To help our planet survive

The "Environmental Perspective to the Year 2000 and Beyond," a document which resulted from 4 years' work of the Intergovernmental Inter-Sessional Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), was approved by the UN General Assembly on Dec. 11, 1987. The purpose of the "Environmental Perspective" is to guide governments in achieving environmentally sound development. Major input into the document was the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, headed by Norwegian Prime Minister, Mrs. Gro Harlem Brundtland. The "Environmental Perspective" sets out 14 "shared perceptions" on the nature of environmental issues and recommended actions in 6 major areas -- population, food and agriculture, energy, industry, health and human settlements, and international relations. It addresses questions of pollution, peaceful uses of outer space, endangered species, and the relation of security and environment. Finally, the "Environmental Perspective" calls for the collection of information upon which unified environmental policies may be based. In other environmental actions the General Assembly proclaimed the 1990s as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction, reviewed the progress of the 1977 Plan of Action to Combat Desertification, and urged member states to become parties to the 1985 Convention for Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Montreal Protocol restricting the use of substances that damage the ozone layer.     

从化外之地到两个文化带的相继发育─—宋代以前福建文化地域格局的演变

长期以来,两宋以前福建的早期文化格局一直模糊不清。作者在详尽考察两宋以前福建文化格局具体演变过程的基础上,指出移民的地域开发、地方行政管理的深入和文教的持久性开展,才是推动早期福建文化发展的重要动力,并逐渐形成了沿海与内陆分异的两个文化带,从而澄清了福建文化闽江流域策源地的传统观点。     

Eye to eye with the innovation paradox: why smart specialization is no simple solution to policy design

This paper revisits common, yet often untested assumptions on factors hampering the implementation – or even clear articulation – of regional innovation strategies. Based on a dedicated framework drawing on political science literature, it reflects on whether there are merit and promise in future higher-level attempts to promote a more strategic take on regional innovation policy. It investigates which relevant factors in local politics, policy and administrative facilitate or prevent the definition of clear priorities for action. Drawing on a Europe wide survey of stakeholders managing strategic processes, it finds that while a number of obstacles need to be overcome, these are regionally specific rather than attributable to restrictive national cultures. Furthermore, it demonstrates how stakeholder involvement bears different challenges at different levels.     

The black family needs no defense

Jerold Heiss. The Case of the Black Family: A Sociological Inquiry. New York & London: Columbia University Press, 1975. 246 pp. $13.50.     

Ideas no longer written in antler

In the course of the Upper Paleolithic, antler debitage techniques seem to have followed a linear evolution. The earliest one, fracturing by cleaving, appeared during the Aurignacian and is considered by some specialists to be ineffective. According to them, it was not until the invention of the groove and splinter technique during the Gravettian that antler debitage became efficient. Nonetheless, during the Solutrean, fracturing once again became the most common technique, but by splitting. Based on a study of 102 Solutrean pressure tools and experimentations, we reach the conclusion that splitting is a very effective technique that can produce blanks with the same qualities as those made by the groove and splinter technique. The splitting technique was nonetheless excluded in previous studies. We explore the reasons for this and the particularities of the different antler debitage techniques evidenced in the Western Upper Paleolithic.     

酋邦的演化

在文明与早期国家探源的战略性课题中,酋邦理论具有十分重要的意义。酋邦作为对19世纪摩尔根社会进化理论的发展和20世纪新进化论的重要概念,赋予了平等的部落社会与作为阶级社会象征的国家之间这个过渡阶段以明确的科学定义,使这方面的探索有了一个有用的分析工具。至于这个概念的具体内涵和分析视野,则是始终处于发展之中的。酋邦概念最早是20世纪50年代奥博格在对南美印第安人的研究中提出的,60年代塞维斯根据夏威夷群岛原始文化的资料提出了相对比较系统的酋邦理论。此后酋邦问题引起学术界越来越多的重视和关注,很多学者参与到这方面的研究和讨论之中,使研究深度和广度都达到了很高的水平。本文是美洲研究学会1988年1月举行的一个酋邦研讨会的纪要,曾发表在1989年2月号的《当代人类学》(Current Anthropology)上,稍作修改后又收入厄尔主编的《酋邦:权力、经济和意识形态》(Chiefdoms:Power,Economy,andIdeology)(1991年出版)一书中。这个研讨会是该领域一流学者们的一次集会,对酋邦问题进行了非常深入全面的探讨。会上所提出的一些问题,不仅仅是对当时酋邦研究成果的一次总结,而且对于后来包括今天在内的国家文明起源研究都有十分重要的意义。会议不仅探讨了酋邦的概念,更着重探讨了酋邦产生和存在的动力机制。首先,酋邦被认为具有极大的多样性。从规模上可分为简单酋邦和复杂酋邦;从财政基础而言,根据支付媒介的特点,可以区分为产品经济型酋邦和财富经济型酋邦;从结构上,酋邦可以分为集体型酋邦和个体型酋邦。其次,伴随对当时盛行的人口压力是社会演变主要原因学说的反思,学者们全面探讨了酋邦权力起源可能存在的所有动力,主要从三个方面(对经济、战争和意识形态的控制)总结为十项策略。与会者的一种共识是,权力的三个组成部分某种程度体现了不同的策略,而有效的统治似乎有赖于多种不同策略结合使用,以便集中权力并克服单一权力来源的局限性,这是各地案例中较为普遍的现象。另外,会议还讨论了环境在酋邦发展中的作用、酋邦的规模与层次、以及酋邦的轮回等等其它一些重要问题。酋邦概念在1980年代引入中国后也引起了我国学界的关注和讨论,然而由于对国外文献理解上的不足,一些介绍酋邦的文章难免传递一些误导性的观点。本文作为酋邦专题讨论的纪要或综述,体现了当今国际学界对酋邦概念的认识和研究,为我们了解酋邦探究的意义提供一个比较准确和全面的认识。     

Placebo: no longer a phantom response

Abstract

Recent clinical studies have revealed several neural pathways that are activated during the response of patients to a placebo. This lends credence to the view that placebos have a genuine role to play in clinical medicine. It is proposed that mechanisms similar to those that cause a placebo response may underlie the beneficial effects of religious belief and other neural stimuli.     

“周氏以降,选无清浊”辨

史载"周氏以降,选无清浊",虽然在一定程度上反映了西魏、北周时期选官制度发生变化的一面,但却忽略了其时选举制度依旧注重门第与官分清浊的一面。西魏、北周时期,九品中正制依然是占据着主导地位的选官制度,并在维护关陇士族和当朝勋贵的仕宦特权方面发挥着重要作用。其时职官制度仍有流内与流外之分,"九命"与"九秩",就是在北魏"九流三清"和"勋品流外"官的基础上发展演变而来,是北周官分清浊的重要表现形式。西魏、北周的清浊观念也十分显著。"周氏以降,选无清浊",并未全面、真实地反映当时选官制度与职官制度的实情。     

是什么造就了“无人村”

三水大旗头村,一条条深巷隔离开的一溜溜老屋,锅耳式,防火山墙。进到巷里,有些吃惊,院子里、房子里空空荡荡,居然 没有人住,连续走了几家,串了两条深巷,都是这样,景象就像遭遇了大瘟疫或兵燹似的。