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The storm sequence of the 2013–14 winter left many beaches along the Atlantic coast of Europe in their most eroded state for decades. Understanding how beaches recover from such extreme events is essential for coastal managers, especially in light of potential regional increases in storminess due to climate change. Here we analyse a unique dataset of decadal beach morphological changes along the west coast of Europe to investigate the post‐2013–14 winter recovery. We show that the recovery signature is site specific and multi‐annual, with one studied beach fully recovered after 2 years, and the others only partially recovered after 4 years. During the recovery phase, winter waves primarily control the timescales of beach recovery, as energetic winter conditions stall the recovery process whereas moderate winter conditions accelerate it. This inter‐annual variability is well correlated with climate indices. On exposed beaches, an equilibrium model showed significant skill in reproducing the post‐storm recovery and thus can be used to investigate the recovery process in more detail. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Beach recovery to a high energy winter is multi‐annual. It is not the subsequent summer conditions, but the subsequent winter conditions that primarily control the timescale of beach recovery to an outstanding series of severe winter storms. Indeed winter wave conditions can stall or accelerate the recovery process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grain size and sorting represent two key parameters when characterizing sediments or modelling beach morphology and sediment transport. Traditionally, an average value for grain size or sorting is often assumed for the entire area, determined from only a few sediment samples, ignoring any spatial (or temporal) variability in sediment characteristics. This contribution uses a data set of physical surface sediment samples from 53 beach locations around the south-west peninsula of the United Kingdom, in addition to bi-monthly, high spatial resolution (mean 240 samples) digital grain-size surveys from a high-energy, oceanic, sandy beach (Perranporth, North Cornwall). Systematic spatial variations in grain size and sorting were consistently observed in the seaward direction across the intertidal zone of sandy beaches, with grain-sizes coarsening and sorting improving by up to 51·7% and 64·3%, respectively. This variability was deterministically related to the time-averaged, antecedent-adjusted energy dissipated by breaking waves, with the observed maximum grain-size and sorting values correlating with the location of peak wave energy dissipation ( r2 = 0·998, P < 0·01). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The southwest coast of England was subjected to an unusually energetic sequence of Atlantic storms during the 2013/2014 winter, with the 8-week period from mid-December to mid-February representing the most energetic period since at least 1953. A regional analysis of the hydrodynamic forcing and morphological response of these storms along the SW coast of England highlighted the importance of both storm- and site-specific conditions. The key factor that controls the Atlantic storm wave conditions along the south coast of southwest England is the storm track. Energetic inshore wave conditions along this coast require a relatively southward storm track which enables offshore waves to propagate up the English Channel relatively unimpeded. The timing of the storm in relation to the tidal stage is also important, and coastal impacts along the macro-tidal southwest coast of England are maximised when the peak storm waves coincide with spring high tide. The role of storm surge is limited and rarely exceeds 1 m. The geomorphic storm response along the southwest coast of England displayed considerable spatial variability; this is mainly attributed to the embayed nature of the coastline and the associated variability in coastal orientation. On west-facing beaches typical of the north coast, the westerly Atlantic storm waves approached the coastline shore-parallel, and the prevailing storm response was offshore sediment transport. Many of these north coast beaches experienced extensive beach and dune erosion, and some of the beaches were completely stripped of sediment, exposing a rocky shore platform. On the south coast, the westerly Atlantic storm waves refract and diffract to become southerly inshore storm waves and for the southeast-facing beaches this results in large incident wave angles and strong eastward littoral drift. Many south coast beaches exhibited rotation, with the western part of the beaches eroding and the eastern part accreting. © 2015 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A reading of critical perspectives on neoliberalism would suggest that it is dead but dominant, a revanchist zombie that appears paradoxically ubiquitous despite its inherent idiosyncrasy. We argue that neoliberalism's paradoxical death, dominance, and retrenchment can be interpreted by analyzing the dialectic of universalizing processes and particular forms within capitalism. Neoliberal projects draw political import from systemic, universalizing tendencies in capitalism, particularly those ideological processes by which contradictions and crises come to be discursively, institutionally, and politically conceptualized within the same paradigm from which they emerged. Building on well developed research frameworks in neoliberalism studies, we propose a set of analytical tools to interpret links between particular projects and homogenizing practices. We illustrate this with a case study of urban 'megaevents' (eg Olympic Games or football World Cup), demonstrating how ideological commitments to event-based