Dictating to The Dictator: Augustus Trowbridge,The Rockefeller Foundation,And The Support of Physics in Spain, 1923–1927

During the mid 1920s, the Spanish Government, prompted by the Rockefeller Foundation, began for the first time to support fundamental research in physics. The negotiations leading to this outcome are instructive, in reflecting key differences between the Foundation’s vision and the practices of scientists accustomed to a ‘culture of scarcity’. This paper shows how the Foundation and the Dictator of Spain, Miguel Primo de Rivera, tested the limits of ‘civil discourse’, and reached a resolution.     

A practical approach to making accurate 3D layouts of interesting cultural heritage sites through digital models

On many occasions, the graphic information handled by people working in the cultural heritage sector is still bidimensional. Layouts showing elevations and cross sections are the most widespread tools. However, there is an increased need for carefully detailing the complexity of valuable sites with an improved accuracy. This implies the measuring and handling of three-dimensional data, using both commercial and turn-key hardware and software solutions. Taking the usual traditional process as a reference, in the present paper a new effective methodology for carrying out computer assisted delineation of layouts from cultural heritage sites, using 3D digital models, is described. The proposed procedure has been tested in five intervention projects on representative churches within the “Merindad de Aguilar de Campoo” medieval area, in the north of Spain.¹ This area has the largest collection of Romanesque art in the world, and is currently under European Heritage Site and World Heritage Site declaration process by the UNESCO.     

Contingent Valuation and Semiparametric Methods: A Case Study of the National Museum of Sculpture in Valladolid, Spain

Research on cultural economics is very interested in the economic valuation of non-market goods, particularly in the field ofcultural heritage where contingent valuation techniques are currently being used with both parametric and non-parametric statistical methods to estimate the willingness to pay for cultural goods. In the literature analysed, the number of studies using semiparametric methods, however, is very limited. Our analysis is intended to help fill this gap by offering a parametric, non-parametric and semiparametric economic valuation of the National Museum of Sculpture (Museo Nacional de Escultura), located in Valladolid,Spain. In addition, we also gain insight on a controversial issue affecting most European museums, particularly those located in Latin countries: the role voluntary donations might play in the funding of public museums.     

Economic valuation of a contemporary art museum: correction of hypothetical bias using a certainty question

Biases in contingent valuation exercises are often difficult to quantify and to correct due to the hypothetical nature of the method itself. One common problem is hypothetical bias, which in recent years has been addressed in various ways, particularly through the inclusion of a certainty question in the questionnaire. We analyse the impact of applying differing corrections based on the certainty question for double-bounded dichotomous economic valuation exercises. The empirical application is based on data gathered from four surveys conducted with various groups to obtain the value allocated to a modern art museum: the Museo Patio Herreriano de Arte Contemporáneo Español, in the city of Valladolid (Spain). Findings indicate that estimates of Willingness to Pay are significantly reduced when a higher certainty threshold is required, in other words when individuals are more certain of their choices. Furthermore, correction through recoding proved more severe than correction through exclusion.     

《公孙子都》的精品之路

去年,当新编昆曲历史剧《公孙子都》主演、浙江昆剧团团长林为林站在国家舞台艺术精品工程的颁奖台上,从国务委员陈至立女士手中接过沉甸甸的“十大精品剧目”奖牌的那一刻,浙昆人感到无比激动与自豪,因为他们在无数个日日夜夜里,用心血和汗水九易其稿,四易其名,经历十年之久的艰辛创作历程,终于结出了硕果——将传统剧目《伐子都》创新为在思想性、艺术性、观赏性方面与时俱进的上乘之作,成就了继《十五贯》后的又一个具有里程碑意义的国家级精品剧目。     

DRILLING THROUGH THE ALLEGHENY MOUNTAINS

In 1999, Carruthers and Stinchcombe provided the classic discussion of ‘the social structure of liquidity’: the institutional arrangements that support markets in which ‘exchange occurs easily and frequently’. Our argument in this paper is that the material aspects of these arrangements – and particularly the materiality of prices – need far closer attention than they normally receive. We develop this argument by highlighting two features of new assemblages that have been created in financial markets since 1999. First, these assemblages give sharp economic significance to spatial location and to physical phenomena such as the speed of light (the physics of these assemblages is Einsteinian, not Newtonian, so to speak). Second, they have provoked fierce controversy focusing on ultra-fast ‘high-frequency trading’, controversy in which issues of materiality are interwoven intimately with questions of legitimacy, particularly of fairness.     

