Taboo and sensitive heritage: labour camps, burials and the role of activism in the Channel Islands

In this article we propose the concept of taboo heritage as a way to describe a legacy of war so sensitive that it never undergoes heritage creation. Attempts at creation, such as heritage listing, renovation or excavation, are blocked by local authorities. We also examine the transition from taboo heritage to sensitive heritage, the next step along the ‘heritage continuum’, which we propose can only occur through the combined efforts of the passage of time, the role of activists and official authorisation. We take as our case study two of the British Channel Islands of Jersey and Alderney, occupied by German forces from 1940 to 1945. Labour camps were built in both islands, where the dead were also buried locally. We explore how the existing legacy of these events is still taboo heritage in Alderney, but has achieved partial progress in the transition to sensitive heritage in Jersey.British Academy; McDonald Institute for Archaeological Researc

“This is proof”? Forensic evidence and ambiguous material culture at Treblinka extermination camp

In recent years, a forensic archaeological project at Treblinka extermination camp has uncovered significance evidence relating to the mass murder that took place there. A number of questions emerged regarding the provenance and origins of objects discovered as part of this work, and why they had remained undiscovered for over seventy years. These discoveries led to an opportunity to confirm and challenge the history of the extermination camp, and demands (from the public) to view the objects. This paper will outline how archaeologists and artists came together to reflect on these issues, whilst simultaneously providing access to the new findings

Deaths certified as asthma and use of medical services: A national case-control study

This is an open access publication. The official published version can be accessed from the link below.Background: Studies have linked asthma death to either increased or decreased use of medical services. Methods: A population based case-control study of asthma deaths in 1994–8 was performed in 22 English, six Scottish, and five Welsh health authorities/boards. All 681 subjects who died were under the age of 65 years with asthma in Part I on the death certificates. After exclusions, 532 hospital controls were matched to 532 cases for age, district, and date of asthma admission/death. Data were extracted blind from primary care records. Results: The median age of the subjects who died was 53 years; 60% of cases and 64% of controls were female. There was little difference in outpatient attendance (55% and 55%), hospital admission for asthma (51% and 54%), and median inpatient days (20 days and 15 days) in the previous 5 years. After mutual adjustment and adjustment for sex, using conditional logistic regression, three variables were independently associated with asthma death: fewer general practice contacts (odds ratio 0.82 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.74 to 0.91) per 5 contacts) in the previous year, more home visits (1.14 (95% CI 1.08 to 1.21) per visit) in the previous year, and fewer peak expiratory flow recordings (0.83 (95% CI 0.74 to 0.92) per occasion) in the previous 3 months. These associations were similar after adjustment for markers of severity, psychosocial factors, systemic steroids, short acting bronchodilators and antibiotics, although the association with peak flow was weakened and just lost significance. Conclusion: Asthma death is associated with less use of primary care services. Both practice and patient factors may be involved and a better understanding of these may offer possibilities for reducing asthma death.This study was funded jointly between the National Research and Development Asthma Management Programme (contract number AM1/ 05/002) and the National Asthma Campaign through a grant from Glaxo Wellcome (now GlaxoSmithKline)

Monte Carlo Analysis of Airport Throughput and Traffic Delays Using Self Separation Procedures

This paper presents the results of three simulation studies of throughput and delay times of arrival and departure operations performed at non-towered, non-radar airports using self-separation procedures. The studies were conducted as part of the validation process of the Small Aircraft Transportation Systems Higher Volume Operations (SATS HVO) concept and include an analysis of the predicted airport capacity using with different traffic conditions and system constraints under increasing levels of demand. Results show that SATS HVO procedures can dramatically increase capacity at non-towered, non-radar airports and that the concept offers the potential for increasing capacity of the overall air transportation system

Chickadee songs provide hidden clues to singers’ locations

Funding: LMG was supported by an Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship (IWKMS) at UofA and is currently a BBSRC Anniversary Future Leader Fellow.Coordination of actions requires that organisms actively monitor the movements of others. The current study examined acoustic cues within the fee-bee song of chickadees that may provide listening conspecifics with information about the movements of singers. The difference between direct and reverberant acoustic energy present during the second note of the fee-bee song provided clear indications of how far the song had traveled. Preliminary analyses suggest that this distance cue may be robust to variations in the spectra and amplitude of song components,and that the acoustic features of the fee-bee song may facilitate simultaneous comparisons of reverberating fees with directly received bees by listening birds. Comparing coincident reverberation with directly received sounds may be a previously unsuspected way that animals living in reverberant environments can monitor the movements and interactions of conspecifics.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Fast- and slow-exploring pigeons differ in how they use previously learned rules

