Past Sixty Research Articles

Mobilizing Literature: Social Movements and Post-1945 US Literary Studies

Abstract: This essay proposes a movements-based method for studying the development of US literature after World War II. It argues that the cultural materialist and institutionalist frameworks that have dominated post-1945 US literary studies in recent years have systematically overlooked the role of social movements as catalysts for cultural change. Through readings of the literary magazine n+1, the archival materials of Octavia Butler, and novels by a range of other major postwar US authors, it offers an account of how the collective mobilizations of the past sixty years—from Civil Rights, the New Left, and the Women's Movement to Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and #MeToo—have decisively shifted the contours of the US literary field.

P853 Environmental factors in a population-based inception cohort of inflammatory bowel disease patients in the Faroe Islands compared to inflammatory bowel disease patients in Eastern and Western Europe – An Epi-IBD study

Abstract Background The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in the Faroe Islands is the highest in the world and has increased dramatically over the past sixty years - possibly due to changes in environmental factors towards a more “westernised” standard of living. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in exposure to environmental factors prior to diagnosis in the Faroe Islands, and to compare the results to Eastern and Western European IBD patients. Methods The Faroese Epi-IBD study group is a nationwide, prospective inception cohort of 388 unselected IBD patients from the Faroe Islands covering a background population of 53,000 inhabitants. Patients were diagnosed between 2010 and 2021. At the time of diagnosis patients were asked to complete the 87-item IOIBD questionnaire concerning environmental factors. Findings were compared to Eastern and Western European IBD patients from the Epi-IBD cohort. Results A total of 311 patients (80.2 %) answered the questionnaire, 46 (14.8 %) had Crohn’s disease (CD), 217 (69.8 %) had ulcerative colitis (UC), and 48 (15.4 %) had IBD unclassified (IBDU). The number of former smokers, breastfeeding, coffeine intake, and oral contraceptive was higher than both Eastern and Western Europe. Vaccination against tuberculosis, measles, and rubella was similar to Western Europe; while vaccination against pertussis, diphtheria, tetanus, and polio was similar to Eastern Europe. Childhood diseases of measles, pertussis, rubella, mumps were higher than both Eastern and Western Europe. Fruit and vegetable intake was lower than both Eastern and Western Europe. High sugar intake, and fast-food intake was similar to Eastern Europe. Conclusion Faroese IBD patients differ in terms of exposure to environmental factors prior to the diagnosis to both Eastern and Western Europe patients. Analysis of the impact of environmental factors on difference in disease course and incidence between the Faroese Epi-IBD study group and the Eastern Europe and Western Europe Epi-IBD cohort are currently in progress.

Spatiotemporal Variations of Drought and the Related Mitigation Effects of Artificial Precipitation Enhancement in Hengyang-Shaoyang Drought Corridor, Hunan Province, China

It is important to reveal the spatial and temporal variations of drought and evaluate the alleviating effects of artificial precipitation on drought severity, as it will contribute immensely to the formulation of drought prevention and mitigation measures and the provision of guidance to artificial precipitation enhancement operation. Based on the monthly precipitation data of 28 meteorological stations in Hengyang-Shaoyang Drought Corridor (HSDC) from 1960 to 2019, the standardized precipitation index (SPI) at multiple time scales were calculated to estimate drought frequency, drought station ratio, and drought intensity. Then the spatiotemporal variations of drought in the study area were unveiled, and the effects of artificial precipitation enhancement were evaluated in line with the relevant data from 2005 to 2019. The results show that at the annual scale, drought occurred in 3/4 of past sixty years in the study area, where almost 1/3 of such years experienced area-wide droughts. Drought coverage in HSDC exhibited a decreasing trend, but drought intensity, as well as the number of area-wide droughts and regional droughts showed an increasing one. Mild and moderate droughts occurred in an extensive part of the HSDC, whereas severe and extreme droughts were mainly found in a few stations. At the seasonal scale, winter drought occurred most frequently, followed by summer and autumn droughts, while spring drought events had the lowest frequency. Overall, drought is more serious in spring, autumn, and winter, but less severe in summer; although drought intensity decreased slightly in summer, both its intensity and coverage showed an increasing trend in other seasons. At the monthly scale, the ratio of positive to negative SPI values in HSDC was basically balanced in the past six decades, exhibiting no distinct variation characteristics. In addition, artificial precipitation enhancement effectively eased monthly and even seasonal drought in HSDC. These findings, which fully reflect the characteristics of drought in the study area, can also raise awareness of the contribution that artificial precipitation could make to drought mitigation, which in turn will contribute to the formulation of appropriate strategies for climate change mitigation and adaptation.

