North Nottinghamshire Research Articles

Hazel Dormice (Muscardinus avellanarius) on the move in Nottinghamshire, England: A reintroduction success

Historical records from 1885 suggest that the Hazel Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) was once present in Nottinghamshire. However, the species was thought to have become locally extinct as recently as the 1950s. After a failed attempt in 1994 to reintroduce Hazel Dormice back to the county, the species was finally returned to three neighbouring woodlands in north Nottinghamshire as part of a three-year project in 2013/14/15, Treswell Wood, Eaton Wood, and Gamston Wood, respectively. Data collected as part of the National Dormouse Monitoring Programme (NDMP) indicate a stable population in all three of the Nottinghamshire reintroduction woodlands, whereas dormouse declines have been reported in many southern populations. The Nottinghamshire Dormouse Group employ a range of survey techniques to monitor the populations and surveys in neighbouring habitats have confirmed that the dormice are steadily dispersing into the wider landscape. Dormouse presence has now been confirmed in two additional woodlands, including one approximately 600m from the closest reintroduction site. Dormice have also been recorded inhabiting nestboxes within trackside vegetation along the East Coast Railway line, including a dormouse nest on the far side of the high-speed (100mph) railway line, confirming that at least one dormouse has crossed over the track. A 5-year, landscape-scale PIT-tagging project commenced in September 2021 with the primary aim of investigating the dispersal capabilities and seasonal movements of the dormice. The project scope will include the three reintroductions woodlands, all woodlands in between and the connecting hedgerows. The data will be used to inform future dormouse reintroductions.

How can referrals of patients who are obese to the local exercise referral scheme be increased? A UK based primary care quality improvement study.

Obesity is classified as a body mass index (BMI) >30kg/m2 and contributes to poor health outcomes in the UK. In 2017-18, obesity resulted in 711,000 hospital admissions. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends GPs educate patients who are obese and refer them to exercise programmes. Our practice, Brierley Park Medical Centre, (NHS Mansfield and Ashfield CCG) is in a 4th decile most deprived region of North Nottinghamshire (UK) and serves a population of 9,288. The local exercise referral scheme (ERS) allows clinicians to refer patients to the local gym for a reduced fee at the point of access. To calculate and increase the number of adult patients who are obese in our practice who are referred to the local ERS. The number of adult obese patients who were referred to the local ERS scheme from October 2018 to September 2019 was calculated. An intervention comprising internal system alerts, GP education utilising Making Every Contact Count framework and targeted patient group text alerts was designed and delivered. Pre (cycle 1) and post (cycle 2) intervention data from November to February were generated and compared. In total, 2766 adult obese patients (29.8% of practice population) were identified: 16 (0.2%) patients were referred to ERS during cycle 1.96 (1%) patients were referred during cycle 2. The interventions that we have designed and implemented have increased the number of referrals to ERS and may be applied to similar primary care settings.

A New Procedure for Evaluating Ground-Motion Models, with Application to Hydraulic-Fracture-Induced Seismicity in the United Kingdom

ABSTRACTAn essential component of seismic hazard analysis is the prediction of ground shaking (and its uncertainty), using ground-motion models (GMMs). This article proposes a new method to evaluate (i.e., rank) the suitability of GMMs for modeling ground motions in a given region. The method leverages a statistical tool from sensitivity analysis to quantitatively compare predictions of a GMM with underlying observations. We demonstrate the performance of the proposed method relative to several other popular GMM ranking procedures and highlight its advantages, which include its intuitive scoring system and its ability to account for the hierarchical structure of GMMs. We use the proposed method to evaluate the applicability of several GMMs for modeling ground motions from induced earthquakes due to U.K. shale gas development. The data consist of 195 recordings at hypocentral distances (R) less than 10 km for 29 events with local magnitude (ML) greater than 0 that relate to 2018/2019 hydraulic-fracture operations at the Preston New Road shale gas site in Lancashire and 192 R<10 km recordings for 48 ML>0 events induced—within the same geologic formation—by coal mining near New Ollerton, North Nottinghamshire. We examine: (1) the Akkar, Sandikkaya, and Bommer (2014) models for European seismicity; (2) the Douglas et al. (2013) model for geothermal-induced seismicity; and (3) the Atkinson (2015) model for central and eastern North America induced seismicity. We find the Douglas et al. (2013) model to be the most suitable for almost all of the considered ground-motion intensity measures. We modify this model by recomputing its coefficients in line with the observed data, to further improve its accuracy for future analyses of the seismic hazard of interest. This study both advances the state of the art in GMM evaluation and enhances understanding of the seismic hazard related to U.K. shale gas development.

