Academic-practitioner collaborations: reflections from the Northern Irish context

25 years after the Good Friday Agreement, inequalities from the past persist across indices relating to poverty and access to social housing. This reflection piece considers the work of Belfast-based human rights organisation Participation and the Practice of Rights, and the challenges and opportunities involved in implementing a grassroots human rights-based approach to change through academic-practitioner collaborations. The paper reflects on the need for a more conscious approach to collaboration, to avoid replicating the patterns of dysfunction that are evident in the governance of our divided society

Rights in Small Places? Participation, Rights and Power in Northern Ireland

That a disconnect exists between ordinary people and the world of human rights academia, NGOs and INGOs and the marginalised communities they are intended to serve is undisputed. As the years preceding and following the financial crash have been characterised by increased economic inequality and concentration of power and influence in the hands of a ever-shrinking coterie of elites, human rights as a tool of change have seemed increasingly legalistic, irrelevant and divorced from the people. A case study will be presented of Belfast based rights organisation (Participation and the Practice of Rights - PPR) set up to develop and test a model of how human rights can be used as tools by marginalised groups to define, campaign and implement international socio-economic rights standards in local settings

Borneo coral reefs subject to high sediment loads show evidence of resilience to various environmental stressors

For reefs in South East Asia the synergistic effects of rapid land development, insufficient environmental policies and a lack of enforcement has led to poor water quality and compromised coral health from increased sediment and pollution. Those inshore turbid coral reefs, subject to significant sediment inputs, may also inherit some resilience to the effects of thermal stress and coral bleaching. We studied the inshore turbid reefs near Miri, in northwest Borneo through a comprehensive assessment of coral cover and health in addition to quantifying sediment-related parameters. Although Miri’s Reefs had comparatively low coral species diversity, dominated by massive and encrusting forms of Diploastrea, Porites, Montipora, Favites, Dipsastrea and Pachyseris, they were characterized by a healthy cover ranging from 22 to 39%. We found a strong inshore to offshore gradient in hard coral cover, diversity and community composition as a direct result of spatial differences in sediment at distances <10 km. As well as distance to shore, we included other environmental variables like reef depth and sediment trap accumulation and particle size that explained 62.5% of variation in benthic composition among sites. Miri’s reefs showed little evidence of coral disease and relatively low prevalence of compromised health signs including bleaching (6.7%), bioerosion (6.6%), pigmentation response (2.2%), scars (1.1%) and excessive mucus production (0.5%). Tagged colonies of Diploastrea and Pachyseris suffering partial bleaching in 2016 had fully (90–100%) recovered the following year. There were, however, seasonal differences in bioerosion rates, which increased five-fold after the 2017 wet season. Differences in measures of coral physiology, like that of symbiont density and chlorophyll a for Montipora, Pachyseris and Acropora, were not detected among sites. We conclude that Miri’s reefs may be in a temporally stable state given minimal recently dead coral and a limited decline in coral cover over the last two decades. This study provides further evidence that turbid coral reefs exposed to seasonally elevated sediment loads can exhibit relatively high coral cover and be resilient to disease and elevated sea surface temperatures

Folk Theorems on the Correspondence between State-Based and Event-Based Systems

Kripke Structures and Labelled Transition Systems are the two most prominent semantic models used in concurrency theory. Both models are commonly believed to be equi-expressive. One can find many ad-hoc embeddings of one of these models into the other. We build upon the seminal work of De Nicola and Vaandrager that firmly established the correspondence between stuttering equivalence in Kripke Structures and divergence-sensitive branching bisimulation in Labelled Transition Systems. We show that their embeddings can also be used for a range of other equivalences of interest, such as strong bisimilarity, simulation equivalence, and trace equivalence. Furthermore, we extend the results by De Nicola and Vaandrager by showing that there are additional translations that allow one to use minimisation techniques in one semantic domain to obtain minimal representatives in the other semantic domain for these equivalences.Comment: Full version of SOFSEM 2011 pape

Recreating pulsed turbidity events to determine coral–sediment thresholds for active management

