Suchergebnisse

ABSTRACT:This article examines the development of the Nottingham Arboretum (1852), the centrepiece of one of the most ambitious schemes of urban enclosure and improvement in mid-Victorian Britain. It contends that the provision for parks and green spaces in the town was inspired by local naturalists and sanitary reformers as well as cultural emulation and civic rivalry with other urban centres such as Derby and Manchester. Analysis of the design and management of the Arboretum and green spaces and local controversies about funding and access reveal major local disagreements concerning uses of such spaces reflecting continued divisions in Victorian urban society beneath the public rhetorical and celebratory façade.

Just as nature fails to produce the 'perfect harvest' with predictable regularity, so does the quantity of medieval urban periodical publications vary. The crop of 2005 falls well behind the richer harvests of previous years, in quantity though not in quality of the published work. Two impressions of this work: first, there are fewer obvious 'themes' which seem to preoccupy the authors' minds; but, secondly, articles by German and Austrian scholars show a greater concern with the exposition and analysis of major urban themes than do those from the English-speaking world. One wonders why. Could it be that German-speaking urban historians are less hesitant to re-address the seemingly obvious? Two prime examples here are presented by the contributions of Ferdinand Opll and Benjamin Scheller.

Few – if any - would deny that cartography is one of the most essential disciplines within the multi-layered scope of urban history. Elizabeth Baigent pays tribute to the possibilities and problems posed by maps in her 'Fact or fiction? Town maps as aids and snares to the historian', Archives: The J. of the British Records Association, 29, 110 (2004), 24–37. By looking at a map of Gloucester, compiled in 1455, and two late medieval Bristol maps (one by Robert Ricart, the other by William Smith), she outlines their usefulness as well as the problems that the modern urban historian faces. Although medieval maps can clearly help to identify 'lost' streets, and to elucidate the town's social geography, it is essential to consider the purpose for which any individual map was drawn, the context in which it was published (and re-published) and not least the skills of the cartographer concerned. Cartography may be an essential tool for the urban historian, but there are many other tools and topics, and this year's medieval urban periodical literature again reflects the wide scope of the subject. This is especially true for the German language periodicals which tend to relate to traditionally powerful concepts rather than to recent departures. This trend largely reflects the nature of those periodicals concerned for they are almost entirely devoted to strictly local, or at most regional concerns. They are naturally home to brief essays on mainly local matters, particularly the commemoration of anniversaries of urban charters (e.g., Paul Wietzorek, 'Zum Titelbild: 100 Jahre Stadtwappen Zons – 1904–2004', Der Niederrhein. Die Zeitschrift des Vereins Niederrhein, 71, 1 (2004), 2–5; Paul Wietzorek, 'Zum Titelbild: 750 Jahre Stadtrechte Grieth 1254–2004', ibid., 71, 2 (2004), 54–5; Paul Wietzorek, 'Zum Titelbild: 650 Jahre Stadt Dahlen (Rheindalen) 1354–2004', ibid., 71, 3 (2004), 114–15), overviews of town histories (e.g. Eberhard Lebender, 'Die Weizackerstadt Pyritz. Ein Gang durch die Geschichte – von der Bronzezeit bis zur Zerstörung 1945', Pommern. Zeitschrift für Kultur und Geschichte, 42, 2 (2004), 8–17) and recent archaeological excavations (e.g., Sven Spiong, 'Archäologische Ausgrabung an der Paderborner Stadtmauer', Die Warte, 65, 123 (2004), 23–6; Sven Spiong, 'Den Stiftsherren auf der Spur: Archäologische Ausgrabung nördlich der Busdorfkirche in Paderborn', ibid., 65, 124 (2004), 9–10). Anna Helena Schubert's 'Archäologische Untersuchungen im Bereich der "Untersten Stadtmühle" in Olpe', Heimatstimmen aus dem Kreis Olpe, 75, 3 (2004), 195–202, is another example of local archaeological case studies. Olpe received its urban charter in 1311; in the German context such an urban charter necessarily involved fortification. Schubert is concerned whether the 'lower mill' which was situated outside the first urban wall was erected at the same time or at a later date than this wall, yet has to admit that despite extensive archaeological excavation this question has to remain – at least for the time – unanswered. English articles on local excavations are too numerous to be dealt with adequately in this short review. Two examples may suffice: Robert Cowie's 'The evidence from royal sites in Middle Anglo-Saxon London', Medieval Archaeology, 48 (2004), 201–8, looks at the evidence for palaces c. 650 – c. 850 that emerged from recent archaeological investigations in the Cripplegate area of the City and at the Treasury in Whitehall. Mary Alexander, Natasha Dodnell and Christopher Evans have published 'A Roman cemetery in Jesus Lane, Cambridge', Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society, 93 (2004), 67–94. 32 corpses were unearthed (three of them decapitated), and modest grave goods were found. This cemetery seems to have served a suburban settlement within the lower Roman town. Pottery assemblage indicates industrial activity. The excavation added significantly to our knowledge of the layout and scale of Roman Cambridge. Cambridge clearly remained a significant centre during the fourth century and sustained an economic and commercial role.

