University of Lincoln

About: University of Lincoln is a education organization based out in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 2341 authors who have published 7025 publications receiving 124797 citations.

Some Theoretical Propositions on the Nature of Practice Wisdom

Abstract: • Summary: The author aims to advance the theoretical understanding of practice wisdom by presenting three propositions in relation to its nature and process. A model of practice wisdom is constructed that seeks to address some issues of critical, accountable and knowledgebased practice, while retaining its flexible, creative and intuitive use of practice knowledge. • Findings: It is argued that a critical, accountable and knowledge-based practice wisdom requires distinctive knowledge production processes, the ability to make reasoning explicit, and credible and valuable knowledge. Models of experienced practice development are needed if social work educators are to effectively facilitate the growth of practice wisdom. Such models will need to set out a framework of how such factors as disposition towards knowledge, professional education, practice experience and practice contexts influence whether practitioners engage in wise practice. • Applications: The article makes a contribution to the debate about the nature of social work practice and how entrants to social work can become effective practitioners. Practitioners, researchers and social work educators can use the presented framework to review their thinking about the nature of social work practice and the place practice wisdom has in contemporary social work.

Cadaveric anatomy in the future of medical education: What is the surgeons view?

Abstract: Reduced contact hours and access to cadaveric/prosection-based teaching in medical education has led to many doctors reporting inadequate anatomical knowledge of junior doctors. This trend poses significant risk, but perhaps most of all in surgery. Here the opinions of surgeons regarding current and future teaching practices in anatomy were surveyed. Eighty surgeons were invited to complete a questionnaire, 48 of which were returned for a 60% response rate. Respondents were asked to select the method they viewed as the best method of teaching anatomy. Sixty-five percent of respondents selected "cadaver/prosection demonstration" (P < 0.001), while 55% of respondents, thought it should be enhanced in anatomy education (P < 0.001). Finally, respondents were asked to select what form of imaging should be further explored in anatomical education. Seventy-five percent of respondents' selected computerized tomography (CT) imaging compared to other imaging modalities (P < 0.001). These data show that surgeons view cadaveric/prosection-based teaching as the most beneficial method of teaching anatomy and that it should be enhanced in medical education. Furthermore, surgeons suggested that CT should be further integrated into anatomical education. These findings support the continued use of cadaveric/prosection-based teaching, and will help inform the integration of radiology in the design and implementation of anatomy teaching in medical education.

Front-of-pack nutrition labelling: are multiple formats a problem for consumers?

Abstract: Background: Nutrition labels are a potentially valuable tool to assist consumers in making healthy food choices. Front-of-pack labels are a relatively new format and are now widely used across many European countries, but it is unclear which of the many formats in use are best understood by consumers. It is also unclear whether the existence of multiple formats impedes understanding and use. This article addresses this question with findings from a study commissioned by the UK Food Standards Agency to provide evidence to inform policy decisions in this area. Methods: In-depth qualitative interviews were used to explore consumers’ decision-making processes when using two different front-of-pack label formats to judge the relative healthiness of a pair of products. Participants were presented with product pairs differently labelled and a series of structured prompts were used to access their internal dialogues and to identify any difficulties encountered. Results: The interviews revealed that making product comparisons using different label formats was challenging for participants and particularly for those product pairs where there was not an obvious answer. When the label formats on the product pairs lacked a common element, such as text, this also caused difficulties and misinterpretation. The comparisons also took time and effort that would be a deterrent in real-life situations. Conclusions: These findings indicate that the existence of multiple front-of-pack label formats in the marketplace may impede consumer comprehension and discourage use. They suggest that a single format may encourage consumers to use front-of-pack labels in making healthy food choices.

From the Cathedral to the Bazaar: An Empirical Study of the Lifecycle of Volunteer Community Projects

Abstract: Some free software and open source projects have been extremely successful in the past. The success of a project is often related to the number of developers it can attract: a larger community of developers (the ‘bazaar’) identifies and corrects more software defects and adds more features via a peer-review process. In this paper two free software projects (Wine and Arla) are empirically explored in order to characterize their software lifecycle, development processes and communities. Both the projects show a phase where the number of active developers and the actual work performed on the system is constant, or does not grow: we argued that this phase corresponds to the one termed ‘cathedral’ in the literature. One of the two projects (Wine) shows also a second phase: a sudden growing amount of developers corresponds to a similar growing output produced: we termed this as the ‘bazaar’ phase, and we also argued that this phase was not achieved for the other system. A further analysis revealed that the transition between ‘cathedral’ and ‘bazaar’ was a phase by itself in Wine, achieved by creating a growing amount of new modules, which attracted new developers.