Forty-year Period Research Articles

Defenders of the status quo: energy protests and policy (in)action in Sweden

Abstract Are the positions that protesters take—in favor or against change—consequential for their ability to affect policy? While previous research suggests that protests can inform legislative priorities and facilitate policy introduction, this paper emphasizes policy inaction and stasis as goals of some protest actions. Analysis uses novel and detailed data on energy-related protest and policy actions in Sweden covering a forty-year period and considers protest frequency and size in relation to proposal introduction. The research design uniquely distinguishes between protests in favor or against a specific energy source and proposal activity in line with those demands and also controls for public opinion on each energy source. Findings suggest that pro-renewable energy protests do not yield pro-renewable policies but prevent undesired policies that support non-renewable energy sources. In contrast to pro-renewable protests, protests against renewable energy sources are somewhat more influential. They likewise prevent the introduction of their undesired proposals and also influence the introduction of proposals supporting non-renewable energy sources. Overall, the paper examines policy inaction as a desired protest outcome and argues protest—as a tactic—may be more effective when pushing against rather than for policy change.

Collaboration, Compilation, and Confession in Folger MS E.a.1*

ABSTRACT Over a forty-year period, at least five men and women transcribed texts into a quarto manuscript miscellany (Folger MS E.a.1). Anne Denton (née Willison) seems to have started compiling the manuscript around the time of her 1564 marriage to Alexander Denton of Hillesden, Buckinghamshire. Denton’s involvement with the book ended with her death two years later, but her “friends” continued to add to the volume over the next four decades. The eclectic collection is drawn from manuscript sources and printed books on a wide range of topics. Folger MS E.a.1 documents a sixteenth-century gentry family’s religious engagements and reveals the ambidextrous nature of some religious manuscript miscellanies. It also sheds new light on the emergence of an international quasi-Catholicism that challenges current scholarly categories, most notably “recusant.”

Sustainable Water Management of Drip-Irrigated Asparagus under Conditions of Central Poland: Evapotranspiration, Water Needs and Rainfall Deficits

Water is a valuable yet scarce resource in agriculture. Optimizing crop production relies on irrigation, but within the framework of sustainable agriculture, efforts should prioritize reducing irrigation water usage. Unfortunately, climate change increases plant water requirements, consequently heightening the need for irrigation. The aim of the research was to estimate the water needs of asparagus during the fern growth period (21 June–31 August) using the Blaney–Criddle method. The study also aimed to determine trends in changing water needs and estimate precipitation deficits. Calculations were carried out for the years 1981–2020 across four provinces in central Poland. The research indicated that water needs varied between 233 mm and 242 mm, depending on the province. Over the forty-year period, all provinces displayed an increasing trend in water needs, with a rise of 3.1 mm to 6.2 mm per decade. Between 21 June and 31 August, rainfall deficits occurred with varying intensity in all provinces during normal, medium dry and very dry years. The values of water needs and rainfall deficit, calculated as a result of the research, are of key importance in the design, construction, and management of drip irrigation systems for asparagus plantations in central Poland.

"Four Corners and a Void": Idiocy and Childhood Disability in Nineteenth-Century America.

Over the second half of the nineteenth century, thousands of Americans were admitted to schools for so-called idiotic children, later known as institutions for the feebleminded and linked to the Eugenics movement. While idiocy is often presumed to be the antecedent of intellectual disability, an analysis of the stories of three hundred children admitted to one such institution over a forty-year period demonstrates an unexpected diversity of appearances, abilities, and behaviors. Within the walls of the institution, idiocy was composed of children whose perceived abilities deviated from the expectations of their social position. Families further shaped the diagnosis of idiocy by negotiating the timing of admission for their children, influenced not only by personal factors, but by shifting educational and employment opportunities, and cultural tolerance of diversity. Consequently, idiocy became the broadest descriptor of disability during the nineteenth century.

