Long-term Legacy Research Articles

The NHS London Legacy and Health Equity Partnership: Evaluation of an equity lens framework

Abstract Background Disparities in COVID-19 vaccination uptake emphasised stark inequalities linked to ethnicity and deprivation, highlighting lack of trust and access barriers. London health leaders committed to create a community-centred legacy through the development of the NHS Legacy and Health Equity Partnership (LHEP); A novel 2-year programme aiming to close the equity gap in vaccinations, screening and access to health, focused on underserved communities, delivered in collaboration with London partners and communities. LHEP focused on 12 unique programmes with a key role of system leadership. Outputs included 15 reports, 6 conference presentations, 7 academic publications, 6 community workshops and 5 toolkits including development of an overarching LHEP framework aiming for long-term legacy. Methods An evaluation was designed to assess the benefits and limitations of the programme and framework through 16 semi-structured interviews and 5 focus groups delivered with key stakeholders. Ethical approval was obtained from the UKHSA Research Ethics Group. Data was coded inductively and drawn into themes. Results LHEP was said to add value through a) a dedicated team championing health equity and visible focus of leadership within the equity space b) fostering community engagement enabling dialogue between health systems and communities c) advocating co-production, building trust, focusing on communities in vulnerable circumstances d) programme innovation and agility d) drawing from COVID-19 lessons and disseminating learning. Interviewees stressed a legacy beyond vaccinations, establishing London as a blueprint for others. Conclusions Lessons were drawn into the ‘LHEP Approach for Health Equity’, a concise framework to guide partners to embed health equity, gathering 4 key tenets to ensure ‘no community is left behind’; data, evidence and learning; commitment from leaders and strong partnerships, allow for innovation and consider sustainability and communities at the centre. Key messages • Legacy and Health Equity Partnership is a 2-year multistakeholder programme aiming to tackle inequalities for the diverse communities of London that built evidence and led system change. • Evaluation stressed the impact of establishing London as a blueprint to follow and a framework to guide and support partners striving for health equity.

Fighting collective threats: socialist revolutions and the management of the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract I investigate why some countries were more successful in containing the death toll than others during the COVID-19 pandemic. I focus on the role of socialism and on the existence of long-term regime-driven legacies that may have had an impact on the containment of COVID-related deaths. I claim that countries that went through successful socialist revolutions have specific features that equip them with better resources to cope with public challenges such as pandemics. Furthermore, these features remain even after the demise of the socialist regime. I find a positive effect of socialist revolutions over COVID-19 containment at the country level. I investigate three possible causal mechanisms for this relationship: authoritarianism, state capacity, and mass mobilization. Through mediation analysis, I find the socialist legacy seems to be channeled through higher levels of mobilization and also more authoritarian institutions.

What is the real value of omics data? Enhancing research outcomes and securing long-term data excellence.

A wealth of high-throughput biological data, of which omics constitute a significant fraction, has been made publicly available in repositories over the past decades. These data come in various formats and cover a range of species and research areas providing insights into the complexities of biological systems; the public repositories hosting these data serve as multifaceted resources. The potentially greater value of these data lies in their secondary utilization as the deployment of data science and artificial intelligence in biology advances. Here, we critically evaluate challenges in secondary data use, focusing on omics data of human embryonic kidney cell lines available in public repositories. The emerging issues are obstacles faced by secondary data users across diverse domains as they concern platforms and repositories, which accept deposition of data irrespective of their species type. The evolving landscape of data-driven research in biology prompts re-evaluation of open access data curation and submission procedures to ensure that these challenges do not impede novel research opportunities through data exploitation. This paper aims to draw attention to widespread issues with data reporting and encourages data owners to meticulously curate submissions to maximize not only their immediate research impact but also the long-term legacy of datasets.

Strategies for engaging students in sustainability initiatives and fostering a sense of ownership and responsibility towards sustainable development

This study investigated successful strategies for engaging students in sustainable initiatives and encouraging a sense of accountability and ownership for sustainable development. Using a qualitative study methodology, eighty-three (83) administrators and lecturers from ten (10) Ugandan higher institutions participated in in-depth interviews. The data revealed eight major themes: awareness and education, practical engagement and hands-on activities, integration into the curriculum, student leadership and ownership, community and collaboration, recognition and reward, personal relevance and connection, and long-term impact and legacy. These results are consistent with international best practices in sustainability education, highlighting the necessity of an all-encompassing strategy incorporating knowledge dissemination with practical experience and active student involvement. Nonetheless, by offering context-specific insights pertinent to developing nations like Uganda, where such strategies have not received enough attention, our study attempts to address the literature gap. The findings highlight the importance of institutional support and offer practical suggestions for university administrators, educators, and policymakers who want to increase student involvement in sustainability projects. This study adds to the expanding body of information on sustainability education and provides a useful framework for using higher education to promote a sustainable future.

