Search

Background: The use of behavioural science and behaviour change within local authorities and public health has supported healthful change; evidenced by its importance and contribution to reducing harm during the COVID-19 pandemic. It can provide valuable information to enable the creation of evidence-based intervention strategies, co-created with the people they are aimed at, in an effective and efficient manner. Aim: To understand the Capability, Opportunity and Motivation of performing a constellation of eight COVID-19 disease prevention behaviours related to the slogans of ‘Hands, Face, Space, Fresh Air’; ‘Find, Isolate, Test, (FIT), and Vaccinate’ in workplaces identified as high risk for transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) to support intervention development. Method: This qualitative study recruited twenty-three participants (16 female, 7 male), who were interviewed from three environments (schools, care homes, warehouses) across three local authorities. Semi-structured interviews were analysed using thematic analysis. Findings: Ten core themes were identified inductively; 1) Knowledge and skills, 2) Regulating the behaviour, 3) Willingness to act, 4) Necessity and concerns, 5) Emotional impact, 6) Conducive environment, 7) Societal influence, 8) No longer united against COVID-19, 9) Credible leadership, and 10) Inconsistent adherence to COVID-19 prevention behaviours. Themes were then deductively mapped to the COM-B model of behaviour change (Michie et al., 2011; 2014) and the Theoretical Domains Framework (Cane et al., 2012) and a logic model using the Behaviour Change Wheel (Michie et al., 2011; 2014) was produced to inform intervention design. Conclusion: This study offers a novel approach to analysis that has included eight behaviours within a single thematic analysis and COM-B diagnosis. This will enable local authorities to direct limited resources to overarching priorities. Of key importance, was the need for supportive and credible leadership, alongside developing interventions collaboratively with the target audience. COVID-19 has had an emotional toll on those interviewed, however, promoting the value of disease prevention behaviours, over and above their costs, can facilitate behaviour. Developing knowledge and skills, through education, training, marketing and modelling can further facilitate behaviour. This supports guidance produced by the British Psychological Society COVID-19 Behavioural Science and Disease Prevention Taskforce.

This guidance offers recommendations for interventions that can be used to encourage and enable physical distancing. The target behaviour for this guidance document is physical distancing, defined as staying 1–2 metres (depending on national guidance)apart from people in the same location. We are using the term ‘physical distancing’ as opposed to ‘social distancing’, in line with the World Health Organization and our earlier guidance.Physical distancing is important when viruses are airborne, such as the virus that causes Covid-19. Remaining at a physical distance from others reduces the risk of aerosols and droplets entering the eyes, nose or mouth and therefore reduces the risk of spreading infection, particularly with physical distancing of 1 metre or more3. Many governments and health agencies have recommended people adhere to a physical distance of between1 metre4 to 2 metres5 from people who are not in their household or ‘bubble’. In general, people typically stand a little less than 1 metre away from familiar people and 1.3 metre away from others6. Whilst many people have started to physically distance, standing metres away requires breaking strong habits. Even where regulations do not require physical distancing, people might still be encouraged to distance where possible, in regions where transmission rates are rising or high. This guidance is based on a systematic review of the evidence for interventions to encourage physical distancing and summarises the approaches that are effective in helping people to maintain physical distance from others. This included six papers, reporting 14 interventions with over 5500 people. There may be other approaches that could be effective but at present there is no evidence for or against them. It is important to note that some of the evidence reports influences on intention to distance physically rather than the action of physical distancing itself.