Art collections and taste in the Spanish <Emphasis Type="Italic">Siglo</Emphasis><Emphasis Type="Italic">de Oro</Emphasis>

We analyze art pricing in a unique dataset on Madrid inventories between 1600 and 1750. We estimate a price index for the Spanish art market that is used for a general historical analysis of art during this period, showing a large increase in the real price of paintings during the XVII century. Then we examine the price differential between domestic and foreign paintings: At the beginning of the century domestic production was priced substantially below imported paintings, but the price gap was gradually reduced during the century. We argue that such a price convergence was not the fruit of variations in real exchange rate, relative supply or home bias, but was associated with increasing prices for the new domestic painters of the XVII century. Increasing remuneration for painting may have induced artistic innovations by domestic producers and created the conditions for the development of the Siglo de Oro of Spanish art.     

Neorenaissance/Neobaroque stained glass windows from Madrid: a characterisation study on some panels signed by the Maumejean Fréres company

This paper reports results derived from a chemico-physical characterisation study undertaken on an important ensamble of early 20th century stained glass windows from Madrid and signed by the prestigious and well-known Maumejean Fréres company. The study is part of an on-going project of restoration and conservation carried out by the National Glass Centre Foundation (FCNV, La Granja de San Ildefonso, Segovia, Spain). The basic aim of the research was to assess their current state of conservation and to study the degree of damage suffered throughout the last century by different materials employed in their production, namely colourless and coloured glasses, grisailles, lead cames, and putties used to fix glass pieces into the lead cames. Selected samples from these materials were characterised through optical microscopy (OM), X-ray fluorescence (XRF), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (EDX), VIS spectrophotometry, and X-ray diffraction (XRD). As a general rule, most of them presented an acceptable state of conservation, without any of the known degradation phenomena of more ancient stained glasses (e.g. Medieval, Renaissance, etc.). However, some remarkable alterations were observed. Important deposits of soot and dirt particles coming from a polluted urban environment were detected, producing a slow blackening of the panels. Resulting data have been useful to design and optimise a combined conservation and restoration strategy in the recovery of this valuable legacy of early 20th century stained glass windows from Madrid.     

Excimer laser removal of beeswax from galician granite monuments

The paper presents the use of laser radiation for cleaning of beeswax treated granite stone. In the early sixties, prestigious restorers decided to apply molten beeswax on the granite surface of valuable monuments with the aim of preventing the erosive action of atmospheric agents. An interesting example of this treatment is the Renaissance Frieze in the Cloister of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia (Northwest Spain). With time, salt accumulation beneath the beeswax layer has caused an intense surface disintegration of granite. Conventional cleaning methods can destroy sculptured details of these emblematic monuments. For this reason, excimer laser cleaning has been chosen as a promising non contact, selective and environmentally friendly cleaning technique to be studied.The cleaning tests have been carried out using an excimer laser (ArF, 193 nm), with fluences between 0.5 and 2 J cm⁻² pulse⁻¹ and a spot area of 0.025 cm². Samples representing beeswax films over Roan granite have been irradiated and their degree of cleaning has been studied as a function of the number of pulses and the laser fluence.Cleaning efficiency has been evaluated by FT-Raman Spectroscopy, allowing to establish the beeswax ablation threshold and the ablation rate.Excimer laser cleaning allows a progressive and controlled removal of a few tenths of micrometers of beeswax per pulse without damaging the underlying granite stone.     

