考古学研究中的系统论

本文发表于1975年,其时新考古学作为一种划时代的思潮已经取得了历史性成就。新考古学家们为新的研究目标,从其它学科中引进了许多新的思想和方法,系统论作为其中最重要的理论方法之一,开始取代文化历史考古学中的关键学术概念和分析单位——考古学文化(当然,系统论作为人类思想领域的最新成果,对自然科学和社会科学的各个门类都产生了重要和深刻的影响,而决非仅限于考古学)。并成为考古学理论方法变革的一个重要标志。系统论的精髓在于将考古学从立足于器物静态的分析和分类以及编史学的研究,转向对这些器物制作和使用的人类行为和适应环境等多变量互动系统关系的阐释。考古学文化不再被看作是分析的基本单位和关键概念,而是需要从物质遗存产生的背景和各种因果关系来了解文化的产生和演变,并对考古学研究的概念、方法以及探讨和力求解决的问题做根本的调整。这使得考古学家能够放弃过去那些无法解决或意义不大的问题,将精力集中到更加便于观察和更加容易解决的问题上。本文通过对沃森、勒布朗和雷德曼、克拉克和弗兰纳里等学者有关成果的叙述,详细介绍了系统论引入考古学的起因、过程和发展,从概念的革新和建模方式等方面,阐述了系统论对考古学研究革命性的影响,以及在人类学、民族学等考古学相关领域内所引起的变革。可以说,现代考古学理论相对于经典考古学所取得的突破性的成就,很多方面都是引入系统论思维的结果。阅读本文,虽然作者写作的对象是西方学者,中国读者由于对许多背景知识不是很了解,在翻译和阅读上可能会出现一些困难,但是仔细领会其中一些要点,还是能够帮助我们对系统论的意义有一个初步的了解。     

The Use of Information Theory in the Modeling of Natural Systems

Systems investigated by geographers include components of inert nature, living organisms and social phenomena. The use of information theory makes it possible to overcome some of the problems involved in the modeling of systems consisting of such a diversity of elements, particularly the problem of a single system of units. The building of inductive models of natural systems is designed to identify the programs of behavior of natural complexes, which in the original systems are merged with structure. An example of such an inductive model is the model of the structure of a southern tayga landscape system. It was built by identifying information relationships between 160 elements on the basis of the equation: J_AB = H_A+H_B—H_AB, where J_AB is the amount of transmitted information, and H_A, H_B, H_AB are the entropies of the receiver, of the transmitter and their joint entropy. The model interrelated a number of properties of soils, unconsolidated sediment, groundwater, relief, plant cover and microclimate. An analysis of the model yielded the hierarchical structure of the system, the main information flows, and the location of the nodes that generate and accumulate information. An attempt was made to calculate the information content of particular elements from the point of view of the system as a whole and the mean rates of information transmission between elements.     

Systems Theory and Skeptical Humanism in French Ecological Thought

In systems theory, nature appears as an intricate interweaving of homeostatic processes–processes that mankind disrupts at its own peril. For many non-French ecologists, only respecting nature's "intrinsic value" will avert catastrophe. Such reasoning is rare in France. In its place, theorists like Edgar Morin and Michel Serres promote a systems-inspired ecologism that skirts the problematic dualism of nature and humanity by questioning skeptically how we understand both the world and ourselves.     

华侨华人与“一国两制”理论的提出、实践和发展

华侨华人与"一国两制"理论的提出、实践和发展有着密切的关系。"一国两制"理论是邓小平在会见华侨华人时首次提出和展开阐述的,并通过华侨华人迅速在海外传播,推动了两岸的交流发展。在香港和澳门回归中国前后,华侨华人坚持抵制破坏"一国两制"的图谋,肯定香港和澳门回归后的伟大成就,大力宣传"一国两制"的成功实践。新世纪以来,华侨华人在世界各地普遍成立"反独促统"组织,有针对性地加强了"一国两制"的宣传,与分裂中国的行径进行了坚决斗争,并在"一国两制"的基础上对中国统一积极献计献策,推动落实"一国两制"的相关工作。     

A Hybrid Approach for Mass Valuation of Residential Properties through Geographic Information Systems and Machine Learning Integration