Etienne Ozi – «a great bassonist of incredible talent»

Statement of the problem. Etienne Ozi stands out as a bassoonist due to his significant creative achievements in various spheres of his multifaceted activities. As a bassoonist soloist, he successfully debuted in the “Concerts Spirituels” and for more than two decades was actively performed in front of Parisians in the best halls of the capital. An equally significant achievement of Ozі as a teacher was the preparation of the first instructional manual for the specialists “Nouvelle méthode de basson adoptue par le Conservatoire” (1803), which remained the main official publication of the Paris Conservatory for many years. The composer’s work also became an important part of the bassoon repertoire, which was actively used by him and his students in performing and teaching activities. Despite the importance of E. Ozi’s contribution to all spheres of bassoon art, the artist’s multifaceted creative activity still has not been properly assessed by modern researchers and requires a more detailed study. Recent research and publications. Among the works of domestic scientists, there are hardly any publications dedicated to E. Ozi’s creative activity. An outstanding Ukrainian musician, teacher and scientist V. M. Apatsky (2017) in his fundamental reference publication «Bassoon from A to Z» covers only individual episodes of the musician’s biography. The figure of the French artist is considered more deeply by foreign researchers, among which it is necessary to single out the dissertation and monograph of H. E. Griswold «Etienne Ozi (1754–1813): Bassoonist, Teacher, and Composer» (1979), in which E. Ozi’s work is revealed in sufficient detail. However, over the forty-year period of its existence, a certain updating of historical materials took place, which requires clarification and correction of some facts. Among the latest publications, which in one way or another highlight E. Ozi’s work, it is worth mentioning O. Tiffou’s monograph «The French Bassoon in the 19th Century. Theory and Repertoire» (2022) and Á. D. Moreno’s thesis «Bassoon Playing in Perspective. Character and Performance Practice from 1800 to 1850» (2013). In each of the studies, the authors partly consider individual aspects of the musician’s creative work according to the chosen research direction. Objectives, methods, and novelty of the research. The purpose of the study is to identify the main directions of Etienne Ozi’s performance and his role in the process of formation of the French bassoon school of the late 18th – early 19th centuries. The scientific novelty of the paper is determined by disclosing little-known facts of E. Ozi’s performance and his contribution to the formation of the French bassoon school. The study of E. Ozi’s performance required the use of a number of methods, such as historical to reveal the ideological and socio-economic factors of influence of the French Revolution on the development of musical art; historiography analyses to study and interpret musical and critical sources of the 18th century, chronological one to determine the time sequence of E. Ozi’s main concert performances; contextual and biographical approaches to highlight important stages of the artist’s creative work. Research results. The process of becoming Ozi as a performer is related to military brass bands, which, due to the lack of special musical educational institutions in France in the 18th century, remained the only place, where it was possible to learn to play wind instruments. Then, successful bassoon lessons under the leadership of the outstanding German bassoonist G. V. Ritter opened him the door to the concert stage. From 1779, he became an active performer-soloist of the prestigious “Concerts Spirituels” in the royal palaces. After the French Revolution and the overthrow of the monarchy, E. Ozi continued a successful performing and teaching career in the Paris Conservatory, the orchestras of the Théâtre Italien, Théâtre Feydeau and Théâtre de la République et des Arts. An important achievement of the talented musician was a convincing victory in the competition of nominees for the post of soloist of the Grand Opéra Théâtre, which allowed him to take the most prestigious place for a bassoonist in France. Conclusion. E. Ozi is one of the first French musicians who presented the bassoon as a solo instrument and created a multi-genre concert repertoire for it. Regular performances at the most prestigious halls of Paris allowed him to confidently occupy a leading positions not only among the French, but also European bassoonists. Active performing activity of E. Ozi and his fruitful teaching practice at the Paris Conservatory had a crucial influence on the development of European bassoon art of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Relationship Between Economic Growth and Life Insurance: The Determining Factors of Life Insurance Policy Demand in India

Objective: The objective of the study is to investigate the relationship between the life insurance sector and the economy in India. Specifically, the aim is to understand the determinants of life insurance demand in the country. This research will build on previous studies that have already established a connection between the life insurance industry and economic variables. Methods: Analyzing the relationship between the growth of the life insurance sector and the Indian economy over a forty-year period (1981-2020) would provide valuable insights into the dynamics between these two important aspects of the country's financial landscape. By examining various macroeconomic factors to identify significant determinants of life insurance demand in India can contribute to a better understanding of the factors that influence people's choices regarding life insurance coverage. Conclusion: These findings highlight the significance of the life insurance sector in contributing to economic growth and the importance of considering this relationship in economic and financial planning. It is crucial to monitor and nurture this connection to maximize the benefits for both the insurance industry and the broader economy.Top of Form

