Literature, museums, and national identity; or, why are there so many writers' house museums in Britain?

Writers’ houses constitute the largest and oldest segment of historic house museums dedicated to famous persons in the United Kingdom. Litterateurs tend to ascribe ‘lit houses’ to the ineffable magic of readers’ connections to writers. By contrast, my analysis deploys the analytic of cultural politics to suggest that writers’ house museums can more fully be understood as assertions of national identity. The elision of language with national distinction is subliminal in everyday life, but can be brought to prominence by historicising the nations of the British Isles, and the practice of writing in English.

Inns and taverns of old London, setting forth the historical and literary associations of those ancient hostelries, together with an account of the most notable coffee-houses, clubs, and pleasure gardens of the British metropolis,

Mode of access: Internet.

Mediating culture in the Italian literary field, 1940s-1950s: an introduction

This introduction lays out the scholarly and methodological context where to situate the contributions to this special issue. By combining a rigorous scrutiny of hitherto untapped archival sources with a re-examined application of Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology of culture within the field of periodical studies and publishing history in Italy (1940s-1950s), the studies illuminate the complex ways in which journals, periodical editors, and the connected publishing houses negotiate cultural practice in a literary field increasingly dominated by the polarization of political discourse.

Clubs and club life in London; with anecdotes of its famous coffee houses, hostelries, and taverns, from the seventeenth century to the present time,

Title vignette.

How can land and urban development make houses healthier?

Traditionally, the main focus of the professional community involved with indoor air quality has been indoor pollution sources, preventing or reducing their emissions, as well as lowering the impact of the sources by replacing the polluted indoor air with "fresh" outdoor air. However, urban outdoor air cannot often be considered "fresh", as it contains high concentrations of pollutants emitted from motor vehicles - the main outdoor pollution sources in cities. Evidence from epidemiological studies conducted worldwide demonstrates that outdoor air quality has considerable effects on human health, despite the fact that people spend the majority of their time indoors. This is because pollution from outdoors penetrates indoors and becomes a major constituent of indoor pollution. Urban land and transport development has significant impact on the overall air quality of the urban airshed as well as the pollution concentration in the vicinity of high-density traffic areas. Therefore, an overall improvement in indoor air quality would be achieved by lowering urban airshed pollution, as well as by lowering the impact of the hot spots on indoor air. This paper explores the elements of urban land and vehicle transport developments, their impact on global and local air quality, and how the science of outdoor pollution generation and transport in the air could be utilized in urban development towards lowering indoor air pollution.

A pilot study on the effect of indoor particle sources on indoor particle concentration in residential houses

Characterization of indoor particle sources from 14 residential houses in Brisbane, Australia, was performed. The approximation of PM2.5 and the submicrometre particle number concentrations were measured simultaneously for more than 48 h in the kitchen of all the houses by using a photometer (DustTrak) and a condensation particle counter (CPC), respectively. From the real time indoor particle concentration data and a diary of indoor activities, the indoor particle sources were identified. The study found that among the indoor activities recorded in this study, frying, grilling, stove use, toasting, cooking pizza, smoking, candle vaporizing eucalyptus oil and fan heater use, could elevate the indoor particle number concentration levels by more than five times. The indoor approximation of PM2.5 concentrations could be close to 90 times, 30 times and three times higher than the background levels during grilling, frying and smoking, respectively.

Indoor exposure to submicrometer particles and PM2.5 in residential houses in Brisbane, Australia

As part of a large study investigating indoor air in residential houses in Brisbane, Australia, the purpose of this work was to quantify indoor exposure to submicrometer particles and PM2.5 for the inhabitants of 14 houses. Particle concentrations were measured simultaneously for more than 48 hours in the kitchens of all the houses by using a condensation particle counter (CPC) and a photometer (DustTrak). The occupants of the houses were asked to fill in a diary, noting the time and duration of any activity occurring throughout the house during measurement, as well as their presence or absence from home. From the time series concentration data and the information about indoor activities, exposure to the inhabitants of the houses was calculated for the entire time they spent at home as well as during indoor activities resulting in particle generation. The results show that the highest median concentration level occurred during cooking periods for both particle number concentration (47.5´103 particles cm-3) and PM2.5 concentration (13.4 mg m-3). The highest residential exposure period was the sleeping period for both particle number exposure (31%) and PM2.5 exposure (45.6%). The percentage of the average residential particle exposure level in total 24h particle exposure level was approximating 70% for both particle number and PM2.5 exposure.

Seeking a life in the literary position : the writing of Charmian Clift

An examination of the published and unpublished writing of Charmian Clift.

Indoor and outdoor nitrogen dioxide concentration in residential houses in Australia

As part of a larger indoor environmental study, residential indoor and outdoor levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were measured for 14 houses in a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Passive samplers were used for 48-h sampling periods during the winter of 1999. The average indoor and outdoor NO2 levels were 13.8 ± 6.3 and 16.7 ± 4.2 ppb, respectively. The indoor/outdoor NO2 concentration ratio ranged from 0.4 to 2.3, with a median value of 0.82. The results of statistic analyses indicated that there was no significant correlation between indoor and outdoor NO2 concentrations, or between indoor and fixed site NO2 monitoring station concentrations. However, there was a significant correlation between outdoor and fixed site NO2 monitoring station concentrations. There was also a significant correlation between indoor NO2 concentration and indoor submicrometre (0.007–0.808 μm) aerosol particle number concentrations. The results in this study indicated indoor NO2 levels are significantly affected by indoor NO2 sources, such as a gas stove and cigarette smoking. It implies that the outdoor or fixed site monitoring concentration alone is a poor predictor of indoor NO2 concentration.