Leicester City Research Articles

Using traffic assignment models to assist Bayesian inference for origin–destination matrices

Estimation of traffic volumes between each origin and destination of travel is a standard practice in transport engineering. Commonly the available data constitute traffic counts at various locations on the network, supplemented by a survey-based prior estimate of mean origin–destination traffic volumes. Statistical inference in this type of network tomography problem is known to be challenging. Moreover, the difficulties are increased in practice by the presence of a large number of nuisance parameters corresponding to route choice probabilities, for which we have no direct prior information. Working in a Bayesian framework, we determine these parameters using a stochastic user equilibrium route choice model. We develop an MCMC algorithm for model fitting. This requires repeated computation of stochastic user equilibrium flows, and so we develop a computationally cheap emulator. Our methods are tested on numerical examples based on a section of the road network in the English city of Leicester.

How can on-street parking regulations affect traffic, safety, and the environment in a cooperative, connected, and automated era?

On-street parking is a commonly used form of parking facility as part of transportation infrastructure. However, the emergence of connected and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) is expected to significantly impact parking in the future. This study aims to investigate the impacts of on-street parking regulations for CAVs on the environment, safety and mobility in mixed traffic fleets. To achieve this goal, a calibrated and validated network model of the city of Leicester, UK, was selected to test the implementation of CAVs under various deployment scenarios. The results revealed that replacing on-street parking with driving lanes, cycle lanes, and public spaces can lead to better traffic performance. Specifically, there could be a 27–30% reduction in travel time, a 43–47% reduction in delays, more than 90% in emission reduction, and a 94% reduction in traffic crashes compared to the other tested measures. Conversely, replacing on-street parking with pick-up/drop-off stations may have a less significant impact due to increased stop-and-go events when vehicles pick-up and drop-off passengers, resulting in more interruptions in the flow and increased delays. The paper provides examples of interventions that can be implemented for on-street parking during a CCAM era, along with their expected impacts in order for regional decision-makers and local authorities to draw relative policies. By replacing on-street parking with more efficient traffic measures, cities can significantly improve mobility, reduce emissions, and enhance safety.

Spirit of the Law vs. Letter of the Law: The Curious Case of Leicester City FC Limited

Spirit of the Law vs. Letter of the Law: The Curious Case of Leicester City FC Limited

Towards a study of everyday geographic information: Bringing the everyday into view

Events are the driving force behind social media, whether we try to create them or keep up with them. A wide range of studies has focused on how content from social media can be used to detect, model and predict events and identify key topics of discussion. At the same time, very limited attention has been given so far to the quantitative study of the everyday, which has fascinated qualitative human geography research in the past few decades. That is partly due to the lack of a formal definition of what constitutes the everyday. In this paper, we aim to advance our understanding of the everyday, not by reducing it to any kind of definition but by bringing it into view through a quantitative analysis. We hypothesise that the by-products of current methods focused on event detection might be used to quantitatively explore everyday geographies as represented through Twitter data. We consider the use of both statistical approaches based on term frequency and state-of-the-art large language models, and we conduct a case study on content posted on Twitter and geolocated in the city of Leicester. Our paper makes two key advances for research concerned with the everyday and the analysis of geographic information. First, we illustrate how large language models combined with spatial analysis and visualisation can foster the study of everyday geographies, providing an insight into the still elusive concept of the everyday, representing what other approaches to the everyday have struggled to qualify. Secondly, we showcase the potential held by large language models and visual analytics in democratising sophisticated natural language processing and thus providing new tools for research in human geography.

P18-028-23 An Investigation Into the Nutritional Profile of School Dinners Served Among School Pupils at the City of Leicester, UK

P18-028-23 An Investigation Into the Nutritional Profile of School Dinners Served Among School Pupils at the City of Leicester, UK

Comparison between various strain from Klebsiella pneumoniea on Nitrogen fixation

Twenty one isolates of K. Pneumonia isolated from infected pneumonic patients in Leicester city hospital in Britain, with K. pneumonia342 standard strain which obtained from Prof. Jean-Marc in Leicester British university were used in this study . These isolates were tested by inoculating in Nitrogen free broth medium .The results revealed variation in their growing and from Danken test it was appeared that the 18th isolate gave the best growth in comparison with the rest, then the 20th ,19 th isolates respectively. While in respect to nitrogen fixation, the results showed variation in it's efficiency for it's nitrogen fixation, the 18th bacterial isolate was the best according to it's fixation ,depending on measuring the activity of nitrogenase enzyme by Nesler reagent ,then 20th,19th isolates respectively.

