Practical Advice to Entrepreneurs Series by ACE Adjunct Professor Dean Shepherd: Practical advice on managing new venture survival

The author, Dean Shepherd, is of entrepreneurship—how entrepreneurs think, decide to act, and feel. He recently realized that while his publications in academic journals have implications for entrepreneurs, those implications have remained relatively hidden in the text of the articles and hidden in articles published in journals largely inaccessible to those involved in the entrepreneurial process. This series is designed to bring the practical implications of his research to the forefront.

Practical Advice to Entrepreneurs Series by ACE Adjunct Professor Dean Shepherd: Practical advice on pulling the plug on a failing business

The author, Dean Shepherd, is of entrepreneurship—how entrepreneurs think, decide to act, and feel. He recently realized that while his publications in academic journals have implications for entrepreneurs, those implications have remained relatively hidden in the text of the articles and hidden in articles published in journals largely inaccessible to those involved in the entrepreneurial process. This series is designed to bring the practical implications of his research to the forefront.

Practical Advice to Entrepreneurs Series by ACE Adjunct Professor Dean Shepherd: Practical advice on learning the most from project failure

The author, Dean Shepherd, is of entrepreneurship—how entrepreneurs think, decide to act, and feel. He recently realized that while his publications in academic journals have implications for entrepreneurs, those implications have remained relatively hidden in the text of the articles and hidden in articles published in journals largely inaccessible to those involved in the entrepreneurial process. This series is designed to bring the practical implications of his research to the forefront.

Practical Advice to Entrepreneurs Series by ACE Adjunct Professor Dean Shepherd: Practical advice for coping with business failure

The author, Dean Shepherd, is of entrepreneurship—how entrepreneurs think, decide to act, and feel. He recently realized that while his publications in academic journals have implications for entrepreneurs, those implications have remained relatively hidden in the text of the articles and hidden in articles published in journals largely inaccessible to those involved in the entrepreneurial process. This series is designed to bring the practical implications of his research to the forefront.

methoxy-poly(ethylene glycol) modified poly(L-lactide) enhanced cell affinity of human bone marrow stromal cells by the upregulation of 1-cadherin and delta-2-catenin

Poly(l-lactide) (PLLA), a versatile biodegradable polymer, is one of the most commonly-used materials for tissue engineering applications. To improve cell affinity for PLLA, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) was used to develop diblock copolymers. Human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSCs) were cultured on MPEG-b-PLLA copolymer films to determine the effects of modification on the attachment and proliferation of hBMSC. The mRNA expression of 84 human extracellular matrix (ECM) and adhesion molecules was analyzed using RT-qPCR to understand the underlying mechanisms. It was found that MPEG-b-PLLA copolymer films significantly improved cell adhesion, extension, and proliferation.This was found to be related to the significant upregulation of two adhesion genes, CDH1 and CTNND2, which encode 1-cadherin and delta-2-catenin, respectively, two key components for the cadherin-catenin complex. In summary, MPEG-b-PLLA copolymer surfaces improved initial cell adhesion by stimulation of adhesion molecule gene expression.

Imagining social justice

This paper examines how creativity and the arts can assist teachers who teach from a social justice perspective, and how knowledge built through meaningful experiences of difference can make a difference. Just as imagining is central to visual arts practice, so too the capacity to imagine is a necessity for social justice. The authors ask what art can do, and how art can work, to bring about greater understandings and practices around social justice and the early years. A ‘recognitive justice’ (Fraser, 1997, 2000; Cazden, 2012) requires the capacity to be sensitive to the multiple voices that need to be heard, and the ability to imagine how lives might be lived differently. The arts can provide powerful means for thinking social justice, and the experiences described in this paper can have application in addressing social justice in the professional preparation of prospective teachers. Three teacher educators who teach from a social justice perspective apply a collective biography methodology to their stories of art activity. Data were collected from three sites: transcripts, notes and digital images from a salon evening; ethnographic observations, field notes and artefacts from a school classroom; and a/r/tographic data generated in a university art classroom. Data were analysed using Foucault and the conceptual work of other post-structuralist philosophies, to explore how aesthetic and creative artistic activity could excite imaginations and open up multiple possibilities for richer forms of educational outcomes – for teacher educators, their students, and ultimately for young children.

