Black Gold on the 'Roof of the World'

Ｂｌａｃｋ　Ｇｏｌｄ　ｏｎ　ｔｈｅ　‘Ｒｏｏｆ　ｏｆ　ｔｈｅ　Ｗｏｒｌｄ’ＢｌａｃｋＧｏｌｄｏｎｔｈｅ‘ＲｏｏｆｏｆｔｈｅＷｏｒｌｄ’￥ＬＩＡＯＺＨＩＭＩＮＧＷｈｉｌｅＭａｙｉｎＢｅｉｊｉｎｇｉｓｑｕｉｔｅｏｆｔｅｎｌｉｋｅｎｅｄｔｏｂｌｏｓｓｏｍｉ...     

＂The Excellences of the Republic＂ Produced on the Roof of the World

Since its peaceful liberation, Tibet, at the roof of the world, has been keeping abreast with the motherland to constantly renew its progress.     

Towards Hume – the discourse on the liberty of the press in the age of Walpole*

The liberty of the press became one of the main topics of public debate in the 1720s and 1730s in response to Walpole’s restrictive press policy. This debate was carried on mainly in newspapers such as the Craftsman and the London Journal. Country and Court writers did not limit their discussions to legal questions, but conducted a lively debate about what press freedom actually was, and what role the press should have in political life. Among other things, they discussed to what extent it was appropriate for the press to take on an anti-governmental role. This debate is important, not least because it is a foil for one of the ‘classical’ eighteenth-century texts on the problem of press freedom, David Hume’s essay ‘Of the Liberty of the Press’. The debate reveals to what extent, and in what respects, Hume was breaking new ground in this essay.     

Some Notes on the History of the Cardinals’ Rings

Missionary activity in the eighth century was carried out in the eastern frontier zone of the Frankish kingdom—Frisia, Hessen, Franconia, Thuringia, Bavaria. The ecclesiastical centres in Hessen, St Boniface's base area, tended to be elevated sites in strategic positions, already enclosed and in the gift of the Frankish ruling house. The re-use of fortified sites for monastic foundations echoes, and may derive from, similar use in Britain and Ireland of Roman military sites and prehistoric hill-forts. The west end of churches directly associated with St Boniface received special treatment, in one case at least as a result of influence from St Peter's, Rome.

The substance of this paper was delivered to the Institute at its meeting on 15 October 1980.     

A preliminary study on the photo - degradation of printing pigments on banknotes issued during the period of the Republic of China北大核心

为了初步评价光照对民国纸币的影响,为博物馆纸币文物的展陈照明和保存提供建议,本研究选取了八枚纸币分别进行LED灯和自然光老化实验,并通过拉曼光谱仪和X射线荧光光谱仪确定了纸币样品颜料的主要成分——合成有机颜料红49:1、普鲁士蓝、铬酸铅和炭黑。通过老化前后的色差分析可知,纸币红色颜料变化最大,其他颜色变化相对较小。因此,对于民国纸币类文物,尤其是含有红色合成有机颜料的纸币文物,需要控制其光照条件以防止老化变色。     

Putting on the Brakes or Pressing on the Gas? Media Attention and the Speed of Policymaking

Media attention is fundamental to the policy process and policy change in punctuated equilibrium theory. In this literature, media attention is usually conceptualized as fomenting or contributing to shifts in attention, positive feedback, and large‐scale policy change. This article extends how we understand the role of the media and punctuated equilibrium by arguing that media coverage can also contribute to negative feedback and stability in the political system. Media attention should also slow down the speed of policymaking and the momentum for policy change as new policy participants and problem definitions enter the debate. Using event history analysis, this article tests the effects of media coverage on the length of time it takes legislation, once introduced, to become law for public laws from the 109th U.S. Congress (2005–06). Findings provide support for media attention “putting the brakes” on policymaking. Controlling for other factors, the speed of bill passage slows down as media attention increases. This effect decays over time for high levels of media coverage.     

On the Content of the Concept “Geographical Environment” and the Influence of the Environment on Society

The author traces the evolution of the environmentalist concept through Marxist philosophy and analyzes the influence on the geographical environment on society. He adduces a number of examples to demonstrate the significance of the environmental factor in various historical contexts. For another discussion on the same subject, the reader is referred to Ian M. Matley, “The Marxist approach to the geographical environment,” Annals of the Association of American Geographers, Vol. 56, No. I, March 1966, pp. 97–111.     

Pachymeres on the ‘Amourioi’ of Kastamonu

Abstract

In a recent article Professor Cl. Cahen pointed out various problems resulting from the history of the region of Kastamonu, which on account of its remoteness from the political centres attracted little attention from the chroniclers. One of the problems is the incompatibility of the narratives of the oriental sources and the writings of the Byzantine historian George Pachymeres with respect to some events of the reign of the Seljuk Sultan Masud II: Pachymeres while referring to the history of Kastamonu produces a certain Ali Amourios, his brother Nasir ed-din <inline-graphic href="splitsection4_in1.tif"/>—a person of lesser importance—and their father, whom he also names Amourios. The same Amourios and his sons are also mentioned by Nikephoros Gregoras, who, however, passes over in silence the sons' names.     

