Post-war Tourism in the Tendring District and Beyond: The Rise of the Holiday Caravan Park, c. 1938-1989

This study addresses the history of the static holiday caravan site in Britain. Commercial holiday camps, such as Butlin’s and Warner’s, have been seen by many to be the epitome of UK post-war working-class holiday making. But despite some shared characteristics and developmental roots, it is argued that static caravan sites were and are essentially a separate phenomenon, and this study analyses how they quickly became a significant and substantial aspect of post-war domestic tourism. This study also demonstrates that unlike commercial holiday camps, they spawned organically as a result of the agency of the post-war working-class, who were empowered by a growing sense of confidence, assertion and economic security, against the vision of the state-approved holiday camp model. Arising as they did as an affordable and more individualistic alternative (despite strict planning legislation that in its formulation had no concept of their future development), it is shown that static caravan sites continued to develop (with the benefit of key legislation) in a way that was not in many respects typical of other aspects of UK domestic tourism in the second half of the twentieth century, but did reflect wider patterns of working-class consumerism. This study also argues that as a major aspect of domestic tourism, static caravan parks did not follow the well-documented pattern of decline experienced by many domestic resorts and holiday forms, but exhibited a distinct tendency to adapt and change in a way that allowed manufacturers and parks to offer an up-to-date and enticing product in times of economic growth as well as times of recession. This has resulted in the static holiday caravan park becoming a significant aspect of British domestic holiday making

How long is a stress group?

Num estudo recente, Barbosa sugere que, para uma síntese de fala com naturalidade, o número de sílabas no grupo acentual poderia ser determinado dinamicamente a partir das relações momentâneas dos osciladores acentual e silábico. Consideramos aqui as ramificações desta idéia para entender padrões na fala natural, utilizando e estendendo um modelo de osciladores acoplados hierarquizados previamente desenvolvido

Critical autism studies: exploring epistemic dialogues and intersections, challenging dominant understandings of autism

In this paper we explore how our cultural contexts give rise to different kinds of knowledges of autism and examine how they are articulated, gain currency, and form the basis for policy, practice and political movements. We outline key tensions for the development of critical autism studies as an international, critical abilities approach. Our aim is not to offer a cross-cultural account of autism or to assume a coherence or universality of ‘autism’ as a singular diagnostic category/reality. Rather, we map the ways in which what is experienced and understood as autism, plays out in different cultural contexts, drawing on the notion of ‘epistemic communities’ to explore shifts in knowledge about autism, including concepts such as ‘neurodiversity’, and how these travel through cultural spaces. The paper explores two key epistemic tensions; the dominance of ‘neuro culture’ and dominant constructions of personhood and what it means to be human

The alpha1 subunit of the GABA(A) receptor modulates fear learning and plasticity in the lateral amygdala.

Synaptic plasticity in the amygdala is essential for emotional learning. Fear conditioning, for example, depends on changes in excitatory transmission that occur following NMDA receptor activation and AMPA receptor modification in this region. The role of these and other glutamatergic mechanisms have been studied extensively in this circuit while relatively little is known about the contribution of inhibitory transmission. The current experiments addressed this issue by examining the role of the GABA(A) receptor subunit alpha1 in fear learning and plasticity. We first confirmed previous findings that the alpha1 subunit is highly expressed in the lateral nucleus of the amygdala. Consistent with this observation, genetic deletion of this subunit selectively enhanced plasticity in the lateral amygdala and increased auditory fear conditioning. Mice with selective deletion of alpha1 in excitatory cells did not exhibit enhanced learning. Finally, infusion of a alpha1 receptor antagonist into the lateral amygdala selectively impaired auditory fear learning. Together, these results suggest that inhibitory transmission mediated by alpha1-containing GABA(A) receptors plays a critical role in amygdala plasticity and fear learning

Emergent consonantal quantity contrast and context-dependence of gestural phasing

