Academic literature on the topic 'Historical sources; History; pandemic'

Throughout history, the world has faced various diseases, some of which have become pandemics. A pandemic means a disease whose epidemic has spread beyond several continents. For example, the AIDS and Covid-19 pandemics have been the closest pandemics in the past years. Bacteria and viruses often cause these diseases. Some of these diseases that have become pandemics have been transmitted to humans by animals as carriers or mediators and have caused disease. These diseases are called zoonotic. The first disease that became pandemic can be mentioned as the plague disease first occurred during the rule of the Parthians. The battle between the Romans and the Parthians in the Tigris, region caused the Antonine plague pandemic that spread to Europe in 165-180 AD. Plague has always been among the diseases with the highest mortality. After that, other terrible diseases such as smallpox with 56 million deaths, or the Spanish flu with 50 million deaths appeared. The latest pandemic that we have been involved in is the COVID-19 pandemic, which was declared by the WHO as a new pandemic on March 11, 2020. We can study past pandemics and learn from them how to deal with future pandemics in order to have the lowest death rate. Maybe another pandemic is coming. According to the statistical data of the coronavirus family, from 1890 to 2019, they have been the cause of four pandemics, and in the last three pandemics, we have seen the distance between them decrease and they become stronger, the possibility of another epidemic in the next seven years from the family there is a coronavirus. By studying historical, statistical, and medical sources, this article examines and provides complete information regarding the pandemics that have existed in history

This essay explores the humanistic dimensions of the unparalleled world-wide pandemic caused by Covid-19. Using both western and eastern sources, it seeks to draw wisdom from this tragedy – but also apply wisdom to it. Reflecting on the historical moment ensconcing this pandemic, and the fundamental metaphysical implications of Covid-19, this essay has three parts: (1) Precipice of History-Nature: This Historical Moment surrounding Covid-19; (2) Implications of a Pandemic for the nature of Nature and God; (3) Implications of a Pandemic for Death, Predestination, Higher Faith – and likely Results. Viewing this moment as portentous in its anticipation of a new age, this essay uses the notion of a temporized precipice, to situate this pandemic historically. Drawing from western (Heidegger, Russell, Augustine, Catherine of Sienna, Epictetus, Plato, and Plotinus), and Indian (Gandhi, Vivekananda, and the Bhagavadgītā) sources, this essay offers both idealistic and realistic views of the likely results of Covid-19.

The purpose of this study was to determine how the application of historical literacy during the Covid-19 pandemic is forced to Online Learning. This research uses a qualitative method in the form of a case study in a private school in East Jakarta, with history teachers and students as key informants. The result of this study is that history teachers have difficulty with allocating time. The difficulty of the teacher increases if history learning is associated with historical literacy which requires students not only to read and understand one source but various historical sources including primary sources. History teachers feel that their students' literacy levels are still lacking even though they do not dare to generalize all of them because they have not implemented any tests. The teacher thinks that both the level of historical literacy and the students' lack of historical literacy can be measured through the practice questions given in tests. Teachers are also hesitant to say the historical literacy level of their students because online distance learning uses zoom meetings. In conclusion, learning history experienced many obstacles during the Covid-19 pandemic. There are more obstacles if history learning wants to fulfill the concept of historical literacy.

This article is devoted to the use of social networks as a search tool for historical sources. The opportunity is analyzed to use social networks for surveying witnesses and participants in the considered events of regional history of the second half of the 20th century. This article also analyzes advantages of addressing social networks in the students’ projects to improve the oral history methods and development of professional skills of data search and processing. The importance of such joint activity of historians of various generations for patriotic upbringing is emphasized, the relevance of addressing online sources under the pandemic conditions is determined. The use of social networks as a means to replenish gaps in the set of sources is exemplified by the project devoted to social and economic history of Sevastopol. It is summarized that the most informative was the communication with Odnoklassniki network, since it is the leading platform in the Russian segment of Internet regarding the age group of concern: 46+. The methods of operation with social networks are not confined only by the oral history. A researcher is capable to study materials of profile groups and to detect unique photos. It has been concluded that it would be reasonable to perform historical research in social networks by interviewing respondents: bearers of historical memory.

The end of the 20th century was marked by euphoria over the development of internet technology such as the world wide web, which brought changes to scientific development including accessibility of historical sources and its use. This shift supports new adaptations as well as challenges conventional archival models, while opening opportunities for these digitized documents in history learning. However, the conversion or digitization of archives in Indonesia is slow, let alone its use for education, especially history education. This paper will take some experiences from countries that have digitized archives and adapt them in the history learning process as a real-world real-time experience. Two countries, the Netherlands and Australia, will be compared to see how they implement these strategies and how Indonesia can adopt a similar model for it. Further, five teacher candidates were involved as informants in interviews regarding their effort to incorporate digital historical sources in the learningfrom-home activities. A qualitative approach was used to see the extent to which the readiness of technical and non-technical aspects of the implementation of real-world and real-time-experience learning model in history education. While the review shows how promising the digital history and historical sources in the developed countries is, Indonesia is not ready enough for its usage due to some issues. These challenges will be discussed further. Keywords: digital history, real

Abstract Concerns about zoonotic diseases and efforts to differentiate between groups intertwine at the intersection of critical animal studies, biomobility and epidemic discourses, and religious studies. Using the case in rabbinic literature of pandemics moving from pigs to humans, this study unfolds in historical stages. Period I, “Flesh” (3rd C to 12th C), considers the issues at hand: a pandemic, pigs, the question of what to do and why. Period II, “Metaphor” (12th C to 16th C), turns pigs into metaphors for sociopolitical concerns, to make strong distinctions between sets of humans. Period III, “Science” (16th C to 20th C), argues that evidence should help inform decisions of what to do in the face of a zoonotic pandemic. The conclusion, “Directions,” considers first the possibility of reverse-zoonosis, of human infecting animals, before offering reflections for several fields of study.

The goal of this paper was to examine whether we can refer to the Antonine Plague, which ravaged the Roman Empire between 165 and approximately 190 AD, as the first pandemic in European history. The methodology employed to analyse the pandemic character of the aforementioned plague was taken from the epidemiological criteria which were established to differentiate epidemics from pandemics. The criteria for determining whether a disease outbreak can be labelled a pandemic are: wide geographic scope, disease movement, high attack rates and explosiveness, minimal population immunity and novelty, contagiousness, and finally, severity. Next, all of these criteria were tested by analysing ancient sources, as well as the results of historiographic and scientific research in order to ascertain if any of them might be used as evidence for the verification of each separate criterion. Besides the Antonine Plague, this analysis was also applied to two historical disease outbreaks which may also be viewed as pandemics. These were the possible Late Neolithic/Early Bronze Age bubonic plague pandemic and the Plague of Athens. A brief survey of all currently known diseases which struck the Roman world is also presented. The conclusion which emerges based on an evaluation of the aforementioned criteria in the light of ancient sources and the results of modern biological sciences is that the Antonine Plague can be dubbed the first clearly attested pandemic in European history with reasonable confidence, while all of the earlier analysed examples were probably semi-connected epidemic outbreaks. This characterization has been chosen for two reasons. The first pertains to the fact that we are faced with a substantial lack of sources for earlier examples, and therefore cannot properly ascertain whether these occurrences truly were pandemics. The second reason why these disease outbreaks cannot, to the best of our current knowledge, be defined as pandemics is linked to the criterion of wide geographic extent, but also to the lack of human-built infrastructure which abets with the spread of highly virulent pathogens

This paper discusses about the phenomenon of Hajj during the pandemic in the XIXth to mid-XXth centuries in the Dutch East Indies with a focus on the governance of health services carried out by the Dutch East Indies government. This research uses historical research methods to explore various relevant primary and secondary sources, such as historical archives, government documents, travel records, and historical literature. The main finding of this research is that the pandemic that occurred during that time, such as the cholera outbreak, had a significant impact on the Hajj journey and the welfare of the pilgrims. The Dutch East Indies government undertook various efforts to manage health services during the Hajj journey, including the provision of medical facilities and quarantine. The results of this study provide a deeper understanding of how the Dutch East Indies government dealt with the pandemic during that time and how it affected the Hajj experience and health care governance efforts in the context of Dutch East Indies history. The findings can provide valuable insights for understanding the history and context of the pandemic in global and regional history.

