A Barefoot Doctor’s Manual as a“Medical Bible”:Medical Politics and Knowledge Transmission in China

This paper examines the origin,compilation,and circulation of A Barefoot Doctor’s Manual(Chijiao yisheng shouce赤脚医生手册),exploring the relationship between medical politics and knowledge transmission in China,and its impact on the promotion of Chinese medicine across the world.Barefoot doctors were a special group of rural medical practitioners active in a very special socio-political context.Various editions of barefoot doctor manuals and textbooks were published across China after the first publication of the Manual in 1969.The publication of these manuals and textbooks became an indelible hallmark of the“Cultural Revolution”(1966–1976),when political publications predominated.The Manual was not only a guide for barefoot doctors in their daily study and practice,but also a primary source of medical knowledge for ordinary people.In the middle of the 1970s,the Manual was translated into many languages and published worldwide.This paper argues that the publication of A Barefoot Doctor’s Manual embodied a public-oriented mode of knowledge transmission that emerged and was adopted during a very specific era,and though it was eventually substituted by a mode of training embedded in the formal medical education system,it demonstrated the impact of politics on medicine and health in the context of resource scarcity and low literacy.Changes in China’s geopolitical status,the West’s pursuit of alternative approaches to medicine and health,and the World Health Organization’s(WHO’s)concern over health universality and equity all contributed to the translation and circulation of the Manual,facilitating the dissemination of Chinese medicine worldwide.The paper thus presents empirical and theoretical contributions to research on the relationship between medical politics and knowledge transmission in China.

Quantum Algorithm of Imperfect KB Self-organization. Pt II: Robotic Control with Remote Knowledge Base Exchange

The technology of knowledge base remote design of the smart fuzzy con­trollers with the application of the"Soft/quantum computing optimizer"toolkit software developed.The possibility of the transmission and commu­nication the knowledge base using remote connection to the control object considered.Transmission and communication of the fuzzy controller’s knowledge bases implemented through the remote connection with the control object in the online mode apply the Bluetooth or WiFi technologies.Remote transmission of knowledge bases allows designing many different built-in intelligent controllers to implement a variety of control strategies under conditions of uncertainty and risk.As examples,two different models of robots described(mobile manipulator and(“cart-pole”system)inverted pendulum).A comparison of the control quality between fuzzy controllers and quantum fuzzy controller in various control modes is presented.The ability to connect and work with a physical model of control object without using than mathematical model demonstrated.The implemented technol­ogy of knowledge base design sharing in a swarm of intelligent robots with quantum controllers.It allows to achieve the goal of control and to gain additional knowledge by creating a new quantum hidden information source based on the synergetic effect of combining knowledge.Develop­ment and implementation of intelligent robust controller’s prototype for the intelligent quantum control system of mega-science project NICA(at the first stage for the cooling system of superconducted magnets)is discussed.The results of the experiments demonstrate the possibility of the ensured achievement of the control goal of a group of robots using soft/quantum computing technologies in the design of knowledge bases of smart fuzzy controllers in quantum intelligent control systems.The developed software toolkit allows to design and setup complex ill-defined and weakly formal­ized technical systems on line.