Peg legs andbionic limbs: the development of lower extremity prosthetics

Abstract

At the 2000 Paralympic Games in Sydney, a new world record for the hundred metre sprint for below knee amputees was set at 11·09 seconds (the current recordfor able bodied athletes is 9·78 seconds). Such an astonishing result is a tribute not only to the talent and determination of the athlete concerned, but also to the part played by high performance lower extremity prostheses. Whilst advances in materials technology have led to improvements in almost all sports, they have altogether revolutionised performance levels in disabled sports. Following a potted history of the evolution of prosthetic devices, this paper reviews relevant aspects of the anatomy of the lower extremity and the biomechanics of human ambulation, and introduces the various components of prosthetic devices. The latest developments in 'intelligent' prosthetic devices make use of a magnetorheological fluid which acts as a damper in the knee joint and provides a more natural gait. In addition, a microprocessor embedded inside the prosthesis can enable automatic real time gait control, thus allowing the leg to adapt to different walking speeds and to more demanding environments such as stairs. Some observations are also made on how the self-image of the amputee and the perception of the amputee in society are affected by the functional and aesthetic characteristics of prosthetic equipment.     

Apologia of Classical Evolutionism

Hans C. Buechler and Judith‐Maria Buechler. Carmen: The Autobiography of a Spanish Galician Woman. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Schenkman Publishing Company, 1981. xxxi + 242 pp. Index, illustrations. $16.95 cloth, $7.95 paper.     

Franklin's Classical American Statesmanship

Abstract

Herbert Storing has persuasively argued that American political thought and statesmanship breaks with the tradition of classical political philosophy and statesmanship, particularly its concern with shaping the character of citizens and leaders, and instead sides with modern political philosophy, which has tended to encourage statesmen to forgo shaping the character of citizens and leaders and to focus instead on shaping institutions that will function regardless of citizens' virtue (or lack of virtue). An exception to this general rule, however, is Benjamin Franklin. Franklin, in the tradition of classical statesmanship, sought to shape not only American political institutions, but also and especially the character and way of life of his fellow citizens. Yet the character and way of life that Franklin helped lead his fellow citizens to embrace is uniquely modern and American in spirit. Thus, Franklin can be said to offer us an example of classical, but uniquely modern and American, statesmanship.     

苏州古典园林

核心价值概述 苏州古典园林位于江苏省苏州市境内,包括1997年被列入《世界遗产名录》的拙政园、留园、网师园、环秀山庄,以及2000年扩展的沧浪亭、狮子林、艺圃、耦园和退思园.苏州古典园林的历史可以上溯到公元前6世纪的吴王苑囿,公元4世纪出现私家园林,18世纪达到鼎盛.现存的苏州古典园林仍有50余处,建造于11-19世纪的9处古典园林以其意境深远、构筑精致、艺术高雅、文化内涵丰富而成为中国古代文人写意山水园林艺术的典范,完美地诠释了中国古代文人士大夫的隐逸文化、美学思想与城市人居环境的和谐统一.     

Classical Chinese Poetry in Singapore

The evolution of classical Chinese poetry in Singapore is closely related to the immigration experience of Chinese intellectuals in various periods. The travelogues of the foreign trips by Chinese officials dispatched to Singapore in the late Qing dynasty, such as Zuo Binglong 左秉隆 and Huang Zunxian 黃遵憲, focused on the depiction of exotic landscapes and aimed to open up horizons. The poems written by Khoo Seok Wan 邱菽園 and Pan Shou 潘受, and numerous works published in local newspapers from the period before the Second World War to the 1970s, represented the highest achievement of characteristically classical Chinese poetry in Singapore. After the 1980s, the new type of poetry writing reflected in the “Xin Sheng Poetry Society” (Xin sheng shi she 新聲詩社) and poetic columns online was characterized by diversity in the path of communication and the choice of subject matter, as well as an overall decline in creative quality. This article attempts to present the different stages of classical Chinese poetry in Singapore and its features over the course of the century within the context of Sinophone literature.     

A Classical Foundation-Legend from Newfoundland

HANDBOOK OF EUROPEAN NATIONAL DANCES. Ed. VIOLET ALFORD. 24 vols., 1949–1952. Max Parrish and Company, for the Royal Academy of Dancing and the Ling Physical Education Association. Price 4s. 6d. each. Reviewed by Allan Gomme.

SPANISH COSTUME. EXTRAMADURA. RUTH MATILDA ANDERSON, Member of the Hispanic Society of America, New York 1951. Reviewed by Estella Canziani.

THE SACRED STATE OF THE AKAN. By EVA L. R. MEYEROWITZ. Faber &; Faber, 1951. Pp. 222, plates 100. 42s. Reviewed by Mary Danielli.

ENGLISH INN SIGNS. Being a revised and modernized version of Larwood and Hotten's History of Signboards. 1951. Chatto and Windus. 42s. Reviewed by Leslie F. Newman.

THE TRUTH ABOUT ROBIN HOOD. By P. VALENTINE HARRIS (London: Published by the author, 1951). 93 pp. 8s. 6d. Reviewed by J. B. Bessinger.     

Classical Central Places as Protected Thresholds

Previous research efforts demonstrate the use of location covering in the spatial structuring of central places within a single-good context. In a multilevel context, this paper similarly develops a mathematical programming approach to the siting of central places based on the “protection” of inner (or threshold) markets. The objective function maximizes both market coverage of demand and market overlap, subject to an upper bound on market overlap; this allows the formation of different market structures consistent with the various K-valued central place systems of Christaller and Lösch. Siting examples serve to illustrate the working of the protected threshold model in isotropic settings. Furthermore, ways in which the present model might be extended for other situations are examined.     

Jean Charlot and Classical Hawaiian Culture

A small group of Japanese civilian internees from the South Pacific were confined in New Zealand during World War II, with some being subsequently transferred to Australia in readiness for planned civilian exchanges with Japan. Most from Tonga had Japanese wives and children who were also detained in New Zealand. With one exception, all Japanese who had local wives and families were forced to leave them behind in either Tonga or Fiji. These families proved an anomaly to the Fijian authorities who had to provide care for some, even non-Fijians. In defining who was supported in their former island homes and who was ultimately deported to Japan or allowed to return to the islands, racial attitudes of the various administrations emerge, reflecting an antipathy towards Asians not found in regard to other enemy aliens of the time. New Zealand played the role of honest broker but it, too, did not offer any permanent home to displaced Japanese civilians after the war ended, and supported the expulsion of them from the South Pacific.     

中国古典叙事诗研究综述

以《诗经》中的周人史诗、汉代乐府、南北朝民歌、唐代排律等为主要代表样式的叙事诗的研究,在当代取得了丰硕的成果,在叙事诗文本的整理、代表诗篇的解读、断代和通代的研究及研究方法、叙事模式等都有所突破,总结起来大致可包括如下五个方面：一是古代有关研究的简单回顾,二是叙事诗文本的编纂整理,三是有关的研究专著,四是主要的研究论文,包括思想内容、体例结构、研究综述,五是港台及国外的有关研究,此外在中西叙事学方法论的研究专著也有极大收获。     

《哈姆莱特》经典独白解读

《哈姆莱特》的第一幕第三场中有哈姆雷特关于生死问题的经典独白,这段独白可以说是深入认识哈姆莱特个人性格甚至是理解整个戏剧的关键。独白不仅是针对哈姆菜特个人的复仇计划同时也包含着深刻的意蕴。长久以来,学者们对于这段经典独白有很多不同的解读。本文将从哈姆莱特个人性格、戏剧情节、社会意义等角度深入解读这段独白在戏剧中的合理性和不可或缺性。