For start-up businesses, the source of outside capital can be retrieved from the venture capital industry. The venture capital industry has grown substantially over the past 50 years, reaching its pinnacle during the internet bubble in the 1990s and serves as an important contributor to the economy. After some time, and optimally when the start-up has matured into a successful business, venture capitalists want to receive money in return for their investments. Most commonly, the exiting of venture capital investments is retrieved through an IPO. An IPO refers to the transition from a private corporation to a public corporation and occurs when a private corporation offers its shares to the public for the first time. The existing literature of IPOs is commonly associated with the depiction of abnormal returns. More precisely, the offer price is often underpriced in comparison to the closing price on the first day of trading. In addition, the returns 1 to 5 years after going public are often subject to subsequent declines (Miller & Riley, 1987; Ritter, 1998). A part of the underperformance of IPOs is anchored in the type of capital structure, venture capital. Thus, this study examines the relationship between venture capital backed IPOs and IPO performance. Furthermore, the relationship between the degree of venture capital, the amount of capital held by the venture capital firm in the IPO, and IPO performance are examined in order to discover eventual correlations. Concerning the performed analysis, the study concludes that there is no clear positive relationship between venture capital backing and IPO performance in the short run. However, one could interpret that being a VC-backed IPO can be prosperous for long-term performance since VC has a positive impact on ROA. Regarding the degree of venture capital, it had a negative impact on the ROA, i.e., the level of degree of venture capital does not have a positive impact on the IPO performance.

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In recent years there has been increasing interest in developing greater creativity in education. This study focuses on trainee teachers during their initial teacher education and explores their beliefs about and perceptions of developing greater creativity in their practice. The work is located within the context of a school-based initial teacher education course and considers whether and how continuing moves towards school-based training in England can support the impetus towards greater creativity in teachers and their pupils. The study draws from qualitative research undertaken with a small group of trainee English teachers during a one-year School-based Initial Teacher Education course in England. Working from a social constructionist perspective, this research uses the methodology of Action Research. Employing a range of qualitative methods, including discourse analysis of group discussions, individual interviews, a silent discussion, and writing and analysing metaphors, it provides some insight into the trainee teachers’ complex understandings of creativity in the classroom, and how these understandings connect with their developing identity as teachers and with their pedagogy, practice and philosophy. It offers an insight into the trainees’ beliefs about and perceptions of moving towards creativity in their teaching, and the barriers and supports to such practice they encounter, both within the training course and in the partner schools. Reviewing a range of approaches to teaching and learning and considering the trainees’ beliefs and perceptions, the study suggests that agency is central to creativity, and that approaches which support the agency both of trainee teachers and of pupils are most likely to result in greater creativity in the classroom. The study regards creativity as a situated and highly contextual quality, and discusses practical approaches to teaching and learning, gathered under the term Creative Practice, which may be most likely to occasion greater creativity in the classroom. It offers suggestions for teacher educators as to how to better support trainee teachers in moving towards Creative Practice.

This thesis reports the findings of a research study conducted in an initial primary teacher education college in Dublin, exploring how teacher education students experienced and constructed meaning from a pre-service RE course which recognized the importance of a focus on their inner lives. The study, which adopted a qualitative interpretive approach, was conducted using semi-structured interviews with twelve past students from a recently-graduated year group of one hundred students. The study hoped to uncover how a focus on the inner life was taken up by the research participants in relation to their personal and professional wellbeing and their role as educators in general and religious educators in particular. While it did not seek to generalise as a result of the findings, confined as it is by time and circumstance, nevertheless aspects deemed worthwhile by the research participants may also be deemed worthwhile by the reader and indeed may not be confined to the domain of RE. The findings have been framed generally against the three themes of ‘particularity’, ‘inner-ness’ and ‘ongoing-ness’. The theme of ‘particularity’ relates to the participants’ epistemological journey, as it is concerned with how concrete elements of the course supported inner life work. The theme of ‘inner-ness’ relates to the participants’ ontological journey, as it is concerned with how participants experienced and made meaning from the space provided by the course for inner life work. The theme of ‘ongoingness’ relates to the total RE journey from primary and secondary school to college and into their teaching lives and its impact on participants’ inner lives. What is clear from participants’ responses is that the RE course, and particularly the elements of the RE course that had a focus on the inner life, had a significant impact on participants’ identity, both personal and professional, at an important stage of their development and personal story. The study demonstrates the importance of inner life work for teacher education students and contributes a level of insight into how students appropriate and construct meaning from a created and creative space that supports a focus on that inner life.

