The Gmelin Factual Databank A modern information source in chemistry and physics

Abstract

In chemistry especially, it is becoming increasingly difficult to survey the large amount of material published if poorly defined search strategies are employed – in 1991 and 1992, Chemical Abstracts cited over 500 000 publications, including reports and patents. Traditional comprehensive literature searches require a suitable perspective, a great deal of time and patience, and access to all relevant information sources. The Gmelin Factual Databank can offer improved search strategies for the scientific literature in the area of inorganic and organometallic chemistry.     

Stop – chemophobia

Abstract

Chemophobia – the fear of chemistry – is caused by both rational and emotional concepts. Here only the fear which can be explained by reason is considered, namely the evil uses of chemicals as deliberate poisons and the disasters caused by unwanted chemical explosions. The psychology of chemophobia, as well as the love of the 'natural' and the dislike of the 'man made' chemical materials, is explored with reference to Hoffmann. The implacable law of all accidents and disasters is discussed together with the code of conduct drawn up by German chemists, since these are based on cause and effect and not on irrational influence. That modern civilisation could not flourish without the all embracing and beneficial influence of chemistry is illustrated by a few examples ranging from anaesthetics to beer and wine. Finally, the drastic consequences of chemophobia are noted and a solution to these is suggested: teaching the school teachers to present knowledge of chemistry as desirable, as a basis of modern existence, and as a worthy career for young scientists, these may remove chemophobia in time.     

Science in Antarctica Intellectual and Physical Adventure

Abstract

Antarctica is a geographical region and Antarctic science is therefore multidisciplinary, the main areas of research being concerned with the continent's geological base, the superimposed ice-cap, the atmosphere above it and their external relationship. Each of these research areas is interdisciplinary: the study of its outstanding problem – the history of the Antarctic ice sheet – requires contributions from meteorology, oceanography, glaciology, geology, chemistry and physics; and its future behaviour will he determined by external events, including the consumption of fossil fuels on other continents. Research in Antarctica is given added piquancy by the continent's unique environment and rigorous climate which retain their attractive character even though modern technological developments have removed many elements of discomfort and danger. The region is also singular in its political nature and scientist have a particularly close relationship with their governments through the Antarctic Treaty.     

Oraculorum Sibyllinorum fragmentum Osloense 1

This article discusses some textual questions in Ajax leading to the following conclusions: I. 54 add ?τ?? after λε?α?. – II. 208 the emendation ?ρεμ?α? (“rest”, “quietude”) suggested by Thiersch. – III. 405a–b the proposal κρ?τη / μοι to fill the lacuna. – IV. 476 defence of the line as transmitted. – V. 546 τοσ?νδε to go with ??νον. – VI. 719 ?νδρε?, ??λον τι πρ?τον instead of ?νδρε? ??λοι, τ? πρ?τον. – VII. 869 instead of με write γε. – VIII. 951 ?σ?ν? ?χθο? as a reference to Tecmessa’s heavy burden of woe.     

HASMONAEAN MODIʽIN AND BYZANTINE MODITHA: A TOPOGRAPHICAL–HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT

Abstract

The location of ancient Modi‘in, the hometown of the Hasmonaeans – as mentioned in 1 Maccabees and the writings of Josephus – has been in dispute ever since geographical–historical research on the site began. In this paper we explore the various possible locations for Modi‘in and propose a different geographical solution to the problem.     

Everyone Begins as Fish & Captivated – by that

Abstract

An invited address in 1964 constitutes the pre-history of fractals, and a justification is given here why its publication is now of interest because of its interdisciplinary nature. Fractal geometry has been successful as mathematics and has – through computer graphics – pioneered a new art. But until 1975, the author's work was generally considered as premature. In the original address of 1964, which here follows the historical introduction, the author states the mathematical basis for his philosophy of the Second Stage of Indeterminism in Science. The term fractals was not coined until 11 years after the original address of 1964.     

“Did that play of mine …?”: James Connolly,Cathleen Ni Houlihan and staging revolution

Abstract

Despite the crucial position he occupies in Irish history as one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, and the political – and emotional – impact of his subsequent execution, while wounded, by the British Army on 12 May 1916, the writings of Edinburgh-born James Connolly have often been overlooked in both Irish and Scottish studies, and not just in accounts of the Rising but also in the wider context of cultural connections, including cultures of commemoration. In particular, Connolly’s surviving literary work, including Under Which Flag?, the drama staged on the eve of Easter 1916, as well as poems and songs, has had limited attention. This article reconsiders Under Which Flag? in comparison with Yeats and Gregory’s Cathleen ni Houlihan in order to demonstrate the central place the drama holds as a continuation – and complication – of Connolly’s political and journalistic writings. If Connolly is a neglected figure as a writer – as opposed to a political leader and martyr – then the play he left behind (once thought to have been lost, like another of his dramas, The Agitator’s Wife) affords us an opportunity to reassess his contribution to the struggle for independence as part of its literary wing.     