Discussion on the variation characteristics of water content of Quaternary soil cover on the top of Yungang Grottoes and the problem of water seepage in caves北大核心

为研究云冈石窟顶部土壤覆盖层的含水率变化情况,建设了土壤环境监测网收集云冈石窟土壤含水率实时监测数据,并分析其时空变化特征及影响因素。结果表明,平坦地形条件下云冈石窟顶部第四纪土壤覆盖层含水率时空变化特征明显:年变化具有周期性,垂向上随深度逐层降低(冬季除外)。春、夏季土壤含水率抬升、储水,秋、冬季下降、失水;在春、夏日土壤含水率呈白天上升、夜晚下降趋势,秋、冬日则呈白天下降、夜晚也下降趋势。土壤含水率时刻处于不停的运动变化之中,受温度、大气降水、微地形等众多因素影响,山体边坡浅层土壤可能为侧向饱和流的入渗通道。降雨对土壤含水率的影响深度与实际入渗深度不一致。云冈窟内顶板及岩壁上部、中部含水率主要受降雨渗透窟顶土壤层、沿岩体裂隙通道进入洞窟的渗漏水控制,而岩壁底部含水率更多受窟前不饱带和与地下毛细水的影响。多年的防水实践也证明云冈洞窟渗漏水主要来自于石窟顶部及附近区域。防渗排水始终是云冈洞窟渗漏水治理的主导思路,建议应根据窟顶土壤厚度、地形地貌和遗址分布等分区治理,充分发挥土壤的防渗作用,减少对土壤覆盖层的过度干预。防渗层材料在具有防渗作用的前提下,应具备一定的透气性,满足“洞窟—覆盖层—大气环境”之间的水汽循环。     

The End of the Cold War on the Cold War?

Melvyn P. Leffler. A Preponderance of Power: National Security, the Truman Administration, and the Cold War .     

“Culture alone will not put bread on the table.” The many facets of the debate on the preservation of Sami culture

The idea of preserving minority cultures is widely shared in Western nation‐states. Concrete application of this idea is, however, surprisingly difficult, and sophisticated rhetoric is used in discussions related to the issue. In the 1980s and 1990s three laws dealing with the rights of the Sami people were proposed in Finland. Three discourses related to denning the concept of Sami culture in this context are identified here: first, diminishing differences, with an emphasis on equality; second, emphasis on national obligations and the cultural wealth of the majority society; and third, the rhetorical tool of dividing principle and application. The definition of Sami culture varies in different contexts, and in some cases there is even a danger of treating it as a substitute for the concept of race.     

Reflections on the retirement of Aníbal Biglieri,the Argentine Patronio of Kentucky

This introduction to this special issue of the Romance Quarterly reflects on the work of Aníbal Biglieri as he steps down as Executive Editor of the journal, as well as his research achievements and many contributions to the lives of his students.     

The state of the art on state origins?

Claessen, Henri J.M., and Peter Skalnik, eds. The Early State. New Babylon Studies in the Social Sciences No. 32. The Hague: Mouton, 1978. xii + 689 pp. including maps, figures, tables, separate bibliographies, and index. $68.00 cloth.

Claessen, Henri J.M., and Peter Skalnik, eds. The Study of the State. New Babylon Studies in the Social Sciences No. 35. The Hague: Mouton, 1981. xvi + 535 pp. including figures, tables, separate bibliographies, and index. $52.00 cloth.     

Sources and Pseudo‐sources on the foundation of the Valamo Monastery

The article discusses the understanding of the road as a collective duty and institutionalized public space in late medieval Finland and the Swedish realm, as presented in the legislation of King Magnus Erikssons' law (landslag) of the late 1340s. After an introduction on the nature of past scholarship on the history of roads in Europe and Finland, the theoretical framework on the production and social implications of space on historical roads is discussed. The spatial understanding of the road in late medieval Finland is then studied in the context of medieval normative legislation, of which the main interest here is on King Magnus Eriksson's law, which was the major medieval law code valid in Finland. In the code, issues concerning roads and their maintenance are distributed to various sections of the law, but the main body of the legislation is set in Bygningabalken and Edsöresbalken. The analysis shows that, in the bygningabalken, the road and facilities attached to it such as bridges were rather exclusively discussed in the context of common duty, where the word common seems to be inherently understood as something obliged and insisted by the crown. In the edsöresbalken instead, the spatial dimensions of the road were brought forward in the context of the sworn peace of the realm, where the judicial space produced by the traveller was considered as a product of the road and the actual motives of travelling of the individual using it. The analysis of the respective chapters and decrees of the code shows that, from the point of normative legislation, the road was not only a recognizable space of its own but also constituted a judicial condition capable of producing distinctive social implications for those involved in the maintenance and use of roads in medieval Finland.