Bedfordshire County Research Articles

Computer loses in king-size blunder

This article is based on my personal reminiscences about the early days of computer chess tournaments, describing not only how different the technology was, but also that progress was steady and continues today in the broader field of Artificial Intelligence. The author was a participant in the 1st ACM computer chess championship (1970) and continued to compete well into the 1980s. Speaking for myself, I learned how to play chess in Junior High School (actually King Charles 1 Grammar School in Kidderminster, UK), but now only remember losing in a simultaneous game with C.H.O’D. Alexander (the UK Chess Champion) in 1950. In High School (Preston Grammar School) I played for the school’s chess team, who were undefeated in the 1954–55 school year. Naturally I played for the University of Nottingham (where I was studying Mathematics), and later for the Bedfordshire County team, before leaving to join Boeing, Seattle, in 1962. That said, I don’t think I was ever better than a Class A player. Basically, I have played chess all my life, and it has helped develop my problem-solving skills.

S.117 MHA 1983 re-visited: the liability of the State and the existence of a duty of care

<p>This article seeks to summarise the movement towards an increased likelihood of branches of the state (in this case, either social services or health trusts) being found to owe a duty of care to specific categories of people. The issue was phrased thus in 2005 by Lord Bingham of Cornhill:<em> ‘The question does arise whether the law of tort should evolve, analogically and incrementally, so as to fashion appropriate remedies to contemporary problems or whether it should remain essentially static, making only such changes as are forced upon it, leaving difficult and. in human terms, very important problems to be swept up by the Convention. I prefer evolution’</em>. In adopting that Darwinian approach to the development of the law, it is necessary to look at the recent history of duties of care that may be owed by the State. The starting point is X v Bedfordshire County Council (1995); the end point (so far) is AK v Central and North West London Mental Health NHS Trust and Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea4 (2008).</p>

The standard of malaria prevention advice in UK primary care

To assess the range and quality of malaria prevention advice in the County of Bedfordshire, England. To compare standards of knowledge of nurses and GPs. To relate questionnaire performance to deprivation and percentage non-white population in the practice areas. A self-administered four A4 page questionnaire comprising 34 questions was sent to 92 general practices. Separate responses were requested from one doctor and one nurse within each practice. Doctors and nurses from general practices in the county of Bedfordshire. Primary care in an English County. For malaria prevention advice in the County of Bedfordshire, UK. Nurses were more knowledgeable than GPs. Group practices were more knowledgeable than single doctor practices. The standard of knowledge for the same population of practices rose between 1997 and 2006. Only a small percentage of practices used a protocol. Practices in more deprived areas were less knowledgeable. Practices in areas with a higher percentage non-white population were less knowledgeable. Ethnic minority travellers visiting friends and relations have the greatest need for improved malaria prevention, yet appear to receive the worst prevention advice. Substantial improvement in delivery of advice is required.

Effects of amendments on soil structural development in a clay soil‐forming material used as a cap for landfill restoration

Abstract. Restoration of landfill sites to a vegetated after‐use is severely compromised if soil‐forming materials (SFMs) have to be used as substitute growing media for the restoration cap, owing partly to their poorly‐developed structure. The effects of crushed brick material (brick), composted green‐waste organic matter (OM) and potassium chloride salt (KCl) in a clay SFM were assessed at the Brogborough Landfill Site (Shank Group plc) in the county of Bedfordshire, UK. Soil structure was characterized three times in a two‐year experimental period through measuring drainage water release and aggregate stability and size distribution. Crushed brick and composted OM at 100 t ha−1 improved the ability of the clay to release water by drainage. In addition, the composted OM was associated with an increase in the size of stable aggregates, whereas the brick amendment reduced the overall aggregate stability. The KCl amendment had no consistent effect. Some beneficial structural improvements were thus associated with the brick and OM amendments, although these were rarely significant at the 5% level and the effects declined over time in the absence of vegetation and re‐application. Nevertheless, incorporation of crushed brick and organic amendments may offer a potential structure‐improving option in clay SFMs prior to vegetation establishment.

THE LIABILITY OF SCHOOLS FOR BULLYING

InBradford-Smart v. West Sussex County Council [2002] EWCA Civ 07, Leah Bradford-Smart, a former pupil of a school maintained by West Sussex County Council, based her claim for damages for psychiatric injury and consequent loss on the school’s failure to prevent fellow pupils bullying her outside the school. It is clear that “a school is under a duty to take reasonable care for the health and safety of the pupils in its charge” (Van Oppen v. Clerk to Bedford Charity Trustees [1990] 1 W.L.R. 235, 250), and that it also assumes responsibility for a pupil’s educational needs (X v. Bedfordshire County Council [1995] 2 A.C. 633, 766, per Lord Browne-Wilkinson; Phelps v. Hillingdon London Borough Council [2000] 2 A.C. 619). In Bradford-Smart, the Court of Appeal held that a school is generally responsible for its pupils only when they are inside the school, but that exceptional circumstances might arise when failing to take reasonable steps to combat bullying occurring outside the school would give rise to a breach of its duty of care to a pupil.