Albert Einsteln as Seen by Artists

Abstract

To commemorate the 80th birthday on 9 December 1980 of Dr Joseph Needham – a Member of our Editorial Board – we are here publishing a somewhat condensed progress report of what has been rightly called ‘the greatest single act of historical synthesis and intercultural communication ever attempted by one man’. After describing its contents, Dr Needham gives a preliminary outline of his methodology, how he has quarried Chinese literature and iconography, how he has immersed himself in China's living tradition to interpret correctly her past and how he has mastered the often century-old technical terminology of Chinese science – only thus could he build his oecumenical university. He concludes here with the hope that this vast study, so felicitously begun, will continue ‘as limitless as is all history’.     

Mapping the soft city: using cognitive mapping to respond to London-based literature and explore the construction of teenage place-related identity

ABSTRACT

Raban (1974. Soft City: What Cities Do To Us, and How They Change the Way We Live, Think and Feel. London: Hamish Hamilton, 2) distinguishes between the ‘hard’ city of statistics and maps, versus the ‘soft’ city of the ‘creative play of urban living’, ‘an art’ which enables urbanites to mould cities in their desired image. This case study reviews approaches to conceptualising urban space, exploring practical tasks through which London students can engage with, and write about, their place-related identities in order to enhance their readings of the rich range of literature set in their city. Developing an unconventional approach to teaching two A-level (16–18 years old) English Literature coursework texts – John Gay’s (1716) Trivia and Geoff Nicholson’s (1997) Bleeding London – it was hoped that students might be helped to ask whether a comprehensive (‘hard’) knowledge of London can ever be achieved. This case study is primarily an account of the students’ own London maps, a creative task designed to help them engage thematically with the coursework texts.     

Memorial gardens as dramaturgical space

Abstract

Since the end of the First World War British and Allied military cemeteries and memorial sites have been designed within a carefully controlled Imperial aesthetic. The emotional and historical capital of these sites has made objective judgement difficult; the burden of martial memory has made innovation in design almost impossible. This paper examines how the Dominion forces – notably Canada – achieved a distinct nationalism in their war memorials after the Great War. By focussing on two recent Canadian memorial sites – in London and France – the paper speculates on the ways in which artistic and military precedent informs the construction of monuments of conflict. The study concludes by looking at the recent public enthusiasm for floral and other temporary memorials which have challenged the rhetoric of official mourning.     

The Metrical Structure of the Oral Decapentasyllable

Abstract

What Milman Parry saw as his ‘historical method’ in Homeric criticism has paradoxically relieved students of the Greek folk song from the obligation to approach their subject of study from an exclusively genetic or ‘etymological,’ – in a word, historical – viewpoint. Instead of having to search for – or rather to speculate about – the origins of Greek oral poetry in the mists of antiquity or to assess the extent to which a song can provide reliable historical evidence concerning past events, we are free to turn our attention, as scholars such as Roderick Beaton (1980) and Grigoris Sifakis (1988) have done, to a synchronic study of the folk-song tradition, concentrating as much on the rules that generate the songs as on the significance of actual samples collected in the field (or in the scholar's study or the recording studio).     

Settlement Pattern Change in the Morea (Peloponnisos), c.A.D. 1700–1830

Abstract

The historiography of the Ottoman period (Tourkokratia) in what is now the state of Greece contains many untested propositions about both the nature and the consequences of Turkish rule (Hatzidimitriou 1982). Amongst these is the notion that during the Ottoman occupation the Christian population – or at least a sizeable proportion of it – was driven into the mountains. Our paper sets out to test the hypothesis – for such it is – using readily available published information on the settlements of the Morea (Peloponnisos) dating from c.1700 and c.1830. First, though, we specify the hypothesis and indicate the types of evidence which appear to give it support.     

John Banville’s “monstrous child”: freedom and inheritance in Shroud

ABSTRACT

John Banville has described his novel Shroud (2002) – a fictionalised re-imagining of the 1988 scandal of Paul de Man, whose war-time publications for a collaborationist journal were discovered after his death – as his “monstrous child” that only he could love. This essay turns to Derrida’s thoughts on monstrosity, and in particular his framing of the future-to-come as an unforeseeable reckoning between Nietzsche and Rousseau, whose approaches to human freedom and authenticity remain philosophically irreconcilable. Shroud engages with these two inheritances on a thematic level, bringing them into conversation through the characters of Vander and Cass. The interruption of intergenerational love and the prospect of a child between them, however, makes Derridean monstrosity – that more properly deconstructive trope that opens to the future by unearthing traumatic inheritances from the past – into a structuring principle, and the means by which we might best understand the novel itself as a “monstrous child”.     

Thailand’s Traditional Trinity and the Rule of Law: Can They Coexist?

