Overcoming Obstacles to Preventive Conservation Projects in Italy: With a Case Study of the Savoy Carriage Collection of the Presidency of the Republic

ABSTRACT

Working on preventive conservation in Italy is difficult but not impossible. After small successes and setbacks convincing museums to adopt elements of preventive conservation in the 1990s, the first author (Rossi Doria) was contracted for 15 years to preserve the historic carriages and associated objects of the Presidency of the Republic of Italy. This required patience to overcome or circumvent obstacles such as an inflexible bureaucracy and the absence of any formal recognition of preventive conservation within the educational and contractual systems for heritage conservation. The key factors in his success were the support of the curators, the financial and planning autonomy of the Presidency, and the obvious need for conservation and preservation of these elegant and complex objects. The program began in 2001 with the recovery of the forgotten collection from inappropriate storage in several locations. The entire collection was surveyed and recorded, not only the carriages but also thousands of harnesses, saddles, clothing, fabrics, weapons and memorabilia. Multiple preventive and interventive actions were undertaken, such as pest eradication for all sensitive materials, environmental surveys, and everyday maintenance, as well as complex treatments for the ornate carriages. Analysis by country of published articles on preventive conservation and of IIC membership both confirm that the topic is not as well established in Italy as in many other countries. Some reasons and solutions are proposed.     

The metamorphosis of medical discourse and embedded cultural rationality: a content analysis of health reporting for neurasthenia and depressive disorder in China

Neurasthenia (shenjing shuairuo) and depressive disorder are medical issues that have given rise to disputes in China for more than 20 years. Since the 1980s, the once ubiquitous diagnosis of neurasthenia in China was rapidly substituted by depressive disorder in the clinical context. Globally, the metamorphosis from neurasthenia to depressive disorder heralded the triumph of scientific rationality, which identifies neurasthenia as a categorical fallacy. In China, however, neurasthenia retained social and cultural significance; thus, it has become a contestable discourse in relation to depressive disorder. By examining the health reporting of both discourses over a decade, this study explicated how neurasthenia and depressive disorder were represented in a popular health newspaper in China. The content analysis showed that neurasthenia is a more culturally and everyday embedded discourse closely associated with Chinese medicine and laymen’s discourse, while depressive disorder is more associated with Western medicine and the professional discourse. The differentiation of two sets of medical discourse evinces that despite the ostensibly prevailing scientific rationality in media health reporting, cultural rationality is deeply embedded in communicating mental health issues with the lay public. It further suggests the significance of investigating the social and cultural expression of mental illnesses in China.     

Managing a Biomedical Library’s Instruction Program: Redefining Scope

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) library instruction program provides training services to staff, clinicians, and researchers across NIH and several Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) operating divisions. The audience, training needs, and training topics are diverse and constantly changing. The NIH library has developed several new services and class topics to meet the needs of its NIH and HHS communities. Context, strategies, and future directions for the NIH library instruction program are described.     

Exploring data use practices around Europe: Identifying enablers and barriers

In this article we explore what data-based decision making use looks like in schools in five different countries (United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Lithuania and the Netherlands). We explore for what purposes data are used in these countries and what the enablers and barriers to data use are. The case study results show that schools in all five countries use data for school development, accountability, and instructional improvement. Also, the schools in the five countries struggle with the same type of problems: e.g. lack of access to high quality data, lack of professional development in using data, and a lack of collaboration around the use of data. Finally, we discuss how some enablers can turn into barriers for effective data use.     

Child sexual abuse as reported by Israeli adolescents: Social and health related correlates

The objectives of the study were to assess the prevalence of child sexual abuse (CSA) in a nation-wide representative sample of 14–17 year old Israeli adolescents, and to examine the associations between CSA, socio-demographic correlates and various measures of physical and mental health. The study population consisted of 906 mother–adolescent dyads, belonging to a community based, representative sample of Israeli 14–17 year olds, interviewed in 2004–5. Response rate was 68%. Subjects provided demographic data, and information about CSA, physical symptoms, body image, well-being and use of mental health services. DAWBA was used to obtain information regarding mental disorders and suicidality. SDQ was used to obtain data on bullying. Statistical analyses were conducted using an SPSS-17 complex sample analysis module and multivariate analyses were conducted to assess the associations between CSA and risk factors and social and health related correlates. Findings show that CSA was reported by 3.3% of adolescents. Higher risk of exposure to CSA was found among girls, among adolescents living in a one-parent household and among adolescents with a chronic disability. In multivariate models adjusting for gender, learning disabilities and depression, CSA was associated with suicidal attempts, stomach ache, dizziness, sleep problems, well being at home and bullying behaviors. No association was found with suicidal ideation or other physical symptoms. Our findings confirm that the associations between CSA and different outcomes vary depending on the socio-psychological context, and underline the importance of addressing the complexity of variables associated with CSA.     

基于粗糙集的决策规则可靠性评估方法

粗糙集理论是处理不精确、不准确数据的有效方法，但是通过粗糙集方法获得的决策规则对于不完整的信息承统和随机数据也是不确定的。本文描述了一个用于决策规则的可靠性评价方法。该方法独立于任何专用引申规则方法，并且参数能够被调整以适应不同的信息系统。     

In-house consultation to support professionals’ responses to child abuse and neglect: Determinants of professionals’ use and the association with guideline adherence

This study examined the presence and strengths of determinants associated with consultation of an in-house expert on child abuse and neglect (CAN) by preventive child health care professionals who suspect CAN. This study also assessed the relationship between in-house CAN expert consultation and professionals’ performance of six recommended activities described in a national guideline on preventing CAN for preventive child health care professionals. A total of 154 professionals met the study’s inclusion criteria. They filled in a questionnaire that measured in-house consultation practices and twelve determinants associated with the professional, the in-house expert, and the organizational context. Bivariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed. Almost half of the participants (46.8%) reported to consult the in-house expert in (almost) all of their suspected CAN cases. Professionals who reported better recollection of consulting the in-house expert (i.e. not forgetting to consult the expert) (p = .001), who were more familiar with consultation (p = .002), who had more positive attitudes and beliefs about consultation (p = .011) and who reported being more susceptible to the behavior (p = .001) and expectations/opinions (p = .025) of colleagues regarding in-house expert consultation were more likely to consult the in-house expert. Furthermore, in-house expert consultation was positively associated with two of six key guideline activities: consulting the regional child protection service and monitoring whether support was provided to families. The implications of these results for improving professionals’ responses to CAN are discussed.     

Being bullied at school as a child,worse health as an adult? Evidence from China

This paper examines the long-run relationship between school bullying exposure and later adult health using a nationally representative household survey data from China. Our results show that victims are more likely to have low self-reported health, chronic diseases, physical functional limitations, and mental health problems even after several decades. The negative health consequences are more concentrated on the disadvantaged who come from low-income households or lack family support. The main findings are also consistent with qualitative evidence of our online survey.