Increase in the prevalence of health anxiety in medical clinics: Possible cyberchondria

Health anxiety may be an increasing problem because of the focus on monitoring health and increasing use of the Internet for self-diagnosis (cyberchondria). There is very little information about changes in the prevalence of health anxiety. We compared the prevalence of health anxiety in four medical clinics in one hospital over a 4-year period using the Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI) as a diagnostic marker. Patients attending cardiology, endocrine, gastroenterology and respiratory medicine clinics at King's Mill Hospital, North Nottinghamshire, completed the HAI while waiting for their appointments. There were eight research assistants involved in collecting data, two in the 2006-2008 period and six in the 2008-2010 period. As a consequence, more data were collected on the second occasion. There was an increase in the prevalence of health anxiety from 14.9% in 2006-2008 (54 positive of 362 assessed) to 19.9% (1,132 positive out of 5,704 assessed) in 2008-2010. This increase was primarily noted in gastroenterology clinics (increase of 10%) and not shown in endocrine ones. The prevalence of health anxiety is increasing in those who attend medical out-patient clinics. Reasons are given that this may be a possible result of cyberchondria, as the excessive use of the Internet to interpret troubling symptoms is growing. Further studies are needed in other populations, but there is reason to be concerned at this trend as it is likely to increase the number of medical consultations unnecessarily.

Stress magnitudes across UK regions: New analysis and legacy data across potentially prospective unconventional resource areas

Abstract Stress magnitude data across the UK is limited spatially and stratigraphically with information available for only 21 sites in the latest release of the World Stress Map. This information is largely derived from geothermal resource exploration and radioactive waste storage site assessment. Active exploration of unconventional resources in the UK has highlighted a lack of information to adequately characterise the stress field, in particular in regions underlain by potentially prospective shale formations. Understanding the in-situ stress conditions is critical to the planning of sub surface operations and the potential extraction of unconventional resources. Legacy stress magnitude data from 75 sites is combined with new analysis of wireline data to re-characterise the stress field across two regions which are underlain by the Bowland Shale Formation which has resource potential for unconventional hydrocarbons. These regions are: East Yorkshire and North Nottinghamshire, and Cheshire and Lancashire. Vertical stress gradients vary between 23 and 26 MPakm−1 for the regions studied. Pore pressure is similar for both regions and is hydrostatic with a gradient of 10.19 MPakm−1. Lower bounds for the minimum horizontal stress have been estimated from the available data and show that the magnitude of the minimum horizontal stress is 2.6 MPakm−1 higher to the east of the Pennines. The compiled legacy data show that the Maximum Horizontal Stress is consistently greater than the vertical stress, which in turn is greater than the minimum horizontal stress, indicating that at depth within the two regions, the faulting regime is predominantly strike-slip.

Roman Field-System Earthworks in the Birklands and Belhaugh Hays, Nottinghamshire

ABSTRACTProcessing and analysis of LiDAR data in Nottinghamshire has identified the survival of earthwork field-systems beneath woodland in some of the oldest established parts of Sherwood Forest. The morphology and alignment of these field-systems strongly suggest that they represent a survival of the late Iron Age and Roman brickwork-plan field-systems of North Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire with considerable potential to elucidate the history of abandonment of these fields and the establishment of Sherwood Forest.

Patrician Landscapes and the Picturesque in Nottinghamshire c.1750–c.1850

Abstract:This article considers the Dukeries estates of north Nottinghamshire in the heyday of aristocratic power and prestige, from the mid Georgian to the mid Victorian period. It poses a contrast between visitors' impressions of the area as one of constancy and continuity, a point of reassurance in an age of political and social upheaval, and the reality of internal changes from within. Closely crowded as these estates were, their aristocratic owners competed with one another to fashion the most economically viable and aesthetically pleasing symbol of status and power. The article pays close attention to the hold which picturesque principles exercised on individual owners and considers the role of plantation, animals and water in parkland management and improvement. Finally, the article considers the extent to which the estates were sites of contestation. Owners attempted to keep unwanted plebeian incursions at bay, whilst carefully controlling access on set-piece occasions such as coming-of-age festivities.

Grader agreement, and sensitivity and specificity of digital photography in a community optometry-based diabetic eye screening program.

