Years In Singapore Research Articles

Edward Clinton Ezell (1939–1993)

Memorial EDWARD CLINTON EZELL (1939-1993) ARTHUR P. MOLELLA It is difficult to go anywhere in the National Museum of American History without seeing some imprint of Edward Ezell, who served for twelve years as supervisory curator of the Division of Armed Forces History. From the back rooms that housed his massive collec­ tions in military history to the exhibit halls that reflected his fresh new look at the lives of ordinary soldiers, the Smithsonian museum has been vastly altered by Ed’s strong presence. Perhaps even more important was the way Ed lifted the spirits of everyone who worked with him. His limitless energy, his enthusiasm for history, and his dedication to public service were an inspiration. For me personally, it was especially painful that Ed did not see the opening of “Science in American Life,” just four months away when he died. Over the years that I labored with colleagues on this exhibit, I looked to Ed for administrative, intellectual, and moral support. Even as his cancer progressed, his support and wise counsel contin­ ued unabated. It seemed impossible that he would not be there when the job was done, and, at the opening, I was sure I heard a familiar bass voice offering congratulations. Ed Ezell was born and grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana. His mother came from a well-to-do family who once owned hotels in that city but lost their property and money in the Depression. His father, originally from Kentucky, was an inspector for the Agriculture De­ partment. As Ed told it, his father met his mother when she was working as a switchboard operator in one of the hotels formerly owned by her family. A world-renowned expert in firearms, Ed began to learn about his subject as a boy who, like many Midwesterners, grew up around guns and was fascinated by the way they worked. Although never a hunter, Ed liked to go shooting in the Indiana countryside. The passion for shooting and experimenting with guns of all kinds stayed with him throughout his life. Dr. Molella is head of the Department of History at the National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Permission to reprint a memorial may be obtained only from the author. 445 446 Arthur P. Molella At Butler University in Indianapolis, Ed began to shape an adoles­ cent hobby into a future career, studying military history and gradu­ ating with honors in 1961. The emergence of the field of the history of technology just at that time allowed him to develop his interests in new directions, particularly in the area of technical processes, while indulging his lifelong love of tinkering with mechanisms. In 1961, Ed entered the Hagley program at the University of Delaware and two years later received his master’s degree in American industrial history with a master’s thesis on Civil War cannon. In 1969, he earned a doctorate in the history of technology from Case Institute of Tech­ nology, studying with Melvin Kranzberg, Carroll Pursell, and Edwin Layton, among others. His dissertation on the evolution of the M-16 rifle became the basis for his 1984 book, The Great Rifle Controversy: Search for the Ultimate Infantry Rifle from World War II to Vietnam and Beyond. This study carried into the mid-20th century one of the en­ during themes in the history of technology—the critical role played by arms industries in the evolution of the nation’s manufacturing practices. Placing the history of firearms in the broader context of the history of technology was one of Ed’s major contributions to his field of study. From 1966 to 1972, Ed taught the history of science and technology at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, and at Sangamon State University in Springfield, Illinois. In 1968, he married Holly Everding , who died in 1971. Soon after her death, Ed left teaching and spent two years in Singapore, working for the gun collector Sam Cummings as head of Interarms’ Southeast Asia branch. Ed roamed the region in search of antique guns, successfully mining the legacies of imperialism and unearthing many British weapons of late-19thcentury vintage. Although only a brief interlude in his career, Ed’s...

Obstetrical outcome with increasing maternal age.

A retrospective study of 21,442 Singaporean women who gave birth at the National University Hospital, Singapore, between January 1986 and November 1991 is used to assess the effects of increasing age on obstetric performance. The results show that reproduction after the age of 35 years in Singapore is associated with a higher incidence of antenatal complications such as hypertension and diabetes and a higher rate of obstetric intervention. However, given the current level of obstetric and neonatal care in Singapore, these adverse features do not prejudice the obstetric and neonatal outcomes.

Respiratory symptoms and lung function effects of domestic exposure to tobacco smoke and cooking by gas in non-smoking women in Singapore.

