与伦勃朗对话

西方现实主义大师伦勃朗,一生波澜起伏的人生遭际,对他艺术的创作产生重大的影响。笔者试图分析大师的人生变化,揭示艺术的真谛,对他的人文思想、技法特点及自画像进行艺术剖析。     

ASSESSING NEIGHBORHOOD AND SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON CHILDHOOD VIOLENCE IN AN AFRICAN‐AMERICAN SAMPLE*

The present study examines the extent to which neighborhood and social psychological influences predict childhood violence among 867 African‐American youth. The results showed that neighborhood affluence was the only neighborhood‐level variable to exert a significant influence on childhood violence. Furthermore, childhood violence was significantly related to social psychological influences, such as adopting a street code, associating with violent peers, parental use of violence, and quality parenting. Overall, the findings suggested that simply living in a violent neighborhood does not produce violent children, but that family, peer, and individual characteristics play a large role in predicting violence in childhood.     

非洲猪瘟CD2v胞外区基因片段的真核表达及其多克隆抗体的制备

本研究利用真核表达系统表达非洲猪瘟病毒的CD2v胞外区蛋白,研究其免疫特性,制备多克隆抗体并研究其性质,为研发特异性单抗奠定数据基础。以非洲猪瘟病毒Wuhan2019-1株(GenBank:MN393476.1)为模板,合成CD2v胞外区基因序列,并将其克隆至真核表达载体pCAGGS载体中,获得pCAGGS-CD2v胞外区重组质粒。经酶切和测序鉴定后,将重组质粒转染293F细胞,获得重组胞外CD2v蛋白(简称His-CD2v)。用Ni-NTA柱纯化His-CD2v,并以此为抗原免疫BALB/c小鼠制备多克隆抗体,利用ELISA和间接免疫荧光对多克隆抗体进行鉴定。结果显示,(1)His-CD2v融合蛋白在293F中以可溶形式表达,SDS结果显示,相对分子质量约为35~80 ku的弥散带;(2)融合表达的His-CD2v能与阳性血清反应,与对照不反应;(3)HisCD2v制备的多抗效价最高达1∶218700,且能与阳性血清竞争性结合CD2v抗原。上述结果表明,His-CD2v融合蛋白的表达及其多抗的成功制备,为进一步筛选CD2v特异性单抗及研制竞争ELISA试剂盒,为非洲猪瘟感染与免疫鉴别方法的建立奠定了坚实的基础。     

Gender Differences in Self-Perceptions and Academic Outcomes: A Study of African American High School Students

There is increasing divergence in the academic outcomes of African American males and females. By most accounts, males are falling behind their female peers educationally as African American females are graduating from high schools at higher rates and are going on to college and graduate school in greater numbers. Some have suggested that school completion and performance is associated with how students feel about themselves. The purpose of this study was to explore gender differences in the relationship between self-perceptions and 2 academic outcomes among a sample of 243 African American high school sophomores. The results suggest that, overall, females are more favorably oriented toward high school completion. Both male and female students with more positive self-perceptions have stronger intentions to complete the current year of high school. Higher grade point averages were more strongly associated with greater self-efficacy for females than for males. Given these findings, increased attention to educational programming, societal messages, and future research is warranted.     

撒哈拉以南非洲的人口问题与可持续发展

在非洲人口与经济发展关系的研究中,世界最不发达的撒哈拉以南非洲具有其典型性,深入研究其人口增长与经济发展的严重失衡、人口的科学文化素质低下特别是高文盲率和人口健康素质低劣特别是因艾兹病泛滥而导致的人口高死亡率及其它一系列问题,可以明显地看到这些问题对经济发展产生的诸多不利影响,以及它们对该地区的可持续发展带来的严峻挑战。     

非洲联盟面临的挑战

非洲面临最重要的挑战就是如何避免并解决冲突,恢复和巩固和平。持久和平是非洲应对其他挑战的先决条件。非洲联盟的建立显示出非洲人民应对挑战的决心,其目标就是要消除贫困,维护和平,使非洲各国走上经济持续发展的道路。中国是最早向莫桑比克提供援助的国家之一,非洲国家视中国为伙伴和盟友,中非合作的前景广阔。     

The Management of Democratic Elections in Africa (MDEA) programme at the university of South Africa: Is this the right path towards African solutions?

There have been a number of initiatives in Africa to rid the Continent of political instability, conflict, poverty and disease. Many have argued that aid from the West has helped Africa in many ways—from stopping wars, to food relief and rescuing the African environment. Yet others have slated Western involvement which they contend, frequently leaves Africans dependant rather than capable of solving their own problems. In line with the pan-Africanist and the African Union (AU) ideals, there is now a realisation by Africans that there is a need to find African solutions to African challenges and problems. This review article explores the University of South Africa’s (Unisa’s) Management of Democratic Elections in Africa (MDEA) programme, by looking at its objectives and the reason why it must be labelled a Programme, its mandate, which is in line with the brief of the AU and pan-Africanist ideals. The article focuses on how Unisa’s programme responds to the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance (ACDEG); and how it has attempted to facilitate knowledge for peace in Africa, through empowering electoral officials from various African states. The article concludes by looking at the successes and limitations of the Programme over a five-year period, from its inception in 2011.     

Military twists and turns in world politics: downsides or dividends for UN peace operations?

Russia’s challenge to the post-cold war order, and the rise of Islamic State have resulted in a call for increased military spending among NATO members. Despite the increased demand for UN peace operations, any expansion is unlikely to benefit the world organisation. Instead we see an increasing reliance upon regional organisations like the African Union, European Union and NATO, in particular, for robust peace operations. An analysis of Western states (France, Germany and the USA) suggests that future investments in weaponry, technology and staff will primarily benefit NATO and the EU, but not the United Nations.     

‘I Want to Wear It’: Fashioning Black Feminism in Mahogany (1975)

ABSTRACT

In this article I focus on the portrayal of fashionable clothing in the 1975 film Mahogany and connect it to the history of African American women engaging with sartorial self-representation as a means to assert their visibility in American culture. My aim is to analyse Mahogany’s emphasis on brightly-coloured highly-ornamented clothing, which has a long history of signifying bad taste and became part of accusations of racial and sexual inferiority. I want to show how Mahogany’s representation of fashion undermines the historically entrenched bias against colourful, highly adorned clothing while also revealing how this bias has played a subtle but significant role in the racism and sexism black women have encountered, further (but not finally) impeding them from the forms of recognition the category of femininity offers. Mahogany represents those impediments and repeats the sexual and racial commodification underlying them, but also resists them (albeit quite subtly) through the film’s loving display of fashion and its attention to the work of designing and making clothes. Mahogany tells a story of bright sartorial resistance that can be understood as an articulation of black feminist desires for women of colour to be able to compose the images through which their bodies are perceived.     

Perceptions of Racism and Depressive Symptoms in African American Adolescents: The Role of Perceived Academic and Social Control

Experiences with racism are a common occurrence for African American youth and may result in negative self perceptions relevant for the experience of depressive symptoms. This study examined the longitudinal association between perceptions of racism and depressive symptoms, and whether perceived academic or social control mediated this association, in a community epidemiologically-defined sample of urban African American adolescents (N = 500; 46.4% female). Structural equation modeling revealed that experiences with racism were associated with low perceived academic control, which in turn was associated with increased depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that experiences with racism can have long lasting effects for African American youth’s depressive symptoms, and highlight the detrimental effects of experiences with racism for perceptions of control in the academic domain. Implications for intervention are discussed.