Using 3D digital models for the virtual restoration of polychrome in interesting cultural sites

In most cases, the polychrome paintings that decorated heritage buildings no longer exist or are reduced to mere remnants. These facts decontextualize the sites in their historical and artistic evolution, distort the intention under which they were conceived, and hamper their accomplishment. Current recovery methods are restricted to the stabilization of the remains in their present status, requiring a lot of completely manual work that is expensive and almost unrelated to the use of new technologies. Three-dimensional digitalization and modelling is proved to be the basis for the virtual recovery of paintings in a significant edifice. To do so, an innovative methodology is presented that allows the 3D geometric information of a site (captured using a laser scanner) to be combined with specially designed 2D artistic images. The resulting 3D digital models can then be focused, with high efficiency projectors, on the equivalent area of the original site, and also used as raw material to compose a video-projection without perspective effects to emulate, with due rigour, the primitive appearance, its evolution along time, the effects of the deterioration, or other interesting aspects. The results obtained at Sta. María de Mave (Palencia, Spain) are presented, supporting the potential of this new methodology not only as a scientific way to discuss possible restoration hypotheses with experts or as a didactic tool for narrating the historical evolution of a monument, but also as a spectacular show for tourists.     

The Economic Dimension of the Culture and Leisure Industry in Spain: National, Sectoral and Regional Analysis

This article analyses the economic dimension of a set of activities groupedunder the heading, Culture and Leisure Industry, from three complementaryperspectives: national (Spain), sectoral and regional. Particular emphasis isplaced on determining the value added generated by this industry and itscontribution to the Gross Domestic Product – 4.5% – as wellas showing its level of employment both in absolute terms and as a percentageof the number of employees in the economy – 7.8%. This is apioneer project; studies in this field on either a national or internationalscale are scarce. The study demonstrates that the cultural sector is aproductive activity generating wealth in Spain. However, a high degree ofheterogeneity is found at both the sectoral and regional levels. Economicactivity is led by Performing, Musical and Audiovisual Arts (mainlyTelevision) and Publishing and Printing, which jointly account for about70% of sales and gross value added, and it is concentrated in similarproportions in developed regions specialized in service industries, Madrid andCatalonia, where most culture and leisure activities are available.     

Science on the Periphery. The spanish Reception of Nuclear Energy: an Attempt at Modernity?

During the Cold War, Franco’s dictatorship attempted to use technological transfer and nuclear technology to strengthen the geopolitical influence of his Government in Spain. This paper studies this process, with particular reference to the role played by German scientists as advisers to the Spanish nuclear project.     

国际视野 多元发展——记荣怀教育集团大力发展国际教育

胡锦涛总书记在2008年5月3日考察北大时,殷切寄语：“留学生是文化交流的使者,是增进各国人民友谊的桥梁。”《国际视野多元发展》《依华的梦》《英国青年在浙江》。这是一组反映外国留学生和青少丰在浙江学习、体验中国文化的文章及图照。多元文化的交流、交融,谱写成友谊之歌和美好篇章。     

A Unique Partnership: William and Lawrence Bragg and the 1915 Nobel Prize in Physics

The award of the 1915 Nobel Prize in physics jointly to William Henry Bragg and his elder son, William Lawrence Bragg – `for their services in the analysis of crystal structure by means of Röntgen rays' – seems to have been largely uncontroversial at the time, butthere are a number of questions that surround the award and the events that followed it that deserve exploration. This paper attempts to address these questions.     

Analyzing repeat consumption of identical cultural goods: some exploratory evidence from moviegoing

This study offers a preliminary exploration of repeat consumption of identical cultural goods, specifically moviegoing. The term ‘identical’ in this study refers to cases where, for example, individuals view the same film at a movie theater, in a short time interval, on more than one occasion i.e. experiencing the cultural good in precisely the same format. It is not meant to embrace the case of individuals who, for example, view a particular film at a movie theater and then see it some time later in another format, such as via a DVD player. The repeat viewing phenomenon is discussed and then considered empirically. Films aimed predominantly at children attract the highest number of repeat views, while those aimed at an older audience attract significantly fewer repeat views. The profile of repeat viewers of the 10 films which attracted the greatest number of repeat viewers was subject to more detailed scrutiny. In general, repeat viewers tend to be younger but the gender balance differs markedly according to film content. An earlier version of this article was presented at the 3rd European Workshop on Applied Cultural Economics, University of Oviedo in Aviles, Spain 14–16 June 2007 and the 9th International Conference on Arts and Cultural Management (AIMAC), Fundación Universidad Empresa (ADEIT), Valencia, Spain 8–11 July 2007. We are grateful for comments received and the usual caveat applies.     