Not as it seems : using Deleuzian concepts of the imaginary to rethink children’s drawings

Deleuze (1990) states in Negotiations that signs are realized in ideas. Although Deleuze referred to cinema, his thinking about signs and ideas can apply to drawings. Cinema is moving imagery and drawing is static, however both are informed and constructed from realized ideas that continue to shift beyond the artifact. Theories about children’s drawings have historically pertained to establishing schematic universalities rather than acknowledging the agglomerative connections they make to the multiple things occurring around a drawing as it is created. Universal schemas however persist within early childhood art discourses despite the growth of critical theory research into other aspects of childhood. Deleuze’s assertions about the signs and classifications of cinema help to contest notions of schematic development, i.e. children should progress through particular iconic drawing stages at particular ages. Deleuze’s quotes and thoughts on the imaginary and imagination are referenced to interrogate ‘scientific’ knowledges and the gathering of evidential truths about children’s intellectual growth and development. Four examples from a dataset of drawings from a pilot study, undertaken by the author that tested the methodological potential of intergenerational collaborative drawing in early childhood settings, facilitate focused discussion on the above contestations.

Students’ perceptions and use of the Internet as a news channel

New technologies, in particular the Internet, have transformed journalistic practices in many ways around the world. While a number of studies have investigated how established journalists are dealing with and using new technologies in a number of countries, very little attention has been paid to how student journalists view and use the Internet as a source of news. This study examined the ways in which second and third-year journalism and arts students at the University of Queensland (Australia) get their news, how they use the Internet as a news channel, as well as their perceptions and use of other new technologies. The authors draw on the theoretical frameworks of uses and gratifications, as well as the media richness theory to explore the primary reasons why students use and perceive the Internet as a news channel.

Whose business is dying? Death, the home and palliative care

The process of dying at home brings the nexus between the paternalism of conventional palliative care and a social understanding of end of life care into sharp focus. Away from institutional places of care, issues of ownership, compliance and communal responsibility are heightened. At this interface, palliative care services are confronted with the irony of relinquishing their 'ownership' of dying whilst leading communities to reclaim their principal role in the business of dying. This benign – but enduring – paternalism remains a barrier to a paradigmatic shift towards a more complete understanding of the business of dying. Whilst nascent attempts to promote community engagement in end of life issues are evident in the interface between palliative care and public health, dying remains, for the most part, the remit of health care services. In this article, I contend that the business of dying is incompletely attended. This lack of attention will be partially redressed here by considering the home as a fitting death scene.

Should I stay or should I go? The challenges and opportunities of moving between university systems

The scientific job market has evolved to a truly globalized market. This is epitomized not only by the English language being the de facto scientific language but also by the increasing share of native language journals that are being offered in multiple languages or have or will fully converted to English (such as, for example, the BISE journal in 2015). Similarly, a plethora of exchange programs exists that allow students and academic staff to visit other institutions and exchange knowledge, ideas, and learning opportunities. While student migration across scientific institutions is an established phenomenon (Gribble, 2008) with ample structures, policies, and schemes such as ERASMUS1 in place, academic staff migration between countries is still a challenge, even if exchange programs exist (Enders, 1998). One reason may be that different career paths, varying teaching loads and different evaluation schemes for what constitutes scientific excellence are notable. This also influences the decision of where to start and continue an academic career. While the university systems themselves have been examined previously (Galliers and Whitley, 2007; Lyytinen et al., 2007) and while there is knowledge about career requirements in different university systems (Dennis et al., 2006; Dean et al., 2011; Loos et al., 2013; Recker, 2013), we still do not know much about individual and contextual decisions of academics that either consider or execute a migration between university systems.