Impacts of on-street parking regulations on cooperative, connected, and automated mobility - a traffic microsimulation study

This study aims to investigate the mobility impacts of on-street parking regulations for Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs) under mixed traffic fleets. A calibrated and validated network model of the city of Leicester in the UK was selected to test the implementation under various deployment scenarios. The modelling results indicated that replacing on-street parking with driving lanes, cycle lanes and public spaces can potentially lead to better traffic performance (27% to 30% reduction in travel time, 43% to 47% reduction in delays) compared to the other tested measures. The less significant impact of replacement with pick-up/drop-off points is due to increased stop-and-go events while vehicles pick-up and drop-off passengers, consequently leading to more interruptions in the flow and increased delays. The paper provides examples of interventions that can be implemented for on-street parking during the implementation of CAVs for regional decision-makers and local authorities.

Cadmium in the wild edible mushroom species of Agaricus bitorquis in Leicester, UK

Background and Aim: Consumption of urban garden products is increasing despite the risks that they can represent due to high urban contamination. Effects of urbanisation in wild edible mushrooms are scarce. The aim was to assess the risks to cadmium (Cd) present in wild edible mushrooms Agaricus bitorquis collected in Leicester (UK). Methods: Twenty-two A. bitorquis mushrooms were collected from an open green area close to St Augustine Road, a high traffic area within Leicester. Species identification was confirmed by DNA barcoding using internal transcribed spacer 1/4 primers after extracting DNA from 100 mg of frozen homogenised ground mushroom material using DNeasy Plant Mini Kit®. Cd was monitored by ICP-MS in cleaned, dried and homogenised mushrooms’ caps and stipes mineralised with HNO3/H2O2 [LoD=0.081 mg/kg dry weight (dw)]. Results: Cd was detected in all samples, with significantly higher levels in caps (p<0.001), median and ranges are provided in mg/kg dw: 3.878 (2.213-6.598) vs. 2.068 (0.899-3.679). Concentrations were similar to those recently reported in different species of the genus Agaricus collected in urban habitats within Berlin (Germany; <0.1-32.7 mg/kg DW), but much higher than the reported in sixteen A. bisporus (median 0.2 mg/kg DW) cultivated in high traffic areas within Berlin. All caps monitored exceeded the established maximum concentration limit for Cd in Europe (0.2 mg/kg wet weight, approximately 2 mg/kg dw), in line with the high accumulative metal capability described in the literature for Agaricus spp. Non-carcinogenic health risks in adults and children for Cd in the monitored mushrooms were 3.16E-07 and 1.47E-09, respectively. Conclusions: Our results would suggest potential contamination by Cd in the inner city of Leicester that should be further investigated to protect human health. Although non-carcinogenic risks characterised for Cd were negligible, consumption of wild edible species should be limited and substituted by cultivated mushrooms when possible.

Inequalities in cancer screening, prevention and service engagement between UK ethnic minority groups.

More people in the UK are living with cancer than ever before. With an increasingly ethnically diverse population, greater emphasis must be placed on understanding factors influencing cancer outcomes. This review seeks to explore UK-specific variations in engagement with cancer services in minority ethnic groups and describe successful interventions. The authors wish to highlight that, despite improvement to engagement and education strategies, inequalities still persist and work to improve cancer outcomes across our communities still needs to be prioritised. There are many reasons why cancer healthcare inequities exist for minority communities, reported on a spectrum ranging from cultural beliefs and awareness, through to racism. Strategies that successfully enhanced engagement included language support; culturally-sensitive reminders; community-based health workers and targeted outreach. Focusing on the diverse city of Leicester the authors describe how healthcare providers, researchers and community champions have worked collectively, delivering targeted community-based strategies to improve awareness and access to cancer services.