Active management of anthropogenically driven sediment resuspension events near coral reefs relies on an accurate assessment of coral thresholds to both suspended and deposited sediments. Yet the range of coral responses to sediments both within and amongst species has limited our ability to determine representative threshold values. This study reviews information available on coral physiological responses to a range of sediment loads at varying time frames and provides a novel approach to assess coral thresholds to suspended and deposited sediments. The new approach replicates natural turbidity regimes by creating pulsed turbidity events at two environmentally realistic levels (moderate = ~ 50 mg l− 1, peaks at 100 mg l− 1; severe = ~ 100 mg l− 1, peaks at 250 mg l− 1). Corals (Merulina ampliata, Pachyseris speciosa, Platygyra sinensis) were subjected to two exposure regimes: pulsed turbidity events for four weeks followed by two months of recovery (constant regime) or pulsed turbidity events every other week followed by one month of recovery (periodic regime). Coral thresholds were greater than commonly used estimates with little to no effect on corals at moderate sediment levels. At extreme sediment levels, species morphological differences were potentially key determinants of coral survival. The periodic exposure regime was less detrimental to all coral species than the constant exposure regime as demonstrated by elevated yields and lower tissue morality rates. To improve knowledge on coral–sediment threshold values, research needs to expand to incorporate a broader range of species and exposure regimes. Realistic threshold values combined with modelling efforts would improve prediction of reef health and enable managers to react to declines in health before coral mortality occurs

Fluctuations in coral health of four common inshore reef corals in response to seasonal and anthropogenic changes in water quality

Environmental drivers of coral condition (maximum quantum yield, symbiont density, chlorophyll a content and coral skeletal growth rates) were assessed in the equatorial inshore coastal waters of Singapore, where the amplitude of seasonal variation is low, but anthropogenic influence is relatively high. Water quality variables (sediments, nutrients, trace metals, temperature, light) explained between 52 and 83% of the variation in coral condition, with sediments and light availability as key drivers of foliose corals (Merulina ampliata, Pachyseris speciosa), and temperature exerting a greater influence on a branching coral (Pocillopora damicornis). Seasonal reductions in water quality led to high chlorophyll a concentrations and maximum quantum yields in corals, but low growth rates. These marginal coral communities are potentially vulnerable to climate change, hence, we propose water quality thresholds for coral growth with the aim of mitigating both local and global environmental impacts

Professionalising management in healthcare: an organisational journey

Objectives: A current priority for UK healthcare administrations is the improvement of patient safety and the delivery of compassionate care. Following a public inquiry into failures at one hospital in England (Francis Report 2013) NHS organisations have been required to strengthen leadership and management to achieve better outcomes This poster outlines the practical steps taken by one healthcare provider to effect culture change through targeted management development, and the measured impact of change in terms of organisational performance and staff engagement and commitment. Population: The organisation provides a broad range of mental health, learning disability and community care services. Following a merger of services in 2011 the organisation doubled in size and needed to harmonise services, integrate professional groups and enhance corporate alignment with the requirements of regional funding agencies. A management development programme was established to distil the evidence base linking staff engagement and cultures of high quality care and to disseminate this learning to all staff with line management responsibility. Methods: The programme was launched in October 2013 and delivered off-site to cohorts of 18 managers at a time, as three 2 day modules. A core element is a strong focus on managing effective appraisals and giving performance based feedback, in light of the evidence of a link between appraisal and patient outcomes (West 2002) By May 2016, 570 mangers had completed the course (86% of all managers in the organisation). An action learning approach and a range of evaluation methods are used to assess the impact of the course including, participant feedback, project outcomes, results of the annual staff survey and external auditor’s reports Findings: The benefits resulting from this investment substantially outweigh the costs and challenges of sustaining the programme in face of increasing financial pressure. Specific benefits cited by attendees are: confidence building, the opportunity for collective problem solving and feeling valued by the organisation. The staff survey has seen an average increase of 18% in satisfaction in areas relating to engagement and commitment; and a 30% increase in belief that ‘we are providing high quality services to our patients/service user’ (from 43% in 2012 to 73% in 2015). At an organisational level a number of reputational benefits have been, in part, attributed to the programme: one course initiated project has been short listed for a national award. Directly attributable to the programme is an improvement in performance appraisal uptake and quality of the appraisal (with an 8 % increase in staff reporting that they had a well-structured appraisal one year after launch of the programme) Conclusion: This organisational journey is offered as a realistic, tested and evaluated model of workforce development for organisations facing similar challenges. Clear focus on evidence based management, an organisation-wide approach to management development and an explicit focus on culture change behaviours underpin the success of the programm

The role of carboxylato ligand dissociation in the oxidation of chrysin with H2O2 catalysed by [Mn-2 (III, IV)(mu-CH3COO)(mu-O)(2)(Me(4)dtne)](PF6)(2)

