Introduction:Entrepreneurship education and learning and the real world

It is with great pleasure that we introduce this special issue of Industry and Higher Education. The papers that follow have been selected, reviewed and developed for publication following their original presentation in the ‘Enterprise Education and Entrepreneurial Learning’ tracks of the 36th Annual Conference of the Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (ISBE) held in Cardiff in November 2013

Fear and sensory experiences in children on the autism spectrum

Existing research indicates that typically developing children pass through predictable stages of fear development throughout their childhood. Evidence suggests that in general, children with disabilities experience more fears than typically developing children. Children with disabilities share similar stages of fear development compared to typically developing children, but at a delayed rate, with a more protracted course. Children on the autism spectrum experience higher levels of anxiety, compared to other children. Limited fear research in children on the autism spectrum suggests that they exhibit a unique fear profile compared to their peers, however, little is known about why this may be. Chapter 1 reviews published literature on fear development for typically developing children, children with physical and intellectual disabilities, and children on the autism spectrum. Chapter 2 presents an empirical study that investigates the relationship between sensory processing and fear profiles in children on the autism spectrum. The results support the notion that sensory experiences may account for a proportion of the unique fear pattern experienced by children on the autism spectrum. The thesis concludes with a reflective account that reviews the process of conducting internet-mediated research on children on the autism spectrum

African American Parental Engagement in a Public Middle School: Contributing Factors

Parental engagement with schools is often considered one of the major contributing factors to a child’s success in school. There is not, however, a definition of parental engagement that takes into account the social, historical, and cultural factors that shape a parent’s view of their own engagement. This qualitative case study examines how African American parents in a high poverty, urban, charter middle school, come to understand practices and beliefs at their child’s school, while building relationships with other parents and school staff. Through the lenses of critical race theory and cultural-historical activity theory, the researcher analyzes how the convergence of race, power, history, and culture frame perspectives of policy makers, those who work in schools, and parents. Through the voices of African American parents, in a socioeconomically disadvantaged school community, they define their own engagement

Fear and sensory experiences in children on the autism spectrum

Existing research indicates that typically developing children pass through predictable stages of fear development throughout their childhood. Evidence suggests that in general, children with disabilities experience more fears than typically developing children. Children with disabilities share similar stages of fear development compared to typically developing children, but at a delayed rate, with a more protracted course. Children on the autism spectrum experience higher levels of anxiety, compared to other children. Limited fear research in children on the autism spectrum suggests that they exhibit a unique fear profile compared to their peers, however, little is known about why this may be. Chapter 1 reviews published literature on fear development for typically developing children, children with physical and intellectual disabilities, and children on the autism spectrum. Chapter 2 presents an empirical study that investigates the relationship between sensory processing and fear profiles in children on the autism spectrum. The results support the notion that sensory experiences may account for a proportion of the unique fear pattern experienced by children on the autism spectrum. The thesis concludes with a reflective account that reviews the process of conducting internet-mediated research on children on the autism spectrum.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Entrepreneurial learning in practice: The impact of knowledge transfer

The aim of this research is to provide perspectives on how entrepreneurial practitioners, specifically owners of high-tech small firms (HTSFs), engage with knowledge transfer and learn. The authors draw on extant research and report on the views and observations of the principals in two case study companies in the HTSF sector with regard to growing their ventures and developing learning while part of a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme. Entrepreneurial learning is an area of significant interest due to the growth of entrepreneurship and the varied ways in which learning can take place. There are many different interventions that can be used to transfer knowledge and develop learning, but there is limited, if any, consensus on their respective effectiveness. The researchers used an ethnographic approach in two companies over an 18-month period. The study concludes that the KTP intervention facilitates an opportunity for learning through disruption, with the key barrier to any new learning being established practice. Interestingly, the findings suggest that entrepreneurial learning is greatly facilitated by ‘on-the-job’ learning

Case study insights to the impact of knowledge transfer in high-tech small firms on entrepreneurial practitioner learning

