Counties Of England Research Articles

Potential of a coevolved rust fungus for the management of Himalayan balsam in the British Isles: first field releases

SummaryIn 2014, the rust fungus Puccinia komarovii var. glanduliferae, native to the foothills of the Himalayas from Kashmir to Western Nepal, became the first fungal agent to be released into Europe for the classical biological control of a non‐native weed. The target, Impatiens glandulifera or Himalayan balsam, is a prolific invader of riparian habitats in Europe and North America. During the period 2015–2018, a strain of the rust from India was released at a total of 36 sites, in 17 counties in England and Wales. There was limited field infection in 2015 and inoculation experiments conducted under controlled conditions revealed significant variation in the susceptibility of plant populations to the rust, with some showing immunity. Subsequently, a second strain of the rust from Pakistan was released in 2017 and was found to infect a different cohort of Himalayan balsam populations. The rust mass production methodology, and field inoculation and monitoring protocol, are detailed, and plants were tested for susceptibility to both rust strains prior to field release. Levels of foliar infection at selected sites in 2017 and 2018 are presented, as well as seedling infection rates in the spring of 2019. The results show that the rust is able to overwinter and establish populations in stands of Himalayan balsam in England. The issues involved with measuring the impact of the biological control agent are discussed.

The Mechanics of the Industrial Revolution

For contemporaries, Britain’s success in developing the technologies of the early Industrial Revolution rested in large part on its abundant supply of artisan skills, notably in metalworking. In this paper we outline a simple process where successful industrialization occurs in regions that start with low wages and high mechanical skills, and show that these two factors strongly explain the growth of the textile industry across the 41 counties of England between the 1760s and 1830s. By contrast, literacy and access to capital have no power in predicting industrialization, nor does proximity to coal. Although unimportant as a source of power for early textile machinery, Britain’s coal was vital as a source of cheap heat that allowed it over centuries to develop a unique range of sophisticated metalworking industries. From these activities came artisans, from watchmakers to iron founders, whose industrial skills were in demand not just in Britain but across all of Eu- rope. Against the view that living standards were stagnant during the Industrial Revolution, we find that real wages rose sharply in the industrializing north and collapsed in the previously prosperous south.

P15 Development of JIA Matters: a parent-led peer support network across England and Wales in collaboration with paediatric rheumatology centres

Abstract Background Peer support, which can take many forms, involves people sharing knowledge, experience and practical help. It is recognised as a useful mechanism for families living with children who have a long-term condition, such as juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). It is often provided by voluntary organisations. While some forms of peer support were established for families living with JIA in the United Kingdom (UK), there were no local support groups in a number of locations. Given that over 12,000 families are living with JIA, the need for access to peer support for families became evident. Therefore, the aim was to establish one local support group for JIA families in London; while identifying whether any other families were organising similar activities elsewhere in England and Wales. Methods The initial concept was discussed and endorsed by a group of paediatric rheumatology clinicians and the British Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology (BSPAR – part of the British Society for Rheumatology) Parent Group. Policies and guidelines for the network and local support groups were then created. The Juvenile Arthritis Parents and Families UK Facebook group were consulted via a parent-led request to identify who lived in the London area. Subsequently, a JIA Matters North and West London closed Facebook group was created, and families from the area were invited to join. Once several members had joined, the JIA Matters Co-ordinator arranged a local, face-to-face meet-up for families. Using this model, paediatric rheumatology centres across different counties in England and Wales were approached by JIA Matters to recommend parents/carers who could be suitable parent/carer representatives to lead on establishing local groups. Results Between July 2017 and March 2019, 36 JIA Matters groups were established across England and Wales. Some groups have rapidly developed, while others remain conservative. Attendance at local, face-to-face meet-ups have been variable, with some groups experiencing difficulties in encouraging people to attend. The first local, face-to-face meet up of the NW London group was attended by seven families. Some paediatric rheumatology centres have been responsive and proactive in using JIA Matters and have begun to engage with the JIA Matters Coordinator to help enhance family engagement within local activities. To aid the sustainability of the network across the country, JIA Matters was incorporated into the Children’s Chronic Arthritis Association (CCAA) in March 2019, strengthening the national reach of the network to help ensure families across the country have access to local peer support. Conclusion JIA Matters has demonstrated how parent-led initiatives on a local level can indeed influence activities on a national level. From modest aims, JIA Matters has evolved to connect families living in the same geographic area, while promoting family engagement in research, service development and activities within paediatric rheumatology centres. Conflicts of Interest The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Morality tales: Young women’s narratives on offending, self-worth and desistance

