Reflections on Cardiovascular Diseases

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases increase with the age of the individual and as the world's population will have an increasing number of aged members by the year 2000, these diseases deserve special attention. The present state of our knowledge is reviewed, and the author concludes that there is only a single motto for the future: Prevention.     

Schistosomiasis A persistent parasitic disease

Abstract

Some of the more fascinating aspects of schistosomiasis biology that make this parasitic disease such a formidable challenge to control are explored. For instance, major environmental change can lead to outbreaks of disease. Research work applying genome analysis to schistosomiasis is described and improved knowledge of the molecular composition of the parasite should lead to the discovery of new targets for control strategies. The review demonstrates that research in tropical diseases requires an interdisciplinary input from diverse scientific professions.     

Comparison of two cluster life stages in a synthetic knowledge base

ABSTRACT

Knowledge flows in clusters are highly important since they are related to innovation. Types and spatial levels of knowledge sources have been studied by many scholars. This study examines knowledge sources from evolutionary perspective. Evolutionary Economic Geography suggests that regional industries and their dynamics co-evolve. While conceptual and empirical studies argue that network characteristics take different characteristics throughout time, and that knowledge sources are subject to change, little is known about in what way they change in a synthetic knowledge base. In this study, we examined the knowledge sources in a specific knowledge base throughout time. The study was applied to two clusters in Turkey in a synthetic knowledge base yet in different life stages: emergence and maturity. The network structure was analysed by social network analysis, hypotheses were tested by Mann–Whitney U-Tests. The findings show that although network structure and density change through maturity, the types and spatial levels of knowledge sources do not vary between the two life stages, they keep the same characteristics of their knowledge bases.     

War on the Mind

Abstract

The new biology, a formidable triad of the disciplines of biochemistry, genetics and cell biology, has given an entirely new insight into disease processes. It is forcefully argued here that this interdisciplinary approach should be applied to tropical diseases. The detailed strategy and possible engineering of a malaria vaccine, as developed at the author's Institute, are cited as an example. But finally, society must decide if the new biology is to be used for research on the diseases of the rich or the poor peoples of this planet.     

Honorary Secretary’s Report For 1966

Abstract

Wooden Madonna tabernacles from c.1150–c.1350 are today scarce, and it is therefore difficult to get a complete understanding of their original appearance and variations. Nevertheless there are still preserved at least fifteen Madonna tabernacles, or substantial fragments of them, in Scandinavia, which can give us a picture of the variety of appearance and form these large tabernacles had in this period. The surviving Scandinavian Madonna tabernacles have, like the southern European ones, quite a lot of variation in types and appearance, both in their closed and open positions. The largest group consisted of niches with relief-figures on the interior when open, but the scenes could also be painted, or painting and sculpture combined on the same surface. A neglected aspect of these tabernacles is their appearance in the closed position. Often the wings of the tabernacles have their original painting preserved on the exterior, even if the reverse has been overpainted or the wings have been restructured. Many of these original surfaces had non-figural decoration, such as foliage, monochrome surfaces in red or green, or a combination of simple patterns of red and green.     

Konrad Bloch and Heinz Maier-Leibnitz

Abstract

Secrecy is the greatest enemy of democracy and science: the key to their advance lies in the wider spread of knowledge, the only natural resource which is constantly increasing. The arguments for and against secrecy, external or internal security, are analysed and illustrated with British and American examples. Commercial and individual secrecy are reviewed, and the techniques of how secrecy is upheld and how it is broken are given in some detail. Five reforms are urged to make private knowledge public, thus to safeguard democracy and the scientific tradition of freedom which depends on it.     

Drugs for Tropical Diseases in the Third World

Abstract

The relationship between the World Health Organization's Special Programme for reducing tropical diseases and the pharmaceutical industry is the author's main theme. The problems of malaria, schistosomiasis, filariasis trypanosomiasis – both types – leishmaniasis and leprosy are surveyed with references to their chemotherapy, the search for new drugs and possible immunity. It is concluded that existing drugs are far from perfect, but untll better ones have been discovered, they represent the best treatment for most of the diseases reviewed.     

