This paper explores the dynamics between poverty and exclusion; neighbourhood, and health and well being by considering the role of social networks and social capital in the social processes ...involved. It is based on qualitative research taking two deprived areas as exemplary case studies, and involving depth interviews with residents. Neighbourhood influences on networks and social capital were explored, network typologies developed reflecting structural and cultural aspects of individual's networks, and pathways implicated in health effects considered. The complexity of social capital is addressed. The role of three factors in influencing social networks and social capital are demonstrated: neighbourhood characteristics and perceptions; poverty and social exclusion, and social consciousness. Perceptions of inequality could be a source of social capital as well as demoralisation. Different network structures- dense and weak, homogeneous and heterogeneous- were involved in the creation of social capital and had implications for well being. Coping, enjoyment of life and hope are identified as benefits. Although participation in organisations was confirmed as beneficial, it is suggested that today's heterogeneous neighbourhoods also require regenerated local work opportunities to develop bridging ties necessary for the genesis of inclusive social capital and better health. Despite the capacity of social capital to buffer its harsher effects, the concept is not wholly adequate for explaining the deleterious effects of poverty on health and well being.
The aim of this study is to develop a framework by drawing on three broad perspectives on resilience, engineering, ecological and evolutionary, and to use this framework to critically examine the ...approach adopted by the draft London climate change adaptation strategy. The central argument of the study is that the Strategy's emergency planning-centred approach to climate adaptation veers between a standard ecological understanding of resilience and the more rigid engineering model. Its emphasis is on identifying 'exposure' and 'vulnerability' to risk from climate events and on bouncing back from the consequences of such exposures to a normal state, rather than on the dynamic process of transformation to a more desirable trajectory. The study concludes that fostering resilience involves planning for not only recovery from shocks but also cultivating preparedness, and seeking potential transformative opportunities which emerge from change.
Recent developments in the field of machine learning offer new ways of modelling complex sociospatial processes, allowing us to make predictions about how and where they might manifest in the future. ...Drawing on earlier empirical and theoretical attempts to understand gentrification and urban change, this paper shows it is possible to analyse existing patterns and processes of neighbourhood change to identify areas likely to experience change in the future. This is evidenced through an analysis of socio-economic transition in London neighbourhoods (based on 2001 and 2011 Census variables) which is used to predict those areas most likely to demonstrate ‘uplift’ or ‘decline’ by 2021. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of such modelling for the understanding of gentrification processes, noting that if qualitative work on gentrification and neighbourhood change is to offer more than a rigorous post-mortem then intensive, qualitative case studies must be confronted with – and complemented by – predictions stemming from other, more extensive approaches. As a demonstration of the capabilities of machine learning, this paper underlines the continuing value of quantitative approaches in understanding complex urban processes such as gentrification.
机器学习领域的最新发展为复杂的社会空间过程建模提供了新方法，使我们能够预测这些过程未来可能的走向。本文借鉴此前的经验和理论研究成果来理解绅士化和城市变化，并表明，我们有可能通过分析现有的社区变化模式和过程，确定未来很可能发生变化的领域。这可以通过对伦敦各社区的社会经济转变（基于2001年和2011年的人口普查变量）进行分析来证明，该分析用于预测到2021年最有可能发生“提升”或“下降”的区域。本文最后探讨的是这种模型对于理解绅士化过程的意义，并指出，如果绅士化和社区变化的定性研究工作要超越刻板的事后观察，那么深入的定性案例研究必须面对来自其他更广泛的方法的预测，并被后者补充。作为机器学习能力的证明，本文强调了定量方法在理解绅士化等复杂城市化过程方面的持续价值。
This unusual book about the History of just one of the magistrates' courts in England and Wales also looks at the rich underlying backdrop of a part of the country that is central to the English ...legal system. The connection between Middlesex, London and Westminster means that it is packed with facts about such well known interesting places and events as: Old Bailey, Newgate Prison, Coldbath Fields, Hicks's Hall, Ludgate Prison, the start of the Metropolitan Police, Tothill Fields, Tyburn, the Gordon Riots, Clerkenwell explosion and Middlesex Guildhall now scheduled as the home of the new UK Supreme Court ... to mention just a few such items.From former times to the present day: plus 100 years at the Uxbridge Courthouse. Justice ancient and modern, imprisonment, bridewells, 'houses of correction' and intriguing cases from the archives - the life and times of a part of Middlesex and the justices of the peace who gave up their time to public service.Contents include:Early Justice in an Ancient CountyThe Middlesex SessionsPrisons and BridewellsUxbridge Magistrates in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth CenturyThe Uxbridge Justices'A Suitable Home for Justice' Magistrates in a New Urban WorldMeeting the Demands of Increasing Business.
Arthroplasty skills need to be acquired safely during training, yet operative experience is increasingly hard to acquire by trainees. Virtual reality (VR) training using headsets and motion-tracked ...controllers can simulate complex open procedures in a fully immersive operating theatre. The present study aimed to determine if trainees trained using VR perform better than those using conventional preparation for performing total hip arthroplasty (THA).
A total of 24 surgical trainees (seven female, 17 male; mean age 29 years (28 to 31)) volunteered to participate in this observer-blinded 1:1 randomized controlled trial. They had no prior experience of anterior approach THA. Of these 24 trainees, 12 completed a six-week VR training programme in a simulation laboratory, while the other 12 received only conventional preparatory materials for learning THA. All trainees then performed a cadaveric THA, assessed independently by two hip surgeons. The primary outcome was technical and non-technical surgical performance measured by a THA-specific procedure-based assessment (PBA). Secondary outcomes were step completion measured by a task-specific checklist, error in acetabular component orientation, and procedure duration.
