Kingston University

Plant traits-the morphological, anatomical, physiological, biochemical and phenological characteristics of plants-determine how plants respond to environmental factors, affect other trophic levels, and influence ecosystem properties and their benefits and detriments to people. Plant trait data thus represent the basis for a vast area of research spanning from evolutionary biology, community and functional ecology, to biodiversity conservation, ecosystem and landscape management, restoration, biogeography and earth system modelling. Since its foundation in 2007, the TRY database of plant traits has grown continuously. It now provides unprecedented data coverage under an open access data policy and is the main plant trait database used by the research community worldwide. Increasingly, the TRY database also supports new frontiers of trait-based plant research, including the identification of data gaps and the subsequent mobilization or measurement of new data. To support this development, in this article we evaluate the extent of the trait data compiled in TRY and analyse emerging patterns of data coverage and representativeness. Best species coverage is achieved for categorical traits-almost complete coverage for 'plant growth form'. However, most traits relevant for ecology and vegetation modelling are characterized by continuous intraspecific variation and trait-environmental relationships. These traits have to be measured on individual plants in their respective environment. Despite unprecedented data coverage, we observe a humbling lack of completeness and representativeness of these continuous traits in many aspects. We, therefore, conclude that reducing data gaps and biases in the TRY database remains a key challenge and requires a coordinated approach to data mobilization and trait measurements. This can only be achieved in collaboration with other initiatives.

Environmental exposure to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) can have negative effects on the health of ecosystems and humans. While numerous studies have monitored APIs in rivers, these employ different analytical methods, measure different APIs, and have ignored many of the countries of the world. This makes it difficult to quantify the scale of the problem from a global perspective. Furthermore, comparison of the existing data, generated for different studies/regions/continents, is challenging due to the vast differences between the analytical methodologies employed. Here, we present a global-scale study of API pollution in 258 of the world's rivers, representing the environmental influence of 471.4 million people across 137 geographic regions. Samples were obtained from 1,052 locations in 104 countries (representing all continents and 36 countries not previously studied for API contamination) and analyzed for 61 APIs. Highest cumulative API concentrations were observed in sub-Saharan Africa, south Asia, and South America. The most contaminated sites were in low- to middle-income countries and were associated with areas with poor wastewater and waste management infrastructure and pharmaceutical manufacturing. The most frequently detected APIs were carbamazepine, metformin, and caffeine (a compound also arising from lifestyle use), which were detected at over half of the sites monitored. Concentrations of at least one API at 25.7% of the sampling sites were greater than concentrations considered safe for aquatic organisms, or which are of concern in terms of selection for antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, pharmaceutical pollution poses a global threat to environmental and human health, as well as to delivery of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

