scholarly journals Hans Walter Kosterlitz. 27 April 1903 — 26 October 1996

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 ◽  
pp. 171-192
Author(s):  
R. Alan North ◽  
John Hughes

Hans Walter Kosterlitz will be remembered as the winner of an international race to identify the first endogenous opioid, enkephalin. He came to the UK from Berlin in 1934, one of the many scientific émigrés of that period who later so enriched biochemistry, physiology and pharmacology. His entire career was spent at the University of Aberdeen, where he developed a reputation first in carbohydrate metabolism and later in the pharmacology of opiates. His strong experimental skills, and particularly the use of bioassays on tissues from laboratory animals, allowed him to predict the effectiveness and abuse potential of opiate drugs. Most notably, this led to the isolation of the peptide hormone enkephalin, the first of a group of such peptides now often known as endorphins. This work was done in his seventies, after his official retirement, with an energy and enthusiasm that could leave younger colleagues physically tired but intellectually stimulated.

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 146-157
Author(s):  
Mark O'Brien

Higher education (HE) in the UK, as in other parts of the world, is now big business, with revenues measured in the many ?billions annually. Organisational and cultural changes that have accompanied this 'new world' for HE represent the rise of a 'business model' of the university that is far more engaged with income generation than in the even relatively recent past. However, while increases in tuition fees have not put off young people from applying for and taking up university places, mature student recruitment has dropped precipitously. Alongside this, commitments to community and lifelong models of learning have fared badly. Continuing education services, for example, are not well positioned to contribute significantly to their host universities' income streams. The trends accompanying these changes have also affected notions of skills acquisition and even how 'learning' itself is conceptualised. This paper briefly considers the historical trajectory of continuing education as well as potential strategies that might be mobilised to make its position in the modern university more secure.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Parker ◽  
Alex Webb ◽  
Hartmut Boesch ◽  
Peter Somkuti ◽  
Rocio Barrio Guillo ◽  
...  

Abstract. This work presents the latest release (v9.0) of the University of Leicester GOSAT Proxy XCH4 dataset. Since the launch of the GOSAT satellite in 2009, this data has been produced by the UK National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) as part of the ESA Greenhouse Gas Climate Change Initiative (GHG-CCI) and Copernicus Climate Change Services (C3S) projects. With now over a decade of observations, we outline the many scientific studies achieved using past versions of this data in order to highlight how this latest version may be used in the future. We describe in detail how the data is generated, providing information and statistics for the entire processing chain from the L1B spectral data through to the final quality-filtered column-averaged dry-air mole fraction (XCH4) data. We show that out of the 19.5 million observations made between April 2009 and December 2019, we determine that 7.3 million of these are sufficiently cloud-free (37.6 %) to process further and ultimately obtain 4.6 million (23.5 %) high-quality XCH4 observations. We separate these totals by observation mode (land and ocean sun-glint) and by month, to provide data users with the expected data coverage, including highlighting periods with reduced observations due to instrumental issues. We perform extensive validation of the data against the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON), comparing to ground-based observations at 22 locations worldwide. We find excellent agreement to TCCON, with an overall correlation coefficient of 0.92 for the 88,345 co-located measurements. The single measurement precision is found to be 13.72 ppb and an overall global bias of 9.06 ppb is determined and removed from the Proxy XCH4 data. Additionally, we validate the separate components of the Proxy (namely the modelled XCO2 and the XCH4/XCO2 ratio) and find these to be in excellent agreement with TCCON. In order to show the utility of the data for future studies, we compare against simulated XCH4 from the TM5 model. We find a high degree of consistency between the model and observations throughout both space and time. When focusing on specific regions, we find average differences ranging from just 3.9 ppb to 15.4 ppb. We find the phase and magnitude of the seasonal cycle to be in excellent agreement, with an average correlation coefficient of 0.93 and a mean seasonal cycle amplitude difference across all regions of −0.84 ppb. This data is available at https://doi.org/10.5285/18ef8247f52a4cb6a14013f8235cc1eb (Parker and Boesch, 2020).


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 3383-3412
Author(s):  
Robert J. Parker ◽  
Alex Webb ◽  
Hartmut Boesch ◽  
Peter Somkuti ◽  
Rocio Barrio Guillo ◽  
...  