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Machine Learning methods are now widely used in mass property valuation using the physical attributes of properties. However, locational criteria, such as as proximity to important places, sea or forest views, flat topography are just some of the spatial factors that affect property values and, to date, these have been insufficiently used as part of the valuation process. In this study, a hybrid approach is developed by integrating GIS and Machine Learning for mass valuation of residential properties. GIS-based Nominal Valuation Method was applied to carry out proximity, terrain, and visibility analyses using Ordnance Survey and OpenStreetMap data, than land value map of Great Britain was produced. Spatial criteria scores obtained from the GIS analyses were included in the price prediction process in which global and spatially clustered local regression models are built for England and Wales using Price Paid Data and Energy Performance Certificates data. Results showed that adding locational factors to the property price data and applying a novel nominally weighted spatial clustering algorithm for creating a local regression increased the prediction accuracy by about 45%. It also demonstrated that Random Forest was the most accurate ensemble model.     

Theory and the history of cartography

Abstract

Cartographic history has been dominated by an empiricism that treats the nature of maps as self‐evident and which denies the presence of any theory. In contrast, this paper argues that theories lie at the root of all empirical study whether or not they are acknowledged. The linear, progressive model of cartographic development, for example, is not a law deduced from historical evidence; if it were it would be easily and quickly dismissed. It derives instead from our cultural beliefs concerning the nature of maps, which is to say from our unexamined theories. Historians of cartography need to be critical of their assumptions and preconceptions. Theoretical discussions in the history of cartography must address not whether we should use theory at all but to which theories we should adhere. It is inadequate simply to knock theories down. We must establish a debate in which old understandings of maps, of their creation, and of their use are replaced by better (that is, more consistent and coherent) theories.     

The Theory of Enchantment and the Enchantment of Theory: the Art of Alfred Gell

ABSTRACT Gell's Art and Agency that aimed to articulate the first anthropological theory of art has achieved a near‐cult status among the academic community. Departing from previous semiological and aesthetic approaches, this theory takes it that art is a form of instrumental action, the canonical efficacy of which lies in its power to function as a cognitive trap and to captivate the spectator's mind. In this article it is argued that Gell's theory is not as novel as it is claimed; that it fails to define the specific field of art; and that by excluding the aesthetic properties of art objects, it discards ethnographical data nonetheless necessary for understanding the agency of art in Melanesian local cultures. At a meta‐level, Gell assigned to his theory the same captivating purpose as he did to art, and this probably explains the seductive fascination that his work continues to exert.     

Plant Communities and the Dynamics of Natural Systems

Plant communities are viewed as a factor of both stabilization and transformation of natural systems. Two categories of subdivisions of the plant cover are distinguished: phytocenomers, which are the object of vegetation classification, and phytocenochores, which are units of geobotanic regionalization. The two categories are compared at the planetary, regional, and topologic levels. A plant association is viewed as a dynamic system building up through a series of variable structures to the ultimate indigenous, invariant, climax structure. The evolution of an association is depicted in the form of a graph, in which the vertices designate the various states leading to the climax association, and the edges the probable transitions from one state to another. The graph is plotted on a system of coordinates reflecting both the time period of these transformations and their effect (in terms of increases or decreases of the total plant mass). The technique is illustrated with two specific associations: the forb-tyrsa association of the Transbaykal steppe, and the fir, low-grass, green-moss association of the southern tayga (boreal forest).     

马克思的五种社会形态理论与陈独秀的“二次革命论”

理论界在考察陈独秀的"二次革命论"的思想来源和理论基础时,往往与苏联和共产国际的指示、与其自身残存的资产阶级民主思想、与国共合作的实际环境相联系,实际上这只是一种表面现象.只要仔细阅读陈独秀的著述,不难发现,陈独秀在论述中国革命的一系列问题时,是基于其社会历史进化观,这种社会历史进化观深受马克思的五种社会形态理论的影响,可以说,马克思的五种社会形态理论才是陈独秀"二次革命论"的理论基础.     