Accounting for forests in Fiji : the experience of Future Forests (Fiji) Limited

"in a world which is experiencing unprecedented deforestation and widespread global environmental threats there is something intuitively right about planting a tree" (Future Forests (Fiji) Limited) The above quote demonstrates that even in the wake of global environmental crisis that hope still remains and that humans can still control their destiny. This opportunity to effect positive environmental change is one of the main aims of the South Pacific Stock Exchange’s (SPSE) most recent publicly listed company: Future Forest (Fiji) Limited. Incorporated in 2004 and listed on SPSE in 2011, the company is Fiji’s first large-scale commercial hardwood forest plantation and nursery. Future Forest (FF) is the only company listed on the SPSE with biological assets or “living assets.” The accounting standard for biological assets is IAS 41: Agriculture. This standard prescribes the use of fair value as the basis of valuation. While a more relevant method of valuation, the application of fair value accounting can be more costly and burdensome for companies in developing economies (White 2008). In line with the journal’s theme of agriculture, this article explores the issues, challenges and potential benefits involved in applying fair value accounting for biological assets in a developing economy such as Fiji using the case of Future Forest (Fiji) Limited.

Where are all the female participants in sports and exercise medicine research?

The aim of this study is to estimate the ratio of male and female participants in Sports and Exercise Medicine research. Original research articles published in three major Sports and Exercise Medicine journals (Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, British Journal of Sports Medicine and American Journal of Sports Medicine) over a three year period were examined. Each article was screened to determine the following: total number of participants, the number of female participants and the number of male participants. The percentage of females and males per article in each of the journals was also calculated. Cross tabulations and Chi square analysis were used to compare the gender representation of participants within each of the journals. Data were extracted from 1, 382 articles involving a total of 6, 076, 705 participants. 2, 366, 998 (39%) participants were female and 3, 709, 707 (61%) male. The average percentage of female participants per article across the journals ranged from 35-37%. Females were significantly under-represented across all of the journals (X2 =23566, df=2, p<0.00001). There were no significant differences between the three journals. In conclusion, Sports and Exercise Medicine practitioners should be cognisant of sexual dimorphism and gender disparity in the current literature.

The politics of open-access publishing : M/C Journal, Public Intellectualism, and Academic Discourses of Legitimacy

This article investigates the discourses of academic legitimacy that surround the production, consumption, and accreditation of online scholarship. Using the web-based media and cultural studies journal (http://journal.media-culture.org.au) as a case study, it examines how online scholarly journals often position themselves as occupying a space between the academic and the popular and as having a functional advantage over print-based media in promoting a spirit of public intellectualism. The current research agenda of both government and academe prioritises academic research that is efficient, self-promoting, and relevant to the public. Yet, although the cost-effectiveness and public-intellectual focus of online scholarship speak to these research priorities, online journals such as M/C Journal have occupied, and continue to occupy, an unstable position in relation to the perceived academic legitimacy of their content. Although some online scholarly journals have achieved a limited form of recognition within a system of accreditation that still privileges print-based scholarship, I argue that this, nevertheless, points to the fact that traditional textual notions of legitimate academic work continue to pervade the research agenda of an academe that increasingly promotes flexible delivery of teaching and online research initiatives.

The strange death and curious after-lives of the academic journal

Discussion at a session featuring a panel of editors of six leading media and communication journals. Annual conference of the Australian and New Zealand Communication Association, University of Melbourne, July 2007.

On the hardness of the sum of K mins problem

The sum of k mins protocol was proposed by Hopper and Blum as a protocol for secure human identification. The goal of the protocol is to let an unaided human securely authenticate to a remote server. The main ingredient of the protocol is the sum of k mins problem. The difficulty of solving this problem determines the security of the protocol. In this paper, we show that the sum of k mins problem is NP-Complete and W[1]-Hard. This latter notion relates to fixed parameter intractability. We also discuss the use of the sum of k mins protocol in resource-constrained devices.