The establishment, growth and legacy of a settler colony

The Cape Colony was established by the Dutch East India Company in 1652 with the initial aim of providing a refuelling station for passing ships, but over time the colony expanded and the European population grew. We spoke to Professor Erik Green about his research into how the settler economy evolved, its impact on indigenous people, and its long-term legacy.

Long-term legacy of phytoremediation on plant succession and soil microbial communities in petroleum-contaminated sub-Arctic soils

Abstract. Phytoremediation can be a cost-effective method of restoring contaminated soils using plants and associated microorganisms. Most studies follow the impacts of phytoremediation solely across the treatment period and have not explored long-term ecological effects. In 1995, a phytoremediation study was initiated near Fairbanks, Alaska, to determine how the introduction of annual grasses and/or fertilizer would influence degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs). After 1 year, grass and/or fertilizer-treated soils showed greater decreases in PHC concentrations compared to untreated plots. The site was then left for 15 years with no active site management. In 2011, we re-examined the site to explore the legacy of phytoremediation on contaminant disappearance, as well as on plant and soil microbial ecology. We found that the recruited vegetation and the current bulk soil microbial community structure and functioning were all heavily influenced by initial phytoremediation treatment. The number of diesel-degrading microorganisms (DDMs) was positively correlated with the percentage cover of vegetation at the site, which was influenced by initial treatment. Even 15 years later, the initial use of fertilizer had significant effects on microbial biomass, community structure, and activity. We conclude that phytoremediation treatment has long-term, legacy effects on the plant community, which, in turn, impact microbial community structure and functioning. It is therefore important to consider phytoremediation strategies that not only influence site remediation rates in the short-term but also prime the site for the restoration of vegetation over the long-term.

Understanding and using experiences of social care to guide service improvements: translating a co-design approach from health to social care.

Local authorities need to find new ways of collecting and using data on social care users' experiences to improve service design and quality. Here we draw on and adapt an approach used in the healthcare improvement field, accelerated experience-based co-design, to see if it can be translated to social care. We use loneliness support as our exemplar. To understand how loneliness is understood and experienced by members of the public and characterised by social care and voluntary sector staff; to identify service improvements around loneliness support; to explore whether accelerated experience-based co-design is effective in social care; and to produce new resources for publication on Socialcaretalk.org. Discovery phase: in-depth interviews with a diverse sample of people in terms of demographic characteristics with experience of loneliness, and 20 social care and voluntary staff who provided loneliness support. Production of a catalyst film from the public interview data set. Co-design phase: exploring whether the accelerated experience-based co-design approach is effective in one local authority area via a series of three workshops to agree shared priorities for improving loneliness support (one workshop for staff, another for people with experience of local loneliness support, and a third, joint workshop), followed by 7-monthly meetings by two co-design groups to work on priority improvements. A process evaluation of the co-design phase was conducted using interviews, ethnographic observation, questionnaires and other written material. Accelerated experience-based co-design demonstrated strong potential for use in social care. Diverse experiences of participants and fuzzy boundaries around social care compared to health care widened the scope of what could be considered a service improvement priority. Co-design groups focused on supporting people to return to pre-pandemic activities and developing a vulnerable passenger 'gold standard' award for taxi drivers. This work generated short-term 'wins' and longer-term legacies. Participants felt empowered by the process and prospect of change, and local lead organisations committed to take the work forward. Using an exemplar, loneliness support, that does not correspond to a single pathway allowed us to comprehensively explore the use of accelerated experience-based co-design, and we found it can be adapted for use in social care. We produced recommendations for the future use of the approach in social care which include identifying people or organisations who could have responsibility for implementing improvements, and allowing time for coalition-building, developing trusted relationships and understanding different perspectives. COVID-19 temporarily affected the capacity of the local authority Project Lead to set up the intervention. Pandemic work pressures led to smaller numbers of participating staff and had a knock-on effect on recruitment. Staff turnover within Doncaster Council created further challenges. Exploring the approach using a single pathway, such as assessing eligibility for care and support, could add additional insights into its transferability to social care. This trial is registered as Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN98646409. This award was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Health and Social Care Delivery Research programme (NIHR award ref: NIHR128616) and is published in full in Health and Social Care Delivery Research; Vol. 12, No. 27. See the NIHR Funding and Awards website for further award information.