That Early New England, This Early New England, and Some of the Next

That Early New England, This Early New England, and Some of the Next Michael Ditmore (bio) As a City on a Hill: The Story of America's Most Famous Lay Sermon daniel t. rodgers Princeton University Press, 2018 356 pp. City on a Hill: A History of American Exceptionalism abram c. van engen Yale University Press, 2020 380 pp. The Puritans: A Transatlantic History david d. hall Princeton University Press, 2019 518 pp. Poems and Meditations anne bradstreet, ed. margaret olofson thickstun Iter Press and the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2019 380 pp. The Virtuous and Violent Women of Seventeenth-Century Massachusetts emily c. k. romeo University of Massachusetts Press, 2020 220 pp. Invisible Masters: Gender, Race, and the Economy of Service in Early New England elisabeth ceppi Dartmouth University Press, 2018 276 pp. [End Page 237] There are some inexterminables we tolerate as best we can: death, taxes, nuclear bomb-proof cockroaches, and New England Puritanism. Of this quartet, the last strikes me as the most historically contingent and least natural. New England Puritans are difficult to get rid of, no matter how unpalatable many may find them, and whether one is sympathetic, antagonistic, or somehow agnostic. But from whatever angle, they are always contenders for sustained and renewed attention. Consider: under travailing circumstances of 2020, "America's Hometown"—Plymouth—did its level best, masked and distanced, to celebrate the quadricentenary of that first deadly winter of the Mayflower's arrival, and in ways that equitably honor and dignify its pre- and post-Mayflower heritages.1 And if Plymouth celebrates, can Boston and all the rest of New England be far behind? Will we see, as in the bicentennials of the 1830s and again in the tricentennials of the 1930s, an unfolding series of town celebrations, monuments, studies, commemorative knickknacks, and such across New England? Surely so; but just as surely, we will also see unprecedented strains and tensions; the throwback costumes, recipes, and recitations are likely to seem worse than dated. One thinks of that cracked and bowed main beam of the Mayflower, mid-Atlantic: how many would now bother with its repair? Who possesses the equipment, skills, or motivation for the task? This present selection of books, for all the divergent angles and aspects, affords but one somewhat prismatic, dispersed glimpse into the present states of New England Puritanism academically calibrated, and perhaps will offer some foretaste of what to expect as we approach 2030 and beyond. They are all, to be sure, state of the art, but they hardly represent all the scholarly activity at present or to come; however, they do provide a worthwhile vantage point for surveying something of—well, I wouldn't push the Plymouth allusions too far, but let's say a Mount Pisgah. I have divided them into three pairings: measured deflations of a classic sermon; the Puritans as they were; and forms of oppression. Without intending to, I found that pairings in each case settled in a literature-history dyad, suggesting that, despite our disciplinary overlap, we still have miles to go before such boundaries dissolve. First and foremost, as a foundational homage for Boston's quadricentenary we would expect a full-dress rehearsal of Governor John Winthrop's profound and indispensable 1630 lay sermon on the Arbella as it crossed the Atlantic, "A Model of Christian Charity," laying groundwork [End Page 238] and spearheading the Great Migration into Massachusetts Bay and all that dominoed and degenerated therefrom. We certainly would, except that virtually every detail of the preceding sentence has been severely scrutinized and found wanting over the past thirty years, to the point that even its authorship is now disputed.2 That can make for an especially embarrassing beginning, if every detail of one's ballyhooed origin has been pretty much obliterated. And that is deeply unfortunate, given the extraordinary investment put into the Model" by historians, politicians, and educators over the past sixty or so years. Up until the 2016 national election at least, it seemed that every national politician since Ronald Reagan routinely sampled the "Model"; generations of teachers and test-makers have found it especially useful for critiquing "American exceptionalism." But beginning...

