China's copyright dilemma

At this critical point in its development as a burgeoning market economy ensconced within a socialist political system, China faces a dilemma in becoming a fully‐fledged player in the copyright arena. Over the past two decades, China has made great strides in creating a legal and governmental framework for the administration and enforcement of copyright. But its implementation has left much to be desired, owing partly to inadequate resources of money and personnel, partly to insufficiently harsh penalties for infringement, partly to cumbersome procedures required to bring action against infringers, and partly to a general cultural tolerance for practices that run contrary to cultivating a broad‐based respect for copyright. This article proposes that a balance of pressure and encouragement is likely to have the best chances of success in overcoming these problems and ensuring that China will become fully welcomed into the international publishing community.     

On rubrication of the division <Emphasis Type="Italic">spintronics</Emphasis> in a separate edition of the abstract journal of the VINITI RAS <Emphasis Type="Italic">solid-state physics</Emphasis> (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Electrical Properties</Emphasis>)

The necessity for publishing a separate abstract journal on spintronics, which is a new, rapidly developing branch of physics, is substantiated. The interest in spintronics, which is the study of fundamental processes involving the simultaneous transport of both electron charge and electron spins in solids, as well as the interaction of electrons with a magnetic grating, is determined not only by its fascinating prospects but also the results that have already achieved. The spin and charge “degrees of freedom” open possibilities for the creation of semiconducting devices with parameters that are much superior to the existing ones and also the construction of devices that do not have analogues at present. First of all, this will permit problems of information transmission and processing to be solved in a new way. A detailed rubrication on spintronics is given in order to discuss the possibility of publishing a separate edition of an abstract journal devoted to spintronics.     

Strategien zur webbasierten Multilingualen Fragebeantwortung

Zusammenfassung  Wir stellen eine Reihe von innovativen Methoden zur webbasierten multilingualen Fragebeantwortung in offenen Dom?nen vor. Insbesondere werden neuartige Strategien zur Bestimmung optimaler Antwortkontexte und zur Extraktion von exakten Antworten auf Basis von sprachunabh?ngigen, datengetriebenen maschinellen Lernverfahren beschrieben. Es werden zwei alternative Methoden für die crosslinguale Frageanalyse skizziert mit deren Hilfe für eine Anfrage in einer natürlichen Sprache Antworten in Dokumenten einer anderen natürlichen Sprache bestimmt werden k?nnen. Alle Methoden sind detailliert evaluiert und weisen eine vielversprechende Performanz auf. CR subject classification  I.2.6 ; I.2.7 ; J.1 ; K.3.2 ; D.3.3 ; D.2.2     

Book reviews

Zwartjes, Otto, ed. La Sociedad andalusí y sus tradiciones literarias (Foro Hispánico, 7). Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1994.

Brincat, Joseph M. Malta 870–1054: Al‐Himyai's Account and its Linguistic Implications. Malta: Said International Ltd., 1995. 52pp.

Sells, Michael A. Mystical Languages of Unsaying. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1994. 316 pp., US$18.95 (paperback), US$49.91 (cloth).

Diem, Werner, Arabische Geschäftsbriefe des 10. bis 14. Jahrhunderts aus der Österreichischen Nationalbibliothek in Wien (Documents Arabica Antiqua 1), 2 vols. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1995. Textband ix+518pp., Tafelband 76 plates.

Coope, Jessica A. The Martyrs of Cordoba: Community and Family Conflict in an Age of Mass Conversion. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1995. xvii+113 pp., US$ 25 (cloth).

Edwards, John. Religion and Society in Spain, c.1492 (Variorum Collected Studies Series: CS 520). Aldershot and Brookfield: Variorum, 1996. x+351 pp., US$ 97.00 (cloth).

Tolan, John Victor, ed. Medìeval Christian Perceptions of Islam. A Book of Essays (Garland Medieval Casebooks, Volume 10). New York and London: Garland Publishing, 1996. xxi+414 pp., US$60.00 (cloth).     

Health information for patients: The hospital library's role

Libraries today, including most hospital-based patients' libraries, are involved only peripherally in providing patient health science information. Hospital libraries should collaborate with health professionals in getting health information to patients--along with the library's more traditional roles of providing recreational reading for patients and serving the informational needs of the physician and medical staff. The library should act as the center for educational materials and programs within the hospital. Many health agencies, health educators, physicians, and librarians have been discussing the need for patient health education, but there are few effectively organized or established education centers. This paper discusses an overview of patient health education and intellectural freedom, proposes a new role for the existing hospital library in patient health education, and suggests guidelines for establishing a patient education center.