BackgroundDigital retinal photography with mydriasis is the preferred modality for diabetes eye screening. The purpose of this study was to evaluate agreement in grading levels between primary and secondary graders and to calculate their sensitivity and specificity for identifying sight-threatening disease in an optometry-based retinopathy screening program.MethodsThis was a retrospective study using data from 8,977 patients registered in the North Nottinghamshire retinal screening program. In all cases, the ophthalmology diagnosis was used as the arbitrator and considered to be the gold standard. Kappa statistics were used to evaluate the level of agreement between graders.ResultsAgreement between primary and secondary graders was 51.4% and 79.7% for detecting no retinopathy (R0) and background retinopathy (R1), respectively. For preproliferative (R2) and proliferative retinopathy (R3) at primary grading, agreement between the primary and secondary grader was 100%. Where there was disagreement between the primary and secondary grader for R1, only 2.6% (n=41) were upgraded by an ophthalmologist. The sensitivity and specificity for detecting R3 was 78.2% and 98.1%, respectively. None of the patients upgraded from any level of retinopathy to R3 required photocoagulation therapy. The observed kappa between the primary and secondary grader was 0.3223 (95% confidence interval 0.2937–0.3509), ie, fair agreement, and between the primary grader and ophthalmology for R3 was 0.5667 (95% confidence interval 0.4557–0.6123), ie, moderate agreement.ConclusionThese data provide information on the safety of a community optometry-based retinal screening program for screening as a primary and as a secondary grader. The level of agreement between the primary and secondary grader at a higher level of retinopathy (R2 and R3) was 100%. Sensitivity and specificity for R3 were 78.2% and 98.1%, respectively. None of the false-negative results required photocoagulation therapy.

Evaluating Competing Theories of the Shadow Economy: Some Lessons from an English Locality

This paper evaluates critically the contrasting theories of the nature of the shadow economy that variously read this sector as a leftover of pre-capitalism, a by-product of a new emergent form of capitalism, a complement to formal employment or an alternative to the formal economy. Until now, the common tendency has been to either universally privilege one theorisation over the others, or to portray each as appropriate in different places. Reporting data collected through face-to-face interviews with 120 households in an English locality, namely Bassetlaw in North Nottinghamshire, however, the finding is that in this locality each theory is a valid representation of particular types of shadow work, and that only by combining and using them all is it possible to achieve a finer-grained and more comprehensive understanding of the complex and diverse nature of the shadow economy. The paper concludes by outlining how to integrate these contrasting theorisations in a manner that enables the development of a multi-layered and nuanced understanding of the multifarious nature of the shadow economy.

Tackling the hidden enterprise culture: Government policies to support the formalization of informal entrepreneurship

It is now recognized that many entrepreneurs operate wholly or partially in the informal economy. Harnessing this hidden enterprise culture by facilitating its formalization is therefore a potentially effective and innovative means of promoting economic development and growth. To start evaluating how this might be achieved, the aim of this paper is to understand entrepreneurs’ motives for operating in the informal economy so as to identify the public policy interventions required to facilitate the formalization of this hidden enterprise culture. Reporting a survey of 51 nascent entrepreneurs in North Nottinghamshire, of which 43 were operating in the informal economy, the finding is that entrepreneurs’ rationales for working informally differ according to both whether they operate wholly in the informal economy or have registered enterprises but trade partially off-the-books, as well as whether they view themselves as on a journey towards formalization or not. Different policy measures are therefore required to tackle each type of informal entrepreneurship. The outcome is a tentative call for a more nuanced and bespoke policy approach for tackling the different kinds of informal entrepreneurship that comprise the hidden enterprise culture.

Crafting Clumber: the Dukes of Newcastle and the Nottinghamshire landscape

ABSTRACT Clumber Park in north Nottinghamshire, England, was the principal family home of the Dukes of Newcastle-under-Lyne [sic] between 1768 and 1928. This article considers the contribution of the second, fourth and seventh Dukes of Newcastle to the landscape management and development of the parkland. The article concentrates upon the period between c. 1760 (when the property began to be developed seriously by the second duke) and c. 1851 when the fourth duke died. Particular attention is paid to the work and influence exerted over Clumber's landscape development by William Sawrey Gilpin, the noted follower of Uvedale Price and the proponent of picturesque principles. Gilpin's work at Clumber was noted contemporaneously but the extent of his influence has become more apparent with the publication of the fourth duke of Newcastle's diaries. The concluding section of the article considers the (now iconic) chapel developed in the park by the Anglo-Catholic seventh duke. Whilst most of Clumber's standing structures were subsequently dismantled before passing into the care of the National Trust in 1946, the modern parkland continues to exhibit the features of picturesque landscaping developed during the formative period of the Newcastle family's possession of the estate.