Theory and the analysis of Australian politics

Sharman's 1989 APSA Presidential Address is a welcome critique of the interpretation of Australian politics, but the questions that it raises need to be taken further. The importance of Australian political experience in the formation of an indigenous political tradition is recognised, but it is misleading to see it as stemming from the desire to limit executive power. This article explores the nature of this indigenous governmental tradition, and goes on to consider what we learn from this debate about the nature of constitutional theory, and the relationship of academic debate to constitutional models.     

Multiagent Systems and the Dynamics of a Settlement System

In order to simulate the evolution of a system of settlements with a dynamic model, many processes must be integrated: the spatial aggregation of population, the complexification of urban activities, and the increasing hierarchical differentiation of settlements. The model must also simulate the progressive structuration of the settlement system through a growing variety and enlarged range of interactions between its elements. “Multiagent systems” provides a flexible modeling method for dealing with the multiple spatial interactions of cooperation and competition and relations that generate and regulate the evolution of a settlement system. Its principles are described and applied to building an evolutionary model, including a simulation tool. The model combines economic and spatial rules to produce birth, growth, decline, and functional diversification of the towns. The “urban transition” from an agrarian settlement system toward a hierarchical system of trade- and manufacturing-oriented towns and cities can be simulated.     

Archaeological Survey and the Study of Mesopotamian Urban Systems

Abstract

The current understanding of Mesopotamian urban systems has been substantially enhanced by a series of wide-ranging archaeological surveys during the past three decades. The study of Mesopotamian society, as with most historical civilizations, offers special challenges to the survey archaeologist. A long tradition of philological inquiry has contributed to the current state of knowledge and must not be overlooked in future work.

For Mesopotamia, probably the greatest achievements in survey archaeology are the works of Robert McC. Adams. They serve here as the reference point for a discussion of the current state of surveying in Mesopotamia. The first part of this article addresses several general issues confronting the survey archaeologist. Questions of the scale of the research project, the intensity of covering the landscape, and the adequate identification of the materials that are discovered all must be carefully evaluated in planning a survey. In the second half of the article three general recommendations are made that I believe must be incorporated into the next “generation” of archaeological surveys.     

博物馆数据查询及评估系统

随着文化事业的不断发展,尤其是博物馆免费工作在全国的陆续展开,越来越多的群体开始走进博物馆并关注博物馆的发展与建设,这给博物馆管理者和从业人员带来了机遇也带来了新的挑战。如何利用信息化高科技手段进行博物馆的管理和如何利用电子政务的蓬勃发展态势进行领导决策手段的优化是博物馆人需要探讨的课题。本文阐述了如何利用博物馆数据的统计、查询和分析应用成果促进博物馆行业发展的信息系统方案,探讨了博物馆管理方式变革的重要论题;同时,进一步对博物馆数据查询及评估系统进行探讨,阐述了如何建设和应用此业务系统对博物馆进行科学管理的技术实现方法。该系统不仅可以通过专网安全地传输数据,还可以对搜集到的数据（包括馆藏文物数量和级别、常规展览和临时展览的数量与规模、参观人数、观众满意度、媒体关注度等）进行整理、分析和评估,综合考虑博物馆自身的状况和多方面的社会因素,生成文本报告和图表,为领导决策提供资料和依据。该系统充分利用了政务系统现有的资源,利用信息技术对博物馆实施行政监管和技术监管,避免了重复投入和建设,有效地整合了信息资源,提高了管理效率。     

Belief System Continuity and Change in Policy Advocacy Coalitions: Using Cultural Theory to Specify Belief Systems,Coalitions, and Sources of Change

This paper evaluates the prospects for application of the “grid/group” cultural theory (CT), as advanced by Mary Douglas and Aaron Wildavsky, to the Advocacy Coalition Theory (ACF). CT would seem to be relevant to several key aspects of the ACF: the content of the core beliefs that provide the “glue” that binds coalitions; the resilience of core beliefs and associated implications for belief change and learning; and the structure of coalitions and the mechanisms for coordination and control within them. The paper considers the compatibility of the ACF's account of deep core beliefs and coalition structure with that of CT; surveys an array of empirical studies based on variations of CT; and extends accounts of change in cultural identities from CT to the ACF. In addition, we highlight some of the ways in which the ACF may offer important theoretical insights for scholars of CT, potentially clarifying hypotheses concerning the relationships among basic worldviews, more specific beliefs, and behaviors.