Parody is a protected free expression. It is a piece of writing or music that closely mimics the style of a particular author or piece for comedic effect. The main objective of this paper is to present parodies made during the pandemic as aesthetic expression and as literary, educational art as sources of contextual literary history. Specifically, it aimed to identify and analyze the parodies to distinguish the theme, message, and the parody songs’ purpose. The researcher believes this paper may also determine the standard terms related to COVID-19 and the effects of the pandemic on society. This paper employed the qualitative-descriptive type of literary criticism as a research design anchored on the theory of participatory culture. The results of this study identified standard terms used in the pandemic parodies as COVID-19 neologisms. In conclusion, those widely used CoViD-19 terminology could reveal the pandemic's consequences to society. It affected the economy, commerce, education, entertainment, travel, human conduct, and religion. This paper recommends that song parodies be used to teach post-pandemic contexts for historical and literary references.

The history of the world is the history of pestilences, epidemics, and pandemics, affecting humanity – storylines of getting bogged down and bouncing back to crises. The influenza pandemic of 1918–1919 has been called the greatest medical holocaust in history and the mother of all pandemics. The country that faced the greatest devastation in terms of human mortality from influenza in India. After a century, India has been hit by COVID-19, the greatest pandemic of contemporary times, exposing systemic failures in the functioning of the statecraft. This article is a comparative exploration of the two pandemics along survey of historical sources and secondary scholarship to finally forge the critical discussion: are we in a better position to tackle crisis? Lessons from previous pandemics, most importantly the Spanish Flu of 1918 can be significant in terms of analysis and assessment of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the country – then and now. This article conveys the larger rationale of looking back to look and move forward in terms of crafting just, inclusive and resilient policies from a diseased to a desirable (non)Anthropocene.

Historians, like many types of scholars, are often researchers and educators, and both roles involve significant interaction with primary sources. Primary sources are not only direct evidence for historical arguments but also important materials for teaching historical thinking skills to students in classrooms, and engaging the broader public. However, finding high quality primary sources that are relevant to a historian's specialized topics of interest remains a significant challenge. Automated approaches to text analysis struggle to provide relevant results for these "long tail" searches with long semantic distances from the source material. Consequently, historians are often frustrated at spending so much time on manually the relevance of the contents of these archives other than writing and analysis. To overcome these challenges, my dissertation explores the use of crowdsourcing to support historians in analysis of primary sources. In four studies, I first proposed a class-sourcing model where historians outsource historical analysis to students as a teaching method and students learn historical thinking and gain authentic research experience while doing these analysis tasks. Incite, a realization of this model, deployed in 15 classrooms with positive feedback. Second, I expanded the class-sourcing model to a broader audience, novice (paid) crowds and developedthe Read-agree-predict (RAP) technique to accurately evaluate relevance between primary sources and research topics. Third, I presented a set of design principles for crowdsourcing complex historical documents via the American Soldier project on Zooniverse. Finally, I developed CrowdSCIM to help crowds learn historical thinking and evaluated the tradeoffs between quality, learning and efficiency. The outcomes of the studies provide systems, techniques and design guidelines to 1) support historians in their research and teaching practices, 2) help crowd workers learn historical thinking and 3) suggest implications for the design of future crowdsourcing systems.<br>Ph. D.<br>Historians, like many types of scholars, are often researchers and educators, and both roles involve significant interaction with primary sources. Primary sources are not only direct evidence for historical arguments but also important materials for teaching historical thinking skills to students in classrooms, and engaging the broader public. However, finding highquality primary sources that are relevant to a historian’s specialized topics of interest remains a significant challenge. Automated approaches to text analysis struggle to provide relevant results for these “long tail” searches with long semantic distances from the source material. Consequently, historians are often frustrated at spending so much time on manually the relevance of the contents of these archives other than writing and analysis. To overcome these challenges, my dissertation explores the use of crowdsourcing to support historians in analysis of primary sources. In four studies, I first proposed a class-sourcing model where historians outsource historical analysis to students as a teaching method and students learn historical thinking and gain authentic research experience while doing these analysis tasks. Incite, a realization of this model, deployed in 15 classrooms with positive feedback. Second, I expanded the class-sourcing model to a broader audience, novice (paid) crowds and developed the Read-agree-predict (RAP) technique to accurately evaluate relevance between primary sources and research topics. Third, I presented a set of design principles for crowdsourcing complex historical documents via the American Soldier project on Zooniverse. Finally, I developed CrowdSCIM to help crowds learn historical thinking and evaluated the tradeoffs between quality, learning and efficiency. The outcomes of the studies provide systems, techniques and design guidelines to 1) support historians in their research and teaching practices, 2) help crowd workers learn historical thinking and 3) suggest implications for the design of future crowdsourcing systems.

This dissertation aims to formulate a view of Arabian tribalism in the pre- Islamic period and its development in Islamic times. The first part assesses the historical usability of the literary source material of the Jahiliya. The focus is on oral historical traditions - the ayyam al- carab. These are found to have remained textually fluid until the time of their recording. This fluidity may have affected style and form but did not substantially affect certain historical elements. The more inter-tribal and less local the account was, the more reliable it is likely to be historically. A sample comparison between tribal hostility and tribal distribution showed that the accounts seem to be highly consistent. The second part of the thesis is concerned firstly with establishing a Jahili profile for two tribal groups; secondly with tracing the affairs of their descendants into the Umayyad period. The tribal groups of Taghlib and Ghatafan were picked for examination. Both were strong cohesive groups in the pre-Islamic period. In Islamic times, Taghlibis lose importance since they opted to remain Christian, thus, Taghlibis are virtually impossible to trace. Ghatafanis did join Islam on a far greater scale and are often mentioned in the Islamic period. After the second civil war Ghatafanis are only ever mentioned as individuals. Close kin continued to cooperate but cooperation above this level was only conducted within the Qaysi faction. The third part discusses changes in the tribal system. A review of the functions of modern tribal genealogies illuminates the process by which genealogies can change in order to reflect changing realities. Early Arabic genealogies are clearly seen to be also naturally dynamic and the subject of deliberate change. New links reflected new realities, particularly the political alliances forged under the Umayyads. A belief in a single progenitor led to a move towards creating genealogical links to one ancestor, while the conditions of the conquests let to a regionalization of tribalism. The professionalization of the Marwanid army enabled cross-regional tribal co-operation which resulted in dividing in two the Umayyad army and Arab genealogies.

This thesis takes as its starting point the use of extracts from the works of historical authors who wrote in England in the early to mid twelfth-century. It focuses upon the ways in which their works began to be incorporated into three particular texts in the later twelfth and early thirteenth centuries. Through the medium of individual case studies – De Abbatibus (Abingdon), CCCC 139 (Durham) and The London Collection three elements are explored (i) how mediaeval writers used extracts from the works of others in ways which differed from modern practices with their concerns over charges of plagiarism and unoriginality (ii) how the structural and narrative roles which the use of extracts played within the presentation of these texts (iii) how the application of approaches developed in the twentieth century, which transformed how texts are now analysed, enabled a re-evaluation and re-interpretation of their use of source material with greater sensitivity to their original purposes This analysis casts fresh light upon the how and why these texts were produced and the means by which they fulfilled their purposes and reveals that despite their disparate origins and individual perspectives these three texts share two common features: (i) they follow a common three stage pattern of development (ii) they deal with similar issues: factional insecurities and concerns about the quality of those in power over them – using an historical perspective The analysis also reveals the range of techniques which were at the disposal of the composers of these texts, dispelling any notion that they were either unsophisticated or naïve in their handling of their source materials. Together these texts demonstrate how mediaeval authors used combinations of extracts as a means of responding quickly and flexibly to address particular concerns. Such texts were not regarded as being set in stone but rather as fluid entities which could be recombined at will in order to produce new works as required.

