The Provision of Paralegal Education in Scotland

This research follows on from research on the Provision of Legal Education in Scotland conducted for the Open University in 2010 and on research mapping the PDA curriculum with the Skills for Justice functional map in 2012. The focus of this research is to map the provision of paralegal education in Scotland and identify gaps in that provision

Technical Communication and Project Management: A Mixed Methods Study in a Corporate Context

A mid-size manufacturing business grew from a family start-up to a global leader in less than three decades, but no plan was developed for Project Management or Technical Communication. Recently upper management acknowledged this corporate weakness and asked us to research interdepartmental communication, with emphasis on New Product Development. Formal Project Management had not previously been attempted at this company, and New Product Development was conducted as a committee. After a literature review, we conducted a mixed-method study to assess employee satisfaction with current project processes, technology, and communication. A survey combining two existing tools was administered to all personnel in departments involved with New Product Development. Downs and Hazen's Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire was tailored to evaluate the company's communications, and a customized version of the Universal Technology Adoption and Use Theory tool assessed technology use and acceptance within the company. Subsequent to the survey, all department managers directly involved with New Product Development at the organization were interviewed. Quantitative results were analyzed statistically, and qualitative results were analyzed through open coding. Findings from this study can provide insight into the dynamics of improving both Project Management and Technical Communication within a corporate context

The Australian Gothic Through the Novels of Sonya Hartnett

Melbourne author Sonya Hartnett, adapts and updates the Australian Gothic within narratives that focus on individual subjectivities to bring to scrutiny the abuses that children suffer due to the invisibility of normative, hegemonic and conformist discourses. This study argues that Hartnett re-locates the colonial trope of the lost child from the wild setting of the bush to cultural topographies in the modern Australian context. The study’s theoretical approach combines concepts from phenomenology, cultural geography and spectral studies to form an hauntology which is articulated and applied to detailed analyses of eleven of Hartnett’s novels set in Australia. The conceptual framework is explained in chapter one and the remaining chapters group Hartnett’s novels thematically and in relation to the settings inhabited by her young protagonists. This structure enables the consideration of the dialectical relationship between places ‘exterior’ to the subject such as the Australian suburb or country town and the psychological ‘interior’ of the mind. Furthermore the study proposes that phenomenological experiences of place, space and time are central aspects of Hartnett’s work that function interdependently and impact upon identity

Enhancing the Employability of Humanities Postgraduates: a Students as Academic Partners Project Report

In an increasingly competitive employment market, postgraduates need to demonstrate more than the ‘skills, knowledge, attitudes and experiences that are closely associated with the research process’ (Golovushkina & Milligan, 2013: 199). Yet results indicate that Worcester postgraduate students remain unaware of the full range of opportunities that exist alongside postgraduate study, and how this affects their subsequent employability. This research, undertaken with humanities post-graduate students at University of Worcester, aims to contribute to discussions about how to enhance the employability of humanities postgraduates through extra-curricular activities. The project was implemented as a Students -As-Partners-in-Learning-Project, using action research; the issue was identified, base-line data collected and this resulted in the creation of a postgraduate blog incorporating suggestions of possible opportunitie s and links to relevant websites for further information. Informed by this research, the student partners then took active roles in the organization of the Women’s History Network National Conference, ‘Home Fronts: Gender, War and Conflict’, hosted at the University of Worcester in September 2014, to broaden their existing skills base and then to connect this involvement to their professional development through a group CV review. The participants’ own experiences of wider engagement can therefore illuminat e new ways for understanding employability in relation to humanities postgraduate students

