Beijing Doctors＇ Gospel to the Children of the Plateau Who Are Suffering from Congenital Heart Diseases

Kunsang Yangzom burst into tears. If the Beijing medical team, aiming to complete a medical survey and treatment, did not drive 220-odd kilometers from Lhasa to Nakartse County in Lhoka Prefecture, the l 1-year-old little girl would never have known she had a congenital heart disease. If she had missed this opportunity to get treatment, in the coming some days her life would be at risk due to heart failure which might be caused by pulmonary hypertension and endocarditis.     

明清之际西洋音乐在中国内地传播考略

明清之际,西洋音乐随着欧洲商人与传教士的东来传入中国,首先在澳门,并经澳门向中国内地传播。本文勾稽大量中西文史料,对西洋音乐在中国宫廷及民间传播的史实进行了分析,并对明清之际几次西洋乐队进入中国进行了考证,其中很多资料均为作者发掘。     

王安国文集及佚作考

王安国在当时甚有文名.王安石《平甫墓志》既称之:"自(艸)角未尝从人受学,操笔为戏,文皆成理.年十二,出其所为铭、诗、赋、论数十篇,观者惊焉.自是遂以文学为一时贤士大夫誉叹.盖于书无所不该,于词无所不工."①曾巩《王平甫文集序》亦称"平甫自少已杰然以材高见于世.为文思若决河,语出惊人,一时争传诵之.其学问尤敏,而资之以不倦,至晚愈笃,……其文闳富典重,其诗博而深矣."②王、曾之文皆称王安国诗文兼长,自少即以高材见称于世.     

Stable isotope analysis of a medieval skeletal sample indicative of systemic disease from Sigtuna Sweden

In Sigtuna, Sweden, several medieval cemeteries have been excavated, from which approximately 800 skeletons have been excavated and analysed. Archaeological finds and anthropological analyses have exposed social differences between the cemeteries. Stable isotope analyses have shown that the inhabitants of the town consumed a mixed diet. Significant differences in dietary patterns between the cemeteries may be related to social stratification.In the outskirts of a churchyard excavated in 2006, bone changes showing systemic inflammatory disease indicative of leprosy were observed in six individuals. The burial location suggests that the affected belonged to a lower social stratum. Bone samples were taken from these six individuals, 19 other human skeletons and five animals from the same cemetery for analysis of the stable isotope composition of carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and sulphur (S).The results showed no significant differences in δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values between the groups, i.e. the seemingly healthy humans and the humans affected by severe inflammatory disease appear to have had similar diets. Nor was a significant difference observed in δ³⁴S data between the six affected individuals and the rest of the sample, implying that no difference in origins could be observed between the two groups studied. However, a comparison between the present study and the previous analysis resulted in significant differences in carbon values.Based on the results obtained in this investigation it is suggested that if a dietary difference existed between people in the outskirts of a cemetery (for example those suffering from leprosy) and people buried in higher ranked regions, it was not a difference in food source but rather in other parameters. Instead dietary differences and possibly social variations are demonstrated between cemeteries. The results from the present study highlight the hierarchical arrangements of social classes in the early medieval society.     

A geographical approach to trust in tourism

Abstract

Within tourism research, trust has largely been conceptualised from psychological perspectives, allowing insights into the mechanisms through which resident/stakeholder relations generate trust. Whilst this work is valuable in understanding dynamics of trust relations, such focus has meant less attention and has been given to the ways space influences trust in tourism contexts. Thus, a geographical approach is put forth to understanding trust in tourism. Through observation and semi-structured interviews concerned with the implementation of a community tourism project in southwest China, insights are provided illustrating how trust is inscribed in place. It is shown that in the Chinese context, cultural place-based specificities relating to pre-existing governance structures, social hierarchies, and the intersection of power, knowledge and trust influence the (in)abilities of NGOs to develop trust with specific residents. More meaningful dialogue between tourism research and geographical conceptualisations of trust is called for – as a way to attend to spatial and scalar differences in understanding of trust within tourism contexts.     

Seeds/fruits,pollen and parasite remains as evidence of site function: piazza Garibaldi – Parma (N Italy) in Roman and Mediaeval times

Archaeobotanical analyses were carried out on layers from the site of Piazza Garibaldi in Parma, a town located in the plain of Emilia Romagna, in northern Italy. The layers dated to the 3rd–2nd centuries BC, around the time of the foundation of the Roman town, and to the 10th–11th centuries AD. According to archaeological data, the site was a sacred area in Roman times, while it was a market square in Mediaeval times. Data from pollen and seeds/fruits were useful for both palaeoenvironmental and palaeoethnobotanical reconstructions, and together with NPPs including parasite remains contributed to add details on the function of the site in the different chronological phases.