The Political Legacies of Wartime Resistance: How Local Communities in Italy Keep Anti-fascist Sentiments Alive

Can past wartime experiences affect political behavior beyond those who lived through them? We argue that local experiences of armed resistance leave political legacies that “memory entrepreneurs” can translate into contemporary political action via a community-based process of intergenerational transmission consisting of three core activities – memorialization, localization, and mobilization. We empirically substantiate this argument in Italy, where an intense armed resistance movement against Nazi-Fascist forces took place in the 1940s. We combine statistical analysis of original data across Italian municipalities and within-case analysis of a purposively selected locality to show how the past impacts the present via the preservation and activation of collective memories. This study improves our understanding of the processes of long-term transmission, emphasizes armed resistance as a critical source of the long-term political legacies of war, and explores its political effects beyond electoral and party politics.

Different drought recovery strategy between Larix spp. and Quercus mongolica in temperate forests

Forests are experiencing increasingly severe drought stress worldwide. Although most studies have quantified how tree growth was affected by extreme droughts, how trees recover from different drought intensities are still poorly understood for different species. We used a network of tree-ring data comprising 731 Quercus mongolica trees across 29 sites, 312 Larix olgensis Henry trees from 13 sites, and 818 Larix principis-rupprechtii trees from 34 sites, covering most of their distribution range in northern China, to compare the influences of drought intensity on post-drought recovery. The results showed that summer droughts had strong negative influences on tree growth. Post-drought growth varied with drought intensity for the three species. Larix species exhibited strong legacy effects after severe droughts, which is related to the lack of compensatory growth. In contrast, the compensatory growth of Q. mongolica reduced drought legacy effect. However, the compensatory growth of Q. mongolica gradually weaken with increasing drought intensity and disappeared during severe drought. Our findings indicated that influence of drought on Q. mongolica growth mainly shown in drought years, but Larix species suffered from long-term drought legacy effects, implying Q. mongolica rapidly recovered from droughts but Larix species need several years to recover from droughts, thus the two genera have different recovery strategy.

Climate change critically affects the status of the land-system change planetary boundary

The planetary boundaries framework defines a safe operating space for humanity. To date, these boundaries have mostly been investigated separately, and it is unclear whether breaching one boundary can lead to the transgression of another. By employing a dynamic global vegetation model, we systematically simulate the strength and direction of the effects of different transgression levels of the climate change boundary (using climate output from ten phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project models for CO2 levels ranging from 350 ppm to 1000 ppm). We focus on climate change-induced shifts of Earth’s major forest biomes, the control variable for the land-system change boundary, both by the end of this century and, to account for the long-term legacy effect, by the end of the millennium. Our simulations show that while staying within the 350 ppm climate change boundary co-stabilizes the land-system change boundary, breaching it (>450 ppm) leads to critical transgression of the latter, with greater severity the higher the ppm level rises and the more time passes. Specifically, this involves a poleward treeline shift, boreal forest dieback (nearly completely within its current area under extreme climate scenarios), competitive expansion of temperate forest into today’s boreal zone, and a slight tropical forest extension. These interacting changes also affect other planetary boundaries (freshwater change and biosphere integrity) and provide feedback to the climate change boundary itself. Our quantitative process-based study highlights the need for interactions to be studied for a systemic operationalization of the planetary boundaries framework.

Class mobilisation and class consciousness in the British strike wave of 2022–23

For a brief period, the British strike wave of 2022-23, which broke out during the inflationary surge and subsequent ‘cost of living crisis’, both reflected and enabled the articulation of a heightened level of class consciousness, given expression by the left of the trade union movement. The widespread collapse in living standards interacted with the longerterm weakening of consumption-based identities in the wake of the financial crash, and the manifest profiteering of big business, to create a moment where it was possible for union leaderships to describe the strike wave and the plight of working people in terms of a class struggle. The longer-term legacy of this moment is yet to become clear.

