Is there really a value in entrepreneurship education?

This paper considers whether entrepreneurship education has a value outside of the education institutions in which it takes place. The paper takes an indirect form of enquiry and argues that entrepreneurship education is driven by three factors; the growing emphasis on supply side policy interventions in the economy; the emphasis placed on the agency of management in the growing literature on globalisation and international reforms to public sector organisations. The paper concludes that there is a tension between the activity as descriptive and the activity as promotion and until this tension is resolved it is unlikely that there will be clarity about the value of this form of education

ICT FOR AGRICULTURAL AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT

ABSTRACT Rural development encompasses the development of agriculture, socio economic infrastructure and human resources in rural areas. For this development communication has to emerge as an important policy instrument integrating economic, social, education and cultural planning. The electronic mass communication has been considered as a potential agency for development of people. This paper comprehensively reviews the different types of electronic media. It discusses in detail about the simple, advanced and modern electronic media. Simple media like radio, television are accorded as most credible, reliable and farthest reaching communication techniques. Advanced electronic media like Interactive computer video technology (ICVT) fulfils the need of the interaction in the communication process and increases the quality of extension process. Computer Aided Agricultural Extension (CAEx) and Information Village (IV) blend traditional and recommended technology to generate and disseminate information relevant for the rural areas locally. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is extensive and pervasive in their application to agriculture and rural development. Innovation of this are KIOSKS, use of GIS, e-library etc. Rural cams like corn and dairy cams are useful technologies for dissemination using the concept of virtual farming. E -agricultural markets provides the farmers with services like acquiring of seeds , fertilizers, pesticides etc. Modern electronic media like Video text, teletext, and interactive multimedia are some other modern media. Interactive multimedia permits people to learn interactively using real situation. In near future, the concentrated and coordinated efforts of media like internet, videotext, teletext etc. with their appropriate combination could be effectively used in disseminating newly developed agricultural and dairy innovations to the prospective beneficiary farmers

The take up of business support by minority ethnic enterprises: the experience of South Asian businesses in England

This research contributes to a greater understanding of minority ethnic business (MEB) needs and practices and helps identify the support needs of minority ethnic firms in relation to existing support provision. The aims are, therefore, to examine the take-up of support by minority ethnic enterprises focusing mainly on the South Asian community with some representation from the African-Caribbean and Korean communities. Fifty minority ethnic businesses across South West London were contacted and semi-structured interviews took place with the owner/owner managers. The findings suggest that policy makers need to appreciate the diversity of MEBs and policies aimed at these businesses should reflect that diversity

Thermoelastic waves in an infinite solid caused by a line heat source

The generalized thermoelasticity theory recently developed by Green and Naghdi is employed to investigate thermoelastic interactions caused by a continuous line heat source in a homogeneous isotropic unbounded solid. Hankel-Laplace transform technique is used to solve the problem. Explicit expressions, for stress and temperature fields, are obtained for small time approximation. Numerical values are displayed graphically. Our results show that this theory predicts an infinite speed for heat propagation in general, and includes the second sound phenomena as a special case

Food Insecurity, Food Assistance, and Psychological Distress among University Students: Cross-Sectional Survey Western Australia, 2020

University students have been identified as a population sub-group vulnerable to food insecurity. This vulnerability increased in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess factors associated with food insecurity among university students and the differences between students with and without children. A cross-sectional survey of (n = 213) students attending one university in Western Australia measured food insecurity, psychological distress, and socio-demographic characteristics. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with food insecurity. Forty-eight percent of students who responded to the survey had experienced food insecurity in 2020. International students who were studying in Australia were nine times more likely to experience food insecurity than domestic students (AOR = 9.13; 95% CI = 2.32–35.97). International students with children were more likely to experience food insecurity than international students without children (p < 0.001) and domestic students with (p < 0.001) or without children (p < 0.001). For each unit increase in depression level, the likelihood of experiencing food insecurity increased (AOR = 1.62; 95% CI = 1.12–2.33). Findings show a higher prevalence of food insecurity among international university students and students with children during the COVID-19 pandemic and that food insecurity was associated with higher levels of psychological distress. These findings highlight the need for targeted interventions to mitigate the risk of food insecurity among Australian university students, particularly among international students, students with children, and those experiencing psychological distress

Creating a novel approach to discourse treatment through coproduction with people with aphasia and speech and language therapists

