Pisa goes critical

Abstract

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is not just a quaint curiosity but a magnificent architectural treasure. Over the years its inclination has been increasing inexorably to the point where it is about to fall over. Moreover the stresses in the masonry induced by the lean have brought it close to structural failure. Stabilisation of the tower represents the ultimate civil engineering challenge. This paper describes the history of the tower and the mechanics of its behaviour, understanding of which has proved vital in the development of stabilisation measures. Early stabilisation was first achieved by placing temporary lead weights on the foundation masonry on the opposite side from the lean. Long term stabilisation commenced in February 2000 using a controversial method of soil extraction to reduce the inclination by about 10% – not enough to be visible but enough to substantially increase the safety. A long, tense journey lies ahead of the tower.     

Ulama in Islamic Law‐Making and Adjudication in Contemporary Egypt

The article examines the legislative and judicial tasks of Islamic jurists and how they carried it out in constitutional or general legal structure. While the Pakistani experiment was inspired by the Iranian model of jurists' involvement in legislatures, Egypt took a different path by not recognizing any official role for Islamic jurists with ambiguous recognition of Islamic jurisprudence. The legislative role could take the form of incorporating Islamic jurists into the legislature, establishing a committee partially made up of Islamic jurists, or handing over some legislative task to an Islamic jurisprudential institution. Despite the fact that Islamization was intended to respond to the people's requests, it employed autocratic and authoritarian mechanisms. The project attempted to replace the typical class of socially recognized jurists with appointed committees entrusted with Islamic codification. The experiment was challenged for its operation and its Islamicity but never introduced Shari'a courts or Islamic clerical legislation.     

Identification Technique for Soil-Structure Analysis of the Ghirlandina Tower

Historical towers, in particular medieval towers, are an important part of cultural heritage, and their preservation mandates monitoring and detailed analyses of vulnerability under seismic actions as well as of their long-term performance. Certain aspects of structural nature are linked to the masonry behavior as a unilateral material, and other are aspects related to the interaction with soft soil conditions. This study aims to contribute to the aspects of preservation by exploring the role of the soil-structure interaction in predicting the behavior of the structures, with specific reference to the well-documented case history of the medieval Ghirlandina Tower (Modena, Italy). A significant contribution comes from an experimental identification analysis, performed in the presence of ambient vibration. A novel finding is that the soil structure interaction cannot be neglected, in contrast to most published identification analyses that usually assume the structure to have rigid constraint at base.     

新中国史学的初建:郭沫若与中国马克思主义史学主导地位的确立

郭沫若对新中国成立后中国马克思主义史学主导地位的确立及走向与发展具有重要影响。他在1949年后任中国新史学研究会筹备会和中国史学会主席,提出史学发展六个方面的转向,规划了中国史学的发展前景。他创办并主持的《历史研究》杂志提倡历史研究应史料与理论并重。郭沫若礼待陈寅恪,邀请其出任《历史研究》杂志编委和中国科学院社会科学学部委员。郭沫若重启中国古史分期问题的讨论,引发了研究一系列重要历史理论问题的热潮。在郭沫若和其他马克思主义史学家的努力下,新中国史学初步形成了发展规模。     

Monitoring of Two Great Venetian Cathedrals: San Marco and Santa Maria Gloriosa Dei Frari

Two examples of monitoring systems of great Venetian Cathedrals, are presented. The first, concerning the Basilica of San Marco, is an example of a long-term monitoring system for a structure that has not undergone any strengthening intervention. The criteria for interpreting this monitoring system data are illustrated. The second example, concerning the Basilica of S. Maria Gloriosa dei Frari, is a clear example of the use of monitoring during the execution of strengthening intervention. This study illustrates the interventions that were carried out on the supporting structures: consolidation of the soil foundation of the bell tower by using the soil-fracturing technique and creation of a structural joint between the bell tower and the Basilica. Through the observational method, this monitoring system was able to check the structural behavior during all the phases of the interventions, thus becoming a precious design tool able to guarantee the safety of the structure and to modify the design solutions during the strengthening intervention, according to the real deformation behavior observed through the monitoring system.     

Inaugural Address to The Annual Meeting of The Institute Held at Bedford

The Great Tower of Norham Castle has been considered to be a typical example of a two-cell rectangular donjon, divided unequally by a spine wall. Examination of the fabric shows that its history was much more complex, and that it was originally constructed in the early twelfth century as a single unit, two-storeyed building, perhaps as a ceremonial chamber above a vault. During the later twelfth century a second unit, containing private chambers and an upper room in a tower, was added against the original structure, and the present rectangular shape was achieved only as the result of further rebuilding during the fifteenth century. Parallels are suggested in the bishops' palaces of the twelfth century, and the significance of Norham for our appreciation of the complexity of design of great towers is emphasized.     