Personal air pollution exposure during morning commute car and active transport journeys

IntroductionCommuting by car in cities during rush hour can potentially result in the commuter being exposed to large concentrations of pollutants. We investigated the differences in pollutant concentrations by commute type in real world journeys in a typical medium-sized city in the UK. MethodsNO2, O3 and PM2.5 concentrations were monitored on weekday morning commutes into Leicester city centre on four routes. A driving commute was made on all four routes and were paired with measurements made via an active commute (either driving or cycling). The average commute exposure to pollutants was determined and the inhaled dosage was estimated. ResultsAverage in-car NO2 concentrations were 30.3 μg m−3and 24.9 μg m-3 higher than that measured in the cycling commutes, and 31.6 μg m−3 and 5.7 μg m−3 higher than average concentrations measured during walking commutes. In-car O3 concentrations were higher than concentrations measured during cycling (8.4 μg m−3, 35.6 μg m−3) and walking commutes (15.5 μg m−3and 33.1 μg m−3). Average in car PM2.5 were 1.8 μg m−3 and 4.3 μg m −3 lower than average concentrations measured during cycling and 1.9 μg m−3 and 1.5 μg m−3 lower than average concentrations measured whilst walking. We calculated higher cumulative doses of pollutants in the active commute compared to the driving commute. However, the health benefits of exercise, through improved physical and mental health as outlined in the literature are expected to outweigh any adverse impacts of the inhaled dosage of pollutants monitored. ConclusionsConcentrations of air pollutants in cars can be considerably higher than concentrations faced by active travellers. Commuters sitting in cars can both miss the benefits of physical activity and be exposed to higher levels of NO2 than in active transport, which is particularly important in countries like the UK with NOx exceedances.

Digital geographies of everyday multiculturalism: ‘Let’s go Nando’s!’

ABSTRACT As UK cities and towns become increasingly ethnically and culturally diverse, researchers have tuned into how people inhabit multiculturalism. Ethnographic approaches have focused on the kind of togetherness that people generate as they go about their everyday lives, observing the affective textures of interactions and happenings of the here and now in granular detail. Missing from these accounts is what crowdsourced data might add to understandings of how multicultural places are experienced. What is vital about this kind of data is that it is ‘big’, involving a diversity of voices similarly intent on messaging their experiences, presenting opportunities to scale up the affect of encounters and to quantify what is difficult to qualify. This paper brings Digital Geographies into conversation with research on everyday multiculturalism to examine qualitatively and quantitatively how social media use folds into and expresses various practices of sociality and connection. Our paper involves Twitter, Nando’s and the city of Leicester in the UK to challenge and advance ways of understanding everyday multiculturalism in an era of global migration and ethnically complex populations.

Evaluation of the conspicuous EPL matches for sponsorships using data envelopment analysis

The analysis of games data, especially football is a thrilling field. Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was applied to find out most conspicuous matches out of 288 matches in the EPL 2019-20 using various inputs and various outputs variables. Total Fouls, Total Yellow Cards, Total Red Cards are taken as inputs variables. Number of Goals Scored, Total Number of Shots, Total Shots on target, Total Corners, Total Plays in Opponent Final Third, Market Value of Squad are taken as outputs variables. There are six matches have been found as most conspicuous. These matches are 41st (Liverpool Vs Newcastle United), 53rd (Manchester City Vs Watford), 68th (Everton Vs Manchester City), 91st (Leicester City Vs Southampton FC), 131st (Manchester City Vs Newcastle United) and 270th (Liverpool Vs West Ham). These results not only show the most conspicuous matches but also help to make financial decision for sponsorships. Most attractive matches bring more spectators.

Wykorzystanie metody DEA w analizie efektywności klubów piłkarskich

Objective: The aim of the article is twofold: to determine the efficiency of football clubs in the English league, one of the leading football leagues in the world, and to understand the usefulness of the DEA method in assessing football club efficiency.Research Design & Methods: The research was done using DEA, one of the most popular methods for assessing the efficiency of football clubs.Findings: The research and DEA method enabled a ranking of the most effective English football clubs. Leicester City, Reading, Fulham and Burnley were among the best performers, though only a single club, Manchester United, proved efficient in all of the seasons analysed. In the majority of the seasons analysed, all of the variables identified as potentially significant had a positive impact on the quality of the model used to assess efficiency.Implications / Recommendations: The combination of high revenues and good sports results achieved in international competitions make English football clubs highly efficient. In most cases, the top sports clubs are among the teams that finish highest on the performance index.Contribution: The analysis confirms the usefulness of the DEA method in the analysis of football club efficiency. It also enables the comprehensive evaluation of the functioning of English football clubs, including both their financial and sports results.