Tackling the Hidden Enterprise Culture: Government Policies to Support the Formalization of Informal Entrepreneurship

It is now recognized that many entrepreneurs operate wholly or partially in the informal economy. Harnessing this hidden enterprise culture by facilitating its formalization is therefore a potentially effective and innovative means of promoting economic development and growth. To start evaluating how this might be achieved, the aim of this paper is to understand entrepreneurs’ motives for operating in the informal economy so as to identify the public policy interventions required to facilitate the formalization of this hidden enterprise culture. Reporting a survey of 51 nascent entrepreneurs in North Nottinghamshire, of which 43 were operating in the informal economy, the finding is that entrepreneurs’ rationales for working informally differ according to both whether they operate wholly in the informal economy or have registered enterprises but trade partially off-the-books, as well as whether they view themselves as on a journey towards formalization or not. Different policy measures are therefore required to tackle each type of informal entrepreneurship. The outcome is a tentative call for a more nuanced and bespoke policy approach for tackling the different kinds of informal entrepreneurship that comprise the hidden enterprise culture.

Prevalence of health anxiety problems in medical clinics

Objectives To determine the prevalence of significant health anxiety (hypochondriasis) in patients aged 16–75 in cardiology, respiratory medicine, neurological, endocrine and gastrointestinal clinics in general hospitals in London, Middlesex and North Nottinghamshire. Method The Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI) (short form) was administered to patients attending the five clinics over a 21 month period and all those who scored 20 or more invited to take part in a further assessment for a randomised controlled trial. Results Of 43,205 patients attending the clinics 28,991 (67.1%) were assessed and of these, after exclusion of ineligible patients 5747 (19.8%) had significant health anxiety. 444 subsequently agreed to take part in a randomised controlled trial of treatment. The prevalence levels varied by clinic with neurology (24.7%) having the highest prevalence followed by respiratory medicine (20.9%), gastroenterology (19.5%), cardiology (19.1%), and endocrinology (17.5%). Conclusion Abnormal health anxiety is common and a significant problem in those attending medical clinics and deserves greater awareness.

Improving access to employment and training in former coalfields areas in the UK: The Access Alliance Programme

The Access Alliance Programme (the AAP) was a £1 million funding programme to support and develop sustainable transport schemes to improve access to employment and training opportunities for residents of the former coalfields areas of north Nottinghamshire and north Derbyshire in the UK. Over a four-year period, the AAP funded almost 60 schemes and, by March 2011, it will have created or safeguarded approximately 40 jobs, assisted over 800 people to get a job, assisted 150 businesses to improve their performance and assisted 2500 people to improve their skills. This unique funding programme has demonstrated the value of a transport funding pot designed to promote economic and social regeneration, managed by an independent organisation free from the restrictions of local government regulation. A template has been developed for the AAP as a whole and for individual transport solutions, which could be replicated at the local, regional, national and international scale.

Incident knee pain in the Nottingham community: a 12-year retrospective cohort study

To determine the community incidence of knee pain and associated risk factors over a 12-year period in people over the age of 40 years. A cohort study of knee pain was undertaken in 2156 people from four general practices in North Nottinghamshire, UK. Knee pain was defined as 'pain around the knee for most days of at least a month'. Cumulative incidence over 12 years and person-year incidence rate of knee pain were estimated. Survival analysis was undertaken for time to the onset of knee pain. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated for relative risk between exposure and non-exposure. Cox regression model was used to adjust for confounding factors. The 12-year cumulative incidence of knee pain was 34.4% (32% for men and 35% for women), corresponding to an average incidence rate of 32 (31 for men and 34 for women)/1000 person-years. Incident knee pain was associated with female gender (HR 1.27, 95% CI 1.08, 1.49), obesity (1.80; 95% CI 1.37, 2.38), varus (1.68, 95% CI 1.15, 2.47) and valgus (1.83, 95% CI 1.05, 3.20) mal-alignment, and knee injury (2.37, 95% CI 2.98, 2.85). For people over age 40, one in three will develop knee pain within 12 years. On average, the risk of knee pain was 32/1000 person-years. This risk is associated with a variety of constitutional and environmental biomechanical insults to the knee. Some of these could be modified to possibly reduce the incidence of the condition.

Sherwood and Sherwood Forest

Sherwood forest in Nottinghamshire was one of several English royal forests named after particular woods, in this case a ‘shire-wood’. During the twelfth century what later became known as Sherwood forest was called ‘the forest of Nottingham’, and the change to its subsequent name resulted from a complex process that took place between the 1160s and the 1230s. The location and extent of the original ‘shire-wood’ is problematic. The significance of an isolated reference, in an Anglo-Saxon royal charter of 958, to a ‘shire-wood’ in north Nottinghamshire is uncertain. The recent identification, in a mid-thirteenthcentury charter, of a reference to a ‘wood called Sherwood’, lying east of Kirkby in Ashfield, indicates that the core of the by then established forest of Sherwood lay in the woodland in which the Augustinian priory of Newstead had been founded by Henry II.