The Murder of William of Norwich: The Origins of the Blood Libel in Medieval Europe by Emily M. Rose

Reviewed by: The Murder of William of Norwich: The Origins of the Blood Libel in Medieval Europe by Emily M. Rose Robert C. Stacey The Murder of William of Norwich: The Origins of the Blood Libel in Medieval Europe. By Emily M. Rose. (New York: Oxford University Press. 2015. Pp. xvi, 394. $27.95. ISBN 978-0-1902-19628.) In 1144 a twelve-year old skinner's apprentice named William, a younger son in a clerical dynasty of some local note, was lured from his residence in Norwich and murdered by person or persons unknown. William's uncle, a married English priest named Godwin Sturt, accused the small, recently-established Jewish community of Norwich of the murder, but little seems to have come from this initial accusation. William's body was buried in the churchyard of Norwich Cathedral Priory, to which his family had some connections; but there it lay, largely ignored, until 1149, when the claim of Jewish culpability for William's murder was revived by William Turbe, the newly-elected Cathedral Prior, who used the charge to defend Simon de Novers, a local Norwich knight against allegations that Simon had murdered Deulesalt/Eleazar, the leader of the Norwich Jewish community, to whom Simon owed large sums of money. A year later a newly arrived monk of the Priory named Thomas of Monmouth took it as his life's mission to vindicate William not only as a victim of Jewish malice, but as a martyr and saint whose body and relics were a precious gift to Norwich Cathedral Priory. Thomas began composing his Life and Passion of William of Norwich in 1150. By the time he completed it, sometime after 1170, the claim that Jews kidnapped and murdered Christian children in a ritualized demonstration of anti-Christian animus had already been repeated in Gloucester (1168) and on the continent, where it led, in Blois (1171), to the execution by fire of more than thirty Jewish men, women, and children. Ten years later, this "blood libel" (or, as other historians will prefer, the "ritual crucifixion charge") was employed by King Philip II to justify the expulsion of all the Jewish communities from the Ile-de-France. From France the libel swept on to the rest of Europe, passing ultimately to Russia and the Middle East, where it continues even today to be repeated, promoted, and believed, with horrific consequences for Jews and Jewish communities that have rippled down through the centuries. Dr. Rose's new book is the boldest and most thoroughgoing of the many attempts over the past sixty years to make sense of this enormously consequential yet entirely specious claim. Her argument is straightforward, and in its broad strokes persuasive. Although Thomas of Monmouth was the first to give literary form to the blood libel, the libel spread not through Thomas's text, nor as a result of competition from rival pilgrimage centers for visitors, but as a result of the efforts of a series of political and religious authorities to make use of the charge for their own ends. In Gloucester, the libel was used to extort loans from the local Jewish community to support Earl Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare's (Strongbow) longshot invasion of Ireland. In Blois, Count Thibaut V used it, and the executions that resulted from it, to assert his independence from the growing strength of the Capetian monarchy. In Bury St. Edmunds, the alleged martyrdom of Robert of Bury at the hands of Bury's Jews was an element in Samson of Bury's successful [End Page 568] campaign to be elected Abbot; while in Paris, Philip II used the libel to clear Paris of Jews, so that he could redevelop the city into a modern commercial capital from which he profited handsomely. The sources for reconstructing this story are not plentiful, but Dr. Rose has done excellent work in unearthing plausible details about William's family and its clerical connections in East Anglia, and in emphasizing King Philip II's associations with the Cult of the Holy Innocents. These points will surely find their way into other historians' arguments. She is also clear and fair in addressing the contrary interpretations that...

The Mythology of the Animal Farm in Children's Literature: Over the Fence by Stacy Hoult-Saros

