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Evaluating the impact of Academic Literacies teaching (Lea and Street [1998. "Student Writing in Higher Education: An Academic Literacies Approach." "Studies in Higher Education" 23 (2): 157-72. doi:10.1080/03075079812331380364]) is difficult, as it involves gauging whether writers: (1) gain better understanding of what influences written social interactions; and (2) improve their ability to manipulate language to address readers. Self-report can assess the first; the second can only be evaluated by examining texts and their effect on readers. Texts are commonly assessed with rubrics-based tools focussing on textual features, but their insensitivity to communicative context and readers' perception makes these inappropriate for an Academic Literacies framework (Canton [2018. "'It's Hard to Define Good Writing, but I Recognise it When I See it': Can Consensus-Based Assessment Evaluate the Teaching of Writing?" "Journal of Academic Writing" 8 (1): 13-27. doi:10.18552/joaw.v8i1.450]). Consensual assessment used by Amabile ([1996. "Creativity in Context." Boulder, CL: Westview Press]) for creativity, offers a potential solution (Canton [2018. "'It's Hard to Define Good Writing, but I Recognise it When I See it': Can Consensus-Based Assessment Evaluate the Teaching of Writing?" "Journal of Academic Writing" 8 (1): 13-27. doi:10.18552/joaw.v8i1.450]). This paper presents a new instrument based on consensual assessment and empirically tests it. Intra-class Correlation Coefficients (ICCs) found moderate (Koo and Li [2016. "A Guideline of Selecting and Reporting Intraclass Correlation Coefficients for Reliability Research." "Journal of Chiropractic Medicine" 15 (2): 155-63. doi:10.1016/j.jcm.2016.02.012]) to good (Cicchetti [1994. "Guidelines, Criteria, and Rules of Thumb for Evaluating Normed and Standardized Assessment Instruments in Psychology." "Psychological Assessment" 6 (4): 284-90. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/50d7/f68422d0c0424674f6b235ac23be8300da38.pdf]) agreement among raters, which offers proof of concept for capturing the readers' perception of the complex interactions in writing.

The Marginalisation and Co-created Education (MaCE) project was developed between the University of Southern Norway, VIA University in Denmark and the University of Cumbria in the UK and funded by Erasmus+. The project aims to co-create proposals to achieve an equitable and socially just education system through participative action research with 'Early School Leavers'. This paper establishes a conceptual framework called 'Equalities Literacy' that evolved from the first action research cycle of the project. The framework is informed by the practice experience and theoretical knowledge of the international and interdisciplinary research team. It is applied to one youth narrative in this paper to illustrate its efficacy in revealing socio-cultural in/equalities. The Equalities Literacy framework is proposed to challenge and inform practice and further research. Further, the 'Indirect Approach' is introduced and located within action research as a participatory methodology that other researchers may wish to adopt.

The concept of the independent learner has become increasingly important within the higher education sector. However, there appears to be no consensus and rarely any clarification of what is meant by the term. As a result, students may fail to understand what is expected of them as independent learners, with implications for retention, progression and the student experience. This paper describes a research project that aimed to clarify what students and staff understood by the phrase. The results suggest that while most staff and students were familiar and comfortable with the concept, there remains potential for misunderstanding and confusion. (Contains 4 tables and 1 figure.)

The ability to understand and implement calculations required for molarity and dilution computations that are routinely undertaken in the laboratory are essential skills that should be possessed by all students entering an undergraduate Life Sciences degree. However, it is increasingly recognized that the majority of these students are ill equipped to reliably carry out such calculations. There are several factors that conspire against students' understanding of this topic, with the alien concept of the mole in relation to the mass of compounds and the engineering notation required when expressing the relatively small quantities typically involved being two key examples. In this report, we highlight teaching methods delivered via revision workshops to undergraduate Life Sciences students at the University of Nottingham. Workshops were designed to 1) expose student deficiencies in basic numeracy skills and remedy these deficiencies, 2) introduce molarity and dilution calculations and illustrate their workings in a step-by-step manner, and 3) allow students to appreciate the magnitude of numbers. Preworkshop to postworkshop comparisons demonstrated a considerable improvement in students' performance, which attenuated with time. The findings of our study suggest that an ability to carry out laboratory calculations cannot be assumed in students entering Life Sciences degrees in the United Kingdom but that explicit instruction in the form of workshops improves proficiency to a level of competence that allows students to prosper in the laboratory environment.

Health risk appraisals (HRA) are a common type of workplace health promotion programme offered by American employers. In the United Kingdom, evidence of their effectiveness for promoting health behaviour change remains inconclusive. This randomized controlled trial examined the effects of two HRA interventions on lifestyle parameters, mental health and work ability in a UK context. A total of 180 employees were randomized into one of three groups: Group A (HRA augmented with health promotion and education activities), Group B (HRA only) and Group C (control, no intervention). After 12 months, changes in mean scoring in 10 lifestyle, mental health and work ability indices were compared, Groups A and B demonstrated non-significant improvements in 70% and 80%, respectively, compared with controls (40%). Odds ratios revealed that, compared with the control group, Group A was 29.2 (95% CI: 9.22-92.27) times more likely to report a perceived change in lifestyle behaviour; Group B 4.4 times (95% CI: 1.65-11.44). In conclusion, participation in the HRA was associated with a higher likelihood of perceived lifestyle behaviour change which was further increased in the augmented HRA group, thereby providing preliminary evidence that HRA and augmented HRA in particular may help UK employees make positive healthy lifestyle changes.

This paper demonstrates that an informal field trip can have a lasting impact upon aspects of learning in a primary school context. Specifically, we consider the longer term impact of an informal trip to a rocky shore upon scores achieved in literacy assessments taking place five months after a relevant five months after a fieldwork. Pupils provided with an opportunity to write about organisms that they had encountered during the field trip and with which they were therefore familiar achieved higher literacy levels than those children writing about less familiar animals that had not been encountered during fieldwork. Specific improvement in the ability of the children to use specialised vocabulary and elaborated descriptive were recorded. Our work adds to the growing body of research evidence that demonstrates the benefits of outdoor learning experiences focused upon ecology/biology across the wider curriculum.

Recent clinical evidence showed that breast cancer with low HER2 expression levels responded to trastuzumab deruxtecan therapy. The HER2-low cancers comprise immunohistochemistry (IHC) score 1+ and 2+ ISH non-amplified tumours, currently classified as HER2 negative. Little data exists on the reproducibility of pathologists reporting of HER2-low cancer. Sixteen expert pathologists of the UK National Coordinating Committee for Breast Pathology scored 50 digitally scanned HER2 IHC slides. The overall level of agreement, Fleiss multiple-rater kappa statistics and Cohen's Kappa were calculated. Cases with low concordance were re-scored by the same pathologists after a washout period. Absolute agreement was achieved in 6% of cases, all of which scored 3+. Poor agreement was found in 5/50 (10%) of cases. This was due to heterogeneous HER2 expression, cytoplasmic staining and low expression spanning the 10% cut-off value. Highest concordance (86%) was achieved when scores were clustered as 0 versus others. Improvement in kappa of overall agreement was achieved when scores 1+ and 2+ were combined. Inter-observer agreement was moderate to substantial in the whole cohort but fair to moderate in the HER2-low group. Similarly, consensus-observer agreement was substantial to almost perfect in the whole cohort and moderate to substantial in the HER2-low group. HER2-low breast cancer suffers from lower concordance among expert pathologists. While most cases can reproducibly be classified, a small proportion (10%) remained challenging. Refining the criteria for reporting and consensus scoring will help select appropriate patients for targeted therapy. • Concordance of HER2 low scoring using digital whole slide images was assessed among 16 expert pathologists. • 10% of cases were challenging to classify; all were of the HER2 low and ultralow. • Heterogeneity, cytoplasmic expression and percentage expression around 10% were reasons for discordance. • Clustering of categories (0 versus others) resulted in the highest concordance levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies examined the potential use of VEs in teaching historical chronology to 127 children of primary school age (8-9 years). The use of passive fly-through VEs had been found, in an earlier study, to be disadvantageous with this age group when tested for their subsequent ability to place displayed sequential events in correct chronological order. All VEs in the present studies included active challenge, previously shown to enhance learning in older participants. Primary school children in the UK (all frequent computer users) were tested using UK historical materials, but no significant effect was found between three conditions (Paper, PowerPoint and VE) with minimal pre-training. However, excellent (error free) learning occurred when children were allowed greater exploration prior to training in the VE. In Ukraine, with children having much less computer familiarity, training in a VE (depicting Ukrainian history) produced better learning compared to PowerPoint, but no better than in a Paper condition. The results confirmed the benefit of using challenge in a VE with primary age children, but only with adequate prior familiarisation with the medium. Familiarity may reduce working memory load and increase children's spatial memory capacity for acquiring sequential temporal-spatial information from virtual displays. (Contains 7 figures.)

