Alexandroupolis (Dedeagatch): A city born of infections and the first documented death of the Italian civilian Giuseppe Bigheti.

The choice of Dedeagatch as the place where the station of the Adrianoupolis-Constantinople railway line was to be built was the reason for the foundation of the Greek city of Alexandroupolis (originally under the Ottoman government). The population grew in its early years mainly due to the settlement by railway and construction workers. Meanwhile, poverty, poor hygiene and environmental conditions led to a series of epidemics and various sporadic cases of infections such as malaria, typhoid fever, scarlet fever and tubercolosis, infections which marked the early history of Alexandroupolis. The first documented death due to typhoid fever in the area, namely that of the Italian civilian Giuseppe Bigheti, is mentioned in the paper.

Efficiency and shrinking in evolving networks.

Characterizing the spatio-temporal evolution of networks is a central topic in many disciplines. While network expansion has been studied thoroughly, less is known about how empirical networks behave when shrinking. For transportation networks, this is especially relevant on account of their connection with the socio-economical substrate, and we focus here on the evolution of the French railway network from its birth in 1840 to 2000, in relation to the country's demographic dynamics. The network evolved in parallel with technology (e.g. faster trains) and under strong constraints, such as preserving a good population coverage and balancing cost and efficiency. We show that the shrinking phase that started in 1930 decreased the total length of the network while preserving efficiency and population coverage: efficiency and robustness remained remarkably constant while the total length of the network shrank by 50% between 1930 and 2000, and the total travel time and time-diameter decreased by more than 75% during the same period. Moreover, shrinking the network did not affect the overall accessibility with an average travel time that decreases steadily since its formation. This evolution leads naturally to an increase in transportation multimodality (such as a massive use of cars) and shows the importance of considering together transportation modes acting at different spatial scales. More generally, our results suggest that shrinking is not necessarily associated with a decay in performance and functions but can be beneficial in terms of design goals and can be part of the natural evolution of an adaptive network.

Malaria-Associated Mortality in Australian and British Prisoners of War on the Thai-Burma Railway 1943-1944.

During the building of the Thai-Burma railway in 1943 Australian and British prisoners of war died at high rates from tropical infections and nutritional deficiencies. Mortality records from "F" Force (n = 7,000) showed nearly half (44%) of the soldiers perished in a single year, yet only 4% of these deaths were primarily attributed to malaria, with another 7% where malaria was listed as a major contributing cause. Case fatality rates were < 1%, with nearly all soldiers chronically infected with Plasmodium vivax > Plasmodium falciparum. Separate labor camp point prevalence malaria rates by microscopy ranged from 28% to 69% (median 54%) despite intermittent quinine suppression. During complex public health emergencies, malaria mortality may be disguised by its combination with other common infections and nutritional deficiencies.

[The becoming of medical care to workers in the north-Eastern Caucasus in second half of XIX--early XX centuries].

The article considers the issues of becoming of medical care to workers of industrial enterprises, oil-extracting enterprises, fishery, construction and maintenance of the Vladikavkaz railroad in the north-Eastern area of Caucasus. The information is presented concerning first curative institutions supporting local workers.

Separate and unsanitary: African American women railroad car cleaners and the Women's Service Section, 1918-1920.

The Women's Service Section (WSS) investigated federally controlled railroad stations and yards at the end of World War I. Few women worked in car cleaning before the war, and railroad management preferred to block women workers, especially African Americans, from gaining any kind of foothold in railroad work. African American women were the single largest group of railroad car cleaners during this period but they were routinely denied adequate facilities, including toilets, locker rooms, and dining facilities throughout the railroad system. By raising the issues of facilities, workers' rights, and public health, these women shaped federal policy and widened the agenda of the WSS to include a direct attack on segregated workplaces. This article argues that African American women car cleaners launched an industrial campaign that wove together concerns about racism, sexism, and health issues, and successfully removed barriers to women working in a predominately male industry.

One hundred years of railway disasters and recent trends.