Most studies of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among health care workers (HCWs) have been descriptive, few have tested models to predict hesitancy, and none have examined the possible relationship between HCWs' distress and vaccine hesitancy. This study examined predictors of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, including HCWs' distress after taking into account HCW sex, doctoral-level status, race, age, and exposure to COVID-19. Further, it examined specific reasons HCWs endorsed for their hesitancy. 266 HCWs in the United States (U.S.). completed an online survey administered in January 2021, following the availability of the vaccine for HCWs in the U.S. The survey assessed demographics, depression, anxiety, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, and reasons for hesitancy. A comprehensive linear regression model explained 72.2% of the variance in COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. HCWs were more hesitant if they did not know someone personally who had tested positive. Distress had no effect. The reasons most predicting vaccine hesitancy included safety, potential side effects, believing the risks from COVID-19 were lower than from the vaccine, not feeling at risk for getting COVID-19, and current pregnancy. Rather than rely on providing information about the COVID-19 vaccines to HCWs, strategies that address their concerns are required to promote vaccine acceptance. Contemporary issues of political polarization, misinformation and mistrust are likely to contribute to the concerns HCWs have about the COVID-19 vaccines.

The most striking feature of this year's publications is the large number of articles about the economic, financial and business history of medieval towns. 'What was the Hanse?' (Was war die Hanse?) sounds like the sort of question that might be asked in an undergraduate examination, designed to elicit a wide range of responses, from the purely descriptive to the more analytical. The question has, in fact, generated a substantial, if rather problematic, historiography, as two studies of the Hanse make clear. The tendency to define the Hanse as a 'state' or to see it as endowed with 'state-like' qualities does not do justice to the complexity of a more loosely framed and highly adaptable commercial and urban network.

ABSTRACTThe zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha, is a major biofouling pest of water treatment works, irrigation systems and power stations in Europe and North America. This paper documents current problems associated with zebra mussels in English waterworks. Questionnaires and manual surveys conducted between 2001 and 2003 have revealed that over 30 water treatment works in England suffer problems associated with zebra mussels. Hundreds of tonnes of mussels are being removed each year from raw water intakes, pipelines and reservoirs. Problems have increased in. the last five years, due to a spread in the range of zebra mussels around England and the cessation of chemical treatment at the intakes of many treatment facilities during the 1990s. The importance of taking control of zebra mussels into account in planning new water supply schemes is highlighted.

Background Despite earlier doubts, a string of recent successes indicates that if sample sizes are large enough, it is possible—both in theory and in practice—to identify and replicate genetic associations with common complex diseases. But human genome epidemiology is expensive and, from a strategic perspective, it is still unclear what 'large enough' really means. This question has critical implications for governments, funding agencies, bioscientists and the tax-paying public. Difficult strategic decisions with imposing price tags and important opportunity costs must be taken.

Background: Environmental tobacco smoke has an adverse association with preterm birth and birth weight. England introduced a new law to make virtually all enclosed public places and workplaces smoke free on July 1, 2007. We investigated the effect of smoke-free legislation on birth outcomes in England using Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) maternity data. Methods: We used regression discontinuity, a quasi-experimental study design, which can facilitate valid causal inference, to analyze short-term effects of smoke-free legislation on birth weight, low birth weight, gestational age, preterm birth, and small for gestational age. Results: We analyzed 1,800,906 pregnancies resulting in singleton live-births in England between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2009. In the 1 to 5 months following the introduction of the smoke-free legislation, for those entering their third trimester, the risk of low birth weight decreased by between 8% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 4%, 12%) and 14% (95% CI: 5%, 23%), very low birth weight between 28% (95% CI: 19%, 36%) and 32% (95% CI: 21%, 41%), preterm birth between 4% (95% CI: 1%, 8%) and 9% (95% CI: 2%, 16%), and small for gestational age between 5% (95% CI: 2%, 8%) and 9% (95% CI: 2%, 15%). The estimated impact of the smoke-free legislation varied by maternal age, deprivation, ethnicity, and region. Conclusions: The introduction of smoke-free legislation in England had an immediate estimated beneficial impact on birth outcomes overall, although we did not observe improvements across all age, ethnic, or deprivation groups. See video abstract at http://links.lww.com/EDE/B85.