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A GIS project is an effective means of linking learning "about" GIS and learning "with" GIS, and it can enhance students' employability. However, individual project work creates challenges that could result in failed assessment. Here we adopt a mixed-methods approach to examine how students of mixed abilities cope with GIS problems and to reveal the variety of support mechanisms they adopt. We also highlight the moral dilemmas of achieving academic success independently. We conclude that more research needs to be conducted into the way staff promote the graduate attribute of independence while still supporting their students.

Geographical information systems (GIS) are in tune with the current ethos of higher education because of their perceived vocational value. However, it is particularly difficult to teach GIS vocationally. This paper critiques the claim of vocationalism. The authors use an innovative method of evaluating a module that enlists its alumni to reflect on the career value of their GIS teaching. The survey was analysed to show how, to what extent and for which graduates GIS had been vocationally useful. The paper concludes that GIS is vocational but in variable and complex ways for different students.

Abstract Background Epidemiological research into the role of traffic pollution on chronic respiratory and allergic disease has focused primarily on children. Studies in adults, in particular those based on objective outcomes such as bronchial hyperresponsiveness, skin sensitisation, and lung function, are limited. Methods We have used an existing cohort of 2644 adults aged 18–70 living in Nottingham, UK, for whom baseline health and demographic data were collected in 1991 and computed two markers of exposure to traffic: distance between the home and nearest main road and modelled outdoor nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentration at the home location. Using multiple regression techniques, we analysed cross-sectional associations with bronchial hyperresponsiveness, FEV1, spirometry-defined COPD, skin test positivity, total IgE and questionnaire-reported wheeze, asthma, eczema and hayfever in 2599 subjects, and longitudinal associations with decline in FEV1 in 1329 subjects followed-up nine years later in 2000. Results There were no significant cross-sectional associations between home proximity to the roadside or NO2 level on any of the outcomes studied (adjusted OR of bronchial hyperresponsiveness in relation to living ≤150 m vs >150 m from a road = 0.92, 95% CI 0.68 to 1.24). Furthermore, neither exposure was associated with a significantly greater decline in FEV1 over time (adjusted mean difference in ΔFEV1 for living ≤150 m vs >150 m of a road = 10.03 ml, 95% CI, -33.98 to 54.04). Conclusion This study found no evidence to suggest that living in close proximity to traffic is a major determinant of asthma, allergic disease or COPD in adults.

