Environmental Justice: Where are the Fracking Sites?

This paper looks at the variables that determine the location of hydraulic fracturing wells. Using cross-sectional data on Texas counties, we test whether county income level and the percentage of the population that is minority are significant indicators of well location. This study mirrors other studies that focus on the location of undesirable land uses such as landfills. Our study finds that income level and the size of the minority population are not statistically significant indicators of hydraulic fracturing well location

JuxtaLearn DELIVERABLE Report D3.5 Service scenario documentation

The purpose of Deliverable 3.5 is to provide guidelines to creating juxtaposed performance, particularly to advise non-drama teachers on what to do and how to manage performance in stage 3 of the JuxtaLearn process. Building on pedagogies of threshold concepts and juxtaposed learning, it explains the performance steps, orchestrating learning through participative video making and story making with peers. It provides guidance for teachers, offering resources that include suggested lesson plans and example timings. Thus, in the absence of a shared touchable with JuxtaLearn software, it suggests a practical additional and alternative to using the software of WP4 touch table

Police Knowledge Exchange: Summary Report

[Executive Summary] This report draws on research commissioned by the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and the Home Office to investigate cultural aspects of knowledge sharing across the police service. The research reviews literature and police perceptions to identify the enablers and barriers to effective knowledge exchange and sharing within and between police forces and police partners, including the public. Data were collected from 11 police forces; 42 in-depth interviews/focus groups and 47 survey responses. The literature-guided analysis identified four core research themes: who, why, what and how we share. Detailed findings are presented in the full report; this summary report presents the core research findings. Recommendations from this study will inform the next phase of activity for the Board. The research identified that cross-force, cross-organisation, national and international sharing relies on a culture supporting individuals who have an independent and reflective sharing approach. A key enabler to police sharing is that, regardless of police rank and role, they all have a strong collaborative nature, through a deep motivation to share, that benefits the wider social community. This collaborative nature is driven by processes that reveal reciprocal benefit and safe sharing, as well as how to effectively ‘get the job done’ and foster professional learning. A key barrier to police sharing is a strong hierarchical culture that does not encourage the independent nature of sharing. Whilst police officers and staff act independently within the confines of their prescribed roles, they rarely independently share beyond this. This hierarchical culture means that innovations in sharing are often initiated or approved top-down and tied to leadership. Hierarchical structures are seen to support a competitive culture combining concepts of risk aversion and blame. The hierarchical culture is also perceived as providing poor clarity on what is of value to share and how to effectively share. There are two key recommendations to overcome this barrier: one long-term and one short-term. Long-term: ‘Become independent sharers’ by changing the nature and culture of the police to encourage this independent nature, so that specific sharing barriers are effectively solved by individuals. Professionalising the police and working collaboratively with academia are steps towards this long-term goal. Short-term: ‘Guide and authorise independent sharing’ by using the hierarchy to scaffold/support and direct police towards effective and approved sharing approaches. This will show the police, through the hierarchy, how and why this independent sharing nature is safe, effective and valued

Police Knowledge Exchange: Full Report 2018

[Executive Summary] This report was commissioned to explore the enablers and barriers to sharing within and between police forces and between police forces and partners, including the public. This was completed from an interdisciplinary review of international literature covering sharing, knowledge exchange, learning and organisational learning. The literature broke down into four main factors; who, why, what and how. An introduction to the literature is presented with ‘Who’ is sharing which considers both personal identity and different institutional issues. The ‘Why’ literature covers issues of cultural and community motivators and barriers. The ‘What’ segment reviews concepts of data, information and knowledge and related legislative issues. Finally, the ‘how’ section spans face to face sharing approaches to technologies that produce both enablers and barriers. A series of 42 in-depth interviews and focus groups were completed and combined with 47 survey responses . The aim of the interviews, focus groups and survey was to show perceptions and beliefs around knowledge sharing from a small sample across policing in order to complement the findings from the literature review. The survey was adapted from a standardised questionnaire (Biggs, 1987). The Biggs questionnaire focused on what motivated students to learn and how they approached their learning. Our adapted survey looked at what motivated police to share, and how they approached sharing. The responses showed a trend, across the police, towards a motivation for sharing to develop a deeper understanding of issues. However, the approaches and the strategies they used to share with others, which were primarily driven by achieving and surface approaches (to get promoted and get the job done). According to Biggs (1987) this could leave them discontented as they never progress to a deeper understanding of issues. Scaffolding sharing within the police through processes that are clearly defined, effective and valued could help to overcome these issues. Within the interviews and focus group findings a similar structured approach to sharing was adopted. Within the ‘who’ section some key aspects around personal relationships, reciprocity and reputation were identified. The ‘why’ the police share was one of the largest discussion points. Not only was there a deep motivation to solve key policing issues there was an approach of reciprocity. Police sharing was deeply motivated to support ‘good practice’ in the prevention and detection of crime. However, a sharing barrier was identified in the parity of value given to different types of knowledge for example between professional judgement and research evidence knowledge. Sharing was achieved when there were reciprocal benefits, in particular with personal networks or face to face sharing which was noted as ‘safe’. Again, this was inhibited by misunderstandings around the ‘risks’ of sharing, frequently attributed to data protection legislation; producing cautious reactions and as an avoidance tactic to save time and effort sharing. However, a divide was noted between technical users and those who avoided any online systems for sharing; often due to poorly designed systems and a lack of confidence in how to use systems. The police culture was identified as being risk-adverse, and competitive due to multiple factors, a lack of supported time to share, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) reviews and promotion criteria. The result was perceived to be a poor cultural ability to learn from mistakes and a likelihood to repeat errors. A set of strategic recommendations are given and include the use of a sharing authorised professional practice for HMIC reviews, sharing networks and training. A further set of operational recommendations are given such as; sharing impact cases for evidence based practice, data sharing officers and evaluating mechanisms for sharing. This full report is supported by the Police Knowledge Exchange Summary Report 2018 which gives an overview of the findings and recommendations

