Margaret Kennard on Sparing and Recovery of Function: A Tribute on The 100th anniversary of Her Birth

Margaret Kennard was an American pioneer in the experimental study of sparing and recovery of function. Her most famous experiments were performed on monkeys and apes at Yale University during the late 1930s and early 1940s. By describing the behavioral effects of brain damage on infantile, juvenile, and older primates, she drew new attention to just how important developmental status can be at the time of neural insult. Kennard also conducted experiments which showed that even adult primates can exhibit significant sparing and recovery of function, especially if brain lesions are made in stages rather than all at once. In many respects, Kennard helped launch the modern era of research on sparing and recovery of function by demonstrating that several factors in addition to lesion locus can affect post-injury performance and by recognizing that, if neural reorganization does occur, it probably takes place in spared parts of the damaged system.     

辽宁省隆重纪念尹湛纳希诞辰17O周年

今年是伟大的蒙古族作家尹湛纳希诞辰170周年.11月3日,由辽宁省民族事务委员会、省文史研究馆、辽宁社会科学院主办,辽宁民族出版社、辽宁蒙古族经济文化促进会、尹湛纳希研究会协办的"纪念尹湛纳希诞辰170周年"会议在沈阳举行.     

The neurophysiological aspects of Pavlov's theory of higher nervous activity: in honor of the 150th anniversary of Pavlov's birth

Whereas Ivan P. Pavlov (1849-1936) is well-known for his work on classical conditioning, his contribution to neuroscience, particularly his interest in the function of neural centers in the central nervous system, is not as widely known. During the last three decades of his life, Pavlov explored cortical processes by salivary reflex conditioning, a method he used to develop his theory of higher nervous activity. This theory outlined the function of the brain in higher organisms in their interaction with the changing environmental contingencies. As early as 1908, Pavlov outlined a neurophysiological theory as the physiological basis of his theory of higher nervous activity. He maintained that the neural processes of excitation and inhibition irradiate and concentrate among the cortical neural centers. Most of all, he emphasized the plasticity of the cortex in higher organisms' in the Darwinian struggle for existence.     

当代中国研究所纪念陈云诞辰100周年学术座谈会综述

由当代中国研究所和中华人民共和国国史学会联合举办的纪念陈云诞辰100周年学术座谈会,于5月13 日在当代所召开。座谈会分两个阶段,在上午的座谈会上,全国政协副主席、中国社会科学院院长、国史学会会长陈奎元和原中顾委秘书长李力安应邀出席,陈云同志的夫人于若木、原国家体改委副主任周太和、中共中央文献研究室副主任李捷、中共中央党史研究室副主任张启华、《求是》杂志原总编辑有林、中共中央政策研究室原副主任郑科扬、国防大学原副校长侯树栋、北京大学校务委员会副主任梁柱到会并作了发言(详见发言摘登)。出席座谈会的还有陈云同志的老秘书、中纪委原常委刘家栋,中央档案馆副馆长杨公之,军事科学院科研指导部部长曾庆洋,陈云同志的子女以及来自中央国家机关、高等院校和当代中国研究所的专家和学者、国史学会的常务理事和理事,共120余人。会议由中国社科院副院长兼当代中国研究所所长朱佳木主持。     

Egas Moniz and the origins of psychosurgery: a review commemorating the 50th anniversary of Moniz's Nobel Prize

Modern psychosurgery began in 1936 with the work of the Portuguese neurologist, Egas Moniz, who attempted to treat the symptoms of mental illness by severing neural tracts in the frontal lobes. This procedure eventually became widespread and applied to thousands of institutionalized, psychotic patients in the United States and other countries. Despite serious side effects associated with psychosurgery, the apparent importance and validity of the treatment was recognized in 1949 when Moniz received the Nobel Prize for his innovation. Psychosurgery was largely replaced by anti-psychotic drugs in the mid-1950s, and the procedure and its practitioners rapidly fell into disrepute. This article reviews Moniz's career, the factors that led up to his first clinical trials of frontal lobe surgery, and the circumstances that allowed psychosurgery to flourish in the 1940s, eventually leading to Moniz's Nobel Prize.     

纪念太平天国起义150周年暨罗尔纲诞辰100周年学术研讨会综述

2001年5月28至30日,由中国史学会、中国太平天国史研究会、中国社会科学院近代史研究所、南京大学等单位发起,南京太平天国历史博物馆承办的“纪念太平天国150周年暨罗尔纲诞辰100周年学术研讨会”在南京召开。大会的主题是“太平天国历史的再认识”和“继承发扬罗尔纲严谨求真的治学精神”。出席代表80多人,提交论74篇。现择要介绍如下。     

V. P. SEMENOV-TYAN-SHANSKIY'S REGION AND COUNTRY: ITS PRESENT-DAY RELEVANCE AND MEANING (on the 50th anniversary of publication)

A reassessment of a classic Russian geographical work by V. P. Semonov-Tyan-Shanskiy (1870-1942) by a group of young geographers finds that some of its ideas were far ahead of its time and are only now beginning to be understood and conceptualized in the Soviet Union. The reissuance of his book, which has become a bibliographical rarity, is urged. Veniamin Semenov-Tyan-Shanskiy, the son of Pyotr Semenov-Tyan-Shanskiy, another classic figure in Russian geography, was one of the last universalists, with interests ranging from geomorphology to economic statistics. He is probably best known for a multivolume regional geography of Russia, of which 11 of 22 projected volumes appeared between 1899 and 1913.     