BACKGROUND: Poor interprofessional collaboration (IPC) can adversely affect the delivery of health services and patient care. Interventions that address IPC problems have the potential to improve professional practice and healthcare outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To assess the impact of practice-based interventions designed to improve interprofessional collaboration (IPC) amongst health and social care professionals, compared to usual care or to an alternative intervention, on at least one of the following primary outcomes: patient health outcomes, clinical process or efficiency outcomes or secondary outcomes (collaborative behaviour). SEARCH METHODS: We searched CENTRAL (2015, issue 11), MEDLINE, CINAHL, ClinicalTrials.gov and WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform to November 2015. We handsearched relevant interprofessional journals to November 2015, and reviewed the reference lists of the included studies. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomised trials of practice-based IPC interventions involving health and social care professionals compared to usual care or to an alternative intervention. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently assessed the eligibility of each potentially relevant study. We extracted data from the included studies and assessed the risk of bias of each study. We were unable to perform a meta-analysis of study outcomes, given the small number of included studies and their heterogeneity in clinical settings, interventions and outcomes. Consequently, we summarised the study data and presented the results in a narrative format to report study methods, outcomes, impact and certainty of the evidence. MAIN RESULTS: We included nine studies in total (6540 participants); six cluster-randomised trials and three individual randomised trials (1 study randomised clinicians, 1 randomised patients, and 1 randomised clinicians and patients). All studies were conducted in high-income countries (Australia, Belgium, Sweden, UK and USA) across primary, secondary, tertiary and community care settings and had a follow-up of up to 12 months. Eight studies compared an IPC intervention with usual care and evaluated the effects of different practice-based IPC interventions: externally facilitated interprofessional activities (e.g. team action planning; 4 studies), interprofessional rounds (2 studies), interprofessional meetings (1 study), and interprofessional checklists (1 study). One study compared one type of interprofessional meeting with another type of interprofessional meeting. We assessed four studies to be at high risk of attrition bias and an equal number of studies to be at high risk of detection bias.For studies comparing an IPC intervention with usual care, functional status in stroke patients may be slightly improved by externally facilitated interprofessional activities (1 study, 464 participants, low-certainty evidence). We are uncertain whether patient-assessed quality of care (1 study, 1185 participants), continuity of care (1 study, 464 participants) or collaborative working (4 studies, 1936 participants) are improved by externally facilitated interprofessional activities, as we graded the evidence as very low-certainty for these outcomes. Healthcare professionals' adherence to recommended practices may be slightly improved with externally facilitated interprofessional activities or interprofessional meetings (3 studies, 2576 participants, low certainty evidence). The use of healthcare resources may be slightly improved by externally facilitated interprofessional activities, interprofessional checklists and rounds (4 studies, 1679 participants, low-certainty evidence). None of the included studies reported on patient mortality, morbidity or complication rates.Compared to multidisciplinary audio conferencing, multidisciplinary video conferencing may reduce the average length of treatment and may reduce the number of multidisciplinary conferences needed per patient and the patient length of stay. There was little or no difference between these interventions in the number of communications between health professionals (1 study, 100 participants; low-certainty evidence). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Given that the certainty of evidence from the included studies was judged to be low to very low, there is not sufficient evidence to draw clear conclusions on the effects of IPC interventions. Neverthess, due to the difficulties health professionals encounter when collaborating in clinical practice, it is encouraging that research on the number of interventions to improve IPC has increased since this review was last updated. While this field is developing, further rigorous, mixed-method studies are required. Future studies should focus on longer acclimatisation periods before evaluating newly implemented IPC interventions, and use longer follow-up to generate a more informed understanding of the effects of IPC on clinical practice.

Examines the determinants that influence consumers’ intention to buy environmentally friendly products. Ajzen’s theory of planned behaviour (TPB) provides the conceptual framework of the research and the appropriateness of the theory and is tested in two distinct market conditions (UK and Greece). Although the findings offer considerable support for the robustness of the TPB in explaining intention in both samples, there is some indication that the theory is more appropriate in well established markets that are characterised by clearly formulated behavioural patterns (i.e. the model fitting elements of the UK sample are superior to the corresponding ones obtained from the Greek sample). The results are consistent with previous research on moral behaviour.

BACKGROUND: Interprofessional education (IPE) aims to bring together different professionals to learn with, from, and about one another in order to collaborate more effectively in the delivery of safe, high-quality care for patients/clients. Given its potential for improving collaboration and care delivery, there have been repeated calls for the wider-scale implementation of IPE across education and clinical settings. Increasingly, a range of IPE initiatives are being implemented and evaluated which are adding to the growth of evidence for this form of education. AIM: The overall aim of this review is to update a previous BEME review published in 2007. In doing so, this update sought to synthesize the evolving nature of the IPE evidence. METHODS: Medline, CINAHL, BEI, and ASSIA were searched from May 2005 to June 2014. Also, journal hand searches were undertaken. All potential abstracts and papers were screened by pairs of reviewers to determine inclusion. All included papers were assessed for methodological quality and those deemed as "high quality" were included. The presage-process-product (3P) model and a modified Kirkpatrick model were employed to analyze and synthesize the included studies. RESULTS: Twenty-five new IPE studies were included in this update. These studies were added to the 21 studies from the previous review to form a complete data set of 46 high-quality IPE studies. In relation to the 3P model, overall the updated review found that most of the presage and process factors identified from the previous review were further supported in the newer studies. In regard to the products (outcomes) reported, the results from this review continue to show far more positive than neutral or mixed outcomes reported in the included studies. Based on the modified Kirkpatrick model, the included studies suggest that learners respond well to IPE, their attitudes and perceptions of one another improve, and they report increases in collaborative knowledge and skills. There is more limited, but growing, evidence related to changes in behavior, organizational practice, and benefits to patients/clients. CONCLUSIONS: This updated review found that key context (presage) and process factors reported in the previous review continue to have resonance on the delivery of IPE. In addition, the newer studies have provided further evidence for the effects on IPE related to a number of different outcomes. Based on these conclusions, a series of key implications for the development of IPE are offered.