Cerebral hypoperfusion can occur in normal ageing and is proposed to underlie white matter disturbances observed in the ageing brain. Moreover, cerebral hypoperfusion and white matter attenuation are early events in the progression of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). White matter mostly consists of myelinated axons which have distinct protein architecture, segregated into defined regions; the axon initial segment (AIS), the node of Ranvier, paranode, juxtaparanode, and internode. These sites are essential for action potential initiation and/or propagation and subsequently effective brain function. At the outset of the studies in the thesis there was evidence that the different regions within the myelinated axons are vulnerable to injury and disease. Thus it is hypothesised that in response to normal ageing and/or cerebral hypoperfusion these structures are altered and associated with cognitive impairment and that these effects are exacerbated in a transgenic mouse model (APPSw,Ind, J9 line) which develops age-dependent amyloid-β (Αβ) pathology. The first study aims to investigate the effect of normal ageing and Aβ deposition on myelinated axons and on learning and memory. To address this, the effects of normal ageing on the integrity of the AIS, nodes of Ranvier, myelin, axons, synapses and spatial working memory are examined in young and aged wild-type and TgAPPSw,Ind mice. A significant reduction in the length of nodes of Ranvier is demonstrated in aged wild-type and TgAPPSw,Ind mice. In addition, the length of AIS, is significantly reduced in the aged wild-type animals while the young TgAPPSw,Ind have significantly shorter AIS than the young wild-type mice. These effects are not influenced by the presence of Aβ. Myelin integrity is affected by age but this is more prominent in the wild-type animals whilst axonal integrity is intact. Moreover, there is an age-related decrease of presynaptic boutons only in the TgAPPSw,Ind mice. Contrary to the original hypothesis, working memory performance is not altered with age or influenced by increasing Aβ levels. The second study aims to examine the effects of cerebral hypoperfusion in combination with Αβ pathology and/or ageing on cognitive performance and the structure of myelinated axons. To address this, the effects of surgically induced cerebral hypoperfusion on the integrity of the nodes of Ranvier, paranodes, myelin, axons and spatial working memory performance are investigated in young and aged wild-type and TgAPPSw,Ind mice. A decrease in nodal length is observed in response to hypoperfusion in young and aged animals. This effect is shown to be exacerbated in the young TgAPPSw,Ind animals. Moreover, the disruption of the nodal domain is shown to occur without any gross alterations in myelin and axonal integrity. It is also demonstrated that in response to hypoperfusion, spatial working memory performance is defected in young and aged animals of both genotypes. This deficit is exacerbated in the young TgAPPSw,Ind. The observed changes in the nodal structure are associated with poor working memory performance indicating functional implication for the nodal changes. These data highlight that structures within myelinated axons are vulnerable to ageing and cerebral hypoperfusion. Therefore, the development of strategies that minimize injury or drive repair to these regions is necessary together with therapeutic approaches against the vascular insults that induce hypoperfusion and lead to white matter attenuation and cognitive decline. In the future, it would be interesting to investigate how alterations at the AIS/nodes of Ranvier affect neuronal excitability.

This study aims to further develop research, from a management approach, by studying how MCS packages change when an organization undergoes an initial public offering. Furthermore, it aims to use Malmi and Brown’s (2008) management control system package in order to categorize and analyze the complexity of organizational change brought on by an initial public offering. This study draws on interviews with top managers in a high technological firm, which has recently been listed on the stock exchange. The results of this study imply that an initial public offering can change the MCS package in a number of different ways. Public companies do not necessarily become short-term, an initial public offering can affect a company’s external focus and measurements without affecting its internal measurements, in order for companies to become suitable for the stock market they formalize policies and appoint an independent board and listed companies can experience changes to their culture.

