细胞培养-Taqman PCR分析法——评估小隐孢子虫消毒

小隐孢子虫(Cryptosporidium parvum)污染是对水工程的一个挑战也威胁到公众健康。在此项研究中,我们开发了一种细胞培养-定量PCR分析法来评估消毒后小隐孢子虫的活性。我们用这种方法对水工程中多种消毒法包括低压紫外光(LP-UV),臭氧,混合氧化剂(MIOX),氯气进行评估。证实该检测方法是可信和敏感的,最低能检测到一个感染卵囊。有效的卵囊消毒(灭活率>2 log10 units)是采用LP-UV(20 mJ/cm2)或2 mg臭氧/公升(10分钟)。MIOX和氯气消毒卵囊效果最差(灭活率<0.1 log10 unit)。这些结果证实了MIOX对小隐孢子虫消毒的无效性。该检测方法是对饮用水和循环水消毒系统有效的评估方法。     

《欧洲思想起源》导论

从古希腊早期哲学家话语研究欧洲思想的起源是不够的,那是传统大树上的枝杈而非根脉。荷马史诗在某种程度上呈现出最早的希腊人的真实历史样貌,其中充满着后世文明人难以理解的野蛮因素。有关神话与传说的知识是重建文明发生过程的主要素材,是将石器时代与文明时代相连接的认知通道。《伊里亚特》《奥德赛》所透露的生活方式和思维方式像一座永久的历史记忆之丰碑,是我们现在所掌握的最早描写欧洲的生活和思想的活的教材。     

祖鲁人的自豪感

许多南非白人对祖鲁人是怀有相当敬意的。作为工人,祖鲁人是很多金矿和工厂的骨干力量。他们的精力和技术是众所周知的。在城市的团体领袖、体育明星和知识分子中,祖鲁人所占的比例很大。每当白人回想起祖鲁部落的往事时,他们既是敬佩,又是惧怕。在与白人发生冲突之前,祖鲁人有着他们自己的国家。他们的国父是残暴的沙卡(Shaka)酋长。他是一个非常残忍、但具有非凡军事才能的统治者。十八世纪末,他掌握了一个小部落,后来征服了周围的部落,     

拉克代夫群岛的历史与居民

地处阿拉伯海怀抱的拉克代夫群岛属印度最小的中央直辖区,是由36个小小的珊瑚岛组成。虽然从外表看来似乎默默无闻,但实际上它却具有强烈的吸引力和独特的重要性。拉克代夫群岛总面积并不大,只有32平方公里。但是,如果将它附近的大约4200平方公里的累恭(Legūna)地区(即被珊瑚礁     

Opportunities for woman-initiated HIV prevention methods among female sex workers in southern China

Rapid changes in China over the past two decades have led to significant problems associated with population migration and changing social attitudes, including a growing sex industry and concurrent increases in STIs and HIV. This article reports results of an exploratory study of microbicide acceptability and readiness and current HIV prevention efforts among female sex workers in two rural and one urban town in Hainan and Guangxi Provinces in southern China. The study focused on these women's knowledge and cultural understandings of options for protecting themselves from exposure to STIs and HIV, and the potential viability and acceptability of woman-initiated prevention methods. We report on ethnographic elicitation interviews conducted with women working within informal sex-work establishments (hotels, massage and beauty parlors, roadside restaurants, boarding houses). We discuss implications of these findings for further promotion of woman-initiated prevention methods such as microbicides and female condoms among female sex workers in China.     

Male bisexuality and condom use at last sexual encounter: results from a national survey

Relatively little is known about condom use among bisexual men as separate and distinct from exclusively homosexual and heterosexual men. Most previous research on bisexual men has relied on non-probabilistic, high risk samples with limited generalizability. We examined the relationship between male behavioral bisexuality and condom use in the 2002 cycle of the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG). Bisexually-active men positively differed from heterosexually- and homosexually-active men on every indicator of confounding risk. However, bisexually-active men did not report using condoms less often than other men during their last sexual encounters with males and females. Indeed, with female partners, bisexually-active men reported higher rates of condom use than other men. These relationships remained when all sociodemographic and confounding risk factors were held constant. Our results suggest that caution must be used when making assumptions about condom use in the general population of bisexual men from non-probabilistic samples.     

Staying strong: gender ideologies among African-American adolescents and the implications for HIV/STI prevention

This paper explores adolescents' definitions of what it means to be a man and a woman, the psycho-social context surrounding the formation of gender ideologies and their relationship to HIV/STI prevention. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted with fifty African-American adolescents living in Baltimore, Maryland. Female gender ideologies included economic independence, emotional strength and caretaking. Male gender ideologies emphasized financial responsibility, toughness and sexual prowess. Findings suggest that stronger adherence to male gender ideologies related to toughness and sexual prowess is influenced by male participants' perceived inability to fulfill their primary gender role as economic providers and the importance of gaining approval from male peers in the absence of adult male role models. Stronger adherence to female gender ideologies related to emotional strength and caretaking may be linked to a heightened desire for male intimacy and tolerance of male sexual risk behavior. Implications of the gender ideologies documented and their commonalities are discussed in terms of HIV/STI prevention.     

Improving healthcare for children entering foster care

Despite the fact that children in foster care are, perhaps, the most vulnerable children, healthcare for them has been lacking woefully for many years. A growing body of research has documented the need for such care as well as the failure of child welfare agencies to make major improvements in providing healthcare to foster children. Nonetheless, current efforts are being made to change this situation. This article reports on one effort to improve the provision and timeliness of health exams for children entering care. One rural and one urban county served as project treatment sites, with two additional rural and urban counties serving as control sites. The treatment sites achieved a statistically significant improvement in their rate of exam completion as compared to the control sites. The study finds that despite an existing policy for healthcare for children entering foster care, legislation mandating additional efforts, shortened time frames, and provision for judicial oversight are needed for improvement.     

Assessing the relevance of higher education courses

The establishment of the European Higher Education Area has involved specifying lists of professional competencies that programs are expected to develop, and with this the need for procedures to measure how every course within a higher education program is aligned with the program's competencies. We propose an instrument for characterizing this alignment, a process that we call assessing the relevance of a course. Using information from the course syllabus (objectives, contents and assessment scheme), our instrument produces indicators for characterizing the syllabus in terms of a competence list and for assessing its coherence. Because assessment involves quality, the results obtained can also be used to revise and improve the course syllabus. We illustrate this process with an example of a methods course from a mathematics teacher education program at a Spanish university.     

Ordering competition: the interactional accomplishment of the sale of art and antiques at auction

Auctions provide an institutional solution to a social problem; they enable the legitimate pricing and exchange of goods where those goods are of uncertain value. In turn, auctions raise a number of social and organizational issues that are resolved within the interaction that arise in sales by auction. In this paper, we examine sales of fine art, antiques and objets d'art and explore the ways in which auctioneers mediate competition between buyers and establish a value for goods. In particular, we explore how bids are elicited, co-ordinated and revealed so as to rapidly escalate the price of goods in a transparent manner that enables the legitimate valuation and exchange of goods. In directing attention towards the significance of the social interaction, including talk, visual and material conduct, the paper contributes to the growing corpus of ethnographic studies of markets. It suggests that to understand the operation of markets and their outcomes, and to unpack issues of agency, trust and practice, we need to place the 'interaction order' at the heart of analytic agenda.