Metabolic improvements following Roux-en-Y surgery assessed by solid meal test in subjects with short duration type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND: Glucose homeostasis improves within days following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery. The dynamic metabolic response to caloric intake following RYGB has been assessed using liquid mixed meal tolerance tests (MMTT). Few studies have evaluated the glycemic and hormonal response to a solid mixed meal in subjects with diabetes prior to, and within the first month following RYGB. METHODS: Seventeen women with type 2 diabetes of less than 5 years duration participated. Fasting measures of glucose homeostasis, lipids and gut hormones were obtained pre- and post-surgery. MMTT utilizing a solid 4 oz chocolate pudding performed pre-, 2 and 4 weeks post-surgery. Metabolic response to 4 and 2 oz MMTT assessed in five diabetic subjects not undergoing surgery. RESULTS: Significant reductions in fasting glucose and insulin at 3 days, and in fasting betatrophin, triglycerides and total cholesterol at 2 weeks post-surgery. Hepatic insulin clearance was greater at 3 days post-surgery. Subjects exhibited less hunger and greater feelings of fullness and satisfaction during the MMTT while consuming 52.9 ± 6.5% and 51.0 ± 6.5% of the meal at 2 and 4 weeks post-surgery respectively. At 2 weeks post-surgery, glucose and insulin response to MMTT were improved, with greater GLP-1 and PYY secretion. Improved response to solid MMTT not replicated by consumption of smaller pudding volume in diabetic non-surgical subjects. CONCLUSIONS: With a test meal of size and composition representative of the routine diet of post-RYGB subjects, improved glycemic and gut hormone responses occur which cannot be replicated by reducing the size of the MMTT in diabetic subjects not undergoing surgery

Health state preferences are equivalent in the United States and Trinidad and Tobago

To derive preference weights in Trinidad and Tobago for Quality of Well-being Scale (QWB) health states in order to calculate QWB scores that can be compared to scores calculated from US-derived preference weights. The comparison was to determine whether the QWB scores from these different preference weights would lead to similar conclusions. We conducted in-person household interviews to elicit preferences for 65 health states using a probability sample of 235 adults from Port of Spain, Chaguanas and San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. A regression model with correction for within-person clustering of observations was used to obtain preference weights based on case judgments on a 0 (dead) to 10 (“perfect health”) scale. The independent variables were the components of the QWB entered as indicator (0, 1) variables. One hundred and nineteen (51%) respondents provided ratings. The respondents that provided ratings were demographically no different from those that did not. The QWB response patterns were very similar using Trinidad and US weights. The mean (SD) QWB score was 0.750 (0.130) for female respondents and 0.784 (0.125) for male respondents using Trinidad coefficients (t 2, 233 = −2.05, P = 0.04) and 0.747 (0.131) for female respondents and 0.783 (0.126) for male respondents using US weights (t 2, 233 = −2.17, P = 0.03). Overall, we found the US and Trinidad and Tobago weights were highly similar and that the choice of either set of weights would lead to similar conclusions

The Grizzly, November 19, 1990

Frat Pledges\u27 Academics • Where Does Your Student Activity Fee Go? • Foreign Policy and the Press • Thanksgiving Food Drive • Date Rape Discussed • New Food Plans Developed • Campus Jobs = Easy $$$ • The Musser Experience • A Legend Lives On • Economics Conference Returns • Language Labs: Olin Addition • Television: Whose Reality is it Anyway? • Berman Art • Ursinus Band • Men\u27s Basketball Plays in Scranton Tournament • Gymnasts Prepare for Season • MAC Academic Honor Roll • Swimmers Waste Time at Kings Meet • Ski Club Plans Trip • All-Star Baseball Clinic to be Held at UC • Letters: Is the Grizzly Still a Newspaper?; Support our Positive Efforts; Bring Back our Salt • A Meal Choice? • Slinging Mud to Win • What was the Question? • A New Dimension to Medicinehttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/grizzlynews/1265/thumbnail.jp

Risks of breast or ovarian cancer in BRCA1 or BRCA2 predictive test negatives: findings from the EMBRACE study.

