A provisional long mean air temperature series for Armagh observatory

Two long mean surface air temperature series are presented for Armagh Observatory; one based on twice daily ‘spot’ temperature readings, 1796–1882, and the other on daily maximum and minimum temperatures, 1844–1992. Our data confirm the correlation of temperature with solar cycle length, first suggested by Friis-Christensen and Lassen (Science254, 698, 1991) and, for this site, extend their result a further 65 years, back to the end of the 18th century.     

A study of signal statistics of VHF radar echoes from clear air

Signal statistics of VHF radar returns from vertical pointing observations of the clear air are investigated. In particular, the signal signature, its Doppler spectrum and statistical distribution are examined. It is found that the most important factors that characterize the statistics of the signals are the width of the spectrum and the Nakagamim-coefficient for the intensity distribution. Using these factors as criteria, two types of signals are found. One corresponds to volume scattering arising from turbulence or multiple thin laminae or sheets. The other corresponds to return from a single sheet. Examples of the different scattering/reflection processes will be shown. Numerical modeling is used to simulate the scattering/reflection processes. From the simulation, it is demonstrated that echo signals from some range gates are consistent with the picture of reflection from a single, diffuse sheet, causing focusing and defocusing of the signals.     

《毛传》标"兴"本义新探

以《诗》培养弟子"兴"的能力(以《诗》"专对")是孔子诗教的重要目的。《毛传》标兴、释兴的体例恰好体现了孔子的诗教原则。     

Carbon isotope fractionation between diet,breath CO2, and bioapatite in different mammals

The carbon isotope fractionation between tooth enamel bioapatite, breath CO₂, and diet was measured for voles, rabbits, pigs, and cattle on controlled diets. The measured fractionation (expressed as isotope enrichment ɛ*) between enamel and diet was 11.5 ± 0.3‰, 12.8 ± 0.7‰, 13.3 ± 0.3‰, and 14.6 ± 0.3‰ for these respective species. There is a 1:1 correlation between ɛ*_{breath–diet} and ɛ*_{enamel–diet} (r² = 0.94, p < 0.01), whereas our data do not resolve significant inter-species differences in ɛ*_{enamel–breath}. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that inter-species differences in ɛ*_{bioapatite–diet} are primarily a result of differences in digestive physiology, rather than differences in the magnitude of fractionation between mineral and body fluid.     

Making connections: a fresh analysis of an early neolithic pit and its contents

Outlined here is a new and detailed assessment of two Early Neolithic pits discovered in 1933 by Dr. E.C. Curwen on New Barn Down, Worthing. Newly obtained radiocarbon dates that place the pits between 4000–3800 BC make them amongst the earliest Neolithic features in Sussex and southern England. It is proposed that the pits (collectively known as Pit X) display connections not only to the nearby flint mines, but also to the immediate coastal zone and to wider England. The examination illuminates the practices of an Early Neolithic community, who were not only extracting flint from the nearby mines, but also familiar with new forms of material culture and social customs.     

上海鲁迅纪念馆舒适性中央空调湿度控制的改造

当今博物馆纪念馆陈列展厅有大量的文物展示,需要有恒温恒湿的环境加以保护。而现今许多博物馆已有空调,温度达到恒温,但是湿度难以控制,分析原因是因为空调设备的选型是舒适性中央空调,而舒适性中央空调调节温湿度以人体舒适为标准,在有些客观条件下,不能有效地控制湿度。为了利用现有的设备达到恒湿的效果,可以根据现存的能力和条件将原有的空调系统加以改造,改造的方法是将新风进行初步的除湿处理,再通过原空调箱将新回风进行降温降湿处理,从而达到控制湿度目的。上海鲁迅纪念馆的空调系统通过改造后,基本能达到一定的温湿度要求。因此,本方法对于一些采用舒适性中央空调且在控制湿度变化上存在困难的博物馆纪念馆进行改造,具有借鉴意义。     

Bone survival: The effects of sedimentary abrasion and trampling on fresh and cooked bone

It is commonly assumed that, at least when considering similar sized animals, the bones from all taxa stand an equal chance of preservation. This paper summarizes one aspect of a larger study undertaken in order to assess whether this assumption is true, based on the results of experiments and observations into the effects of a range of pre-depositional processes. The rates of bone destruction by sedimentary abrasion and by trampling are determined for small mammal, fish and frog bones. Patterns of bone loss and fragmentation are examined both between species and within the skeleton, for fresh and boiled bone. It is shown that there is considerable interspecies variation in the ability of bones to withstand these physical forces. Frog bone proved particularly resistant, while within the fish, bone from the Gadidae was less resilient than might be expected, given its predominance in British Medieval archaeological sites and coastal sites of all periods. Within the skeleton, bone shape appears to be a very important determinant of relative survival. Boiling dramatically reduces bone's resistence to destruction. The physical properties of fresh, boiled and burnt bone are compared mechanically, and the dramatic loss of strength induced by heating is demonstrated. The often voiced assumption that fish bone is more prone to destruction than mammal bone is shown to have some validity. The results add more evidence to support the view that comparison of species abundance by fragment counts may not always be appropriate, and that interpretation of skeletal element frequencies should be approached with caution.     