The aqueous and non-aqueous chemistry of the complex [Mn-2 (III,IV)(mu-CH3COO)(mu-O)(2)(Me(4)dtne)](PF6)(2) (where Me(4)dtne = 1,2-bis(4,7-dimethyl- 1,4,7-triazacyclonon-1-yl) ethane), which has been demonstrated as an exceptionally active catalyst in the bleaching of raw cotton and especially wood pulp at high pH (&gt;11), is explored by UV/vis absorption, Raman and EPR spectroscopies and cyclic voltammetry. The data indicate that dissociation of the mu-acetato bridge is essential to the catalyst activity and rationalises the effect of sequestrants such as DTPA on its performance.</p

Weekly and daily tooth brushing by care staff reduces gingivitis and calculus in racing greyhounds

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Dental disease affects many dogs worldwide and is believed to be particularly problematic for racing greyhounds. It costs the industry and rehoming charities financially and likely causes unnecessary suffering to a large number of dogs. The risk factors for dental disease in this population are debated, and the best methods to overcome it are relatively unresearched. We carried out a trial in which 160 racing greyhounds were divided into three groups. The staff looking after them either brushed their teeth daily, weekly or never, for a period of two months. An experimenter measured the dog’s level of calculus (hardened dental plaque) and gingivitis (gum inflammation) at the start, and again after two months. We found that both weekly and daily brushing resulted in significant reductions in calculus, but for gingivitis only daily brushing resulted in a significant reduction. The effects, however, were not noticeable on the front incisor teeth. Since the staff implementing the routine reported a minimal time commitment and positive experiences, we suggest that daily brushing is recommended for racing greyhounds, and that emphasis is placed on brushing all teeth groups. Similar trials need to be conducted with retired greyhounds since these have been shown to present particularly high levels of periodontal disease. ABSTRACT: Periodontal disease is one of the most common conditions affecting dogs worldwide and is reported to be particularly prevalent in racing greyhounds. A range of potential risk factors have been hypothesised. Previous research has suggested that regular tooth brushing can reduce both calculus and gingivitis, but the frequency required is unclear. Here, we report a controlled blinded in situ trial, in which kennel staff brushed 160 racing greyhounds’ teeth (living at six kennel establishments), either weekly, daily or never over a two-month period. All of the visible teeth were scored for calculus and gingivitis, using previously validated scales. We calculated average scores for each of the three teeth groups and overall whole mouth scores, averaging the teeth groups. Changes were compared to the baseline. After two months, the total calculus scores (controlling for baseline) were significantly different in the three treatment groups, (F((2,129)) = 10.76, p < 0.001) with both weekly and daily brushing resulting in significant reductions. Gingivitis was also significantly different between groups (F((2,128)) = 4.57, p = 0.012), but in this case, only daily brushing resulted in a significant reduction. Although the dogs in different kennels varied significantly in their levels of both calculus (F((5,129)) = 8.64, p < 0.001) and gingivitis (F((5,128)) = 3.51 p = 0.005), the intervention was similarly effective in all of the establishments. The teeth groups varied, and the incisors were not significantly affected by the treatment. Since the trainers implementing the routine, reported a minimal time commitment and positive experiences, we suggest that daily brushing is recommended for racing greyhounds, and that any instructions or demonstrations should include attention to all teeth groups including the incisors. Similar trials need to be conducted with retired greyhounds since these have been shown to present particularly high levels of periodontal disease

Long-term spatial variations in turbidity and temperature provide new insights into coral-algal states on extreme/marginal reefs

Globally, coral reefs are under threat, with many exhibiting degradation or a shift towards algal-dominated regimes following marine heat waves, and other disturbance events. Marginal coral reefs existing under naturally extreme conditions, such as turbid water reefs, may be more resilient than their clear water counterparts as well as offer some insight into how reefs could look in the future under climate change. Here, we surveyed 27 benthic habitats across an environmental stress gradient in the Exmouth Gulf region of north Western Australia immediately following a marine heatwave event. We used multidecadal remotely sensed turbidity (from an in-situ validated dataset) and temperature, to assess how these environmental drivers influence variability in benthic communities and coral morphology. Long-term turbidity and temperature variability were associated with macroalgal colonisation when exceeding a combined threshold. Coral cover was strongly negatively associated with temperature variability, and positively associated with depth, and wave power, while coral morphology diversity was positively associated with turbidity. While moderate turbidity (long-term average ~ 2 mg/L suspended matter) appeared to raise the threshold for coral bleaching and macroalgal dominance, regions with higher temperature variability (> 3.5 °C) appeared to have already reached this threshold. The region with the least turbidity and temperature variability had the highest amount of coral bleaching from a recent heatwave event and moderate levels of both these variables may confer resilience to coral reefs