Communiversity: Values in Action Project 2020–2022

The Communiversity project grew out of the creative dialogue of a collection of like-minded colleagues at a Cathedrals Group sponsored Sandpit event held at York St John in 2019. In Phase 1 University of Cumbria, led a scoping exercise, which explored the range of community engagement/ volunteering projects taking place in the respective Cathedrals Groups universities (Hempsall and Elton-Chalcraft, 2019) Phase 2, ‘The Communiversity: Values in Action’ began in 2020. Having gained funding from the Church Universities fund to build on Phase 1, four collaborating universities each initiated new, or selected ongoing, community engagement / volunteering projects to investigate. With a more diverse, inclusive, outward facing approach to study and learning outcomes or ‘learning gain’ in Higher Education, the concept of ‘The Communiversity: Values in Action’ has brought about a meta-reflexive approach (Archer, 2010) to university experience. It encourages stakeholders to reframe their actions in terms of ‘the bigger picture’ and to broaden the sphere of university activity and knowledge exchange (KE) beyond the campus towards ‘service learning’, benefiting the community (Bamber, Bullivant and Stead, 2013). This involves ‘breaking down the walls of the academy to let scholarship out and invite communities in’ (Lessem, Adodo and Bradley, 2019)

Epidemiologic and Molecular Analysis of Human Tularemia, United States, 1964–2004

Distinct subpopulations of F. tularensis differ in their clinical manifestations, geographic distribution, and likely modes of transmission

Leadership is about excellent coaching not telling people what to do: issues in preparing future school leaders

The presentation discusses a commissioned evaluation of three National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) funded courses in 2015 which sought to help delegates unlock their leadership and management potential. The Future BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) Middle Leaders, Women into Secondary Headship and thirdly the Aspirant Primary Headteachers courses were led by Blackburn, Blackpool, Cumbria and Lancashire consortium course leaders. The principal researcher in collaboration with course leaders, formulated the focus and scope of the small scale evaluation, investigating the extent to which the 27 participants felt their course successfully prepared them to take on a leadership role. Participants’ perceived barriers to leadership were explored, their previous experience audited and throughout the course, their levels of confidence, ability and desire to become a leader were gauged. Coleman (2012) draws attention to the key relationship between leadership and diversity issues. Although women have increased their numbers in leadership positions Crawford (2014) claims they are still under-represented in leadership positions in most schools. Despite the notion that leadership studies are becoming more communally focused and consequently less masculine (Carli and Eagly, 2011), the literature makes a strong case for specialized leadership preparation courses for women and BME groups (Bush, Glover, Sood et.al. 2005). After gaining ethical approvals the principal investigator worked within an interpretivist paradigm (Robson 2002) collecting data through baseline questionnaires, midpoint focus groups and end point questionnaires with each set of participants. Each course provided a series of face to face sessions, coaching, work shadowing and a written mini case story. Data were analyzed using a grounded theory constant comparison method to identify emerging themes (Savin-Baden and Howell Major 2014). Despite the small sample size, the findings were considered useful for future course design. Some findings, common among all three leadership courses, have implications for leadership recruitment and can be mapped on to functional and relational concepts of leadership: • Not all participants completed with a high level of desire to become a leader mainly attributed to the perceived unrealistic demands of leadership, rather than a lack of confidence in their own abilities. • Some of the women participants believed they had to work harder than men to juggle family life and leadership roles, some of the BME participants felt marginalized. • Faith/ ethnicity barriers: several participants cited their lack of faith or their faith being different to that of the school as being a barrier to promotion in faith schools

Plant species composition alters the sign and strength of an emergent multi-predator effect by modifying predator foraging behaviour

The prediction of pest-control functioning by multi-predator communities is hindered by the non-additive nature of species functioning. Such non-additivity, commonly termed an emergent multi-predator effect, is known to be affected by elements of the ecological context, such as the structure and composition of vegetation, in addition to the traits of the predators themselves. Here we report mesocosm experiments designed to test the influence of plant density and species composition (wheat monoculture or wheat and faba bean polyculture) on the emergence of multi-predator effects between Adalia bipunctata and Chrysoperla carnea, in their suppression of populations of the aphid Metopolophium dirhodum. The mesocosm experiments were followed by a series of behavioural observations designed to identify how interactions among predators are modified by plant species composition and whether these effects are consistent with the observed influence of plant species composition on aphid population suppression. Although plant density was shown to have no influence on the multi-predator effect on aphid population growth, plant composition had a marked effect. In wheat monoculture, Adalia and Chrysoperla mixed treatments caused greater suppression of M. dirhodum populations than expected. However this positive emergent effect was reversed to a negative multi-predator effect in wheat and faba bean polyculture. The behavioural observations revealed that although dominant individuals did not respond to the presence of faba bean plants, the behaviour of sub-dominants was affected markedly, consistent with their foraging for extra-floral nectar produced by the faba bean. This interaction between plant composition and predator community composition on the foraging behaviour of sub-dominants is thought to underlie the observed effect of plant composition on the multi-predator effect. Thus, the emergence of multi-predator effects is shown to be strongly influenced by plant species composition, mediated, in this case, by the provision of extra-floral nectar by one of the plant species

Lack of Antimicrobial Resistance in Yersinia pestis Isolates from 17 Countries in the Americas, Africa, and Asia

Yersinia pestis is the causative agent of plague, a fulminant disease that is often fatal without antimicrobial treatment. Plasmid (IncA/C)-mediated multidrug resistance in Y. pestis was reported in 1995 in Madagascar and has generated considerable public health concern, most recently because of the identification of IncA/C multidrug-resistant plasmids in other zoonotic pathogens. Here, we demonstrate no resistance in 392 Y. pestis isolates from 17 countries to eight antimicrobials used for treatment or prophylaxis of plague

Isolation and Characterization of a Novel Francisella sp. from Human Cerebrospinal Fluid and Blood▿

We describe the isolation of a Francisella sp. from normally sterile sites in acutely ill patients in two different states within 2 years. Microbiologic and molecular analyses indicate that this organism represents a novel Francisella sp. Clinicians and microbiologists should be aware of this new potential pathogen, as infection may be more common than recognized

Bartonella tamiae sp. nov., a Newly Recognized Pathogen Isolated from Three Human Patients from Thailand▿

Three strains of a novel Bartonella species (Bartonella tamiae) were isolated from human patients from Thailand. Sequence analysis of six chromosomal regions (16S rRNA, gltA, groEL, ftsZ, rpoB, and the intergenic spacer region) and phenotypical analysis supported the similarity of the three strains and placed them within the genus Bartonella separately from previously described species