Reviewed by: The Mythology of the Animal Farm in Children's Literature: Over the Fence by Stacy Hoult-Saros Nathan Poirier (bio) Stacy Hoult-Saros. The Mythology of the Animal Farm in Children's Literature: Over the Fence. Lexington Books, 2016. In her monograph, The Mythology of the Animal Farm in Children's Literature, Stacy Hoult-Saros examines the narratives and illustrations of dozens of children's books from the past sixty years that feature farmed animals. The book proceeds through five chapters, each centering on a theme: anthropomorphism, freedom, commodities, protection, and submission. Each theme interacts with and strengthens the others, and chapters often touch on multiple themes. Ultimately, Hoult-Saros concludes that works of children's literature tend to replace violent and oppressive realities of farm life for animals with images of the farm as a haven for animals who have comfort, freedom, protection, and care. As Hoult-Saros points out, representation of the animal farm as benign is widely accepted by consumers as reality. However, for nearly every farmed animal, the experience is quite the opposite. For instance, stories depict farms as family farms, rather than the industrial facilities comprising 99 percent of farming operations. To this end, Hoult-Saros is critical of the connection (and contradiction) between eating meat and caring for animals. If one consumes animals, one essentially condemns (certain) animals to slaughter. Whether raised "humanely" or otherwise, nearly all farmed animals endure the same horrific industrial slaughter procedure. Thus, it makes sense to question how requiring a premature violent death is part of an ethic of care. Further, Hoult-Saros highlights the fact that allusions to slaughter are exceedingly rare in both text and illustrations. This literary sleight of hand renders invisible the most violent part of the reality for farmed animals. In fact, some stories explicitly indicate that even animals enjoy consuming animal products (of other species, at least), further effacing the inherent violence. Anthropomorphism is pervasive in children's books (DeMello 339–43), and Hoult-Saros continually reiterates the prevalence of talking animals as a predominant feature in stories about farmed animals. She finds that depictions of animals possessing humanlike traits such as walking on two legs is common; [End Page 143] further, she notes animal characters routinely express a desire to acquire even more human attributes, like thumbs or proficiency with human technology. According to Hoult-Saros, while "talking (and otherwise expressive) animal stories, in giving voice to a subordinate group that literally cannot speak for itself" may seem liberatory, this capacity to speak also "all too conveniently give[s] the dominant culture exactly what it needs: the 'consent' of the oppressed to their own confinement, subjugation and exploitation" (124). In her chapter on freedom, Hoult-Saros observes that doors, gates, and fences are "invariably" left open implying freedom of mobility and the option for animals to leave the farm if they choose. This is not the case on almost any farm as animals are tightly confined for profit reasons. Freedom depictions are often illusory as Hoult-Saros exemplifies with Margaret Hillert's The Cow That Got Her Wish (1981). In this story, a cow dreams of actually jumping over the moon to escape her mundane farm life. A raccoon offers help but tricks her into jumping over a puddle merely bearing the reflection of the moon. The cow revels in her "success" but this storyline does nothing to address the fact that the cow's status on the farm does not change, and in all likelihood never will. Tellingly, how and why animals "end up" at farms in the first place is almost never mentioned. This omission elides the fact that captivity is forced, and hides the reality that farmed animals do not possess freedom at all, or at most, only in a very limited sense. Next, chapter 3 turns to the commodity nature of farmed animals. Hoult-Saros finds this theme to be composed of two parts: animals repeatedly represent both the production of commodities (as in "giving" their milk, eggs, or fur), as well as serving as commodities themselves (valued for meat or as prized animals in contests). Hoult-Saros cites numerous stories in which animals are willingly...

RECENT TREND OF CHANGE OF FERTILITY IN NEPAL

Fertility is one of the most predominant demographic factors of population dynamics. This article tries to analyze the trend of fertility of Nepal comparing with Global trend and the trends of other SAARC countries. This paper follows the quantitative analysis. The entire scope of discussion in this study is based on secondary sources of data. The results show that both ASFR and TFR have been continuously decreasing since 1990s. The decreasing rate is seen more in between 1998-2005s. Now the TFR is 2.3, so Nepal is in nearer to the replacement level of fertility rate. The marriage in early age is not still reduced remarkably that's why the fertility rate of this age group is not decreased as comparison to other age groups in Nepal. In the beginning, the TFRs of all SAARC countries were more than that of world. But in between past sixty decades, the TFR of this region is remarkably reduced and now it is similar to the world's figure except the Pakistan's. The TFR of Pakistan is still high in comparison to its neighbors. Fertility decline in Nepal has been occurring for several decades to till now. The reduction of fertility is beneficial in many domains, as it opens up completely for new employment and educational prospects for young women. It also creates new manpower for job market which helps to boost the economic growth. But continuous declination of fertility rate below the replacement level is not a good scenario in demography because it causes the negative growth rate of population and increase the dependency ratio.Researcher: A Research Journal of Culture and SocietyVol. 3, No. 3, January 2018, Page: 72-80

378. Recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma in pregnancy: A case report and literature review

The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in pregnancy is rare, with less than 50 cases reported in the past sixty years.We describe the case of a 39-year old woman in her second pregnancy, with a diagnosis of HCC, and provide a review of relevant literature. We delineate the management challenges, highlighting the importance of multi-disciplinary care in women with complex medical conditions. A diagnosis of HCC was made incidentally following hepato-splenic-pancreatectomy for a presumed hepatic adenoma in the context of multiple arterio-venous malformations(AVMs) in 2013 on a background of Hereditary Haemorrhagic Telangiectasia (HHT; Osler-Weber-Rendu syndrome). Despite surgical resection and chemo-radiotherapy, recurrent inoperable HCC persisted in conjunction with pulmonary hypertension. An unplanned pregnancy was assessed in the first trimester in the Perinatal Medicine clinic with multi-disciplinary involvement from surgery, hepatology, radiology, cardiology and anaesthetics throughout the pregnancy. This included antenatal serial multi-disciplinary assessment, surveillance Magnetic Resonance Imaging (demonstrating continued tumour growth at 17 and 33 weeks), surveillance echocardiographies and a right cardiac catheterisation. Following spontaneous onset of labour at 33 weeks gestation under epidural anaesthesia, a live female infant delivered spontaneously, with maternal and neonatal survival six months following delivery. The incidence of HCC worldwide is 5.5/10,000 and is associated with liver cirrhosis and hepatitis. In previous cases affecting pregnancy, increased oestrogen and liver vascularity have expedited progression of HCC and deterioration in pregnancy, which was not ultimately evident in our case. It is also implicated with poorer obstetric outcomes, an increased risk of hepatic rupture and shorter median survival than non-pregnant counterparts. Associated conditions such as pulmonary hypertension and HHT have an additional impact on maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. We outline the first case report of recurrent, inoperable HCC in pregnancy that with dedicated MDT involvement, maternal and fetal outcome can be optimised, with favourable outcomes possible.

Impact of National Income on Saving and Capital Formation in India

The study of national income estimate provides a vivid picture of the entire economy of a country. It enables to know the economic condition of the nation, per capita income and the standard of the people. National income includes the aggregates income of all the people in a country over a period of one year. The study analyses the growth of national income and thereby per capita income. It also examines the impact of national income on savings and investment. The growth of national income and per capita income has been estimated over a period of past sixty years of planned economic development of India.

THE FUTURE OF DEVELOPMENT EVALUATION /EL FUTURO DE LA EVALUACIÓN DEL DESARROLLO

Over the past sixty years evaluators working on development have coalesced into a distinctive branch of the evaluation discipline. But opinion about the future of their occupation remains fragmented given the critical uncertainties of the operating environment, the tectonic shifts that have shaken the development scene since the 2008 financial crisis as well as the diverse conceptions of the role that evaluation can and should play in realigning policy priorities towards the emerging post 2015 sustainable development goals. In these vastly changed circumstances, the effectiveness of development evaluation hinges on forging an accurate appreciation of the challenges faced by evaluators in contributing to the development enterprise and, under the aegis of the International Year of Evaluation, on bringing together the scattered energies and resources of the burgeoning network of national, regional and global evaluation associations.

The Impact of Language Policy on the Development of Bilingual Education for Minorities in China