Drainage on the Grand Prairie: the birth of a hydraulic society on the Midwestern frontier

The Grand Prairie of east central Illinois was notorious for a marshy environment that prevented dense agricultural settlement until late in the nineteenth century. While recent historical–geographical scholarship has focused on innovations in drainage technology, drainage-related laws and institutions, and the ecological impacts of wetland reclamation, it has largely failed to account for the persistence of agrarian structure, and its key component, land tenure, on the Grand Prairie. Late-nineteenth-century reclamation efforts were not quite so transformative as previously believed. The same landed elite that dominated in the pre-drainage era quickly emerged atop a system of public drainage that held the key to the region’s economic future. In this paper, we extend Karl Wittfogel and Donald Worster’s theorizations about ‘hydraulic civilizations’ from the realm of irrigation to that of drainage. While drainage was indeed important in shaping the history of east central Illinois, we argue that a distinctive social order in east central Illinois emerged from, and was shaped by, an older agrarian structure that had developed in response to marshy, unpredictable conditions before drainage began in the late 1800s. The beneficiaries of the old order did not yield power easily, and instead skillfully capitalized on the new opportunities presented by drainage enterprises, to create a ‘hydraulic society’ on the prairie. The new order continued to rely on the exploitation of tenant farmers even as the landscape itself was transformed into the intensely managed and highly productive Corn Belt of today.     

On the 80th anniversary of the Racial Laws. Articles reflecting the current scholarship on Italian Fascist anti-Semitism in honour of Michele Sarfatti

ABSTRACT

This special issue of the Journal of Modern Italian Studies, edited by Annalisa Capristo and Ernest Ialongo, marks the 80^th anniversary of the implementation of the Racial Laws in Fascist Italy. It is an opportunity to assess the evolution of the historical literature on Fascist anti-Semitism and to mark future directions for research, but also to pay homage to Michele Sarfatti, who was critical in the development of the current state of the historiography on the subject. Where the earlier work, before the 1980s, was founded on the idea of ‘Italiani brava gente’, wherein Italy’s role was downplayed in the persecution of the Jews and in the Holocaust, that Italians were simply too humane to have participated in such horrific events, Sarfatti’s work launched a veritable revolution in the field, which dismantled all the tenets of the original consensus. This introduction surveys these developments, and summarizes the contributions of the varied authors published here who continue to challenge old truths and bring us closer to a more full and accurate understanding of Fascist anti-Semitism.     

"Pictures with a purpose": the birth control debate on the big screen

In the first half of the twentieth century, birth control advocates used the mass media to reframe contraception from a private, secret matter to an acceptable part of life fit for public discussion. Although their campaign began in print, they quickly embraced the more far-reaching medium of film to deliver their message. This article argues that birth control advocates circumvented the Comstock Act in the early decades of the twentieth century by taking up this new medium as part of a long-running strategy to publicize the birth control movement. Their efforts shaped both the public debate on the topic and the development of motion picture censorship.     

Exceptional fossils and biotas of Gondwana: the fortieth anniversary issue of Alcheringa

McLoughlin, S., September 2016. Exceptional fossils and biotas of Gondwana: the fortieth anniversary issue of Alcheringa. Alcheringa 40, xxx–xxx. ISSN 0311-5518.

Stephen McLoughlin [steve.mcloughlin@nrm.se], Department of Palaeobiology, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Box 50007, S-104 05, Sweden. Submitted 22.8.2016.     

In situ corrosion studies on the submarine Resurgam: A preliminary assessment of her state of preservation

Abstract

The submarine Resurgam was the world's first mechanically powered submarine, built in 1879 and lost in 1880 off the north coast of Wales. She was discovered 116 years later in 1996 and as part of an initial survey the corrosion characteristics and state of preservation of the hull were investigated.

The results showed that the hull was actively corroding, although the corrosion mechanism was such that the corrosion products formed were likely to be of a protective nature. The present corrosion rate of the wrought-iron hull of the submarine was hard to quantify based on established means, as the profile of 116 years of corrosion products had not been retained over the entire hull due to spalling of the corrosion products. Where the concretion profile was retained it was possible to calculate an average corrosion rate of 0.1 mm per year. This, coupled with the knowledge of the corrosion rate of freshly exposed wrought iron in sea water, enabled a ‘worst case’ corrosion rate of between 0.1–0.2 mm per year to be estimated.

Two arrays of sacrificial anodes were attached to the hull to test the feasibility of using this method to slow the corrosion rate and stabilize the submarine In situ. It is too early to say how successful these will be in the long term, yet initial results were encouraging as the corrosion potential was seen to shift to a more cathodic and thus less corrosive potential after their attachment.     

The apparitions of the Virgin Mary of Medjugorje: the convergence of Croatian nationalism and her apparitions

Abstract. This article concerns the alleged apparitions of the Virgin Mary in one of the most popular, ‘active’ apparitional sites in the world: Medjugorje in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The connection between nationalist discourse and apparitions has often been observed and noted in the literature on nationalism; however, the examples of this connection are scattered in the literature and the question why the apparitional phenomenon so easily lends itself to co‐option into nationalist discourse has never been addressed. This article explores this question by showing that what binds the two phenomena together is the idea of ‘chosenness’ and ‘specialness’, which in turn can be theoretically linked to discussions about national election in the literature on nationalism. This article illustrates the convergence of nationalist and apparitional discourses by drawing on a selected number of examples of how the apparitions in Medjugorje have been appropriated by Croatian nationalist discourse.