Evaluating entrepreneurs in the shadow economy: economic or social entrepreneurship?

Recently, a growing stream of literature on entrepreneurship has revealed that many entrepreneurs start-up their enterprises operating wholly or partially off-the-books. This paper evaluates critically the assumption that these shadow entrepreneurs are engaged in for-profit economic entrepreneurship. Reporting a 2005 survey involving interviews with 43 shadow entrepreneurs in North Nottinghamshire in the UK, the finding is that shadow entrepreneurs range from purely rational economic actors pursuing for-profit logics through to purely social entrepreneurs pursuing only social logics, with the majority somewhere in-between. The result is a call for more nuanced understandings of the heterogeneous logics of shadow entrepreneurs.

Rethinking the commercialization of everyday life: a “whole economy” perspective

PurposeA dominant belief is that the continuing encroachment of the market economy into everyday life is inevitable, unstoppable and irreversible. Over the past decade, however, a small stream of thought has started to question this commercialization thesis. This paper seeks to contribute to this emergent body of thought by developing a “whole economy” approach for capturing the multifarious economic practices in community economies and then applying this to an English locality.Design/methodology/approachA survey conducted of the economic practices used by 120 households in a North Nottinghamshire locality in the UK is reported here, comprising face‐to‐face interviews in an affluent, middle‐ranking and deprived neighborhood.FindingsThis reveals the limited commercialization of everyday life and the persistence of a multitude of economic practices in all neighborhood‐types. Participation rates in all economic practices (except one‐to‐one unpaid work and “off‐the‐radar” unpaid work) are higher in relatively affluent populations. Uneven development is marked by affluent populations that are “work busy”, engaging in a diverse spectrum of economic practices conducted more commonly out of choice, and disadvantaged populations that are more “work deprived”, conducting a narrower array of activities usually out of necessity.Research limitations/implicationsThis snapshot survey only displays that commercialization is not hegemonic. It does not display whether there is a shift towards commercialization.Social implicationsRecognition of the limited encroachment of the market opens up the future to alternative possibilities beyond an inevitable commercialization of everyday life, intimating that the future will be characterized by the continuing persistence of multifarious economic practices rather than market hegemony.Originality/valueThe paper provides evidence from a western nation of the limited commercialization of daily life.

Is peer injecting a form of intimate partner abuse? A qualitative study of the experiences of women drug users

Women are over-represented as the recipients of injections of illicit drugs and are often injected by their intimate partners. This study used qualitative research to explore women drug users' experiences of abuse from intimate partners when being injected with illicit drugs. In-depth interviews were conducted with 45 women drug users in the city of Leeds and the area of North Nottinghamshire, UK. The practice of peer injecting illicit drugs places women recipients at risk of physical, economic and emotional abuse from their male intimate partner injectors. However, this was not a universal feature. In trusting, supportive intimate partner relationships peer injecting took place through reciprocal arrangements. Moving away from peer injecting was technically and emotionally difficult for women and rarely straightforward. The implications of the work are discussed as clinicians and wider drug service staff should be aware of the possibility of abuse and enquire about peer injecting when consulting with women injecting drug users. However, clinicians should avoid working within a simplistic clinical framework that views all peer injecting as intrinsically abusive. More research is needed to provide evidence for best practice. Until then, generic principles of best practice management of intimate partner abuse could apply, including enhancing women's motivation to effect change in an abusive situation.

Possible chemical causes of skeletal deformities in grey heron nestlings ( Ardea cinerea) in North Nottinghamshire, UK

Dead and deformed grey heron ( Ardea cinerea) chicks were reported at a large heronry in North Nottinghamshire, UK between 1996 (when systematic visits to the heronry started) and 2002. Many of the birds died for no obvious reason but deformities in others included multiple fractures of the tarsus and tibia and metacarpal bones (angel wings). This study aimed to investigate possible chemical causes of these deformities. Analysis of eggs and nestling tissue for a range of metals showed no levels of concern and no significant differences between unaffected and deformed birds. However, the levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo- p-dioxins (PCDDs) and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) detected in affected heron nestlings in 2002 and in eggs taken from nests in 2003 were sufficiently high to suggest that this may be the underlying cause of the deformities, possibly due to effects on deposition of calcium in bone. Further work is underway to identify where the parent birds of the affected nestlings are feeding and identify the possible source of the pollution.