Structural control of igneous intrusions on fluid migration in sedimentary basins: the case study of large bitumen seeps at Cerro Alquitrán and Cerro La Paloma, northern Neuquén Basin, Argentina

Abstract Cooling subvolcanic igneous intrusions are known to have a tremendous impact on fluid flow in the shallow Earth's crust. However, the long-term post-cooling legacy of subvolcanic intrusions on fluid flow has received much less attention. Here we describe geological examples in the Andean foothills, Argentina, showing that igneous intrusions have long-term effects on fluid flow after their emplacement and cooling. The case study consists of ∼11 Myr-old eroded andesitic intrusions of Cerro Alquitrán and Cerro La Paloma, northern Neuquén Basin, Argentina, at the rims of which large volumes of bitumen are naturally seeping out at the Earth's surface. The intrusions exhibit laccolithic shapes with steep-sided contacts with the host rock. Near the intrusive contacts, the andesite is intensely broken along concentric breccia bands and fracture bands, interpreted as resulting from syn-emplacement brittle magma deformation, which represent high-permeability pathways for the migrating bitumen. Organic geochemical analyses of the bitumen show that the seeping oils were generated from incipiently mature Vaca Muerta sections located in a regional kitchen to the west, implying a lateral migration of ∼10–20 km. The Cerro Alquitrán and Cerro La Paloma intrusions are demonstrative examples highlighting how extinct subvolcanic intrusions have long-term consequences for subsurface fluid circulations in sedimentary basins.

Destruction from Above: Long-Term Legacies of the Tokyo Air Raids

Destruction from Above: Long-Term Legacies of the Tokyo Air Raids

God is not back: the long-term effects of Soviet secularism

ABSTRACT How effective was Soviet secularization and what is its long-term legacy? This paper investigates the lasting effects of Khrushchev’s Virgin Lands Campaign (1950s) on the current level of Orthodox religiosity in eastern Russia using an original district (raion)-level dataset that combines historical and contemporary evidence. By employing various matching techniques and an instrumental variable approach, I identify significant effects of the Virgin Lands cultivation on diminishing the role of religion even 60 years later. Moreover, I demonstrate that the resettlement of Communist Youth League (Komsomol) members and the destruction of traditional social relations may have worked as key mechanisms that contributed to the legacy effects. This study offers one of the first micro-level empirical investigations into the impact of Communism-driven secularization, and contributes to the emerging inquiry into the historical legacy of communism.

Detecting the Olympic tourism legacy: a data-driven approach

ABSTRACT This research applies a data-driven approach for identifying changes in time series to model the Olympic tourism legacy. Measuring potential legacy effects from mega-sporting events has been problematic in prior research. Issues revolve around how to measure tourism, how to control for pre-existing trends, and how to account for extraneous events affecting tourism unrelated to the Olympics. Most problematic for analytical models is determining when the tourism legacy begins and what is the functional form of the tourism legacy. Many of these issues interact and can confound results leading to erroneous conclusions. The seminal methodology developed by Tsay [(1988). Outliers, level shifts, and variance changes in time series. Journal of Forecasting, 7(1), 1–20] requires no prior assumption about the timing or functional forms of the outliers, therefore solving these issues and provides a framework that can be used when analysing mega-sporting event legacies. Using this methodology, the research finds limited support for a short-term Olympic tourism legacy and no support for a long-term tourism legacy.

Increasing cattle slurry application to grass-clover leys of different ages did not affect nitrate leaching but increased legacy effect in mixed organic crop rotations

ContextOrganic dairy farms with grass-clover often have a large N surplus, due to biological N fixation and in addition, manure application, which challenges the efforts to reduce N losses. Potential loss pathways include leaching from grass-clover ley and subsequent crops, but if managed appropriately this N legacy effect may result in higher yields in the subsequent crops. ObjectiveTo investigate the fate of the ley phase N surplus including losses of nitrate in grass-clover leys, contribution to the N supply of the subsequent crop, and the contribution from the long-term slurry N application to grass-clover leys to nitrate leaching and yields in subsequent crops. MethodsWe quantified nitrate leaching across three years in two six-year crop rotations with two or four years of grass-clover ley and examined legacy effect of the grass-clover ley in relation to short- or long-term N fertilization levels. This was done by measuring water nitrate contents below the root zone combined with water balance modelling. ResultsNitrate leaching in 1- to 4-yr-old grass-clover leys were not influenced by cattle slurry application of up to 300 kg total-N ha-1 (equivalent to approximately 170 kg available N). Leaching losses were 2 - 19 kg N ha-1 yr-1 across grassland ages and application rates. Arable crops showed correspondingly low nitrate leaching (4–24 kg N ha-1 yr-1) except for barley/peas (74 kg N ha-1 yr-1), where a catch crop was established after autumn mechanical weed control. The legacy effect of fertilization on N yield was found in the first year following cultivation of 2-yr-old grass-clover swards and in both year one and two following cultivation of 4-yr-old grass-clover swards. The legacy effect was generally better predicted by the long-term cumulated fertilizer N application during the last rotation (six years) as compared to the most recent grass-clover N application rate. Nitrate leaching in the arable phase of the mixed crop rotations was not affected by fertilizer application in the ley phase. However, this might depend on catch crop strategy in the arable crops. ConclusionsNitrate leaching in dairy crop rotations was not influenced by cattle slurry application. It was found that both the short- and long-term slurry application history were able to explain the legacy effect and of those, the long-term was the best predictor. ImplicationsThe study shows that N leaching reduction targets can be met in an organic dairy crop rotation when attention is paid to the full crop rotation and utilization of short- and long-term legacy effects of slurry application.

