Russian science. New rules on foreign contacts resurrect cold war-era distrust.
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Russian science. Academy backs off cold war-style rules.
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The emergence of cognitive science in France.
A comparison between the development of cognitive science in France and the USA enables us to analyze some national differences linked to specific connections between the scientific, military, economic and political worlds. The influence of new practices and tools developed during World War II and the Cold War appears to be of crucial importance in understanding the development of this new field, as well as that of cybernetics, computer science, artificial intelligence and molecular biology. This paper can be considered as a study in how the differing contexts in France and the USA shaped the history of the construction of cognitive science in each of these two countries. In spite of various differences, some common aspects may be pointed out: in both cases, computer experts and psychologists using a computational modelling approach were those first engaged in the construction of cognitive science. If in France neuroscience-oriented cognitive science research was stronger than in the USA, it seems that the artificial intelligence orientation is also of growing importance in France.
Artificial Intelligence↗
Lesbian identity and the politics of representation in Betty Parsons's gallery.
Although Betty Parsons had been unusually open about her love relationships with women in the twenties and thirties, she later became reticent, retiring to the closet. Her increased discretion after World War II, during the Cold War, coincided with her rise as the art dealer most prominently associated with the international emergence of Abstract Expressionism. Parsons incurred the objections of her Abstract Expressionists, however, by showing artists who included both abstraction and naturalism in their work, such as Sonia Sekula, Forrest Bess, and Hedda Sterne. This article examines her definition of abstraction as difference through her friend Theodoros Stamos's notion of camp and helps to explain her admiration of Barnett Newman despite her refusal to devote her gallery exclusively to his narrower version of significant abstraction.
Art↗
[Social change and sciences in the 20th century].
The symbiotic interdependence of state, economy and science is one of the most significant structural characteristics of the 20th century. This development results from inherent scientific as well as from social procedures and needs, and it has been favoured by the two World Wars, culminating in the Cold War. This led to new structures: institutions of large scale research, think tanks, and the military-industrial complex. Big government, big business, and big science are depending on each other. Parallel to the new way of thinking in physics (Einstein, Bohr and others), finally accomplished by the revolution in cybernetics (Wiener), the traditional borders between disciplines have been overcome. The production of new knowledge is now of primary importance. Today, information proves to be one of the strategic resources which determines prosperity, power and prestige as well as success in economic and political markets.
Cybernetics↗
The West's dismissal of the Khabarovsk trial as 'communist propaganda': ideology, evidence and international bioethics.
In late 1949 the former Soviet Union conducted an open trial of eight Japanese physicians and researchers and four other military servicemen in Khabarovsk, a city in eastern Siberia. Despite its strong ideological tone and many obvious shortcomings such as the lack of international participation, the trial established beyond a reasonable doubt that the Japanese army had prepared and deployed bacteriological weapons and that Japanese researchers had conducted cruel experiments on living human beings. However, the trial, together with the evidence presented to the court and its major findings--which have proved remarkably accurate--was dismissed as communist propaganda and totally ignored in the West until the 1980s. This paper reviews the 1949 Khabarovsk trial, examines the West's dismissal of the proceedings as mere propaganda and draws some moral lessons for bioethics today. As an important historical case, set in the unique socio-political context of the Cold War, the West's dismissal of the trial powerfully illustrates some perennial ethical issues such as the ambivalence of evidence and power of ideology in making (or failing to make) cross-national and cross-cultural factual and moral judgments.
Biological Warfare↗
Mortality and the fate of communist states.
The author suggests that the general tendency to overestimate the economic success of communist countries by Western scholars before the breakup of the Soviet Union was due primarily to a failure to take proper account of demographic factors, and particularly declines occurring in life expectancy. "The first section reviews the anomalous history of mortality trends in Central and Eastern Europe and the USSR between the end of the Second World War and the 'end of the Cold War'. The second draws inferences about economic performance in those countries from their mortality trends. The third examines some characteristic differences in mortality trends between those areas in which communist rule has recently collapsed and those in which it continues, and speculates about the significance of the distinction. The final section discusses the significance of current mortality trends for post-communist societies, especially as they pertain to the prospective transition to a stable economic and political order."