The 19th‐Century Akko Tower Wreck,Israel: a summary of the first two excavation seasons

The shipwreck designated as the Akko Tower Wreck lies at the entrance of Akko harbour, Israel, 35 m north of the Tower of Flies, in 4.4 m of water. Following two seasons (2012 and 2013) of underwater excavation, it is suggested that it is the remains of a merchant brig of 200 tons, dated to the first half of the 19th century, and built under the influence of the French shipbuilding tradition in an established shipyard. The full story of the ship and its place in the maritime history of Akko, however, remains an enigma.     

The Role of The Gentleman's Magazine in the Dissemination of Knowledge About Electric Fish in the Eighteenth Century

Although torpedoes and Malopterurus, a Nile catfish, had been described and even used medically in antiquity, their discharges were poorly understood before the second half of the eighteenth century. It was then that their actions, along with those of certain South American “eels,” became firmly associated with electricity. The realization that an animal could produce electricity marked a turning point in the history of neurophysiology, which had long described nerve actions with recourse to animal spirits. By examining The Gentleman's Magazine during the period when electric fish were becoming electrical, one can begin to appreciate how new discoveries about these unusual creatures captured the imagination of scientists and were filtered down to the literate public.     

House of Lords Committee Accommodation and Its Use: Restoration and Renewal in the 19th and 20th Centuries*

Following the 1834 fire, the work of house of lords committees continued virtually without interruption, at first in temporary accommodation and, from 1846, in rooms in the new palace designed by Charles Barry. This article charts the history of house of lords committee activity and the varied use of its accommodation at Westminster from 1834 to the present. Major committee work immediately following the fire included an inquiry into prison reform. Barry's accommodation was scantily fitted out, and quickly needed technical and other adaptations. Committees themselves changed too, with the heaviest phase of private bill activity needed for the creation of the railways tailing off by the late 1860s. Following a low point in committee activity between 1940 and 1970 committee work has developed in fits and starts from 1971 onwards. The further expansion of committees following the Jellicoe committee report of 1992 was accommodated by the reform of private bill procedure, which helped free up committee rooms, and in October 2009, the establishment of the Supreme Court meant that the law lords no longer sat judicially in the large committee rooms 1 and 2. Since 2012, however, the further expansion of committee activity has not been matched by an increase in its accommodation.     

“天地之中”的嵩山历史建筑群

嵩山位于今天的河南郑州登封境内,其地理位置处于古代中国的“中心”,在中国历史上具有特殊的地位。     

宋代监修国史和提举修史制度变化考

宋初沿袭唐、五代以来次相监修国史的制度,在仁宗朝变为首相监修的同时,建立起以临时命官提举为特征的修史制度,监修国史逐渐变成了一个徒有监修之名而无监修之责的虚职。元丰五年以后,监修国史之职不再除授,修史但以提举修国史系衔。南宋绍兴三年恢复监修国史制度,九年又恢复提举制度,使监修、提举分领日历和国史的修撰。绍兴二十六年,监修、提举为左、右宰相分领,遂成为定制,相位虚,则由参知政事权领。     

南京大报恩寺塔建筑琉璃构件的科技研究

南京大报恩寺塔是明初重要的皇家琉璃建筑,是代表中国文化的标志性建筑之一,和罗马大斗兽场、比萨斜塔、中国万里长城等一道被称为中世纪世界七大奇迹,具有极高的历史、文化、科技研究价值。本文以南京大报恩寺塔的建筑琉璃构件为研究对象,利用WDXRF、EDXRF、XRD、OM、热膨胀仪、高温测试仪等测试方法研究其胎釉化学组成、烧制温度、结构及物理性能;探讨南京大报恩寺塔建筑琉璃构件胎体原料来源和釉料配方的传承发展关系,揭示其制备工艺技术中所蕴含的科技内涵。     

抗战时期的西京筹备委员会及其对西安城市建设的贡献

“一 .二八”事变后 ,国民党四届二中全会曾决定“以长安为陪都 ,定名西京”,并委派张继等人组成“西京筹备委员会”。从 1932年 3月至 194 5年 6月 ,这个西京筹备委员会前后存在了 13年之久 ,为当时古城西安的城市建设做了大量具体工作 ,并对后来西安城市的发展产生了深远的影响。本文依据有关档案资料 ,细致研究了抗战时期西京筹备委员会成立的缘起与裁撤原因、西京筹备委员会的组织机构、西京市政建设委员会的成立及其组织机构 ,并论述了西京筹备委员会和西京市政建设委员会在城市规划、地形测量与土地估价、筑路修桥与水利建设、城市绿化与乡村建设、古迹文物保护诸方面对当时西安城市建设方面所做的贡献及其现实启示意义。     

