COMPUTER CARTOGRAPHY IN HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH

The potential value of maps in historical geographical research has increased as a result of clearer understanding of the nature of maps and new developments in computer cartography. The computer has made possible the rapid transformation of appropriately organized sets of data into maps of many different types. The manipulation of such data sets replaces many time-consuming drafting operations of conventional cartography and adds new flexibility to mapping operations. Maps of the early colonial settlement of the Cape Colony demonstrate the flexibility and value of computer cartography in historical geographical research.
La valeur potentielle des cartes pour la recherche en géographie historique a connu un essor considérable suite à une meilleure connaissance de la nature des cartes et les développements récents dans la cartographie automatisée. L'ordinateur a rendu possible la transformation rapide des ensembles de données organisés d'une facon appropriée en cartes de divers types. La manipulation de tels ensembles de données remplace un grand nombre d'opérations manuelles de la cartographie traditionnelle qui ont demandé beaucoup de temps, et elle a ajouté une nouvelle flexibilité aux opérations de cartographie. Des cartes du peuplement au début de l'époque coloniale du Cap démontrent la flexibilité et la valeur de la cartographie automatisée pour la recherche en géographie historique.     

Braudel's grammar of civilizations

I. A History of Civilizations. By Fernand Braudel (New York: Penguin Books, 1995), xl + 573 pp.

II. Ecrits sur l'histoire II. By Fernand Braudel (Paris: Flammarion, 1994), 270 pp.     

Has the Hong Kong Model Worked? Industrial Policy in Retrospect and Prospect

This article attempts to blend the insights of development economics and political economy in order to analyse industrial policy in Hong Kong. It describes the lack of industrial upgrading, the process of de-industrialization, and the over-reliance on the service sector, and examines the political economy of the functional industrial policy practised in Hong Kong, as well as its limitation. The author suggests that the political change from a colony to a special administrative region of China provides a context for Hong Kong State to undertake a more interventionist, industry-specific policy, the success of which will depend on a combination of two factors: state autonomy against the excessive influence of Beijing, and state capacity to guard against corruption and to enhance a mutually-beneficial regional co-operation in the South China region.     

‘The Most Churlish of Celebrities’: George Eliot,John Cross and the Question of High Status

Published in 1885, John Cross's biography of his late wife, George Eliot's Life as Related in Her Letters and Journals, was written with the intention to ‘make known the woman as well as the author’ (John Cross, ed., George Eliot's Life as Related in Her Letters and Journals, cabinet edn, 3 vols (Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons, 1887), I, v). Yet, ironically, the biography is renowned precisely for the lack of insight it affords readers into the private life of George Eliot. Why did Cross make a promise that he could not keep? My essay attempts to answer this question by examining George Eliot's Life in the context of the fame culture of the late nineteenth century. I suggest that it is possible to read Cross's unwillingness in the Life to make Eliot more ‘available’ to her public as a reaction against the sorts of publicity which, throughout the 1870s, had pushed Eliot's persona into a celebrity arena. George Eliot's Life represents Cross's effort to preserve Eliot's high professional reputation by emphasizing her distance from celebrity culture and her status as a female sage. Through close examination of the reviews of the biography, I identify the contemporary attitudes that made stressing Eliot's greatness appear urgent to her biographer and, paradoxically, so unpopular with the general public. I call attention, in particular, to changing expectations about the relationship between public figures and their audiences as well as the purpose and content of famous Lives. ?1.?Leon Edel, ed., The Diary of Alice James (Harmondsworth, Middlesex: Penguin Books, 1982), pp. 40–41.      

Evaluation of Side Boundary Effects on Dynamic Numerical Modeling for Centrifugal Model Tests

Four different boundary conditions consisting of fixed nodes, motion of roller only in the z or the x direction, and equivalent motion of two side boundaries were applied with a finite element code to simulate seismic behavior of two foundation conditions consisting of dry loose and dense sands. Comparing numerical results with physical model tests indicates that data obtained from the finite element code when considering soil nonlinearity with a sand model based on the tij concept have acceptable agreements with those from dynamic centrifuge tests regardless of the boundary conditions. The results from the boundary conditions of roller in the x direction and equivalent motion of two side boundaries agree well with the experimental data in wave peaks. The two side boundary conditions also keep the ground middle undisturbed and provide the results that are similar to those obtained from the wave amplification experimental data. For numerical simulations of centrifuge model tests, the side boundary condition with roller in the x direction is recommended because of low computation time and high simulation quality.     

方言:民俗文化的优质载体与解读钥匙——以浙江温州"瓯语"为例

一、“瓯语”概说方言是语言的地域变体,也是民俗语言的组成部分。方言在现代语言学中分为社会方言和地域方言。本文所讲的方言专指地域方言,或称地方话。《礼记·王制》云:“五方之民,言语不通,嗜欲不同。”东汉王充《论衡·自纪篇》说:“经传之文,圣贤之语,古今言殊,四方谈异也。”可见,在我国,汉语方言及地域文化差异,古已有之。     

浙赣会战新探

浙赣会战是一次大规模会战.在会战前,中日双方都高度重视会战,积极备战.会战爆发后,日军攻势凌厉,中国军队一度处于退守状态,但也对日军进行了有效的消耗.由于战场形势的变化,"衢州决战"的计划被取消,中国军队的主力撤至浙赣线两侧山区,日军趁机打通了浙赣线.此后,中日双方进行了一系列小规模战斗,形成了对峙局面.到了8月份,由于战线过长,日军开始回撤,中国军队抓住时机进行了全面反攻,最后恢复了战前态势.浙赣会战对当时的国际、国内局势都产生了一定的影响.     

再論唐代的使職和職事官——李建墓碑墓誌的啓示

本文認爲:在唐代,舉凡沒有官品的實職官位,都是使職,如史館史官、知制誥等。由於沒有官品,使職常以"他官充某職"的方式來委任。使職的特徵,主要有三:(一)使職與掌權者之間有一種信任,有一定的"私"關係;(二)使職的權力和享有的好處,遠多於類似職位的職事官,以致職事官以爲使職"侵奪"了職事官原本的權益;(三)使職常不載於正規的政典和職官志,乃正常現象。本文還認爲:使職遠遠早於正規的職事官制,在人類最簡單的"遊羣"(band)組織階段就已形成,乃人類最本能的發明之一。到了帝制時代,當掌權者發覺正規職事官無效率時,重新委派使職來替代職事官,以致在唐後半期,使職取代了超過一半以上的職事官。這是一種"革新",是推動唐代官制演化的一大動力。