Factor Structure Of Deterrents To Adult Participation In Higher Education

As institutions of higher learning have seen the aging of American college students, they have been increasingly concerned about helping them overcome what deters their reentry. Adult perception of deterrents is identified in this study. Analysis and the factor structure underlying these deterrents is examined in the Situational, Institutional, and Dispositional category of deterrents. Six factors with no extraneous items were identified: bad experience, institutional reasons, lack of resources, course offerings, cost/benefit ratio and childcare were identified for potential adult students at a small private tuition-driven undergraduate college. This complex set of findings fits with barriers established in the literature. Bad Experience, a dispositional barrier, and the Institutional factor correspond to Cross’ (1981) typology. Lack of Resources and Course Offerings are spread among situational, institutional and dispositional factors. Cost/Benefit Ratio is situational and institutional. Childcare is situational. This study contributes to a complex model of deterrents to participation

How to Educate Entrepreneurs?

Entrepreneurship education has two purposes: To improve students’ entrepreneurial skills and to provide impetus to those suited to entrepreneurship while discouraging the rest. While entrepreneurship education helps students to make a vocational decision its effects may conflict for those not suited to entrepreneurship. This study shows that vocational and the skill formation effects of entrepreneurship education can be identified empirically by drawing on the Theory of Planned Behavior. This is embedded in a structural equation model which we estimate and test using a robust 2SLS estimator. We find that the attitudinal factors posited by the Theory of Planned Behavior are positively correlated with students’ entrepreneurial intentions. While conflicting effects of vocational and skill directed course content are observed in some individuals, overall these types of content are complements. This finding contradicts previous results in the literature. We reconcile the conflicting findings and discuss implications for the design of entrepreneurship courses

The Regge Limit for Green Functions in Conformal Field Theory

We define a Regge limit for off-shell Green functions in quantum field theory, and study it in the particular case of conformal field theories (CFT). Our limit differs from that defined in arXiv:0801.3002, the latter being only a particular corner of the Regge regime. By studying the limit for free CFTs, we are able to reproduce the Low-Nussinov, BFKL approach to the pomeron at weak coupling. The dominance of Feynman graphs where only two high momentum lines are exchanged in the t-channel, follows simply from the free field analysis. We can then define the BFKL kernel in terms of the two point function of a simple light-like bilocal operator. We also include a brief discussion of the gravity dual predictions for the Regge limit at strong coupling.Comment: 23 pages 2 figures, v2: Clarification of relation of the Regge limit defined here and previous work in CFT. Clarification of causal orderings in the limit. References adde

The effect of tourism education on students? entrepreneurial vocation

This paper aims to examine how higher education affects entrepreneurial vocation in a very specific segment, namely university education in tourism. We used a theoretical approach based on the psychological foundations of intentional theory to analyse a sample of 122 graduate and undergraduate university students in tourism from the perspective of higher education. The results show the differential effect of curricular and extracurricular activities on intentions, attitudes and behavioural control, while there is very little effect on the development of entrepreneurial competencies

The effect of curricular and extracurricular activities on university students? entrepreneurial intention and competences

This study examines how the alliance-building process affects the intention to enter into international alliances in the case of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). From a psychological perspective (Perceived Behavioural Control), the authors analyse the alliance-building process as an inhibitor of the international collaboration intention, considering to what extent the experience affects the intention of the partners involved. The study explores these hypotheses based on a sample of 220 Spanish SMEs. The results provide empirical evidence showing that the intention to develop international alliances is negatively affected by the search and the selection process as well as by the negotiation of the agreement, which reduces the intention to establish an international agreement. In addition, the intention is moderated by the experience of the SME manager. Moreover, there is a negative relationship between the extent of the SME manager's international experience and the intention to develop an international alliance

Impact of childhood experiences on the development of entrepreneurial intentions

Fostering entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial culture has become a key policy priority for governments. To encourage entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial culture, however, there is a need to understand the factors that influence and shape individuals' intentions to start a business. This study extends models of entrepreneurial intentions by investigating the influence of various childhood-experience factors on the perceived feasibility and desirability of starting a business. A structured questionnaire was completed by over 1,000 university students and analysed using regression analysis. Results indicated that perceptions of entrepreneurship were influenced not only by parental ownership of a business, but also by a difficult childhood and frequent relocation

Unseeded Elastomeric Single Leaflets Retain Function and Remodel After Implant In Ovine Pulmonary Outflow Tract