中国国家博物馆环境空气质量监测报告

为加强博物馆藏品的预防性保护,需全面掌握博物馆馆舍内外空气质量的现状,对其进行评估,进而采取有效措施治理改善,妥善保护人类文化遗产。本馆采用美国普滤(Purafil)公司研发并提供的检测技术,在馆舍内外选定八个测试点进行了腐蚀试片测试。根据监测数据得知,本馆处于高浓度极具腐蚀性的二氧化硫气态物质的包围中,已造成对金属、纸张等文物的危害,治理改善收藏环境迫在眉睫。创造保存各类藏品的微环境空间,是治理改善博物馆收藏环境的有效手段。     

Critica (IV) some fresh conjectures on Horace: Epistles II and Ars Poetica

In this article I propose (1) to delete et at Ep. 2. 1. 46, (2) to read vati instead of vatem at 2. 1. 133, (3) his instead of hic at 2. 2. 84, (4) non ita longe instead of non ita pridem at Ars 254, and (5) to put a question mark after natura at 353.     

Aerostatic spacing: on things becoming lighter than air

The development of practical aerostatic or lighter than air balloon flight in 1783 marked the emergence of a new way of being and becoming mobile, one that also involved an important technical and experiential transformation in earth–atmosphere relations. This paper narrates an account of the distinctive kinds of spaces of which aerostatic flight is generative. At the centre of this account is the claim that the affective materiality of aerostatic flight is simultaneously processual and possessing of what political theorist Jane Bennett calls 'thing-power'. In developing this claim, the paper draws from a range of historical and contemporary accounts of aerostatic flight in order to elaborate upon three aspects of the spaces of things becoming aerostatic: the distinctive kinds of sensing of which aerostatic flight is generative; the differential qualities of affectivity in which the movement and materiality of aerostatic things participates; and the kinds of vertiginous events in which the felt movement – actual or anticipated – of aerostatic things is implicated. The paper concludes by speculating upon how attending to the distinctive and sometimes disquieting materiality of aerostatic things might contribute to geographical engagements with the spaces of air and atmosphere.     

金沙遗址博物馆大气污染特征研究

为全面了解金沙遗址博物馆遗址区空气污染特征及污染物来源,在2019年秋季对遗址保护厅内外大气中细颗粒物(PM_2.5)和挥发性有机物(VOCs)进行了观测,并对各自化学组分进行了全面分析。结果发现:金沙遗址博物馆遗址保护厅内外PM_2.5污染严重,平均质量浓度分别为77.0μg/m³和94.6μg/m³;受人为影响程度的不同,室内昼夜差异明显强于室外。室外的OM、NO₃^-和SO₄^2-浓度高于室内,而室内的NH+4和典型的地壳元素(K⁺、Mg²⁺和Ca²⁺)浓度高于室外;受化学组成的影响,室内外PM_2.5分别呈碱性和酸性。地壳元素在整体元素中占据绝对主导,室内外占比分别可达82.8%和84.4%。通过富集因子分析得知Cu(室外)、Ag、Cd、Sb元素均达到了重度富集。室内外VOCs浓度几乎相同,分别为81.2×10^-9和81.3×10^-9,其中烷烃的贡献比例最高,分别为44%和46%;源自机动车、工业溶剂涂料使用、燃油挥发及生物质燃烧等人为源的VOCs物质在室外的浓度要明显高于室内。这些研究结果对于金沙遗址博物馆遗址区空气质量的全面了解、土遗址及其中文物的高质量保存和提供优质的参观环境具有重要意义。     

Computational simulation of air flows through a Sri Lankan wind-driven furnace

Research carried out in the early 1990s in Sri Lanka, combining field survey, ethno-archaeology and excavation, revealed an extensive iron producing industry dating to the second half of the first millennium AD. The field evidence indicated that this industry was based on a shallow, wind-powered furnace design that represented a radical departure from the accepted bellows-driven, shaft furnace model which has been the epitome of successful pre-industrial iron smelting. Subsequent experimental reconstructions of the process carried out in Sri Lanka established that the furnaces were wind-powered and also that they were capable of producing high quality, hypereutectoid steels. The objective of the current work is to use modern techniques in Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to investigate the airflow through and around these furnaces in order to verify the theoretical model of their operation. It also demonstrates the potential application of CFD to the modelling and interpretation of pre-modern pyrotechnologies.     

Disrupting air power: Performativity and the unsettling of geopolitical frames through artworks

This paper advances the concept of disruption, drawing upon Butler's (1993) work on performativity, her engagement with Goffman's (1974) frame analysis and recent work on performativity within critical geopolitics. It argues this approach provides a useful tool with which to elucidate gaps in the iterative processes of geopolitical discourse production that offer opportunities for momentary distortions to these dominant articulations of power. It analyses the utility of this approach through discussion of three artworks by the acclaimed British artist Fiona Banner. In June 2010 she unveiled her prestigious Duveens commission project at Tate Britain. The work, entitled ‘Harrier and Jaguar’, was the most ambitious of a series of engagements with military aircraft which have spanned over a decade of creative work. Banner's work has become synonymous with challenging dominant discourses on power and war especially through textual representations of war films and innovative uses of military aircraft. Beginning with her book project, ‘All the world's fighter planes’ (2004) and moving through her Duveens project to the military aircraft-related work ‘Tornado’ (2010), this paper argues that Banner's work illustrates the utility of the concept of disruption; going beyond simply raising questions about our engagements with military aircraft, to actively disrupting our encounters with and understandings of these objects and thus popular representations of air power.     

被动采样在考古发掘现场大气监测中的应用

通过对被动采样器结构和原理的分析,对其在环境监测中的应用情况进行综述。论述其对环境的适用性和考古发掘现场的特点及有害气体的监测需求。认为被动采样技术在考古发掘现场有害气体的监测中具有广泛的应用前景。