Using simulation to develop business strategy skills of entrepreneurs - Some reflections on a pilot

It is recognized that the value of entrepreneurship education and the recruitment of practising entrepreneurs for such learning programmes can be problematic. This raises an important and challenging issue for universities when they are increasingly being asked to develop the leadership and management capabilities of entrepreneurs. In this account of practice, the authors explore the role for business simulation in the development of existing entrepreneurs’ and small business leaders’ strategic decision-making skills. The article describes and reflects on a pilot business simulation course, considering the challenges in the planning, the engagement of entrepreneurs and the delivery of the programme. It provides insights into the value of introducing this form of learning experience and exposes the significant challenges associated with engaging small business leaders

Ion channel switching and activation in smooth-muscle cells of occlusive vascular diseases

Abstract Blood vessels are essential for animal life, allowing flow of oxygen and nutrients to tissues and removal of waste products. Consequently, inappropriate remodelling of blood vessels, resulting in occlusion, can lead to disabling or catastrophic events: heart attacks, strokes and claudication. An important cell type of remodelling is the VSMC (vascular smooth-muscle cell), a fascinating cell that contributes significantly to occlusive vascular diseases by virtue of its ability to 'modulate' to a cell that no longer contracts and arranges radially in the medial layer of the vessel wall but migrates, invades, proliferates and adopts phenotypes of other cells. An intriguing aspect of modulation is switching to different ion transport systems. Initial events include loss of the Ca V 1.2 (L-type voltage-gated calcium) channel and gain of the K Ca 3.1 (IKCa) potassium channel, which putatively occur to enable membrane hyperpolarization that increases rather than decreases a type of calcium entry coupled with cell cycle activity, cell proliferation and cell migration. This type of calcium entry is related to store-and receptor-operated calcium entry phenomena, which, in VSMCs, are contributed to by TRPC [TRP (transient receptor potential) canonical] channel subunits. Instead of being voltage-gated, these channels are chemically gated -importantly, by key phospholipid factors of vascular development and disease. This brief review focuses on the hypothesis that the transition to a modulated cell may require a switch from predominantly voltage-to predominantly lipid-sensing ion channels

Kimberley Research Station progress report, 1964 : oil crops

INVESTIGATIONS on the adaptation of a range of oil crops to the Ord River environment have been in progress since the early years of the Station

A "Kane's Dynamics" Model for the Active Rack Isolation System

In the late 1980s, microgravity researchers began to voice their concern that umbilical-transmitted energy could significantly degrade the acceleration environment of microgravity space science experiments onboard manned spacecraft. Since umbilicals are necessary for many experiments, control designers began to seek ways to compensate for these "indirect" disturbances. Hampton, et al., used the Kane s method to develop a model of the active rack isolation system (ARIS) that includes (1) actuator control forces, (2) direct disturbance forces, and (3) indirect, actuator-transmitted disturbances. Their model does not, however, include the indirect, umbilical-transmitted disturbances. Since the umbilical stiffnesses are not negligible, these indirect disturbances must be included in the model. Until the umbilicals have been appropriately included, the model will be incomplete. This Technical Memorandum presents a nonlinear model of ARIS with umbilicals included. Model verification was achieved by utilizing two commercial-off-the-shelf software tools. Various forces and moments were applied to the model to yield simulated responses of the system. Plots of the simulation results show how various critical points on an ARIS-outfitted international standard payload rack behave under the application of direct disturbances, indirect disturbances, and control forces. Simulations also show system response to a variety of initial conditions

On the edge of a new frontier: Is gerontological social work in the UK ready to meet twenty-first-century challenges?

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website. Copyright @ 2013 The Authors.This article explores the readiness of gerontological social work in the UK for meeting the challenges of an ageing society by investigating the focus on work with older people in social work education and the scope of gerontological social work research. The discussion draws on findings from two exploratory studies: a survey of qualifying master's programmes in England and a survey of the content relating to older people over a six-year period in four leading UK social work journals. The evidence from master's programmes suggests widespread neglect of ageing in teaching content and practice learning. Social work journals present a more nuanced picture. Older people emerge within coverage of generic policy issues for adults, such as personalisation and safeguarding, and there is good evidence of the complexity of need in late life. However, there is little attention to effective social work interventions, with an increasingly diverse older population, or to the quality of gerontological social work education. The case is made for infusing content on older people throughout the social work curriculum, for extending practice learning opportunities in social work with older people and for increasing the volume and reporting of gerontological social work research.Brunel Institute for Ageing Studie