The main thesis of this dissertation is that even a casual analysis of African writing reveals that contemporary African literature has and is still undergoing a distinctive metamorphosis. This change, which amounts to a significant departure from the early fifties, derives its creative impulse from demonic anger and cynical iconoclasm and is triggered by the mind-shattering disillusion that followed independence. The proclivity towards tyranny and the exploitation of the ruled in modern Africa is traced by radical African creative writers to an ancient source: the legendary and god-like rulers of precolonial Africa. Ouologuem's Bound to Violence and Armah's Two Thousand Seasons and The Healers hypothesize that past sins begot present sins. The legendary warrior heroes of the past, whose glory and splendour were once exalted in African writing, are now ruthlessly disentombed and paraded as miscreants and despots, who not only brutalized and sold their people into slavery but also ideologically fabricated their own legends and myths in order to maximize their tyrannical power. The preoccupation of these works is, therefore, to divest the ancient heroes of their false glory. contemporary critics tend to perceive this anti-traditional posture purely as a modern trend in African literature. The truth of the matter, however, is that the literary foundations of this anti-nativist/anti-Afrocentric literary tradition were laid by Thomas Mofolo and Sol Plaatje, whose Chaka (1925) and Mhudi (1930) are the precursors. The five primary works in this study parody and veer away from the generally accepted traditional African epic heroism and recorded history towards a communal heroic ideal which celebrates the larger community instead of the single epic heroes normally romanticized in African legendary tradition. These novelists, while dismantling the European and African myths about Africa's Golden Age, also disfigure the often glorified ancient historical landmarks and the fabled heroes of Africa's oral and recorded history. The rationale behind this investigation is the fact that though these works have innovated, assimilated, and parodied the African oral arts, particularly traditional African epic heroism, no detailed study has been made to explore the literary transformation these texts have undergone as written works. Treating African texts only as appendages of Western literature may undermine the ability of the critical evaluations which go into the heart of these texts and unravel their deeper meanings. The outcome of this kind of approach is that pertinent issues of style and theme originating from negro-African metaphysics, oral traditions, and iconography could thereby be left unexplored. Besides, the bulk of the current body of criticism on African literature, particularly on colonial Africa, tends to concentrate on colonialist Christian values and Western literary production models. One of the overriding concerns of this research, therefore, is to veer away from merely rehashing Eurocentric pronouncements on European influences and literary modes parodied by these works, by taking a fresh. look at the texts from the perspective of Afrocentrism and in particular from the point of view of the traditional African oral bards. To this end, therefore, the dissertation is divided into six main chapters and a short concluding chapter: Chapter 1, A Survey of Black Representations of Pre-colonial Africa, functions as an introduction, sketches the European image versus the Black counter-discourse, and locates the study within the current debate on the concept of pre-colonial Africa's Golden Age. Chapter 2, Thomas Mofolo's "Inverted Epic Hero", the nucleus of the study I analyzes the anti-epic and ironic modes manipulated by the text and also maps out the epic generic framework which structures the whole dissertation. Chapter 3, Traditional African Epic Heroism Revised, discusses Plaatje's Mhudi, paying special attention to the text's deployment of the African epic genre as well as the caricaturist and the anti-heroic modes. In Chapter 4, Yambo Ouologuem's Bound to Violence is examined under the title A World Trapped in an Orgy of Violence, Barbarism and Servitude. African oral art is used as the hermeneutic key in unlocking the complexities of Ouologuem's novel. Chapter 5, The African Anti-Legendary Creative Mythology, scrutinizes Armah's Two Thousand Seasons, highlighting, among other topics, Armah's daring innovative stylistic experimentation. Chapter 6, entitled The Akan Iconic Forest of Symbols, deals with Armah' s The Healers, concentrating on the Akan iconographic backdrop which shapes and informs this work. And finally, The Metamorphosis of Traditional African Epic Heroism, the title of the concluding chapter, sums up this dissertation.

This study examines the teaching of primary and secondary sources in history at secondary and tertiary level. The various methods used to teach these aspects of the nature of history are compared to the Vista University teaching model. To establish the effectiveness of the vista Block A module for HIS100 students, two test instruments were devised to assess their skills in handling primary and secondary sources. Their skills in identifying relevant points from a passage of historical prose were also tested. A number of statistical techniques were applied to the data from the test instruments. This data was analysed in qualitative and quantitative terms. The results of this analysis suggested that students would probably benefit from a skills-orientated approach to studying history. On the basis of this study, it is recommended that the existing Vista teaching model be revised or amended so that a more effective method of teaching students about the nature of historical sources can be introduced.

There has been little interest in eighteenth century urban history in England and particularly in the significance of patterns of urban social structure during the transition from a traditional to a modern society. One reason for this is the intractable and fragmentary nature of the sources for this precensus period. In this study three types of source, a town directory, a Parliamentary Poll Book and the city rate and national tax returns for Bristol in 1774/5, were collated using nominal record linkage techniques to give a body of information which covered 80% of the city's heads of household. With the use of this database and various computer techniques occupation, sex, wealth, place of residence and voting allegiance were analysed. The results suggest that a professional or leisured suburban group was by this date well established in distinct areas of the city. The supremacy of the traditional élite, the overseas merchants, was challenged by this group, although the merchants themselves were in part joining the suburban dwellers. Poorer Bristolians still concentrated in dockside parishes and in parts of the city which were becoming increasingly unfashionable and homogeneous as the richer men moved out, though this process was not very far advanced and there was still a degree of mixing in the older city parishes. The economic structure of the city was changing with increased emphasis on services, professions and distribution. This increased disparities in wealth within the city and between the city and its hinterland and gave the ability to the rich to further their isolation from the poor by moving to the suburbs. The 1774 election pointed to the continuing importance of traditional influences (here of religion) In society, but also confirmed suggestions that the professions and distributors were drawing away from the mass of the populace. A revision of previous interpretations of the nature of Bristol society is necessary to accommodate this growing and important group - the emergent middle class. The thesis shows that a comprehensive computer-based study can make usable dubious sources (in particular fiscal records) and use them to revise interpretations of English urban communities at this date.

<p> A study of the Holocaust is a challenging task. Schools often dedicate little time to the study of the subject, and teachers are often largely unprepared in regard to their content mastery of the subject, as well as the appropriate pedagogical tools to help guide students through the study of intellectually and emotionally difficult material. Whereas best practice in the field of Holocaust education prescribes the use of primary sources in the teaching of the Holocaust, few studies exist which explore the ways in which teachers select and implement primary sources in their teaching of the Holocaust and the impact it has on what students come to understand about the event. </p><p> A case study of one tenth grade World History II classroom provided qualitative data to help explore the ways primary sources were used in the teaching of the Holocaust. This research describes the relationship between the use of primary sources in this classroom and the development of historical thinking skills among students. The data interpreted in this study indicated that the curation choices of the teacher influenced what students came to know and understand about the Holocaust. Additionally, students demonstrated an ability to develop and practice lower order historical thinking skills related to sourcing, as a result of their use of primary sources in a study of the Holocaust. </p><p> Findings emerged which indicated that the teacher and her students had unique relationships to the content of the Holocaust and to the study of history more broadly. This study offers insight into the intersections of difficult knowledge, Holocaust education, social studies pedagogy, source curation, and discussions of the skills necessary to learn history meaningfully and critically.</p><p>

AbstractIn this chapter, Potjer et al. describe how elementary teachers participating in a professional development program “Historical reasoning in inquiry-based history lessons” develop more nuanced beliefs about the nature of history. Participants’ beliefs about teaching historical inquiry in grades 3–6 develop accordingly. The teachers identify inquiry activities they worked on during the meetings, group discussions, modeling by the facilitator, searching for historical sources, and designing and teaching inquiry-based lessons as important sources of their professional growth. Besides implications for research and future PD programs, the authors describe ramifications for elementary teacher education.

