22,024 research outputs found
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Why the 'copycat' theory on suicide coverage is a 'conceptual red herring'
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Hippoglossus Hippoglossus and chips, twice please love? Adventures in the underbelly of Euromyths
Bedlam in mind: seeing and reading historical images of madness
In this article I explore mythical Bedlam of popular imaginings. London's Bethlem Hospital was for centuries a unique institution caring for the insane and its alter ego 'Bedlam' influenced popular stereotypes of insanity. For instance, while the type of vagrant beggar known as a 'Tom of Bedlam' was said to have disappeared from English society with the Restoration, the figure of Mad Tom retained a visual and vocal presence within popular musical culture from the seventeenth century up to the present era. Using the ballad 'Mad Tom o' Bedlam' as a case study, I illustrate how an early modern stereotype of madness has maintained continuity within a popular song tradition whilst undergoing cultural change
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Dynamics of partisan journalism: journalist-source relations in the context of a local newspaper's anti-paedophile housing agenda
This article explores the influence of partisanship on the framing of a local news agenda. Using a case study approach, it explores how one local newspaper in the East Midlands of England, the Nottingham-based Evening Post, reacted with hostility to leaked Home Office plans housing high profile paedophiles in its locality (albeit inside the grounds of the local jail). Within weeks, though, the paperâs news frame had shifted from hostility toward the Home Office to a more sympathetic news frame reporting how local professionals would manage risks posed by paedophiles in Nottingham. In order to make sense of the local dynamic underpinning this changing news frame the paper uses interview data to explore interactions between local journalists and key protagonists to understand the predictable and unpredictable factors that shaped the terms of their reporting. The article concludes by discussing the significance of partisan dynamics on the framing of a highly charged local and national paedophile-related issue
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Hearing voices: mental illness and cultural recognition
Popular misconceptions about the danger of madness have undermined mentally ill peopleâs struggle for social inclusion. Consequently, efforts to think through how we might belong together must take account of mental patientsâ right to a public voice. However, the article takes issue with an excessively cognitive and rationalistic conception of the public citizen. It suggests, instead, that âalternativeâ forums can be constructed which counters the dominant cultural image of the âmad, crazy, nutterâ. It concludes by discussing one innovative TV series (Video Diaries) in which âmentally illâ participantsâ reveal their capacity to speak for themselves
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Girls' jobs for the boys? Men, masculinity and non-traditional occupations
Occupational segregation by sex remains the most pervasive aspect of the labour market. In the past, most research on this topic has concentrated on explanations of womenâs segregation into low paid and low status occupations, or investigations of women who have crossed gender boundaries into menâs jobs, and the potential impact on them and the occupations. In contrast, this article reports on a small scale, qualitative study of ten men who have crossed into what are generally defined as âwomenâs jobsâ. In doing so, one of the impacts on them has been that they have experienced challenges to their masculine identity from various sources and in a variety of ways. The menâs reactions to these challenges, and their strategies for developing and accommodating their masculinity in light of these challenges are illuminating. They either attempted to maintain a traditional masculinity by distancing themselves from female colleagues, and/or partially (re)constructed a different masculinity by identifying with their non-traditional occupations. This they did as often as they deemed necessary as a response to different forms of challenge to their gender identities from both men and women. Finally, the article argues that these responses work to maintain the men as the dominant gender, even in these traditionally defined âwomenâs jobsâ
Numerical bifurcation diagram for the two-dimensional boundary-fed chlorine-dioxideâiodineâmalonic-acid system
We present a numerical solution of the chlorine-dioxideâiodineâmalonic-acid reaction-diffusion system in two dimensions in a boundary-fed system using a realistic model. The bifurcation diagram for the transition from nonsymmetry-breaking structures along boundary feed gradients to transverse symmetry-breaking patterns in a single layer is numerically determined. We find this transition to be discontinuous. We make a connection with earlier results and discuss prospects for future work
Modeling a falling slinky
A slinky is an example of a tension spring: in an unstretched state a slinky
is collapsed, with turns touching, and a finite tension is required to separate
the turns from this state. If a slinky is suspended from its top and stretched
under gravity and then released, the bottom of the slinky does not begin to
fall until the top section of the slinky, which collapses turn by turn from the
top, collides with the bottom. The total collapse time t_c (typically ~0.3 s
for real slinkies) corresponds to the time required for a wave front to
propagate down the slinky to communicate the release of the top end. We present
a modification to an existing model for a falling tension spring (Calkin 1993)
and apply it to data from filmed drops of two real slinkies. The modification
of the model is the inclusion of a finite time for collapse of the turns of the
slinky behind the collapse front propagating down the slinky during the fall.
The new finite-collapse time model achieves a good qualitative fit to the
observed positions of the top of the real slinkies during the measured drops.
The spring constant k for each slinky is taken to be a free parameter in the
model. The best-fit model values for k for each slinky are approximately
consistent with values obtained from measured periods of oscillation of the
slinkies.Comment: 30 pages, 11 figure
The challenges and potential benefits of perennial organic cropping systems-example of organic top fruit
Of all the organic food sectors in the UK, top fruit production is one of the least developed. Despite strong consumer demand and high prices for organic fruit, UK production remains small and 90% of supplies are imported. Current methods of production are unsatisfactory with low yields and erratic quality, with resulting variable economic performance. Pest and disease problems are one of the main reasons for this poor performance, with current varieties being unable to provide sufficient resistance. New varieties and an improved pest and disease management programme, identified as part of a HORTLINK project, offer new hope to the sector. There are now opportunities for the sector to grow and provide greater UK supplies of top fruit, in addition to widening the proven benefits to biodiversity of organic orchards
Pattern formation with trapped ions
Ion traps are a versatile tool to study nonequilibrium statistical physics,
due to the tunability of dissipation and nonlinearity. We propose an experiment
with a chain of trapped ions, where dissipation is provided by laser heating
and cooling, while nonlinearity is provided by trap anharmonicity and beam
shaping. The collective dynamics are governed by an equation similar to the
complex Ginzburg-Landau equation, except that the reactive nature of the
coupling leads to qualitatively different behavior. The system has the unusual
feature of being both oscillatory and excitable at the same time. We account
for noise from spontaneous emission and find that the patterns are observable
for realistic experimental parameters. Our scheme also allows controllable
experiments with noise and quenched disorder.Comment: 4 pages + appendi
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