Pre-Existing Superbubbles as the Sites of Gamma-Ray Bursts

According to recent models, gamma-ray bursts apparently explode in a wide variety of ambient densities ranging from ~ 10^{-3} to 30 cm^{-3}. The lowest density environments seem, at first sight, to be incompatible with bursts in or near molecular clouds or with dense stellar winds and hence with the association of gamma-ray bursts with massive stars. We argue that low ambient density regions naturally exist in areas of active star formation as the interiors of superbubbles. The evolution of the interior bubble density as a function of time for different assumptions about the evaporative or hydrodynamical mass loading of the bubble interior is discussed. We present a number of reasons why there should exist a large range of inferred afterglow ambient densities whether gamma-ray bursts arise in massive stars or some version of compact star coalescence. We predict that many gamma-ray bursts will be identified with X-ray bright regions of galaxies, corresponding to superbubbles, rather than with blue localized regions of star formation. Massive star progenitors are expected to have their own circumstellar winds. The lack of evidence for individual stellar winds associated with the progenitor stars for the cases with afterglows in especially low density environments may imply low wind densities and hence low mass loss rates combined with high velocities. If gamma-ray bursts are associated with massive stars, this combination might be expected for compact progenitors with atmospheres dominated by carbon, oxygen or heavier elements, that is, progenitors resembling Type Ic supernovae.Comment: 14 pages, no figures, submitted to The Astrophysical Journa

High-Resolution Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Regenerating Adult Zebrafish Heart

The adult zebrafish is a well-established model for studying heart regeneration, but due to its tissue opaqueness, repair has been primarily assessed using destructive histology, precluding repeated investigations of the same animal. We present a high-resolution, non-invasive in vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method incorporating a miniature respiratory and anaesthetic perfusion set-up for live adult zebrafish, allowing for visualization of scar formation and heart regeneration in the same animal over time at an isotropic 31 µm voxel resolution. To test the method, we compared well and poorly healing cardiac ventricles using a transgenic fish model that exhibits heat-shock (HS) inducible impaired heart regeneration. HS-treated groups revealed persistent scar tissue for 10 weeks, while control groups were healed after 4 weeks. Application of the advanced MRI technique allowed clear discrimination of levels of repair following cryo- and resection injury for several months. It further provides a novel tool for in vivo time-lapse imaging of adult fish for non-cardiac studies, as the method can be readily applied to image wound healing in other injured or diseased tissues, or to monitor tissue changes over time, thus expanding the range of questions that can be addressed in adult zebrafish and other small aquatic species

Assessment and treatment of distorted schemas in sexual offenders

The aim of this review is to examine the literature related to the assessment and treatment of sex offenders’ distorted schemas. Where appropriate, the review draws upon current insights from the field of social cognition to aid in the critical evaluation of the findings. First, the review considers the various different methodologies for assessing distorted schemas, discussing their strengths and limitations. Second, the review examines the work related to the treatment of sex offenders’ schemas. Suggestions for future research, and the implications for clinical practice, are highlighted in the article

A Fractal Analysis of the HI Emission from the Large Magellanic Cloud

A composite map of HI in the LMC using the ATCA interferometer and the Parkes multibeam telescope was analyzed in several ways in an attempt to characterize the structure of the neutral gas and to find an origin for it. Fourier transform power spectra in 1D, 2D, and in the azimuthal direction were found to be approximate power laws over 2 decades in length. Delta-variance methods also showed the same power-law structure. Detailed models of these data were made using line-of-sight integrals over fractals that are analogous to those generated by simulations of turbulence with and without phase transitions. The results suggested a way to measure directly for the first time the line-of-sight thickness of the cool component of the HI disk of a nearly face-on galaxy. The signature of this thickness was found to be present in all of the measured power spectra. The character of the HI structure in the LMC was also viewed by comparing positive and negative images of the integrated emission. The geometric structure of the high-emission regions was found to be filamentary, whereas the geometric structure of the low-emission (intercloud) regions was found to be patchy and round. This result suggests that compressive events formed the high-emission regions, and expansion events, whether from explosions or turbulence, formed the low-emission regions. The character of the structure was also investigated as a function of scale using unsharp masks. All of these results suggest that most of the ISM in the LMC is fractal, presumably the result of pervasive turbulence, self-gravity, and self-similar stirring.Comment: 30 pages, 21 figures, scheduled for ApJ Vol 548n1, Feb 10, 200

Confidentiality and public protection: ethical dilemmas in qualitative research with adult male sex offenders

This paper considers the ethical tensions present when engaging in in-depth interviews with convicted sex offenders. Many of the issues described below are similar to those found in other sensitive areas of research. However, confidentiality and public protection are matters that require detailed consideration when the desire to know more about men who have committed serious and harmful offences is set against the possibility of a researcher not disclosing previously unknown sensitive information that relates to the risk of someone being harmed.</p