Reforming China’s polar science and technology system

ABSTRACT

Along with its modernization process, China has developed many interests in polar ecology and has connected the significance of the Antarctic and Arctic to its national interests. We present an in-depth analysis and assessment of the state of the art of China’s polar research from following points of view, mechanism of policy making on polar affairs, science diplomacy and polar governance, on-spot research expedition management, allocation of scientific funds, forming polar scientific team, especially on the management system of CHINARE. From an integrated perspective of social and natural sciences, we present a vision for future reform and development of polar affairs of China: to establish a macro and long term policy for the polar regions, to promote and establish a government-led, diversified polar scientific management system, to establish a reasonable and rule based evaluation system, to train, stabilize and expand polar scientific research teams, and to attract and encourage talents for polar science communication.     

Oil in the Arctic 1. Historical,Environmental and Regional Perspectives

Abstract

An ecologist's point of view of the historical, scientific and social background to the Alaskan pipeline and offshore oil is presented ranging over many discipline and their close interplay. Starting with a deep concern about the protection of the Arctic's unique environment and the oil industry's impact upon it, the work of the Alaska Conservation Society is reviewed. The lack of biological information about Alaska's hinterland made environmental surveillance of the pipeline difficult. The political conflict between State and Federal authorities has hindered scientific effort and the author concludes that the outlook of this many-faceted interdisciplinary impact of technology on the Arctic and Alaska is at present uncertain.     

The American Palestine Exploration Society and the Survey of Eastern Palestine

Abstract

The Survey of Western Palestine, carried out from 1871 to 1878 by the Palestine Exploration Fund, has become one of the central pieces of scientific research for this region. From its outset, it was conceived as one half of a two-fold project, the other being a survey conducted in the same manner in Transjordan. The Society that was to undertake this, in collaboration with the PEF and their work in Western Palestine, was the American Palestine Exploration Society (APES), founded in 1870. However, by the autumn of 1877, the APES had ceased to exist, and their survey was never widely published. As the first American Society to focus on the Levant as an area of study, the APES is significant, despite its failure to produce a map of lasting value. Many of the founding members went on to be significant players in later, more successful American ventures, notably the American School of Oriental Research. The PEF's archives hold a record of the relationship between the APES in New York, and the PEF in London, and chart the fortunes of the two societies, and their endeavours to map the region east of the Jordan.     

Between Spectacle and Science: The Aurora in Central Europe, 1870s–1880s

Abstract

The article discusses the return and reception of two Austro-Hungarian arctic expeditions in 1874 and 1883, respectively. Both expeditions conducted extensive auroral research. The article focuses on the media discourse of the time: how the expeditions including their scientific aims and outcomes were perceived in the Viennese press and society. The reception given to each of the expeditions and the manner by which each was covered in the press differed greatly; accordingly, the aurora borealis, a quintessential polar phenomenon itself, was ascribed with strikingly dissimilar meanings in the media. Whereas in 1874 domestic interests were projected onto the Arctic, with the aurora symbolizing the monarchy's bright future, in 1883 media attention focused on local events such as the International Electrical Exhibition in Vienna; the Arctic no longer served as a potent symbol for Austro-Hungarian affairs. Analyses of various forms of media such as texts, poems, and illustrations show the cultural situatedness of scientific knowledge and its popularization. Representations and interpretations of the aurora can only be understood within the political, social, technological and cultural contexts of the time.     

Burning Libraries: A Community Response

ABSTRACT

The first decade of the twenty-first century has seen a growing recognition that widespread impacts of climate change (erosion, sea level rise, wildfires, warming soil temperatures) are rapidly destroying archaeological sites and permanently wiping out millennia of cultural heritage and important scientific data on a global scale. This paper provides a brief overview of the efforts of the international archaeological community and its allies to organise a broad and coordinated response to this widespread and urgent threat to our basic record by mobilising at the local, national and international level. The work of the archaeological professional societies has supplemented a growing host of initiatives on multiple scales by national and local governmental agencies, regional research teams, local and Indigenous heritage groups and the international global change scientific community. This paper provides some reflections on the Society for American Archaeology’s Climate Change Strategies and the Archaeological Record team effort from 2015 to 2018, some links to more contacts and resources and some suggestions for future directions.     