Background: Although spoken discourse is an outcome prioritised by all stakeholders in aphasia rehabilitation, assessment and treatment of discourse are not routine clinical practice. The small evidence base, varied clinical expertise, multiple barriers in the workplace, and challenges for clients in understanding their altered language abilities all contribute to this situation. These factors need serious consideration when developing a new treatment. Involving intended stakeholders as partners in the development process is recommended. This assists with future implementation by ensuring assessment and treatment are practical, feasible, and acceptable to those who will deliver and undertake it. Aims: This paper reports on the coproduction phase of the Linguistic Underpinnings of Narrative in Aphasia (LUNA) research project and describes the levels of partners’ involvement, the outcomes and impact of coproduction, and the factors that influenced it. Methods and procedures: Four partners with aphasia and four speech and language therapists (SLTs) worked with academic team members across a 6-month period to create the LUNA assessment and treatment. Separate sessions were held with partners with aphasia (monthly) and SLTs (fortnightly). Coproduction methods included open discussion, the Someone Who Isn’t Me (SWIM) technique (thinking from others’ perspectives), low and high fidelity prototypes, flexible brainstorming, card sort, and active experimentation with assessment and treatment tasks. Verbal and written information was presented, shared and documented during each session in supportive formats, and each session summarised as accessible minutes. Outcomes and Results: Partners contributed at consultation, cooperation, and co-learning levels during the coproduction phase. Outcomes included joined-up thinking across assessment-goal setting-treatment-desired outcomes; agreed decisions and content for assessment protocol and treatment manual; clarity on personalised, meaningful, and relevant treatment; therapeutic alliance operationalised in treatment manual; and more. Impacts included increased confidence, self-knowledge, pride, validation, peer support, networking, and benefits to SLTs’ services. Coproduction was positively influenced by consistent session structure and conduct, group dynamics, accessible communication methods, active task experimentation, and SWIM technique. Although the process was time and labour intensive, all partners considered this worthwhile. Conclusions: LUNA has exemplified how an inclusive coproduction process can work well despite the language challenges of aphasia. Authors also believe that coproduction with intended users has resulted in products (assessment protocol, treatment manual) that are more practical, feasible, and acceptable to clinicians and clients than if designed by academics alone. This latter claim now needs testing on a wide scale

A systematic review of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of peer education and peer support in prisons.

BACKGROUND: Prisoners experience significantly worse health than the general population. This review examines the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of peer interventions in prison settings. METHODS: A mixed methods systematic review of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness studies, including qualitative and quantitative synthesis was conducted. In addition to grey literature identified and searches of websites, nineteen electronic databases were searched from 1985 to 2012. Study selection criteria were: Population: Prisoners resident in adult prisons and children resident in Young Offender Institutions (YOIs). INTERVENTION: Peer-based interventions Comparators: Review questions 3 and 4 compared peer and professionally led approaches. OUTCOMES: Prisoner health or determinants of health; organisational/ process outcomes; views of prison populations. STUDY DESIGNS: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed method evaluations. RESULTS: Fifty-seven studies were included in the effectiveness review and one study in the cost-effectiveness review; most were of poor methodological quality. Evidence suggested that peer education interventions are effective at reducing risky behaviours, and that peer support services are acceptable within the prison environment and have a positive effect on recipients, practically or emotionally. Consistent evidence from many, predominantly qualitative, studies, suggested that being a peer deliverer was associated with positive effects. There was little evidence on cost-effectiveness of peer-based interventions. CONCLUSIONS: There is consistent evidence from a large number of studies that being a peer worker is associated with positive health; peer support services are also an acceptable source of help within the prison environment and can have a positive effect on recipients. Research into cost-effectiveness is sparse. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: PROSPERO ref: CRD42012002349

Systematic review of studies investigating ventilator associated pneumonia diagnostics in intensive care

Abstract Background Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is an important diagnosis in critical care. VAP research is complicated by the lack of agreed diagnostic criteria and reference standard test criteria. Our aim was to review which reference standard tests are used to evaluate novel index tests for suspected VAP. Methods We conducted a comprehensive search using electronic databases and hand reference checks. The Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, CINHAL, EMBASE, and web of science were searched from 2008 until November 2018. All terms related to VAP diagnostics in the intensive treatment unit were used to conduct the search. We adopted a checklist from the critical appraisal skills programme checklist for diagnostic studies to assess the quality of the included studies. Results We identified 2441 records, of which 178 were selected for full-text review. Following methodological examination and quality assessment, 44 studies were included in narrative data synthesis. Thirty-two (72.7%) studies utilised a sole microbiological reference standard; the remaining 12 studies utilised a composite reference standard, nine of which included a mandatory microbiological criterion. Histopathological criteria were optional in four studies but mandatory in none. Conclusions Nearly all reference standards for VAP used in diagnostic test research required some microbiological confirmation of infection, with BAL culture being the most common reference standard used

Aegilops-Secale amphiploids: chromosome categorisation, pollen viability and identification of fungal disease resistance genes

The aim of this study was to assess the potential breeding value of goatgrass-rye amphiploids, which we are using as a “bridge” in a transfer of Aegilops chromatin (containing, e.g. leaf rust resistance genes) into triticale. We analysed the chromosomal constitution (by genomic in situ hybridisation, GISH), fertility (by pollen viability tests) and the presence of leaf rust and eyespot resistance genes (by molecular and endopeptidase assays) in a collection of 6× and 4× amphiploids originating from crosses between five Aegilops species and Secale cereale. In the five hexaploid amphiploids Aegilops kotschyi × Secale cereale (genome UUSSRR), Ae. variabilis × S. cereale (UUSSRR), Ae. biuncialis × S. cereale (UUMMRR; two lines) and Ae. ovata × S. cereale (UUMMRR), 28 Aegilops chromosomes were recognised, while in the Ae. tauschii × S. cereale amphiploid (4×; DDRR), only 14 such chromosomes were identified. In the materials, the number of rye chromosomes varied from 14 to 16. In one line of Ae. ovata × S. cereale, the U-R translocation was found. Pollen viability varied from 24.4 to 75.4%. The leaf rust resistance genes Lr22, Lr39 and Lr41 were identified in Ae. tauschii and the 4× amphiploid Ae. tauschii × S. cereale. For the first time, the leaf rust resistance gene Lr37 was found in Ae. kotschyi, Ae. ovata, Ae. biuncialis and amphiploids derived from those parental species. No eyespot resistance gene Pch1 was found in the amphiploids