Demography↗
Measuring social inequalities in health in the United States: a historical review, 1900-1950.
For over two centuries, U.S. vital statistics routinely have been stratified by age, sex, and race, but not by social class. The usual explanation is that U.S. government officials have not considered social class relevant to health. During the first third of the 20th century, however, questions of socio-economic inequalities in morbidity and mortality ranked high on the agenda of federal and other public health agencies, and routine reporting of U.S. vital statistics and health survey data by socioeconomic measures was nearly institutionalized. This history has largely been lost. In this article, the authors focus on the period from 1900 to 1950 and examine how public health researchers and agencies conceptualized and analyzed socioeconomic inequalities in health. Highlights include production, for 1930, of the first U.S. national death rates stratified by social class, in work sponsored by the National Tuberculosis Association and Bureau of the Census, and the Public Health Service's 1935-1936 National Health Survey, which reported morbidity data stratified by socioeconomic measures. Efforts like these were cut short by the onset of World War II and their legacy erased by the Cold War. Recovering this rich history can help inform current debates about collecting and evaluating data on social inequalities in health.
Health Status↗
Researching under fire: issues for consideration when collecting data and information in war circumstances, with specific reference to relief and reconstruction projects.
The post-Cold War era has witnessed an increased number of conflicts and higher levels of international intervention by the humanitarian community and the military. Those who undertake to research the actions of relief and development agencies acting in these wars must act within new parameters that require a flexible, innovative and reflective approach. Not much is known about data collection in war. The most relevant publications come from the field of development studies. This paper is a beginning in a much-needed discourse on researching under fire; it is offered not as a definitive work, but as a starting-point for discussion.
Bias↗
The health crisis in the former Soviet Union: a report from the 'post-war' zone.
Observers of the Soviet health and demographic scene have noted that many of the phenomena (particularly mortality) were unprecedented in 'peace time.' In fact, the Cold War (or Third World War) was 'war time,' although not in the conventional military sense (it was ideological, political and economic warfare). The health crisis in the former Soviet Union is partly the result of that lost conflict by the Soviet side due to its inability to match the West in defense outlays and to provide for the needs of the civilian sector. Health conditions began to deteriorate in the late sixties, and were exacerbated by the collapse of the Soviet Empire in late 1991. These were reflected in increasing mortality and morbidity, decreasing natality, a deteriorating health service, and an environment ruined by the heedless drive toward industrialization and militarization. This resulted in a 'systemic' breakdown of the Soviet system, not only its health care structure. The situation of the former Soviet Union is that of a country that has suffered a humiliating national defeat with all the consequences of a 'post-war' situation, including inflation, anomie and social polarization. The health crisis is likely to get worse, and will not be resolved until a viable political, economic and social order is established. Today's deteriorating health and demographic situation will create 'echo' problems in the decade to come.
Birth Rate↗
The medical profession and nuclear war. A social history.
Since World War II, individual physicians and medical organizations in the United States have cooperated with the federal government in preparing for nuclear war. While most physicians have maintained a neutral stance, a minority have resisted federal policies. Health professionals participated actively at the wartime laboratories that developed the atomic bomb and in the medical research that followed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Professional organizations helped with civil defense planning for nuclear conflict during the Cold War of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Medical resistance to nuclear war began in the same period, gained wide attention with the growth of Physicians for Social Responsibility in the early 1960s, declined during the Vietnam War, and vastly increased in the early 1980s. Activism by health professionals usually has responded to government policies that have increased the perceived risk of nuclear conflict. The recent return of civil defense planning has stimulated opposition in medical circles. Ambiguities of medical professionalism limit the scope of activism in the nuclear arena. These ambiguities concern the interplay of organized medicine and government, tensions between science and politics, and the difficulties of day-to-day work in medicine while the arms race continues.