This paper explores the need for the US Army to standardize repair of composite aircraft structure. The paper includes a discussion of the needs for standardization as well as historical attempts and current plans. Repair materials, processes, equipment, tooling, facilities and contamination sources that are unique to the Army operating environmental are described in detail. A brief history of advanced composite repair in the Army as well as current standardization efforts will be described in this paper. By standardizing advanced composite repair materials, processes, tools, and training the Army is ultimately easing the burden on the maintainer while maintaining airworthiness.

The appearance of different, local, or broader epidemics was frequent in Serbia during peacetime, especially during the war years. For decades, historical science and the history of medicine paid great attention to the outbreak of three combined types of typhus: spotted, relapsing, and typhoid from the first half of 1915, and only recently to the consequences of the Spanish fever pandemic, specifically its second wave from the end of 1918, while other epidemics have been neglected. This work aims to indicate the occurrence and consequences of those other epidemics, with noticeable mortal consequences, which were observed in Serbia during the years of the First World War, but also their occurrence in the previous, pre-war years. The research is a case study based on a random sample selected according to the availability of primary historical sources, namely church death registers. The situation was analyzed in a part of the territory of western Serbia, in five church parishes of the Valjevo and Užice districts, with 26 rural settlements in which 16,039 inhabitants were registered in 1910. It was there during the eight-year period 1911-1918. a total of 4,522 inhabitants died, of which more than half - 2,620 - were caused by various epidemic diseases. The largest number of victims - 826 - was claimed by the aforementioned large epidemic of three combined typhus types from the first half of 1915. The second wave of the Spanish fever pandemic, from the very end of 1918, claimed 530 lives. The rest were victims of other local epidemics of diphtheria (244), scarlet fever (205), whooping cough (188), as well as smallpox, dysentery and typhoid fever, which occurred with similar mortality in pre-war (1911-1913) and wartime (1914-1918) periods.

The theme of the work is directed to the recognized, but little known, historical subjection of urbanized environments to diseases. Based on this problem, the general objective of the research is to analyze characteristics of the diachronic process of urbanization and of contemporary cities themselves in association with the occurrence of outbreaks of illnesses, reflecting on future perspectives. Based on the hypothesis that certain urban conditions can enhance or minimize the spread of ailments, the methodological procedures, with a basic nature, qualitative approach and exploratory feature, are based on techniques of systematic review of secondary sources and systematized in three main phases. The first deals with past teachings, while the second addresses present realities and the last comprises prospect trends. The results show both past relationships between city structures and health events as well as their actual permanences and volubilities, in addition to uncertainties of subsequent times in sustainability and resilience issues. It concludes by confirming the assumption raised and and by the assertion that pandemics should be seen as opportunities for the conformation of healthy cities, which requires innovative approaches to sustainable planning and management of the current pandemic era. Keywords: contagion territory, city history, city diagnosis, urbanization prognosis. O tema do trabalho é direcionado à reconhecida, mas pouco conhecida, sujeição histórica de ambientes urbanizados a doenças. Apoiado nessa problemática, o objetivo geral da pesquisa consiste em analisar características do processo diacrônico de urbanização e das próprias cidades contemporâneas em associação com a ocorrência de surtos de moléstias, refletindo sobre perspectivas pósteras. Com base na hipótese de que determinadas condições urbanísticas podem potencializar ou minimizar a disseminação de enfermidades, os procedimentos metodológicos, com natureza básica, abordagem qualitativa e caráter exploratório, são fundamentados em técnicas de revisão sistemática de fontes secundárias e sistematizados em três fases principais. A primeira trata de ensinamentos do passado, enquanto a segunda aborda realidades do presente e a última compreende tendências do futuro. Os resultados evidenciam tanto relações pretéritas entre estruturas citadinas e acontecimentos sanitários quanto suas atuais permanências e volubilidades, bem como incertezas de tempos subsequentes em questões de sustentabilidade e resiliência. Conclui-se pela confirmação do pressuposto aventado e pela assertiva de que as pandemias devem ser vistas como oportunidades para a conformação de urbes saudáveis, o que exige abordagens inovadoras para planejamento e gestão sustentável da vigente era pandêmica. Palavras-chave: território de contágio, história da cidade, diagnóstico da urbe, prognóstico da urbanização.

This chapter advances multimodality in expanding historical game education research and application of historical video games for the teaching of history within secondary schools and tertiary institutions. A multimodal focus on historical representations encased in historical gameplay sequences and game developer integrations of digital and non-digital historical research methods and sources informing game design in development of a game’s historical world comprise some of the innovative areas within this contribution in exploring the possibilities of history teachers using historical games as critical sources for their students learning of both history and historical gaming.

The paper presents the results of the historical study of the population formation in Ekaterinburg over a 300-year period. Historical sources and the process of accumulating knowledge about the number of city residents were examined. Analysis of population data revealed that the process of collecting demographic information on Russia (and, accordingly, on Ekaterinburg) took a century and a half (from the 18th century until almost the 1870s). The role of the head of the Ekaterinburg mining plants, academician I. F. Herman, in the development of population tables is shown. Since 1873, when the first one-day census of the city’s population was conducted, and then 1887, statistical and demographic information has become representative. The main source for examining the population formation of the city were the censuses of 1897, 1920, 1923, 1926, 1931, 1937, 1939, 1959, 1979, 1989, 2002, 2010, as well as the current population records. A brief review of historical literature showed that the study of the population of Ekaterinburg is in its infancy.

The article is devoted to visual sources on the history of the Kazakh ASSR, which are still little included in the systematic field of historical research. They are an important component of the analysis of the Soviet ethno-national policy of the 1920s–1930s, since they captured the transition of Kazakh society from tradition to modernity, deep socio-economic and other transformations in autonomy. Along with the traditional archival and published written historical sources available to scientists, visual sources serve a comprehensive understanding of the essence, manifestations and results of nation-building. The article examines examples of a number of documentaries that are of the greatest interest for understanding modernization shifts and ambivalent manifestations of the transformations of the era of industrialization, collectivization and cultural revolution in the Kazakh ASSR.

The report represents the implementation of the project «Digital History of St.Petersburg Polytechnic University» and analyzes related opportunities in the representation and the study of the institutional history of high schools. The authors dwell on the description and characteristics of the online resource that represents a virtual dynamic structure of the University in the form of an interactive genealogical tree, supplemented by reference materials, full-text historical sources, scientific commentary.

The report represents the implementation of the project «Digital History of St.Petersburg Polytechnic University» and analyzes related opportunities in the representation and the study of the institutional history of high schools. The authors dwell on the description and characteristics of the online resource that represents a virtual dynamic structure of the University in the form of an interactive genealogical tree, supplemented by reference materials, full-text historical sources, scientific commentary.

A competence specific to the discipline History of Romanians and universal for the gymnasium and high school cycle, is: Knowledge and interpretation of historical sources. Therefore, this article looks at photography as a visual historical source, as well as how we can use photography in history lessons, in the teaching-learning-assessment process. Visual sources play an important role in the understanding and knowledge of historical facts, thus developing the student’s imagination and critical thinking.

