Oriental enlightenment: the problematic military experiences and cultural claims of Count Maurice Auguste comte de Benyowsky in Formosa during 1771

Maurice Benyowsky's colourful version of his global adventures during the heady, expansive days of the late-Enlightenment remains still as an historical account, and is perhaps destined for reification at a time of romantic, postmodernist cultural affirmation. Yet this paper argues that within it there lies a virile and possibly dangerous Orientalism, one at least partially based upon a lurid, opportunistic and self-seeking fabrication of his visit to Taiwan (Formosa) in the year 1771. This paper examines the veracity, provenance and historiography of the Benyowsky account of late-eighteenth century Formosa, both as an exercise in one facet of Taiwanese history and as some exploration of the origin and maintenance of European views of the "other" and of the "orient" as they were transforming during the late-Enlightenment period. Furthermore a principal task is to provide an historiographical analysis that illustrates both the initial reasons for the acceptance of Benyowsky's lurid account as well as the wider contexts of its long life as a seemingly reliable and authentic tale. Questions remain as to the cultural contexts of any general acceptance of otherwise doubtful stories, experiments, claims and "adventures". Here there is little doubt that the original Memoirs were given greater credence by Benyowsky's talent in self-fashioning his character and status as those of a reliable gentleman

Biomechanics of the baseball swing

University of Technology, Sydney. Faculty of Business. University of Technology, Sydney. School of Leisure, Sport and Tourism.The purpose of this research was to describe the kinematics of the baseball swing. In particular, this study aimed to determine differences in bat swing kinematics in hitters of varying ability. Further, changes in swing pattern that occur when using bats of varying mass where also observed. Twenty sub-elite male baseballers participated in the study (22.3 ± 5.3 yr, 1.82 ± 0.07 m, 83.5 ± 10.9 kg). Three baseball bats of equal length (0.838m) and varying mass (Bat1 = 0.795kg, Bat2 = 0.847kg, Bat3 = 0.943kg) were used. Each subject performed 10 maximal swings with each bat at a ball on a hitting tee replicating a line drive. Infrared cameras obtained high speed three-dimensional data to quantify the biomechanics during the baseball swing, One-way ANOVA was used to determine kinematic differences between conditions. In addition, the participants were ranked prior to testing based on a novel coach's rating scale and seasonal batting average. They were subsequently separated into a relatively good group of hitters (n=10) and a relatively poor group of hitters (n=10) for comparison. Importantly, the two groups were significantly different in terms of coach's rating (p<0.01) and batting average (p<0.05). The results showed a significant difference in maximum bat swing velocity (p<0.05) with good hitters having a higher velocity (36.8 m•s-1) in comparison to relatively poor hitters (33.8 m•s-1). Left elbow maximum angular velocity was significantly higher (35.9%) amongst relatively good hitters (p<0.05). Good hitters also had a right knee angle of 106° at ball contact which was significantly (p<0.05) higher than relatively poor hitters (100°). There were no between-group differences for wrist and hip joint velocities at ball contact. The results also showed a difference in maximum bat swing velocity (p<0.01) between Bat1 (36.0m•s-1)and Bat3 (34.4m•s-1) Resultant ball velocity was 17% higher using Bat1 compared to Bat3 (p<0.05). Subject head movement was lower using Bat1 (8 cm) when compared to Bat3 (10 cm). Maximum linear left hip velocity was significantly higher (p<0.01 ) when using Bat3 compared to other bats. In contrast, maximum linear right hip velocity was lower (p<0.0 1) when using Bat3. This study established that bat swing velocity is a key characteristic of the baseball swing when identifying skill level and performance between hitters. Additionally, good hitters display greater lead elbow maximum angular velocity. Future research should develop and evaluate specific baseball training programs designed primarily to improve these two aspects of the baseball swing. Further, this study has identified aspects of the baseball swing that differ when using bats of varying mass. Notably, a relationship exists between bat mass and hip linear velocity which could be a potential mechanism for underlying training effects. Further studies are needed to determine acute and longitudinal kinematic effects of using bats of varying mass

Cross-sensitization/tolerance between wheel running and amphetamine and morphine in rats

Two experiments were conducted to determine whether cross-sensitization/tolerance between wheel running and the drugs amphetamine and morphine is possible in male Sprague Dawley rats. Each experiment compared a non-wheel control group and a chronic wheel access group of rats. Following a 24 day period of wheel access all animals were presented with a drug and saline challenge test (counterbalanced) with either 1 mg/kg of amphetamine (Experiment 1) or 10mg/kg or morphine (Experiment 2). Prior to the challenge tests all animals were habituated to the novel testing environment in two 1 hr sessions (Experiment 1) or one 2 hr session (Experiment 2) to attenuate the acute motoric response to a novel environment. Behavioral sensitization/tolerance was measured by locomotion (cm) within long narrow activity boxes with the Ethnovision video tracking system. In the first experiment the wheel access rats were significantly more active during the 1 hr amphetamine challenge test than the non-wheel rats thus showing sensitization. In Experiment 2, the wheel access rats demonstrated a reduced hypoactivity in the first hour and an augmented hyperactivity in the second hour of the 2 hour drug challenge test in comparison to the non-wheel rats after morphine administration thus showing both tolerance and sensitization. These two experiments provide strong support that cross-sensitization and cross-tolerance exists between wheel-running and amphetamine or morphine in rats. In both experiments the final level of wheel running, which varied greatly, was not correlated with the degree of cross-sensitization/tolerance to either amphetamine or morphine suggesting that the changes induced by wheel running were similar in all animals. In Experiment 2 it was also found that levels of both initial and final levels of wheel running were uncorrelated with a prior 2 hour baseline locomotor activity test suggesting that an enhanced vulnerability to the addicting behavior of wheel running could not be demonstrated by looking at the level of wheel running in rats