Whither Education? The Long Shadow of Pre-Unification School Systems into Italy’s Liberal Age (1861–1911)

This paper contributes to the literature on the determinants of the expansion of mass schooling and the long-term legacy of educational institutions. Based on a new provincial-level dataset for Italy in the period 1861–1911, we argue that different models of schooling provision adopted by the different pre-unification polities influenced primary-education organizations across macro-regions up to WWI. As a result, school access and the capability to generate literacy given current rates of enrollment differed substantially, with the Northern regions aiming to increase schooling for all, while the Center and the South implemented a more elitist model.

Nurse-led sustainable plastic surgery trauma service transformation: a positive COVID-19 legacy

The aim of this quality improvement was to develop a sustainable nurse-led ‘See and Treat’ service in a regional plastic surgery unit in England for patients requiring plastic surgery under...

Does the fertilisation strategy affect the long-term legacy phosphorus dynamic?

Phosphorus (P) imbalances in agricultural systems are a global problem because they have environmental and economic impacts, like eutrophication when there is a soil P surplus and low crop productivity in P deficient soils. Fertilisers are used to increase soil available P, but some fractions become less available P forms and reduce P use efficiency (PUE). Legacy P includes labile and moderately labile P fractions that could replenish soil available P and become available for crops under long-term P fertilisation and affects PUE. Our aim was to evaluate the long-term legacy P dynamic and PUE with different P fertilisation strategies and rates in soils of Entre Ríos, Argentina. Long-term experiments in two contrasting soil types (Mollisol and Vertisol), were used to evaluate a combination of three initial (0, 100, and 200 kg P ha−1) and four annual P fertilisation rates (0, 12, 24, and 36 kg P ha−1 year−1). Soil samples were collected annually at 0–5 cm, 5–10 cm, and 10–20 cm soil depth. Bray1-P concentration was used as an index of soil available P. Grain P concentration and crops grain yield were measured. The effects of the initial P fertilisation on Bray1-P were observed for a longer time in the Mollisol than the Vertisol, which may be related to a lower P adsorption capacity of the Mollisol. Annual P fertilisation increased Bray1-P earlier in deep layers in the Vertisol, associated with the preferential flow of P fertiliser through soil cracks in the latter. After 10 years, Bray1-P stratification was higher in the Vertisol than in the Mollisol. In the treatment without initial P fertilisation (i.e., 0 kg P ha−1), the annual fertilisation rate to maintain Bray 1-P level was similar on both soils (on average 24 kg P ha−1). Our results showed that the annual P fertilisation strategy to feed crops’ needs produces higher PUE compared with the use of residual legacy P after an initial and unique high P fertilisation rate. This information is relevant to design highly efficient P fertilisation strategies according to soil characteristics, thereby advancing the pursuit of sustainability in agricultural systems.

Significance of variation in wildlife red deer carcass yields

ABSTRACT Deer hunting has traditionally had great relevance due to the diversity of resources obtained from it, such as meat. Our aim has been to analyse the total post-mortem weight, dressed carcass weight and carcass yield, as well as their variations as a function of years, sex, age and hunting season (autumn vs. winter). Also, predictive equations for carcass weight from total weight were performed. A total of 947 red deer (Cervus elaphus hispanicus) of both sexes, hunted from 1989 to 1993 in the Quintos de Mora National Reserve, Spain, were analysed. Seasonal and interannual differences were detected in all weight measures and carcass yield, conditioned by sex, age and climatic factors such as temperature. In general, to obtain a higher meat yield deer extractions should be carried out in autumn. In addition, carcass weight variation (measured on cold carcasses dressed without head and feet, keeping skin, lateral diaphragm portions, fat deposits and legs) can be considered a good indicator of body condition that integrates seasonal nutritional gains and/or losses and long-term nutritional legacies. This index provides information on the animal's natural history and ecological environment conditions, making its standardized record an essential tool for monitoring wild game populations.