The electronic training course "History of Medicine" is compiled in accordance with the requirements of the federal state educational standard of higher education 3++ for specialties 05/31/2011. Medical care, 05/32.01. Preventive medicine, 05/31/02. Pediatrics, 05/31/03. Dentistry The purpose of the course is to study the history, patterns and logic of the development of healing, medicine and healthcare of the peoples of the world from antiquity to the beginning of the XXI century. Course objectives: to teach students to objectively analyze historical phenomena, achievements and prospects for the development of medicine and healthcare; to reveal the achievements of outstanding civilizations in the field of medicine in the context of the progressive development of mankind; to show the interaction of national and international factors in the formation of medical science and practice in various regions of the globe; to inculcate ethical principles of medical practice and the historical conditions of their formation in various countries; to cultivate high moral qualities in students: love for their profession, loyalty to duty, feelings of humanism and patriotism; expand the general scientific and cultural horizons of students. to form among students the most important cultural and historical guidelines for the civil self-identification of the individual, the assimilation of basic professional values and competencies; to develop the ability to analyze and compare medical information about the past contained in various sources; to motivate students to maintain their health and lead a healthy lifestyle. The complexity of the course: 72 classroom hours are allocated for the study of this discipline, including 36 hours of lectures and 36 hours of seminars.

The analytical report examines the state of using historical sources in teaching history in high school. The report is based on the results of surveys, questionnaires, and interviews conducted with history teachers. The findings of the study enabled the authors to formulate a set of methodological recommendations for teachers, curriculum developers, and authors of history textbooks.

The article is dedicated to the investigation of time-space measurements of journalistic works of Eugen Sverstiuk, a well-known Ukrainian journalist. In particular, the time-space continuum of his works is being discussed, which is characterized as comprehensive, continuous, filled with archetypical images which metaphorize the text, but at the same time structure it, and are beaded on the axis of time and documentarily located in the space. The logics of images initiated in the text is exaggerated by constant dwelling of the author in the time-space dimensions of the epoque, of which he was a contemporary, as well as precise knowledge of World and Ukrainian history and culture. Historical parallelism of journalism of E. Sverstiuk possesses double potential. On the one hand, the author provides arguments for confirmation of his own opinion, and on the other, he shows us historical collisions in the new aspect, which helps consider the past, better understand the present, and think of the future. Pages of his works is space for author’s considerations, which logics impresses by free transgression of the author in the time, and his ability to grasp the most essential, although sometimes precedent, sometimes sudden and forgotten, or even unknown historical facts in order to force them to resonate in the new historical realities, first of all to indicate the importance of national and the need for assigning to it more significance. Using retrospectives, E. Sverstiuk encourages us to return to the national sources and to seek in ourselves the reflections of nationality in order to return historical truth to our audience. This is what, according to E. Sverstiuk, was believed to be one of the most necessary conditions of existence to the independent state. Time-space continuum of E. Sverstiuk’s journalism is reproduction of comprehensive history as continuous process of the development of humanity, and of formation of comprehensive, total, and so to say epic reading and understanding of these processes via accentuation of reader’s attention on key events, phenomena, and facts.

To address the challenges of sampling endangered or extinct species in the field, many studies have turned to historically underutilized sources of genetic material: natural history museums. Despite the fact that DNA from specimens collected decades or even hundreds of years ago is often fragmented and degraded, research has shown that historical DNA can still be used effectively to infer phylogenetic relationships and intra-specific patterns of population genetic structure. This module aims to provide students and conservation practitioners with a solid understanding of the methodological strategies needed to apply genetic tools to natural history museum specimens. Specifically, we offer clear definitions and essential considerations for designing a conservation genomics project that includes both modern and historical samples. We recommend that instructors use the synthesis "Applications of museum collections and genomics to biodiversity conservation" to introduce the foundational knowledge required for two companion exercises: “The application of conservation museomics approaches to the protection of the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus)” and “Designing a conservation genomics project incorporating DNA from museum specimens.”

In this critical reading, the importance of learning about some aspects related to the history, evolution, regulations, achievements, and challenges of higher education in Colombia is raised. This knowledge is especially relevant for tertiary education teachers. With this purpose in mind, the beginnings of such an educational system in the colonial period, as well as the transformations and milestones reached during the various historical, political, and economic changes that our country has had, are described. A description of the current state of tertiary education in Colombia is also offered through statistical data. Additionally, the laws, decrees, and resolutions that make up the legal framework, as well as the governmental bodies in charge of regulating its operation and guaranteeing the quality of the programs, are explained. It also examines the role that icts have in innovation processes and the changes and legislation that have arisen because of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is concluded that, despite its evident evolution, Colombian higher education still faces challenges that require the proposal of pedagogical, technological, and political measures that adjust to the needs of all the agents involved.