This article emerges from a study of female offenders’ participation in police-facilitated restorative justice in one county in England. The qualitative study presented here is based on life history interviews with 12 women and focuses on three morality tales that emerged through narrative analysis: ‘offending as play’, ‘the strong woman’ and ‘work and a normal life’. The women used these tales to protect self-worth and justify ‘bad’ behaviour in order to counter professional responses which they viewed as stigmatising. The paper concludes with implications for practice with girls and women who offend, which may benefit police, probation and social workers.

Early Modern English Literature and the Poetics of Cartographic Anxiety. Chris Barrett. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2018. Pp. xi+227.

These three major works have featured prominently in scholarship on literature and cartography, and some of Barrett’s findings echo those of her predecessors (notably Richard Helgerson, Bernhard Klein, Rhonda Lemke Sanford, D. K. Smith). Early Modern English Literature and the Poetics of Cartographic Anxiety is remarkable for its attentiveness to genre (epic and, more broadly, poetry) and to the relationship between cartography and the environment. Barrett’s reading of genre is productive. Epic fixates repeatedly on national origins—and hence is in a sense implicitly cartographic—but in so doing rethinks questions of temporality and historicity. This is in contrast to maps, which purport to freeze-frame place and time in a single moment (a freezing that is itself a fiction). Epic, then, lends itself to cartographic thinking but in its attentiveness to historicity inherently critiques it. Productive too is Barrett’s consideration of literary technique and the limits of poetics. All three works wrestle with the irreducibility of space to poetic representation; hence why Spenser’s fairyland, Drayton’s counties of England, and Milton’s Eden/world/cosmos seem to recede from view even as the poems get closer to them, as the primary literary technique in all three works (allegory, personification, analogy) cannot quite surmount the challenges set down for them when it comes to representation space and place. Yet it is at these crisis points that each writer articulates his poetic aesthetics and his poetic ethics.

Dare to care

Paper is divided into two parts. The first contains two philosophical discussions about comprehension of courage and the second focuses on the findings in an empirical study with care home managers about the virtue of courage. First discussion revolves around the question whether the virtue of courage is expressed a) only in life–threatening situations or is it a virtue trained and exemplified in b) everyday life settings, while the second emphasises the difference between i) courage of efficiency as a skill and ii) courage of excellence as a virtue. Arguments here support a vision of courage as the virtue of excellence expressed in everyday life settings. The second part of the paper highlights a new perspective of courage with regards to the notion of care towards the aim of the courageous endeavour. The ‘courage of care’ supports the idea that the courage practised as the virtue of excellence aims to develop the moral character of the actor fundamentally outside of the life–threatening situation. Care for the self, other people, animals and intangible moral principles inspire us to do brave deeds. Thus, by accepting Alasdair MacIntyre’s statements that a) in the times of the peace managers represent moral idols and b) idea that the notion of courage should be closely related to the practice of care and compassion, the research continued with the interviews with the care home managers in Kent county in England. Conversations with care home managers released further insights into how care and compassion influence the understanding of the virtue of courage.

“We’re All Sitting at the Same Table”: Challenges and Strengths in Service Delivery in Two Rural New England Counties

Rural service providers often struggle to meet the needs of low-income residents, given the constraints of geography and facets of local culture that stigmatize seeking and receiving help. Although the challenges faced by low-income, rural families are well studied, less is known about how service providers structure programs to serve rural residents. Here, we use qualitative data from two rural New England counties to explore how characteristics of specific communities shape the challenges of their social service systems and the strategies employed to overcome them. We find many common challenges across place and time, including distrust of outsiders and insufficient program funds. However, in the more remote county of the two, service providers have developed synergistic relationships to support vulnerable residents, whereas in the other, politics and town boundaries have impeded this collective approach. We conclude with a review of service delivery strategies, acknowledging the heterogeneity of rural communities.

