Constructive comments on D Massey 'Space-time, "science" and the relationship between physical geography and human geography:rsquo;

This paper provides a discussion of Massey's (1999) account of the role of space-time in human and physical geography. Recognizing the relative (but not absolute) paucity of comment from physical geographers on questions of approach and method, the paper seeks to demonstrate three things. First, it casts a history of a narrow part of geomorphology in a similar vein to a part of human geography to demonstrate that it is possible to find strong shared characteristics in the ways in which the two subjects are being approached. This emphasizes the importance of analyses that recognize both space and time in seeking explanation in physical geography and which has important implications for: (i) the nature of laws and processes in geomorphology; and hence (ii) the interpretation of specific landforms and their histories. Second, the paper argues that much of what Massey addresses relates to the closure required to make things amenable to study, something that is characteristic of almost every type of research. This has long been acknowledged in science in general and in physical geography in particular, but is often forgotten. Third, the paper uses this consideration of closure to address the issue of the relational nature of different sorts of space-time models. Following Massey's argument that the sort of space-time model that we adopt needs to be informed by the entities that we study, the paper concludes that some of the space-time models that Massey critiques (e.g. classical Newtonian mechanics) may still be fundamental to what we do, and in no sense necessarily ahistorical.     

Unfolding the relationship between resilient firms and the region

ABSTRACT

This research explores organizational resilience in four manufacturing firms in four different regions of Norway. While regional resilience has gained attention in research, there have been few studies with a micro-level focus, investigating firms and their distinctive features of resilience. We chose a qualitative multiple-case study approach and employed a critical incident technique to study resilience in selected firms that had experienced external shocks and shifts in regard to changing markets, globalization and advances in technology. Each, however, had managed to continually develop resilience capacity over time. Our framework considered three dimensions of organizational resilience: the cognitive, the behavioural and the contextual. We address how resilience is sustained over time, the evolutionary nature of organizational resilience in firms and how resilient firms relate to the region. We found that all three dimensions of resilience capacity were evident in each firm, but appeared as a complex and unique blend. Furthermore, each dimension was supported by regional ties and affiliations. The findings suggest that organizational resilience is a dynamic capability conditioned by firm–region interactions, which are cultural, social and economic. Regional resilience is built through the contribution of the firm to the economic and social systems of the region.     

The right to be heard: Citizenship and language

In this paper we address the importance and contestation of language in terms of citizenship and the development of political communities by focusing on the example of a minority language – British Sign Language. Language is crucial to debates about citizenship and belonging because the State has to rely on language for its very functioning, indeed political practice itself is a form of communicative action. For individuals language is deeply implicated in their ability to claim and maintain their rights and in their affective connections with others and sense of identification. The paper therefore begins by identifying that Deaf people's legal entitlements (e.g. to vote) are an abstract form of citizenship because as sign language users they have difficulties understanding both political and wider civil institutions and practices, and so lack the cultural proficiencies necessary to exercise citizenship in a substantive sense. We then go onto consider citizenship in the broader sense of how groups are included or situated in the public sphere, and in doing so to consider the extent to which Deaf people might be understood to have a liveable place in an oral society. The final section examines how the sense of injustice which flows from Deaf people's experiences of marginalisation in the public realm means that they are developing alternative forms of political commitment predicated on non-state spaces of belonging – where they can live their language – at both local and transnational scales. The paper concludes by reflecting on the notion of differentiated citizenship and the implications of Deaf people's claims to language rights.     

The prevalence of,and the relationship between some spinal diseases in a human skeletal population from London

The prevalence of osteoarthritis, osteophytosis, intervertebral disc disease and diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis (DISH) was determined in a group of skeletons excavated from the crypt of Christ Church, Spitalfields. Age-specific prevalence rates were calculated from the group of skeletons for which age at death was known from intact coffin plates. Osteoarthritis of the facet joints occurred most frequently in the cervical and upper thoracic regions and was also common in the lower lumbar spine. The disease was more frequently bilateral in the lumbar spine than in upper regions. Osteophytes were common in the thoracic and lumbar spines, whereas intervertebral disc disease was confined almost completely to the cervical region. Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis seemed to be underrepresented in this group, but was more common in males than in females. Age correlated significantly with all the conditions except DISH. Multiple regression analysis was carried out using each of the conditions as the dependent variable in turn. Age accounted for more of the variance than any of the other conditions added as independent variables.     

Historiographical layers in the relationship between science and technology

Abstract

This paper aims to examine historiographical layers in the historical narrative on the relationship between science and technology, a topic which has been exhaustively discussed without consensus by both historians of science and technology. I will first examine two extreme positions concerning this issue, and analyze the underlying historiographical standpoints behind them. I will then show that drawing implications for the relationship between science and technology from a few case studies is frequently misleading. After showing this, I .will move to the “macrohistory” of the relationship between science and technology, which reveals a long process in which the barriers between them gradually became porous. Here, I will examine the historical formation of three different kinds of “boundary objects” between science and technology, which facilitated their interactions by making their borders more permeable: instruments as a material boundary object; new institutions, laboratories, and departments as a spatial boundary or boundary space; and new mediators as a human hybrid.     

