Urban smoke concentrations at Kew, London, 1898-2004

Historical smoke concentrations at monthly resolution for the early twentieth century are found for Kew Observatory, London, using the atmospheric electricity proxy technique. Smoke particles modify the electrical properties of urban air: an increase in smoke concentration reduces air's electrical conductivity and increases the Potential Gradient (PG). Calibrated PG data are available from Kew since 1898, and air conductivity was measured routinely between 1909 and 1979 using the technique developed by C.T.R. Wilson. Automated smoke observations at the same site overlap with the atmospheric electrical measurements from 1921, providing an absolute calibration to smoke concentration. This shows that the late nineteenth century winter smoke concentrations at Kew were approximately 100 times greater than contemporary winter smoke concentrations. Following smoke emission regulations reducing the smoke concentration, the electrical parameters of the urban air did not change dramatically. This is suggested to be due to a composition change, with an increase in the abundance of small aerosol compensating for the decrease in smoke. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cosmic effects on the intimate screen: J. B. Priestley, Ralph Richardson and 'Johnson over Jordan' (1965)

This article considers ideas about the suitability of experimental, non-naturalist, narrative forms in theatre and television, through the example of a 1965 BBC2 adaptation of J. B. Priestley's 1939 play Johnson over Jordan. Using both textual analysis of the programme and research into the BBC production documentation, this essay explains how the circumstances and conditions of 1960s television adaptation and the star casting of Sir Ralph Richardson transformed Priestley's stage play. The TV adaptation achieved cosmic effects on an intimate scale, through inference and the imaginative integration of the studio space with dubbed sound.

Further clarifying the competition–performance relation: reply to D. W. Johnson et al. (2012)

In their commentary, D. W. Johnson, Johnson, and Roseth (2012) provided some laudatory statements about our article, but they also expressed a number of concerns. The concerns focus on the following issues: types and definitions of competition, our choice of control group, the nature of performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals, the comprehensiveness of the opposing processes model, and performance-approach goals and constructive competition. We respond to each of these issues in turn and conclude with a statement regarding working to build an integrative model of the competition–performance relation (and beyond).

Johnson and Juvenal in John Ashbery's 'An Additional Poem' (1962)

A note on Ashbery's metaphorical and intertextual practice.