This dissertation analyses the use of the Leiden anatomical collections in the nineteenth century. It investigates what happened to anatomical preparations after they were added to institutional... Show moreThis dissertation analyses the use of the Leiden anatomical collections in the nineteenth century. It investigates what happened to anatomical preparations after they were added to institutional collections. Four chapters discuss the four main audiences of the Leiden collections: students, researchers, lay visitors, and university governors. The medical audiences (students and researchers) kept using the collections throughout the nineteenth century; the non-medical audiences (visitors and governors) stopped using the collections in the second half of the century. The dissertation argues that, to understand these developments, we need to see anatomical collections as dynamic entities: intended for active, hands-on use and containing objects that, as philosopher of biology Hans-J_rg Rheinberger has put it, are made of what they represent. These properties enabled researchers and students to continuously reinterpret the preparations as medical theories and practices changed. In the new medicine, the collections were placed in a closed laboratory environment, and the reinterpretations disconnected the preparations from their past and the moral stories once attached to them. Hence, they became hard to access and use for lay visitors and university governors. Even today, old preparations linger in hospitals and laboratories, waiting for new uses __ as do newly built collections of bodily material. Show less
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is hallmarked by acquired and fluctuating weakness of voluntary muscles. In the majority of patients, weakness is caused by autoantibodies to the postsynaptic acetylcholine... Show moreMyasthenia gravis (MG) is hallmarked by acquired and fluctuating weakness of voluntary muscles. In the majority of patients, weakness is caused by autoantibodies to the postsynaptic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) in the neuromuscular junction. Approximately 10% of MG patients are seronegative (SNMG). In 2001, antibodies to muscle-specific kinase (MuSK) were discovered within this group. This dissertation describes the epidemiology, clinical characteristics and immunological aspects of this new disease. In the Netherlands, MuSK MG is rare. Incidence was 0.17 per million person-years. Prevalence was 2.8 per million on January 1st 2004. Weakness was more often bulbar, and lead to frequent respiratory crises. MuSK MG was linked to the HLA-DR14-DQ5 haplotype and the disease severity was associated to antigen-specific IgG4 antibodies instead of IgG1. This is in contrast to AChR MG in which autoantibodies are mainly of the IgG1 and IgG3 subclass, and the disease is linked to HLA-B8-DR3. In SNMG patients, no antibodies to postsynaptic ErbB receptors were found. A case-report describes the transmission of MuSK autoantibodies from mother to her newborn child, causing transient weakness in the infant. A second case-report illustrates the effect of MuSK antibodies on both pre- and postsynaptic signal transmission in the neuromuscular junction. Show less
The article discusses the history of the abstracts and indexing journal originally known as 'Documentatieblad,' which was renamed to 'African Studies Abstracts (ASA)' and later to 'African Studies... Show moreThe article discusses the history of the abstracts and indexing journal originally known as 'Documentatieblad,' which was renamed to 'African Studies Abstracts (ASA)' and later to 'African Studies Abstracts Online' (ASAO), published by the African Studies Centre (ASC) in Leiden, the Netherlands since 1968. Key themes are socioeconomic and political developments, government, law and constitutional development, history, religion, anthropology, women's studies, education, and literature. Publications are in a western language. Due to increased Internet connectivity in African countries, the monthly print edition of ASAO was discontinued from March 2012 onward. The number of subscribers to the ASAO mailing list has increased from 472 in 2004 to 1681 by the end of 2012. By contrast, the number of subscribers to the printed abstracts journal never exceeded 350. Of the 260 journals systematically scanned in 2013, some 160 were wholly or partially abstracted with the remainder being indexed. Over time the abstracting of monographs became increasingly selective. There have been various initiatives over the past twenty years to further cooperation in documenting African Studies material, including 'Africa-Wide Information', 'AfricaBib' and 'ilissAfrica' of the European Librarians in African Studies (ELIAS) network. Notes, ref., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract] Show less
With a focus on Cameroonian migrants from Pinyin and Mankon who are currently living in Cape Town and the Netherlands, this volume examines the workings of the social fabric of mobile communities.... Show moreWith a focus on Cameroonian migrants from Pinyin and Mankon who are currently living in Cape Town and the Netherlands, this volume examines the workings of the social fabric of mobile communities. It sheds light on how these communities are crafting lives for themselves in the host country and simultaneously linking up with the home country thanks to advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and road and air transport. ICTs and mobilities have complemented social relational interaction and provide migrants today with opportunities to partake in cultural practices that express their Pinyin-ness and Mankon-ness. Pinyin and Mankon migrants are still as rooted in the past as they are in the present. They were born into a community with its own sense of home, moral ethos and cultural pride but live in a context of accelerated ICTs and mobility that is fast changing the way they live their lives. Show less
