Entrepreneurial Students at the University of Worcester: Five Case Studies.

Since 2004 the University of Worcester has operated an Enterprise Calendar of events that seek to inform and inspire staff and students to engage in entrepreneurial activities. Over 830 individuals have engaged in our annual Enterprise Festival, Enterprise Training workshops, Business Ideas Competition ('BizCom'), Worcester Innovators Network ('WIN') – our student enterprise society – and Student Placements for Entrepreneurs in Education ('SPEED'). All of these activities have been funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England through their Higher Education Innovation Fund. These case studies consider the effect and impact of this programme of support upon a diverse selection of entrepreneurial students

Entrepreneurial Students at the University of Worcester.

Summary of five case studies as a poster for the International Entrepreneurship Educators Conference, 9th September 2008

The Infrastructure of Influence: Transnational Collaboration and the Spread of US Cultural Influence in Colombia, 1930s-1960s

This dissertation examines the growth of US cultural influence in Andean and Caribbean Colombia during World War II and the first half the Cold War (1930s-1960s). Exploring Colombian-US collaboration in educational and cultural arenas, the study articulates a mid-century shift in Colombian cultural orientation away from Europe and toward the US. Analyzing the cultural complexities of Colombian-US relations during those decades, it demonstrates why this shift began and how it was sustained. While the study credits US cultural diplomacy with encouraging the shift, it emphasizes the role of Colombians in building the new cultural infrastructure that facilitated it. Intent on moving the nation toward capitalist modernity and minimizing the threat of social and political revolution, the Colombian national government and the Colombian Catholic Church aggressively enlisted US resources toward educational and cultural reforms. In doing so, they followed the lead of the nations emerging middle classes, newly expanding professional groups, and modernist segments within the national elite as they engaged US cultural models to clear their own paths toward modernity. At the intersection of cultural and diplomatic history, this study presents intimate views of transnational cultures and communities as they developed around schools, cultural centers and mass media programs. Using the Colombian case, it demonstrates how new venues for collaboration were redefining Latin American-US cultural relations during the mid-twentieth century. In contrast to studies that frame inter-American encounters as manifestations of empire, this dissertation demonstrates the frequently overlooked yet crucial role of common interests in building cultural relations across national borders

Socio-economic review of saving in industrial Teesside and rural North Riding

Personal Saving is a flexible source of investment, for both the public and private sectors, for which there is great competition. Saving is a natural phenomenon, but, in the sense that securities are bought and sold, it is one which is responsive to stimulation. Almost all securities have unique qualities, thereby limiting their appeal, and, moreover, in motivating saving, account has to be taken of political and economic pressures. Consequently, the market is subjected to excessive variables and these are best tracked through current articles in financial journals. This socio-economic study brings together (i) general information about money and Thrift institutions; (ii) collected statistics over a period; and (iii) several important market research projects. It concentrates the information drawn from a wide area by means of local inquiries, and endeavours to find points of agreement and difference between the populations which are mainly industrial and those which are largely rural. There must be the ability to save, but the willingness to do so is only partially decided by the level of rewards. There are moral, ethical, and sentimental overtones, historically founded, and these appear to be more steadfast in some environments than in others. Saving activity has some barren ground, and the potential savers 'have numbers of profligates within their ranks. Sex, age, and social class give no strong lead as to where the non-savers may be found. The National Savings Movement has a two-fold official policy, (i) to attract the flow of personal saving into the public sector, and,, (ii) to assist in educating the public in sound money management. Other thrift institutions share these aims in varying degrees, and they, too, mobilise goodwill and sentiments to attain their objects; devoting, of course, their funds to the private sector

Asymmetry and Symmetry of Acts and Omissions in Punishment, Norms, and Judged Causality

Harmful acts are punished more often and more harshly than harmful omissions. This asymmetry has variously been ascribed to differences in how individuals perceive the causal responsibility of acts versus omissions and to social norms that tend to proscribe acts more frequently than omissions. This paper examines both of these hypotheses, in conjunction with a new hypothesis: that acts are punished more than omissions because it is usually more efficient to do so. In typical settings, harms occur as a result of relatively few harmful actions, but many individuals may have had the opportunity to prevent or rectify the harm. Penalising actors therefore requires relatively few punishment events compared to punishing omitters. We employ a novel group paradigm in which harm occurs only if both actors and omitters contribute to the harm. Subjects play a repeated economic game in fixed groups involving a social dilemma (total N = 580): on each round self-interest favours harmful actions (taking from another) and harmful omissions (failing to repair the victim’s loss), but the group payoff is maximized if individuals refrain from these behaviors. In one treatment harm occurs as a result of one action and two omissions; in the other, it is the result of two actions and one omission. In the second treatment, the more efficient strategy to maximize group benefit is to punish omissions. We find that subjects continue to prefer to punish acts rather than omissions, with two important caveats. There is still a substantial level of punishment of omissions, and there is also evidence of some responsiveness to the opportunity to enforce a more efficient rule. Further analysis addresses whether the omission effect is associated with asymmetric norm-based attitudes: a substantial proportion of subjects regard it as equally fair to punish harmful acts and omissions, while another portion endorse an asymmetry; and punishment behavior correlates with these attitudes in both groups

Gisela cramer y ursula prutsch, editoras. ¡américas unidas! nelson a. rockefeller’s office of inter-american affairs (1940-46)

Un tema muy poco conocido y con poca frecuencia estudiado es la constitución de la Oficina de Asuntos Interamericanos (OIAA, en inglés), que orquesto una reestructuración de las relaciones entre Estados Unidos y América Latina durante de la Segunda Guerra Mundial. Abandonando de esta manera los limites de la diplomacia tradicional (gobierno a gobierno), los programas OIAA pusieron al gobierno de EE.UU. y a sus ciudadanos por primera vez en contacto directo con sectores amplios del pueblo latinoamericano. Bajo la dirección del joven Nelson Rockefeller y con la clara intención de frenar la influencia del poder nazi y del eje en la región, la OIAA dio sustento a la política del buen vecino

The Role of Transforming Growth Factor-β Signaling in Myxomatous Mitral Valve Degeneration

Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) due to myxomatous degeneration is one of the most important chronic degenerative cardiovascular diseases in people and dogs. It is a common cause of heart failure leading to significant morbidity and mortality in both species. Human MVP is usually classified into primary or non-syndromic, including Barlow’s Disease (BD), fibro-elastic deficiency (FED) and Filamin-A mutation, and secondary or syndromic forms (typically familial), such as Marfan syndrome (MFS), Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and Loeys–Dietz syndrome. Despite different etiologies the diseased valves share pathological features consistent with myxomatous degeneration. To reflect this common pathology the condition is often called myxomatous mitral valve degeneration (disease) (MMVD) and this term is universally used to describe the analogous condition in the dog. MMVD in both species is characterized by leaflet thickening and deformity, disorganized extracellular matrix, increased transformation of the quiescent valve interstitial cell (qVICs) to an activated state (aVICs), also known as activated myofibroblasts. Significant alterations in these cellular activities contribute to the initiation and progression of MMVD due to the increased expression of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily cytokines and the dysregulation of the TGF-β signaling pathways. Further understanding the molecular mechanisms of MMVD is needed to identify pharmacological manipulation strategies of the signaling pathway that might regulate VIC differentiation and so control the disease onset and development. This review briefly summarizes current understanding of the histopathology, cellular activities, molecular mechanisms and pathogenesis of MMVD in dogs and humans, and in more detail reviews the evidence for the role of TGF-β