Science and Politics: The Blackett Memorial Lecture

Abstract

Tribute is paid to Lord Blackett - who, like the Author, was President of the Royal Society - as a scientist, as a research leader during World War II and in his capacity as an adviser on science in India. Next, the distinctions amI analogies between science and politics are discussed; pure, applied and strategic research are defined; and the ambivalence between scientists and politicians is pointed out. Science for the Third World is touched on, and the difficulty of offering scientific advice to government is illustrated with the examples of nuclear war and acid rain; to render such advice valuable and relevant, financial independence is essential.     

The Alcester Waterworks Company: A Study in the Small-scale Technology of Water Supply

Abstract

The Alcester Waterworks Company supplied a small town in Warwickshire with water from 1879 until 1947. Always a miniscule concern, the company used very simple technology throughout its existence. The introduction of a gas engine as a replacement for a waterwheel as a source of power for pumping produced a reduction in pumping expenses which transformed the company's financial affairs. The surviving remains of the company's installations give a picture of the simple technology used and allow some tentative conclusions to be made about the causes of the difficulties with pumping which the company experienced in its early days.     

The General as Statesman: The Virtues of Measuredness and Daring in Thucydides’ Account of Brasidas

Abstract

This article explores the virtues of daring and measuredness in the character of Brasidas in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. These two virtues prove to be necessary for Brasidas to fulfill his role as a general. However, they are incomplete for a statesman concerned with the domestic affairs of a regime. In emphasizing these two virtues and displaying Brasidas only in his position as a general, Thucydides makes an important statement about the relationship between generalship and statesmanship, and to what degree the former is subordinated to the latter. Brasidas’ virtues become especially clear when contrasted with two other generals from the Peloponnesian War, Pausanias and Nicias.     

Re-establishing an underground climate appropriate for the conservation of the prehistoric paintings and engravings at Lascaux

Abstract

In an earlier issue (CMAS 1 (3), 191-193), we summarized highlights from new statements of ethical practice for archaeologists produced by the Society for American Archaaeology (SAA), the Archaeological Institute of America (AIA) and the American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR). We now publish a note about the Society for Historical Archaeology from its President, Dr Glenn Farris. In it he draws attention to a statement of the Society's ethical position that was made in 1989.

Since our publication of the earlier note, the question has been raised as to how effective are ‘statements of ethical practice’ in governing conduct. It should be stressed that acceptance of a professional society's statement on ethics is normally a condition of membership in that society. This is the case in a large number of organizations, both national and international, in the area of archaeology, conservation and museums. There is no doubt that Codes of Ethics have a strong impact on professional conduct in these disciplines.     

Salamander's Wool: The Historical Evidence for Textiles Woven with Asbestos Fibre

Abstract

In 1684 Members of the Royal Society of London discussed the nature of a type of woven cloth described as incombustible linen, or salamander's wool. It was an attempt to explain scientifically the phenomenon described in many cultures over more than 1,500 years, of a cloth which could be immersed in fire and emerge, not only unburnt, but even cleansed. Such cloth is known to have been woven using fibres from the mineral asbestos. This paper explores the evidence for the historical use of asbestos fibre in woven textiles before its rediscovery and commercial development for fire protection in the nineteenth century.     

Book reviews

Abstract

Some of the highlights and disappointment in low-temperature physics and technology are presented. Emphasis is on concepts and trends rather than on rigorous and complete treatment. Cooling methods and the properties of matter at low temperature are discussed, both from a purely scientific and an applied point of view, with some emphasis on superconductivity.     

Some Aspects of Byzantine Military Technology from the Sixth to the Tenth Centuries

Abstract

Byzantine military technology remains to be examined thoroughly, despite its importance in demonstrating the Byzantines' ability to absorb ideas and practices from areas outside the Empire as well as developing their own traditions. This article examines arms and armour from the mid-sixth century to the end of the tenth century and puts the military panoply into a wider context, that of the development of offensive and defensive military equipment in Europe and the lands to the north and east of the Empire. Finally, it examines the relationship between military affairs and the economic and political situation of the Empire and attempts to account for the use of particular weapons and methods of equipping the soldiers at particular times.     