American Medical Association↗
Preventing war through non-violent direct involvement in conflict: I. Principles and background.
International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War now considers prevention of all violent armed conflict as one of its core objectives, as such conflict is incompatible with health. Health professionals have long been involved in this area with an inclination towards non-violent means. The growth of interest in the area of non-military peacemaking, the growth of knowledge and research in the last few years and the post-cold-war nature of most contemporary wars mean that IPPNW needs to approach war prevention in a systematic way, benefiting and co-operating with other creative forces in the field. In this first of two articles we present some important work by contemporary non-violent researchers. We seek to develop an imagination and a mode of thinking to enable health professionals to prepare to engage in Non-violent Direct Involvement in Conflict (NVDIC).
Ethics, Medical↗
[An attempt to combine humanitarianism and pacifism. The Red Cross and the Dutch movement for international peace].
Both the International and the Dutch Red Cross were heavily damaged by World War II. The Red Cross movement especially was blamed for its lack of care for persecuted Jews and political prisoners. To restore its reputation all kinds of initiatives were taken. Amongst these was an attempt of the Dutch Red Cross to cooperate with several pacifist movements in the Dutch Movement for International Peace and Security. It seemed a good and sensible initiative, especially in 1945, but although it was supported by international Red Cross resolutions, it failed. The DRC grew immensely in numbers in the years after 1945. With the cold war coming up the peace movement lost most of its popularity and therefore lost its attraction for the Red Cross as a partner. As in the rest of its mutual history, the attempt to humanise war did not mix with the wish to abolish it.
Altruism↗
Military nursing at the forefront: the Army Forward Surgical Team.
From World War II to current conflicts, history has validated the need for early surgical intervention to save lives and established the need for FSTs. Historically 10% to 15% of soldiers wounded in action require surgery to control hemorrhage and to provide stabilization sufficient for evacuation to a medical treatment facility where definitive care can be provided. Undoubtedly, many lives were saved in past conflicts because resuscitative surgery and care were available a short time after being wounded. The need for surgical stabilization for patients to survive a long evacuation was well-established during military operations such as Operation Desert Storm. Resuscitative surgery capability must be present on the battlefield, and this capability must be able to move with the units the FST is supporting. These two imperatives were the driving force of the creation of the US Army's FSTs: they are light, easily transportable, and able to keep pace with the supported units. FSTs are an integral and essential element in providing surgical care to save soldiers' lives on the modem battlefield. The US military has been involved in more operations and deployments since the end of the Cold War than in the preceding years. FSTs participated in many of these operations and have performed superbly. FSTs will continue to have a critical role in providing combat health service support to soldiers on the battlefield of the twenty-first century, and FST nurses will continue to be an indispensable asset.
Hospitals, Packaged↗
Risk perception, future land use and stewardship: comparison of attitudes about Hanford Site and Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.
With the ending of the Cold War, the Department of Energy (DOE) is evaluating mission, future land use and stewardship of departmental facilities. This paper compares the environmental concerns and future use preferences of 351 people interviewed at Lewiston, Idaho, about the Hanford Site and Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL), two of DOE's largest sites. Although most subjects lived closer to Hanford than INEEL, most resided in the same state as INEEL. Therefore their economic interests might be more closely allied with INEEL, while their health concerns might be more related to Hanford. Few lived close enough to either site to be directly affected economically. We test the null hypotheses that there are no differences in environmental concerns and future land-use preferences as a function of DOE site, sex, age and education. When asked to list their major concerns about the sites, more people listed human health and safety, and environmental concerns about Hanford compared to INEEL. When asked to list their preferred future land uses, 49% of subjects did not have any for INEEL, whereas only 35% did not know for Hanford. The highest preferred land uses for both sites were as a National Environmental Research Park (NERP), and for camping, hunting, hiking, and fishing. Except for returning the land to the tribes and increased nuclear storage, subjects rated all future uses as more preferred at INEEL than Hanford. Taken together, these data suggest that the people interviewed know more about Hanford, are more concerned about Hanford, rate recreational uses and NERP as their highest preferred land use, and feel that INEEL is more suited for most land uses than Handford. Overall rankings for future land uses were remarkably similar between the sites, indicating that for these stakeholders, DOE lands should be preserved for research and recreation. These preferences should be taken into account when planning for long-term stewardship at these two DOE sites.