Water and Irrigation Requirements of Glycine max (L.) Merr. in 1981–2020 in Central Poland, Central Europe

Soya, one of the most economically important crops, is sensitive to periodic water deficits, which, because of climate change, are becoming more and more common in central Europe. The goal of this study was to estimate the water requirements of soybean from 1981 to 2020 in four provinces of central Poland and the rainfall deficits affecting soybean cultivation; the study also evaluates rainfall water use efficiency for soybean cultivated in production fields to investigate the future necessity of supplemental irrigation. Calculations were based on the values of monthly air temperature and the sum of precipitation. Soybean water requirements were calculated using the method of crop coefficients and reference evapotranspiration was estimated using the Blaney–Criddle approach. Crop water requirements were defined as potential evapotranspiration. Precipitation deficits for soybean were estimated using the Ostromęcki method. Water use efficiency was calculated based on rainfall totals and soybean yield in the rainfed fields. It was found that, on average in the central Poland provinces, from 1981 to 2020, the water requirements of soybean in the growing season amounted to 384 mm, and the highest water requirements occurred in June and July. In the studied forty-year period, a significant upward trend in soybean water requirements in central Poland was observed, both from 1 May to 31 August and from 1 June to 31 August. Rainfall deficits in soybean cultivation in central Poland were found from May to August and amounted to 123 mm in normal years (N50%). The rainfall water use efficiency from April to August for soybean cultivated in central Poland on average amounted to 6.6 kg ha−1 mm−1 and varied in individual years and regions. The results of the study indicate the need to develop supplemental irrigation systems for soybean crops cultivated in central Poland and other areas of the world with similar climate conditions to optimize yield and the sustainable use of water resources.

SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL FEATURES OF WATER CHEMISTRY CHANGES IN THE QUATERNARY UNCONFINED AQUIFERS OF THE DNIPRО RIVER BASIN

The article deals with the chemical composition of uppermost aquifers water in the Dnipro River basin. Its study is necessary not only in connection with the implementation the requirements of the EU Water Framework Directive methodological documents in the groundwater monitoring, but primarily because of water supply from these aquifers to rural areas. Unconfined aquifers water is characterized by a complex and heterogeneous chemical composition due to natural and anthropogenic factors. Natural hydrochemical zoning is distinctly visible on the territory of the Dnipro basin. A number of chemical elements and compounds in the water are contained in concentrations exceeding the standards for drinking water established by the State sanitary norms and rules 2.2.4-171-10 “Hygienic requirements for drinking water intended for human consumption” in the natural state. In addition, unconfined aquifers are subject to significant anthropogenic impact, as they are unprotected from pollution. Comparison of the data on total dissolved solids (TDS) and anionic composition of groundwater obtained during hydrogeological surveys in the period 1965–1975 and 2009–2013 on three sheets of the hydrogeological map (scale 1:200,000) in different sub-basins of the Dnipro River showed the widespread deep changes in groundwater chemical composition. In addition to a significant anthropogenic pressure, groundwater is significantly affected by climatic factors. Over a forty-year period, TDS in the north of the Dnipro basin increased by 50 %, in the central and southern parts – twice, due to an increase in the content of sulfates and chlorides. Within the analyzed areas in the Middle and Lower Dnipro sub-basins, nitrate pollution of unconfined aquifers is almost widespread. Thus, in a large area, waters of these aquifers are unsuitable for drinking water supply due to the excessive content of chemical elements and compounds of natural and anthropogenic origin. Therefore, one of the priorities of the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine should be the transfer of the rural population to water supply from protected confined aquifers and the improvement of sanitary conditions in rural areas.

Representing Freetown: Photographs, maps and postcards in the urban cartography of colonial Sierra Leone

This article traces the development of the colonial cartography of Freetown, Sierra Leone across the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The historiography of colonial cartography has centred the surveyor and the map in the capture and control of land. This article, instead, describes colonial cartography in the accretion of a variety of forms of spatial representation created by diverse intermediaries in the colonial project. The chronology begins with the cartographic anxiety of two Colonial Office circulars in 1869 and 1871. Following this emergence of a nascent cartographic governmentality, three mappings of Freetown over a forty-year period, by an itinerant West African photographer, John Parkes Decker, a Wesleyan missionary, John Thomas Frederick Halligey, and a Freetonian photographer-entrepreneur, Alphonso Lisk-Carew, are examined. Visual analysis of the photographs, maps and postcards that were the products of these respective mapping projects shows the ideologies and ambivalences that undergirded these representations of the city. At once, following the processes through which this visual material did work for the colonial state, this article shows how the cartographic governance of a segregating colonial Freetown was produced in the entanglements of geographic knowledges.

