Developing ODP student placements

In a similar way to nursing and other health professions, elements of the education of operating department practitioners (ODPs) can only be contextualised by clinical practice involvement (Stockhausen and Strutt, 2005; Higginson, 2006; Morgan, 2006). The importance of high-quality placement experiences for all UK health professions is widely acknowledged (Quality Assurance Agency, 2001). Prior to 2009, students on the Diploma in Higher Education ODP programme undertook four clinical placements in the same Trust or organisation. At the time of the project there was a shortfall in the number of placements available and, although the university explored placing students in different clinical areas, such as private healthcare providers and new areas in the NHS, none could provide the full learning experience for students to achieve the required competencies. The course team developed a system that uses placements in a variety of settings and ensures students can gain the required outcomes. The new approach involves auditing for individual placements, instead of for the full course duration. Students are now informed throughout recruitment and selection events that they should be undertaking placements in a minimum of three different organisations. Students now move to a different organisation with every experience, to gain a variety of clinical knowledge. This has resulted in the greater use of clinical placements and the development of new areas for students to gain experience. The benefits of students’ experiences have increased, as they can develop skills and understanding of the ODP role from different perspectives

Ultra-fast sampling of terahertz pulses from a quantum cascade laser using superconducting antenna-coupled NbN and YBCO detectors

We demonstrate the ultra-fast detection of terahertz pulses from a quantum cascade laser (QCL) using superconducting NbN and YBCO detectors. This has enabled both the intrapulse and interpulse dynamics of a THz QCL to be measured directly, including interpulse heating effects on sub-μs timescales

Gamma secretase inhibition promotes hypoxic necrosis in mouse pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDA) is a highly lethal disease that is refractory to medical intervention. Notch pathway antagonism has been shown to prevent pancreatic preneoplasia progression in mouse models, but potential benefits in the setting of an established PDA tumor have not been established. We demonstrate that the gamma secretase inhibitor MRK003 effectively inhibits intratumoral Notch signaling in the KPC mouse model of advanced PDA. Although MRK003 monotherapy fails to extend the lifespan of KPC mice, the combination of MRK003 with the chemotherapeutic gemcitabine prolongs survival. Combination treatment kills tumor endothelial cells and synergistically promotes widespread hypoxic necrosis. These results indicate that the paucivascular nature of PDA can be exploited as a therapeutic vulnerability, and the dual targeting of the tumor endothelium and neoplastic cells by gamma secretase inhibition constitutes a rationale for clinical translation

Re-structuring of marine communities exposed to environmental change: a global study on the interactive effects of species and functional richness

Species richness is the most commonly used but controversial biodiversity metric in studies on aspects of community stability such as structural composition or productivity. The apparent ambiguity of theoretical and experimental findings may in part be due to experimental shortcomings and/or heterogeneity of scales and methods in earlier studies. This has led to an urgent call for improved and more realistic experiments. In a series of experiments replicated at a global scale we translocated several hundred marine hard bottom communities to new environments simulating a rapid but moderate environmental change. Subsequently, we measured their rate of compositional change (re-structuring) which in the great majority of cases represented a compositional convergence towards local communities. Re-structuring is driven by mortality of community components (original species) and establishment of new species in the changed environmental context. The rate of this re-structuring was then related to various system properties. We show that availability of free substratum relates negatively while taxon richness relates positively to structural persistence (i.e., no or slow re-structuring). Thus, when faced with environmental change, taxon-rich communities retain their original composition longer than taxon-poor communities. The effect of taxon richness, however, interacts with another aspect of diversity, functional richness. Indeed, taxon richness relates positively to persistence in functionally depauperate communities, but not in functionally diverse communities. The interaction between taxonomic and functional diversity with regard to the behaviour of communities exposed to environmental stress may help understand some of the seemingly contrasting findings of past research.Mercator Stiftung via GAMEPostprint4,41

Factors confounding the assessment of reflection: a critical review

BACKGROUND: Reflection on experience is an increasingly critical part of professional development and lifelong learning. There is, however, continuing uncertainty about how best to put principle into practice, particularly as regards assessment. This article explores those uncertainties in order to find practical ways of assessing reflection. DISCUSSION: We critically review four problems: 1. Inconsistent definitions of reflection; 2. Lack of standards to determine (in)adequate reflection; 3. Factors that complicate assessment; 4. Internal and external contextual factors affecting the assessment of reflection. SUMMARY: To address the problem of inconsistency, we identified processes that were common to a number of widely quoted theories and synthesised a model, which yielded six indicators that could be used in assessment instruments. We arrived at the conclusion that, until further progress has been made in defining standards, assessment must depend on developing and communicating local consensus between stakeholders (students, practitioners, teachers, supervisors, curriculum developers) about what is expected in exercises and formal tests. Major factors that complicate assessment are the subjective nature of reflection's content and the dependency on descriptions by persons being assessed about their reflection process, without any objective means of verification. To counter these validity threats, we suggest that assessment should focus on generic process skills rather than the subjective content of reflection and where possible to consider objective information about the triggering situation to verify described reflections. Finally, internal and external contextual factors such as motivation, instruction, character of assessment (formative or summative) and the ability of individual learning environments to stimulate reflection should be considered

Phase structure of ceramics Al[2]O[3]-ZrW[2]O[8]

In the course of work the phase composition of the ceramic composite material Al[2]O[3] - 50 % ZrW[2]O[8] was studied. On the polished surface of the Al[2]O[3]-ZrW[2]O[8] sintered composite can be allocated three areas: dark gray matrix, white inclusions of an irregular form and spherical inclusions. The average size of spherical inclusions was equal to 15 [mu]m. The phase structure of ceramic composite was presented by trigonal modification of aluminum oxide, cubic zirconium tungstate, monoclinic modification of zirconium oxide and tungsten oxide

Physical and mechanical properties and deformation behavior of porous ceramics based on plasma chemical powders Al[2]O[3], ZrO[2](MgO)

This work investigates the behavior of porous alumina and zirconia stabilized with magnesium oxide (within the porosity range of 18% to 70%) ceramics when subjected to deformation by compression and shearing. The analysis of strain-deformation curves showed that there was a transition from a typically brittle state for relatively dense ceramics, to a pseudo-plastic one with a high rate of porosity. The values of the effective elasticity modulus, effective shear modulus and Poisson's ratio decrease with an increase in volume in the pore space of ceramics, which correlates with the appearance of plural cracking during the deformation of ceramics with a high level of porosity. There was made analysis of the nature of the destruction of ceramics with the same level of porosity. The difference in the deformation behavior of the ZrO[2]-MgO compared to the Al[2]O[3] ceramic was the fact that the transition from a typically brittle to tively dense ceramics to the pseudo -plastic at a high level of porosity is implemented with a lower level of porosity