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Flood risk mapping allows for informed decision making regarding personal and community planning. Resistance to flood risk mapping can be driven by potential decline of property values. This paper explores resistance to flood risk mapping through the lens of climax thinking. Climax thinking is a novel theory guiding explorations of resistance to proposed land use changes. The aim of this study was to understand flood experiences, the presence of resistance to flood risk mapping, and whether climax thinking could help explain this resistance. To address this, surveys were administered to residents in the Nova Scotian towns of Liverpool and Bridgewater. We found that one third of respondents have experienced flooding, yet the majority have not seen a flood risk map, nor were they concerned about the potential impacts of flooding. Only one sixth of respondents exhibited resistance to flood risk mapping because of potential loss to property value. Dimensions of climax thinking were predictive of this resistance, specifically ignorance of an individual's own ability to adapt and inability to recognize the impact of their adaptation decisions on others, which together quadrupled the predictive power of the ordinal regression model. These insights can be applied to support the acceptance of flood risk mapping. Key messages: Surveyed residents of southwestern Nova Scotia exhibited limited resistance to publicly available flood risk mapping.Resistance to publicly available flood risk mapping was associated with perceived loss of property value within our surveyed population.Climax thinking identified drivers of resistance to publicly available flood risk mapping, specifically ignorance regarding ability to adapt and inability to recognize impacts of adaptation decisions on others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Chemoradiotherapy (CRT) is the standard treatment for locally advanced cervical and vaginal cancer. It is associated with high haematological toxicity (HT) that can lead to treatment interruptions and cancelled chemotherapy cycles, reducing the potential effectiveness of this regimen. Bone marrow sparing (BMS) utilising volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) is one method to reduce dose to the active bone marrow (ABM) so that HT rates are reduced. The aim of this paper was to assess whether BMS‐VMAT can effectively spare the ABM whilst maintaining clinically acceptable target and organ‐at‐risk (OAR) doses. Methods: Twenty gynaecological cancer patients treated with definitive CRT at the Liverpool/Macarthur Cancer Therapy centres between 2015 and 2020 were retrospectively included. ABM was delineated based on fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG‐PET) imaging. Weekly blood tests and ABM dose parameters at the V10Gy, V20Gy, V30Gy, V40Gy and Dmean were assessed on original plans for any potential correlation with grade 2+ HT. Replanned with VMAT for BMS, various dose parameters were compared with the original plan to assess for any significant differences. Results: Active bone marrow doses were significantly reduced (P < 0.001 for all parameters) in BMS‐VMAT plans, and significant improvements in target and OAR coverage were found compared with the original plans. Compared with VMAT only, target and OARs were comparable. No significant correlations between HT and ABM doses were found. Conclusion: Bone marrow sparing volumetric modulated arc therapy can significantly reduce dose to the active bone marrow whilst maintaining acceptable target and OAR doses. Future prospective trials are needed to evaluate the clinical impact of BMS on toxicity and compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1995, an almost complete human skeleton was found in Punta Cuevas, in the southern coast of Puerto Madryn, Chubut, Argentina. The burial traits and the associated objects suggested the skeleton might belong to Mrs. Catherine Roberts‐Davies, a middle‐aged woman who was the first dead person among the first group of 163 Welsh settlers that set sail on May 28, 1865, from Liverpool to Bahía Nueva, in Argentinian Patagonia. The aim of this paper is to present the interdisciplinary studies conducted between 1995 and 2016 in order to identify these remains and to explore the possible causes of death. The age at death of the skeleton was estimated between 25 and 40 years old and sexed as female. The analyses of mtDNA haplogroup resulted in K2a, which is highly frequent in European populations. An ascendant maternal genealogy of Mrs. Roberts‐Davies was reconstructed, based on documentary sources. After this genealogical research, a living descendant, who currently lives in Wales, was found. An mtDNA analysis of control region 16024‐576 was compared among samples taken from the unknown skeleton and the descendant. The results confirmed that the skeleton found in Punta Cuevas belongs to Mrs. Catherine Roberts‐Davies. With respect to the cause of death, according to two historical medical reports, Mrs. Roberts‐Davies died from "black fever" (i.e., visceral leishmaniasis) or scurvy. Skeletal evidence suggests that she could have suffered from scurvy as a consequence of the harsh conditions of living during the trip from Liverpool and the first days after the arrival to Patagonia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More research needs to evaluate links between community psychology and event impacts. Events are not just entertainment focused economic drivers, but gatherings contributing to society, community, and local cultural identity. There is also a need to address "green" philosophies, while visible and widespread, are not just environmentally focused, but also local community focused—concerning elements of social sustainability, belonging and sense of community. This makes the discussion of "green events" relevant to community psychology and local well‐being researchers. The aim of this study is to find other possibilities of how green events could contribute to local community well‐being by investigating how farmer markets unite people to understand how such events reinforce and shape a sense of community. This paper is based on participant observations and semistructured interviews to explore the conceptual notion of sense of community. Three emerged themes are presented: local participation, social atmosphere, and a sense of belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More research needs to evaluate links between community psychology and event impacts. Events are not just entertainment focused economic drivers, but gatherings contributing to society, community, and local cultural identity. There is also a need to address "green" philosophies, while visible and widespread, are not just environmentally focused, but also local community focused—concerning elements of social sustainability, belonging and sense of community. This makes the discussion of "green events" relevant to community psychology and local well‐being researchers. The aim of this study is to find other possibilities of how green events could contribute to local community well‐being by investigating how farmer markets unite people to understand how such