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Geography is centrally concerned with difference and heterogeneity, yet much quantitative modelling has been concerned with finding average or general relationships thereby relegating variability to a single catchall 'error' term. Multilevel modelling, in contrast, anticipates complex between-individual and between-place heterogeneity. Previous accounts of the approach have stressed the modelling of higher level, between-place differences, but here the emphasis is placed on the simultaneous consideration of complex variation at all levels. A parade of models is presented each of which considers a particular facet of the model specification. Attention is drawn to the important contrasts between the modelling of categorical and continuous predictors. Illustrative results are provided for variations in British house prices, modelled with the ML n software. An appendix provides an example of the use of this software.

OBJECTIVE: To develop recommendations for office-based physicians who wish to make their offices accessible to all patients. OPTIONS: Include taking steps to make offices more accessible, or not; offices may be accessible to varying degrees. OUTCOMES: Outcomes of accessibility involve patient-care, economic, ethical and legal issues. Stakeholders in these outcomes include patients, physicians, government and society. EVIDENCE: Data were obtained from a series of searches of MEDLINE, CINAHL and Healthstar (previously Health) databases for articles on disability and family medicine, primary (health) care and family practice, and on access and offices, and health services accessibility, and from a telephone survey of 50 stakeholders. VALUES: A high value was placed on services to persons with disabilities and on stakeholder input. Universal accessibility was valued as an overall goal; improved accessibility was also highly valued. BENEFITS, HARMS AND COSTS: Benefits to patients include improved access to care as guaranteed by the Canada Health Act and in keeping with provincial Human Rights Codes. Benefits to physicians include contact with a broader patient population and freedom from fear of litigation. Costs of improved accessibility vary depending on individual circumstances and on whether an office is being built or renovated; some improvement costs are minimal. RECOMMENDATIONS: All physicians should take measures to improve practice accessibility. Improved access should be considered in each of the following areas: transportation and entrance to the facility, entrance to the office, waiting rooms, rest rooms, examination rooms, general building features and other features. VALIDATION: No similar guidelines exist. To assess the content validity of these guidelines, the authors had a draft document reviewed by 18 stakeholders. All specific recommendations met the minimum criterion of adherence to current legislation, including national and provincial building codes. The specific recommendations are endorsed by ...

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To describe the incidence and epidemiology of major incidents occurring in Britain over the past 28 years. METHODS: Major incidents were identified through a MEDLINE search, a hand search of journals and government reports at the Home Office Emergency Planning College, newspaper reports, a postal survey of ambulance emergency planning officers, and through requests for information posted on the internet. MAIN RESULTS: Brief incidents profiles from 108 British major incidents are presented. Most major incidents pass unreported in the medical literature. On average three to four major incidents occur in Britain each year (range 0-11). Sixty three of 108 (59.2%) of incidents involve public transportation. The next two largest groups are civil disturbance 22 of 108 (20.3%) and industrial accidents 16 of 108 (14.8%). Although incidents at sports stadiums are rare they produce large numbers of casualties. The data currently available on major incidents are difficult to find and of questionable accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of data makes planning for major incidents and exercising major incident plans difficult. Casualty incident profiles (CIPs) may assist major incidents exercises and planning. CIPs from future major incidents should be collated and made available to all major incident planners.

AbstractThe application of physicochemical treatment (PCT) to an overloaded sewage‐treatment works is described. Two methods were evaluated: (i) the 'Clariflow'system marketed by Energy and Waste Systems Ltd, and (ii) an 'in‐house'system of dosing chemicals into existing tanks. Both methods increased the efficiency of primary sedimentation, thereby reducing the organic load applied to biological filters and improving final effluent quality. Some indication of the cost‐benefit relationships was obtained.

Results from a long-term radio-tracking study of pteropodid fruit-bats are reported. Grey-headed fruit
bats (Pteropus poliocephalus) captured from seven colonies in eastern New South Wales, Australia, were
fitted with collar-mounted radio transmitters to permit their movements to be monitored over the
following year. The sheepskin-lined leather collars were well tolerated by the bats over periods of
6-18 months. Bats moved between major colony sites for distances of up to 750 km, with movements
occurring in both northerly and southerly directions. One bat from Lismore had a feeding range of
25 km, whereas in Sydney bats flew up to 17 km each night to feeding sites. There was considerable
interchange between bats in adjacent colonies.

Intersectionality is an increasingly popular concept across several social sciences but has received little explicit attention within British political science. This note introduces the concept, identifies some problems in its application to the study of voting behaviour, and illustrates its use by addressing the extent to which there was a 'youthquake' at the 2017 UK general election.

There has been considerable recent debate about the importance of local context as an influence on political attitudes and voting behaviour in Great Britain. Resolution of that debate has been difficult, because analytical methods have not been available with which to evaluate the relative importance of both individual voter characteristics and the characteristics of their milieux as independent correlates of attitudes and behaviour. The technique of multi-level modelling has been developed by educational researchers to do just that. It is introduced here and illustrated using data for the 1987 British general election. The preliminary results suggest that place clearly does matter as a component of the processes that influence voters' choices.

The future wellbeing of billions of rural people is interconnected with transforming food systems for equity, nutrition, environmental sustainability, and resilience. This article tackles three blind spots in the understanding of rural poverty and vulnerability: the narrow focus on extreme poverty and hunger that hides a much wider set of inequalities and vulnerabilities, insufficient recognition of the diversity of rural households, and an inadequate appreciation of the impact of rapid structural changes in markets, the physical environment, and the political economic context. A better understanding of these areas is necessary for imagining a new policy landscape that can align progress on rural poverty alleviation with a wider transformation of food systems. The article provides a framework for assessing the dynamics of rural wellbeing and food systems change. It looks at the viability of small-scale farming and the diversification of livelihood options needed to overcome rural poverty and inequality. The analysis suggests that the future prosperity of rural areas will depend on policy reforms to address market failures in the food system, which currently work against equity, good nutrition and sustainability. Investments will also be needed to enable rural economies to capture greater value from the food system, particularly in the midstream of food distribution, processing and services. The likely future scale and nature of rural poverty and inequality is such that improved social protection and humanitarian relief schemes that support those in crisis or being left behind will still be essential.