Abstract. This work presents the latest release (v9.0) of the University of Leicester GOSAT Proxy XCH4 dataset. Since the launch of the GOSAT satellite in 2009, these data have been produced by the UK National Centre for Earth Observation (NCEO) as part of the ESA Greenhouse Gas Climate Change Initiative (GHG-CCI) and Copernicus Climate Change Services (C3S) projects. With now over a decade of observations, we outline the many scientific studies achieved using past versions of these data in order to highlight how this latest version may be used in the future. We describe in detail how the data are generated, providing information and statistics for the entire processing chain from the L1B spectral data through to the final quality-filtered column-averaged dry-air mole fraction (XCH4) data. We show that out of the 19.5 million observations made between April 2009 and December 2019, we determine that 7.3 million of these are sufficiently cloud-free (37.6 %) to process further and ultimately obtain 4.6 million (23.5 %) high-quality XCH4 observations. We separate these totals by observation mode (land and ocean sun glint) and by month, to provide data users with the expected data coverage, including highlighting periods with reduced observations due to instrumental issues. We perform extensive validation of the data against the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON), comparing to ground-based observations at 22 locations worldwide. We find excellent agreement with TCCON, with an overall correlation coefficient of 0.92 for the 88 345 co-located measurements. The single-measurement precision is found to be 13.72 ppb, and an overall global bias of 9.06 ppb is determined and removed from the Proxy XCH4 data. Additionally, we validate the separate components of the Proxy (namely the modelled XCO2 and the XCH4∕XCO2 ratio) and find these to be in excellent agreement with TCCON. In order to show the utility of the data for future studies, we compare against simulated XCH4 from the TM5 model. We find a high degree of consistency between the model and observations throughout both space and time. When focusing on specific regions, we find average differences ranging from just 3.9 to 15.4 ppb. We find the phase and magnitude of the seasonal cycle to be in excellent agreement, with an average correlation coefficient of 0.93 and a mean seasonal cycle amplitude difference across all regions of −0.84 ppb. These data are available at https://doi.org/10.5285/18ef8247f52a4cb6a14013f8235cc1eb (Parker and Boesch, 2020).


Author(s):  
Bruno Veneziani

- In the laudatio given on the occasion of the conferral of the honoris causa degree granted by the University of Bari, the author outlines the scientific, academic and personal profile of Sir Bob Hepple, a major legal scholar who has made a huge contribution to the development of legal studies in the UK and internationally. His knowledge and experience in several fields of law as well as in the judiciary sphere, his engagement in public issues both at national and international levels, the many institutional functions he played in his adoptive country (Great Britain) as well as in his native one (South Africa) and his collaboration within European and extra-European institutions, are all combined in his scholarship and in his activity of research in the field of employment law and of industrial relations. The author touches upon Hepple's many scientific works and outlines his outstanding contribution in offering perspectives of investigation and techniques of protection, at times original and innovative, in keeping with the objectives of social justice which are clearly identified and pursued throughout his work.


2015 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-137
Author(s):  
Pamela Armstrong

Around six hundred astronomers and space scientists gathered at the University of Portsmouth in June 2014 for the Royal Astronomical Society’s National Astronomy Meeting (NAM). NAM is one of the largest professional astronomy conferences in Europe, and this year’s gathering included the UK Solar Physics annual meeting as well as attendance from the magnetosphere, ionosphere and solar-terrestrial physics community. Conference tracks ranged from discussion of the molecular universe to cosmic chronometers, and from spectroscopic cosmology to industrial applications of astrophysics and astronomy.


This volume addresses the relationship between archaeologists and the dead, through the many dimensions of their relationships: in the field (through practical and legal issues), in the lab (through their analysis and interpretation), and in their written, visual and exhibitionary practice--disseminated to a variety of academic and public audiences. Written from a variety of perspectives, its authors address the experience, effect, ethical considerations, and cultural politics of working with mortuary archaeology. Whilst some papers reflect institutional or organizational approaches, others are more personal in their view: creating exciting and frank insights into contemporary issues that have hitherto often remained "unspoken" among the discipline. Reframing funerary archaeologists as "death-workers" of a kind, the contributors reflect on their own experience to provide both guidance and inspiration to future practitioners, arguing strongly that we have a central role to play in engaging the public with themes of mortality and commemoration, through the lens of the past. Spurred by the recent debates in the UK, papers from Scandinavia, Austria, Italy, the US, and the mid-Atlantic, frame these issues within a much wider international context that highlights the importance of cultural and historical context in which this work takes place.


Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (6) ◽  
pp. 526
Author(s):  
James Ditai ◽  
Aisling Barry ◽  
Kathy Burgoine ◽  
Anthony K. Mbonye ◽  
Julius N. Wandabwa ◽  
...  

