‘situated meanings’ of the Discourse of Genre Theory and/or the academy, hence the many ‘lived’ difficulties participants experienced. The data also highlights the ease with which an autonomous model of literacy can come to govern practice and student experience even when curriculum intention is underpinned by an ideological position on literacy as social practice. Finally, the study suggests that the research community in South Africa, characterised as it is by such diversity, would be enriched by more studies derived from phenomenology, and a continuing engagement with phenomenology-as-a-movement in order to both challenge and expand its existing framework

Writing experiences of B.Ed honours students registered for the Language in Learning and Teaching (LILT) module : a case study.

Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.This dissertation examines the writing! literacy practices of a small group of first year Bachelor of Education Honours students, who registered for the Language in Learning and Teaching module, as first year students, in 1998. The primary sources of data were (a) questionnaires (focusing on existing literacy practices with which students engage outside of the university context), (b) Literate Life Histories, and (c) individual interviews. The purpose of the research was to consider the 'fit' between students' literacy practices outside of the university and those demanded within the university. Explicitly linked to this was a consideration of the extent to which assessment processes could or should be modified to accommodate this 'fit'. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu (1965,1972,1991,1992), and his notions of habitus, field and capital, Critical Linguistics and Critical Pedagogy, the study explores the concept of 'difference', notions of literacy and institutionalised power. It also offers suggestions for a pedagogical framework that might effectively foreground a critical position in relation to these issues. Findings from this study indicate that very few literacy practices with which student engage 'fit' directly with those demanded of them by the university. Despite this, students 'take on' the academic literacy demands of the university relatively uncritically and do not attach undue emphasis to this aspect of their performance. What is of particular significance to them are the experiences of empowerment they enjoy during their studies, and the' capital' they take with them in the form of a recognised university qualification. Staff, on the other hand, tend to foreground the need to master academic discourse in order to 'succeed', and rate general student performance as low and inadequate against this criterion. These discrepancies and contradictions between what students perceive their sojourn in the B.Ed Hons programme to be about, and their notions of what constitutes 'success' vis a vis that of staff, make for thought provoking and important considerations, particularly with regard to future research possibilities

Commercial gaming devices for stroke upper limb rehabilitation: the stroke survivor experience

Introduction Approximately 30% of stroke survivors experience an upper limb impairment, which impacts on participation and quality of life. Gaming devices (Nintendo Wii) are being incorporated into rehabilitation to improve function. We explored the stroke survivor experience of gaming as an upper limb intervention. Methods Semi-structured, individual interviews with stroke survivors living within the UK were completed. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed using Framework methods. Transcripts were coded and summarised into thematic charts. Thematic charts were refined during analysis until the final framework emerged. Results We captured experiences of 12 stroke survivors who used Nintendo Wii. Gaming devices were found to be acceptable for all ages but varying levels of enthusiasm existed. Enthusiastic players described gaming as having a positive impact on their motivation to engage in rehabilitation. For some, this became a leisure activity, encouraging self-practice. Non-enthusiastic players preferred sports to gaming. Conclusion An in-depth account of stroke survivor experiences of gaming within upper limb rehabilitation has been captured. Suitability of gaming should be assessed individually and stroke survivor abilities and preference for interventions should be taken into consideration. There was no indication that older stroke survivors or those with no previous experience of gaming were less likely to enjoy the activity

‘We make them feel special’: The experiences of voluntary sector workers supporting asylum seeking and refugee women during pregnancy and early motherhood

Background or context: refugee and asylum seekers are over represented in maternal death data. Many asylum seeking and refugee women access maternity care infrequently, or not at all. Little is known about the role of voluntary sector workers in supporting pregnant refugees and asylum seekers. Objective: to explore the experiences of voluntary sector workers supporting asylum seeking and refugee women during pregnancy and early motherhood. Design: a qualitative descriptive study. Setting and participants: individual and focus group interviews in three large urban centres in North West England, United Kingdom. Findings: two main themes emerged. 'Literally through hell and back' reflected the experiences of suffering, abuse and loss recounted to the volunteers by many of the women they work with. 'Bridging the unacknowledged gap' related to the invisible processes undertaken by the workers as they enable the women they work with to over come their marginalised position. This included the difficulties of transience, and lack of enculturation, and to support them in accessing maternity care. Conclusion: voluntary sector workers supporting asylum seeking and refugee women strongly identified with the extreme suffering experienced by many of the women they work with. Through this contact, they become acutely aware of the gaps in provision for such women, and developed unique and innovative approaches to bridge this gap. These findings highlight the need for maternity health system to actively collaborate with, and learn from, voluntary agencies working in this field to improve the support offered to asylum seeking and refugee women

Demographic Analysis of Recovery Act Supported Jobs in Massachusetts, Quarters 1 and 2, 2011: FINAL REPORT