development strategies allow both the homogenizing imposition of entrepreneurial urban policy, and localized innovations in urban governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Objective: To evaluate knowledge transfer and perceptions using a structured handover process for the postoperative pediatric cardiac patient being admitted to intensive care. The hypothesis being that knowledge transfer could be optimized by the implementation of this handover structure. Aim: To investigate the effects of the implementation of a structured handover in the intensive care unit, including preadmission cardiac reports and operating room information. Background: Patient handover following pediatric cardiac surgery involves a multidisciplinary team and a potentially unstable patient, which may create multiple cognitive demands for the treating team. This may lead to an increased risk of information error with potentially significant sequelae for the patient. Methods: A prospective interventional study in a tertiary pediatric hospital providing both general and cardiac intensive care in the United Kingdom was undertaken in the postoperative cardiac group. Twenty-one preintervention and 22 postintervention handovers were observed by a trained independent observer. Three phases of the handover, prepatient readiness, prehandover readiness, and information conveyed, were assessed as well as attentiveness, organization of the team, and flow of information during the handover. The duration and number of interruptions were also recorded. Staff perceptions of the handover were also assessed. Results: All three phases of the handover were significantly improved with the handover intervention. The observer scores were also significantly improved as were the perceptions of the staff following the implementation of the handover tool. There was no significant increase in the duration of the handover. Conclusions: Communication between the operating room and intensive care staff, regarding postoperative pediatric cardiac patients, significantly improved with the implementation of a structured handover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers the author's insights on the process new-build gentrification, which was used to develop the city centre in London, England. The authors note that gentrification as distinguished from redevelopment, does not concern quixotic oddity in the housing market rather the primary residential edge of a broader endeavor such as the class remake of central urban landscape. The authors say that it ranges from housing renewal projects to a mass of place-based indirect displacement process.

The relationship between gentrification and globalisation has recently become a significant concern for gentrification scholars. This has involved developing an understanding of how gentrification has become a place-based strategy of class (re)formation during an era in which globalisation has changed sociological structures and challenged previously established indicators of social distinction. This paper offers an alternative reading of the relationship between gentrification and globalisation through examining the results of a mixed method research project which looked at new-build gentrification along the River Thames, London, UK. This research finds gentrification not to be distinguished by the gentrifer-performed practice of habitus within a ‘global context’. Rather, the responsibility for gentrification, and the relationship between globalisation and gentrification, is found to originate with capital actors working within the context of a neoliberal global city. In order to critically conceptualise this form of gentrification, and understand the role of globalisation within the process, the urban theory of Lefebvre is drawn upon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has focused on the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor system as a major site of ethanol action in the brain and specifically on compensatory changes in the expression of the polyamine-sensitive NR2B subunit. Therefore, we examined the effects of chronic ethanol treatment on polyamine homeostasis in the rat brain. Wistar rats were made dependent by ethanol vapor inhalation. This caused a rise in hippocampal omithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity that was correlated with the appearance of physiological dependence. ODC activity returned to control levels within 3 days of ethanol withdrawal. Enzyme activity also increased in the cerebral cortex, striatum, and cerebellum of the ethanol-dependent rats. The concentration of the polyamines (putrescine, spermidine, and spermine) in the hippocampus was increased in ethanol-dependent rats. Injection of the ODC inhibitor, α-difluoromethylomithine (500 mg/kg) at the onset of withdrawal resulted in a significant reduction in the severity of withdrawal behaviors. The level of ODC activity and the severity of withdrawal behaviors were positively correlated. Perturbed polyamine homeostasis may represent an important molecular component in the initiation of ethanol withdrawal behaviors in the ethanol-dependent rat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

British Standards specify a very small number of screw sizes as being acceptable for use in spectacle frames. We have measured the screw sizes of 50 frames, selected at random from the stock at Glasgow Caledonian University Clinic and have shown that very few of the screws used conform to these standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reflects on current developments in contemporary urban geography. Reference to the book '2002 Cities: reimaging the urban' by A. Amin and N. Thrift; Need for urban geographers to embrace the plurality, dynamism and provocative nature of the discipline; Uniqueness of every city.