Purpose BRCA1/BRCA2 predictive test negatives are proven noncarriers of a BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation that is carried by their relatives. The risk of developing breast cancer (BC) or epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) in these women is uncertain. The study aimed to estimate risks of invasive BC and EOC in a large cohort of BRCA1/BRCA2 predictive test negatives. Methods We used cohort analysis to estimate incidences, cumulative risks, and standardized incidence ratios (SIRs). Results A total of 1,895 unaffected women were eligible for inclusion in the BC risk analysis and 1,736 in the EOC risk analysis. There were 23 incident invasive BCs and 2 EOCs. The cumulative risk of invasive BC was 9.4% (95% confidence interval (CI) 5.9-15%) by age 85 years and the corresponding risk of EOC was 0.6% (95% CI 0.2-2.6%). The SIR for invasive BC was 0.93 (95% CI 0.62-1.40) in the overall cohort, 0.85 (95% CI 0.48-1.50) in noncarriers from BRCA1 families, and 1.03 (95% CI 0.57-1.87) in noncarriers from BRCA2 families. The SIR for EOC was 0.79 (95% CI 0.20-3.17) in the overall cohort. Conclusion Our results did not provide evidence for elevated risks of invasive BC or EOC in BRCA1/BRCA2 predictive test negatives. Genetics in Medicine advance online publication, 22 March 2018; doi:10.1038/gim.2018.44

Prostate Cancer Risk by BRCA2 Genomic Regions.

A BRCA2 prostate cancer cluster region (PCCR) was recently proposed (c.7914 to 3') wherein pathogenic variants (PVs) are associated with higher prostate cancer (PCa) risk than PVs elsewhere in the BRCA2 gene. Using a prospective cohort study of 447 male BRCA2 PV carriers recruited in the UK and Ireland from 1998 to 2016, we estimated standardised incidence ratios (SIRs) compared with population incidences and assessed variation in risk by PV location. Carriers of PVs in the PCCR had a PCa SIR of 8.33 (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.46-15.6) and were at a higher risk of PCa than carriers of other BRCA2 PVs (SIR = 3.31, 95% CI 1.97-5.57; hazard ratio = 2.34, 95% CI 1.09-5.03). PCCR PV carriers had an estimated cumulative PCa risk of 44% (95% CI 23-72%) by the age of 75 yr and 78% (95% CI 54-94%) by the age of 85 yr. Our results corroborate the existence of a PCCR in BRCA2 in a prospective cohort. PATIENT SUMMARY: In this report, we investigated whether the risk of prostate cancer for men with a harmful mutation in the BRCA2 gene differs based on where in the gene the mutation is located. We found that men with mutations in one region of BRCA2 had a higher risk of prostate cancer than men with mutations elsewhere in the gene

Working Inside for Smoking Elimination (Project W.I.S.E.) study design and rationale to prevent return to smoking after release from a smoke free prison

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Incarcerated individuals suffer disproportionately from the health effects of tobacco smoking due to the high smoking prevalence in this population. In addition there is an over-representation of ethnic and racial minorities, impoverished individuals, and those with mental health and drug addictions in prisons. Increasingly, prisons across the U.S. are becoming smoke free. However, relapse to smoking is common upon release from prison, approaching 90% within a few weeks. No evidence based treatments currently exist to assist individuals to remain abstinent after a period of prolonged, forced abstinence.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>This paper describes the design and rationale of a randomized clinical trial to enhance smoking abstinence rates among individuals following release from a tobacco free prison. The intervention is six weekly sessions of motivational interviewing and cognitive behavioral therapy initiated approximately six weeks prior to release from prison. The control group views six time matched videos weekly starting about six weeks prior to release. Assessments take place in-person 3 weeks after release and then for non-smokers every 3 months up to 12 months. Smoking status is confirmed by urine cotinine.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Effective interventions are greatly needed to assist these individuals to remain smoke free and reduce health disparities among this socially and economically challenged group.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p><a href="http://www.trialregister.nl/trialreg/admin/rctview.asp?TC=01122589">NCT01122589</a></p