John Baskerville: Art and Industry of the Enlightenment. Ed. by Caroline Archer-Parré and Malcolm Dick

The name of John Baskerville, the contemporary of Matthew Boulton and Josiah Wedgwood, became known, like theirs, in several European countries. Was he the representative of a movement, or was he essentially an individual and eccentric sport, brilliant in many ways and flawed in some? It is difficult to find evidence that Baskerville was the advance guard in the midland counties of England of a significant movement in printing, even if he deserves to be mentioned as a representa tive of the formidable British technical development that was once known as ‘the industrial revolution’. This collection of essays is the outcome of a conference in Birmingham held in 2013 in the name of the newly-founded ‘Baskerville Society’. Several contributions display their loyalties, including those relating to ‘the English urban Renaissance’, evidence of a welcome broadening of awareness of the growth of English provincial printing. There is also a substantial essay on Japanning (Yvonne Jones), and others on the decorated papers and the bindings that can be associated with Baskerville (Barry McKay and Diana Patterson; Aurélie Martin). One inevitably thinks that the use of some colour in this section would have supported the reader's appreciation of these texts, and indeed that the images in the book could have been more ample and better printed.

Pre-figurative practice and the educational leadership of Sir Alec Clegg in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England (1945–1974)

ABSTRACT This article recalls a time when local government infrastructure was strong and a Chief Education Officer's (CEO) vision could be realised across a region, in Clegg's case the West Riding of Yorkshire, one of the largest of the pre-1974 counties in England. It is timely to revisit Clegg's educational leadership and practice from 1945 to 1974, as a valuable source of learning, and challenge to the current ideologically-informed policy rhetoric which has undermined the framework of democratic educational decision-making. The authors identify four possible areas to learn from Clegg's work. Firstly, the need for CEOs or their modern-day equivalents or successors, to consider their potential as political and community leaders; secondly, Clegg's leadership style prefigures some of the recent discussion about the leadership of public services in uncertain times; thirdly a re-evaluation of administration and bureaucracy; and lastly the need for supportive partnerships to enable schools to thrive.

Operation Clothes Moth: Where Preventive Conservation and Public Engagement Meet

ABSTRACT Clothesmoths catch data fromhistoric properties confirms numbers are on the increase in England. Citizen science research was conducted using Tineola bisselliella pheromone traps handed out from English Heritage properties from April to September 2017. One hundred and ninety-two participants recorded moth counts from residential properties in 42 counties in England. Using an average number of moths per trap, geographical spread indicates higher numbers in warmer southern counties of England. Pale-backed clothes moths Monopis crocicapitella were caught in significant numbers suggesting a new insect pest risk for historic house collections. Threshold numbers for clothes moths that could indicate an active infestation are proposed. Residential flats appear to be more vulnerable to clothes moth activity possibly related to the shared walls or spaces. The research was launched using a public relations campaign called ‘Operation Clothes Moth’ which generated major media activity across the internet, radio, television, newspapers and magazines. Public awareness of insect pest management, preventive conservation and the work of conservators and conservation scientists was significantly increased.

Spiritual journeys: “purposeful travel” and the writings of the Reverend Edmund Jones (1702–1793)

ABSTRACTThe Reverend Edmund Jones (1702–1793), an Independent preacher from north-west Monmouthshire, is best known for his works on apparitions, fairies, and ghosts and a notable history of his birth parish. Jones was also a revivalist, undertaking extensive itinerant preaching throughout Wales and the border counties of England until late in his long life. Jones's travel was “purposeful”, and such purposeful travel, undertaken in connection with some vocational occupation, was increasingly widespread throughout the eighteenth century. Like many other eighteenth-century authors, the experience of travel had a profound effect on Jones's worldview and, consequently, on the nature, organisation and subjects of his writings. This article explores the influences of travel on Jones's published and unpublished works in order to examine the effects of purposeful travel on texts not usually regarded as travel literature.

More than half of adolescent E-Cigarette users had never smoked a cigarette: findings from a study of school children in the UK.

