Sense and sensibility: The role of business incubator client advisors in assisting high-technology entrepreneurs to make sense of investment readiness status

For high-technology entrepreneurs, attaining an appropriate level of investment to support new ventures is challenging as substantial investment is usually required prior to revenue generation. Consequently, entrepreneurs must present their firms as investment ready in the context of an uncertain market response and an absence of any trading history. Gaining tenancy within a business incubator can be advantageous to this process given that placement enhances entrepreneurial contact with potential investors whilst professional client advisors (CAs) use their expertise to assist in the development of a credible business plan. However, for the investment proposal to be successful, it must make sense to fund managers despite their lack of technological expertise and product knowledge. Thus, this article explores how incubator CAs and entrepreneurs act in concert to mould innovative ideas into plausible business plans that make sense to venture fund investors. To illustrate this process, we draw upon empirical evidence which suggests that CAs act as sense makers between venture fund managers (VFMs) and high-technology entrepreneurs, yet their role and influence appears undervalued. These findings have implications for entrepreneurial access to much needed funding and also for the identification of investment opportunities for VFMs. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.

Service User and Carer Involvement in Role-Plays to Assess Readiness for Practice

Service user and carer involvement in social work education is now well established since its inception as a compulsory requirement in the social work curriculum in the United Kingdom in 2003. Since then, there have been many examples of how such involvement has been approached by education providers. Nevertheless, one of the key obstacles and challenges in this field continues to centre on the need to achieve non-tokenistic user involvement which cements the engagement of service users and carers at the heart of social work education. This paper describes one such initiative where service user and carer colleagues in a university in Northern Ireland have been actively involved in the assessment of first year social work students’ preparation for their first period of practice learning. The paper presents the background to this initiative explaining how the project unfolded; the detailed preparations that were involved and the evidence gathered from evaluations undertaken with the students, service users and carers, and academic colleagues who were all involved. We believe that the findings from this project can contribute to the advancement of existing knowledge in the field in exploring and recommending creative methodologies for user involvement in social work education.

Effects of species loss and nutrients on biodiversity:Anthropogenic impacts on marine biodiversity: effects of enhanced nutrients and species loss on the biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of rocky shores

The focus of this study was to disentangle the effects of multiple stressors on biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and stability. This project examined the effects of anthropogenic increased nutrient loads on the diversity of coastal ecosystems and the effects of loss of species on ecosystem functioning. Specifically, the direct effect of sewage outfalls on benthic communities was assessed using a fully replicated survey that incorporated spatial and temporal variation. In addition, two field experiments examined the effects of loss of species at multiple trophic levels, and tested for potential interactive effects with enhanced nutrient concentration conditions on benthic assemblage structure and ecosystem functioning. This research addressed priority issues outlined in the Biodiversity Knowledge Programme for Ireland (2006) and also aimed to deliver information relevant to European Union (EU) directives (the Water Framework Directive [WFD], the Habitats Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive).

Folate and vitamin B-12: friendly or enemy nutrients for the elderly

In the UK vitamin B-12, deficiency occurs in approximately 20% of adults aged >65 years. This incidence is significantly higher than that among the general population. The reported incidence invariably depends on the criteria of deficiency used, and in fact estimates rise to 24% and 46% among free-living and institutionalised elderly respectively when methylmalonic acid is used as a marker of vitamin B-12 status. The incidence of, and the criteria for diagnosis of, deficiency have drawn much attention recently in the wake of the implementation of folic acid fortification of flour in the USA. This fortification strategy has proved to be extremely successful in increasing folic acid intakes pre-conceptually and thereby reducing the incidence of neural-tube defects among babies born in the USA since 1998. However, in successfully delivering additional folic acid to pregnant women fortification also increases the consumption of folic acid of everyone who consumes products containing flour, including the elderly. It is argued that consuming additional folic acid (as 'synthetic' pteroylglutamic acid) from fortified foods increases the risk of 'masking' megaloblastic anaemia caused by vitamin B-12 deficiency. Thus, a number of issues arise for discussion. Are clinicians forced to rely on megaloblastic anaemia as the only sign of possible vitamin B-12 deficiency? Is serum vitamin B-12 alone adequate to confirm vitamin B-12 deficiency or should other diagnostic markers be used routinely in clinical practice? Is the level of intake of folic acid among the elderly (post-fortification) likely to be so high as to cure or 'mask' the anaemia associated with vitamin B-12 deficiency?.