Freshwater Pearl Mussel (Margaritifera Margaritifera) Host Choice and Behavioural Responses to Changes in Flow Regime

The endangered freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera), one of the longest-lived invertebrates, are threatened globally. Scotland, UK, remains a stronghold, however even here the population is declining due to factors such as habitat degradation, pollution and pearl fishing. The study comprised two parts: field surveys of glochidia infection of host salmonid fish, and a novel laboratory flume based study of the mussel‟s behavioral responses to changes in flow regime. The intricate life cycle of M.margaritifera includes a parasitic stage as glochidia attached to gills of salmonids. The preferred host in Scotland is thought to be Salmo salar and Salmo trutta in the absence of S.salar. This has not, however, been empirically tested in the field. Eight rivers in NW Scotland were surveyed using standard electrofishing techniques and encysted glochidia counted. Results suggest S.trutta is the primary host fish for glochidia attachment in the rivers surveyed, which contradicts current accepted knowledge about host specificity of M.margaritifera. Mussel populations are often found in regulated rivers, however little data exists on response to changes in flow regime. The mussel's behavioral response to changes in flow were investigated in an experimental flume. Mussels buried significantly deeper in conditions of gradually increasing water velocity compared with rapid increases or where water velocity was constant. 68% of individual mussels washed out when the water velocity was rapidly increased. The findings are novel, provide initial recommendations for targeted management actions for the conservation of M.margaritifera both in Scotland and internationally, and highlight more research is required

Deep neutral hydrogen observations of Leo T with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope

Leo T is the lowest mass gas-rich galaxy currently known and studies of its gas content help us understand how such marginal galaxies survive and form stars. We present deep neutral hydrogen (HI) observations from the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope in order to understand its HI distribution and potential for star formation. We find a larger HI line flux than the previously accepted value, resulting in a 50% larger HI mass of 4.1 x 10^5 Msun. The additional HI flux is from low surface brightness emission that was previously missed; with careful masking this emission can be recovered even in shallower data. We perform a Gaussian spectral decomposition to find a cool neutral medium component (CNM) with a mass of 3.7 x 10^4 Msun, or almost 10% of the total HI mass. Leo T has no HI emission extending from the main HI body, but there is evidence of interaction with the Milky Way circumgalactic medium in both a potential truncation of the HI body and the offset of the peak HI distribution from the optical center. The CNM component of Leo T is large when compared to other dwarf galaxies, even though Leo T is not currently forming stars and has a lower star formation efficiency than other gas-rich dwarf galaxies. However, the HI column density associated with the CNM component in Leo T is low. One possible explanation is the large CNM component is not related to star formation potential but rather a recent, transient phenomenon related to the interaction of Leo T with the Milky Way circumgalactic medium.Comment: accepted for publication in A&A; 12 pages, 13 figure

Writing a Narrative CV

This workbook guides you through reflective questions to help you with a narrative CV. What you write here will probably be much longer than the word or space limit that you will ultimately have in a grant or Fellowship application. It’s important that you read the call guidance each time.Think of this as your ‘master’ narrative CV document. When it comes to writing the one for the actual application, you will be pulling out the key bits of information which support you to demonstrate that you are the right person (or part of the right team), with a unique set of experiences, to be able to deliver the grant you are applying to. The examples here are written from an ECR or PGR perspective but every answer will be unique

Implementation of the Nurse Care Manager in Integrated Care: A Systematic Report

Introduction: The collaborative care model (CCM) is an effective model for improving depression symptoms in patients in a primary care (PC) setting. An essential role in this model is the care manager (CM), and nurses have been effective in this role. However, there remains a question of how to best design, train, and implement this nurse CM role in PC. Objectives: The purpose of this review is to provide readers with a critical description of what processes for training and implementation of a collaborative nurse CM role have been be successful in the literature, specifically as it pertains to supporting patients with depression and chronic medical illnesses in an integrated PC setting. Methods: A literature review of PubMed, CINAHL, PsychInfo, Scopus, and the Cochrane Collaborative was conducted in October 2018. Discussion: Successful nurse CM interventions have included regular patient follow-up, symptom check-in, treatment monitoring, goal setting, and education. Psychological support techniques such as problem solving therapy, behavioral activation, and motivational interviewing have been useful in supporting patient care-plan engagement and goal achievement. Nurse CM training should support the successful implementation of the designed role. Conclusion: Nurse CMs have an opportunity to significantly impact depressive outcomes of patients with depression and long-term health conditions. Further research is needed to explore the potential that this nursing role has, as well as how to best operationalize this role

A Community Conversation on Adolescent Pregnancy and Parenting Services: Networks of Support, Gatekeepers to Care, and Non-Compulsory Fathering in a Black Urban Community

This study employed Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) methods to document needs and capacity around adolescent pregnancy and parenting in one predominately Black, low-income urban community. Using an iterative focus group method, we engaged 60 participants in a two-day community conversation. Quantitative data from an enrollment questionnaire and qualitative transcripts of the discussions are analyzed. Our results indicate that the community’s greatest capacity lies in a network of women. Men tend to participate in parenting more holistically once formal paternity is established. Neighborhood women typically introduce adolescents to prenatal care, so delays in revealing the pregnancy to them serves as a barrier to accessing prenatal care. Overall, participants want health agencies to uphold their formal social contracts with the community, but to entrust informal services to community members who have the necessary insight and expertise to deliver support and information that is usable in their social context