Banco de la República is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2023. This is a very significant anniversary and one that provides an opportunity to highlight the contribution the Bank has made to the country’s development. Its track record as guarantor of monetary stability has established it as the one independent state institution that generates the greatest confidence among Colombians due to its transparency, management capabilities, and effective compliance with the central banking and cultural responsibilities entrusted to it by the Constitution and the Law. On a date as important as this, the Board of Directors of Banco de la República (BDBR) pays tribute to the generations of governors and officers whose commitment and dedication have contributed to the growth of this institution.1 Banco de la República’s mandate was confirmed in the National Constitutional Assembly of 1991 where the citizens had the opportunity to elect the seventy people who would have the task of drafting a new constitution. The leaders of the three political movements with the most votes were elected as chairs to the Assembly, and this tripartite presidency reflected the plurality and the need for consensus among the different political groups to move the reform forward. Among the issues considered, the National Constitutional Assembly gave special importance to monetary stability. That is why they decided to include central banking and to provide Banco de la República with the necessary autonomy to use the instruments for which they are responsible without interference from other authorities. The constituent members understood that ensuring price stability is a state duty and that the entity responsible for this task must be enshrined in the Constitution and have the technical capability and institutional autonomy necessary to adopt the decisions they deem appropriate to achieve this fundamental objective in coordination with the general economic policy. In particular, Article 373 established that “the State, through Banco de la República, shall ensure the maintenance of the purchasing power of the currency,” a provision that coincided with the central banking system adopted by countries that have been successful in controlling inflation. In 1999, in Ruling 481, the Constitutional Court stated that “the duty to maintain the purchasing power of the currency applies to not only the monetary, credit, and exchange authority, i.e., the Board of Banco de la República, but also those who have responsibilities in the formulation and implementation of the general economic policy of the country” and that “the basic constitutional purpose of Banco de la República is the protection of a sound currency. However, this authority must take the other economic objectives of state intervention such as full employment into consideration in their decisions since these functions must be coordinated with the general economic policy.” The reforms to Banco de la República agreed upon in the Constitutional Assembly of 1991 and in Act 31/1992 can be summarized in the following aspects: i) the Bank was assigned a specific mandate: to maintain the purchasing power of the currency in coordination with the general economic policy; ii) the BDBR was designatedas the monetary, foreign exchange, and credit authority; iii) the Bank and its Board of Directors were granted a significant degree of independence from the government; iv) the Bank was prohibited from granting credit to the private sector except in the case of the financial sector; v) established that in order to grant credit to the government, the unanimous vote of its Board of Directors was required except in the case of open market transactions; vi) determined that the legislature may, in no case, order credit quotas in favor of the State or individuals; vii) Congress was appointed, on behalf of society, as the main addressee of the Bank’s reporting exercise; and viii) the responsibility for inspection, surveillance, and control over Banco de la República was delegated to the President of the Republic. The members of the National Constitutional Assembly clearly understood that the benefits of low and stable inflation extend to the whole of society and contribute mto the smooth functioning of the economic system. Among the most important of these is that low inflation promotes the efficient use of productive resources by allowing relative prices to better guide the allocation of resources since this promotes economic growth and increases the welfare of the population. Likewise, low inflation reduces uncertainty about the expected return on investment and future asset prices. This increases the confidence of economic agents, facilitates long-term financing, and stimulates investment. Since the low-income population is unable to protect itself from inflation by diversifying its assets, and a high proportion of its income is concentrated in the purchase of food and other basic goods that are generally the most affected by inflationary shocks, low inflation avoids arbitrary redistribution of income and wealth.2 Moreover, low inflation facilitates wage negotiations, creates a good labor climate, and reduces the volatility of employment levels. Finally, low inflation helps to make the tax system more transparent and equitable by avoiding the distortions that inflation introduces into the value of assets and income that make up the tax base. From the monetary authority’s point of view, one of the most relevant benefits of low inflation is the credibility that economic agents acquire in inflation targeting, which turns it into an effective nominal anchor on price levels. Upon receiving its mandate, and using its autonomy, Banco de la República began to announce specific annual inflation targets as of 1992. Although the proposed inflation targets were not met precisely during this first stage, a downward trend in inflation was achieved that took it from 32.4% in 1990 to 16.7% in 1998. At that time, the exchange rate was kept within a band. This limited the effectiveness of monetary policy, which simultaneously sought to meet an inflation target and an exchange rate target. The Asian crisis spread to emerging economies and significantly affected the Colombian economy. The exchange rate came under strong pressure to depreciate as access to foreign financing was cut off under conditions of a high foreign imbalance. This, together with the lack of exchange rate flexibility, prevented a countercyclical monetary policy and led to a 4.2% contraction in GDP that year. In this context of economic slowdown, annual inflation fell to 9.2% at the end of 1999, thus falling below the 15% target set for that year. This episode fully revealed how costly it could be, in terms of economic activity, to have inflation and exchange rate targets simultaneously. Towards the end of 1999, Banco de la República announced the adoption of a new monetary policy regime called the Inflation Targeting Plan. This regime, known internationally as ‘Inflation Targeting,’ has been gaining increasing acceptance in developed countries, having been adopted in 1991 by New Zealand, Canada, and England, among others, and has achieved significant advances in the management of inflation without incurring costs in terms of economic activity. In Latin America, Brazil and Chile also adopted it in 1999. In the case of Colombia, the last remaining requirement to be fulfilled in order to adopt said policy was exchange rate flexibility. This was realized around September 1999, when the BDBR decided to abandon the exchange-rate bands to allow the exchange rate to be freely determined in the market.Consistent with the constitutional mandate, the fundamental objective of this new policy approach was “the achievement of an inflation target that contributes to maintaining output growth around its potential.”3 This potential capacity was understood as the GDP growth that the economy can obtain if it fully utilizes its productive resources. To meet this objective, monetary policy must of necessity play a countercyclical role in the economy. This is because when economic activity is below its potential and there are idle resources, the monetary authority can reduce the interest rate in the absence of inflationary pressure to stimulate the economy and, when output exceeds its potential capacity, raise it. This policy principle, which is immersed in the models for guiding the monetary policy stance, makes the following two objectives fully compatible in the medium term: meeting the inflation target and achieving a level of economic activity that is consistent with its productive capacity. To achieve this purpose, the inflation targeting system uses the money market interest rate (at which the central bank supplies primary liquidity to commercial banks) as the primary policy instrument. This replaced the quantity of money as an intermediate monetary policy target that Banco de la República, like several other central banks, had used for a long time. In the case of Colombia, the objective of the new monetary policy approach implied, in practical terms, that the recovery of the economy after the 1999 contraction should be achieved while complying with the decreasing inflation targets established by the BDBR. The accomplishment of this purpose was remarkable. In the first half of the first decade of the 2000s, economic activity recovered significantly and reached a growth rate of 6.8% in 2006. Meanwhile, inflation gradually declined in line with inflation targets. That was how the inflation rate went from 9.2% in 1999 to 4.5% in 2006, thus meeting the inflation target established for that year while GDP reached its potential level. After this balance was achieved in 2006, inflation rebounded to 5.7% in 2007, above the 4.0% target for that year due to the fact that the 7.5% GDP growth exceeded the potential capacity of the economy.4 After proving the effectiveness of the inflation targeting system in its first years of operation, this policy regime continued to consolidate as the BDBR and the technical staff gained experience in its management and state-of-the-art economic models were incorporated to diagnose the present and future state of the economy and to assess the persistence of inflation deviations and expectations with respect to the inflation target. Beginning in 2010, the BDBR established the long-term 3.0% annual inflation target, which remains in effect today. Lower inflation has contributed to making the macroeconomic environment more stable, and this has favored sustained economic growth, financial stability, capital market development, and the functioning of payment systems. As a result, reductions in the inflationary risk premia and lower TES and credit interest rates were achieved. At the same time, the duration of public domestic debt increased significantly going from 2.27 years in December 2002 to 5.86 years in December 2022, and financial deepening, measured as the level of the portfolio as a percentage of GDP, went from around 20% in the mid-1990s to values above 45% in recent years in a healthy context for credit institutions.Having been granted autonomy by the Constitution to fulfill the mandate of preserving the purchasing power of the currency, the tangible achievements made by Banco de la República in managing inflation together with the significant benefits derived from the process of bringing inflation to its long-term target, make the BDBR’s current challenge to return inflation to the 3.0% target even more demanding and pressing. As is well known, starting in 2021, and especially in 2022, inflation in Colombia once again became a serious economic problem with high welfare costs. The inflationary phenomenon has not been exclusive to Colombia and many other developed and emerging countries have seen their inflation rates move away from the targets proposed by their central banks.5 The reasons for this phenomenon have been analyzed in recent Reports to Congress, and this new edition delves deeper into the subject with updated information. The solid institutional and technical base that supports the inflation targeting approach under which the monetary policy strategy operates gives the BDBR the necessary elements to face this difficult challenge with confidence. In this regard, the BDBR reiterated its commitment to the 3.0% inflation target in its November 25 communiqué and expects it to be reached by the end of 2024.6 Monetary policy will continue to focus on meeting this objective while ensuring the sustainability of economic activity, as mandated by the Constitution. Analyst surveys done in March showed a significant increase (from 32.3% in January to 48.5% in March) in the percentage of responses placing inflation expectations two years or more ahead in a range between 3.0% and 4.0%. This is a clear indication of the recovery of credibility in the medium-term inflation target and is consistent with the BDBR’s announcement made in November 2022. The moderation of the upward trend in inflation seen in January, and especially in February, will help to reinforce this revision of inflation expectations and will help to meet the proposed targets. After reaching 5.6% at the end of 2021, inflation maintained an upward trend throughout 2022 due to inflationary pressures from both external sources, associated with the aftermath of the pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, and domestic sources, resulting from: strengthening of local demand; price indexation processes stimulated by the increase in inflation expectations; the impact on food production caused by the mid-2021 strike; and the pass-through of depreciation to prices. The 10% increase in the minimum wage in 2021 and the 16% increase in 2022, both of which exceeded the actual inflation and the increase in productivity, accentuated the indexation processes by establishing a high nominal adjustment benchmark. Thus, total inflation went to 13.1% by the end of 2022. The annual change in food prices, which went from 17.2% to 27.8% between those two years, was the most influential factor in the surge in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Another segment that contributed significantly to price increases was regulated products, which saw the annual change go from 7.1% in December 2021 to 11.8% by the end of 2022. The measure of core inflation excluding food and regulated items, in turn, went from 2.5% to 9.5% between the end of 2021 and the end of 2022. The substantial increase in core inflation shows that inflationary pressure has spread to most of the items in the household basket, which is characteristic of inflationary processes with generalized price indexation as is the case in Colombia. Monetary policy began to react early to this inflationary pressure. Thus, starting with its September 2021 session, the BDBR began a progressive change in the monetary policy stance moving away from the historical low of a 1.75% policy rate that had intended to stimulate the recovery of the economy. This adjustment process continued without interruption throughout 2022 and into the beginning of 2023 when the monetary policy rate reached 12.75% last January, thus accumulating an increase of 11 percentage points (pp). The public and the markets have been surprised that inflation continued to rise despite significant interest rate increases. However, as the BDBR has explained in its various communiqués, monetary policy works with a lag. Just as in 2022 economic activity recovered to a level above the pre-pandemic level, driven, along with other factors, by the monetary stimulus granted during the pandemic period and subsequent months, so too the effects of the current restrictive monetary policy will gradually take effect. This will allow us to expect the inflation rate to converge to 3.0% by the end of 2024 as is the BDBR’s purpose.Inflation results for January and February of this year showed declining marginal increases (13 bp and 3 bp respectively) compared to the change seen in December (59 bp). This suggests that a turning point in the inflation trend is approaching. In other Latin American countries such as Chile, Brazil, Perú, and Mexico, inflation has peaked and has begun to decline slowly, albeit with some ups and downs. It is to be expected that a similar process will take place in Colombia in the coming months. The expected decline in inflation in 2023 will be due, along with other factors, to lower cost pressure from abroad as a result of the gradual normalization of supply chains, the overcoming of supply shocks caused by the weather, and road blockades in previous years. This will be reflected in lower adjustments in food prices, as has already been seen in the first two months of the year and, of course, the lagged effect of monetary policy. The process of inflation convergence to the target will be gradual and will extend beyond 2023. This process will be facilitated if devaluation pressure is reversed. To this end, it is essential to continue consolidating fiscal sustainability and avoid messages on different public policy fronts that generate uncertainty and distrust. 1 This Report to Congress includes Box 1, which summarizes the trajectory of Banco de la República over the past 100 years. In addition, under the Bank’s auspices, several books that delve into various aspects of the history of this institution have been published in recent years. See, for example: Historia del Banco de la República 1923-2015; Tres banqueros centrales; Junta Directiva del Banco de la República: grandes episodios en 30 años de historia; Banco de la República: 90 años de la banca central en Colombia. 2 This is why lower inflation has been reflected in a reduction of income inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient that went from 58.7 in 1998 to 51.3 in the year prior to the pandemic. 3 See Gómez Javier, Uribe José Darío, Vargas Hernando (2002). “The Implementation of Inflation Targeting in Colombia”. Borradores de Economía, No. 202, March, available at: https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/5220 4 See López-Enciso Enrique A.; Vargas-Herrera Hernando and Rodríguez-Niño Norberto (2016). “The inflation targeting strategy in Colombia. An historical view.” Borradores de Economía, No. 952. https://repositorio.banrep.gov.co/handle/20.500.12134/6263 5 According to the IMF, the percentage change in consumer prices between 2021 and 2022 went from 3.1% to 7.3% for advanced economies, and from 5.9% to 9.9% for emerging market and developing economies. 6 https://www.banrep.gov.co/es/noticias/junta-directiva-banco-republica-reitera-meta-inflacion-3