This article talks about the development of language policies that were established since the foundation of People’s Republic of China in 1949. We consider that the language policy as the implementation of governing party’s linguistic sovereignty, which is related to political, educational, economic and social construction. As one of a number of multi-ethnic countries in the world, China has to face the problems of improving the quality and effectiveness of bilingual education for minorities. Compared with mass education, the bilingual education has specific purpose not only basically to transmit universal knowledge and educate its youth, but also to make a contribution for a harmoniously multicultural society via the benefit of maintenance of language diversity, language practice and language planning. According to the different languages used in bilingual education, normally bilingual education is distinguished into two categories in China, bilingual education for minorities and bilingual education for foreign languages. Hereby we are going to discuss the bilingual of minority language and Mandarin. Specifically, we take the development of bilingual education of Tibetan areas in west of Sichuan Province as a case study, analysing the connection between the main four phases of bilingual education for Tibetan and the implementation of language policy in past sixty years. Obviously, the national policy has an important effect on the use of minority languages for their education and family life. Although the bilingual education cannot be improved only by legislation, still the complete laws allow the educational activities for minorities’ languages and culture to obtain more public recognition to retain it. The implementation of national bilingual education should have specific national goals, educational purpose and language achievement, therefore giving it clear direction for a successful outcome.

Twin Roll Casting (TRC) of Magnesium Alloys – Opportunities and Challenges

Twin Roll Casting (TRC) has been successfully employed for the past sixty years to produce aluminum, steel and, in the past ten years, magnesium sheet. Although the TRC process is relatively simple, its application for commercial-scale magnesium strip production has proven difficult. This is primarily due to inherent characteristics of magnesium alloys, such as their high reactivity to oxygen, low specific heat and latent heat of fusion, and large freezing ranges, which can induce formation of casting defects if various TRC processing parameters, such as metal delivery design, heat transfer in the roll gap, and casting speed, aren’t tightly controlled. Research is underway worldwide to concurrently gain a better understanding of TRC processing variables in order to provide optimum casting conditions which will reduce defects, and develop new magnesium alloys with properties tailored to the TRC process. The opportunities and challenges associated with magnesium TRC will be outlined and include: 1) defect formation during TRC of magnesium alloy AZ31, 2) the feasibility of producing clad magnesium strip via TRC and 3) the effect of scale-up (moving from a laboratory unit to commercial production) will have on the TRC process for magnesium.

Chinese and Western Leadership Models: A Literature Review

Purpose: This study sought to examine how models of Western and Chinese leadership are changing and perhaps converging toward a notionally similar and possibly holistic concept of leadership. Methodology: We reviewed and analyzed research on Western and Chinese leadership published over the past sixty years to develop a different perspective from which to consider the future development of leadership concepts. Findings: We suggest that (1) since the middle of the twentieth century, paradigms of leadership have been changing; (2) Western and Chinese concepts of leadership, though historically different, are converging; and (3) leadership should be considered from a holistic rather than taxonomic perspective. Implications: A holistic view of leadership helps us consider how leadership might evolve and affect future business practices in China and the West. Originality: This paper presents a new perspective on Chinese and Western leadership that facilitates an understanding of how differences in leadership concepts could diminish and how business organizations might evolve in the future.

COOPERATIVE-CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ COMPREHENSION IN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Joyful and cooperative learning athmosphere will truly imboost students’ learning. Moreover over past sixty years the language teaching focus shift to students centered learning. Indeed cooperative learning is mostly advocated. In cooperative learning, students develop their own understanding of teaching materials while at the same time, they also encourage and help their friends in the same groups to comprehend teaching materials and get better understanding. All group members must be active and have responsibility to achieve group’s goal. The role of teachers to monitor the group process and result is essential so there will be no dependent member.Most study showed that cooperative learning is able to encourage students to overcome their difficulties in language learning since peer discussion and peer support help them. Thus, students’ comprehension in language learning improves.

SUSCEPTIBILITY EVALUATION AND MAPPING OF CHINA'S LANDSLIDE DISASTER BASED ON MULTI-TEMPORAL GROUND AND REMOTE SENSING SATELLITE DATA