Precipitation Variability for Protected Areas of Primary Forest and Pastureland in Southwestern Amazônia

Daily and monthly rainfall data provided by surface rain gauges in the Amazon Basin are sparse and defective, making it difficult to monitor rainfall patterns for certain portions of its territory, in this sense, estimations of precipitation from remote sensing calibrated with rain gauge data are key to overcome this problem. This paper presents a spatiotemporal analysis of the precipitation distribution for Rondônia State, in southwestern Amazonia. Data from Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation and Station (CHIRPS) were analyzed, using a pooled time analysis of a forty-year period (1981–2020). Data obtained from remote sensing were validated by rain gauges distributed over the study region. Pixel-by-pixel trend analyzes were developed by applying the Mann-Kendall test and Sen’s slope test to study the magnitude of the trend. The analysis revealed that CHIRPS presents a tendency to underestimate precipitation values in most cases. Among the metrics, mean values between very good (<±15%) and good (±15–±35%) were observed using PBIAS; mean RMSE values range from 57.8 mm to 107.9 mm; an average agreement level of 0.9 and an average SES of 0.5; and good fit for the linear regression model (average R2 > 0.70) for about 64.7% of the stations. Sen’ slope spatialization results show a reduction of approximately −15 mm year−1, with decrease mainly in the Northern Region of Rondônia, which has extensive areas where the native forest has been replaced by pasture.

Hypsometrical distribution of settlements as a factor of regional differentiation of the gender-age structure of the population of West Morava Valley

The paper analysed some aspects of changes in the biological structures of the population in 230 settlements of West Morava Valley, from the position of the type of settlement and the hypsometric zone to which they belong. Bearing in mind that there are significant height differences in the relief of West Morava Valley (144-1,321 m above sea level), its breakdown caused the regional differentiation of settlements according to the size and structures of the population living in them. The statistical analysis was performed in two-period sections (1971 and 2011). The reason for this is that the 1970s were the most dynamic socio-economic transformation of the studied region, caused by the impact of industrialization and urbanization. The results obtained during the research show that the aging of the population in West Morava Valley has reached such a level that it represents a first-class problem. In the analysed forty-year period, the participation of the old population (60 and over) doubled (from 12.8% to 25.2%), while the aging index increased even three times (from 0.42 to 1.27). The population of West Morava Valley is in the stage of the deepest demographic age, with the difference that rural settlements at higher altitudes age much faster. The differences in the gender structure of the population between the urban and rural settlements of the region are not so drastically expressed, but in both categories the dominance of the female contingent is evident.

Drought Analysis Based on Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index and Standardized Precipitation Index in Sarawak, Malaysia

Drought analysis via the Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) and the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) is necessary for effective water resource management in Sarawak, Malaysia. Rainfall is the best indicator of a drought, but the temperature is also significant because it controls evaporation and condensation. This study examined drought periods in the state of Sarawak using the SPI and SPEI based on monthly precipitation and temperature data from thirty-three rainfall stations during a forty-year period (1981–2020). This analysis of drought conditions revealed that both the SPI and SPEI were able to detect drought temporal variations with distinct time scales (3, 6, 9, and 12 months). Taking precipitation and evapotranspiration data into account, the SPEI was able to identify more severe-to-extreme drought in the study area over longer time periods and moderate droughts over shorter time periods than the standard drought index. According to Pearson correlation coefficients, a substantial association existed between the SPI and SPEI during hydrological dryness. Based on the results, the temperature is a decisive factor in drought classification, and the SPI should only be used in the absence of temperature data.

