Rubidium hydroxide polyethylene glycol crown ether in the conservation of old master paintings*

The development of new, gentler methods for the conservation of Old Master paintings, with an emphasis on the removal or thinning of deteriorated varnish, is of high priority. In the course of the deterioration process, oxidative attacks lead to progressive formation of carboxylic acid groups, while many ester bondings are expected to be weakened. A stable RbOH polyethylene glycol complex was a promising tool to react with these moieties and to successfully break down the polymeric varnish layer. The remnants were easily wiped off mechanically. Control studies employing ⁸⁶RbOH and ¹⁴C polyacrylate showed the complete absence of residual cleansing components on the paint surface.     

Chronology as a structural element in the old testament

In a situation when consensus is hard to reach both concerning agreement between the historical parts of OT with the real history and the process of establishing the biblical books, there is need to seriously consider if new methods and views can contribute towards a growth of knowledge and understanding in these respects. As argued in the paper the OT chronology can serve as a main structural element, considering the solution presented by Stenring of a unified dating within twelve biblical books. Examples are further given of concealed meaning behind the dates. Some conclusions concerning the text history are drawn.     

与众不同的俄罗斯汉学研究与收藏家K.A.斯卡奇科夫

康斯坦定·安德里安诺维奇·斯卡奇科夫(K.A.Skachkov,中文名孔气)收集中国书籍和抄本之际,恐怕不会想到一百五十多年之后,他的收藏会在中国引起注意.     

Decolonizing geographies of travel: Reading James/Jan Morris

Travel writing can produce critical 'in-between' spaces, which contribute to broader cultural politics of postcolonialism, by transgressing and in a preliminary sense deconstructing imperial binaries. These imperial binaries structure subjectivities, on the one hand, and material geographies, on the other. This paper examines such a project, through a reading of travel writing by James/Jan Morris, which shows how processes of decolonizing subjectivities and material geographies may be recursively related. Morris is known for newspaper coverage of the 1953 Everest expedition, for a trilogy on the British Empire, for the autobiographical account of a sex change, and for many travel books and articles; all of which foreground themes of gender and imperialism. The paper argues that Morris's decolonizations have charted and created in-between spaces of subjectivity and material geography, ambivalent spaces with critical potential. The ambivalence of these spaces can constitute a critical limitation, but also an opportunity; in response, the conclusion redirects some critical attention away from writers and textual spaces to readers and interpretations, and thus points towards a postcolonial (and wider) politics of reading.     

Hacking the master code: cyborg stories and the boundaries of autism

In this paper, we consider how the use of Internet technologies by individuals on the autism spectrum (AS) may contribute to recoding the spatial, sociopolitical, ontological, and epistemological boundaries commonly assumed to delimit autistic from non-autistic lifeworlds. Drawing on the work of Donna Haraway, we argue that the responses of AS individuals to a survey about online communication suggest these individuals are engaged in a form of cyborg writing, admixing constraints and opportunities in a way that opens alternative, polycentric, and indeterminate but nonetheless important political possibilities for people on (and off) the AS.     

Towards a history of old age in Australia

This paper is offered as an addition to the small existing body of research on the history of old age in Australia. It considers the experiences of a cohort of early settlers in a Victorian country district as they grew old in their community. It finds that while the experience and even the definition of old age varied with class, gender and circumstance, most ageing people in the Colac area remained more engaged with both the community and family than more general studies have suggested.     

Functional change as an indicator of transformation near the old city centre of Istanbul

Over time, the residential areas close to city centres have experienced change in their function and social structure. In Istanbul a functional and social change is also observed, especially in the residential buildings near the historical city centre. This study investigated this process of transformation through a research project conducted in the southern part of the Istanbul Historical Peninsula (old city centre) and documents the recent functional changes in this district. It also considers the role of tourism in the process of inner city transformation. On the basis of the data collected during the study, proposals are forwarded for the future development of the area.     

The Gender,Place and Culture Jan Monk Distinguished Annual Lecture: Gentrification,assassination and forgetting in Mexico: a feminist Marxist tale

In this article, I employ feminist and Marxist tools to expose the struggles over the constant plunder and expansion of global capitalism along Mexico's northern border, specifically in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. In particular, I examine how an official politics – promoted by the Mexican and US governments – for forgetting the economic and social devastation of a transcontinental drug war contributes to the mechanisms for further exploiting the working poor. By combining a feminist focus on the daily struggle of social reproduction with a Marxist emphasis on accumulation by dispossession, I show how this official ‘forgetting’ segues with an international gentrification plan in downtown Ciudad Juárez that seeks to expand the rent gap by denying place, legitimacy and legal status to the working women and their families who have made this border city famous as a hub of global manufacturing. As such, I argue that the social struggles against the official forgetting are struggles against a violent political economy that generates value via a devaluation of the spaces of the working poor, even of the spaces of their literal existence.