Drilling down to the core: collaborative core content creation

As part of Leeds Metropolitan University’s review of the postgraduate curriculum in 2012–13, Libraries and Learning Innovation (LLI) was asked to lead a project group to create two core content modules for use at Level 7 (Masters level) in Research Practice and Project Management. Core content modules are modules within a virtual learning environment (VLE) that have a clear structure and design, containing generic materials to support the subject. They are intended to serve as a template for academics designing a module, providing a range of high quality, up-to-date content (created by Leeds Metropolitan as well as from other sources) that may be easily inserted and contextualised within the curriculum. The modules have been extremely well received, with very positive feedback being given in the promotional workshops run for staff, through a feedback form and in meetings and events attended by team members. Several academic staff have already used a copy of the Research Practice module as the basis of their own research modules, and it has also been adopted by a new course for distance learners as the core of their Research Practice module, following on from recommendations of colleagues in that faculty. A member of academic staff involved in the MSc in Strategic Project Management is working with the team on re-purposing a number of his own materials to augment the Project Management module, and these re-purposed materials will also be used to enhance and extend the project management content on the Skills for Learning website. The project has been a very rewarding experience for the team involved, and it has led to the development of a set of resources which it seems will be of real worth to the academic community

Proving our worth: using annual reports to engage with academics

This paper will provide a practical example of how relatively easy it is to produce high quality annual reports, despite potential financial, technical or organisational constraints. The Academic Librarians at Leeds Beckett University have for years written annual reports summarising the resources, teaching and support that each Faculty or School has received from the library. Historically these have been very text-based and received little or no reaction from the academics who read them (if they were being read at all). In 2016 it was decided that it was time for a re-design of the reports to make them more visually appealing and to turn them into a tool for engaging with our wider academic community. Like all HE libraries, we collect more qualitative and quantitative data than ever before, measuring how our library and its resources are being used. We need to ensure, however, that we present this information in a meaningful way to our stakeholders. How do we use this information to demonstrate that we are effective? We need to ask the right questions of the data to measure our impact, analyse it correctly and present it in a way that makes sense. It is extremely important to contextualise this information to increase impact and to prove our worth to our academic colleagues. The prevalence of tools to create infographics and analytical dashboards also means that we need to decide which technology we should use to create the reports so that they look professional but are easy to produce by individual Academic Librarians with varying technical abilities. This paper will show you how and why we decided to use PowerPoint at Leeds Beckett to create simple but visually appealing reports that have received fantastic feedback from our academics (who, it seems, are finally reading them!)

Stories from the collection at Leeds Beckett University

Brief talk at ARLIS event: Showcasing Leeds Art Libraries: Stories from the Collection Event showcased books and objects from the collections in art libraries in Leeds. Library and archive staff talked about some of the most interesting items, which tell a story and give an insight into their broader collections

The Ethics of International Criminal ‘Lawfare’

Despite the expansive employment of the term to refer to appeals to law in ongoing conflict as a tool of war, this article demonstrates how ‘lawfare’ has taken on negative meaning without ethical justification. We argue that the co-opting of the term as a means of condemnation is unfair and potentially detrimental, and a more exacting definition and narrower use of the term are needed to avoid obfuscating potentially purposeful recourses to international law. In looking at how international criminal lawfare has manifested with referrals to the International Criminal Court (ICC), it becomes clear that problems of negative perceptions lie not with lawfare itself, but with the intentional perverting or obstructing of law by parties interested in the outcome of a conflict. Tackling these negative perceptions also lays the groundwork for a necessary future argument for the international community’s moral responsibility to promote safeguards to ensure that the international criminal legal system is itself just

Exploring how family carers of a person with dementia manage pre-death grief: A mixed methods study

Objectives Many family carers of a person with dementia experience pre-death grief. We aimed to identify strategies that help carers manage pre-death grief. We hypothesised that emotion and problem focussed styles would be associated with lower, and dysfunctional coping with higher grief intensity. Methods Mixed methods observational study using structured and semi-structured interviews with 150 family carers of people with dementia living at home or in a care home. Most participants were female (77%), caring for a parent (48%) or partner/spouse (47%) with mild (25%), moderate (43%) or severe (32%) dementia. They completed the Marwit-Meuser Caregiver Grief Inventory Short Form and the Brief Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (Brief-COPE) questionnaire. We asked carers to identify strategies used for managing grief. We recorded field notes for 150 interviews and audio-recorded additional interviews with a sub-sample of 16 participants. Results Correlations indicated that emotion-oriented coping was associated with lower grief (R = −0.341), and dysfunctional coping with higher grief (R = 0.435), with a small association with problem-focused strategies (R = −0.109), partly supporting our hypothesis. Our qualitative themes broadly match the three Brief-COPE styles. Unhelpful strategies of denial and avoidance align with dysfunctional coping strategies. Psychological strategies (including acceptance and humour) and seeking support were consistent with emotion-focused strategies, but we did not identify a theme relating to problem-focused strategies. Conclusion Most carers identified multiple strategies for processing grief. Carers could readily identify supports and services that they found helpful for managing pre-death grief, yet current services appear under-resourced to meet growing demand. (ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03332979)

Mitral supravalvular ring: a case report

Supravalvular mitral stenosis is a rare condition characterized by an abnormal ridge, with one or two orifices, covering and obstructing the mitral valve. Preoperative diagnosis is difficult with transtoracic echo (TTE), angiography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In this case, a 36-year-old male, was admitted to our Heart department: He experienced progressive dyspnea on effort and at rest. Diagnosis was made by transesophageal echocardiography which showed, on apical 4-chamber section, an anulare structure attached since a membrane to the atrial wall anterior mitral valve leaflet and just proximal to the posterior mitral leaflet. Pre-operative identification of the supravalvular mitral ring is the target for obtaining good surgical results. Cineangiography and MRI both failed in reaching this objective, whereas, transesophageal echocardiography is the best method to identify this congenital heart disease. Using TEE the identification is not only possible but also easier

Risk, precaution and science: towards a more constructive policy debate. Talking point on the precautionary principle

Few issues in contemporary risk policy are as momentous or contentious as the precautionary principle. Since it first emerged in German environmental policy, it has been championed by environmentalists and consumer protection groups, and resisted by the industries they oppose (Raffensperger & Tickner, 1999). Various versions of the principle now proliferate across different national and international jurisdictions and policy areas (Fisher, 2002). From a guiding theme in European Commission (EC) environmental policy, it has become a general principle of EC law (CEC, 2000; Vos & Wendler, 2006). Its influence has extended from the regulation of environmental, technological and health risks to the wider governance of science, innovation and trade (O'Riordan & Cameron, 1994)

A microfluidic device for characterizing nuclear deformations.

Cell nuclei experience and respond to a wide range of forces, both in vivo and in vitro. In order to characterize the nuclear response to physical stress, we developed a microfluidic chip and used it to apply mechanical stress to live cells and measure their nuclear deformability. The device design is optimized for the detection of both nucleus and cytoplasm, which can then be conveniently quantified using a custom-written Matlab program. We measured nuclear sizes and strains of embryonic stem cells, for which we observed negative Poisson ratios in the nuclei. In addition, we were able to detect changes in the nuclear response after treatment with actin depolymerizing and chromatin decondensing agents. Finally, we showed that the device can be used for biologically relevant high-resolution confocal imaging of cells under compression. Thus, the device presented here allows for accurate physical phenotyping at high throughput and has the potential to be applied to a range of cell types