Open by Degrees: A Case of Flexibility or Personalization?

This chapter focuses on the history, development, and perceived value of The Open University UK’s BA/BSc (Hons) Open degree (hereafter referred to as “OUUK Open degree”) over the past half-century in the context of changing external pressures and addressing debates around the coherence and acceptance of such a personalized program of study. It touches on the changing views of “openness” over time, from the origins of The Open University’s “open entry” policy, through to ideas around flexibility of study, open education, and personalized learning. The chapter concludes with recommendations for other higher education institutions wishing to introduce a multidisciplinary open degree into their portfolio of curriculum

A framework for measuring quality in the emergency department

There is increasing concern that medical care is of variable quality, with variable outcomes, safety, costs and experience for patients. Despite substantial efforts to improve patient safety, some studies suggest little evidence of reductions in adverse events. Furthermore, there is limited agreement about what outcomes are expected and whether increased expenditure results in a real improvement in outcome or experience. In emergency medicine, many countries have developed specific indicators to help drive improvements in patient care. Most of these are time based and there is a lack of consensus regarding which indicators are high priority and what an appropriate framework for measuring quality should look like

Pre-letting of office developments : a guide for occupiers

‘Pre-letting’ is an agreement between a potential tenant and a developer to lease a building whose construction has not yet started. Benefits typically flow to both parties from a pre-letting, however, opportunities to pre-let are limited by place, time, market forces and the negotiation strength of both parties. This research bulletin, which has been produced jointly with Northumbria University, involved interviewing 30 office occupiers and developers who have been involved in prelet agreements throughout the UK. It examines the pros and cons of taking a pre-let, the typical lease terms, and design issues. It also looks at where and when pre-lettings are most likely to occur

Breakstone v. MacKenzie: In a Case Where Fear of Bias is Raised by Judicial Election CampaignContributions, There are no Clear Winners

[W]ould not a lawyer coming before a recently elected judge be concerned if opposing counsel had contributed to the judge\u27s campaign ...particularly if the concerned lawyer had not contributed to that campaign

The fiddle tradition of the Shetland Isles

This is a an introductory ethnographic account of one of the liveliest musical sub-cultures in the British Isles. In Volume One the first chapter sketches in the general ethnography of the islands and surveys the historical sources that inform one on music-making and on the role of the fiddle and its repertory up tp the beginning of World War Two.Chapter Two brings the history of the tradition up to date with a set of biographical sketches compiled from field interviews with some fourteen fiddlers selected from a variety of island communities. Such aspects as how they learned to play, how the repertory is transmitted, performing practice and the social context of their music-making are illuminated through the words of the musicians themselves.The musical repertory is then discussed. A typology of dance tunes is derived from terms used by the musicians themselves. The style of some of the earliest pieces, mostly now obsolete, suggests links with Scandinavian musical traditions, while the remainder of the repertory, which is principally dance music, suggests increasingly strong Scottish influences on Shetland culture.Musical style is discussed in Chapter Four and the influence of social context is examined, particularly the relationship between dancing and its music. Two 'folk' terms are singled out for special attention - namely 'lift' and 'lilt' - which are considered to be of paramount importance in good fiddling. Bio-mechanical factors are also discussed insofar as they affect musical range, tonality and modality. A number of 'fiddle keys' are identified and the unresolved question of the use of 'neutral' intervals is also briefly examined. The performing style of several fiddlers is also analysed so that the distinctive features that mark out one musical community from another can be identified. Such differences are considered to be a function of the relative past isolation and the social self-sufficiency of the Shetland communities.A final chapter discusses change in recent years and relates the changing social role of fiddlers to changes in musical aesthetics and performing style. Changes in the mode of transmission are also scrutinized, in particular the increasing use of recordings and broadcasting media and the introduction of formal teaching of 'traditional' fiddling into Shetland schools. The author concludes that this, together with the diversification of musical culture in Shetland are likely to have a profound effect on the tradition.Volume Two contains some 70 musical transcriptions used for illustrating discussions in Volume One, as well as lists of recordings of tunes and texts lodged for further study in the archives of the School of Scottish Studies. A cassette containing 35 of these recorded examples is bound into the back cover of this volume

“But What About Real Mental Illnesses?” Alternatives to the Disease Model Approach to “Schizophrenia”

The old dichotomy between “neurosis” and “psychosis” appears to be alive and well in the debate about psychiatric diagnosis. It is often suggested that while diagnostic alternatives may be appropriate for the relatively common forms of distress with which we can all identify such as anxiety and depression, psychiatric diagnoses remain vital for experiences such as hearing voices, holding beliefs that others find strange, or appearing out of touch with reality—experiences that are traditionally thought of as symptoms of psychosis. Such experiences are often assumed to be symptoms of underlying brain pathology or “real mental illnesses” that need to be diagnosed or “excluded” (in the medical sense of ruling out particular explanations of problems) before deciding on the appropriate intervention. This article argues that this belief is misguided, and that far from being essential, psychiatric diagnosis has the potential to be particularly damaging when applied to such experiences. It describes an alternative perspective outlined in a recent consensus report by the British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology ( Understanding Psychosis and Schizophrenia), which has attracted significant attention in the United Kingdom and internationally. The report argues that even the most severe distress and the most puzzling behavior can often be understood psychologically, and that psychological approaches to helping can be very effective. It exhorts professionals not to insist that people accept any one particular framework of understanding, for example, that their experiences are symptoms of an illness. This article outlines that report’s main findings, together with their implications for how professionals can best help. </jats:p

Single site observations of \textit{TESS} single transit detections

Context: TESS has been successfully launched and has begin data acquisition. To expedite the science that may be performed with the resulting data it is necessary to gain a good understanding of planetary yields. Given the observing strategy employed by TESS the probability of detecting single transits in long period systems is increased. These systems require careful consideration. Aims: To simulate the number of TESS transit detections during its 2 year mission with a particular emphasis on single transits. Additionally, to determine the feasibility of ground-based follow-up observations from a single site. Methods: A distribution of planets is simulated around the $\sim$ 4 million stars in the TESS Candidate Target List. These planets are tested for detectable transits and characterised. Based on simulated parameters the single transit detections are further analysed to determine which are amenable to ground-based follow-up. Results: TESS will discover an approximate lower bound of 4700 planets with around 460 being single transits. A large fraction of these will be observable from a single ground-based site. This paper finds that, in a single year, approximately 1000 transit events of around 320 unique TESS single transit detections are theoretically observable. Conclusions: As we consider longer period exoplanets the need for exploring single transit detections increases. For periods $\gtrsim45$ days the number of single transit detections outnumber multitransits by a factor of 3 (82$\pm$18 and 25$\pm$7 respectively) a factor which only grows as longer period detections are considered. Therefore, it is worth expending the extra effort required to follow-up these more challenging, but potentially very rewarding, discoveries. Additionally, we conclude that a large fraction of these targets can be theoretically observed from just a single ground-based site.Comment: 12 pages, 19 figures. To be published in Astronomy and Astrophysic