From gateways to multilinear connections: A qualitative longitudinal investigation of the relationships between vaping and smoking among adolescent users.

The international growth of e-cigarette use has been accompanied by a corresponding concern that e-cigarettes will act as a 'gateway' to smoking and the use of other drugs. Taking these concerns as our point of departure, we explore the relationships between vaping and smoking among a cohort of young people. Qualitative longitudinal methods with a diverse sample of 36 14-18-year olds from the UK city of Leicester. A total of 66 depth interviews conducted across two phases separated by 6-12 months. The interviews were recorded, transcribed verbatim and thematically analysed. We highlight a complex 'tangle' of connections between substances/risk behaviours recounted to us by our adolescent study participants, including multiple and multilinear relationships between vaping and smoking. These findings problematise some of the core axioms of the notion of gateways as an explanatory model of causality and sequential connection between smoking and vaping. They also throw into question gateway logics more fundamentally. While many of our study participants themselves consciously invoked ideas of 'gateway effects', the accounts they produced repeatedly disrupted the logics of connection (between e-cigarettes and smoking; one set of behaviours and another) presupposed in gateway theory and our own early lines of questioning. Accordingly, we explore how cultural understandings of gateway effects are invoked by users in accounting for their vaping and smoking behaviours, noting the potential influence of these ideas upon the very processes they are understood to apprehend. Our findings suggest there is a case to be made to reinforce the distinctiveness of tobacco and e-cigarettes in the life-worlds of young people to avoid naturalising a 'gateway' logic of connection that might ultimately inform the associative logic of young users themselves, and potentially the development of their usage careers.

The Census Records of Leicester 1851–1911, Class and Society

This article uses the census to study two streets in Leicester from 1851 to 1911, comparing them to each other and the rest of the country. These streets are New Walk, a middle-class street, and Welford Road, a working-class street. Twenty samples have been taken from each census and each street to create a representation of working- and middle-class Leicester. Information like age, relationship to the rest of the household, occupation and place of birth are used in this study to create a narrative on the city of Leicester at each census, and this information is compared to the situation in the rest of the country, found in secondary literature, to show that for the most part, Leicester does not follow the trends that other parts of the country do. Occupations are used to show the class of people living in Leicester and also gives insight into their lives, with women commonly working in the hosiery industry and boys living in New Walk often following in the footsteps of their father. The census is also used to show how it can give us insights into national situations and events, like the state of the economy or the decline of the old industries, to show how that affects Leicester and whether these events affect every place in Britain equally.

Annual presence and distribution of human-pathogenic {Acanthamoeba} spp. in River Soar, Leicester, UK

BACKGROUND AND AIM: {Acanthamoeba} spp. can act as opportunistic parasites and are becoming a serious threat to human health due to the resistance of their cysts to harsh environmental conditions and water treatment practices. Owing to the lack of knowledge about {Acanthamoeba}'s epidemiology in England, the aim of the present work was to study, over one year, the presence and circulation of this opportunistic parasite in the River Soar, which crosses Leicester city (England) and attracts large numbers of users. METHODS: Water samples were collected from nine different locations following the course of the river through the city per season (n=45) from Summer 2017-Summer 2018, following protocol 1623 described by US EPA. Samples were concentrated using IDEXX® Filta Max system following manufacturer's instructions. DNA extraction from concentrated water was performed with FastDNA® Spin Kit. A triplex real-time TaqMan PCR assay was performed to detect {Acanthamoeba} spp., using established methodologies. RESULTS:{Acanthamoeba} spp. was detected in 17 water samples: 4 in each season from Summer to Winter 2017, two in Spring 2018 and three in Summer 2018. These free-living amoebas were discovered in each sampled location, which highlights a moderate to high circulation of {Acanthamoeba} in the River Soar throughout a year, without seasonality, despite significant changes in the water flow rate and temperatures recorded in the river and in Leicestershire. This river is rich in wildlife, which might play a role in the presence/circulation of {Acanthamoeba} spp. CONCLUSIONS:To our knowledge, this is the first report reporting the presence and circulation of {Acanthamoeba} spp. in an English river throughout a complete year. The presence of {Acanthamoeba} spp. in this river could represent a risk for human health, for example rowers, which is present throughout the whole year. Therefore, this risk should be tackled as the incidence of {Acanthamoeba} keratitis has increased in recent years in England. KEYWORDS: {Acanthamoeba} spp., River Soar, environmental presence, human risk.

