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Drawing on the review of quality assurance policies in higher education already set out of the introduction, this chapter explores the impact of national quality assurance processes adopted to aid consistency in the judgement of academic standards in UK higher education. Specifically, it will examine the ways in which the processes adopted to support marking and to moderate marks, known collective
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought an unprecedented chance to end the existence of harmful stereotype of Central and Eastern Europe as a region where the Kremlin has special interests. It has cost a lot of political efforts to bring Czechia, Poland, or the Baltic states out of this equation and join the Western institutional framework. Now there is enough momentum for doing the same with
Paperboard is a thin and lightweight material made of cellulose fibers and it is an important component in packaging material where it provides stiffness and rigidity. The scope of this work is the development of continuum models, and its numerical treatments, for simulating the processes of converting paperboard into packages. The thesis begins with a general introduction to paperboard and a revi
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSEMyelin water imaging (MWI) is a magnetic resonance imaging technique that quantifies myelin in-vivo. Although MWI has been extensively applied to study myelin-related diseases in groups, clinical use in individual patients is challenging mainly due to population heterogeneity. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) create a normative brain myelin water atlas depicting the
The International Court of Justice has consistently required a stricter standard of proof for ‘charges of exceptional gravity’. The Bosnia Genocide and Croatia Genocide cases saw the Court require the high standard of ‘fully conclusive’ evidence across all elements of the allegations of genocide. Despite the difficulties associated with obtaining the necessary evidence of the intent of the perpetr
The nature of the few known solar-mass stars simultaneously containing debris disks and planets remains an open question. A number of works have shown that this property appears to be independent of planetary masses as well as of stellar age, but possible correlations with stellar kinematics and metallicity have not been investigated. In this paper, we show that the majority of known stars contain
The CO2 Human Emissions project has generated realistic high-resolution 9 km global simulations for atmospheric carbon tracers referred to as nature runs to foster carbon-cycle research applications with current and planned satellite missions, as well as the surge of in situ observations. Realistic atmospheric CO2, CH4 and CO fields can provide a reference for assessing the impact of proposed desi
Background: Since the publication of the EULAR recommendations for the management of antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) in 2016, several randomised clinical trials have been published that have the potential to change clinical care and support the need for an update. Methods: Using EULAR standardised operating procedures, the EULAR task force undertook a systema
Biodiversity loss is recognized as a grand challenge of the twenty-first century but ascertaining when a species is “lost” can be incredibly difficult—since the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. This may be a relatively easy task for large and conspicuous animals, but extremely difficult for those living hidden lives or at low population sizes. We showcase this challenge by focusing
Lead-free perovskite-inspired materials (PIMs) are gaining attention in optoelectronics due to their low toxicity and inherent air stability. Their wide bandgaps (≈2 eV) make them ideal for indoor light harvesting. However, the investigation of PIMs for indoor photovoltaics (IPVs) is still in its infancy. Herein, the IPV potential of a quaternary PIM, Cu2AgBiI6 (CABI), is demonstrated upon control
Information relating to errors in evapotranspiration (ET) products, including satellite-derived ET products, is critical to their application but often challenging to obtain, with a limited number of flux towers available for the sufficient validation of measurements. Triple collocation (TC) methods can assess the inherent uncertainties of the above ET products using just three independent variabl
Circularity in manufacturing is critical to reducing raw material usage and waste. Ecological embeddedness examines circular relationships intended to benefit both economic actors and the natural environment. By understanding circular relationships in the value chain, manufacturers can formulate strategies that are eco-effective. This work develops and validates an original circularity tool to mea
Precipitation is a major component of the water cycle. Accurate and reliable estimation of precipitation is essential for various applications. Generally, there are three main types of precipitation products: satellite based, reanalysis, and ground measurements from rain gauge stations. Each type has its advantages and disadvantages. Recent efforts have been made to develop various merging methods
Encapsulation in self-assembled lipid structures has been shown to increase the stability of large biomolecules, including proteins and nucleic acids (NAs), which has many potential applications in the food and pharmaceutical industries. In order to fully optimise the encapsulation system for a certain application, however, it is important to understand the effect of the encapsulated biomolecule o
Several countries have created policy instruments seeking to direct research and innovation (R&I) toward addressing societal challenges. However, the design of such instruments might not always live up to their proclaimed transformative rationale. The aim of this paper is to examine empirically this matter. In a unique cross country comparison of four Grand Challenge-oriented R&I programs