VR-trained surgeons performed at a higher level than controls, with a median PBA of Level 3a (procedure performed with minimal guidance or intervention)
Level 2a (guidance required for most/all of the procedure or part performed). VR-trained surgeons completed 33% more key steps than controls (mean 22 (sd 3)
12 (sd 3)), were 12° more accurate in component orientation (mean error 4° (sd 6°)
16° (sd 17°)), and were 18% faster (mean 42 minutes (sd 7)
51 minutes (sd 9)).
Procedural knowledge and psychomotor skills for THA learned in VR were transferred to cadaveric performance. Basic preparatory materials had limited value for trainees learning a new technique. VR training advanced trainees further up the learning curve, enabling highly precise component orientation and more efficient surgery. VR could augment traditional surgical training to improve how surgeons learn complex open procedures. Cite this article:
2019;101-B:1585-1592.
Inverse gas chromatography (IGC) has emerged as a highly sensitive, adaptable, and effective technology for material analysis. Through employing thermochemical approaches, IGC provides crucial ...insight into physicochemical information of materials such as dispersive surface free energy, Gibbs surface energy components and Guttamann Lewis acid-base parameters. In this comprehensive review, we delve into the historical background, instrumentation, and diverse applications of IGC. Researchers and practitioners will find valuable information on the selection and description of numerous models used in IGC experiments. The applications of IGC span various domains, including polymers, medicines, minerals, surfactants, and nanomaterials. Furthermore, IGC facilitates the measurement of important parameters such as sorption enthalpy and entropy, surface energy components (dispersive and specific), co/adhesion work, glass transition temperature, surface heterogeneity, miscibility, solubility parameters, and specific surface area. These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of material behavior and aid in the design and optimization of advanced materials. Moreover, the integration of computer vision and image processing techniques with IGC has enhanced our understanding of materials intricate surface texture, roughness, and related properties. This convergence of IGC with computer vision and artificial intelligence (AI) presents exciting opportunities for future exploration of chemical materials, opening new avenues for research and discovery. This paper not only provides a comprehensive overview of IGC, its techniques, and applications but also highlights the synergistic potential of combining IGC with AI and computer vision. The informative content and insights presented here will benefit researchers, scientists, and professionals in the field of advanced materials, enabling them to leverage IGC and AI for innovative materials discovery and development.
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•This review paper offers an extensive exploration of the historical background, instrumentation, and diverse applications of Inverse Gas Chromatography (IGC).•It provides valuable information for researchers and practitioners by presenting various models employed in IGC experiments.•The applications of IGC covered in this review span multiple domains like polymers, medicines, minerals, surfactants, and nanomaterials.•These insights contribute to a deeper understanding of material behavior and aid in the design and optimization of advanced materials.•A complete overview of IGC, its techniques, and applications but also the synergistic potential of combining IGC with AI and computer vision.
Bicycle sharing has grown rapidly since the 2000s, but there is a lack of thorough retrospective analysis performed from a long-term perspective. This paper takes London as its focus, aiming to ...evaluate the performance of the London cycle hire (LCH) scheme, draw general practical implications for bicycle sharing, and summarize future research directions. This paper reviews the empirical evidence that has appeared in academic literature, policy documents, and technical reports. Issues covered in this review include: (1) LCH users and demand patterns, (2) substitutability and complementarity with other travel modes, (3) public health impacts, (4) interventions that have affected the usage and demand patterns of LCH, and (5) the impacts of COVID-19. Overall, LCH has achieved its primary goals of promoting cycling and has also brought benefits to public health and urban transportation resilience, and yet some minor problems persist. Practical implications for the implementation, operation, and evaluation of bicycle sharing schemes are offered based on our collection of evidence.
To test the hypothesis that leisure activity participation is associated with lower dementia risk, we examined the association between participation in leisure activities and incident dementia in a ...large longitudinal study with average 18-year follow-up.
We used data from 8,280 participants of the Whitehall II prospective cohort study. A 13-item scale assessed leisure activity participation in 1997-1999, 2002-2004, and 2007-2009, and incidence of dementia (n cases = 360, mean age at diagnosis 76.2 years, incidence rate 2.4 per 1,000 person-years) was ascertained from 3 comprehensive national registers with follow-up until March 2017. Primary analyses were based on complete cases (n = 6,050, n cases = 247) and sensitivity analyses used multiple imputation for missing data.
Participation in leisure activities at mean age 55.8 (1997-1999 assessment), with 18.0-year follow-up, was not associated with dementia (hazard ratio HR 0.92 95% confidence interval 0.79-1.06), but those with higher participation at mean age 65.7 (2007-2009 assessment) were less likely to develop dementia with 8.3-year follow-up (HR 0.82 0.69-0.98). No specific type of leisure activity was consistently associated with dementia risk. Decline in participation between 1997-1999 and 2007-2009 was associated with subsequent dementia risk.
Our findings suggest that participation in leisure activities declines in the preclinical phase of dementia; there was no robust evidence for a protective association between leisure activity participation and dementia. Future research should investigate the sociobehavioral, cognitive, and neurobiological drivers of decline in leisure activity participation to determine potential approaches to improving social participation of those developing dementia.
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