Unmaking the market: exploring the Chilean challenges to de-privatise the educational system

ABSTRACT The Chilean educational system is widely known as one of the most marketized systems globally. However, new political dynamics have emerged, challenging the extent to which education has been privatised and set in train what we might call the ‘unmaking of the market’. Across the literature, there are numerous accounts on making markets. However, what does ‘unmaking’ the market look like as a project, process, and set of outcomes, especially in a context where markets as a mode of coordination of social life more generally, and education as a sector in particular, have become common sense? This paper draws from a larger study on the making of the education market in Chile over a forty-year period. Focusing on the latest Bachelet's reforms (2014–2018), which aim to roll back privatisation and put into place the strengthening of public education, undoing the institutionalisation and legitimation of market-making mechanisms, and the materialisation of the market through its interiorisation in education actors. Here I show the emergence of a new discourse: a progressive dispute of the public(in)education. Chile finds itself in an interregnum; the old is potentially dying, but a new social order is yet to be born to stabilise a new epistemic moment.

Обзор современных зарубежных публикаций по вопросу эвакуации баскских детей в Великобританию в 1937 г. во время гражданской войны в Испании

Introduction. The historic episode of the evacuation of 4,000 Basque children to Great Britain after the bombing of Guernica was a striking and dramatic event in the Spanish Civil War. Despite a forty-year period of oblivion, since the 1980s after Spain’s transition to democracy, there has been a surge in interest in this topic, which has not subsided in foreign studies until this moment. Methods and materials. This article uses a problematic approach to select the most interesting and relevant research on such a specific topic as the evacuation of Basque children to Great Britain in May 1937. Moreover, such general scientific theoretical methods as: analysis, comparison, generalization and forecasting are used. Analysis. In the course of the analysis, the article investigates both the main directions of modern research on this topic and the approaches on which these publications are based. The most interesting author’s conclusions and ideas are considered, a comparative analysis of publications is carried out, and promising topics for future research are proposed. Results. One of the characteristic features of modern publications on the evacuation of Basque children to the UK is their emphasis on the psychological component and cognitive aspects, but each publication does this differently. The authors pay great attention to the issue of identity and find many interesting explanations why, in the end, the self-designation of oneself as “Basque children” played a key role in the formation and maintenance of collective identity. All publications to one degree or another touch upon such an aspect as the formation of a sacrificial image of Basque children in the media, which pursued certain political goals.

Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019 ed. by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain

Reviewed by: Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019 ed. by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain Don Polite Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019. Edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain. (New York: One World, 2021. Pp. xviii, 504. Paper, $20.00, ISBN 978-0-5934-4934-9; cloth, $32.00, ISBN 978-0-5931-3404-7.) In Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619–2019, editors Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain have undertaken and accomplished a project of vision and service. The work, in plainest terms, is a history of the African American community over four centuries. However, the artistry of this project is not simply in attempting to create a single cohesive narrative of this four-hundred-year period. Rather, in marking the quadricentennial of the birth of the community of African America, they have compiled a tapestry of voices and writers who depict a richness in how history can be told and what history can mean to a community. The heart of this work is the collection of writers in this project. In covering the four hundred years from 1619 to 2019, Four Hundred Souls is split into ninety pieces. Beginning with acclaimed writer Nikole Hannah-Jones of the 1619 Project, these writers represent a remarkable cross section of the Black community. The contributors are a who's who of African America. There are academics such as Jennifer L. Morgan, Christopher J. Lebron, Deirdre Cooper Owens, Blair L. M. Kelley, and Beverly Guy-Sheftall. There are prominent journalists such as Adam Serwer, Wesley Lowery, and Jamelle Bouie. Activists and public writers such as Clint Smith and Alicia Garza are present. The writers come from many walks of life, spanning careers, generations, viewpoints, sexual orientations, and gender identities. Yet they come together, each covering a five-year period in pieces of roughly equal length, with unique contributions to this composite retelling of the place of African America in the United States. [End Page 593] Fascinating in this composite community narrative is the flexibility of storytelling choice and voice. Each of the pieces is centered on a singular person, place, idea, or event. Additionally, the edited volume is organized into separate parts, each encompassing a forty-year period, bookended by a poem that captures that span in verse. In Part 1 of the book, Ijeoma Oluo puts her own racial identity as Black center stage in conversation with a 1630 Virginia colonial court that whipped a white man for sleeping with a Black woman. On a different note, in "The Black Family," Heather Andrea Williams shows the many ways African Americans attempted to protect their children from enslavement, including using baptism as a way to secure freedom. Likewise, Williams shows how laws were changed to close "baptism loopholes" and eliminate paths for freedom (p. 27). The flexibility of author choice allows for a richness of ideas to be explored. With such an array of writers and the flexibility of topics covered over four centuries, the range of themes covered and discussions entered are wide. For example, Jennifer Morgan shows through the figure of a single African American woman, Elizabeth Keye, how racial slavery was firmly established in Virginia, with status at childbirth coming from the legal status of freedom or enslavement of the mother. Reconsiderations of Bacon's Rebellion by Heather C. McGhee and of colonial gun laws by Kellie Carter Jackson show both the centrality of Virginia as a laboratory for new laws to govern the enslaved in colonial America and the constant legal maneuvering to stamp out freedom. Repeatedly, the pieces put at center stage that enslavement was dynamic, with people at the center. White Americans and legal institutions were constantly rethinking and adjusting the framework to build up the strength and stability of racial oppression. Black people sought to define their freedom. In bringing the history of the African American community in the United States to the present day, each writer, even in discussing what seems like distant history, either implicitly hints at the present or explicitly references the present. The success of this work is in the...