To investigate the effects of passive exposure to tobacco smoke and gas cooking at home on respiratory symptoms and lung function of non-smoking women. Evidence on the effects of passive smoking and exposure to nitrogen dioxide from gas cooking on the respiratory health of adults is limited and variable. Over 97% of women in Singapore do not smoke, and a principal source of indoor air pollution for housewives is passive smoking and gas cooking. This was a cross sectional (prevalence) study of a population based sample of 2868 adults aged 20 to 74 years in Singapore. A structured questionnaire administered by trained interviewers was used to collect data on passive smoking, gas cooking, respiratory symptoms, and other relevant variables. Passive smoking was defined as exposure to cigarette smoke from one or more members of the household who had ever smoked. Gas cooking was defined in terms of the weekly frequency of gas cooking, as well as the frequency with which the respondent's kitchen was filled with heavy cooking fumes (rarely, occasionally, often). Forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) was measured by using a portable Micro-spirometer. Multivariate analyses were used to estimate relative odds of association for respiratory symptoms and FEV1 effect, with adjustment for potential confounding variables. Of a total of 1438 women in the sample, 1282 women who had never smoked provided questionnaire data and 1008 women provided acceptable readings of FEV1 for analysis. Passive smoking was significantly associated with greater relative odds of usual or chronic cough and phlegm, wheezing, and breathlessness on exertion, as well as lower FEV1. Greater relative odds of respiratory symptoms were also associated with the weekly frequency of gas cooking, although these results were statistically insignificant. Chronic cough and phlegm and breathlessness on exertion, however, were significantly associated with the frequency with which the kitchen was filled with heavy cooking fumes. A lower FEV1 was found in women who cooked frequently (more than thrice a week). Domestic exposure to cigarette smoke and gas cooking is associated with increased risks of respiratory symptoms and impairment of lung function in non-smoking women in Singapore.

Singapore 1992: Continuity and Change

Singapore: A More Rounded Personality Despite the fact that the hallmark of the new government had to be continuity, change, reflecting the priorities and preferences of the new rulers as well as those of the citizens of Singapore, was inevitable. In fact, the first generation rulers, anticipating the inevitability of change in these terms, had themselves sought to tutor and prepare their successors during the last few years to make sure that changes effected by them did not damage the vital interests of Singapore. As such, the changes introduced by the new rulers after 1990 could not be dra matic, disruptive and sudden. They had to maintain continuity with the past and be slowly and carefully effected over period of time. In this respect, the first two or three years of Singapore under Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and his second generation team were to constitute critical period in the political history of Singapore. These years were to provide the crucial transition from the Singapore of the first generation founding fathers to Singapore that reflected the vision of their second generation successors and the expectations of the now better-educated and greatly more affluent and self-confident citizenry of Singapore. The new Prime Minister was fully conscious of the constraint that only through process of slow and cautious change could he and his team give Singapore, as described by him, a more rounded personality. A few months after taking over, in May 1991, he told this writer when asked if he expected some of his colleagues and the bureaucracy to take note of his political style and the way he perceived government:

A Triumph of Patience and Purposiveness: Linton of Betong

From 1869 until the founding of the diocese of Singapore in 1909, the missions and chaplaincies in Singapore and what is now West Malaysia were within the jurisdiction of the diocese of Labuan, which itself had been founded as a legal fiction in 1855 as the stock onto which the bishopric for Rajah James Brooke’s Sarawak could be grafted. Although the diocese and the bishopric were constitutionally distinct, as succeeding bishops were often reminded by the rajahs of Sarawak, the bishops looked at the whole area of their spiritual leadership, and regarded the staffing of it as one problem—or opportunity. G. F. Hose himself, bishop of Labuan 1881–1908, and of Sarawak 1882–1908, had served in the Straits Settlements from 1868, and had been archdeacon of Singapore for his predecessor, Bishop Chambers. For sixty-two years the St Andrew’s Church Mission in Singapore, the base for work among Asians, had as superintendent two priests, W. H. Gomes, 1872—1902, and Richard Richards, 1902–34. Both had previously worked in Borneo, for more than fourteen and twelve years respectively. In the opposite direction Bishop Hose transferred to Kuching in 1898 A. F. Sharp, who had worked for six years in Singapore.

Education in Basic Technology - A Renaissance in Developing Countries

Developing countries are trying to rapidly modernize their industries, but they also need to consider how to provide basic technical education for as many people as possible in order to support and effectively utilize this technology. Vocation training courses in technical colleges and polytechnics are an ideal way. The author has just spent two years in Singapore under the Colombo Plan international technical cooperation scheme, and has developed a basic instrumentation and control training methodology with an emphasis on imparting the "big picture" as well as the fundamentals. This paper explains the methodology, and presents a typical syllabus for an introductory course.

Stomach cancer incidence in a cohort of fishermen in Singapore.

A retrospective cohort study of 279 Chinese fishermen in Singapore was undertaken to examine the possibility of an elevated incidence of stomach cancer. The fishermen as a group had a greater than twofold excess in stomach cancer relative to Chinese men of similar age and over the same calendar years in Singapore, but the difference was not statistically significant. On further examination it was revealed that the four stomach cancer cases were observed among the subgroup of divers. The standardized incidence ratio for the divers was 4.3, which was significantly greater than unity. There was no evidence of an increased risk for cancer of any other site (lung, nasopharynx and liver) in this cohort. Dietary factors are suggested as a possible explanation for the observation of an increased risk for stomach cancer among fishermen, but larger studies are required to test this hypothesis.