Current materials for heart valve replacement and repair are limited by the inability to grow or remodel. Tissue engineered valves offer the potential to overcome these disadvantages by creating living structures, but is limited by the availability of biocompatible scaffold materials with desirable biomechanical properties. We assessed the in vivo performance of a novel scaffold poly(carbonate urethane) urea (PCUU), fabricated by electrospinning and implanted in the pulmonary outflow tract of sheep. PCUU was electrospun into elastomeric sheets of thickness ranging from 120-180 μm. Using cardiopulmonary bypass we replaced the native anterior pulmonary leaflet with an acellular PCUU leaflet. Valve function was evaluated by epicardial echocardiography at implant and explant at weeks 1 (n=3), 3 (n=3), 6 (n=3) and 16 (n=3). Histological, immunohistochemical, molecular imaging analyses and multi-photon imaging were performed on the explanted leaflets. Echocardiography demonstrated mobile functioning leaflets, with zero to mild pulmonary regurgitation. Molecular imaging showed increased levels of proteolytic activity and macrophage accumulation. Histology showed persistence of scaffold material up to 16 weeks with cellular infiltration throughout the leaflet. Picrosirius red revealed mature collagen deposition along the arterial surface of the construct at 6 and 16 weeks. These findings were corroborated by multi-photon analysis showing highly aligned collagen fibers across the leaflets. Both surfaces of the engineered leaflets were consistently covered with CD31 positive cells. The majority of cells expressed α-SMA and MMP2. CD45 positive cells, suggesting hematogenous origin, were found throughout the leaflet. These results suggest that: 1) PCUU can be a suitable polymer for valve bioengineering; 2) cell pre-seeding may not be required for tissue formation or remodeling for a functional engineered valve; 3) host cells seem to populate the leaflet either by migration from adjacent tissue or by attachment from circulating blood; 4) mature matrix orientation and increased proteolytic activity suggests active tissue remodeling. Longer term implants and the role of scaffold pre-seeding will require further study

Entrepreneurship Assessment in Higher Education: A Research Review for Engineering Education Researchers

BackgroundDespite the wide adoption of entrepreneurship by United States engineering programs, there have been few advances in how to measure the influences of entrepreneurial education on engineering students. We believe the inadequate growth in engineering entrepreneurship assessment research is due to the limited use of research emerging from the broader entrepreneurship education assessment community.PurposeThis paper explores entrepreneurship education assessment by documenting the current state of the research and identifying the theories, variables, and research designs most commonly used by the broader community. We then examine if and how these theories and constructs are used in engineering entrepreneurship education.Scope/MethodTwo literature databases, Scopus® and Proquest, were searched systematically for entrepreneurship education assessment research literature. This search yielded 2,841 unique papers. Once inclusion and exclusion criteria were applied, 359 empirical research papers were coded for study design, theory, variables measured, instruments, and validity and reliability.ConclusionsWhile there has been growth in entrepreneurship education assessment research, little exchange of ideas across the disciplines of business, engineering, and education is occurring. Nonempirical descriptions of programs outweigh empirical research, and these empirical studies focus on affective, rather than cognitive or behavioral, outcomes. This pattern within the larger entrepreneurship community is mirrored in engineering where the use of theoryâ based, validated entrepreneurship education assessment instruments generally focuses on the context of intent to start a new company. Given the engineering community’s goals to support engineering entrepreneurship beyond business creation, the engineering education community should consider developing assessment instruments based in theory and focused on engineeringâ specific entrepreneurship outcomes.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145556/1/jee20197.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/145556/2/jee20197_am.pd

Effects of Transport Inhibitors on the Cellular Uptake of Carboxylated Polystyrene Nanoparticles in Different Cell Lines

Nanotechnology is expected to play a vital role in the rapidly developing field of nanomedicine, creating innovative solutions and therapies for currently untreatable diseases, and providing new tools for various biomedical applications, such as drug delivery and gene therapy. In order to optimize the efficacy of nanoparticle (NP) delivery to cells, it is necessary to understand the mechanisms by which NPs are internalized by cells, as this will likely determine their ultimate sub-cellular fate and localisation. Here we have used pharmacological inhibitors of some of the major endocytic pathways to investigate nanoparticle uptake mechanisms in a range of representative human cell lines, including HeLa (cervical cancer), A549 (lung carcinoma) and 1321N1 (brain astrocytoma). Chlorpromazine and genistein were used to inhibit clathrin and caveolin mediated endocytosis, respectively. Cytochalasin A and nocodazole were used to inhibit, respectively, the polymerisation of actin and microtubule cytoskeleton. Uptake experiments were performed systematically across the different cell lines, using carboxylated polystyrene NPs of 40 nm and 200 nm diameters, as model NPs of sizes comparable to typical endocytic cargoes. The results clearly indicated that, in all cases and cell types, NPs entered cells via active energy dependent processes. NP uptake in HeLa and 1321N1 cells was strongly affected by actin depolymerisation, while A549 cells showed a stronger inhibition of NP uptake (in comparison to the other cell types) after microtubule disruption and treatment with genistein. A strong reduction of NP uptake was observed after chlorpromazine treatment only in the case of 1321N1 cells. These outcomes suggested that the same NP might exploit different uptake mechanisms to enter different cell types