The writing on the wall: the concealed communities of the East Yorkshire horselads

This paper examines the graffiti found within late nineteenth and early-twentieth century farm buildings in the Wolds of East Yorkshire. It suggests that the graffiti were created by a group of young men at the bottom of the social hierarchy - the horselads – and was one of the ways in which they constructed a distinctive sense of communal identity, at a particular stage in their lives. Whilst it tells us much about changing agricultural regimes and social structures, it also informs us about experiences and attitudes often hidden from official histories and biographies. In this way, the graffiti are argued to inform our understanding, not only of a concealed community, but also about their hidden histor

Spectroscopic evaluation of UVI–cement mineral interactions: ettringite and hydrotalcite

Portland cement based grouts used for radioactive waste immobilization contain high replacement levels of supplementary cementitious materials, including blast-furnace slag and fly ash. The minerals formed upon hydration of these cements may have capacity for binding actinide elements present in radioactive waste. In this work, the minerals ettringite (Ca6Al2(SO4)3(OH)12·26H2O) and hydro­talcite (Mg6Al2(OH)16CO3·4H2O) were selected to investigate the importance of minor cement hydrate phases in sequestering and immobilizing UVI from radioactive waste streams. U LIII-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was used to probe the UVI coordination environment in contact with these minerals. For the first time, solid-state 27Al magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS-NMR) spectroscopy was applied to probe the Al coordination environment in these UVI-contacted minerals and make inferences on the UVI coordination, in conjunction with the X-ray spectroscopy analyses. The U LIII-edge XAS analysis of the UVI-contacted ettringite phases found them to be similar (>∼70%) to the uranyl oxyhydroxides present in a mixed becquerelite/metaschoepite mineral. Fitting of the EXAFS region, in combination with 27Al NMR analysis, indicated that a disordered Ca- or Al-bearing UVI secondary phase also formed. For the UVI-contacted hydro­talcite phases, the XAS and 27Al NMR data were interpreted as being similar to uranyl carbonate, that was likely Mg-containing

Competing Ideas of Social Justice and Space: Locating Critiques of Housing Renewal in Theory and in Practice

This article considers the experience of the English government's policy of Housing Market Renewal from the perspective of spatial justice. The paper first proposes an analytical framework that situates competing notions of territorial social justice within a space of complex sociospatial relations. The dialectic of two formulations of social justice is first set up, comparing 'procedural' or deontological forms of justice and the distributional justice of outcomes. Soja's formulation of spatial justice is advanced as an appropriate balance between spatial and socio-historic contexts for the justice question. Drawing on the literature on sociospatial relations, concrete critiques and justifications of HMR are then positioned in terms of the intersection of structuring principles and policy fields. The role of demolition in urban restructuring programmes is used to explore the differential spatialities involved in different justicial perspectives. It is concluded that 'gentrification' critiques of HMR are only partial in their evaluation of justice and lack normative power. Some practical implications for the design of urban restructuring policies are offered

"Done more for me in a fortnight than anybody done in all me life." How welfare rights advice can help people with cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In the UK many people with cancer and their carers do not have easy access to the welfare benefits to which they are entitled adding further strain to the process of dealing with cancer. It is estimated that nine out of ten cancer patients' households experience loss of income as a direct result of cancer, which, due to its socio-economic patterning disproportionately affects those most likely to be financially disadvantaged. In the UK proactive welfare rights advice services accessed via health care settings significantly increase benefit entitlement among people with health problems and this paper reports on a qualitative study examining the impact of a welfare rights advice service specifically designed for people affected by cancer and their carers in County Durham, North East England (UK).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Twenty two men and women with cancer or caring for someone with cancer who were recipients of welfare rights advice aged between 35 and 83 were recruited from a variety of health care and community settings. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken and analysed using the Framework method.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Most of the participants experienced financial strain following their cancer diagnosis. Participants accessed the welfare rights service in a variety of ways, but mainly through referral by other professionals. The additional income generated by successful benefit claims was used in a number of ways and included offsetting additional costs associated with cancer and lessening the impact of loss of earnings. Overall, receiving welfare rights advice eased feelings of stress over financial issues at a time when participants were concerned about dealing with the impact of cancer. Lack of knowledge about benefit entitlements was the main barrier to accessing benefits, and this outweighed attitudinal factors such as stigma and concerns about benefit fraud.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Financial strain resulting from a cancer diagnosis is compounded in the UK by lack of easy access to information about benefit entitlements and assistance to claim. Proactive welfare rights advice services, working closely with health and social care professionals can assist with the practical demands that arise from dealing with the illness and should be considered an important part of a holistic approach to cancer treatment.</p

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

Locating the global financial crisis: variegated neoliberalization in four European cities

Locating the global financial crisis: variegated neoliberalization in four European cities. Territory, Politics, Governance. This paper looks at the variegated impact of the 2008 global financial crisis and the different ways in which local strategic actors imagined and responded to it through a comparative study of Barcelona, Brussels, Leeds and Turin. Drawing on cultural political economy, we see crisis moments as fertile territory for the analysis of variegation in urban neoliberalization processes as they can break path dependencies and open up alternatives. Inspired by the comparative turn in critical urban studies, our case studies are not offered as representative samples but as dense sites to explore the various interpretations and uses of the crisis, particularly at the elite level. This analysis suggests considerable variegation in how the crisis was both felt and interpreted locally across the four cities. The local elites did not regard this as a crisis of or in their own urban growth models, but as something external. However, as the global financial crisis morphed into national sovereign debt crises and austerity programmes, the experience in each city has been relatively similar. The paper concludes by emphasizing the continuity function of specific local actors through the processes of meaning-making in which they engage, something that existing work on variegated neoliberalization has so far overlooked

Cements and concretes materials characterisation using machine‐learning‐based reconstruction and 3D quantitative mineralogy via X‐ray microscopy

3D imaging via X‐ray microscopy (XRM), a form of tomography, is revolutionising materials characterisation. Nondestructive imaging to classify grains, particles, interfaces and pores at various scales is imperative for our understanding of the composition, structure, and failure of building materials. Various workflows now exist to maximise data collection and to push the boundaries of what has been achieved before, either from singular instruments, software or combinations through multimodal correlative microscopy. An evolving area on interest is the XRM data acquisition and data processing workflow; of particular importance is the improvement of the data acquisition process of samples that are challenging to image, usually because of their size, density (atomic number) and/or the resolution they need to be imaged at. Modern advances include deep/machine learning and AI resolutions for this problem, which address artefact detection during data reconstruction, provide advanced denoising, improved quantification of features, upscaling of data/images, and increased throughput, with the goal to enhance segmentation and visualisation during postprocessing leading to better characterisation of samples. Here, we apply three AI and machine‐learning‐based reconstruction approaches to cements and concretes to assist with image improvement, faster throughput of samples, upscaling of data, and quantitative phase identification in 3D. We show that by applying advanced machine learning reconstruction approaches, it is possible to (i) vastly improve the scan quality and increase throughput of ‘thick’ cores of cements/concretes through enhanced contrast and denoising using DeepRecon Pro, (ii) upscale data to larger fields of view using DeepScout and (iii) use quantitative automated mineralogy to spatially characterise and quantify the mineralogical/phase components in 3D using Mineralogic 3D. These approaches significantly improve the quality of collected XRM data, resolve features not previously accessible, and streamline scanning and reconstruction processes for greater throughput