This article, using a student outcomes definition of academic standards, reports on academics' sense of standards as enacted through marking practices. Twelve lecturers from two UK universities were asked to "think aloud" as they graded written assignments followed by a semi-structured interview. The interview data were used to investigate the source of tutors' standards, their sense of accountability for their grading judgements, their use of artefacts and their attitude to internal and external moderation. The findings suggest that tutors believe there are established and shared academic standards in existence for their discipline and they endeavour to maintain them. There was no evidence of significant pressure or practice related to lowering of standards, although differences in tutors' tacit "standards' frameworks" have the potential for bias. Whilst moderation has some power to secure standards within teams, the article discusses the implications of the research for assuring standards across universities and disciplines.

Nursing and the construction industry arguably enjoy uneasy membership of the academy. As both move closer towards university-based learning, debates remain about where discipline-specific training should best be provided and the importance of softer, graduate skills for the professions. This paper contextualises that debate by describing both professions route into the academy and the similarities and differences in that historical journey and their present position. What emerges is a complex picture of negotiation and shifting priorities that can present challenges for students as well as teaching staff. Whilst students may be vocationally orientated, the need for generic, critical attributes has increased. A model of academic skills provision has been developed at one university in order to accommodate these potentially conflicting priorities. The devolved, embedded approach allows for the creation of support tailored to specific cohorts and aligned to professional identity and language and, thus far, has proven successful in engaging students.

This study investigates the workplace learning experiences of recently appointed lecturers in UK higher education in nursing, midwifery and the allied health professions. Health care practitioners, appointed to academic posts in Universities, are experts in their respective clinical fields and hold strong practitioner identities developed through professional socialisation. This study focuses on the first five years of experience after appointment to higher education and aims to inform strategies for academic induction. The new lecturers generally find their mid -career transition challenging but they feel well supported. They are strongly motivated by their contribution to the development of student practitioners. They tend to hold on strongly to their identity as a clinical practitioner rather than quickly embracing new identities of scholar and researcher. The implications include the need for university departments in health professional fields to provide clearer role models and more realistic expectations for new lecturers. (Contains 3 tables.)

