Learning from failure: a study of failed enterprises of self-employed African migrants in the UK

Purpose This paper investigates the high failure among African entrepreneurs post 2008 financial crisis. It evaluates the evidence of actual and perceived disadvantage and endogenous and exogenous factors affecting BME businesses. Methodology/Approach The research is based on an interpretivist frame which uses a dialogic methodology. It uses in-depth interviews. The researchers framed discussion questions so as to invite the participants to articulate directly their experiences for the benefit of the readership, other existing African businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs. Findings The findings from the interviews with 20 leaders of ‘dead’ businesses indicate the impact that place, people and poverty have on business failure and identify reasons for African business failure rates compared to other minorities. This study reveals that culture, an often understated variable, is critical in understanding the deeper reasons for the underperformance of African small entrepreneurs and its impacts on individual and collective lives. Practical implications Recovery solutions ought to be formulated from participants’ call for diversification, inter-cultural learning and integration as potential remedies. The research addresses the socio-economic problems encountered by owners of ‘dead’ businesses. Policymakers and financial organisations ought to pay heed to the skills and resources that minorities offer as part of remedies for future enterprises. Originality: Studies on failed African businesses are under-represented in the literature. This study identifies the important role of culture on the failure of small businesses owned by African migrants in the UK. It highlights the significant socio-economic and situational barriers that they navigate in quest for recognition and cultural integration through business endeavours

Skin-targeted inhibition of PPAR β/δ by selective antagonists to treat PPAR β/δ-mediated psoriasis-like skin disease in vivo

We have previously shown that peroxisome proliferator activating receptor ß/δ (PPAR β/δ is overexpressed in psoriasis. PPAR β/δ is not present in adult epidermis of mice. Targeted expression of PPAR β/δ and activation by a selective synthetic agonist is sufficient to induce an inflammatory skin disease resembling psoriasis. Several signalling pathways dysregulated in psoriasis are replicated in this model, suggesting that PPAR β/δ activation contributes to psoriasis pathogenesis. Thus, inhibition of PPAR β/δ might harbour therapeutical potential. Since PPAR β/δ has pleiotropic functions in metabolism, skin-targeted inhibition offer the potential of reducing systemic adverse effects. Here, we report that three selective PPAR β/δ antagonists, GSK0660, compound 3 h, and GSK3787 can be formulated for topical application to the skin and that their skin concentration can be accurately quantified using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UPLC)/mass spectrometry. These antagonists show efficacy in our transgenic mouse model in reducing psoriasis-like changes triggered by activation of PPAR β/δ. PPAR β/δ antagonists GSK0660 and compound 3 do not exhibit systemic drug accumulation after prolonged application to the skin, nor do they induce inflammatory or irritant changes. Significantly, the irreversible PPAR β/δ antagonist (GSK3787) retains efficacy when applied topically only three times per week which could be of practical clinical usefulness. Our data suggest that topical inhibition of PPAR β/δ to treat psoriasis may warrant further exploration

Flood magnitude-frequency and lithologic control on bedrock river incision in post-orogenic terrain

Mixed bedrock-alluvial rivers - bedrock channels lined with a discontinuous alluvial cover - are key agents in the shaping of mountain belt topography by bedrock fluvial incision. Whereas much research focuses upon the erosional dynamics of such rivers in the context of rapidly uplifting orogenic landscapes, the present study investigates river incision processes in a post-orogenic (cratonic) landscape undergoing extremely low rates of incision (> 5 m/Ma). River incision processes are examined as a function of substrate lithology and the magnitude and frequency of formative flows along Sandy Creek gorge, a mixed bedrock-alluvial stream in arid SE-central Australia. Incision is focused along a bedrock channel with a partial alluvial cover arranged into riffle-pool macrobedforms that reflect interactions between rock structure and large-flood hydraulics. Variations in channel width and gradient determine longitudinal trends in mean shear stress (τb) and therefore also patterns of sediment transport and deposition. A steep and narrow, non-propagating knickzone (with 5% alluvial cover) coincides with a resistant quartzite unit that subdivides the gorge into three reaches according to different rock erodibility and channel morphology. The three reaches also separate distinct erosional styles: bedrock plucking (i.e. detachment-limited erosion) prevails along the knickzone, whereas along the upper and lower gorge rock incision is dependent upon large formative floods exceeding critical erosion thresholds (τc) for coarse boulder deposits that line 70% of the channel thalweg (i.e. transport-limited erosion). The mobility of coarse bed materials (up to 2 m diameter) during late Holocene palaeofloods of known magnitude and age is evaluated using step-backwater flow modelling in conjunction with two selective entrainment equations. A new approach for quantifying the formative flood magnitude in mixed bedrock-alluvial rivers is described here based on the mobility of a key coarse fraction of the bed materials; in this case the d84 size fraction. A 350 m3/s formative flood fully mobilises the coarse alluvial cover with τb200-300 N/m2 across the upper and lower gorge riffles, peaking over 500 N/m2 in the knickzone. Such floods have an annual exceedance probability much less than 10- 2 and possibly as low as 10- 3. The role of coarse alluvial cover in the gorge is discussed at two scales: (1) modulation of bedrock exposure at the reach-scale, coupled with adjustment to channel width and gradient, accommodates uniform incision across rocks of different erodibility in steady-state fashion; and (2) at the sub-reach scale where coarse boulder deposits (corresponding to <i>τ</i><sub>b</sub> minima) cap topographic convexities in the rock floor, thereby restricting bedrock incision to rare large floods. While recent studies postulate that decreasing uplift rates during post-orogenic topographic decay might drive a shift to transport-limited conditions in river networks, observations here and elsewhere in post-orogenic settings suggest, to the contrary, that extremely low erosion rates are maintained with substantial bedrock channel exposure. Although bed material mobility is known to be rate-limiting for bedrock river incision under low sediment flux conditions, exactly how a partial alluvial cover might be spatially distributed to either optimise or impede the rate of bedrock incision is open to speculation. Observations here suggest that the small volume of very stable bed materials lining Sandy Creek gorge is distributed so as to minimise the rate of bedrock fluvial incision over time

Noise Control in the Urban Environment

An environmental problem that has been the subject of increasing attention in recent years is the high level of noise that has become so characteristic of the urban environment

Electric Propulsion Options for a Magnetospheric Mapping Mission

The Twin Electric Magnetospheric Probes Exploring on Spiral Trajectories mission concept was proposed as a Middle Explorer class mission. A pre-phase-A design was developed which utilizes the advantages of electric propulsion for Earth scientific spacecraft use. This paper presents propulsion system analyses performed for the proposal. The proposed mission required two spacecraft to explore near circular orbits 0.1 to 15 Earth radii in both high and low inclination orbits. Since the use of chemical propulsion would require launch vehicles outside the Middle Explorer class a reduction in launch mass was sought using ion, Hall, and arcjet electric propulsion system. Xenon ion technology proved to be the best propulsion option for the mission requirements requiring only two Pegasus XL launchers. The Hall thruster provided an alternative solution but required two larger, Taurus launch vehicles. Arcjet thrusters did not allow for significant launch vehicle reduction in the Middle Explorer class

The use of 2D fingerprint methods to support the assessment of structural similarity in orphan drug legislation.

In the European Union, medicines are authorised for some rare disease only if they are judged to be dissimilar to authorised orphan drugs for that disease. This paper describes the use of 2D fingerprints to show the extent of the relationship between computed levels of structural similarity for pairs of molecules and expert judgments of the similarities of those pairs. The resulting relationship can be used to provide input to the assessment of new active compounds for which orphan drug authorisation is being sought