Enhancing social work students’ learning experience and readiness to undertake practice learning.

This project set out to evaluate the effectiveness of social work education by analysing student perceptions of the strengths and limitations of their education and training on the Bachelor of Social Work, Queen’s University, Belfast (QUB) at different stages of their ‘learning journey’ through the programme.
The author’s primary aim in undertaking this study was to contribute evidence-based understanding of the challenges and opportunities students identified themselves within contemporary practice environments. A secondary aim was to test the effectiveness of key approaches, theories and learning tools in common usage in social work education. The authors believe the outcomes generated by the project demonstrate the value of systematically researching student perceptions of their learning experience and feel the study provides important lessons which should help to inform the future development of social work education not only locally but in other parts of the UK.

Pathways for delivery of surface water nutrients to receptors

Diffuse contaminants can make their way into rivers via a number of different pathways, including overland flow, interflow, and shallow and deep groundwater. Identification of the key pathway(s) delivering contaminants to a receptor is important for implementing effective water management strategies. The ‘Pathways Project’, funded by the Irish Environmental Protection Agency, is developing a catchment management tool that will enable practitioners to identify the critical source areas for diffuse contaminants, and the key pathways of interest in assessing contaminant problems on a catchment and sub-catchment scale.
One of the aims of the project is to quantify the flow and contaminant loadings being delivered to the stream via each of the main pathways. Chemical separation of stream event hydrographs is being used to supplement more traditional physical hydrograph separation methods. Distinct, stable chemical signatures are derived for each of the pathway end members, and the proportion of flow from each during a rainfall event can be determined using a simple mass balance approach.
Event sampling was carried out in a test catchment underlain by poorly permeable soils and bedrock, which is predominantly used for grazing with a number of one-off rural residential houses. Results show that artificial field drainage, which includes subterranean land drains and collector drains around the perimeters of the 1 to 10 ha fields, plays an important role in the delivery of flow and nutrients to the streams in these types of hydrogeological settings.
Nitrate infiltrates with recharge and is delivered to the stream primarily via the artificial drains and the shallow groundwater pathway. Longitudinal stream profiles show that the nitrate load input is relatively uniform over the 8 km length of the stream at high flows, suggesting widespread diffuse contaminant input. In contrast, phosphorus is adsorbed in the clay-rich soil and is transported mainly via the overland flow pathway and the artificial drains. Longitudinal stream profiles for phosphorus suggest a pattern of more discrete points of phosphorus inputs, which may be related to point sources of contamination.
These techniques have application elsewhere within a toolkit of methods for determining the key pathways delivering contaminants to surface water receptors.

Speciation and distribution of arsenic and localization of nutrients in rice grains

Arsenic (As) contamination of rice grains and the generally low concentration of micronutrients in rice have been recognized as a major concern for human health. Here, we investigated the speciation and localization of As and the distribution of (micro)nutrients in rice grains because these are key factors controlling bioavailability of nutrients and contaminants. Bulk total and speciation analyses using high-pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC)-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) was complemented by spatially resolved microspectroscopic techniques (micro-XANES, micro-X-ray fluorescence (micro-XRF) and particle induced X-ray emission (PIXE)) to investigate both speciation and distribution of As and localization of nutrients in situ. The distribution of As and micronutrients varied between the various parts of the grains (husk, bran and endosperm) and was characterized by element-specific distribution patterns. The speciation of As in bran and endosperm was dominated by As(III)-thiol complexes. The results indicate that the translocation from the maternal to filial tissues may be a bottleneck for As accumulation in the grain. Strong similarities between the distribution of iron (Fe), manganese (Mn) and phosphorus (P) and between zinc (Zn) and sulphur (S) may be indicative of complexation mechanisms in rice grains.