Dien Bien Phu—fifty years on

Although 2004 marks the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Dien Bien Phu and the end of France's colonial presence in Indochina, the war seems to have little resonance for the majority in today's France. Official commemorations of the anniversary, though muted in France, mythologise the battle as epic and legendary: the epitome of military honour and heroism. Veterans' memories, however, are evoked in terms of betrayal, abandonment and humiliation. What little debate exists over the war has stalled over the issue of whether the war would have been lost had its opponents not sought to scupper the French effort in Indochina.     

Samuel Tissot’s Traité de l’épilepsie—250 years old

A quarter of a millennium ago, Samuel Tissot (1728–1797), a Swiss physician who had achieved a substantial European reputation, authored a monograph entitled Traité de l’épilepsie. The book was translated into several European languages and appeared in various editions over the following 70 years, although an English-language version was never published. In his Traité, Tissot provided a thorough account and critical analysis of the previous relevant literature concerning epilepsy, added data from his own experience in practice, and raised issues, some of which remain important today. The appearance of the book was propitious, occurring during the period of the European Enlightenment, when medicine was increasingly divesting itself of ancient modes of thinking and veneration for the opinions of great names from the remote past. At least in Western Europe, the Traité de l’épilepsie became an intellectual launching pad for the considerable expansion in knowledge of epilepsy that occurred over the century or longer that followed its publication.     

…?… evidence…?…

Questions of Evidence: Proof, Practice, and Persuasion across the Disciplines. Edited by James Chandler, Arnold I. Davidson, and Harry Harootunian (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994) 518pp. $45.00 cloth $19.95 paper.

The Creation of Scientific Effects: Heinrich Hertz and Electric Waves. By Jed Z. Buchwald (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994) 428pp. $32.95 paper $75.00 cloth.     

Medical Research Council Programme on AIDS in Uganda – the first 10 years

Abstract

The Medical Research Council (MRC) Programme on AIDS in Uganda is based at the Uganda Virus Research Institute of the Ugandan Ministry of Health in Entebbe on the shores of Lake Victoria. The programme was established following a request in 1988 from the Ugandan Government to the UK Government for assistance with AIDS, which had recently been discovered to be a large and growing health problem in the country. At that time Uganda had the worst published rates of HIV infection in the world. Over the past 10 years, Uganda has to some extent controlled its AIDS problem while other countries have been overtaken by even worse epidemics. From the outset of the epidemic Ugandan political leaders have discussed the dangers that HIV infection presented to the country and looked for support from community and opinion leaders, including religious groups. They have used available human resources in a relevant manner to trigger important social changes. Sex education is becoming integrated into the school curriculum, programmes have been established to improve the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases throughout the country, and the use of condoms has been actively and widely promoted through free distribution and social marketing. In Uganda today, experts estimate that 10–25% of the urban population and 4–10% of the rural population are infected with HIV.     

Thirty years of anastelosis works on the Athenian Acropolis, 1975–2005

Abstract

The year 2005 saw the completion of thirty years of work on the new anastelosis of the monuments of the Athenian Acropolis. The works began solely as a means of rescuing the Acropolis monuments from the urgent problems they faced in the 1970s, especially fracturing and disintegration resulting from the rusting of the iron reinforcing elements that had been embedded in the monuments during earlier restorations. In the course of these works, however, various situations emerged, most of them previously unforeseen, which led to more extensive restoration interventions on the monuments. The purpose of these has been to correct the errors made during the earlier interventions, to improve the general state of preservation of the monuments and to display the inherent values and quality of the monuments in all their richness. To a certain degree, these interventions alter the conventional image of the Acropolis in a way that is significant but not dramatic. The works already completed, the current interventions on the monuments and the future programme are explained, along with the distinctive qualities of the interventions and the situations that emerged during their execution. Finally, the changing image of the Acropolis landscape is discussed.     