Investigation of a Romano-British Rural Ritual in Bedford, England

The Romano-British cemetery at Kempston, a suburb of Bedford, was excavated in 1992 by Bedfordshire County Archaeology Service and revealed 12 individuals who had been decapitated and 12 who were placed in the prone position. These practices are a regular feature of internments in rural and a few urban cemeteries dating to the late Roman period in a well-defined area of central England. The osteological findings are discussed and placed in the context of more widespread Iron Age customs.

Pubic authorities – negligence actions – control devices

X (minors) v Bedfordshire County Council is by far the most important decision on the liability in negligence of public authorities since Anns v Merton London Borough Council. These two authorities, along with Dorset Yacht Co v Home Office, furnish the ground rules for such actions. The leading judgment in X v Bedfordshire CC, in which all his brethren concur, is given by Lord Browne- Wilkinson; the only other judgment being given by Lord Jauncey. The common thread running through this trilogy of cases is the emphasis on the significance of the element of discretion in the exercise of the statutory functions of a public authority: ‘Most statutes which impose a statutory duty on local authorities confer on the authority a discretion as to the extent to which, and the methods by which, such statutory duty is to be performed’.

Monitoring landscape change — the role for GIS

Abstract Geographic information systems (GIS) have made major contributions to landscape mapping and analysis, but they must be used carefully in relation to the properties of particular sets of landscape data and the types of query to be asked. This paper describes two projects undertaken to assess the types and amounts of landscape change occurring in the countryside, using aerial photograph sets from different dates. One project relates to the national parks of England and Wales, the other to the county of Bedfordshire. Results are presented, and the benefits of GIS in processing vast quantities of data and permitting specific queries are reviewed.

Correspondence of the Royal African Company's Chief Merchants at Cabo Corso Castle with William's Fort, Whydah, and the Little Popo Factory, 1727-1728. An Annotated Transcription of Ms. Francklin 1055/1 in the Bedfordshire County Record Office

Correspondence of the Royal African Company's Chief Merchants at Cabo Corso Castle with William's Fort, Whydah, and the Little Popo Factory, 1727-1728. An Annotated Transcription of Ms. Francklin 1055/1 in the Bedfordshire County Record Office

No Longer Deaf to their Needs

The difficulties which may be experienced by the hearing children of deaf parents as they approach puberty are not often discussed in print although, for instance, the Open University course E241 (1982) does include a case study on such a family. The following description of a group of such children and the experimental help they received is given by Richard Flaxbeard, formerly senior educational psychologist, Bedfordshire County Council, now principal educational psychologist with the London Borough of Barnet, and by Wendy Toomey, senior social worker for the deaf, Bedfordshire. It may alert readers to the potential problems faced by hearing children of deaf parents and to possible ways of responding.

Bedfordshire County Library microcomputer project

With a grant from the Department of Industry, Bedfordshire County Library has made microcomputers available for public use in ten of their larger libraries. Practical information about the planning, implementation and organisation of the project is given and some of the problems encountered are discussed.

Close-following on the motorway

In an observational study of over 2000 close-following (tailgating) incidents in the centre lane on the Bedfordshire stretch of the Ml motorway, 20% involved a gap of less than 0·5 s. The proportion of lorry tailgaters was about equal to that of car tailgaters, although a disproportionately greater number of lorries were involved in ‘rear-end shunt’ collisions, as recorded by Bedfordshire County Council. Leading/tailgating vehicle dyads were significantly more frequently lorry/lorry and car/car than they were either lorry/car or car/lorry. When the state of other lanes, during tailgating, was examined, it was found that outside-lane-being-clear (unnecessary) but inside-lane-being-clear (provoked) tailgating by cars was greater than expected by chance, while simple unnecessary car tailgating was less. Provoked lorry tailgating, however, was less than expected, although greater when the inside lane was occupied (unprovoked), regardless of the state of the prohibited outside lane. When lane state and dyad co...

Kids and things

CURRENTLY on show at Bedford Central Library is the National Book League travelling exhibition, ‘Children's books of the year 1974’. Allied with this is a large and diverse exhibition of children's art, organised jointly by Bedfordshire Education service and Bedfordshire County Library. The whole library has been given over to staging this immensely colourful and exciting exhibition, which forms part of an extensive campaign by the library to extend the range of activities available for children in Bedford and the North Beds district.

