The Capital Structure Decisions of New Firms

Based on data from the Kauffman Firm Survey, examines the funding sources of firms in their first year of operations. Highlights start-ups' reliance on external debt financing such as bank loans and credit cards, regardless of their credit scores

Patterns of Financing: A Comparison Between White- and African-American Young Firms

Based on Kauffman Firm Survey data, examines differences in start-up and follow-on capital injections into and capital use by firms with African-American and white owners. Explores how access to capital affects the racial gap in new business formation

The Bounty (Vignette)

Opening paragraph:The shipbuilding firm owned by the Blaydes family built the Bethia in their North End Yard on the River Hull, close to their base at Blaydes House, High Street (now Hull University’s Maritime Historical Studies Centre). The Bethia was an 85-foot-long, three-masted wooden sailing vessel deployed in carrying cargoes around the North Sea. In 1787, she was purchased by the Admiralty for £1950, fitted out for a voyage to the South Seas and renamed Bounty. The expedition was designed to collect breadfruit from Tahiti, and transport them to the West Indies, to be planted and grown as food for plantation slaves in another corner of the British Empire

The English fishing industry, 1790-1914: a case study of the Yorkshire coast

This thesis contains a detailed study of the activities related to fishing from the Yorkshire coast. It further outlines  the broader development of the English Fishing industry, together with the role of the State, whilst tracing its  relationship and interaction with other areas of the economy and society during the years under review.In contrast to the trawling industry based on Hull and Grimsby, the Yorkshire coast communities were long  established fishing stations. This thesis seeks to examine the way that the traditional activities of these  communities altered, adapted and developed in response to the forces of rapid change that were then prevalent. It  looks in particular, at changes in fishing and marketing practices and at alterations in the structure of ownership  amongst the fishing fleet, whilst outlining the development of port and harbour facilities for the industry.An analysis of the causes behind the rapid spread of trawling along the North Seacoast- has been undertaken together with an assessment of the value of the Silver Pits to the first smack fishermen. The initial problems and benefits associated with the carriage of fish by rail have also been dealt with in some detail as has the later development of steam fishing.The work also charts the associated development of the Yorkshire coast herring fishery. It furthermore, seeks to explain the causes of decline which afflicted all sectors of the local industry from the 1880s onwards.In all areas of this thesis, the research work undertaken has utilised a wide variety of primary sources including records of both local and national organisations

William Colbeck (Vignette)

Opening paragraph:People from Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire played a significant role in the ‘Heroic Age’ of Antarctic Exploration (1897-1922). Clements Markham, the President of the Royal Geographical Society, who envisaged and oversaw the British National Antarctic Expedition (1901-1904), came from Stillingfleet, East Yorkshire. Much of the money required to fund the expedition was provided by Llewellyn Longstaff, owner of Hull’s Blundell’s Paints. And a key player in the celebrated Antarctic expeditions was Captain William Colbeck of Hull

A Skilled English Tradesman and the Early International Diffusion of Steamboat and Railway Technology: The life and career of William Harman (1804–1890), a study of individual adaptability and mobility

Mobile British artisans played a key role in the global diffusion of industrialization, taking their skills to Continental Europe and the USA. While research in recent decades among those who might be classed as minor innovators or tweakers has increased our knowledge and understanding of their contribution to this process, less is known about those skilled tradespeople who might be classed as implementers, in other words, those who proved capable of constructing, installing and operating new industrial plant and machinery but are not noted for their innovations. This article is the study of the life and context of William Harman, a highly mobile individual involved in the construction of steamships and locomotives and whose career took him from his home near Hull to France and across the United States as the frontier moved westwards

Provision of supplementary food for wild birds may increase the risk of local nest predation

In countries such as the UK, USA and Australia, approximately half of households provide supplementary food for wild birds, making this the public’s most common form of active engagement with nature. Year round supplementary feeding is currently encouraged by major conservation charities in the UK as it is thought to be of benefit to bird conservation. However, little is understood of how the provision of supplementary food affects the behaviour and ecology of target and non-target species. Given the scale of supplementary feeding, any negative effects may have important implications for conservation. Potential nest predators are abundant in urban areas and some species frequently visit supplementary feeding stations. We asked if providing supplementary food affected the likelihood of nest predation in the vicinity of the feeder, by acting as a point attractant for potential nest predators. We provided feeding stations (empty, peanut feeder, peanut feeder with guard to exclude potential nest predators) in an area of suburban parkland in the UK and monitored the predation rate experienced by eggs placed in artificial nests located at distances which replicate the size of typical suburban gardens. Nest predators (Magpies Pica pica, Grey Squirrels Sciurus carolinensis) were frequent visitors to filled feeders, and predation caused by Magpies, European Jays Garrulus glandarius and Grey Squirrels was significantly higher when nests were adjacent to filled feeders. The presence of a feeder guard did not significantly reduce nest predation. As supplementary feeding is becoming increasingly common during the breeding season in suburban habitats, we suggest that providing point attractants to nest predators at this time may have previously unconsidered consequences for the breeding success of urban birds

Emerging Infectious Disease leads to Rapid Population Decline of Common British Birds

Emerging infectious diseases are increasingly cited as threats to wildlife, livestock and humans alike. They can threaten geographically isolated or critically endangered wildlife populations; however, relatively few studies have clearly demonstrated the extent to which emerging diseases can impact populations of common wildlife species. Here, we report the impact of an emerging protozoal disease on British populations of greenfinch Carduelis chloris and chaffinch Fringilla coelebs, two of the most common birds in Britain. Morphological and molecular analyses showed this to be due to Trichomonas gallinae. Trichomonosis emerged as a novel fatal disease of finches in Britain in 2005 and rapidly became epidemic within greenfinch, and to a lesser extent chaffinch, populations in 2006. By 2007, breeding populations of greenfinches and chaffinches in the geographic region of highest disease incidence had decreased by 35% and 21% respectively, representing mortality in excess of half a million birds. In contrast, declines were less pronounced or absent in these species in regions where the disease was found in intermediate or low incidence. Also, populations of dunnock Prunella modularis, which similarly feeds in gardens, but in which T. gallinae was rarely recorded, did not decline. This is the first trichomonosis epidemic reported in the scientific literature to negatively impact populations of free-ranging non-columbiform species, and such levels of mortality and decline due to an emerging infectious disease are unprecedented in British wild bird populations. This disease emergence event demonstrates the potential for a protozoan parasite to jump avian host taxonomic groups with dramatic effect over a short time period

Social Class

Discussion of class structure in fifth-century Athens, historical constitution of theater audiences, and the changes in the comic representation of class antagonism from Aristophanes to Menander