Science Frustrated: The ‘Einstein Institute’ In Madrid

In April 1933, Albert Einstein was offered an ‘Extraordinary’ Chair of Physics at the University of Madrid. Einstein first accepted, then sought to withdraw without causing damage to the anti-Fascist Republican government. However, this proved an opportunity for the Spanish press to harness Einstein’s notoriety to their own programmes. This article discusses the genesis and resolution of this episode, which says much about Einstein and science and politics in modern Spain.     

The 1984 Nobel Physics Prize for Heterogeneous Engineering

The 1984 Nobel Prize for physics wasawarded to two European scientists for theircontributions to the `large project' that ledto the identification of two importantfundamental particles. The citation recognizedthat major discoveries in high-energy physicsdemanded more than intellectual achievement andtechnical innovation. Such qualities had to beembedded in a technological, managerial,institutional and political infrastructure.This paper aims to capture the salient featuresof that infrastructure by insisting that atleast one of the laureates should be viewed,not only as a physicist, but also as a`heterogeneous engineer', who succeeded inmobilizing the human and material resourcesneeded to attain his objectives. As such, hisproject was similar to the Manhattan project,and was typical of the transformation in thepractice of physics that came about during theSecond World War.     

From Einstein to Shirakawa: the Nobel Prize in Japan

There have been two Japanese Nobel laureates in chemistry, three in physics, and one in the category of medicine or physiology. This relatively small number has been attributed to shortcomings in Japanese science. The award of the Physics Prize in 1949 to Hideki Yukawa and to his colleague Sin'itirô Tomonaga in 1965 gave public evidence of how Japanese could make outstanding individual contributions to science. Paradoxically, the Prize also reinforced a belief that such men formed part of a traditional hierarchical system. This essay examines how the Nobel Prize has been represented in Japan.     

Quantification of mercury in XVIII century books by Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF)

This work describes the quantitative analysis of mercury present in the ink used to colour some books of XVIII century. The mercury content was determined by Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry. This is a non-destructive technique which allows elemental identification and quantification (Z > 13) by atomic physics processes. The organic pigments cannot be identified by this technique, taking into account that its composition is mainly C, O and H. Levels of 2 wt.% and 4.5 wt.% were measured in 1756 and 1753 books respectively. No significant amount of mercury was observed in other red books, on a total of 11, all from XVIII century: 1720, 1732, 1753, 1756, 1780, 1798, 1800. More than one book for each year were analysed. The studied books belong to a private collection, and were selected taking into account the age and the reddish colour of their external parts. High content on Fe were observed in some of the books. This work highlights the application of a physics technique in a very important aspect for art and cultural heritage conservation and restoration, considering that high levels of toxic elements might be found in ancient documents. It is of great importance that preliminary elemental analyses are performed on ancient documents before handling them, because they might constitute some danger for restorers, conservators and collectors. This work highlights, for the first time, the danger of some ancient books. They might contain a very high concentration of mercury, which is toxic for the organism. This is also a particularly important problem of public health never mentioned in literature before.     

Competition,Concentration and Diversity in European Television Markets

This study investigates how competition, concentration and public broadcasters influence diversity of programme supply in European television markets. It focuses on free, national generalist channels; studies programmes as provided throughout the day; and tests hypotheses with data on Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the U.K. for the late 1980s and 1990s. It concludes that competition is moderate in most markets. Under these conditions, competition and concentration contribute to a diverse supply of programmes that mirrors audience demand, while public broadcasters increase diversity of supply above competitive market levels.