This article seeks to illuminate the gap between UK policy and practice in relation to the use of criteria for allocating grades. It critiques criterion-referenced grading from three perspectives. Twelve lecturers from two universities were asked to "think aloud" as they graded two written assignments. The study found that assessors made holistic rather than analytical judgements. A high proportion of the tutors did not make use of written criteria in their marking and, where they were used, it was largely a post hoc process in refining, checking or justifying a holistic decision. Norm referencing was also found to be an important part of the grading process despite published criteria. The authors develop the notion of tutors' "standards frameworks", influenced by students' work, and providing the interpretive lens used to decide grades. The implications for standards, and for students, of presenting the grading process as analytical and objective are discussed.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the implementation and impact of the General Practice Nurse – Specialty Training (GPN-ST) programme across seven sites in one geographical location in the UK. The objectives were to understand, describe and evaluate: 1) the implementation of the 'proof of concept' training scheme; 2) the learning undertaken during the training; and 3) the impact of the training scheme on individual nurses. These objectives offer the opportunity to describe the potential return on investment for General Practices supporting nurses new to General Practice through the programme. General Practice Nurses (GPNs) play a vital role in delivering primary and community care. In the UK there is a shortfall in the GPN workforce. Unlike training for other clinical professions there is currently no standardised training pathway or entry route for nurses wishing to work in General Practice. An ethnographic evaluation was undertaken of a one-year speciality training programme (GPN-ST). The programme, aimed at nurses new to General Practice, included formal higher education training and funded supported learning and mentoring whilst in practice. A qualitative ethnographic evaluation was undertaken. Observations were conducted of programme implementation, network and education meetings in the scheme. In-depth, semi-structured, interviews and focus groups were conducted with a wide range of professionals (n = 40) including nurse mentors, nursing students, academic providers, commissioners and the programme managers. These data were supplemented by documentary analysis of meeting notes, learning materials, internal student feedback and locally collected evaluation material in line with ethnographic approaches to research. Kirkpatrick's model for course evaluation and complimentary inductive emergent thematic analysis was used. There is evidence of learning at every level of the Kirkpatrick model from reaction through to changes in behaviour and results in practice for patients. The speciality training route offered opportunities for deep learning for GPNs. The scheme offered a comprehensive career pathway to General Practice nursing which in turn benefited General Practices. Practices benefitted from confident, independent nurses who were able to contribute to patient care, practice safely and also contributed widely in the long-term for example in research, workforce development and mentoring. General Practice needs to invest in developing a workforce of GPNs, there are significant benefits to investing in the development of GPNs through a training pathway. This scheme provides scope for application in other clinical settings as well in other countries where there is a gap in career progression into GP practices. GPNs play a vital role in delivering primary and community care. Unlike training for other clinical professions there is currently no standardised training pathway or entry route for nurses wishing to work in General Practice. There are significant benefits to investing in the development of GPNs through a training pathway [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper investigates whether and to what extent a wide range of actors in the UK are adapting to climate change, and whether this is evidence of a social transition. We document evidence of over 300 examples of early adopters of adaptation practice to climate change in the UK. These examples span a range of activities from small adjustments (or coping), to building adaptive capacity, to implementing actions and to creating deeper systemic change in public and private organisations in a range of sectors. We find that adaptation in the UK has been dominated by government initiatives and has principally occurred in the form of research into climate change impacts. These government initiatives have stimulated a further set of actions at other scales in public agencies, regulatory agencies and regional government (and the devolved administrations), though with little real evidence of climate change adaptation initiatives trickling down to local government level. The sectors requiring significant investment in large scale infrastructure have invested more heavily than those that do not in identifying potential impacts and adaptations. Thus we find a higher level of adaptation activity by the water supply and flood defence sectors. Sectors that are not dependent on large scale infrastructure appear to be investing far less effort and resources in preparing for climate change. We conclude that the UK government-driven top-down targeted adaptation approach has generated anticipatory action at low cost in some areas. We also conclude that these actions may have created enough niche activities to allow for diffusion of new adaptation practices in response to real or perceived climate change. These results have significant implications for how climate policy can be developed to support autonomous adaptors in the UK and other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The online symposium Shared Visions for Marine Spatial Planning: Insights from Israel, South Africa and the United Kingdom was held from 9–10 March 2021. Insights from this multi-disciplinary and international symposium included 1) current states of marine spatial planning (MSP) in the three countries, 2) how MSP can be a helpful tool to advance marine conservation, 3) the use and challenges of geospatial