Néstor Curbelo: The Latin American Andrew Jenson

Néstor Curbelo: The Latin American Andrew Jenson

Multinomial modeling methods: Predicting four decades of international banking crises

This paper examines banking crises in a large sample of countries over a forty-year period. A multinomial modeling approach is applied to panel data in order to track and capture end-to-end cyclical crisis formations, which enhances the binary focus of previous research studies. Several macroeconomic and banking sector variables are shown to be emblematic of leading indicators across the idiosyncratic stages of a banking crisis. Gross domestic product is an early warning signal across all phases, and a concomitant deterioration in consumption spending and fixed capital formation, preceded by a credit boom, signal a banking crisis to come. Currency depreciation exemplifies ensuing financial distress, reinforced by developmental constructs and regional integration. Lower real interest rates, increasing imports, and rising deposits are frequently harbingers of a recovery. Period effects underscore the dynamic evolution of common contemporaneous precursors over time. Premised on pursuing cyclical movements through multiple outcomes, our findings on forecasting performance suggest enhanced predictive power. Several multinomial logistic models generate higher predictive accuracy in contrast to probit models. Compared to machine learning methods (which encompass artificial neural networks, gradient boost, k-nearest neighbors, and random forests methods), a multinomial logistic approach outperforms during pre-crisis periods and when crisis severity is modeled, whereas gradient boost has the highest predictive accuracy across numerous versions of the multinomial model. As investors and policy makers continue to confront banking crises, leading to high economic and social costs, enhanced multinomial modeling methods make a valuable contribution to improved forecasting performance.

Ciencia en transición. El lastre franquista ante el reto de la modernización [Science in transition. The Francoist burden and modernization's challenge] ed. by Lorenzo Delgado and Santiago M. López