Artifact Visibility at Open Sites in Western New South Wales,Australia

Abstract

Surface visibility is a significant constraint in archaeological survey, and estimates of surface visibility are a common addition to cultural resource management reports. Despite this, relatively few studies have attempted to identify the factors affecting visibility and quantify their effects. We report the results of such a study based on analysis of surface stone artifacts deposited by prehistoric hunter-gatherers from the Stud Creek area in what is now Sturt National Park, western New South Wales, Australia. While we are able to demonstrate and quantify relationships between high artifact visibility and erosional surfaces, and low visibility and vegetated or depositional surfaces, our findings also indicate a high degree of local variability. This variability sometimes obscures the predicted relationships. The outcome of this research leads us to question the way some sampling designs for archaeological survey are constructed.     

Micromorphological Study of Concotto Surfaces Protected by the Avellino Eruption in 3945 ± 10 cal. BP at the Early Bronze Age of Afragola Village in Southern Italy

ABSTRACT

The term Concotto refers to fragments or patches of hard heated clay that derive from living surfaces, walls, and ovens. Concotto fragments are found throughout the Italian peninsula and date from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. Current studies express contradictory opinions about whether or not the Concottos on living surfaces represent intentionally constructed surfaces or the secondary products of the contact between hot embers and sediments. This study uses micromorphological analysis to investigate the function and composition of Concotto surfaces from several domestic structures at the Early Bronze Age village of Afragola in southern Italy. Afragola is an exceptionally preserved agricultural village that was covered by almost 1?m of volcanic ash during the Vesuvius eruption in 3945?±?10 cal. BP. The Concottos at Afragola are hard, red surfaces that are typically associated with burned materials. Micromorphological analysis reveals that the Concottos were intentionally made by laying down patches of clay and then heating them to create a hard, flat surface. This study explores the potential uses of the Concotto as cooking surfaces during the Early Bronze Age of southern Italy.     

Deep Impact: What Happens When Archaeological Sites are Built on?

Abstract

Increasingly, developers and archaeologists search for ways to build on archaeological sites, while at the same time preserving the remains underneath. However, deciding which effects of construction on archaeological sites are acceptable and which are not is hampered by the lack of knowledge on the impacts of construction on archaeological sites. This paper provides an update on some of the effects of building on archaeological sites. Recent research had shown that displacement piles cause less disturbance in soft soils than previously thought. Moreover, replacement piles may be less benign that assumed up till now. Effects of loading on archaeological sites are described, and gaps in the knowledge on these effects are indicated. More research is needed in this field, especially on predicting soil disturbance and damage to weak materials. Impermeable surfaces and constructions on top of sites may affect the visibility of soil features due to decreased rainwater infiltration. Finally, a series of non-physical effects are mentioned that will have to be taken into account when deciding on allowing building on archaeological sites.     

Migration discipline hijacked: distances and interruptions of a research militancy

Abstract

In this paper we reflect on some instruments to interrupt the governmentalization of knowledge production at play in migration studies – mainstream, critical, and radical alike. We take knowledge production as the struggle-field where confronting, resisting, and interrupting the disciplining of migrations that arises from their academic and governmental incorporation as objects (of research and of policies). In contrast, we sketch a political epistemology of migrations, asking: which knowledge practices and interventions account for the contestedness migrations spark, and for the turbulence, excess, and upheavals migrants trigger? The paper discusses two of such paths. First, we sketch an approach to research that works ‘within and against’ the distances that perform and define migration field-sites and their pristine subject positions; second, we argue for the development and deployment of interruptions against those unquestioned chains of equivalences that are embedded in migration knowledge. Building on our engagement with Libyan war refugees in Tunisia and in Italy, we reflect on how these instruments somehow bring scholarly knowledge to its limits while working within its premises.     

Molluscan Total Assemblages across a Woodland–Grassland Boundary and their Palaeoenvironmental Relevance

Abstract

Molluscan total assemblages across a woodland-grassland boundary are described and analysed using a variety of numerical techniques. These demonstrate that although the Mollusca respond to the vegetation boundaries their response does not exactly parallel that of vegetation structure. In particular, some shade-preferential species have encroached from woodland into adjacent grassland, degree of encroachment being an individual species characteristic. The study indicates that the detection of boundaries in sub-fossil assemblages from buried soil surfaces will only be possible if spatially-oriented multi-sampling strategies are employed.     

On Martinus Crusius's collection of Greek vernacular and religious books

Abstract

The importance of Martinus Crusius's collection of Greek chapbooks for our knowledge of 16th century vernacular Greek literature can hardly be over-emphasised. Most copies of his collection are either extremely rare or even unique. Valuable and often unique is also the information about the texts and their authors, which Crusius collected and published in his Turcograecia (Basel 1584) or elsewhere.     