The initial bedside care of premature babies with an intact cord has been shown to reduce mortality; there is evidence that resuscitation of term babies with an intact cord may also improve outcomes. This process has been facilitated by the development of bedside resuscitation surfaces. These new devices are unaffordable, however, in most of sub-Saharan Africa, where 42% of the world’s 2.4 million annual newborn deaths occur. This paper describes the rationale and design of BabySaver, an innovative low-cost mobile resuscitation unit, which was developed iteratively over five years in a collaboration between the Sanyu Africa Research Institute (SAfRI) in Uganda and the University of Liverpool in the UK. The final BabySaver design comprises two compartments; a tray to provide a firm resuscitation surface, and a base to store resuscitation equipment. The design was formed while considering contextual factors, using the views of individual women from the community served by the local hospitals, medical staff, and skilled birth attendants in both Uganda and the UK.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 7-7
Author(s):  
Cassandra Barragan ◽  
Stephanie Wladkowski

Abstract Diversity and inclusion are essential perspectives on university campuses. In recent years, there has been a nationwide decline in admissions resulting in changes to traditionally FTIAC driven college campuses. An environmental scan was completed at a mid-sized midwestern university to explore age-inclusive barriers and opportunities for change. In-depth interviews were held with 28 EMU stakeholders representing a wide variety of ages in leadership positions across campus. Students aged 40 and above (N=248) were also surveyed about their experiences on campus. Qualitative analysis revealed ageist attitudes about older adults and older students from at all levels of the university. Results demonstrate that initial responses to ‘age-friendly’ focused on stereotypes of older adults, but attitudes adjusted when reframed as older learners and further refined when older learners were defined as 40 and above. Additionally, there was a distinct disconnect between ageist perceptions towards older adults and older students which highlights the importance of intergenerational opportunities as an approach to combat ageist attitudes on campus. While these barriers require long-term and complicated solutions, participants described the many benefits that older learners bring to enrich the campus. Results of this research revealed opportunities to reframe aging in the context of diversity and inclusion efforts on campus. Adopting diversity efforts to include age can benefit universities in not only admissions, classroom experiences, and connections to surrounding communities.


Author(s):  
David Mahon ◽  
Anthony Clarkson ◽  
Simon Gardner ◽  
David Ireland ◽  
Ramsey Jebali ◽  
...  

In the last decade, there has been a surge in the number of academic research groups and commercial companies exploiting naturally occurring cosmic-ray muons for imaging purposes in a range of industrial and geological applications. Since 2009, researchers at the University of Glasgow and the UK National Nuclear Laboratory (NNL) have pioneered this technique for the characterization of shielded nuclear waste containers with significant investment from the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Sellafield Ltd. Lynkeos Technology Ltd. was formed in 2016 to commercialize the Muon Imaging System (MIS) technology that resulted from this industry-funded academic research. The design, construction and performance of the Lynkeos MIS is presented along with first experimental and commercial results. The high-resolution images include the identification of small fragments of uranium within a surrogate 500-litre intermediate level waste container and metal inclusions within thermally treated GeoMelt® R&D Product Samples. The latter of these are from Lynkeos' first commercial contract with the UK National Nuclear Laboratory. The Lynkeos MIS will be deployed at the NNL Central Laboratory facility on the Sellafield site in Summer 2018 where it will embark upon a series of industry trials. This article is part of the Theo Murphy meeting issue ‘Cosmic-ray muography’.


BMJ Open ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. e025813
Author(s):  
Charlotte Cadge ◽  
Charlotte Connor ◽  
Sheila Greenfield

ObjectiveTo explore lay understanding and perceptions of schizophrenia in university students.DesignQualitative study using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis.SettingThe University of Birmingham, West Midlands.Participants20 UK home students of white British (n=5), Indian (n=5), Pakistani (n=5), African Caribbean (n=4) and dual white British and African Caribbean ethnicity (n=1).ResultsFindings revealed a lack of knowledge about schizophrenia, particularly the negative symptoms that were not mentioned. There were mixed ideas on the causes and sources of available help for schizophrenia; however, positively many said they would consult their general practitioner. While there was a general misconception among the students that schizophrenia caused multiple personalities and was a dangerous illness, there were some differences in perceptions and understanding between ethnic groups, with more Indian students perceiving upbringing as a causal factor in the development of the illness and more Pakistani students perceiving possession by a spirit as a cause.ConclusionsThe university students interviewed lacked knowledge about schizophrenia and stigma was widespread, both of which may delay help-seeking. Public health campaigns educating young people about schizophrenia are required to improve early identification and intervention and improve outcomes. Further research exploring ways to effectively tackle stigma is also required.


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