This paper presents a new supervised method for segmentation of blood vessels in retinal photographs. This method uses an ensemble system of bagged and boosted decision trees and utilizes a feature vector based on the orientation analysis of gradient vector field, morphological transformation, line strength measures, and Gabor filter responses. The feature vector encodes information to handle the healthy as well as the pathological retinal image. The method is evaluated on the publicly available DRIVE and STARE databases, frequently used for this purpose and also on a new public retinal vessel reference dataset CHASE_DB1 which is a subset of retinal images of multiethnic children from the Child Heart and Health Study in England (CHASE) dataset. The performance of the ensemble system is evaluated in detail and the incurred accuracy, speed, robustness, and simplicity make the algorithm a suitable tool for automated retinal image analysis.

Abstract The late Miocene Cordillera Blanca Batholith lies directly over thick (50 km) crust, inboard of the older Cretaceous Coastal Batholith. Its peraluminous ‘S’ type mineralogy and its position suggest recycling of continental crust, which is commonly thought to be an increasingly important component in magmas inboard of continental margins. However, the peraluminous, apparent ‘S’ type character of the batholith is an artefact of deformation and uplift along a major crustal lineament. The batholith is a metaluminous ‘I’ type and the dominant high-silica rocks (>70%) are Na rich with many of the characteristics of subducted oceanic slab melts. However, the position of the batholith and age of the oceanic crust at the trench during the Miocene preclude slab melting. Instead, partial melting of newly underplated Miocene crust is proposed. In this dynamic model newly underplated basaltic material is melted to produce high-Na, low HREE, high-Al ‘trondhjemitic’ type melts with residues of garnet, clinopyroxene and amphibole. Such Na-rich magmas are characteristic of thick Andean crust; they are significantly different from typical cole-alkaline, tonalite-grano-diorite magmas, and their presence along the spine of the Andes provokes questions about models of trondhjemite genesis by melting of subducted oceanic crust, as well as any generalized, circum-Pacific model involving consistent isotopic or chemical changes inboard from the trench.

Four quantitative meta-analyses examined whether teachers' expectations, referrals, positive and neutral speech, and negative speech differed toward ethnic minority students (i.e., African American, Asian American, and Latino/a) as compared with European American students. Teachers were found to hold the highest expectations for Asian American students (d = -.17). In addition, teachers held more positive expectations for European American students than for Latino/a (d =.46) or African American (d =.25) students. Teachers made more positive referrals and fewer negative referrals for European American students than for Latino/a and African American students (d =.31). Although teachers directed more positive and neutral speech (e.g., questions and encouragement) toward European American students than toward Latino/a and African American students (d =.21), they directed an equal amount of negative speech (e.g., criticism) to all students (d =.02). In general, teachers' favoring of European American students compared with African American and Latino/a students was associated with small but statistically significant effects. The meta-analyses suggest that teachers' expectations and speech vary with students' ethnic backgrounds. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2007 APA, all rights reserved.

GOAL: We present and evaluate a wearable high-density dry-electrode EEG system and an open-source software framework for online neuroimaging and state classification. METHODS: The system integrates a 64-channel dry EEG form factor with wireless data streaming for online analysis. A real-time software framework is applied, including adaptive artifact rejection, cortical source localization, multivariate effective connectivity inference, data visualization, and cognitive state classification from connectivity features using a constrained logistic regression approach (ProxConn). We evaluate the system identification methods on simulated 64-channel EEG data. Then, we evaluate system performance, using ProxConn and a benchmark ERP method, in classifying response errors in nine subjects using the dry EEG system. RESULTS: Simulations yielded high accuracy (AUC = 0.97 ± 0.021) for real-time cortical connectivity estimation. Response error classification using cortical effective connectivity [short-time direct-directed transfer function (sdDTF)] was significantly above chance with similar performance (AUC) for cLORETA (0.74 ±0.09) and LCMV (0.72 ±0.08) source localization. Cortical ERP-based classification was equivalent to ProxConn for cLORETA (0.74 ±0.16) but significantly better for LCMV (0.82 ±0.12) . CONCLUSION: We demonstrated the feasibility for real-time cortical connectivity analysis and cognitive state classification from high-density wearable dry EEG. SIGNIFICANCE: This paper is the first validated application of these methods to 64-channel dry EEG. This study addresses a need for robust real-time measurement and interpretation of complex brain activity in the dynamic environment of the wearable setting. Such advances can have broad impact in research, medicine, and brain-computer interfaces. The pipelines are made freely available in the open-source SIFT and BCILAB toolboxes.