INTRODUCTION: Globally, railway transport is increasing steadily. Despite the adoption of diverse safety systems, major railway incidents continue to occur. Higher speeds and increased passenger traffic are factors that influence the risk of mass-casualty incidents and make railway crashes a reality that merits extensive planning and training. METHODS: Data on railway disasters were obtained from the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED), which maintains the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT). This descriptive study consists of 529 railway disasters (≥10 killed and/or ≥100 non- fatally injured) from 1910 through 2009. RESULTS: The number of railway disasters, people killed, and non-fatally injured, has increased throughout the last hundred years-particularly during the last four decades (1970-2009), when 88% of all disasters occurred. In the mid-20th century, a shift occurred, resulting in more people being non-fatally injured than fatally injured. During 1970-2009, 74% of all railway disasters occurred in Asia, Africa, and South and Central America, combined. The remaining 26% occurred in Europe, North America, and Oceania, combined. Since 1980, railway disasters have increased, especially in Asia and Africa, while Europe has had a decrease in railway disasters. The number killed per disaster (1970-2009) was highest in Africa (n = 55), followed by South and Central America (n = 47), and Asia (n = 44). The rate was lowest in North America (n = 10) and Europe (n = 29). On average, the number of non-fatal injuries per disaster was two to three times the number of fatalities, however, in the African countries (except South Africa) the relation was closer to 1:1, which correlates to the relation found in more developed countries during the mid-20th century. The total losses (non-fatally and fatally injured) per disaster has shown a slight decreasing trend. CONCLUSIONS: Despite extensive crash avoidance and injury reduction safety systems, railway crashes occur on all continents, indicating that this type of incident must be accounted for in disaster planning and training. Better developed safety, crashworthiness, and rescue resources in North America and Europe may be factors explaining why the number of crashes and losses has stabilized and why the average number of people killed per disaster is lowest on these continents.

Port wine landscape: railroads, phylloxera, and agricultural science.

It is easy to understand why regions that produce very fine goods such as port wine tend to conceal technological and scientific inputs and praise the uniqueness of the terroir. This paper suggests that, during the last decades of the nineteenth century, viticulture in the Douro region of Portugal was as much a product of soil, local farming traditions, and individual entrepreneurship as it was of modern state science and national politics for agricultural improvement. the unprecedented public projects of building a railroad and fighting phylloxera permanently changed the land of port wine. Moreover, those engineering practices of rationalization, simplification, and standardization that were inscribed on Douro's landscape proved essential for the Portuguese experience of modernization and nation-building.

Colonial modernity and networks in the Japanese empire: the role of Goto Shinpei.

This paper examines how Goto Shinpei (1857-1929) sought to develop imperial networks emanating out of Tokyo in the fields of public health, railways, and communications. These areas helped define colonial modernity in the Japanese empire. In public health, Goto's friendship with the bacteriologist Kitasato Shibasaburo led to the establishment of an Institute of Infectious Diseases in Tokyo. Key scientists from the institute took up positions in colonial medical colleges, creating a public health network that serviced the empire. Much of the empire itself was linked by a network of railways. Goto was the first president of the South Manchuria Railway company (SMR). Communication technologies, especially radio, helped to bring the empire closer. By 1925, the Tokyo Broadcasting Station had begun its public radio broadcasts. Broadcasting soon came under the umbrella of the new organization, the Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK). Goto was NHK's first president. The empire would soon be linked by radio, and it was by radio that Emperor Hirohito announced to the nation in 1945 that the empire had been lost.

Futebol e ferrovia: a história de um trem da industrialização que parte para o noroeste paulista / Football and rail: a train of industrialization that the northwest part paulista

O artigo busca desenvolver a relação entre a expansão da rede ferroviária no interior paulista e a evolução das práticas esportivas, mais especificamente o futebol. A ideia central é que o movimento ocorre do meio urbano para o interior, percebido agora não mais como um espaço tradicionalmente rural, mas no bojo do surgimento e expansão de vilas e cidades. Procura apontar as principais características da realidade política, econômica e social do Brasil na primeira metade do século XX e contribuir para a discussão sobre o desenvolvimento das práticas esportivas no período.

The article seeks to develop the relationship between the expansion of railway network in São Paulo and the evolution of sports, especially the soccer. The central idea is that movement occurs in urban areas to the interior, not as a traditionally rural area, but in the midst of the emergence and expansion of towns and cities. It identifies the main features of political scenario, economic and social in Brazil in the first half of the twentieth century and contribute to the discussion on the development of sports in the period.

El Hospital Ferroviario de Cerro Barón: su aporte a la cultura histórica y social de ferrocarriles y al patrimonio de Valparaíso / The railroad Hospital on Baron Hill: its contribution to the historical and social culture of the Chilean Railroad Company and to the patrimony of Valparaíso

El objetivo de la presente investigación fue conocer la historia del Hospital Ferroviario del cerro Barón de Valparaíso, desde su construcción en 1926 hasta su estado actual. La información se obtuvo en distintas fuentes. Para ello se recurrió a los archivos históricos de la Ilustre Municipalidad de Valparaíso, a diarios de la época, a consulta realizada a los dueños actuales del inmueble y a entrevistas efectuadas tanto a ex trabajadores de Ferrocarriles que en otra época hicieron uso del establecimiento, como también a ex funcionarios del Hospital. El Hospital contribuyó a mejorar la calidad de la atención médica de los funcionarios de Ferrocarriles, de forma gratuita, y durante muchos años fue uno de los mejores hospitales de Chile en materia de Traumatología. En la actualidad el edificio se encuentra vacío, en un estado de total abandono. Esta investigación proporciona información sobre este centro de salud, por lo cual es un aporte a la cultura histórica y social de Ferrocarriles y al patrimonio de Valparaíso. (AU)