首长负责制与民主集中制关系的学理探讨

民主集中制是党和国家的根本领导制度。首长负责制是针对原有领导体制和工作机制中出现的弊端而提出的一种以部门首长为核心的政府和企事业单位的领导制度。本从两种领导制度存有的弊端方面分析了首长负责制与民主集中制的关系,认为把首长负责制理解为国家机构的领导体制和工作机制,是对民主集中制根本领导制度的健全和完善,对于贯彻党的十六届四中全会精神、改革和完善党和国家的领导制度具有重要意义。     

欧洲洞穴艺术与生产活动的关系

欧洲洞穴艺术是指旧石器时代晚期,大约距今3万至1万年左右欧洲奥瑞纳文化、梭鲁特文化和马格林文化洞穴遗址中发现的丰富的雕刻、雕塑和壁画等人类所创作的各种原始艺术品。欧洲洞穴艺术主要分布在法国南部、西班牙、意大利北部以及说西班牙语的地中海东部诸国家和岛屿;在前苏联也曾有过报道。据近年来的统计,法国有138处,西班牙有106处,西西里和意大利共有21处,葡萄牙有2处[1]。这些遗址中的艺术品少则几件,多则数百件不等,但最为集中和著名的见于法国和西班牙的一些洞穴遗址中。关于欧洲洞穴艺术的研究在我国学术界并不多见,已有…     

张荫桓与康有为关系论辨

戊戌春夏间,张荫桓最得光绪皇帝信任,不但与康有为往来甚密,而且向光绪密荐了康有为。康、梁与张荫桓从各自的利益出发,都矢口否认他们之间的密切关系,致使史籍中关于张荫桓和康有为关系的记载出现了很大的歧义。张荫桓以朝廷大员的身份鼓动光绪变法、安排康有为私见皇帝,并因此而获罪,不应被视为"康党"。     

Media portrayal of the cultural relationship between Australia and Japan

This article traces Japanese and Australian media portrayals of the cultural aspects to the bilateral relationship. The article examines popular discourse about Japan and Australia in the media of each country, demonstrating how this has reflected the evolution of the cultural relationship. In Australia, the press has swung from portraying Japan as a problematic source of income from the resources trade, through to the home of ‘cool’ technology and fashion. In Japan, discourse about Australia has ranged from images of a country populated with cute animals, to a regional partner sharing the same democratic ideals. The article draws from the personal experiences of the author who was a correspondent and journalist for Australian and Japanese news corporations during the 1980s and 1990s. The author covered the ‘koala wars’ and the frill-necked lizard boom prompted by the Mitsubishi Mirage television commercial, as well as monitoring the growth in Japanese tourism to Australia. The author also draws on data from tracking surveys conducted by the Embassy of Japanese in Australia.     

戴名世与桐城派关系辨析

戴名世生前与桐城派创始人方苞交往密切,故研究者常将戴名世视为桐城派的开创者。但客观而论,戴名世与桐城派的创建并无关涉。戴名世只是一位与桐城派创始人方苞有着密切往来,并持有相近文学、学术观点的桐城籍学者。     

Modelling the relationship between tenure and migration in England and Wales

"A rarely utilized source of migration data from the 1981 [U.K.] Census is used to examine the mobility patterns of migrants resident in different [housing] tenures within England and Wales at the regional and county level. A Poisson regression approach is used to compare the effects of distance on migration propensities for those moving into owner-occupied housing, council housing and privately rented housing. The existing literature suggests that migration should be most restricted by distance for council tenants and least restricted for private renters....Local variations in the effects of distance decay on migration for each of the three migrant streams are examined. Both a north-south and a metropolitan non-metropolitan migration divide are clearly evident when migrant flows are disaggregated by tenure at the destination."     

Between left and right: cooperation and the split between Yu Qiaqing and the CPC during the era of the Northern Expedition

During the Northern Expedition, the Communist Party of China (CPC) had close contact with certain businessmen; one of these was Yu Qiaqing of Shanghai, who played a role in the background of the Three Armed Uprisings of Shanghai Workers. Because of this contact, Yu Qiaqing was regarded as a leading figure of the leftist bourgeoisie. He was also considered an important collaborator with the provisional municipal government after these uprisings. However, his cooperation with the CPC did not jeopardize his alliance with the Nationalist Party. When Chiang Kai-shek, an old friend of his, arrived in Shanghai, Yu soon turned himself into one of Chiang's financial advisors. Although it is hard to argue that Yu Qiaqing's behavior was representative of most businessmen's party preferences, it does demonstrate that some businessmen had a profiteering attitude in politics and were open to taking advantage of the nexus between politics and business. Influenced by the political context and situation, the CPC was also able to flexibly apply its “class analysis” theory during that time to justify the policy of cooperating with people like Yu Qiaqing. However, the failure of cooperation with the bourgeoisie by 1927 became an excuse for opposing factions within the party to criticize this policy, and even affected the CPC's subsequent policy line afterwards.