Abstract. Under the circumstances of global climate change, nowadays landslide occurs in China more frequently than ever before. The landslide hazard and risk assessment remains an international focus on disaster prevention and mitigation. It is also an important approach for compiling and quantitatively characterizing landslide damages. By integrating empirical models for landslide disasters, and through multi-temporal ground data and remote sensing data, this paper will perform a landslide susceptibility assessment throughout China. A landslide susceptibility (LS) map will then be produced, which can be used for disaster evaluation, and provide basis for analyzing China's major landslide-affected regions. Firstly, based on previous research of landslide susceptibility assessment, this paper collects and analyzes the historical landslide event data (location, quantity and distribution) of past sixty years in China as a reference for late-stage studies. Secondly, this paper will make use of regional GIS data of the whole country provided by the National Geomatics Centre and China Meteorological Administration, including regional precipitation data, and satellite remote sensing data such as from TRMM and MODIS. By referring to historical landslide data of past sixty years, it is possible to develop models for assessing LS, including producing empirical models for prediction, and discovering both static and dynamic key factors, such as topography and landforms (elevation, curvature and slope), geologic conditions (lithology of the strata), soil type, vegetation cover, hydrological conditions (flow distribution). In addition, by analyzing historical data and combining empirical models, it is possible to synthesize a regional statistical model and perform a LS assessment. Finally, based on the 1km×1km grid, the LS map is then produced by ANN learning and multiplying the weighted factor layers. The validation is performed with reference to the frequency and distribution of historical data. This research reveals the spatiotemporal distribution of landslide disasters in China. The study develops a complete algorithm of data collecting, processing, modelling and synthesizing, which fulfils the assessment of landslide susceptibility, and provides theoretical basis for prediction and forecast of landslide disasters throughout China.

Sixty glorious years

British Journal of Healthcare Management 2012 Vol 18 No 6 293 Meanwhile in Denmark, George Jorgenson made headlines by becoming Christine Jorgenson, all thanks to pioneering surgeon Christian Hamburger. In Britain it would still be a very long time before sex change operations became a talking point. There were other things of more immediate concern. In November of 1952 the founding of the Royal College of General Practitioners would pass almost unnoticed. Carbon emissions and global warming were not even a speck on the horizon, but another environmental threat was a clear and present danger. Between 5 and 9 December, London experienced its worst ever peasouper smog. Three million cotton face masks were handed out; but by 20 December 4000 Londoners had died. Some 12 000 Londoners in total died of respiratory problems that winter. Officially the Government blamed the deaths on influenza—spin is not a new phenomenon. Governments always prefer good news. In October, to great fanfare, the first health centre to be built under the under the NHS Act had been opened in Stoke Newington. But such good news masked a great deal of bad. The worst news of all was that the Treasury cupboard was bare. The NHS, the four year-old jewel in the crown of post-war Britain, was heading for bankruptcy. The immediate cause of the economic crisis was the Americans. In 1952 the USA ‘yanked’ the carpet from under the NHS when it demanded a start to the repayment of the vast war loans it had lent to Britain in its then still-recent fight against Nazi Germany. Something had to give—and what gave was the NHS. Things that had been free since 1948, glasses, false teeth, and prescriptions, were, from 1 June 1952, subject to a charge. Aneurin Bevan, the Minster of Health and Godfather of the NHS, resigned from the cabinet. And things only got worse. High Court Judge Sir Harold Danckwerts was asked to adjudicate in the matter of GPs’ pay. The GPs claimed that the Government had reneged on a pay agreement made with them in 1948: the judge agreed. The Danckwerts Award of 1952, granted GPs £27 million just in back pay. The Guillebaud Report of 1955 later found that in relative terms NHS spending fell between 1948 and 1954, from 3.75 to 3.25% of GNP, and that capital spending was running at only 33% of pre-war levels. As for NHS managers’ pay, how did that fare? The various clerks and secretaries who headed our NHS organisations back then did not enjoy today’s salary levels. Let one stand for all—the Gateshead Executive Council (forerunner of the modern PCT) advertised for a new chief executive at the end of 1952. The salary? £795 per annum rising by four annual increments to £950. In 2012 terms that works out at just £17 800–21 300. Managers retiring this year can thank their lucky stars that NHS salaries, and pensions, have moved on a bit in sixty years! BJHCM Steve Ainsworth reflects on changes to NHS management over the past sixty years Sixty glorious years

Diversity, host specificity, speciation and ecological equivalence in some dactylogyrid monogenoideans of freshwater fish