House Appropriations After the Republican Revolution

This article applies the theory of “conditional party government” (CPG) to the interaction between the majority party and the Appropriations Committee in the period following the Republican Revolution of 1995. We extend the analysis of Aldrich and Rohde (2000b) by examining how actions within the committee have changed over time and analyzing whether behavior and outcomes continue to match the expectations of CPG theory, particularly with respect to the times in which power in Congress switched from the Republicans to the Democrats and back. The conditions of the CPG theory continued to be met so that we can continue to test the theory's predictions. We show that following the Republican Revolution, the role of the party remained paramount and the party leadership maintained its influence over the direction of policy. While in the majority, both parties used the Appropriations Committee as a vehicle for policy change and the party leadership monitored committee actions, either by blocking policy shifts away from what the majority party wanted or facilitating changes in the desired direction.     

Buddhist temples and ancestral halls: The reconstruction of native official rituals in western Yunnan

Abstract

In the process of abolishing the native officialdoms of southwest China, the Ming court justified its actions by citing violations of ethical and ritual principles. During the Zhengtong 正統 period, offices of native officials in Heqing 鶴慶 were abolished and replaced with an office for centrally appointed imperial officials. These imperial officials turned Buddhist temples into Confucian schools and attacked local beliefs regarding living Buddhas. At the same time, local Confucian scholars advocated orthodox ritual in the name of doing away with improper ritual practice. In response, nearby native officials began cautiously handling political issues, and sought to legitimize the foundations for their status by conducting rituals in the classical Confucian tradition. The author examines the history of Lijiang 麗江 and Menghua 蒙化 Prefectures in Yunnan 雲南 and discusses how their native officials used the statuses of ancient nobles as they sought to establish Confucian rituals and temples corresponding to their status within the Ming bureaucracy. Several strategies are identified, including (a) building Buddhist temples, ancestral halls, and official shrines; (b) transforming mythical figures into protective deities by creating mountain and river rituals that conformed to ritual orthodoxy; and (c) establishing official genealogies and using textual methods to incorporate clan myths and legendary lineages into orthodox historical narratives, thereby strengthening the superiority of border native official lineages. By analyzing a series of actions of native officials in this process, the author explores the cultural strategies adopted by native officials to safeguard their prestige and local interests.     

Rewriting Merovingian history in the tenth century: Aimoin of Fleury's Gesta Francorum

Aimoin of Fleury's Gesta Francorum has mostly been ignored apart from its importance as a source for the Grandes Chroniques de France. Aimoin's editorial techniques in reworking his Merovingian‐era sources deserve more attention, however. Through a process of selective editing, strategic silence, and rhetorical invention he compiled a history that would appeal to its probable target audience, King Robert II of West Francia. The most noteworthy changes wrought by Aimoin are the assignment of a divinely appointed imperial and evangelizing mission to the Franks and the transformation of Clovis into an exemplary Christian king.     

The eccentricities of England

In this issue we begin a series of brief articles written by the editorial committee in charge of each number. These articles reflect on Europe, its constituent parts and its history in a very broad way, using a variety of methodologies. These reflections begin with the concept of a national Sonderweg, applied to the case of England.     

文化遗产保护中的“人”——增冲鼓楼文物保护规划中的一些尝试

增冲鼓楼,具有双重属性的文化遗产地 增冲鼓楼是一处比较特殊的文化遗产地。 首先,它是一座文物建筑。增冲鼓楼位于贵州省黔东南苗族侗族自治州从江县往洞乡增冲村增冲侗寨,始建于清康熙十一年（1672年）,为木结构中心柱型鼓楼,     

保护“弃民”:日俄战争时期清政府海参崴护侨活动研究

日俄战争爆发后,清政府对海参崴地区华侨积极实行了外交保护、战后救助、损失索赔等有效护侨措施。再一次印证了从同治末年开始实施保护海外侨民政策以来,清政府对华侨态度的转变以及侨务政策的变化。从弃侨到护侨,是一个历史性的跨越。而从单纯保护华侨安全到利用国际法向强权索偿损失,则又是一大进步。日俄战争时期清政府的海参崴护侨活动,无疑从一个侧面反映了古老中国从闭关锁国到走向世界的一段重要转型历程。     

罗斯福新政时期美国文官政治化倾向的加强

新政时期,罗斯福总统在扩大政府规模的过程中,通过“政治庇护制”任命文官,使行政部门特别是行政部门中的“政治文官”以多种方式直接参与立法和政策的制订,自主地执行联邦政府的政策,导致美国文官政治化倾向的加强。这种现象不仅源于政治与行政的特殊关系,源于“政治文官”自身的优势,也源于美国特殊的政治体制和社会结构。