L.M.G. was supported by an Izaak Walton Killam Memorial Scholarship (IWKMS) at University of Alberta and is currently supported by a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Anniversary Future Leaders Fellowship. Support for this research was provided by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grants to M.L.S and C.B.S. C.B.S. was additionally supported by a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Accelerator Supplement.Several studies report a correlation between exploratory behaviour and performance on tests of cognitive ability. Exploration may influence learning because less exploratory animals are less likely to come in contact with to-be-learned stimuli. Alternatively, the way information available in the environment is processed could influence the rate of exploration. Pigeons are one of the most-studied species used to examine the mechanisms underlying cognitive abilities, but have not been used to examine the relationship between these abilities and animal personality. Here, twelve pigeons were first tested in a novel environment to assess repeatability in exploratory behaviour. Pigeons were then trained to discriminate between two visual stimuli: lines oriented at 90° (vertical, the S + ) and 135° (the S-). After training pigeons underwent generalization testing with ten additional visual line orientation stimuli. We found exploratory behaviour was related to generalization performance: fast-explorers had steeper generalization gradients compared to slow-explorers. This effect was only seen in the direction towards the S-. These results suggest that birds with different exploratory styles differ in how they use previously learned information. Further testing is needed to confirm which cue(s) (S+ or S-) control the behaviour of fast-explorers.PostprintPeer reviewe

Human in the Loop Simulation Measures of Pilot Response Delay in a Self-Separation Concept of Operations

A human-in-the-loop (HITL) simulation experiment was conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to assess airline transport pilots performance and reported acceptance of the use of procedures relying on airborne separation assistance and trajectory management tools. This study was part of a larger effort involving two NASA centers that includes multiple HITL experiments planned over the next few years to evaluate the use of automated separation assurance (SA) tools by both air traffic controllers and pilots. This paper presents results of measured pilot response delay that subject pilots incurred when interacting with cockpit tools for SA and discusses possible implications for future concept and procedures design

Shorter versus longer bouts of rowing-based interval exercise attenuate the physiological and perceptual response

High intensity interval exercise (HIIE) requires repeated bouts of near-maximal to maximal efforts (intensities \u3e 85 %HRmax) interspersed with a brief recovery. Data show superior increases in maximal oxygen uptake (VO 2max) in response to chronic HIIE compared to moderate intensity continuous exercise (MICE) in healthy adults as well as clinical populations (Milanovic et al. 2015; Weston et al., 2014). PURPOSE: This study compared physiological and perceptual variables between short and long durations of rowing-based high intensity interval exercise (HIIE). METHODS: Fourteen active adults (age = 26.4 ± 7.2 yr) performed incremental rowing exercise to fatigue to measure maximal oxygen uptake (VO 2max) and peak power output (PPO). The subsequent 20 min sessions required HIIE (eight 60 s efforts at 85 %PPO with 90 s of active recovery at 20 %PPO or 24 20 s efforts at 85 %PPO with 30 s of active recovery at 20 %PPO) or moderate intensity continuous exercise (MICE) at 40 %PPO. During exercise, VO 2, heart rate (HR), blood lactate concentration (BLa), rating of perceived exertion (RPE), and affective valence were measured. RESULTS: Data show significantly (p \u3c 0.001) higher peak VO 2 (84 ± 7 vs. 76 ± 5 %VO 2peak, d = 0.99), peak HR (94 ± 4 %HRpeak vs. 90 ± 4 %HRpeak, d = 1.12), BLa (7.0 ± 2.5 mM vs. 4.1 ± 1.0 mM, d = 1.22), end-exercise RPE (12.8 ± 2.0 vs. 11.0 ± 1.7, d = 1.29), and lower affective valence (2.1 ± 1.6 vs. 2.9 ± 1.2, d = 0.61) with long versus short HIIE. Time spent above 85 %HRpeak was significantly higher (p \u3c 0.001) in short versus long HIIE (606 ± 259 vs. 448 ± 26 s, d = 0.91). CONCLUSION: Longer rowing-based intervals elicit greater cardiometabolic and perceptual strain versus shorter efforts, making the latter preferable to optimize perceptual responses to HIIE