Lessons From Redefining Traditional Work Placements For University Students In TU Dublin

There is strong support for ensuring all university students have an option to undertake relevant work placement. Work-placements enable students to engage with enterprise and develop experiential learning while linking their academic study and theory to real industrial practice. Such placements, or internships, offer students an opportunity to build their self-confidence while refining their transversal skills such as creativity, innovation, communication, team-working and problem solving. Furthermore, placements broaden students’ knowledge base and improve their employability upon graduation. While student cohorts benefit from engaging with enterprise the enterprise also benefits, such as from the energy, new perspectives and ideas interns can bring to the workplace. Multiple models (such as professional apprentices and Earn and Learn models) highlight the importance of this symbiotic relationship. The need to support and expand work placement opportunities to benefit all graduates is also a key element of government policy. Supporting this ambition and reflecting changing student profiles, employer expectations and the nature of work, there is a need to reimagine the traditional understanding of work-placements to safeguard talent pipelines and increase graduate employability. A concise literature review of existing work placement models is presented. This is followed by a description of the approach developed by the Enterprise Academy within Technological University Dublin to help students achieve learning outcomes typically associated with work-placements in a new, innovative and sustainable way. The approach described was successfully piloted for 2 student cohorts during the Covid pandemic. It highlights the value of redefining traditional placements for students, enterprise and higher education providers

Essays on Good Practice in Academic Writing: A comparison across business disciplines

This is a series of essays to support PhD students and early career researchers within the field of business. By delving into a cross disciplinary perspective on academic writing in the business domain, researchers will better understand differences for writing. Essay 1 highlights what is important for writing in economics. Essay 2 adopts a different approach by arguing for more pluralism and applied approaches when writing in Human Resource Management. The essay opens up new possibilities and opportunities for PhD students and early career researchers interested in more applied approaches. Essay 3 guides qualitative researchers writing in sports management where quantitative approaches have dominated and new perspectives are needed

Understanding the Concept of Formality in Quality Risk Management

Formality in Quality Risk Management (QRM) is an interesting concept. What makes a QRM activity ‘formal’ and what makes one ‘informal’? A simplistic viewpoint might be that formal is when a QRM tool is used to manage risks, and informal is when no such tool is used. But is it that simple? And are there different degrees of formality in QRM - is it a spectrum, or is it a binary concept? These questions are explored in this paper. Since the introduction of ICH Q9 in 2005, there have been discussions in the pharmaceutical industry and between regulators regarding the concept of formality in QRM. ICH Q9 presents two principles of Quality Risk Management, and one of those refers to formality – it states that “the level of effort, formality and documentation of the quality risk management process should be commensurate with the level of risk”. What formality in QRM means at a practical level is currently not clear. A lack of understanding of this concept has probably led to certain negative consequences – ranging from a lack of scientific rigour being applied during certain complex risk assessments, to the overuse of quite resource intensive and highly formalized QRM activities to address relatively straight forward GMP problems and risk questions. In response to this lack of clarity, regulators and industry representatives initiated work to explore the concept of formality in QRM, with a view to achieving a shared understanding as to what it means at a practical level. It was of interest that there was strong support expressed among industry and GMP inspectors for the use of less formal approaches to QRM. The primary outcome of that work is a set of suggested definitions for formal and less formal approaches to QRM. There are several anticipated benefits to this work – including that a better understanding of formality may lead to resources for QRM being used more efficiently – where lower risk issues are dealt with via less formal means, freeing up resources for managing higher risk issues and more complex problems, which usually require increased levels of rigour and effort

Population-based laboratory surveillance of Hafnia alvei isolates in a large Canadian health region

BACKGROUND: Hospital-based series have characterized Hafnia alvei primarily as an infrequent agent of polymicrobial nosocomial infections in males with underlying illness. METHODS: We conducted population-based laboratory surveillance in the Calgary Health Region during 2000–2005 to define the incidence, demographic risk factors for acquisition, and anti-microbial susceptibilities of Hafnia alvei isolates. RESULTS: A total of 138 patients with Hafnia alvei isolates were identified (2.1/100,000/year) and two-thirds were of community onset. Older age and female gender were important risk factors for acquisition. The most common focus of isolation was urine in 112 (81%), followed by lower respiratory tract in 10 (7%), and soft tissue in 5 (4%), and the majority (94; 68%) were mono-microbial. Most isolates were resistant to ampicillin (111;80%), cephalothin (106; 77%), amoxicillin/clavulanate (98; 71%), and cefazolin (95; 69%) but none to imipenem or ciprofloxacin. CONCLUSION: Hafnia alvei was most commonly isolated as a mono-microbial etiology from the urinary tract in women from the community. This study highlights the importance of population-based studies in accurately defining the epidemiology of an infectious disease

Population-based Laboratory Surveillance for AmpC β-Lactamase–producing Escherichia coli, Calgary

AmpC β-lactamase–producing E. coli are commonly isolated from the urinary tract of older women

Maine\u27s Recovery of Recreational Damages Due to Coastal Oil Spills

The report identifies 729 recreational sites across eleven coastal recreational resources or activities (herein noted as “coastal resources”) that have the potential to be directly impacted by a possible oil spill. Analyses include an evaluation of the availability of usage data and direct market values

ROCK Inhibitor Increases Proacinar Cells in Adult Salivary Gland Organoids

Salisphere-derived adult epithelial cells have been used to improve saliva production of irradiated mouse salivary glands. Importantly, optimization of the cellular composition of salispheres could improve their regenerative capabilities. The Rho Kinase (ROCK) inhibitor, Y27632, has been used to increase the proliferation and reduce apoptosis of progenitor cells grown in vitro. In this study, we investigated whether Y27632 could be used to improve expansion of adult submandibular salivary epithelial progenitor cells or to affect their differentiation potential in different media contexts. Application of Y27632 in medium used previously to grow salispheres promoted expansion of Kit+ and Mist1+ cells, while in simple serum-containing medium Y27632 increased the number of cells that expressed the K5 basal progenitor marker. Salispheres derived from Mist1CreERT2; R26TdTomato mice grown in salisphere media with Y27632 included Mist1-derived cells. When these salispheres were incorporated into 3D organoids, inclusion of Y27632 in the salisphere stage increased the contribution of Mist1-derived cells expressing the proacinar/acinar marker, Aquaporin 5 (AQP5), in response to FGF2-dependent mesenchymal signals. Optimization of the cellular composition of salispheres and organoids can be used to improve the application of adult salivary progenitor cells in regenerative medicine strategies