In the article of Professor Maryan Zhytaryuk, it is implemented the systematization of publications in the international press of 1930 about Ukraine on the materials of the Lviv newspaper «Dilo». Important political issues, in particular: Bolshevism in Soviet Ukraine, the massacre of the Ukrainian intelligentsia (Union for the Liberation of Ukraine), the interpretation of the «Ukrainian political problem» in European countries were singled out and generalized. The topicality of the article subject follows from the need to supplement the materials on the study of the «Ukrainian question», from the understanding that the interwar period, mainly in the 30s of the twentieth century, is a concentrated historical and political period, that is represented on newspaper and magazine columns. During the decade (30s of the twentieth century) – there were thousands of them. For example, in the newspaper «Dilo» only in the first three months of 1930 we can find more than 100 publications on international subjects. Therefore, the author narrowed the research materials to translated materials in the genres of press round-up, review, digest of publications in the foreign press. The purpose of the article is to focus on Ukrainian issues in the international press based on translations and comments on foreign publications in the newspaper «Dilo» in 1930. The task of the publication is to comprehend the identified texts in the context of geopolitical construction on the eve of World War II; to supplement the history of Ukrainian and foreign journalism and its source base. In the article the author uses the method of scientific study of primary sources found in the special funds of the Scientific Library of LNU. I. Franko, in particular, the bundles of the newspaper «Dilo» for 1930. 252 publications were processed, some of which - in several submissions. Based on scientific summarizing, 15 publications on political issues with the keyword «Ukraine» were selected on the basis of translated sources from foreign media (scientific research method). Actually with the purpose of understanding the raised issues (conceptual analysis) and of preparing some certain conclusions and generalizations (methods of synthesis, induction and deduction) the problem-thematic analysis was used.

Selective seam weld corrosion (SSWC) in autogenous welds is characterized by accelerated corrosion of or near the bondline which results in a groove-like feature that often coincides with shallower corrosion that can extend beyond the limits of the longitudinal seam. Historically, SSWC has been referred to as "grooving corrosion", "knife-line attack", or "trench-like corrosion". In 2021, the Pipeline Research Council International, Inc. (PRCI) funded a project, PRCI Project EC-2-12, to evaluate SSWC as a threat to gas and liquid pipeline systems. The project included a literature review of key parameters influencing the likelihood of SSWC within a particular type of pipe over others, benchmarking of the key parameters using industry experience and data, and the development of a susceptibility process for the threat of SSWC within gas and liquid pipeline segments. From the literature review, a summary of hypothesized influencing parameters was compiled and those considered to more strongly and consistently indicative of susceptibility were identified as key parameters (e.g., longitudinal seam weld type, chemical composition of the plate material, and evidence of a post-weld heat treatment, etc.). The key parameters were then benchmarked against pipeline industry data from confidential as well as public sources. Industry data were collected for line pipe known to be susceptible to the threat of SSWC (i.e., SSWC has been identified within it through direct examination and/or metallurgical analysis). Additionally, mill test reports for line pipe manufactured prior to 1990 and historical line pipe manufacturing specifications that could indicate typical manufacturing practices of the time were collected and compiled. As a result of the benchmarking effort, some key parameters were confirmed, and others were dismissed if industry data indicated it was unlikely they could be relied upon to determine susceptibility to the threat of SSWC individually or in concert with other parameters. Key parameters confirmed as reliable through industry benchmarking and considered readily accessible to most pipeline operators informed the development of a SSWC susceptibility determination process. The process is comprised of 'swim' lanes that consider threat history, line pipe susceptibility, and environmental influences. The project also included an investigation into the Barnacle probe technique as a potential field deployable methodology to determine susceptibility to SSWC. Currently, it is the most common method to test for SSWC susceptibility in the field and is an electrochemical cell that attaches to the exterior of a pipe directly over the bondline after the surface has been properly cleaned. The linear polarization resistance (LPR) technique is used within the Barnacle cell to measure the polarization resistance of the bondline compared to the polarization resistance of the surrounding base metal. The ratio of the polarization resistances, which is a measure of the relative corrosion rates at the bondline and surrounding metal, provides an indication of how susceptible the bondline is to SSWC. The Barnacle probe technique was applied to materials with varying degrees of anticipated susceptibility. The results of the technique were benchmarked using accelerated dissolution tests to measure actual grooving ratios for the same range of materials.

2020 was an unprecedented year for Central America and the Dominican Republic. The effect of the global COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated by the impact of Hurricanes Eta and Iota in some countries, caused the greatest economic contraction the region has undergone in its recent history - surpassing the debt crisis of the 1980s and the international financial crisis of 2009. In 2020, the IDB Group helped the countries in the region respond to these emergencies through approvals that exceeded US$ 4,900 million and disbursements of more than US$ 4,327 million, both reaching historical records. This report highlights the Groups main activities in Central America and the Dominican Republic in 2020 at the regional and country level.