Since 2009, researchers have analyzed the economic and employment impact of ARRA spending and tax policies. The current report is possible due to the efforts of Massachusetts policymakers who went beyond federal reporting requirements to require additional reporting on the number of workers who received ARRA-funded pay. ARRA workers’ demographic characteristics were also collected as part of the Massachusetts’ ARRA reporting requirements to allow for transparency and determine the fiscal policy’s impact on the state and local economy. The Massachusetts Recovery and Reinvestment Office (MassRRO) makes available much of these data on their website (www.mass. gov/recovery), including highlights for each funding quarter. This report builds on a similar report from 2010, Demographic Analysis of Recovery Act Supported Jobs in Massachusetts, Quarters 1 and 2, 2010, providing an in-depth analysis of the data that the MassRRO office collected during Quarters 1 and 2 of 2011. In addition to analyzing the employment and demographic effects of ARRA in Quarters 1 and 2 of 2011, the 2011 data are compared with data from the same two quarters of 2010. The data represent four cross-sections of time demonstrating what the Massachusetts ARRA funding was doing at each point. The analysis emphasizes the employment effects, by race, ethnicity, gender, and disability status. In addition, data are analyzed by geographic location, providing information on the distribution of ARRA workers throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as well as the City of Boston. When possible, data from the MassRRO are compared to the general state population using data obtained from the Center for Economic Policy Research, the U.S. Census, the Boston Indicators Project, and others. However, as with any data there are some limitations, including the consistency of reporting across ARRA contractors. Findings from this analysis provide policymakers information about how ARRA continues to impact the economy and the working population. Such information may guide policymakers in the future when crafting fiscal policies, especially those intended to spur economic growth

Demographic Analysis of Recovery Act Supported Jobs in Massachusetts, Quarters 1 and 2, 2010

Massachusetts policy makers decided to go beyond existing ARRA federal reporting requirements and collect additional data in order to gauge the effectiveness of ARRA’s fiscal policy by counting the number of individuals who have received an ARRA-funded paycheck. In addition, policy makers wanted to look at some of the demographic characteristics of this population. This report provides an in-depth analysis of the data that the MA Recovery Office collected during the first and second quarters of 2010, with a particular focus on job creation and retention by race, ethnicity, gender, disability status, and geographic location. Highlights of the report include: Each racial or ethnic category is represented in both the ARRA and larger labor force in roughly the same proportions. Blacks and Hispanics constituted a slightly larger proportion of ARRA job holders than among those employed in the larger labor force during the same time period. Women were about two-thirds of ARRA job holders funded by Workforce, Safety Net, and Education categories across both quarters. Neighborhood analysis of the City of Boston showed that certain Boston neighborhoods – especially those with considerable racial/ethnic diversity – had a greater share of ARRA job holders than others

Infectious Ideas: Modelling the Diffusion of Ideas Across Social Networks

Will the practice of collecting wild honey while wearing no clothes become a widespread practice in Zimbabwe? Or will beekeeping take over as the main way that people acquire honey? Both practices impact on forest resources; how can the foresters influence the uptake of these ideas? This paper describes an exploratory modelling study investigating how social network patterns affect the way ideas spread around communities. It concludes that increasing the density of social networks increases the spread of successful ideas whilst speeding the loss of ideas with no competitive advantage. Some different kinds of competitive advantage are explored in the context of forest management and rural extension

Analysis of SHRP2 Data to Understand Normal and Abnormal Driving Behavior in Work Zones

This research project used the Second Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP2) Naturalistic Driving Study(NDS) to improve highway safety by using statistical descriptions of normal driving behavior to identify abnormal driving behaviors in work zones. SHRP2 data used in these analyses included 50 safety-critical events (SCEs) from work zones and 444 baseline events selected on a matched case-control design.Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to summarize kinematic data into “normal” and “abnormal”driving. Each second of driving is described by one point in three-dimensional principal component (PC) space;an ellipse containing the bulk of baseline points is considered “normal” driving. Driving segments without-of-ellipse points have a higher probability of being an SCE. Matched case-control analysis indicates that thespecific individual and traffic flow made approximately equal contributions to predicting out-of-ellipse driving.Structural Topics Modeling (STM) was used to analyze complex categorical data obtained from annotated videos.The STM method finds “words” representing categorical data variables that occur together in many events and describes these associations as “topics.” STM then associates topics with either baselines or SCEs. The STM produced 10 topics: 3 associated with SCEs, 5 associated with baselines, and 2 that were neutral. Distractionoccurs in both baselines and SCEs.Both approaches identify the role of individual drivers in producing situations where SCEs might arise. A countermeasure could use the PC calculation to indicate impending issues or specific drivers who may havehigher crash risk, but not to employ significant interventions such as automatically braking a vehicle without-of-ellipse driving patterns. STM results suggest communication to drivers or placing compliant vehicles in thetraffic stream would be effective. Finally, driver distraction in work zones should be discouraged