Sir George Newman G.B.E., K.C.B

GEORGE NEWMAN was born at Leominster, Herefordshire, on October 23, 1870. He was the second son of Mary Anna Pumphrey and Henry Stanley Newman, who for twenty years edited the Quaker weekly, the Friend. Sir George was educated at Bootham School, York, and the University of Edinburgh. He graduated M.B., C.M. in 1892 and proceeded to the M.D. in 1895, his thesis on leprosy qualifying for the gold medal. In the same year he obtained the Cambridge D.P.H. During 1896-1900 he was senior demonstrator in bacteriology and lecturer in infectious diseases at King‘s College, London, of which he was later to become a fellow. During 1900–7 he was medical officer of health of the County of Bedfordshire and of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury ; and lectured on public health at St. Bartholomew‘s Hospital. He early acquired reputation as an energetic administrator, and published works on the bacteriology of milk, on the relation of bacteriology to public health and on infant mortality.

REVIEWS

The Origin of Islam in its Christian Environment. By Richard Bell Ireland and Wales: their Historical and Literary Relations. By Cecile O'Rahilly A History of Ireland and her People, to the Close of the Tudor Period. By Eleanor Hull St. Francis of Assisi, 1226–1926. Essays in Commemoration. Edited by Walter Seton The Valuation of Norwich. Edited by W. E. Lunt The Lay Subsidy Roll for Warwickshire of 6 Edward III (1332). Translated and edited with an introduction by W. F. Carter The Anonimalle Chronicle, 1333 to 1381. Edited by V. H. Galbraith Ètude sur les Colonies Marchandes Méridionales (Portugais, Espagnols, Italiens) à, Anvers de 1488 à 1567. Par J. A. GorisA Hand List of the Bedfordshire County Muniments. The Care of County Muniments. By G. H. Fowler Taxation in the Salford Hundred. Edited by James Tait The Twysden Lieutenancy Papers, 1583–1668. Edited by Gladys Scott‐Thomson The Social and Political Ideas of some Great Thinkers of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. A series of lectures, edited by F. J. C. Hearnshaw English Women in Life and Letters. By M. Phillips and W. T. Tomkinson Proceedings and Debates of the British Parliaments respecting North America, edited by L. F. Stock Jefferson and Hamilton: The Struggle for Democracy in America. By G. Bowers Life and Letters of Thomas Jefferson. By F. W. Hirst Political Unrest in Upper Canada, 1815–1836. By Aileen Dunham Cavour et l'Unité Italienne. By Paul Matter Histoire du Peuple Anglais au XIXe Siècle. Épilogue. Par Élie Halévy The Social Revolution in Austria. By C. A. Macartney British and Foreign State Papers, 1923 (in two parts) Syllabus on International Relations. By P. T. Moon The Lives of Great Men. Part i, Julius Cæsar to Warwick the Kingmaker; ii, Christopher Columbus to King George V. By G. H. Reed A First History of England. 3rd edition. By M. W. Keatinge Tales of our Ancestors. Series i, Elizabeth to James II State and Commons. Vol. i, to 1485. By H. Allsopp The Building of the Modem World. Book ii, 1453–1660; iii, 1660–1795; iv, since 1789. By J. A. Brendon Makers of British History. Book i, 1066–1603; ii, 1603–1793; iii. 1793–1914. By R. B. Mowat Britain and Her Commonwealth. By F. J. Gould

The Case for the Public Abattoir, by HENRY KENWOOD, C.M.G., M.B., F.R.S.E., D.P.H., Emeritus Professor of Hygiene and Public Health in the University of London, Medical Officer of Health for the Bedfordshire County Council. (Fellow.)

The Case for the Public Abattoir, by HENRY KENWOOD, C.M.G., M.B., F.R.S.E., D.P.H., Emeritus Professor of Hygiene and Public Health in the University of London, Medical Officer of Health for the Bedfordshire County Council. (Fellow.)

The Trade Pasteurisation of Milk and the Public Health, by HENRY KENWOOD, C.M.G., M.B., F.R.S.E., Emeritus Professor of Hygiene and Public Health in the University of London, and Medical Officer of Health of the Bedfordshire County Council. (Fellow.)

The Trade Pasteurisation of Milk and the Public Health, by HENRY KENWOOD, C.M.G., M.B., F.R.S.E., Emeritus Professor of Hygiene and Public Health in the University of London, and Medical Officer of Health of the Bedfordshire County Council. (Fellow.)

Maternity Benefit, by MISS A. J. HOYLE, Inspector of Midwives for the County of Bedfordshire

Maternity Benefit, by MISS A. J. HOYLE, Inspector of Midwives for the County of Bedfordshire

The Feeding of Children, by R. HERDMAN, M.D., D.P.H., Medical Officer (Education), Bedfordshire County Council

The Feeding of Children, by R. HERDMAN, M.D., D.P.H., Medical Officer (Education), Bedfordshire County Council

A Pure Milk Supply, by HENRY KENWOOD, M.B., F.R.S.E., D.P.H., Medical Officer of Health, Bedfordshire County Council and Metro politan Borough of Stoke Newington (FELLOW)

A Pure Milk Supply, by HENRY KENWOOD, M.B., F.R.S.E., D.P.H., Medical Officer of Health, Bedfordshire County Council and Metro politan Borough of Stoke Newington (FELLOW)