Knowledge transfer, as the term suggests, is about the exchange of knowledge between associates in a partnership. The ambition of such knowledge transfer is the pursuit and exploitation of new, innovative opportunities and the facilitation of learning. The theatre for such activity is, largely, within high technology small to medium sized firms. The partnership commonly includes those within a business venture, an academic or team of academics from a Higher Education Institute, (HEI), and government agencies. It is essentially about the transfer of tangible and intellectual property, expertise, learning and skills between academia and the non-academic community, particularly the business community. The ‘knowledge’ transferred can be formal and clearly expressed, for example, from published research, informal in terms of individual experiences and tacit as in residing in the individual without being stated and therefore difficult to articulate in direct communication. Transferring knowledge, particularly tacit knowledge, and facilitating learning, is a complex undertaking. The entrepreneurial business venturer, for example, busy with developing an enterprise, may not be fully aware of, or have thought critically about, the wealth of knowledge that resides within him/her as a consequence of years of business experience. The specific challenge to transfer ‘knowledge’ is therefore to capture, organize, create, and distribute such knowledge from one part of an enterprise to another or indeed throughout an enterprise in ways that effect a step-change in the progress of the business venture and to ensure its legacy remains valid for those within the enterprise into the future though the development of appropriate applied learning. The Knowledge Transfer Partnership, (KTP), scheme in the UK, is specifically designed to help those within entrepreneurial firms to acquire the knowledge they need to pursue growth through a greater commitment to, and development of, competencies in innovation practice and opportunity focus. The link between the entrepreneurial business venturer, the academic in the HEI and the graduate, the Associate, recruited by the HEI and lodged within the firm, are the key players in determining the potential of the scheme to facilitate learning that will have a positive impact on the future of the business. The Associate, as an agent for positive, innovative change in the business, brings with him/her new knowledge to be introduced into the business, challenging established practices and processes and supporting innovative step-changes in the business. The placements are temporary but potentially can be a ‘long-interview’. In a recent independent report, (The Knowledge Transfer Partnership programme: an impact review, From: Innovate UK, First published: 13 October 2015), it was noted, for example, that for every £1 of KTP grant invested up to £8 of net extra GVA was generated, that 94% of associates said KTP had had a positive impact on their personal/career development, that over a third said the impact had actually been transformational for their development and career, that 99% of knowledge base organisations would recommend the KTP programme and that 95% of KTP associates would recommend it to other graduates/post graduates. Knowledge transfer is, therefore, clearly both potentially valuable and challenging for those engaged in it. Many high-technology small to medium sized firms emerge as a consequence of the creativity and innovativeness of a founding entrepreneur and his or her team and the early development of such enterprises can often be characterised by organic development and considerable adhocracy. Innovation in terms of new product or process development lie at the core of what founders and their teams do although not always formally recognised and supported. Early practices that are seen to work become established. That key focus of knowledge-transfer is on supporting appropriate and sustainable learning, where the Entrepreneurial Practitioner acquires and learns to implement new knowledge of best practice in business development, where the Associate gains experience of business practice and an opportunity to apply learned theory and where the academic learns the value of their research in an applied context. The focus of this research is on the Entrepreneurial Practitioner’s learning. Cope (2003) suggests however that the entrepreneurship discipline does not currently possess sufficient conceptual frameworks to explain how entrepreneurs learn. He concluded ‘..entrepreneurial learning is not characterised by the notions of stability, consistency or predictability. Rather, evidence suggests that the concepts of metamorphosis, discontinuity and change more appropriately encapsulate the dynamics of this phenomenon’, (p. 26). When it comes to working, learning and innovation, Brown and Duguid (1991) argue that ‘Work practice is generally viewed as conservative and resistant to change, learning is generally viewed as distinct from working and problematic in the face of change and innovation is generally viewed as the disruptive but necessary imposition of change on the other two’, (p40), highlighting the tensions that often accompany the learning process within the developing HTSF. In this exploratory, ethnographic report, two of the authors were each embedded in a high-tech small firm as part of a knowledge transfer partnership, (KTP), and in the research key decision-makers in each firm are observed and interviewed over a two-year period in order to gain insights to practitioner learning over that period. In response to Cope’s suggestion, and reflecting those of Brown and Duguid, the authors’ aim is to provide perspectives on how Entrepreneurial Practitioners, owners of high-tech small firms, (HTSF), and engaged with knowledge transfer, learn

Admixture between ancient lineages, selection, and the formation of sympatric stickleback species-pairs

Ecological speciation has become a popular model for the development and maintenance of reproductive isolation in closely related sympatric pairs of species or ecotypes. An implicit assumption has been that such pairs originate (possibly with gene flow) from a recent, genetically homogeneous ancestor. However, recent genomic data have revealed that currently sympatric taxa are often a result of secondary contact between ancestrally allopatric lineages. This has sparked an interest in the importance of initial hybridization upon secondary contact, with genomic reanalysis of classic examples of ecological speciation often implicating admixture in speciation. We describe a novel occurrence of unusually well-developed reproductive isolation in a model system for ecological speciation: the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), breeding sympatrically in multiple lagoons on the Scottish island of North Uist. Using morphological data, targeted genotyping, and genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism data, we show that lagoon resident and anadromous ecotypes are strongly reproductively isolated with an estimated hybridization rate of only ∼1%. We use palaeoecological and genetic data to test three hypotheses to explain the existence of these species-pairs. Our results suggest that recent, purely ecological speciation from a genetically homogeneous ancestor is probably not solely responsible for the evolution of species-pairs. Instead, we reveal a complex colonization history with multiple ancestral lineages contributing to the genetic composition of species-pairs, alongside strong disruptive selection. Our results imply a role for admixture upon secondary contact and are consistent with the recent suggestion that the genomic underpinning of ecological speciation often has an older, allopatric origin

Cytotoxic Hydrogen Bridged Ruthenium Quinaldamide Complexes Showing Induced Cancer Cell Death by Apoptosis

This report presents the first known p-cymene ruthenium quinaldamide complexes which are stablized by a hydrogenbridging atom, [[{(p-cym)RuIIX(N,N)}{H+ }{(N,N)XRuII(p-cym)}][PF6] (N,N = functionalised quinaldamide and X = Cl or Br). These complexes are formed by a reaction of [p-cymRu(-X)2]2 with a functionalised quinaldamide ligand. When filtered over NH4PF6, and under aerobic conditions the equilibrium of NH4PF6 NH3 + HPF6 enables incorporation of HPF6 and the stabilisation of two monomeric ruthenium complexes by a bridging H+ , which are counter-balanced by a PF6 counterion. Xray crystallographic analysis is presented for six new structures with O···O distances of 2.430(3)-2.444(17) Å, which is significant for strong hydrogen bonds. Chemosensitivity studies against HCT116, A2780 and cisplatin-resistant A2780cis human cancer cells showed the ruthenium complexes with a bromide ancillary ligand to be more potent than those with a chloride ligand. The 4'-fluoro compounds show a reduction in potency for both chloride and bromide complexes against all cell lines, but an increase in selectivity towards cancer cells compared to non-cancer ARPE-19 cells, with a selectivity index > 1. Mechanistic studies showed a clear correlation between IC50 values and induction of cell death by apoptosis