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Innocence organisations: where’s the appeal?
No full textInnocence organisations provide a solution to fill the funding gap in the criminal justice process where convicted individuals who maintain their innocence are denied access to justice if they cannot pay for it. Innocence work starts after the appeals process and supports individuals who want to make applications to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC). Students working alongside academics and lawyers undertake this work as part of clinical legal education, deconstructing claims of innocence to find a new legal argument and/or fresh evidence, both of which form the requirements for a CCRC application. The main challenges facing this work are the restrictive nature of the CCRC’s statutory test of real possibility (which essentially protects the Court of Appeal) and the ability to obtain evidence post-conviction for an application to the CCRC. This chapter examines the role of innocence organisations in the context of the criminal justice system in England and Wales, alongside the learning derived from this type of clinical legal education. It further considers the two significant challenges outlined previously as to the effect they have on innocence work
Chapter 3. Ending all forms of malnutrition through food system transformation
No full textEnding all forms of malnutrition (SDG 2 Target 2.2) and transforming food systems to promote health and well-being is a complex and multifaceted challenge. As the case studies from countries that have achieved notable success in addressing malnutrition revealed, nutrition interventions are not only about individualised dietary recommendations and behavioural change but also determined by structural and spatial injustices. It is essential to address the root causes of malnutrition, including poverty, inequality, and lack of access to nutritious foods. This may involve implementing policies and programs that promote sustainable agriculture and food systems and increasing access to education, healthcare, and social safety nets for vulnerable populations. These initiatives could involve promoting sustainable farming practices, reducing food waste, and returning to producing and consuming healthy local crops and crop varieties that thrive in extreme environments and have unique nutritional values (e.g., iron-rich beans and millets)
Microfluidic assembly and biomimetic lipid coating modulate the structure, stability, and biological interactions of P(DMAEMA-co-SMA)/DNA lipopolyplexes
Full text linkIn this study, we present the development and characterization of biomimetic lipopolyplexes using the pH-responsive cationic copolymer, P(DMAEMA-co-SMA), DNA, and membrane-mimicking lipids. The copolymer was synthesized via RAFT polymerization and characterized by size exclusion chromatography, 1H NMR spectroscopy, ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, and acid-base titration for proton buffering capacity. A custom-designed 3D-printed microfluidic chip with embedded microstructures was utilized to form polyplexes under controlled flow conditions, followed by a post lipid-coating step via lipid film hydration. The statistical copolymer P(DMAEMA-co-SMA) was utilized to condense DNA 50 bp at various nitrogen-to-phosphate (N/P) ratios, yielding polyplexes with distinct physicochemical characteristics. Lipid coating of preformed polyplexes enhanced colloidal stability under storage and biorelevant conditions, highlighting its critical role in maintaining nanoparticle integrity. Cryo-TEM analysis revealed the coexistence of multiple nanostructures with small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) supporting these findings and demonstrating pH-dependent organization that provides insights into their structural behavior under biologically relevant conditions. In vitro cytotoxicity and hemocompatibility assays indicated that the developed P(DMAEMA-co-SMA)/DNA lipopolyplexes are well tolerated compared to polyethylenimine (PEI), the gold standard in non-viral gene delivery. Confocal microscopy showed enhanced cellular uptake, endosomal escape, and cytoplasmic distribution in HeLa cells, supporting the potential of the prepared nanocomplexes for efficient intracellular gene delivery. Overall, this study presents P(DMAEMA-co-SMA)/DNA lipopolyplexes as a stable, biocompatible, and effective gene delivery platform and demonstrates how biomimetic lipid coating can modulate the stability and biological interactions of DNA nanocomplexes
Small shifts to nurture a design thinking mindset in university teaching
No full textDesign thinking, with its focus on structured problem‑solving, can help prepare students for the workplace without requiring a curriculum overhaul
Ectogestation and surrogacy: reforms and future reflections
No full textThere have long been calls for reform to surrogacy law – and the Law Commissions’ recent project represented a significant step towards meaningful change. However, the regulation of surrogacy cannot be considered in isolation and inevitably raises questions about other reproductive technologies. A symposium, funded by Broadly Conceived, explored the broader implications of the Law Commissions’ recommendations relating to surrogacy. In this blog series, each presenter from the symposium reflects on the impact of these recommendations on current (and future) reproductive practices
Cowpea postharvest losses under smallholder farmer management in Benin: extent, causes and opportunities
Full text linkCowpea is a vital source of dietary protein for millions of people across sub-Saharan Africa. The crop is typically grown by smallholder farmers for household consumption and to generate income through sales. However, postharvest losses are perceived to be high affecting both the quantity and quality of cowpea available. To design targeted loss reduction activities, understanding is needed of the extent, causes and activity stages during which losses occur. The cowpea postharvest systems of 120 farming households across four agro-ecological zones of Benin were explored across two years through interviews. Additionally, directly measured loss assessments at each activity stage from harvest to store loading and during a 6-month storage period were done with a subset of these households. Postharvest activities were mainly done manually. Storage practices included storing untreated grains in woven polypropylene (PP) bags or plastic or metal drums, or treatment of cowpea grains with synthetic chemical pesticide dust, a fumigant or dried chilli and storage in PP bags. Measurement found the cumulative mean quantity losses from harvesting through six months of storage were 19.03-21.96% with the highest proportion of these losses occurring during harvesting (3.34-3.89%), drying of pods (1.96-2.05%), threshing (3.22-3.71%), and storage (10.14-12.01%). Loss levels were similar between years. Loss causes included rainfall during harvesting and/or drying, poor threshing methods, labour shortages, storage insect pest attack and rotting. An opportunity clearly exists for targeted multi-stakeholder participatory action research to co-develop affordable and acceptable ways of reducing these significant losses of such nutritionally and economically important grain legumes
Non-transition metal mediated electrochemical oxidations of alcohols to aldehydes and ketones
Full text linkGiven the central role of carbonyl compounds in chemical synthesis, considerable effort has been devoted to developing more sustainable and efficient methods for accessing aldehydes and ketones at both laboratory and industrial scales. In recent years electrochemical oxidations of alcohols have seen increased interest in academic settings as a method to removing the toxic and environmentally damaging reagents, such as transition metal catalysts, found in classical alcohol oxidations. This review aims to deliver a concise summary of the current synthetic electrochemical methods available and place them in context of the traditional oxidations they aim to replace
Cross-paradigm fNIRS brain activity in 1-month-old infants across The Gambia and the United Kingdom
Full text linkSignificance: Neonates undergo rapid development, yet the examination of emerging brain markers across paradigms, cognitive domains, and diverse global populations remains limited.