Electronic cigarettes (ECs) are known for their use as a smoking cessation aid; however, experimental use in adolescence is a growing international concern. The proportion of adolescent EC users who have never used tobacco is rising. EC use is associated with later tobacco initiation in young people. Understanding adolescent beliefs about ECs is needed to inform public health campaigns and school education regarding the EC and the associated risks. A cross-sectional questionnaire-based design was used. As part of a larger study, questionnaires to assess beliefs about ECs and current use were distributed to 499 school pupils aged 11-16 years in a county in England, UK. More than half of EC users had never used tobacco (52.6%), a substantially greater proportion than previously reported in the literature. Adolescents were aware that ECs were less harmful than tobacco but many were unaware that they contain nicotine and the subsequent risk of addiction could lead to later tobacco use. Given the possible association of EC use and later smoking initiation, education in schools may warrant greater emphasis on ECs, the role of nicotine and the risk of addiction associated with experimentation. Young people who deem ECs as a 'safe' option, and may otherwise have never experimented with tobacco, could be at risk of later tobacco use.

The Victoria History of the Counties of England: A History of the County of Oxford. Vol. XVIII: Benson, Ewelme and the Chilterns (Ewelme Hundred), ed. simon Townley

The Victoria History of the Counties of England: A History of the County of Oxford. Vol. XVIII: Benson, Ewelme and the Chilterns (Ewelme Hundred), ed. simon Townley

Regional Carbon Predictions in a Temperate Forest Using Satellite Lidar

Large uncertainties in terrestrial carbon stocks and sequestration predictions result from insufficient regional data characterizing forest structure. This study uses satellite waveform lidar from ICESat to estimate regional forest structure in central New England, where each lidar waveform estimates fine-scale forest heterogeneity. ICESat is a global sampling satellite, but does not provide wall-to-wall coverage. Comprehensive, wall-to-wall ecosystem state characterization is achieved through spatial extrapolation using the random forest machine-learning algorithm. This forest description allows for effective initialization of individual-based terrestrial biosphere models making regional carbon flux predictions. Within 42/43.5 N and 73/71.5 W, aboveground carbon was estimated at 92.47 TgC or 45.66 MgC ha−1, and net carbon fluxes were estimated at 4.27 TgC yr−1 or 2.11 MgC ha−1 yr−1. This carbon sequestration potential was valued at 47% of fossil fuel emissions in eight central New England counties. In preparation for new lidar and hyperspectral satellites, linking satellite data and terrestrial biosphere models are crucial in improving estimates of carbon sequestration potential counteracting anthropogenic sources of carbon.

Lost Country Houses in Lancashire: Reappraisal and Analysis

The ‘destruction of the English country house’ in the period since the late nineteenth century looms large in popular consciousness, and has received increasing attention from historians in recent years. There is no doubt that demolitions did occur on a large scale, especially in the middle years of the twentieth century, but it is arguable that most research has placed too much emphasis on the economic problems faced by estates arising from the great Agricultural Depression: the narrative so far, that is, has had too rural a focus. This article examines the phenomenon in Lancashire, a county characterized by industrialization, demographic expansion, and rapid urbanization. This regional perspective suggests reasons for country house losses that are subtly but significantly different from those pertaining in the more rural counties of England, which have been the primary focus of previous studies.

Do hospital admission rates increase in colder winters? A decadal analysis from an eastern county in England.

The aim of the study was to measure the effect of colder winters compared to warmer winters on hospital admission rates in Suffolk County. The setting of this study was Suffolk County in eastern England. The period of the study was financial years 2003/04-2012/13. The study was an analytic ecological study. Analysis involved calculation of rate ratios of hospital admission rates in colder winters compared to warmer winters, in all persons and the elderly. The main finding of the study was that all rate ratios for hospital admission rates in colder winters compared to warmer winters were significantly raised with effects of 2-5%. Rate ratios for all admissions in persons of all ages and persons aged 65 years and over were, respectively, 1.02 (99% confidence interval (CI): 1.01, 1.03; P < 0.001) and 1.02 (99% CI: 1.01, 1.04; P < 0.001). Rate ratios for emergency admissions in persons of all ages and persons aged 65 years and over were, respectively, 1.05 (99% CI: 1.03, 1.06; P < 0.001) and 1.04 (99% CI: 1.01, 1.06; P < 0.001). In Suffolk County, hospital admission rates are significantly raised in colder winters compared to warmer winters. This evidence may be useful in planning hospital services.