Embodied Task Dynamics is a modeling platform combining task dynamical implementation of articulatory phonology with an optimization approach based on adjustable trade-offs between production efficiency and perception efficacy. Within this platform we model a consonantal quantity contrast in bilabial stops as emerging from local adjustment of demands on relative prominence of the consonantal gesture conceptualized in terms of closure duration. The contrast is manifested in the form of two distinct, stable inter-gestural coordination patterns characterized by quantitative differences in relative phasing between the consonant and the coproduced vocalic gesture. Furthermore, the model generates a set of qualitative predictions regarding dependence of kinematic characteristics and inter-gestural coordination on consonant quantity and gestural context. To evaluate these predictions, we collected articulatory data for Finnish speakers uttering singletons and geminates in the same context as explored by the model. Statistical analysis of the data shows strong agreement with model predictions. This result provides support for the hypothesis that speech articulation is guided by efficiency principles that underlie many other types of embodied skilled action.Peer reviewe

Helsinkiläis- ja tamperelaispuhujien äänenkorkeuden muutokset 1970-luvulta 2010-luvulle

Suomalaisen sosiolingvistisen reaaliaikatutkimuksen kohteina ovat olleet fonologiset ja morfologiset piirteet. Tutkimuksemme laajentaa näkökulmaa prosodisiin piirteisiin tarkastelemalla puhujien äänenkorkeudessa (F0) tapahtuneita muutoksia. Aineistona on helsinkiläis- ja tamperelaispuhujien haastattelutallenteet 1970-, 1990- ja 2010-luvuilta. Kolmeen kertaan haastateltuja puhujia on yhteensä 21 (10 naista, 11 miestä). Heistä 16 on syntynyt 1950-luvulla ja viisi 1920–1930-luvuilla. Täydentävänä aineistona on käytetty 14:n kahteen kertaan tallennetun naispuhujan haastatteluja. Kansainvälisissä tutkimuksissa on pitkään raportoitu naisten puhekorkeuden laskusta. Toisaalta viimeaikaiset suomalaistutkimukset ovat osoittaneet, että tällaista äänenkorkeuden laskutrendiä ei ole enää viime vuosikymmeniltä havaittavissa. Tutkimuksessa selvitettiin, millaisena äänenkorkeuden muutoskehitys näyttäytyy, kun tarkasteluun otetaan samojen puhujayksilöiden eri vuosikymmenten haastattelutallenteet. Tutkimuksessa selvisi, ettei miespuhujilta ole löydettävissä yhtenäistä ikään tai tarkasteluaikakauteen kytkeytyvää muutostendenssiä. Sen sijaan naispuhujilla äänenkorkeus laskee ikävuosien 20 ja 40 välillä riippumatta siitä, mille tarkasteluvuosikymmenille tämä ikävaihe sijoittuu. Havainnon taustalla näyttää ensisijaisesti olevan yksilön äänialan laajentuminen alarekisterin suuntaan. Syyt tähän ovat pikemminkin sosiaalisia kuin biologisia.Peer reviewe

Kielen resurssit ja yhteiskunnallinen eriarvoistuminen

This paper outlines a layered view of the notion of resource as it appears and is put into practice in various fields of linguistic research. Different perspectives are provided in order to illustrate the variety of uses the notion has in current scientific discourse in Finland. By the means of critical concept analysis, we attempt to show that the ways resource is deployed in the current literature may cause confusion. Furthermore, the aim of the paper is to unravel some of the connotations the notion conveys from economics and the natural sciences to our idea of a language user

The Identification of the X-ray Counterpart to PSR J2021+4026

We report the probable identification of the X-ray counterpart to the gamma-ray pulsar PSR J2021+4026 using imaging with the Chandra X-ray Observatory ACIS and timing analysis with the Fermi satellite. Given the statistical and systematic errors, the positions determined by both satellites are coincident. The X-ray source position is R.A. 20h21m30.733s, Decl. +40 deg 26 min 46.04sec (J2000) with an estimated uncertainty of 1.3 arsec combined statistical and systematic error. Moreover, both the X-ray to gamma-ray and the X-ray to optical flux ratios are sensible assuming a neutron star origin for the X-ray flux. The X-ray source has no cataloged infrared-to-visible counterpart and, through new observations, we set upper limits to its optical emission of i' >23.0 mag and r' > 25.2mag. The source exhibits an X-ray spectrum with most likely both a powerlaw and a thermal component. We also report on the X-ray and visible light properties of the 43 other sources detected in our Chandra observation.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa