“Frequent Deaths”: The Colonial Development of Concentration Camps Reconsidered, 1868–1974

This article sheds new light on the development of concentration camps in colonial warfare in the longue durée from 1868 to 1974. Introducing different examples of forced removal and deportation in the Spanish and Portuguese empires, the analysis emphasizes their interrelation, highlighting possible transfers of knowledge that have been neglected in comparative discussions. Specifically, the article reassesses the Cuban experience of concentrating civilians in times of war (1868–98); it critically evaluates Spain’s forgotten concentration camps on the Canary Islands, which emerged during the Ifni-Sahara war of 1957–58; and it focuses on both the theory of revolutionary warfare and the practice of so-called strategic resettlement in the long and protracted Portuguese colonial wars in Africa (1961–74). In particular, the camps on the Canary Islands suggest the need for an analytical distinction between the function of forced removals in counter-guerrilla warfare and administrative internment; they are related but essentially different policies. Based on hitherto ignored archival material, this empirically supported analysis challenges common assumptions about the “origins” of camps, and questions traditional temporal boundaries in the development of (anti-)guerrilla warfare.     

“Neither too much nor too little” France,the USSR and the Helsinki CSCE

In the early 1970s, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) was the cornerstone of French foreign policy regarding East-West relations. It was considered by Paris as the best way to maintain dialogue with Moscow as well as an instrument to reach the Gaullist goal of overcoming the European status quo. This double objective explains why the French adopted an ambiguous attitude during the CSCE: even though their goal was to challenge the Brezhnev doctrine and initiate a process to meet the aspirations of peoples under Soviet domination, they knew that this would be a lengthy process. For them, it was necessary to avoid provoking the Soviets by putting forward expressively liberal proposals. The French leaders of the 1970s saw the CSCE as the multilateral prolongation of the Gaullist policy of ‘détente, entente, cooperation’.     

Bringing lessons from crisis management into the realm of wicked problems

Despite long-term research agendas around how to better understand and address wicked problems, they remain ‘wicked’ while crises generally come to an end. The objective of this paper is to assess whether governments seeking to address wicked problems can learn lessons from the insights of crisis management. While we are careful to avoid stretching the lessons of crisis management too far, we argue that there is untapped potential in establishing the broader applicability of crisis research to wicked problems. In doing so, we identify traditional roadblocks to addressing wicked issues and suggest that they are much less discernible in many crisis conditions. We then illustrate via a case study of the whole-of-government response to the 2011 Queensland Floods in Australia. The case has broader relevance beyond Australia in identifying how the challenges of crisis management can help us find better ways of addressing seemingly intractable wicked policy problems, particularly through strategic crisis framing.     

The colors of the Fontana di Trevi: an analytical approach

During the last restoration of the Fontana di Trevi -Rome (2014–2015), it has been performed a diagnostic investigation to characterize the materials used to build and obtain the colors of the surfaces of some architectural elements of this fountain. According to the restoration teamwork needs, we focussed our efforts on the dome over the central statue of Oceanus, on the bas-relieves on the sides of the dome, and on the cliff where the water flows. Several samples were collected from these elements and therefore, they were subjected to an analytical approach including infrared spectroscopy, optical and scanning electron microscopy. The achieved results indicated the use of red earth pigments on the dome. The same pigment has been revealed on the bas-relieves, although their colors have an additional contribution due to degraded layers. Samples taken from the cliff showed a complex stratigraphy, although a white scialbo has been identified as original layer, testifying the intentions of the authors in term of color rendering. This information was essential for the restores in order to choose the proper intervention procedure for each investigated surface. The research testified the importance of an integrated diagnostic analysis to preserve the original colours of monuments and building.     

Railway Architecture: The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) at Dundalk

ABSTRACT

This article is adapted from the dissertation ‘Railway Architecture: The Great Northern Railway (Ireland) at Dundalk’, completed by Siobhan Osgood for the MPhil in Art History: Art + Ireland, where it was awarded a distinction. The study provides an historical analysis in the context of architectural development and broader railway culture in Ireland to provide an interpretation and understanding of the use of polychromatic yellow, red and black brickwork to create a visual identity for railway architecture. The use of accented colours to pick out key features is repeated across a series of buildings, thus creating a distinctive style of ‘brick-branding’. These are most prominent in the town of Dundalk, where the GNRI had its central engineering works at the halfway point on the Dublin to Belfast mainline and at the point where the Irish North line extended west and north. The buildings were each intricately designed by the GNRI's first chief engineer, William Hemingway Mills, a second-generation railway engineer who merged the roles of architect and engineer using an amalgamation of architectural designs from his earlier career in Derby, Scotland, Mexico and Spain. Mills thus created his own ‘Millsian’ style of industrial architectural design.     

“非遗”传承人权利保障机制地方法制评述:兼论“非遗法”的反思与完善

《中华人民共和国非物质文化遗产法》("非遗法")颁布实施以后,我国已就非物质文化遗产(非遗)传承人权利保障相关问题进行地方法制实践。这些地方立法不仅保留了"非遗法"相关规定之精华,同时亦在此基础上进行了创新。这些地方法制的做法不仅具有正当性,还具有诸多亮点和启示。为缓解非遗领域不同位阶法律适用冲突以及平衡、协调非遗传承人权利与义务之间关系,"非遗法"应就非遗传承人权利保障机制等问题进行规定,以最终实现非遗法律体系形式功能与实质功能的统一。     

Potential Use of Foamed Mortar (FM) for Thermal Upgrading of Chinese Traditional Hui-Style Residences

The Hui-style residence is an important architectural heritage of China. The hollow wall structures are widely used to build its exterior wall system. However, the thermal performance of the hollow wall is no longer able to meet the new energy-saving and environmental requirement. This article describes a laboratory study of the development of foamed mortar (FM), with the potential for use in thermal upgrading of the Hui-style hollow wall system without dramatically changing its traditional structure. The key early age, physical, mechanical and thermal properties were systematically measured. Two extended models were respectively developed to calculate compressive strength and thermal conductivity, as a function of porosity. Environment chamber test was also employed to investigate the effectiveness of this novel thermal upgrading approach and the results show that filling the voids with FM can effectively improve the overall thermal resistance of the hollow wall system by 44%, which is almost equal to the overall thermal resistance when using the more expensive commercial inorganic stucco system. In addition, the combination of these two methods yielded an overall thermal resistance of 0.701 m²·K/W, which is even higher than 0.67 m²·K/W for the code required in the hot summer/cold winter climate zone.