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This case study aims to provide a critical evaluation of the decision by the University of Wolverhampton's School of Legal Studies to develop a number of work‐based learning modules, offered as part of the undergraduate programme. It seeks to examine why the School has taken the approach of embedding work‐based learning into what has traditionally been a purely theoretical programme.

This is a case study which evaluates the decision by the School of Legal Studies to implement a range of work‐based learning modules.

Initial findings suggest that there are clear benefits for students undertaking work‐based learning modules.

Further research is needed to establish whether there is a clear link between students electing the work‐based modules and a positive impact on graduate employability.

Institutions could consider work‐based learning as part of the response to the employability agenda, in a climate where competition for jobs is fierce, particularly in the area of law.

This case study will be of value for those institutions which are considering introducing work‐based learning modules for law students.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how personalised technology can be used to support people with learning disabilities as they age and face the onset of dementia.

National learning disability charity, Hft, focuses on its Gloucestershire service at Old Quarries, using individual case studies of adults with dementia who are using personalised technology on a daily basis to illustrate how personalised technology has made a difference to their lives.

In all the case studies featured the individuals concerned were able to use personalised technology to empower them to live more independently and safely and to remain at a location where they have lived for many years rather than being moved into alternative, unfamiliar accommodation. Personalised technology has enabled them to make important life choices.

Hft believes that people with learning disabilities should be supported to live their lives in the way that they want and that creative solutions can be found to enable individuals to do this.

Explains the background, context and operation of the Cranfield University Library BIODOC Research Project which explores key issues in the access versus journal holdings debate. Hopes to test whether an access model of provision in certain circumstances provides more cost effective and appropriate information support than the traditional in‐house collection. The project involves the cancellation of all the library journal subscriptions for the Biotechnology Centre and their replacement by the UnCover Reveal current contents service and as document supply from a number of sources. Describes the factors such as rising periodical costs, availability of new electronic document delivery services, increasing use of e‐mail by academics that led to the experiment; and the reasons for the selection of the Biotechnology Centre as an appropriate partner. Describes the project management and everyday operation of the project and the design of the project to include data collection for evaluation. Includes consideration of the issue of copyright.

This article focuses on how Hft, a national charity for people with learning disabilities, is using and developing personalised technology to empower people with learning disabilities and to increase their independence. It showcases how Hft is using personalised technology in practice and creating awareness of how it can be used to support independence, safety and security. Two individual case studies are provided to illustrate the effective use of technology by people with learning disabilities to increase their independence. The article highlights the need for investment and development in technology to support the growing number of dependent people and stresses the importance of ethical guidance to ensure that the technology is implemented correctly to enable people with learning disabilities to gain the maximum benefits.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the ways in which workers employ rule breaking, rule bending and deviations from management defined norms in the workplace and the impact this has on their occupational health and safety (OHS) experiences.

The paper uses qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted with 37 seafarers working on board four vessels engaged in international trade. The data were recorded, transcribed and thematically analysed using NVivo software.

The findings indicate that seafarers utilised workplace fiddles – which included rule breaking, rule bending and deviating from management defined norms – in order to engender a workable system in which they could remain safe but also profitable to those who controlled their labour. Moreover, the findings suggest that shore-side management deflected the responsibility for rule violations by deferring many of the decisions regarding features of life on board – such as the scheduling of work hours – to the senior officers on board.

The paper sheds light on where, in practice, responsibility for OHS lies in the international shipping industry, an industry in which workers experience relatively high rates of work-related fatalities, injuries and mental health conditions.

The purpose of this paper is to understand how women with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder approach medication decision making in pregnancy.

The study was co-produced by university academics and charity-based researchers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted by three peer researchers who have used anti-psychotic medication and were of child bearing age. Participants were women with children under five, who had taken anti-psychotic medication in the 12 months before pregnancy. In total, 12 women were recruited through social media and snowball techniques. Data were analyzed following a three-stage process.

The accounts highlighted decisional uncertainty, with medication decisions situated among multiple sources of influence from self and others. Women retained strong feelings of personal ownership for their decisions, whilst also seeking out clinical opinion and accepting they had constrained choices. Two styles of decision making emerged: shared and independent. Shared decision making involved open discussion, active permission seeking, negotiation and coercion. Independent women-led decision making was not always congruent with medical opinion, increasing pressure on women and impacting pregnancy experiences. A common sense self-regulation model explaining management of health threats resonated with women’s accounts.

Women should be helped to manage decisional conflict and the emotional impact of decision making including long term feelings of guilt. Women experienced interactions with clinicians as lacking opportunities for enhanced support except in specialist perinatal services. This is an area that should be considered in staff training, supervision, appraisal and organization review.

This paper uses data collected in a co-produced research study including peer researchers.