Food Innovation Consultancy Challenge: 'Live' Learning and Professional Development with an Industry Client

Abstract What makes you stand out in the market for that great graduate job? In the competitive market for graduate jobs, securing a good degree no longer sets you apart from other candidates – this workshop will show academics how to improve student employability through 'real life' learning in collaboration with leading UK industry businesses. The Food Innovation Consultancy Challenge is part of Sheffield Business School's 'live' strategic pillar offering students consultancy opportunities collaborating with key industry partners. The module forms one-third of students final year grading and has a significant impact on their degree classification. It is designed to improve professional skills through applied learning from a topical real life challenge. Through seamless teaching it provides integrated, exponential, problem-based and active learning, and develops team working and individual skills to get students 'career ready'. Over eighty students worked with Asda Stores plc on a sugar reduction project on Asda Brand biscuits in line with Public Health England targets to help reduce childhood obesity. Students were presented with a brief by the client and using primary and secondary research, along with commercial evaluations provided recommendations for Asda Bourbons, Custard Cream and Milk Chocolate Digestives. The project allowed students to reflect on their career development and future plans, and by using appropriate models and career management theory provide individual input to a group task. The module included a speed dating session with Asda management and culminated with the students presenting their recommendations at Asda House to an academic and Asda panel. The author would like to share the success of the student experience and recommendations to the client with BAM delegates. This academic model is one that satisfies student and industry requirements by providing work experience and self-reflection, action planning and improving student employability. The module was such a success that it appeared in the press in The Grocer and on the BBC. It has become the focus of 'live' module delivery across the whole of the courses within SBS

Gender Differences in the Experience of Coronary Artery Surgery

This treatise outlines a plan to explore, from the patient\u27s point of view, the lived experience of undergoing and recovering from coronary artery surgery. It is postulated that men and women experience widely differing reactions to undergoing this surgical procedure. This proposed qualitative study was planned to follow an adaptation of Streubert\u27s (1991) phenomenological methodology, using purposive sampling of people experiencing elective coronary artery surgery at a large private hospital based in New South Wales, Australia. The planned sample would initially be planned to include four men and four women however, the exact number of participants required would depend on when data saturation was reached. The proposed method of data collection was to be a face-to-face interview, one week after surgery, but prior to discharge. A subsequent follow up telephone interview was to be conducted during the sixth post-operative week. The projected findings, based on the literature review, indicate that men and women had contrasting psychosocial concerns and encountered both common and unique physical symptoms. As such, the meaning of this lived experience was different for men and for women

A silence so loud

A research report submitted to the Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Creative Writing, 2017MT201

Biomarkers of Lung Cancer Risk and Progression

Lung cancer causes high mortality because most people present late with advanced disease that is not amenable to curative treatment. Screening high-risk groups with low dose CT imaging of the thorax has been shown to reduce lung cancer mortality by 20%, but at the cost of a high false positive rate. Population stratification with molecular biomarkers could improve the cost-benefit of lung cancer screening programmes and reduce false positives. Tumour cells shed DNA into the blood, enabling tumour-derived genetic alterations to be detected non-invasively by analysing circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA). The aim of this study was to determine the screening and prognostic potential of total cfDNA levels and two genomic instability scores based on the detection of copy number aberrations in cfDNA samples of lung cancer cases and controls collected in the ReSoLuCENT study (A Resource for the Study of Lung Cancer Epidemiology in North Trent). Controls were identified as low or high risk for the development of lung cancer over five years using the Liverpool Lung Project risk model. CfDNA was extracted from the plasma of 52 untreated lung cancer cases, 32 high risk controls and 10 low risk controls and quantified total cfDNA levels by SYBR green real-time qPCR. Low coverage whole genome sequencing with Illumina HiSeq 2500 was completed for a subset of cases (N=62) and controls (N=40). Two published genomic instability scores were adapted and tested; the plasma genomic abnormality (PGA2) and the copy number aberration (CNA) score. Screening potential was evaluated by performing Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves to assess the ability of the test to discriminate between lung cancer cases and controls by calculating area under the curve (AUC). Logistic regression was used to further assess the ability of total cfDNA levels and genomic instability scores to predict case or control status. Prognostic value was determined by Kaplan Meir and Cox regression survival analyses. In this preliminary study, there was no difference in total cfDNA levels between early stage lung cancer cases and high risk controls. The PGA2 score was higher in high risk controls compared to lung cancer cases and was not further evaluated. In comparison, the CNA score had good discriminatory ability for high risk controls compared to all lung cancer cases (stage I-IV) with an AUC of 0.74 but poorer discriminatory ability for early stage cases (I-IIIA) with an AUC of 0.60. Although total cfDNA levels and CNA scores above the median value were associated with poor survival, both were statistically significant in univariable but not multivariable cox survival regression analyses. Therefore, total cfDNA levels and the CNA score had limited prognostic value when other factors were taken into account. Total cfDNA levels are not recommended as a screening tool because total levels lack specificity for cancer. The screening performance of the CNA score may be improved by targeting recurrent copy number aberrations and by combining the score with alternative tumour-derived genetic alterations in cfDNA such as point mutations or methylation changes

Can God Only Exist in the Present Moment?

In this paper, I will argue that presentism is inconsistent with the belief that God exists in time. The defence of my argument will be split into two sections. The first will show that if God exists in time and presentism is true, there are some true propositions about the future. The second will use truthmaker theory to show that these propositions require an existing future entity to be made true. As the first section states that some propositions about the future are true, it is the case that some future entities exist. Hence, if God exists in time then some future entities exist. This conclusion goes directly against presentism’s fundamental claim, proving it is inconsistent with the belief that God exists in time

Spatial distribution of trace metals in urban soils and road dusts : an example from Manchester, UK

Urban soil quality is of concern under current UK contaminated land legislation in terms of potential impacts on human health, due to the legacy of industrial, mining and waste disposal activities and the fact that soils can act as a sink for potentially harmful substances (PHS) in the urban environment. As part of the the Geochemical Baseline Survey of the Environment (G-BASE) project of the British Geological Survey (BGS), 27 UK cities have been surveyed to establish baselines and assess the quality of urban soils. The G-BASE soil geochemical dataset for Manchester forms the basis of this project. Another medium that is a likely sink for PHS in urban environments is road dust sediment (RDS). RDS forms as an accumulation of particles on pavements and road surfaces, and has been shown to be both spatially and temporally highly variable in composition, as it is more susceptible to remobilisation and transport. RDS has been documented as carrying a high loading of contaminant species, including significant amounts of trace metals. Geochemical data from both soils and RDS, despite having different properties, are essential for environmental assessment in urban areas. Although studies of PHS in RDS and soils have been published, little is known about the spatial, geochemical and mineralogical linkages between these two media. The aim of this research is to define and establish these linkages, and produce novel mineralogical data on the PHS–particulate relationships within soils and RDS

Embedding information skills training on student learning: making a difference

This article was first published in the Wolverhampton Intellectual Repository and E-Theses (WIRE). There is no printed version.This embedding project builds on one that was delivered in 2001, headed by Oliver Pritchard, Dudley Learning Centre Manager, leading a research team with staff working from different Learning Centres in the University. In the 2001 project, sessions on information skills were run in three differing subject areas for second and third years and their impact on student learning was assessed using questionnaires and focus groups for students and in-depth interviews with academic staff. Findings were encouraging. Skills and experience gained within the sessions were taken on and applied within assignment work to good effect. Within this small study there is evidence of a progression in student awareness, confidence and skills and Information Skills sessions bring a longer-term, practical and tangible element to the learning experience and are a valuable part of helping students to become more effective learners