Dual‐Use Technology In the Context of the Non‐Proliferation Regime

Many technologies have both vital legitimate uses and potent military applications. An international regulatory regime has been devised for the purpose of monitoring the use of the most dangerous of these technologies, namely chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. Multiple examples of the use of chemical and biological weapons against members of the public, and evidence of prohibited state weapons development programs, demonstrate the vital need for a more effective enforcement regime. The authors discuss the concept and threat of dual‐use technology, the existing regulatory regime and its shortcomings, and propose enhancing this regime with powerful international judicial authorities to enable the prosecution of any state, group or individual who attempts to misuse dual‐use technology.     

American education‐the image in the mirror

Solon T. Kimball. Culture and the Educative Process: An Anthropological Perspective. New York: Teachers College Press, 1974. x + 285 pp. $10.00 (cloth).

George D. Spindler, ed. Education and Cultural Process: Toward an Anthropology of Education. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974. xii + 559 pp. Tables, figures, appendixes and indexes. $6.95 (paper).     

Max Mara and the origins of Italian ready‐to‐wear

This article charts the establishment and expansion of the ready‐to‐wear Max Mara label before the birth of the Max Mara group in 1967. Until recently, little consideration has been given to the evolution of Italian fashion, and few histories of dress or Italian culture even mention its presence before the 1970s. Still fewer acknowledge the crucial emergence of fashionable ready‐to‐wear in Italy in the 1960s, in which Max Mara played a key role, and which anticipated the international success of ‘Italian style’ in the 1970s and 1980s.     

Time‐bound theories about the origin of the Finns

It is a well‐known fact that the present transforms the past at least as much as the past guides the present. The origins of the Finns can be reviewed from two perspectives; firstly, in terms of how local communities explained this question at different periods, and secondly, how the nation's scholarly community explained the matter. This article discusses the latter. I must stress that it simplifies the process it describes and does not rely on a wide range of research materials. It is simply meant to provoke and encourage researchers and scholars to address the social context of previous answers to the question of origin.     

A preliminary statement on the dialogue established between the reform magazine al‐Manar and the Malayo‐Indonesian world

During the period of its publication (1898 to 1936), al‐Manar, under the editorship of Muhammad ‘Abduh and Rashid Rida, received correspondence sent from the Malayo‐Indonesian world for publication in its volumes. This correspondence consists of some 134 requests for legal opinions and 26 articles in the form of: announcements; letters commenting on various matters related to the homeland; letters commenting on previous articles published in al‐Manar; and letters requesting and furnishing advice and information on specific questions.

This correspondence throws light on the dialogue established between the Egyptian reform movement, whose mouthpiece was the magazine al‐Manar, and the reform movement of the Malayo‐Indonesian world in the early decades of this century.     

Cross‐genre talk: Expanding the ground

Clark, Herbert H. Arenas of Language Use. Chicago: University of Chicago Press and the Center for the Study of Language and Information, 1992. xviii + 419 pp. including notes, references, and index. $47.50 cloth, $19.95 paper.

Tannen, Deborah, ed. Gender and Conversational Interaction. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993. xiv + 327 pp. including notes, references, and index. $45.00 cloth, $16.95 paper.

Burke, Peter. The Art of Conversation. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1993. viii + 178 pp. including notes, references, and index. $39.95 cloth, $13.95 paper.     

The deserts of the Kashmir‐Tibetan frontier

Abstract

Semi-arid landscapes are vulnerable to cultivation, overgrazing and climate variability, although it is difficult to identify the relative significance of these three factors. In the South African Karoo, the ‘desertification debate' seeks to explain a change to more shrubby vegetation in heavily grazed areas. We examine these issues in catchments where farm reservoirs provide sediment stores with 137Cs, 210Pb, geochemical and mineral magnetic signatures. Rainfall data and stocking numbers are reported and current erosion rates are estimated. Sediment accumulation in the reservoirs increases between 1935 and 1940, probably due to rises in the frequency of rainfall events of >25mm day. Significant increases in sedimentation rates (×8) occur during rain-fed wheat cultivation. In an uncultivated catchment, sediment yields remain relatively high and reflect increases in erosion from hillslopes, colluvial storage, and cultivated land sources. Gully systems have acted as transport routes rather than sediment sources over the last ～70 years. Badland erosion rates average ca. 50t ha^?1 yr^?1. At Ganora, their development in the 1920s strongly influences peak sedimentation between 1970 and 1980. Any delay between badland initiation and increased sediment yield appears to be a function of landscape connectivity. Recovery following disturbance is occurring slowly and is likely to take >100 years. De-stocking and better management systems are reducing erosion rates but may be offset by increases in rainfall intensity.