The central subjects of this dissertation are wheel thrown pottery and settlements from the Roman period in the southern part of the Netherlands from the first three centuries of the Christian... Show moreThe central subjects of this dissertation are wheel thrown pottery and settlements from the Roman period in the southern part of the Netherlands from the first three centuries of the Christian era. Research shows that in most of the modern publications on pottery insufficient attention is devoted to describing the form of the pottery and that there is no common, systematic way of quantifying the pottery. In several settlements the horizontal-stratigraphical analysis has been employed, the core of which are the Roman measurements used and the spatial relations between elements in the settlements. Thus, the consecutive stages of development of the settlements (villas and temples) could, to a large extent, be established. The reorganisation from a military district on the Lower Rhine into the province of Germania inferior, the grant of municipal status and the imperial name to Nijmegen, the involvement of the Roman army in the construction of both public buildings in Nijmegen and villas and temples in the Batavian countryside, agrarian changes, as well as the substitution of hand-made pottery by wheel thrown pottery, are signs of an important transformation of the civitas Batavorum during a period of less than a generation (between 85 and 122 AD). Show less
Renvoise, A.; van't Wout, J.W.; Schroeff, J.G. van der; Beersma, M.F.; Raoult, D. 2012
What shaped the defense transformation policies of NATO member-states? And what does it mean for the future of the alliance? This dissertation explores the impact of the strategic cultures of the... Show moreWhat shaped the defense transformation policies of NATO member-states? And what does it mean for the future of the alliance? This dissertation explores the impact of the strategic cultures of the United States, the Netherlands and Germany on their efforts to adapt their defense policies and armed forces in light of significant changes in the security environment. Transformation was the central concept around which the Alliance was believed to find renewed cohesion. Instead, transformation in an era of expeditionary operations unearthed divergent views regarding the use of the military instrument. Each state pursued transformation differently and confronted different problems. These difficulties reflected the unique characteristics of their strategic culture. On the basis of the research it can be concluded that effective transformation can only take place when the characteristics of a state's strategic culture are taken into account. For NATO, it means that, unless the security environment changes substantially, friction within the alliance will persist and instead it will be necessary to work with these differences, rather than ignore them at its peril. Show less
Jonkers, M.; Richters, A.; Zwart, J.; Ory, F.; Roosmalene, J. van 2011
Tot twee keer toe geraakte de Nederlandse marinestrategie tussen 1912 en 1942 in de ban van een ideologie, het navalisme. Navalisme ziet maritieme expansie als noodzakelijk voor het voortbestaan... Show moreTot twee keer toe geraakte de Nederlandse marinestrategie tussen 1912 en 1942 in de ban van een ideologie, het navalisme. Navalisme ziet maritieme expansie als noodzakelijk voor het voortbestaan van een mogendheid. De eerste keer, vanaf 1912, vielen de gevolgen mee. De tweede keer, vanaf 1936, waren ze dramatisch: ze draaiden een onderzeebootstrategie met de meest efficiënte onderzeeboottactiek ter wereld de nek om. De successen van de Nederlandse onderzeeboten in de Tweede Wereldoorlog, hoe spectaculair ook, waren een schim van wat zij hadden kunnen zijn. Dit proefschrift schrijft een nieuwe geschiedenis van de Koninklijke Marine, die haar overzeese expansie wilde behouden via overambitieuze ‘risicostrategieën’, waarmee zij pretendeerde een sterkere zeemacht tot onmacht te kunnen verlammen. Die sterkere zeemacht was de reusachtige van Japan. De hoofdtaak van de Koninklijke Marine was namelijk de verdediging van het eilandenrijk Nederlands-Indië waarop Japan zijn zinnen kon zetten. Duidelijk wordt hoezeer het Nederlandse marinedenken van 1912-1942 parallel liep aan het Duitse èn dat de Duitsers niet de enigen waren die een ‘risicostrategie’ hanteerden (wat tot rivaliteit met Engeland leidde): de Amerikanen waren ze voor. Ook wordt duidelijk waarom de Amerikaanse strategie wel werkte en beide andere niet. Zo ontstaat ook nieuw inzicht in de Amerikaanse en Duitse marinestrategie Show less
Our intention with this brochure is to illustrate the kind of research we do at the African Studies Centre in Leiden, as well as how we work and what inspires us.
Goud, zilver & zijde Katholiek textiel in Nederland 1830-1965 Paramenten – de zijden gewaden en attributen voor de katholieke liturgie – behoren wellicht tot de meest verborgen schatten van de... Show moreGoud, zilver & zijde Katholiek textiel in Nederland 1830-1965 Paramenten – de zijden gewaden en attributen voor de katholieke liturgie – behoren wellicht tot de meest verborgen schatten van de kerk. Een kleine selectie van dit oude, rijk geborduurde textiel kwam terecht in de Nederlandse musea, maar het meeste bevindt zich op de zolders van oude pastorieën en komt nooit meer tevoorschijn. In de afgelopen twee eeuwen bloeide de paramentennijverheid in heel West Europa. Ook Nederland kende belangrijke ateliers, die regelmatig kunstenaars van naam in dienst hadden en de mooiste borduurwerken voortbrachten. Het dateren, toeschrijven en op waarde schatten van het katholieke textiel was tot nu toe een vrijwel onmogelijke zaak. Er was te weinig kennis voorhanden om onderscheid te kunnen maken tussen belangrijk en onbelangrijk werk, tussen massagoed en uniek handgeborduurd textiel, tussen echt goud en klatergoud. Als gevolg hiervan zijn veel belangrijke stukken verloren gegaan. Auteur Marike van Roon deed jarenlang onderzoek naar de rijke geschiedenis van paramenten. Naast boeiende verhalen over de gewaden, hun makers en gebruikers leverde het onderzoek alle kennis op die nodig is voor een nieuwe waardering en een beter behoud van dit schitterende textiel. Show less
The history of development cooperation has attracted very little research to date. This volume offers an innovative interpretation by considering the history of SNV Netherlands Development... Show moreThe history of development cooperation has attracted very little research to date. This volume offers an innovative interpretation by considering the history of SNV Netherlands Development Organisation, which has been in existence for over forty years now. Through SNV's history, an analysis emerges of the role of the Netherlands in development cooperation and the attitudes of Dutch society towards it over the last fifty years as well as the changing ideas, practices and policies in development work more generally. The views and expectations of (former) SNV staff and those of local participants who were ultimately to benefit from the development activities were the focus of this historical research. This has resulted in a socio-cultural history 'from below' rather than a dry description of the organisation's administrative changes and formal bureaucratic structures. Show less