technologies for MSP, 4) how multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary efforts can help improve MSP processes and 5) recommendations for effective and collaborative MSP. Key reflections from the symposium included the need for MSP to be multi-, inter- and transdisciplinary in its stakeholder collaborations and aligned with in-country and area contexts. • To facilitate an adaptive, country-specific MSP process, the acknowledgement of contextual realities and inclusion of all local stakeholders is required • Transdisciplinarity is essential for truly collaborative and effective MSP • Ecosystem-based approaches to MSP can help advance marine conservation • Large scale mapping and modelling is required to inform MSP [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Remote sensing has considerable potential for the provision of information on the distribution of habitats that may be used to inform a variety of activities such as those required through the European Union''s Habitats Directive. Such programmes are often resource-limited with a need for innovative methods that optimise resource use. This paper explores two approaches to resource savings when mapping habitats from remotely sensed imagery. The first approach realises that in an area of study often interest is focused on a specific habitat with the remaining land cover classes in the region of no importance. In such circumstances conventional statistical supervised classification analyses may be inefficient and yield a map of sub-optimal accuracy. The second approach seeks to further reduce the training requirements of a supervised classification. For this support vector machine (SVM) based approaches to classification are explored to map coastal saltmarsh habitats in North Norfolk, UK from a Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) image. A series of classifications using SVM based approaches and the Maximum Likelihood classifier (MLC) were undertaken. Classification accuracies were significantly higher using the SVM based approaches (e.g., 92.0% overall accuracy) than the MLC (64.8% overall accuracy). The SVM based classifications were demonstrated to be attractive for mapping a priority habitat in that the focus is on the habitat of interest to be mapped throughout the classification process resulting in a reduced need for training data. Moreover, it was shown that this can be further optimised through the use of intelligent training. This approach, based on the use of the support vector data description (SVDD), saved resource requirements even further in that training data were required only for the class of interest and yet still obtained high classification accuracies (95.2% overall accuracy) . The wider adoption of SVM based classification of remotely sensed imagery is advocated for use in conservation activities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Pharmaceuticals (a class of emerging contaminants) are continuously introduced into effluent-receiving surface waters due to their incomplete removal within wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). This work investigated the presence and distribution of eight commonly used human pharmaceuticals in the River Dee (Scotland, UK), a Scottish Environment Protection Agency priority catchment that is a conservation site and important raw water source. Grab sampling and passive sampling (Polar Organic Chemical Integrative Sampler, POCIS) was performed over 12 months, targeting: paracetamol, ibuprofen, and diclofenac (analgesics/anti-inflammatories); clarithromycin and trimethoprim (antibiotics); carbamazepine and fluoxetine (psychoactive drugs); and 17α-ethynylestradiol (estrogen hormone). Sampling sites spanned from the river's rural source to the heavily urbanised estuary into the North Sea. Ibuprofen (ranging 0.8–697 ng/L), paracetamol (ranging 4–658 ng/L), trimethoprim (ranging 3–505 ng/L), diclofenac (ranging 2–324 ng/L) and carbamazepine (ranging 1–222 ng/L) were consistently detected at the highest concentrations through grab sampling, with concentrations generally increasing down river with increasing urbanisation. However, POCIS revealed trace contamination of most compounds throughout the river (commonly <0.5 ng/L), indicating pollution may be related to diffuse sources. Analysis of river flows revealed that low flow and warm seasons corresponded to statistically significantly higher concentrations of diclofenac and carbamazepine, two compounds of environmental and regulatory concern. Below the largest WWTP, annual average fluxes ranged 0.1 kg/yr (clarithromycin) to 143.8 kg/yr (paracetamol), with 226.2 kg/yr for total target compounds. It was estimated that this source contributed >70% of the total mass loads (dissolved phase) of the target compounds in the river. As the River Dee is an important raw water source and conservation site, additional catchment monitoring is warranted to safeguard water quality and assess environmental risk of emerging contaminants, particularly in relation to unusual weather patterns, climate change and population growth. [Display omitted] • First extended study of pharmaceuticals in the River Dee, a raw water source and conservation area. • Monitoring revealed the river is under stress from point-source and diffuse pollution. • Maximum concentrations (mid-high ng/L) observed for targeted analgesics, NSAIDs and antibiotics. • Total annual flux (226.2 kg/yr) was estimated for target compounds below a WWTP. • Climate change and low flow situations may present future risk to water quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the naming of British regiment. Name of the 42nd Regiment; Regiment named after the Duke of Edinburgh.

The article provides information on various prints. Christie's in South Kensington, England offered pornographically printed French-letters on November 12, 1992. These prints depict a fashionably-dressed girl having sexual contact with an unfashionably dressed man. The men portrayed in the prints include, a monk, a soldier and a man that looked like the Emir Abd el-Kader who fought the French throughout the 1840s. A textile sale on November 17, 1992 offered a piece of printed leather. One side of the printed leather illustrates the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte bidding farewell to his guards for his first exile. The other side portrays his second and permanent exile.