Around fifteen thousand fieldworkers annually count breeding birds using standardized protocols in 28 European countries. The observations are collected by using country-specific and standardized protocols, validated, summarized and finally used for the production of continent-wide annual and long-term indices of population size changes of 170 species. Here, we present the database and provide a detailed summary of the methodology used for fieldwork and calculation of the relative population size change estimates. We also provide a brief overview of how the data are used in research, conservation and policy. We believe this unique database, based on decades of bird monitoring alongside the comprehensive summary of its methodology, will facilitate and encourage further use of the Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme results. The Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring Scheme database is organised into five datasets: (1) European species indices, (2) European species trends, (3) European species trends for three short periods, (4) a list of details on the national monitoring schemes and (5) a matrix of countries providing data for population size estimates of individual species. Moreover, national-level species indices and uncertainty estimates are also available in the PECBMS database. Due to specific privacy ownership rights, the most recent (2016-2017) data from Spain (10.5281/zenodo.4590140) and Cyprus (10.5281/zenodo.4590189) are under Restricted Access and researchers interested in these most recent updates are required to provide a brief description of the data use. The Austrian and Portuguese datasets are publicly available but researchers using these datasets are kindly requested to notify the national scheme coordinators of their use. A list of regularly updated contacts to all national scheme coordinators is provided at the PECBMSwebsite (https://pecbms.info/country/). We aim to maintain the PECBMS database with annual updates. The annual updates will be available through the PECBMS database deposited at this Zenodo repository to ensure long-term public availability of the data. Updates on data acquisiton and data processing in the dataset released in 2021 are available from:https://pecbms.info/what-is-new-in-2021-data-update/ Updates on data acquisiton and data processing in the dataset released in 2022 are available from:https://pecbms.info/what-is-new-in-2022-data-update/ &nbsp

The greatest loss of biodiversity in the EU has occurred on agricultural land. The Common Starling (Sturnus vulgaris) is one of the many numerous and widespread European farmland breeding bird species showing major population declines linked to European agricultural intensification. Here we present results based on monitoring data collected since 1975 in 24 countries to examine the influence of changing extent of grassland and cattle abundance (based on results of earlier studies showing the importance of lowland cattle grazed grassland for the species), wintering provenance and temperature on nationalbreeding population trends of Starlings across Europe. Positive Starling population trends in Central-East Europe contrast with negative trends in North and West Europe. Based on this indicative approach, we found some support for the importance of cattle stock and no support for grassland, temperature or wintering provenance to explain Starling population trends in Europe. However, we acknowledge such a European-wide analysis may conceal regional differences in responses and suggest that currently accessible national land use data might be insufficient to describe the detailed current changes in animalhusbandry and grassland management that may be responsible for changes in food availability and hence breeding Starling abundance and their differences across Europe. Reviewing results from local studies relating Starling population trends to local agricultural change offer contradictory results, suggesting complex interacting processes at work. We recommend combining national datasets on demography, land-use/agricultural practices and from autecological research to better explain the reasons for contrasting Starling trends across Europe, to enable us to predict how changing agriculture will affect Starlings and potentially suggest mitigation measures to restore local populations wherepossible.

Pressures to reduce urban traffic pollution in the UK have not yet resulted in new policies to provide attractive alternatives to the private car. With growing pressure on public sector investment funds, this article considers ways in which the private sector could work in partnership with the public sector to create new light rail systems.

Cities in Britain, the rest of Europe and especially North America are struggling to accommodate rising levels of private car ownership and usage. The consequences of this are: widespread congestion, personal danger from accidents, noise and air pollution. This article examines some of the trends which have led to that situation, the financial costs involved and the opportunities for improvement which investing in light rail systems might provide.

The finite element method is used to determine the response of a new lightweight rail track system (LR55) to various loading environments. To calculate the vertical displacement of the rail track system and the vertical pressure in the sub-base and sub-grade layers due to wheel loads and loads exerted by transversely passing vehicles across the track, the global stiffness matrix of the structure is determined. This is done by using one and two dimensional finite element programs. In the two dimensional finite element analysis, linear isoparametric elements with 4-node quadrilateral and 3-node triangular shapes in the discretised mesh of the whole structure are used, also non-homogeneous materials with isotropic of linear elastic behaviour are assumed for all the components forming the track system and surrounding media. The results of the one dimensional finite element program are compared with those predicted from analytical approach in order to validate the finite element program developed. From the various examples presented the LR55 proves to withstand the main-line railway loading and the vertical pressure distribution in the sub-base and sub-grade of the pavement are within the allowable limit.