Adult↗
Observations on health care issues in the former Soviet Union.
With the demise of the Soviet Union, the health care systems that remain in the component countries face many problems not seen in Western countries since the late 1800s or early 1900s. The author traveled to several countries of the newly independent states (NIS) of the former Soviet Union and observed problems in hospital sanitation, public health, medical equipment and supply distribution, food quality and safety, and the delivery of medical services. The author makes several suggestions to improve the delivery and quality of health care services in the NIS. His recommendations include: developing health care standards similar those that were first implemented in the U.S. by the American College of Surgeons in 1919; the use of practice guidelines and outcomes measures; building on organizational structures from the old state health system for professional and public health education; and restructuring the old delivery system to form a new delivery model based on centers of excellence and group practice managed care. Because of so many needs, the author stresses keeping reforms as simple as possible so as not to overburden the health professionals. The author also calls on Western countries, particularly the U.S., to assist with rebuilding of the health care delivery system of its Cold War adversary as it helped Germany and Japan after World War II. Such aid should be viewed as humanitarian in nature and should be distributed to private/public partnership efforts. The author says recent Congressional proposals to cut off aid in order to influence the Russian government's position on nuclear technology sales to Iran and the Chechen war are short sighted and will only hurt the citizens of these countries while having little or not impact on the leadership.
Commonwealth of Independent States↗
Radiation risks in perspective: radiation-induced cancer among cancer risks.
The majority of the public in industrial countries believes that pollution and low doses of radiation are threats to good health. As a matter of fact, when these putative risks are compared to those originating from lifestyle, they appear very small. In particular, the risks associated with low doses of irradiation, even when they are assessed with the most pessimistic models, appear extremely small. Public anxiety is fuelled by the uncertainty regarding the magnitude of this risk and the use of the linear no threshold (LNT) hypothesis, which gives credence to the concept that even the smallest doses are harmful. There are a number of scientific and epidemiological data currently under debate that are not consistent with the LNT hypothesis. For example, no difference in the incidence of cancers or of birth defects has been observed between regions with low or high natural irradiation. This inconsistency between perceptions and data underlines the role of psychological factors studied since 1957 which should be placed in the perspective of the public's present attitude toward risk and technology. Social amplification or attenuation of risk may occur in several ways. Fearful concern about radiation began in 1955, with the beginning of the Cold War, when the possibility of a nuclear holocaust appeared very real. Analysis of the data shows that these fears of technology could have a detrimental effect; they should therefore be investigated and understood.
Cause of Death↗
Political economy of transnational water pollution: what do the LMB data (1985-2000) say?
On the basis of the cross-section and time-series data of the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB)--including large sections of Thailand, Lao PDR, Vietnam, and Cambodia, we find little evidence in support of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. Instead, our regressions support the general views that water pollution had been positively related to income level and that, as a result of the end of the Cold War era, it had been significantly reduced in the 1990s vis-à-vis the 1980s. In most circumstances, water resources were more seriously polluted in the transnational border areas than in the other areas. Specifically, the estimated coefficients on the political boundary dummies show that political influence on transnational water pollution was more significant in areas near "the international border along which the river runs" (denoted by BORDER2) than in places near "the international border across which the river runs" (denoted by BORDER1). The estimated coefficients on the ASEAN dummy present some information about the positive role of the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) membership in the reduction of transnational water pollution. Finally, the country-specific dummies are found to present conflicting information about the transnational differences of water pollution, although Thailand is found to have the least water pollution in the LMB.
Asia↗