BUSM News and Notes

Monthly newsletter providing updates of interest to the Boston University School of Medicine community

Perspectives on Changing Cultural Spaces in 19th Century Europe

To define the limits of European cultural spaces requires a pragmatic and empirical approach, founded on a comparative overview of the circulations of symbolic goods, of the agents involved in the processes of diffusion and mediatization of these goods, and of their modes of transmission or valorization. In this essay, I illustrate the effects of changing conditions on the specific field of 19th-century opera, one of the first international forms of cultural practice in Europe. I then consider the origins and causes of unequal cultural circulations in other fields, notably the presence or absence of mediators in these processes of circulation

Is history repeating itself? Nationalism in Europe and the breakdown of the old order

As part of the LSE’s Night of Ideas event, Christophe Charle spoke about the uncanny parallels between current political developments and the cultural history of Europe in the 19th and early 20th century. A breakdown of the old cultural order led to the exchange of ideas and trade, then a nationalist backlash. In this essay, he argues that although direct comparisons are unwarranted, there are lessons to be learned

Elite formation in late nineteenth century: France compared to Britain and Germany

'In a famous and controversial book, Arno J. Mayer has defined European society at the end of 19th century as a persistent Ancien Regime. To defend his thesis, he invoked in particular the recruitment and formation of dominant elites mainly in Britain, Germany, the Dual Monarchy, Russia and more sketchily in Italy, Spain and even France. As the author has shown in two of his books (Les élites de la République and La crise des sociétés impériales), this thesis already controversial in the first quoted countries is not at all relevant for France. This does not mean that France was, as pretended its republican governing elites, a democratic and meritocratic nation, but that it is impossible to analyse elites in France with so broad and unprecise concepts as aristocracy, bourgeoisie and so on. The aim of this paper is to propose a new perspective with new social concepts and to compare them with results of the study of elites in the two other imperial societies, UK and Germany. We shall begin with France and then turn to these countries to show some similarities and differences forgotten by current historiography.' (author's abstract)

Bibliothèque, lieu de la discordance des temps (La)

Version écrite de l\u27intervention de Christophe Charle, professeur d\u27histoire contemporaine à l\u27Université Paris I, lors de la première journée des Estivales 2012 intitulée "Bibliothèque, création et mémoire"

The theory of a finite God and emergent evolution as a solution to the problem of evil

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston UniversityEvil is a phenomenon not easily accounted for. It has been variously ignored, denied, rationalized, and perenially endured. It presents particular difficulties for the different religions. Any theological concept of man, the universe and God must make a satisfactory consideration of this phenomenon. But how are God and evil to be reconceled Within the context of Christianity several explanations have developed. Some modification or combination of these views has been accepted by most orthodox Christians. Among the most common of these explanations are: (1) evil is unreal. The Christian Scientists, along with some Hindus, adhere to this view that evil is an illusion, a temporary mistaking. (2) Evil is inc0111plete good. ..l judgment that a thing is bad results from a partial view of the thing. Or it is a simple lack of perfection, not a real thing in itself, but a lack of something. (3) Evil is necessary as a contrast to good. We would not know or appreciate the good if we had not the evil. Life would be frightfully dull with no contrast to add interest. (4) Evil is sometimes explained as being necessary for punishment or discipline. Men deserve the evil they suffer because of some wrong they are guilty ~f. Or, 'evil is necessary to challenge, reformo r test a person. Hum.cin nature at its best emerges by being urged on by obstacles. (5) Probably the most common view is the one that evil is the result of human freedom. If man is to have any free will, and he must have freedom to be a moral being, there must be both good and evil for him to choose between. Otherwise man would be simply mechanical, and his existence becomes meaningless, lacking purpose. [TRUNCATED

Socio-psychological factors influencing psychosomatic disturbances: a study of fifteen World War II veterans seen at the Worcester Psychosomatic Clinic

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University, 1947. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

The literature of English Jacobinism

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston University, 1935. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive

A neural network model of normal and abnormal learning and memory consolidation

The amygdala and hippocampus interact with thalamocortical systems to regulate cognitive-emotional learning, and lesions of amygdala, hippocampus, thalamus, and cortex have different effects depending on the phase of learning when they occur. In examining eyeblink conditioning data, several questions arise: Why is the hippocampus needed for trace conditioning where there is a temporal gap between the conditioned stimulus offset and the onset of the unconditioned stimulus, but not needed for delay conditioning where stimuli temporally overlap and co-terminate? Why do amygdala lesions made before or immediately after training decelerate conditioning while those made later have no impact on conditioned behavior? Why do thalamic lesions degrade trace conditioning more than delay conditioning? Why do hippocampal lesions degrade recent learning but not temporally remote learning? Why do cortical lesions degrade temporally remote learning, and cause amnesia, but not recent or post-lesion learning? How is temporally graded amnesia caused by ablation of medial prefrontal cortex? How are mechanisms of motivated attention and the emergent state of consciousness linked during conditioning? How do neurotrophins, notably Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), influence memory formation and consolidation? A neural model, called neurotrophic START, or nSTART, proposes answers to these questions. The nSTART model synthesizes and extends key principles, mechanisms, and properties of three previously published brain models of normal behavior. These three models describe aspects of how the brain can learn to categorize objects and events in the world; how the brain can learn the emotional meanings of such events, notably rewarding and punishing events, through cognitive-emotional interactions; and how the brain can learn to adaptively time attention paid to motivationally important events, and when to respond to these events, in a context-appropriate manner. The model clarifies how hippocampal adaptive timing mechanisms and BDNF may bridge the gap between stimuli during trace conditioning and thereby allow thalamocortical and corticocortical learning to take place and be consolidated. The simulated data arise as emergent properties of several brain regions interacting together. The model overcomes problems of alternative memory models, notably models wherein memories that are initially stored in hippocampus move to the neocortex during consolidation

Value of a school teacher in one town on a school committee in another town

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University, 1933. This item was digitized by the Internet Archive