Abstract Medical artificial intelligence (AI) offers great potential for recognizing signs of health conditions in retinal images and expediting the diagnosis of eye diseases and systemic disorders 1 . However, the development of AI models requires substantial annotation and models are usually task-specific with limited generalizability to different clinical applications 2 . Here, we present RETFound, a foundation model for retinal images that learns generalizable representations from unlabelled retinal images and provides a basis for label-efficient model adaptation in several applications. Specifically, RETFound is trained on 1.6 million unlabelled retinal images by means of self-supervised learning and then adapted to disease detection tasks with explicit labels. We show that adapted RETFound consistently outperforms several comparison models in the diagnosis and prognosis of sight-threatening eye diseases, as well as incident prediction of complex systemic disorders such as heart failure and myocardial infarction with fewer labelled data. RETFound provides a generalizable solution to improve model performance and alleviate the annotation workload of experts to enable broad clinical AI applications from retinal imaging.

The incorporation of nanomaterials in the polymer matrix is considered to be a highly effective technique to improve the mechanical properties of resins. In this paper the effects of the addition of different nanoparticles such as single-walled CNT (SWCNT), double-walled CNT (DWCNT), multi-walled CNT (MWCNT), graphene, nanoclay and nanosilica on fracture toughness, strength and stiffness of the epoxy matrix have been reviewed. The Young's modulus (E), ultimate tensile strength (UTS), mode I (GIC) and mode II (GIIC) fracture toughness of the various nanocomposites at different nanoparticle loadings are compared. The review shows that, depending on the type of nanoparticles, the integration of the nanoparticles has a substantial effect on mode I and mode II fracture toughness, strength and stiffness. The critical factors such as maintaining a homogeneous dispersion and good adhesion between the matrix and the nanoparticles are highlighted. The effect of surface functionalization, its relevancy and toughening mechanism are also scrutinized and discussed. A large variety of data comprised of the mechanical properties of nanomaterial toughened composites reported to date has thus been compiled to facilitate the evolution of this emerging field, and the results are presented in maps showing the effect of nanoparticle loading on mode I fracture toughness, stiffness and strength.

M-Health can be defined as “mobile computing, medical sensor, and communications technologies for health-care.” This emerging concept represents the evolution of e-health systems from traditional desktop “telemedicine” platforms to wireless and mobile configurations. Current and emerging developments in wireless communications integrated with developments in pervasive and wearable technologies will have a radical impact on future health-care delivery systems. This editorial paper presents a snapshot of recent developments in these areas and addresses some of the challenges and future implementation issues from the m-Health perspective. The contributions presented in this special section represent some of these recent developments and illustrate the multidisciplinary nature of this important and emerging concept.

This study contributes to our understanding of the mediating and moderating processes
\nthrough which human resource management (HRM) practices are linked with
\nbehavioural outcomes. We developed and tested a moderated mediation model linking
\nperceived HRM practices to organisational citizenship behaviour and turnover
\nintentions. Drawing on social exchange theory, our model posits that the effect of
\nperceived HRM practices on both outcome variables is mediated by levels of employee
\nengagement, while the relationship between employee engagement and both outcome
\nvariables is moderated by perceived organisational support and leader–member
\nexchange. Overall, data from 297 employees in a service sector organisation in the UK
\nsupport this model. This suggests that the enactment of positive behavioural outcomes,
\nas a consequence of engagement, largely depends on the wider organisational climate
\nand employees’ relationship with their line manager. Implications for practice and
\ndirections for future research are discussed.