Effect of evacuation and displacement on the association between flooding and mental health outcomes: a cross-sectional analysis of UK survey data

SummaryBackgroundExtensive flooding occurred during the winter of 2013–14 in England. Previous studies have shown that flooding affects mental health. Using data from the 2013–14 Public Health England National Study of Flooding and Health, we compared the prevalence of symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder between participants displaced by flooding and those flooded, but not displaced, 1 year after flooding.MethodsIn this multivariable ordinal regression analysis, we collected data from a cross-sectional survey collected 1 year after the flooding event from flood-affected postcodes in five counties in England. The analysis was restricted to individuals whose homes were flooded (n=622) to analyse displacement due to flooding. The primary outcome measures were depression (measured by the PHQ-2 depression scale) and anxiety (measured by the two-item Generalised Anxiety Disorder [GAD]-2 anxiety scale), and post-traumatic stress disorder (measured by the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Checklist [PCL]-6 scale). We adjusted analyses for recorded potential confounders. We also analysed duration of displacement and amount of warning received.FindingsPeople who were displaced from their homes were significantly more likely to have higher scores on each scale; odds ratio (OR) for depression 1·95 (95% CI 1·30–2·93), for anxiety 1·66 (1·12–2·46), and for post-traumatic stress disorder 1·70 (1·17–2·48) than people who were not displaced. The increased risk of depression was significant even after adjustment for severity of flooding. Scores for depression and post-traumatic stress disorder were higher in people who were displaced and reported receiving no warning than those who had received a warning more than 12 h in advance of flooding (p=0·04 for depression, p=0·01 for post-traumatic stress disorder), although the difference in anxiety scores was not significant.InterpretationDisplacement after flooding was associated with higher reported symptoms of depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder 1 year after flooding. The amount of warning received showed evidence of being protective against symptoms of the three mental illnesses studied, and the severity of flooding might be the reason for some, but not all, of the differences between the groups.FundingNational Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Units (HPRU) in Emergency Preparedness and Response at King's College London, Environmental Change and Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and Evaluation of Interventions at the University of Bristol, Public Health England.

Risk and teenage parenthood: an early sexual health intervention

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to outline the development of a resource designed to support practitioners, who are not sexual health specialists, but who work with young people who may be at risk of teenage pregnancy or parenthood. Its aim was to enable practitioners to carry out an assessment using a screening tool, and to use educational interventions designed to reduce risk-taking behaviour or refer to a sexual health specialist. A research project to examine the perceptions of practitioners who had used the resource is reported.Design/methodology/approachThe resource was based on a local needs assessment and developed by a multi-agency working group. The research utilised an online questionnaire and telephone interviews with practitioners.FindingsPractitioners reported using the screening tool with young people with an average age of 13.1 years. They thought the educational interventions provided knowledge and helped with communication, self-awareness, reflection, confidence, attitudes and values clarification.Research limitations/implicationsThe project was based in one county in England. A sample of 17 per cent of the practitioners responded to the questionnaire, and they might be biased towards those who had engaged most, or most positively, with the resource. Three practitioners undertook interviews. The views and behaviours of young people are yet to be evaluated.Originality/valueWithin a climate of limited resources, the findings suggest that the project is providing an acceptable proportionate universalist, early sexual health intervention for young people.

Exploring the Dynamics of Social Capital in the Integration of Central and Eastern European Women Moving to Lincolnshire

The research explores the different experiences of integration among female migrants from Eastern Europe arriving in Lincolnshire, a rural county in England. Specifically, this paper contrasts the ways in which engagement with the local business community (through entrepreneurship) and engagement though community spaces (in this case schools) offer different routes to integration. It is hypothesised that inequalities are exacerbated by limited integration into local communities and that this in turn will be detrimental to future community cohesion in small towns with significant numbers of migrants. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with female entrepreneurs and mothers who have moved into Lincolnshire from Central and Eastern European countries. Social capital creation is used as the theoretical framework for assessing the extent to which different types of network relationships are created thorough participation in these different community spaces. The business angle to the research is based on the premise that entrepreneurship is increasingly aligned with social changes and social value creation, not just economic profits. Comparing this with family-level social networks will enable new insights into the dynamics of social capital creation among a very specific sample population. These insights can inform targeted support for female migrants to integrate more successfully and build upon the conceptualisation of social capital in these contexts.

Stakeholder’s Perceptions to Natural Flood Management (NFM): a Descriptive Assessment of Cumbria County in England

Stakeholder’s Perceptions to Natural Flood Management (NFM): a Descriptive Assessment of Cumbria County in England