Institutional structures of segregation typically entrench social inequality and sustain wider patterns of intergroup conflict and discrimination. However, initiatives to dismantle such structures may provoke resistance. Executive proposals to dismantle Northern Ireland's peace walls by 2023 provide a compelling case study of the nature of such resistance and may thus provide important clues about how it might be overcome. Drawing on a field survey conducted in north Belfast (n = 488), this research explored the role of physical proximity, realistic and symbolic threat, and past experiences of positive and negative cross‐community contact on Catholic and Protestant residents' support for removing the walls. Structural equation modelling suggested that both forms of contact and proximity were significantly related to such support and that these relationships were partially mediated by realistic threat. It also suggested that positive contact moderated the effects of proximity. That is, for residents who had more frequent positive interactions with members of the other community, proximity to a peace wall had a weaker relationship with resistance to their removal than residents who had less frequent contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intertidal bars are common in mesotidal/macrotidal low‐to‐moderate energy coastal environments and an understanding of their morphodynamics is important from the perspective of both coastal scientists and managers. However, previous studies have typically been limited by considering bar systems two‐dimensionally, or with very limited alongshore resolution. This article presents the first multi‐annual study of intertidal alongshore bars and troughs in a macrotidal environment using airborne LiDAR (light detection and ranging) data to extract three‐dimensional (3D) bar morphology at high resolution. Bar and trough positions are mapped along a 17.5 km stretch of coastline in the northwest of England on the eastern Irish Sea, using eight complete, and one partial, LiDAR surveys spanning 17 years. Typically, 3–4 bars are present, with significant obliquity identified in their orientation. This orientation mirrors the alignment of waves from the dominant south‐westerly direction of wave approach, undergoing refraction as they approach the shoreline. Bars also become narrower and steeper as they migrate onshore, in a pattern reminiscent of wave shoaling. This suggests that the configuration of the bars is being influenced by overlying wave activity. Net onshore migration is present for the entire coastline, though rates vary alongshore, and periods of offshore migration may occur locally, with greatest variability between northern and southern regions of the coastline. This work highlights the need to consider intertidal bar systems as 3D, particularly on coastlines with complex configurations and bathymetry, as localized studies of bar migration can overlook 3D behaviour. Furthermore, the wider potential of LiDAR data in enabling high‐resolution morphodynamic studies is clear, both within the coastal domain and beyond. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While an exploration of mobility patterns in 'post-conflict' societies has much to tell us about how division is produced through ordinary activities, less work has considered the practical application of a mobilities 'lens' during fieldwork in such contexts. Negotiating the ground in highly polarized contexts presents a unique array of challenges, but also offers opportunities to make use of mobile methodologies. This paper discusses the advantages of GPS-based technologies and walking interviews to a recent activity-space segregation study in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and reflects on methodological issues posed by the 'post-conflict' field site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the methods used in a project which set out to capture the movements and to consider the wellbeing of 30 teenagers on their journeys to and from school. A mobile phone linked to a GPS receiver was used to automatically log travel patterns whilst the respondents added 'blog' images and text about how they felt on the journey. Follow up interviews further explored the data. The paper shows that by using a range of methods the young people became involved in the project in different ways providing a rich picture of contingent and complex school journeys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns over the potential negative health effects from exposure to air pollution have led to interest in assessing personal exposure and finding ways to reduce it. As journey-time exposure accounts for a disproportionately high amount of an individual's total exposure, this article assesses the potential to apply least-cost techniques within a GIS in order to identify paths of lower journey-time exposure. The methodology adopted uses pollution surfaces for PM10 and CO generated by the dispersion model ADMS, with an analysis mask derived from OS MasterMap to create a least-cost surface. Actual routes taken by a cohort of 11–13 year old children on their journeys to school are used to compare observed journey time exposure with the exposure along alternative routes generated using the least-cost path function. While the least-cost approach proved to be successful in defining low exposure routes the ability to scale up this approach is constrained by the amount of editing required to successfully create an analysis mask from OS MasterMap data. Such alternative routes have the potential to assist in promoting safer environmental choices, however, their likelihood of adoption is dependant on a number of social and environmental influences which affect an individual's route choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 4/5 December 2015 a slow moving frontal system associated with the extratropical cyclone Storm Desmond brought record-breaking levels of rainfall to Lancaster. Both high ground and low-lying areas were already saturated following the wettest November on record, and on the evening of 5 December the River Lune flooded into the city. Critical road and rail transport networks ground to a halt, and the city and the surrounding areas were left without mains power for 2 days after a key substation flooded, consequently leaving the majority of communication services inoperable. Was this a 'Perfect Storm', or a glimpse of what the future may hold for our cities as they face more frequent extreme weather events, set against the backdrop of urban population growth, and increasingly interdependent critical urban infrastructure systems? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Critical loads models for acidity underpin international negotiations for the reduction of acid deposition through emissions controls. InGreat Britain and Scandinavia, critical loads for freshwater ecosystems are calculated with the First-order Acidity Balance (FAB) model, which can provide a catchment based estimate of deposition reduction requirements of sulphur and nitrogen species in order to protect any aquatic target organism for which a critical chemical threshold is defined. The FAB model is applied to a national freshwaters database for Great Britain using three deposition scenarios generated with the Hull Acid Rain Model (HARM). Critical load exceedance and changes in three important chemical indicators (non-marine sulphate, nitrate and acid neutralising capacity) are assessed for 1990 baseline depositionlevels, planned emissions reductions under existing international commitments (REF scenario), and a potential stringent emission reduction scenario under a multi-pollutant, multi-effect strategy (E10 scenario). Model outputs indicate that the number of sampled sites exceeding their critical load would be reduced by 60% and 73% respectively under the two future deposition scenarios. There is a clear need for a strategy to reduce both S and N deposition from 1990 levels if British freshwaters in sensitive areas are to be protected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although intergroup contact can reduce prejudice, opportunities to experience such contact are often constrained by systems of segregation. Work on this problem has focused on divisions entrenched within institutions of residence, education, and employment. Our research employed a complementary approach, which treated segregation as the outcome of individuals' movements over time within everyday life spaces. Taking as a case study Catholics' and Protestants' use of public environments in north Belfast, we used GPS tracking technology, combined with GIS analytics, to explore the time geography of residents' activity space use over a 2-week period (Study 1). We also conducted a field survey to explore how psychological factors shaped their willingness to use activity spaces beyond their own communities (Study 2). Analysis based on around 1,000 hr of raw movement data revealed that north Belfast is marked by high levels of segregation, expressed via residents' limited use of public spaces, facilities, and pathways located in outgroup areas. However, use of shared spaces is also common, with Catholics spending more time in such spaces than Protestants. Structural equation modeling suggested that residents' self-reported willingness to use activity spaces outside their own communities was associated with both negative and positive intergroup contact—relationships partially mediated by realistic threat, symbolic threat, and anxiety over interaction across sectarian lines. Both kinds of contact and realistic threat were also associated with the time residents actually spent in spaces beyond their own communities. Opportunities for integrating psychological and geographic research on contact and segregation are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Epidemiological research into the role of traffic pollution on chronic respiratory and allergic disease has focused primarily on children. Studies in adults, in particular those based on objective outcomes such as bronchial hyperresponsiveness, skin sensitisation, and lung function, are limited., Methods: We have used an existing cohort of 2644 adults aged 18-70 living in Nottingham, UK, for whom baseline health and demographic data were collected in 1991 and computed two markers of exposure to traffic: distance between the home and nearest main road and modelled outdoor nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentration at the home location. Using multiple regression techniques, we analysed cross-sectional associations with bronchial hyperresponsiveness, FEV1, spirometry-defined COPD, skin test positivity, total IgE and questionnaire-reported wheeze, asthma, eczema and hayfever in 2599 subjects, and longitudinal associations with decline in FEV1 in 1329 subjects followed-up nine years later in 2000., Results: There were no significant cross-sectional associations between home proximity to the roadside or NO2 level on any of the outcomes studied (adjusted OR of bronchial hyperresponsiveness in relation to living < or =150 m vs >150 m from a road = 0.92, 95% CI 0.68 to 1.24). Furthermore, neither exposure was associated with a significantly greater decline in FEV1 over time (adjusted mean difference in DeltaFEV1 for living < or =150 m vs >150 m of a road = 10.03 ml, 95% CI, -33.98 to 54.04)., Conclusion: This study found no evidence to suggest that living in close proximity to traffic is a major determinant of asthma, allergic disease or COPD in adults.