Pocock,Machiavelli and Political Contingency in Foreign Affairs: Republican Existentialism Outside (and Within) the City

SUMMARY

In this essay, inspired by J.G.A. Pocock's appropriation of Machiavelli's theory of political contingency, and building upon my previous engagements with Pocock's ‘republican existentialism’, I focus on the role played by ‘accidents’ in Machiavelli's analysis of war and foreign affairs within The Prince and the Discourses. In so doing, I consider the following issues: the ways through which a potential imperial hegemon might consolidate control over nearby lesser powers—and, conversely, how such less powerful polities might resist imperial encroachments on their autonomy; the contrasting military modes and orders characteristic of ancient and modern republics; and the extent to which Machiavelli actually thought that accidents in foreign affairs were ever truly ‘accidental’ in light of his determinations concerning well- versus badly ordered domestic institutions.     

God,Justice and Society

Abstract

This non-evaluative overview of God, Justice, and Society: Aspects of Law and Legality in the Bible summarizes Jonathan Burnside’s introduction to biblical law and his demonstration of its value as a resource for modern legal issues     

Review Article — The Buildings of England Series — the Second Editions

Abstract

An account of the excavation by members of the Somerset Industrial Archaeological Society of a stone built engine house dating from the mid-nineteenth century. Documentary evidence indicated that a portable engine pumped and wound from Smoky Bottom mine. The archaeological and historical evidence has enabled a conjectural restoration of the building and machinery.     

Gender,Class, and Patriotism: Women's paramilitary units in first world war britain

Abstract

Scholarly histories of twentieth-century China, commonly identified as an East Asian power, tend to cover only the eastern half of the country. As John King Fairbank suggests, Chinese foreign affairs are considered principally as a matter of East Asian international relations.¹ Yet China is also a Central Asian power: present-day China encompasses large parts of Central Asia — Xinjiang, Qinghai, Inner Mongolia, and Tibet — of which the population is chiefly composed of non-Han ethnic minorities. When the break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s removed a major security threat to China, the creation of the Central Asian republics — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan — gave it the opportunity to reassert its historical claims to influence throughout Central Asia.² The launch of the Shanghai Co-operation Organization in 1996, and the annual Shanghai summits that followed, are clear evidence of China's attempts to dominate Central Asian affairs in the post-Soviet era.³     

The Iberian fireball of 4 January 2004

Abstract

According to the American Meteor Society, 'fireball' is a term for a very bright meteor, generally brighter than magnitude -3 or -4, which is about the same magnitude as the planet Venus viewed in the morning or evening sky. If the fireball explodes in a bright terminal flash, which typically extinguishes with visible fragmentation, it is then known as a 'bolide', from the Greek word for a throwing spear. This paper describes the circumstances of the recent dramatic fireball sighting over the Iberian peninsula. This event provides a textbook example of such an event, with the usual attendant public excitement, media confusion and cultural misconceptions.     

The 'Archaeology of the Days of Manasseh' Reconsidered in the Light of Evidence From The Beersheba Valley

Abstract

Recent scholarship based on typological studies suggests that the dating of the prosperous Beersheba settlement system should be raised from the 7th to the last third of the 8th century BCE. This change in timeframe offers a new understanding of demographics and presents a number of socio-historical implications. It sheds new light on the nature of Assyrian hegemony in the region during the late 8th century and the beginning of the 7th century and affects the understanding of Judean internal affairs, such as aspects of the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah, and the archaeology of the reign of Manasseh.     

Poster Presentations

Abstract

The following posters were presented at the Fifteenth Symposium of the International Medieval Sermon Studies Society, held at Piliscsaba–Budapest, Hungary, from 14–18 July 2006, on the theme, 'Texts to Read and Texts to Preach: Medieval Sermons for Private Reading and Public Dissemination'.     

The Engraver,The Chandler and the Trades Unionist: Reflections on the Grassroots Reading of Scripture*

Abstract

Politics and religion often use the same kind of language to achieve their ‘missionary’ ends, hut such language is stripped of its meaning unless it is related to ultimate, rather than short-term, purpose. This is demonstrated by notions of election, the place of the prophet and the effects of the ‘powers’ in global society. The energy and creativity of responding to an ultimate vision is undermined in both political and relgious affairs by institutionalization. The fact that this takes place asks us to reconsider what it really means, in both religion and politics, to ‘reach out to people’ and what purpose such outreach serves.