Reviewed by: Ciencia en transición. El lastre franquista ante el reto de la modernización [Science in transition. The Francoist burden and modernization's challenge] ed. by Lorenzo Delgado and Santiago M. López Lino Camprubí (bio) Ciencia en transición. El lastre franquista ante el reto de la modernización [Science in transition. The Francoist burden and modernization's challenge] Edited by Lorenzo Delgado and Santiago M. López. Madrid: Sílex Ediciones, 2019. Pp. 386. The title of this edited volume plays with the general meaning of "transition" and the more specific meaning in a Spanish context: the mid-1970s political shift from the Francoist dictatorial regime to the current democratic system. This is thus a welcome incursion in the relatively understudied development of Spain's scientific research system within that political and economic transformation. The book's subtitle contains a strong thesis: the Francoist period (1939–75) constituted a "burden" that prevented Spain from properly facing "modernization's challenge." Modernization occurred. By most indicators, in the 1960s, the Spanish economy experienced one of history's most rapid developments. Yet, as the editors' introduction explains, the Francoist administration failed to meet the economic and political challenges this growth implied. Specifically, the missed opportunity to implement an adequate research and development policy prevented successful economic development. The book's introduction borrows from Thomas P. Hughes's Networks of Power to identify the "reverse salients" that stopped the system moving in the direction system builders expected. In particular, letting growth rest on technology imports eventually made Spanish companies too dependent on foreign machinery and decisions. In addition, the failure to create a critical mass of highly trained scientists and technical workers hampered Spain's productivity and political stability. The editors offer an intriguing comparison—South-Asian dictatorial economies emerging in the same period—which needs further justification and elaboration. There is much to debate here. For historians interested in the intersections of technology and political economy, the Spanish case is particularly productive for exploring the prevailing assumptions that economic growth rests on technological innovation, which in turn depends on investment in scientific research. But even assuming innovation is a universal model (but see Lee and Russell, The Innovation Delusion), describing an entire forty-year period as a "burden" misses some of the book's nuances. Other chapters state that some public enterprises created in the first two decades of Francoism contributed to private growth in the 1960s. Secondary and tertiary education opened up from the elites to large parts of the population, facilitating the creation of a middle class that did ensure certain levels of productivity and political stability. [End Page 554] But the value of this volume lies precisely in its exploratory character. It enables historians of technology to reformulate big questions: Can technology imports occur without innovating adaptations? What are the scientific, technical, and labor conditions for external know-how to have an internal impact? How do we account for science's role in the wider political economy in a context of low public expenditures in science? Individual chapters provide some answers. Chapters 2–5 each look at one major research institution that concentrated most public spending on scientific and technological development during the Francoist period. Most of these four chapters summarize earlier findings. Together, however, they offer a clear picture of areas where research and development did have a significant impact on science and society at large, even though this did not always translate directly into productivity and growth. Four chapters are of particular interest to an international readership (chs. 6–9). They explore how international and diplomatic relations (including trade), particularly with Germany, France, and the United States, impacted Spanish science policy. Hence the book's eye-catching frontispiece: the three Apollo 11 astronauts dressed up as toreros during a visit to Madrid, organized by NASA to celebrate and secure Spanish observation sites for the moon landings. The book then turns to the testimonies of reflective actors involved in the political transition to democratic institutions for science. Caution is of course needed when using primary sources, but these chapters offer valuable reflections on policy, labor, and the growing role of regional governments (chs. 10–13...

Histomorphological Spectrum and Trend of Spinal Neoplastic Lesions: A Single Institutional 40-year review

OBJECTIVES
 Spinal tumours are known to be much less common compared to brain neoplasms. In our setting, due to poor data gathering, underreporting and probably lack of presentation to medical facilities, studies on spinal tumours are sparse. Previous studies had reported extramedullary tumours to be more common in our environment. This study examines the histomorphological spectrum of spinal tumours in an African setting, comparing it with previous observations to determine changes over the decades.
 METHODS
 Data was obtained from the hospital records of patients over a forty-year period. These include the patients’ age, gender and histomorphological data of all the neoplastic spinal lesions. The data was analysed using SPSS 20 statistical software.
 RESULTS
 Ninety four cases were seen during the study period. The tumours were more common between the third to the sixth decades of life. There was a slight male preponderance with a male to female ratio of 1.2:1. Meningiomas were the commonest tumours seen during the study period which is in contrast to previous studies that had shown Burkitt lymphoma. The data also showed a steady rise in the number of cases during the study period suggesting an increase in patients’ presenting to the hospital and more surgical cases.
 CONCLUSION
 The index study showed a difference in patients demographics and the histological tumour types seen over the study period compared to the data from previous studies. This is probably due to better awareness and better diagnostic facilities.

Histomorphological Spectrum and Trend of Spinal Neoplastic Lesions: A Single Institutional 40-year review

OBJECTIVES
 Spinal tumours are known to be much less common compared to brain neoplasms. In our setting, due to poor data gathering, underreporting and probably lack of presentation to medical facilities, studies on spinal tumours are sparse. Previous studies had reported extramedullary tumours to be more common in our environment. This study examines the histomorphological spectrum of spinal tumours in an African setting, comparing it with previous observations to determine changes over the decades.
 METHODS
 Data was obtained from the hospital records of patients over a forty-year period. These include the patients’ age, gender and histomorphological data of all the neoplastic spinal lesions. The data was analysed using SPSS 20 statistical software.
 RESULTS
 Ninety four cases were seen during the study period. The tumours were more common between the third to the sixth decades of life. There was a slight male preponderance with a male to female ratio of 1.2:1. Meningiomas were the commonest tumours seen during the study period which is in contrast to previous studies that had shown Burkitt lymphoma. The data also showed a steady rise in the number of cases during the study period suggesting an increase in patients’ presenting to the hospital and more surgical cases.
 CONCLUSION
 The index study showed a difference in patients demographics and the histological tumour types seen over the study period compared to the data from previous studies. This is probably due to better awareness and better diagnostic facilities.