events reinforce and shape a sense of community. This paper is based on participant observations and semistructured interviews to explore the conceptual notion of sense of community. Three emerged themes are presented: local participation, social atmosphere, and a sense of belonging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper engages with recent discussions about new requirements for the consideration of the 'impact' of research by the UK research councils, and in the forthcoming Research Excellence Framework ( REF). The paper argues that the need to consider impact should be critically welcomed, and, given that research is always subjectively evaluated, for academics to take a broad, rather than self-limiting conceptionalisation of what constitutes impact in their research funding bids and submissions to the REF. The paper argues that the emerging Knowledge Exchange ( KE) agenda provides a welcome mechanism for funding critically engaged research with real world partners on a participatory basis, and explores experiences of one such KE partnership, Low Carbon Liverpool, to discuss potentialities and problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes a project for Liverpool John Moores University PGCE Art and Design students in which they carried out practical research into comics and graphic novels as part of their preparation for teaching. The students were encouraged to investigate the history of the genre, its formal properties as well as its potential as a vehicle for social realism. The practical task was to prepare a single comic book page design, in the course of which they explored a range of possibilities from imaginative children's stories to serious issues such as illness and abuse. They took the opportunity to investigate the potential of this sequential medium to construct narratives using devices such as sequence, repetition and multiple perspectives as well as the juxtapositions of image and text. The paper contains examples of students' work where the investigations yielded interesting and innovative results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned to chart the establishment and uses of CCTV within the location of Liverpool city centre. In doing this the paper seeks to contextualize CCTV within contemporary 'partnership' approaches to regeneration which are reshaping the material and discursive form of the city. Thus CCTV schemes along with other security initiatives are understood as social ordering strategies emanating from within locally powerful networks which are seeking to define and enact orderly regeneration projects. In focusing on the normative aspects of CCTV, the paper raises questions concerning the efficacy of understanding contemporary forms of 'social ordering practices' primarily in terms of technical rationalities while neglecting other, more material and ideological processes involved in the construction of social order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent proposals to establish a ‘managed zone’ for female street sex workers in Liverpool are placed in this paper in historical and geographical context. Liverpool is shown to be an exemplar of a late Victorian municipal management of prostitution that was just as firmly committed to the containment and ‘localisation’ of sex work. This model is contrasted with alternative municipal strategies, and set within a national legislative agenda increasingly hostile to tolerance and regulation. The contours of this governmental regulation of commercial sexuality are explored in some detail here, but this historical geography is also offered as a way of informing contemporary concerns, cautioning as it does against averring either the novelty or the progressiveness of contemporary policies on the zoning of sex work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Celebration of Merdeka (Malaysian independence) in Liverpool in 2004 was bound up with the very kinds of essentialist conceptions and practices for which multiculturalism has received so much criticism. This resulted not only from official modes of framing cultural difference but also from the colonially-inflected plural society imaginings of Malaysian student sojourners in the city. Nonetheless, examination of two Merdeka events reveals that they also provided an opportunity for people with diverse ethno-cultural identities, geographical origins and extra-national connections to come together as a momentary ‘community’. The resultant intercultural moments suggest ways in which transnational histories and geographies can extend multiculturalism beyond national(ist) enframings. These possibilities are cast in the paper as a contribution to multiculturalism's regeneration (rather than just more academic critique of the concept and associated programmes) in the face of resurgent assimilationism in Britain and elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives In the present state of flux affecting UK medical undergraduate education, there is a pressing need for evaluative methods which will identify relevant outcomes both expected and unanticipated. The student perspective is now legitimately accepted to form part of any evaluative exercise but qualitative methods commonly used for this purpose are expensive in time and analytical skills. The nominal group technique (NGT) has been used for various purposes, including course evaluation, and appears well suited to this application. It combines qualitative and quantitative components in a structured interaction, which minimizes the influences of the researcher, and of group dynamics. The sequence and mechanics of the NGT process are described as applied to an end of first year evaluation in a novel undergraduate course. Doubts have been raised as to whether the results of NGT can be generalized to the larger group. In this paper, this problem is overcome by compiling a questionnaire based on the NGT items which was distributed throughout the class. Design Nominal group technique with questionnaire development. Setting The medical school at The University of Liverpool. Subjects Medical students. Results Previous claims made on behalf of the NGT, such as the focus on the student voice, the minimizing of leadership influence and the richness of the data, are upheld in this report. Broad agreement was found with the NGT items but two items (10%) did not display any consensus. Conclusions The questionnaire extension of the NGT provides back-up evidence of the reliability of the data derived from the technique and enables it to be applied to the larger groups typical of undergraduate medicine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the development of criteria for the production, marking and external examination of sketchbooks as research tools. The sketchbooks are developed in the Department of Education at Liverpool University in two settings: by students on a one- year Post Graduate Certificate of Education courses (PGCE), training to be primary teachers, and by practising primary teachers on Certificate of Advanced Studies in Education courses (CASE). In this setting the sketchbooks are weighted as the equivalent of a 5,000 word essay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]