The prevalence of "toxic stress"and huge downstream consequences in disease, suffering, and financial costs make prevention and early intervention crucial, say Charles A Nelson and colleagues

Laser Doppler velocimetry uses the frequency shift produced by the Doppler effect to measure velocity. It can be used to monitor blood flow or other tissue movement in the body. Laser speckle is a random interference effect that gives a grainy appearance to objects illuminated by laser light. If the object consists of individual moving scatterers (such as blood cells), the speckle pattern fluctuates. These fluctuations provide information about the velocity distribution of the scatterers. It can be shown that the speckle and Doppler approaches are different ways of looking at the same phenomenon. Both these techniques measure at a single point. If a map of the velocity distribution is required, some form of scanning must be introduced. This has been done for both time-varying speckle and laser Doppler. However, with the speckle technique it is also possible to devise a full-field technique that gives an instantaneous map of velocities in real time. This review article presents the theory and practice of these techniques using a tutorial approach and compares the relative merits of the scanning and full-field approaches to velocity map imaging. The article concludes with a review of reported applications of these techniques to blood perfusion mapping and imaging.

This survey describes the current state-of-the-art in the development of automated visual surveillance systems so as to provide researchers in the field with a summary of progress achieved to date and to identify areas where further research is needed. The ability to recognise objects and humans, to describe their actions and interactions from information acquired by sensors is essential for automated visual surveillance. The increasing need for intelligent visual surveillance in commercial, law enforcement and military applications makes automated visual surveillance systems one of the main current application domains in computer vision. The emphasis of this review is on discussion of the creation of intelligent distributed automated surveillance systems. The survey concludes with a discussion of possible future directions.

Automatic video analysis from urban surveillance cameras is a fast-emerging field based on computer vision techniques. We present here a comprehensive review of the state-of-the-art computer vision for traffic video with a critical analysis and an outlook to future research directions. This field is of increasing relevance for intelligent transport systems (ITSs). The decreasing hardware cost and, therefore, the increasing deployment of cameras have opened a wide application field for video analytics. Several monitoring objectives such as congestion, traffic rule violation, and vehicle interaction can be targeted using cameras that were typically originally installed for human operators. Systems for the detection and classification of vehicles on highways have successfully been using classical visual surveillance techniques such as background estimation and motion tracking for some time. The urban domain is more challenging with respect to traffic density, lower camera angles that lead to a high degree of occlusion, and the variety of road users. Methods from object categorization and 3-D modeling have inspired more advanced techniques to tackle these challenges. There is no commonly used data set or benchmark challenge, which makes the direct comparison of the proposed algorithms difficult. In addition, evaluation under challenging weather conditions (e.g., rain, fog, and darkness) would be desirable but is rarely performed. Future work should be directed toward robust combined detectors and classifiers for all road users, with a focus on realistic conditions during evaluation.

Carbon stable-isotope variation through the Cenomanian–Santonian stages is characterized using data for 1769 bulk pelagic carbonate samples collected from seven Chalk successions in England. The sections show consistent stratigraphic trends and δ 13 C values that provide a basis for high-resolution correlation. Positive and negative δ 13 C excursions and inflection points on the isotope profiles are used to define 72 isotope events. Key markers are provided by positive δ 13 C excursions of up to +2‰: the Albian/Cenomanian Boundary Event; Mid-Cenomanian Event I; the Cenomanian/Turonian Boundary Event; the Bridgewick, Hitch Wood and Navigation events of Late Turonian age; and the Santonian/Campanian Boundary Event. Isotope events are isochronous within a framework provided by macrofossil datum levels and bentonite horizons. An age-calibrated composite δ 13 C reference curve and an isotope event stratigraphy are constructed using data from the English Chalk. The isotope stratigraphy is applied to successions in Germany, France, Spain and Italy. Correlation with pelagic sections at Gubbio, central Italy, demonstrates general agreement between biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic criteria in the Cenomanian–Turonian stages, confirming established relationships between Tethyan planktonic foraminiferal and Boreal macrofossil biozonations. Correlation of the Coniacian–Santonian stages is less clear cut: magnetostratigraphic evidence for placing the base of Chron 33r near the base of the Upper Santonian is in good agreement with the carbon-iso-tope correlation, but generates significant anomalies regarding the placement of the Santonian and Campanian stage boundaries with respect to Tethyan planktonic foraminiferal and nannofossil zones. Isotope stratigraphy offers a more reliable criterion for detailed correlation of Cenomanian–Santonian strata than biostratigraphy. With the addition of Campanian δ 13 C data from one of the English sections, a composite Cenomanian–Campanian age-calibrated reference curve is presented that can be utilized in future chemostratigraphic studies. The Cenomanian–Campanian carbon-isotope curve is remarkably similar in shape to supposedly eustatic sea-level curves: increasing δ 13 C values accompanying sea-level rise associated with transgression, and falling δ 13 C values characterizing sea-level fall and regression. The correlation between carbon isotopes and sea-level is explained by variations in epicontinental sea area affecting organic-matter burial fluxes: increasing shallow sea-floor area and increased accommodation space accompanying sea-level rise allowed more efficient burial of marine organic matter, with the preferential removal of 12 C from the marine carbon reservoir. During sea-level fall, reduced seafloor area, marine erosion of previously deposited sediments, and exposure of basin margins led to reduced organic-carbon burial fluxes and oxidation of previously deposited organic matter, causing falling δ 13 C values. Additionally, drowning of carbonate platforms during periods of rapid sea-level rise may have reduced the global inorganic relative to the organic carbon flux, further enhancing δ 13 C values, while renewed platform growth during late transgressions and highstands prompted increased carbonate deposition. Variations in nutrient supply, changing rates of oceanic turnover, and the sequestration or liberation of methane from gas hydrates may also have played a role in controlling carbon-isotope ratios.