Lee Kuan Yew & the Singapore media: Purging the press

Today we publish two articles on the pressures under which newspaper publishers, editors, journalists and other media employees are working in Singapore as the government of Lee Kuan Yew increasingly subscribes to the ‘guided press’ concept common to an increasing number of emergent nations. One of these articles, by an experienced American journalist, Simon Casady, who spent three years in Singapore as a consultant until his expulsion in 1971, concentrates on the press purge carried out that year, giving a detailed account of the authorities' action against Lee Eu Seng, managing director of Nanyang Siang Pau, and his brother, Lee Mau Seng, as well as against other leading Singapore papers such as Sin Chew Jit Po, the Eastern Sun, the Singapore Herald and the Straits Times. In the second article, a regular contributor, Dr John A. Lent, takes a wider look at the whole question of mass media ‘guidance’ by Lee Kuan Yew's government over recent years and provides a well-researched record of official harassment and sanctions ranging from the withdrawal of advertising to long-term imprisonment for some of the more recalcitrant newspapermen.

The First 150 Years of Singapore. By Donald & Joanna Moore. Donald Moore Press, Singapore, 1969. pp. xix, 731. Preface, Introduction, Illustrations, Bibliography, Index. Price S$30.00.

The First 150 Years of Singapore. By Donald & Joanna Moore. Donald Moore Press, Singapore, 1969. pp. xix, 731. Preface, Introduction, Illustrations, Bibliography, Index. Price S$30.00. - Volume 2 Issue 2

The First 150 Years of Singapore. By Donald and Joanna Moore. Singapore: Donald Moore Press Ltd., 1969. xix, 731 pp. Illustrations, Bibliography, Index. $13.75. (Distributed by The Cellar Book Shop, Detroit).

The First 150 Years of Singapore. By Donald and Joanna Moore. Singapore: Donald Moore Press Ltd., 1969. xix, 731 pp. Illustrations, Bibliography, Index. $13.75. (Distributed by The Cellar Book Shop, Detroit). - Volume 30 Issue 1

Primary ovarian pregnancy

As primary ovarian pregnancy is rare and negligible material has been published from Asia, we feel that it is of medical interest to publish a series in a 9 year period in Singapore. After pruning, we find an incidence of one ovarian pregnancy per year in Singapore, which has an incidence of 100 ectopic pregnancies and 30,000 deliveries per year in the same period. File out of the 9 patients had missed no menstrual periods. Endometriosis and Mullerian duct tissue have no evident part to play in the etiology of these 9 cases. Oophoritis, as evidenced by thickened tunica albuginea and inflammatory cells, seems to play a major etiologic role in primary ovarian pregnancy in Singapore.

Seasonality in the Tropics: The Supply of Fruit to Singapore

IT IS a commonplace in introductory textbooks of geography that in the equatorial rainy tropics the absence of distinct seasonality in temperature and rainfall causes plant growth to be continuous. Statements are often made to the effect that individual trees carry blossoms, green fruit, and ripe fruit at all times of the year, that leaves are shed continuously, that trees are never bare, and that the forest is perennially evergreen. Many nongeographical writers have extolled the quality of tropical fruits, have written of their abundance and variety, and have said, or at least implied, that all fruits are available all year long. None of these statements is completely false, but almost none of the generalizations is completely true. The very wealth of tropical plant species results in a wide range of growing habits, but the trees that produce fruits of economic value tend to behave somewhat alike and do have distinctly seasonal, though irregular, patterns of ripening, and large volumes of fruit at certain times are not to be counted on. My experience in fruit buying for a year in Singapore, one of the classic climatic stations for the equatorial-rain-forest regime, cast unexpectedly interesting light on the role of climate in fruit production, on the world trade in fruit, and on textbook generalizations about vegetative growth in the tropics. For such a large urban consuming market as Singapore, the tropical sources of supply are much too irregular, and the simple fact is that today more extratropical than tropical fruit is consumed in Singapore.

One Hundred Years of Singapore. General Editors: Walter Makepeace, F.J.I., Editor of the Singapore Free Press ; Dr. Gilbert E. Brooke, M.A., Port Health Officer at Singapore; Roland ST. J. Braddell, B.A., Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court, Straits Settlements. 8¾ × 5¾. Vol. i, 592 pp.; vol. ii, 668 pp. London : John Murray, 1921.

One Hundred Years of Singapore. General Editors: Walter Makepeace, F.J.I., Editor of the Singapore Free Press ; Dr. Gilbert E. Brooke, M.A., Port Health Officer at Singapore; Roland ST. J. Braddell, B.A., Advocate and Solicitor of the Supreme Court, Straits Settlements. 8¾ × 5¾. Vol. i, 592 pp.; vol. ii, 668 pp. London : John Murray, 1921. - Volume 55 Issue 3