Re-placing gender? Reflections on 15 years of Gender,Place and Culture

This article reflects on Gender, Place and Culture (GPC) from 1994 to mid-2008, to highlight some of the key subjects and debates which have been delimited and progressed within its pages. Launched simultaneously with the cultural turn in human geography, GPC proceeded to raise important questions about identity and difference, effectively reflecting but also driving a number of transformative intellectual and political agendas. This reflection will focus on three interrelated sites of such activity: empirical, theoretical and political. Empirically, numerous articles have examined the ways gender is lived, in and across spaces and these have been enlivened by approaches highlighting masculinities, sexualities and embodiment. Theoretically these subjects have been informed by post-colonial and post-structural frameworks, directing discussion towards multiple identities, reflexivity, research practice, performativity, material cultures, positionality and the nature of academic knowledge. In addition, GPC has registered progressive political concerns for justice and equality, though the nature and extent of its political import has been legitimately questioned from without and within the pages of the journal. The resolution of the many dilemmas associated with the ways gender is lived, thought about and practiced has not always been successful in the pages of GPC, and the ongoing reality of Anglo-American dominance, the persistence of women's inequality and the tension between discursive and political activism, remains. However, in re-placing gender over the last 15 years, GPC has been a journal of serious and path-breaking scholarship which has further legitimized the value of feminist geography.     

160years海派印痕

已经入秋,但酷热仍然让人们在心中默默地诅咒.在持续至9月的异常高温里,上海人固守着这座城市传统的秩序感.西藏路西侧的过街天桥下,蜿蜒排出一条将近200米长的队列,近千名老人和妇女等候着领取一家药店免费发送的两包一周用量的消渴茶,那是一家药厂推销糖尿病患者饮品的促销活动.绝对看不到其他城市容易出现的喧哗和拥抢,他们只是彼此悄声议论,把酷热置之度外.从这里向南看出去,淮海路高架桥上的车流与太阳的白光交织起来,是一个典型的气象"热岛".这是9月6日的上午.早展出版的《东方早报》第一版赫然写道:"今日37度上海高温再破记录".除了气象条件,文章指出:"有专家表示,汽车尾气、空调所产生的二氧化碳等使中心城区的温度比郊外的气温高了3-5度."     

160years海派印痕

无论如何,大都市的另一种额外魅力,乃是透过她的转变,人们可以依恋地回望她的过去。 ——[意]卡尔维诺 已经入秋,但酷热仍然让人们在心中默默地诅咒。在持续至9月的异常高温里,上海人固守着这座城市传统的秩序感。西藏路西侧的过街天桥下,蜿蜒     

What are the concerns? Looking back on 15 years of research in cultural and creative industries

This paper surveys the research literature on cultural and creative industries (CCI). Academic discussions on CCI have grown extensively after the Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) identified 13 sectors as constituting creative industries in the UK in 1998. The public has also become gradually convinced of the significance of CCI as being important for economic growth. We adopt a systematic and quantitative method to review the academic CCI literature. After collecting data, we first investigate the research fields under which the journals that publish CCI papers are categorized, finding that Business, Economics and Geography are the top three research fields. A second examination on the authors’ nationality indicates that their cultural background induces a different emphasis on their research field. We lastly apply the multiple main paths analysis to uncover the development trajectories of CCI research, with the result showing that the research agenda has changed along with a better understanding of the essential elements of CCI. Based on the literature on the main path, we observe the top five discussed themes: information technology, global cooperation, micro and fragmentary creative activities, remote places, and country/regional characteristics. Monitoring the discussions on these themes may help CCI researchers, creative workers, and policy makers to assess future directions for economic development.     

250美元和一个孩子

如果你想生孩子,却一直不能怀孕,医生会让你做备种各样的检查,之后可能建议你使用试管婴儿技术。这时候。你开始上网查资料,说不定还会问问做过试管婴儿的朋友。然后你会发现这项技术并没有想象中那么神奇。它很贵,在中国要好几万的花费,成功率却大概只有三分之一。