ObjectiveTo observe their specificity, speciation and ecological equivalence by using previous and present records, from freshwater fish from Tanakpur to Sultanpur areas, during 2009 & 2010. MethodsData is gathered from the published records to compare it with the present records and entered into a computer database. The taxonomy of monogenoideans follows and those of fish follows. The worms were gently scrapped from the gills of fish and counted manually. They were studied mostly live, under a phase contrast microscope (Olympus CX 41 U-DA 4E 03365 Japan) or fixed in 3% formalin, after being relaxed in lukewarm water. ResultsThese monogenoids have perfect ecological equivalence, as their macro habitat is geologically connected. They exhibit specificity at different taxonomic levels of the parasites and the hosts. Sympatric speciation of parasites and their host is evident in the present study. ConclusionsThe monogenoidean fauna, in this region, has its species integrity in the past sixty to sixty five years. From this important body of study, it seems likely that host specificity among monogenoids from the fresh water fish is more widely spread than previously thought. Seasonal variations, probable controlling factor of infection, determine the intensity.

Psycho-neural Identity as the Basis for Empirical Research and Theorization in Psychology: An Interview with Mario A. Bunge

Mario Bunge is one of the most prolific philosophers of our time. Over the past sixty years he has written extensively about semantics, ontology, epistemology, philosophy of science and ethics. Bunge has been interested in the philosophical and methodological implications of modern psychology and more specifically in the philosophies of the relation between the neural and psychological realms. According to Bunge, functionalism, the philosophical stand of current psychology, has limited explanatory power in that neural processes are not explicitly acknowledged as components or factors of psychological phenomena. In Matter and Mind (2010), Bunge has elaborated in great detail the philosophies of the mind-brain dilemma and the basis of the psychoneural identity hypothesis, which suggests that all psychological processes can be analysed in terms of neural and physical phenomena. This article is the result of a long interview with Dr. Bunge on psychoneural identity and brain-behaviour relations.

Business Education in Pakistan: Growth, Problems and Prospects.

In present age of knowledge economy, professional education has gained unique importance. The post World War II developments in shape of unprecedented growth of trade and industry have caused proliferation of business education throughout world beside progress in other areas like engineering and medicine. Resultantly, business education achieved great value. The importance of business education has been further increased in developing economy like Pakistan, which has still long way to reach the status of developed economy. An overview of the growth of the business education in Pakistan has been presented in this study through highlighting its problems and future prospect. For this purpose, a non-systematic narrative review was carried out in such way that a thorough review of the existing literature on business education in Pakistan was done. It has been found that the roots of existing business education system in Pakistan lies in the educational system introduced by British in past. The present system of business education in Pakistan has gradually grown in past sixty four years, in such way that it has experienced a paradigm shift in 21 st century, when the Government of Pakistan invested huge amount in education sector for development of country through knowledge and technology. It is still facing different inherited problems which are either from the institution or government side. There is a need of a more dynamic approach for full development the business education system in country through joint collaboration between society, business education institutions and government. Once such system will be developed then the requirements of business sector will be successfully fulfilled and country will get a strong base in commerce, trade and industry, which will ultimately develop the country as whole.

Aging, Transition, and Estimating the Global Burden of Disease

BackgroundThe World Health Organization's Global Burden of Disease (GBD) reports are an important tool for global health policy makers, however the accuracy of estimates for countries undergoing an epidemiologic transition is unclear. We attempted to validate the life table model used to generate estimates for all-cause mortality in developing countries.Methods and ResultsData were obtained for males and females from the Human Mortality Database for all countries with available data every ten years from 1900 to 2000. These provided inputs for the GBD life table model and served as comparison observed data. Above age sixty model estimates of survival for both sexes differed substantially from those observed. Prior to the year 1960 for males and 1930 for females, estimated survival tended to be greater than observed; following 1960 for both males and females estimated survival tended to be less than observed. Viewing observed and estimated survival separately, observed survival past sixty increased over the years considered. For males, the increase was from a mean (sd) probability of 0.22 (0.06) to 0.46 (0.1). For females, the increase was from 0.26 (0.06) to 0.65 (0.08). By contrast, estimated survival past sixty decreased over the same period. Among males, estimated survival probability declined from 0.54 (0.2) to 0.09 (0.06). Among females, the decline was from 0.36 (0.12) to 0.15 (0.08).ConclusionsThese results show that the GBD mortality model did not accurately estimate survival at older ages as developed countries transitioned in the twentieth century and may be similarly flawed in developing countries now undergoing transition. Estimates of the size of older-age populations and their attributable disease burden should be reconsidered.