Abstract

Thailand has seen considerable progress in the rule of law since the seminal 1997 constitution. Yet persistent political instability suggests that as yet the country does not think of the rule of law as binding. What is likely to happen in Thailand with the rule of law, and with governance generally? The argument advanced here is that rule of law principles must contend with the realisation that the traditional Thai trinity – nation, religion and king – has become an inviolable state ideology. Political actors, often aligned with the monarchy, have been using each element of the trinity to undermine both rule of law principles and democratic institutions. Now that long-serving monarch King Bhumibol (Rama IX) has been succeeded by his son King Varijalongkorn, it seems an appropriate time to examine current battles about the meaning of the rule of law and broader struggles for control between elites and popular groups based on competing visions for the state – a problem not only in Thailand but in the region as a whole.     

The Origins and Ethics of Maritime Archaeology – Part I

Abstract

For archaeologists, the principal value of prehistoric figurines is that they offer a means – however limited – into the cultures and lives of prehistoric peoples. There is a long tradition of archaeologists assuming that the figurines they unearth had a religious significance for the people who created them (since anthropomorphic figurines have a religious use in many cultures with which we are familiar). However, just as archaeologists began questioning their attribution of divine status to prehistoric figurines in the 1960s, practitioners of neopagan and goddess spiritualities – particularly those in the feminist spirituality movement – were adopting it. Moreover, in addition to describing prehistoric figurines as images of a Great Goddess who dominated prehistoric religious life, these contemporary feminist neopagans use reproductions of prehistoric figurines to inspire and enact their own spirituality. Feminist neopagan appropriation of prehistoric figurines has been problematic for many archaeologists, who quarrel – legitimately – with the conclusions feminist neopagans make about prehistory based on these artefacts. Yet, as this article argues, the contemporary religious use of prehistoric figurines should not be a matter for archaeologists to decide.     

Cultural democracy: an ecological and capabilities approach

ABSTRACT

In recent years, there has been sustained critique of the conceptual and normative foundations of UK cultural policy – the paternalism of ‘excellence and access’ and the neoliberal logic of ‘creative industries’. Whilst these critiques are well established, there is little work offering alternative foundations. This paper makes a contribution to this task. It does so in three ways. Firstly, by identifying ‘cultural democracy’ as a key discourse offering a counter-formulation of what the aims of cultural policy could and should be, and analysing uses of this term, it highlights the need to more effectively conceptualize cultural opportunity. Secondly, drawing on research with one UK-based initiative, Get Creative, the paper identifies a particularly consequential aspect of cultural opportunity: its ecological nature. Thirdly, it shows that the capabilities approach to human development provides ideas with the potential to help build new conceptual and normative foundations for cultural policy. Proposing a distinctive account of cultural democracy characterized by systemic support for cultural capabilities, the paper concludes by indicating the implications this may have for research, policy and practice.     

Reconstructing Kilmainham: the topography and architecture of the chief priory of the Knights Hospitaller in Ireland,c.1170–1349

ABSTRACT

For almost 400 years the Knights of St John of Jerusalem – the Knights Hospitaller – maintained a priory in Kilmainham, Co. Dublin, as their principal residence in Ireland. Nothing survives of it above ground. The priory's early history and topography are mainly shrouded in mystery, but a fourteenth-century registrum illuminates the workings of its community and the character of its members, and provides valuable evidence relating to the appearance of its architecture and layout when it was at the peak of its prosperity. Yet the registrum has never been subjected to detailed scrutiny. Recent research on the Hospitallers in Ireland on the one hand, and on the organisation of domestic space in medieval contexts in Ireland on the other, has prompted this comprehensive appraisal of the evidence in Kilmainham's registrum.     

The Suez Canal Revisited Ferdinand de Lesseps: The Genesis and Nurturing of Macroengineering Projects for the Next Century

Abstract

In commemoration of the centenary of Ferdinand de Lesseps' death on 7 December 1894, an expanded version of the 1993 MIT BruneI Lecture delivered by Jean-Paul Calon is here reproduced. The benefits that humanity has derived from innovative large scale projects such as the Suez Canal – the product of Lesseps' imagination and perseverance – are affirmed and the technological progress born out of this massive constructional effort is reviewed. Finally, a plea is made for a more visionary and enlightened outlook among contemporary engineers in the light of several macroengineering projects that are ripe for development and exploitation.     

‘My voice counts because I’m handsome.’ Democratising the museum: the power of museum participation

Abstract

Participation – where visitors are invited to leave a comment, co-create, or contribute to exhibitions – has been hailed as an opportunity to democratise the museum experience. New qualitative data from on-site and follow up interviews with museum visitors and practitioners at the experimental exhibition Power of 1 at the Museum of Australian Democracy has been used as a case study to determine if the rhetoric of the highly interactive, audience-centred approach of the participatory museum is meeting its aims. This paper argues that participation has the potential to democratise the museum experience for visitors, particularly when a more expansive definition is applied which acknowledges the benefits of participation beyond simply leaving a comment. Participation can provoke conversations and forge connections with real and imagined communities within the museum and beyond; however this potential is hampered by the often unacknowledged undemocratic practices within institutions by professionals who devalue visitor participation and power-sharing in order to uphold traditional museum practices.