Combining agency theory and the resource-dependence perspective as well as signalling theory, this thesis examines the role venture capitalists (VCs) and founders play with respect to both structural board characteristics and board capital in terms of experience and prestige and whether these are linked to performance. It claims that VCs and founders shape the governance system of the firms going public and are influential in the professionalisation of the ventures especially in terms of human and social capital of its board of directors. It also argues that the board of directors represents a signal of firm quality in the initial public offering (IPO) market and should thus be linked to performance. Similarly, according to the venture capital certification hypothesis, being funded by VCs signals a firm's quality and potential. In order to assess these claims, this thesis employs a unique sample of matched venturecapital- backed and non-venture-capital-backed entrepreneurial IPOs that floated either on the London Stock Exchange's Official List or the Alternative Investment Market (AIM). Extending previous research this thesis employs more fine-grained measures and introduces new conceptually relevant variables in the analysis. The findings indicate that VCs and founders are influential in shaping corporate governance of IPO-stage ventures both from an agency and resource-provision perspective. Findings from the examination of governance and professionalisation characteristics with respect to IPO short-run performance (underpricing) indicate that it may the involvement of prestigious auditors that signal firm quality while a founder bias discount seems to exist. While evidence is found that VC involvement (and to a lesser extent director/board characteristics) is related to post-IPO market performance, this seems to depend on the time period following the IPO examined, whereas auditor prestige shows a positive association in all of these time periods.

Extended Direct Analysis (EDA), developed at the University of Canterbury, is an advance on the AISC Direct Analysis method for the analysis of frames subjected to static forces. EDA provides a faster, simple and more rational way to properly consider the second-order effects, initial residual stresses (IRS) and the initial imperfections or steel structures under one directional loading than conventional analysis methods. This research applied the EDA method to quantify the effect of member overstrength on frame behaviour for a single storey frame. Also, the effects of IRS, which were included in the EDA static analysis, but which are not considered explicitly in non-linear seismic analysis, were evaluated in two ways. Firstly, they were considered for simple structures subject to increasing cyclic displacement in different directions. Secondly, incremental dynamic analysis with realistic ground motion was used to quantify the likely effect of IRS in earthquakes. It was found that, contrary to traditional wisdom and practice, greater member strengths can result in lower frame strengths for frames under monotonic lateral loading. The structural lateral capacity of the overstrength case was reduced by 6% compared to the case using the dependable member strengths. Also, it resulted significantly different in member demands. Therefore, it is recommended that when either plastic analysis or EDA is used, that both upper and lower bounds on the likely member strength should be considered to determine the total frame strength and the member demands. Results of push-pull analysis under displacement control showed that for IRS ratio, gamma < 0.5 and axial compressive force ratio, N*/Ns, up to 0.5, IRS did affect the structural behaviour in the first half cycle. However, the behavior in the later cycles was not significantly affected. It also showed that the effect of initial residual stresses in the frame was less significant than for the column alone when the column was subjected to similar axial compressive force. The incremental dynamic analysis results from both cantilever column and the three-storey steel frame showed that by increasing gamma = 0 to 0.5, the effect of IRS on seismic responses, based on the 50% confidence level, was less than 3% for N*/Ns, up to 0.5.

This dissertation examined the impact of species, physiological age and spacing on tree form and branching at a Nelder experiment located near Rolleston, Canterbury. Two species were compared, Pinus radiata and Eucalyptus nitens, at a range of stockings from 271 stems/ha to 40,466 stems/ha. Within the P. radiata, two different physiological ages were compared. Stocking and species significantly affected (p-value <0.05) tree height, diameter at breast height (DBH), crown depth, branch mortality, branch angle, branch size and internode length. Only stocking was statistically significant for crown width, and height from the ground was also statistically significant for branch angle and branch mortality. DBH, crown width, crown depth, branch size and branch survival decreased with increasing stocking for both species. Branch angle and average internode length increased as stocking increased for both species, and branch angle and average internode length also increased as you moved away from the base of the tree. DBH, average internode length and branch size were significantly larger for P. radiata across all stockings, however branch mortality and branch angle were significantly larger for E. nitens. Physiological age was not statistically significant for any aspects of tree form or branching examined in this study.