BACKGROUND: Owing to their roles in tissue remodelling in health and disease, several studies have reported investigations on plant extracts as inhibitors of proteinases and as anti-oxidants. METHODS: The anti-ageing and anti-oxidant properties of 23 plant extracts (from 21 plant species) were assessed as anti-elastase and anti-collagenase activities and in selected anti-oxidant assays along with phenolic content. RESULTS: Anti-elastase activities were observed for nine of the extracts with inhibitory activity in the following order: white tea (approximately 89%), cleavers (approximately 58%), burdock root (approximately 51%), bladderwrack (approximately 50%), anise and angelica (approximately 32%). Anti-collagenase activities were exhibited by sixteen plants of which the highest activity was seen in white tea (approximately 87%), green tea (approximately 47%), rose tincture (approximately 41%), and lavender (approximately 31%). Nine plant extracts had activities against both elastase (E) and collagenase (C) and were ranked in the order of white tea (E:89%, C:87%) > bladderwrack (E:50%, C:25%) > cleavers (E:58%, C:7%) > rose tincture (E:22%, C:41%) > green tea (E:10%: C:47%) > rose aqueous (E: 24%, C:26%) > angelica (E:32%, C:17%) > anise (E:32%, C:6%) > pomegranate (E:15%, C:11%).Total phenolic content varied between 0.05 and 0.26 mg gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/mL with the exception of white tea (0.77 mg GAE/mL). For anti-oxidant assessment, the Trolox equivalent anti-oxidant capacity (TEAC) assay revealed activity for all extracts. White tea had the highest activity equivalent to approximately 21 microM Trolox for a 6.25 microg aliquot. In addition, seven extracts exhibited activities = 10 microM Trolox with witch hazel (6.25 microg = 13 microM Trolox) and rose aqueous (6.25 microg = 10 microM Trolox) showing very high activities at low concentrations. A high activity for white tea was also found in the superoxide dismutase (SOD) assay in which it exhibited ~88% inhibition of reduction of nitroblue tetrazolium. High activities were also observed for green tea (86.41%), rose tincture (82.77%), witch hazel (82.05%) and rose aqueous (73.86%). CONCLUSION: From a panel of twenty three plant extracts, some one dozen exhibit high or satisfactory anti-collagenase or anti-elastase activities, with nine having inhibitory activity against both enzymes. These included white tea which was found to have very high phenolic content, along with high TEAC and SOD activities.

The paper develops a sympathetic geographical critique of the concept of financialization which seeks to account for the growing influence of financial markets over the unfolding of economy, polity and society. Processes of financialization are claimed to be manifest at a number of scales, from higher levels of instability within the economy as a whole, through pressure exerted on corporations by capital markets, to the equity effects of the financial system on individuals and households. In seeking to explain change within contemporary society, financialization has circulated less widely than similar and related concepts such as neoliberalization. While financialization has the potential to unite researchers across cognate social science fields, thereby building critical mass and recognition within social studies of money and finance, we argue that research has been insufficiently attentive to space and place, both in terms of processes and effects. Financialization is a profoundly spatial phenomenon, representing as it does the search for a spatial-temporal fix, or quasi-resolution of the crisis tendencies of contemporary capitalism. The paper explores a number of possibly fruitful directions for work on financialization, focusing in particular on the idea of financial ecologies.