The public misunderstanding of science

Abstract

In spite of tremendous efforts to increase the public understanding of science the results are very meagre. It is shown that the public does not understand science and that there is hardly anybody out there who could help the public catch up, since even eminent scientists do not know about basic ideas outside their own specialist field. It does not help to flood the public with information – it is something else that is relevant, namely knowledge. To increase common knowledge of science a more general approach is necessary.     

Oil in the Arctic 2. The Outer Continental Shelf Environmental Assessment Program

Abstract

Organic chemists are qualified by their knowledge of reaction mechanisms to attempt to predict outlines of biosynthetic sequences leading to natural molecules. The subject is an art, rather than a science, involving several interwoven strands of creative thinking. The evolutions of ideas, distinct from the discovery of facts, are difficult to elucidate from the published literature, and are explored in connection with alkaloids, flavonoids polyketides, and some terpenoids. The advantages and limitations of the chemists' type of thinking are examined with some of the reasons why biochemists have tended to ignore their hypotheses.     

Troubled kids? Locational disadvantage,opportunity structures and social exclusion

ABSTRACT

Young people growing up in poverty often have restricted access to out-of-school enrichment activities that are important for generating the soft skills that support post-school transitions. This paper compares young Australians’ accounts of their opportunity structures – their engagement with enrichment activities, their post-school aspirations, and their knowledge of routes to achieve them – in two suburb types – improver suburbs (close to the median on many indicators) and isolate suburbs (severely disadvantaged on most indicators). While young people in improver suburbs felt able to access facilities and networks in equally or more affluent neighbouring suburbs, young people in isolate suburbs felt excluded from neighbouring suburbs, and experienced more restricted opportunity structures than young people living in improver suburbs, even those who were themselves economically disadvantaged. The paper argues that this geographical experience of exclusion prevents many economically disadvantaged young people from accumulating knowledge and skills valued in post-school settings.     

Mapping science: in memory of John Ziman

Abstract

Science has brought untold benefits to mankind through an increase of knowledge. These are reviewed in astronomy, nuclear physics, in the life sciences and the resulting technological accomplishments are discussed from an American point of view. International cooperation in scientific research, be it big accelerators or large telescopes, has posed great challenges to engineers, but has also highlighted the global problems of population explosion, pollution, tropical diseases and finite resources. All points to the fact that the world is in a state of transition, and this, the main thesis of the review, is exemplified in detail, showing how science and technology has led to social, economic and political problems. To these, solutions are offered.     

Espionage and Near Eastern Archaeology: A Historiographical Survey

Abstract

Between c. 1850 and the end of World War II several key figures of Near Eastern archaeology worked as spies, informers and intelligence operatives for their respective governments. They lent their expert knowledge of Middle Eastern culture, traditions, geography, language and history to the political needs of their governments, creating a lasting legacy. This preliminary survey explores the actions of some of these scholars and discusses their motives and their legacy, in order to interrogate the involvement of archaeologists and anthropologists in the current day politics of the Middle East.     

The notebook and the laboratory – types of knowledge in German piano-making, 1880–1930

ABSTRACT

Between the second half of the nineteenth century and the 1930s, German piano making changed from a craft to an industry. Nevertheless, piano makers still needed specific working knowledge to produce quality instruments. This knowledge was bound to individuals and transmitted informally from one person to another. The piano makers took working knowledge as the core of their practice. But in the shift to industrial methods of production, the key question was how to translate working knowledge into formal knowledge—to articulate what such knowledge meant and how it might be applied. Using the case study of the German piano making factory Grotrian-Steinweg, I show how the piano maker Kurt Grotrian used his notebooks to grapple with the problem of formalizing his working knowledge. At this company, an acoustic laboratory was established, in whose reports formalized knowledge was stored due to the transition of piano making from a craft to an industry.     

Challenging the discipline of migration: militant research in migration studies,an introduction

Abstract

In the last two decades, we have witnessed a proliferation of studies on migrations that, taking human mobility as their focus, contributed to the profiling of migrations as an object of research and to the institutionalization of its stakes. While, on the one hand, this has coincided with the becoming a discipline of migrations (i.e. their acquiring the status of a specific field of scholarly knowledge), it has, on the other hand, coincided with a disciplinarization of migrations themselves, a sort of disciplining effect of migrations' contested politics at the very moment of their academic heyday. This contribution interrogates the discipline of migrations as an academic domain of knowledge, as the governmental conduct of mobility, and as the governmentality at the intersection of these two layers.