75 research outputs found
Urbanization and mortality in Britain, c. 1800-50.
In the long-running debate over standards of living during the industrial revolution, pessimists have identified deteriorating health conditions in towns as undermining the positive effects of rising real incomes on the 'biological standard of living'. This article reviews long-run historical relationships between urbanization and epidemiological trends in England, and then addresses the specific question: did mortality rise especially in rapidly growing industrial and manufacturing towns in the period c. 1830-50? Using comparative data for British, European, and American cities and selected rural populations, this study finds good evidence for widespread increases in mortality in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. However, this phenomenon was not confined to 'new' or industrial towns. Instead, mortality rose in the 1830s especially among young children (aged one to four years) in a wide range of populations and environments. This pattern of heightened mortality extended between c. 1830 and c. 1870, and coincided with a well-established rise and decline in scarlet fever virulence and mortality. The evidence presented here therefore supports claims that mortality worsened for young children in the middle decades of the nineteenth century, but also indicates that this phenomenon was more geographically ubiquitous, less severe, and less chronologically concentrated than previously argued.Leverhulme Trust (award RPG-2012-803)
Wellcome Trust (award no. 103322
Circular polarization survey of intermediate polars I. Northern targets in the range 17h<R.A.<23h
Context. The origin, evolution, and ultimate fate of magnetic cataclysmic
variables are poorly understood. It is largely the nature of the magnetic
fields in these systems that leads to this poor understanding. Fundamental
properties, such as the field strength and the axis alignment, are unknown in a
majority of these systems. Aims. We undertake to put all the previous circular
polarization measurements into context and systematically survey intermediate
polars for signs of circular polarization, hence to get an indication of their
true magnetic field strengths and try to understand the evolution of magnetic
cataclysmic variables. Methods. We used the TurPol instrument at the Nordic
Optical Telescope to obtain simultaneous UBVRI photo-polarimetric observations
of a set of intermediate polars, during the epoch 2006 July 31 - August 2.
Results. Of this set of eight systems two (1RXS J213344.1+510725 and 1RXS
J173021.5-055933) were found to show significant levels of circular
polarization, varying with spin phase. Five others (V2306 Cyg, AO Psc, DQ Her,
FO Aqr, and V1223 Sgr) show some evidence for circular polarization and
variation of this with spin phase, whilst AE Aqr shows little evidence for
polarized emission. We also report the first simultaneous UBVRI photometry of
the newly identified intermediate polar 1RXS J173021.5-055933. Conclusions.
Circular polarization may be ubiquitous in intermediate polars, albeit at a low
level of one or two percent or less. It is stronger at longer wavelengths in
the visible spectrum. Our results lend further support to the possible link
between the presence of soft X-ray components and the detectability of circular
polarization in intermediate polars.Comment: 14 pages. Accepted for publication in A&
From urban catastrophe to 'model' city?: politics, security and development in post-conflict Kigali
In the years immediately after the 1994 Rwandan genocide, Kigali was a site of continuing crisis amid extraordinary levels of urban population growth, as refugees returned to Rwanda in their millions. Yet unlike many post-conflict cities that spiral into endemic crime and instability, it was rapidly securitised in the context of political consolidation and large amounts of foreign aid, and hailed by the UN as a âmodel, modern cityâ. This paper analyses the governmentâs approach to securitising Kigali, interrogating how its rapid trajectory from epicentre of conflict to carefully planned showcase for development has been achieved. It is argued that Kigali bears the weight of many of Rwandaâs development aspirations and keeping it secure and orderly is viewed as critical by the government. After examining the national and local processes through which the government has aimed to achieve âsecure urbanisationâ, the potential longer-term implications of its urban development strategy are considered
- âŠ