Aim: We investigated whether brain responses at 1 month of age could be interrogated across paradigms to offer deeper context-specific insights into neurodevelopment.
Approach: Functional near-infrared spectroscopy was used to assess frontal and temporal brain responses during natural sleep in 181 infants from a low-income setting (rural Gambia) and 58 infants from a higher-income setting (Cambridge, United Kingdom) during three auditory paradigms: social selectivity, habituation and novelty detection, and functional connectivity. Paradigm-level brain responses were analyzed using threshold-free cluster enhancement and cross-paradigm comparisons of individual responses.
Results: Both Gambian and UK infants showed habituation but not novelty responses, higher inter- versus intra-hemispheric connectivity, stronger inter-hemispheric connectivity in temporal relative to frontal regions, stronger inter-regional connectivity between right temporal and left frontal regions, and nonvocal > vocal selectivity (UK infants only).
Conclusions: Cross-cohort differences in the cross-paradigm analyses suggest that context-specific developmental markers are evident within the first month of life and show high individual variability. Cross-paradigm analyses revealed that greater vocal selectivity (UK) is associated with higher inter-hemispheric connectivity, potentially allowing us to identify biomarkers of more mature neurodevelopment within the first weeks of postnatal life
The role of technology in promoting student engagement and belonging: a study of Chinese students in the UK
No full textChina is currently the leading source of international students in the UK, with around 144,000 Chinese students studying in Britain, a number that has risen by 50% in just five years. However, there are significant differences between Chinese and UK classroom culture that can impact Chinese students’ engagement and social and cultural integration, all critical to student university success. In recent years, technology has become a prominent factor in shaping student engagement and belonging in higher education, both positively by providing resources and communication and negatively by causing feelings of isolation. Thus, understanding the role of technology in promoting student engagement and belonging is crucial in creating inclusive and effective educational experiences for Chinese international students in the UK.
The study presented here employs a mixed methods approach, including a self-administered online survey and semi-structured interviews. Based on 67 survey responses and 17 interviews, we found that technology has both positive and negative impacts on engagement and belonging for Chinese students. In this chapter, we reflect on ten different types of technologies and the particular role they play in students’ academic and wider university life. The findings reveal that students rely heavily on technologies such as dictionaries and translation tools, which can enhance their engagement and communication in the short-term but limit their language proficiency in the long-term. The study also highlights concerns about over-reliance on technology leading to decreased critical thinking and an increased risk of academic dishonesty through the use of paraphrasing tools and Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. To advance the educational experiences of Chinese students in UK higher education institutions, our study recommends: (1) introducing technologies that promote engagement and belonging; (2) using a variety of tools to cater for different learning styles; and (3) embedding principles of authenticity to ensure technology is used to support the learning process
Forced Migration, Masculinities, and Vulnerabilities in the Mediterranean: Refugee Men on the Margins of Europe
No full textForced Migration, Masculinities, and Vulnerabilities in the Mediterranean explores the role of intersectional power hierarchies and the social reproduction of vulnerability in shaping forced migrant men’s embodied realities of suffering along the Central Mediterranean migration route (CMR), which connects sub-Saharan Africa to Sicily via Libya. Based on life-history interviews and observational research collected from sub-Saharan international protection-holders and seekers in Sicily, the book expands our understanding of the violence-migration nexus by exploring refugee men’s gendered mobilities. Participants’ narratives of gendered embodiment within the trans-Mediterranean illegality industry are used to shed light on the violence continuum produced by their marginalised position within locally salient hierarchies of masculinities across different migration stages. Following the ethnographic encounter between the researcher and participants in the racialised landscape of the Mediterranean migration ‘crisis’, the performance of competent manhood emerges as a crucial narrative site where forced migrant men can contest their protracted experiences of marginalisation and reclaim subjectivity. Overall, the book views the relationships between forced migration, masculinities and vulnerabilities as a locus which reveals participants’ neglected social welfare needs and demands in postcolonial Europe. Forced Migration, Masculinities, and Vulnerabilities in the Mediterranean appeals to those with research interests in migration, gender, sexuality, postcoloniality, race, ethnicity, European studies, and humanitarianis
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