A family cluster of the ataxic form of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease with one probable and two autopsy proven cases that occurred in a single generation between 1974 and 1982 is reported. The clinical characteristics of the cases are closely similar to those of kuru patients, with a fair correlation between the prominent truncal ataxia and the intense devastation of the cerebellar cortex most marke...

This paper reviews the post-independence performance of the Burmese economy. It is argued that the devastation of war and the slow pace of economic recovery after 1950 meant that Burma took a very long time even to regain levels of per capita GDP which had been attained in the 1930s. There has been very little change in the sectoral shares of either national product or the labour force. The pap...

In this paper we present a prototype approach to awe. We suggest that two appraisals are central and are present in all clear cases of awe: perceived vastness, and a need for accommodation, defined as an inability to assimilate an experience into current mental structures. Five additional appraisals account for variation in the hedonic tone of awe experiences: threat, beauty, exceptional abilit...

The impact of topographic attributes on the uneven distribution of seismic response and associated devastation has frequently been observed and documented during seismic events, but has rarely been investigated at a regional scale. Existing numerical and experimental techniques applied to explore the impact of topographic attributes in the aggravation of seismic response, have been limited to i...

The history and memories of past events are relayed through popular culture, the media and the public sphere. City tours organized for tourists can be said to be a special part of popular culture and the public sphere. Since 2006 there has been an organised war tour in the City of Dubrovnik which follows the “routes” of war aggression and the devastation of the town. In this paper, one such spe...

In response to the devastation of recent hurricanes in the Gulf Coast, this research identifies small businesses as being at-risk of failing if they experience a data loss caused by a community-wide natural disaster. Practitioner-oriented literature is reviewed to identify relevant disaster recovery components that are classified within a risk management framework. A Delphi study is conducted a...

In 2008, when fresh-faced presidential candidate Barack Obama coasted to electoral victory, it was clear that the world had ended. Flabbergastingly, in an insane display of misjudgment, the American people had elected to office a president who, according to one prominent GOP member, would 'pal around with terrorists,' a president whose socialistic temperaments signaled the dawn of a new and dar...

Plague brought social disruption and physical devastation on a large scale in pre-industrial society. This study strives to give an overview of the occurrence and socio-economic impact on society of the pestilence in the Mediterranean world and beyond from Antiquity up to the nineteenth century, with considerations on recent historiographical trends regarding the analysis of the outbreak and sp...

The 2013 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, as of writing, is declining in reported human cases and mortalities. The resulting devastation caused highlights how health systems, in particular in West Africa, and in terms of global pandemic planning, are ill prepared to react to zoonotic pathogens. In this paper we propose One Health as a strategy to prevent zoonotic outbreaks as a shared goal:...

Disasters have the potential to cripple a country and those countries that are particularly susceptible to disasters must have effective disaster recovery plans (DRP) in place to ensure that the country can return to normalcy as soon as possible after the devastation. However, for the plan to be effective it must be of high quality, which is often viewed as a multidimensional concept containing...