In the first quarter of 2024, the figures of the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE in Spanish) showed that the economy achieved annual growth of 0.9%. Although this result was moderate, it confirmed the economy's recovery path. Monetary policy has played a critical role in containing inflationary pressures. This has allowed inflation to trend downwards, continuing into the first half of 2024. Net foreign reserves totaled USD 60,901 million as of 30 June 2024, a slight increase over the course of the year. For 2024, the profit of Banco de la República (the Central Bank of Colombia) is projected at COP 8,795 billion. International macroeconomic environment The global economy would continue to grow in 2024 at a rate slightly higher than 3.0%, according to forecasts from the International Monetary Fund (3.2%) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (3.1%). This dynamic is lower than the pre-pandemic historical average due to the long-term consequences of COVID-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and growing geoeconomic fragmentation, among other reasons. Various advanced and emerging economies, particularly the United States and some Asian countries, have seen favorable growth due to strong aggregate demands, dynamic private consumption, and high public spending. Meanwhile, inflation has been on a downward trend, but with values exceeding the goals of its central banks. In several developing countries, inflationary pressures have been significant due to the transfer of high international food, energy, and fertilizer costs and higher-than-expected currency declines. These factors have affected growth in these economies amid tight monetary policies. Economic activity in Colombia In the first quarter of 2024, DANE figures showed that the economy achieved annual growth of 0.9%. Although the result was moderate, it confirmed the economy's recovery path after the annual contraction in the third quarter of 2023 (-0.7%), followed by 0.4% annual growth in the last quarter of the previous year. On the expenditure side, the annual growth seen in the first quarter of 2024 was driven by net external demand, given an annual drop in imports (-13.3%) and an annual increase in exports (2.4%). On the supply side, the agriculture sector, public administration, health and education services, and arts and entertainment activities grew the most annually. The tight monetary policy and higher tax rates that characterized the 2023 adjustment continued to impact the economy's aggregate spending, which was also affected by low levels of business and consumer confidence. During the second quarter, the economy would have continued to increase its growth rate, driven by the good performance of the agriculture sector and the dynamics of some services related to public administration, health, education, and entertainment. Banco de la República’s (Banrep) technical staff expects that in the second half of the year, the economy will continue to gradually improve its dynamics to achieve growth of around 1.8% throughout 2024 and approach its potential growth in 2025. Employment Early 2024 saw unemployment rate increases driven by deteriorating employment, after which this indicator has remained relatively stable. Thus, between December 2023 and May 2024, the unemployment rate for the domestic aggregate rose 0.2 percentage points (pp) to reach 10.5% in May. The number of employed people remained relatively stable for the domestic aggregate, with levels close to 22.9 million (m) jobs. The reduction in salaried employment, coupled with recent growth in the non-salaried segment, explains the increased informality rate. This rate stood at 56.2% in May 2024, one percentage point higher than in December 2023. Inflation and Monetary Policy Headline inflation in June was 7.2%, lower than that seen in December (9.3%) and well below the high level reached in March 2023 (13.3%). The downward trend in inflation has primarily resulted from tight monetary policy carried out by the Board of Directors of Banco de la República (BDBR) through progressive increases in the benchmark interest rate initiated as of September 2021. The BDBR’s decision to undertake a monetary policy easing cycle as of last December was based on the downward trend that annual inflation had been exhibiting since April 2023 and evidence that tight monetary policy was meeting its goal of reducing excess spending in the economy. A cumulative 2.5 percentage point policy interest rate cut was completed by July 2024, bringing it to 10.75%. Balance of payments As a share of quarterly gross domestic product (GDP), the current account deficit of the balance of payments decreased from 3.7% of GDP in the first quarter of 2023 to 1.9% in the first quarter of this year. The decrease in the current account deficit balance was explained by the favorable variation in factor income, the services trade balance, and net income from current transfers. By 2024, the technical staff projects a current account deficit close to 2.8% of GDP, moderately higher than the 2.5% deficit observed in 2023 and significantly lower than the 6.1% deficit of GDP recorded in 2022. The smaller current account deficit makes the Colombian economy less vulnerable to negative external shocks. Public finance The 2024 Medium-Term Fiscal Framework (MTFF-24), presented by the Ministry of Finance in mid-June, shows that the General Government produced a 2.7% deficit of GDP in 2023, which means a reduction of 3.6 pp vis-a-vis 2022. This adjustment is explained by the improvement in the balances of the social security sub-sector, of the rest of the central level to which the Fuel Price Stabilization Fund (FEPC in Spanish) belongs, and of the Central National Government (CNG). The surplus of the FEPC, which closed at 0.4% of GDP in 2023, stands out in contrast to the 1.3% deficit registered a year earlier. The adjustment of the CNG’s public finances in 2023 was supported by the boost in tax collection derived from the reforms approved in 2021 and 2022, as well as by the good dynamics of economic and oil activity in those years. According to the MTFF-24, in 2023, the CNG's fiscal deficit and net debt reached 4.3% and 53.8% of GDP, respectively. MTFF-24’s fiscal deficit forecasts are consistent with compliance with the fiscal rule. However, as stated by the Independent Fiscal Rule Committee (CARF in Spanish), there are risks around collection and spending expectations. Foreign reserves Net foreign reserves totaled USD 60,901 m as of 30 June 2024, an increase of USD 1,293 m over the course of the year. This increase is primarily due to the program to accumulate international reserves announced by the BDBR in December 2023. The return on the foreign reserves for the year, excluding the foreign exchange component, amounts to 1.43% (USD 864 m). This result is mainly explained by higher interest rates, which have positively impacted the return on foreign reserves. An economy is considered to maintain adequate reserve levels if, among other indicators, the ratio of the reserves to the appropriate level is between 1.0 and 1.5. With information available as of June 2024, the ARA calculated for Colombia by the IMF was 1.24. Profits of Banco de la República Banco de la República's profit at the end of the first half of 2024 amounted to COP 4,088 billion (b), as a result of revenues of COP 5,903 b and expenses of COP 1,815 b. This profit was COP 39 b higher than that recorded in the same period of 2023. Revenues during this period were mainly due to the yield on foreign reserves, which amounted to COP 3,770 b, with an increase of COP 237 b compared to that received in the first half of the previous year. Expenses originated mainly from the remuneration on national government deposits in Banrep, which amounted to COP 683 b with a reduction of COP 812 b compared to the first half of 2023, mainly due to the lower average balances held in Banrep. For 2024, a profit of COP 8,795 b is projected, COP 431 b lower than that observed in 2023. This estimate has a high degree of uncertainty, taking into account the risks associated with the evolution of foreign reserves yield and the growth and sources of expansion of the monetary base. Boxes Box 1: Comments of Banco de la República (the Central Bank of Colombia) regarding its appointment as Administrator of Reserve Fund of the Contributory Pillar - Report of the Board of Directors to the Congress of Colombia, July 2024 Law 2381 of 2024, “Whereby the Comprehensive Social Protection System for Old Age Disability, and Death (Sistema de Protección Social Integral para la Vejez, Invalidez y Muerte, in Spanish) of common origin is established, and other provisions are issued,” creates the Reserve Fund of the Contributory Pillar (Fondo de Ahorro del Pilar Contributivo, in Spanish), hereinafter the Fund, and assigns its administration to Banco de la República (Banrep). This box highlights the main issues involved in the designation of Banrep as the Fund’s administrator within the framework of its constitutional functions: Box 2: Determinants of the Speed of Adjustment of the MPR Box 3: Primary Liquidity Supply by Banco de la República, 2023-2024