The Daily Mile in practice: implementation and adaptation of the school running programme in a multiethnic city in the UK

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to generate new evidence on how The Daily Mile (TDM), a popular school-based running programme in the UK, is implemented in a diverse and...

Retrospective SARS-CoV-2 IgG screening during the first wave (March-June 2020) of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom.

During the “first wave” of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic in the United Kingdom (March–June 2020), the city of Leicester was particularly hard hit, resulting in reimposed lockdown measures. Although initial polymerase chain reaction testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) was attempted within the community, testing was soon abandoned due to an inability to keep up with demand by local laboratories. It is therefore feasible that undiagnosed transmission of COVID‐19 in the community by asymptomatic individuals was a real possibility. Therefore, retrospective SARS‐CoV‐2 immunoglobulin G (IgG) testing of archived sera from out‐patients visiting University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust service was performed to investigate the transmission of SARS‐CoV‐2 in the community. A total of 1779 sera samples were tested from samples collected between 16th March and 3rd June 2020, of which 202 (11.35%) were SARS‐CoV‐2 IgG positive. Positivity was lowest in March (2.54%) at the beginning of the pandemic before peaking in April (17.16%) before a decline in May and June (11.16% and 12.68%, respectively). This retrospective screening offers some insight into the early patterns of SARS‐CoV‐2 transmission within a sampled community population during the first wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic; supporting the argument for more community screening during high incidences of pandemics.

Effectiveness of the Transformation model, a model of care that integrates diabetes services across primary, secondary and community care: A retrospective study.

The primary aim was to evaluate the effectiveness of a model integrating diabetes services across primary, secondary and community care (Transformation model). The secondary aim was to understand whether changes resulted from the model. The model was implemented In Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland (UK) across three clinical commissioning groups, the acute trust and accompanying stakeholders. One clinical commissioning group (Leicester City) implemented the entire model and was the primary evaluation population. A quasi-experimental interrupted time series design was employed. The primary outcome was number of Type 2 diabetes-related bed-days per 1000 patients. In the primary population, the mean number of Type 2 diabetes-related bed-days per 1000 patients was increasing before model implementation by 0.33/month (95% confidence interval: -0.07, 0.72), whereas it was decreasing after implementation by a mean value of -0.14/month (-0.33, 0.06); a statistically significant difference (p=0.04). Secondary analyses showed: nationally, there was no significant change between the pre- and post-periods so it is unlikely that large secular change drove the improvement; the other two Leicestershire clinical commissioning groups saw improvement or stability; underlying processes worked as hypothesised overall; diabetes biomedical markers deteriorated in the primary care population suggesting a change in case-mix due to moving some patients out of secondary care. Given that the initial aim was to shift services from secondary to primary care without causing harm, an improvement is better than expected. This observational evaluation cannot show conclusively that improvements were due to the Transformation model, but secondary analyses support this.

Between Realism and Revolt: Governing Cities in the Crisis of Neoliberal Globalism

Between Realism and Revolt explores urban governance in the “age of austerity”, focusing on the period between the global economic crisis of 2008-9 and the beginning of the global COVID-19 pandemic at the end of 2019. It considers urban governance from the perspective of governability. How did cities navigate the crisis and the aftermath of austerity, with what political ordering and disordering dynamics at the forefront? To answer these questions it engages with two influential theoretical currents, Urban Regime Theory and Gramscian state theory, with a view to understanding how governance enabled austerity, deflected or intensified localised expressions of crisis, and generated more-or-less influential political alternatives. It develops a comparative conjunctural analysis of case studies in the cities of Athens, Baltimore, Barcelona, Greater Dandenong (Melbourne), Leicester, Montreal and Nantes, and concludes by highlighting five characteristics that cut across the cities unevenly, with different tonalities and in different configurations: economic rationalism, weak hegemony, retreat to dominance, weak counter-hegemony and radically contagious politicisations. The book can be ordered online from https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/between-realism-and-revolt.