Empowering the Local Saharawi People: Training for Rock Art Documentation in Western Sahara (DARSSO Project)

The former Spanish Sahara is the last remaining colony in Africa. Most of the local people have been living in refugee camps in Algeria for the last 40 years and this situation has largely conditioned the archaeological research in the territory for a long time. In spite of the Saharawi Ministry of Culture in exile occasionally collaborating with European academic institutions for the study of its huge archaeological heritage, the training of local archaeologists or initiatives exclusively aimed at targeting the self-management of the Saharawi Archaeology are rarely carried out. This could be due to the difficulties in getting funds for long-term projects in this area, among other factors. However, today’s technological revolution has come to the desert including mobile telephones, televisions, computers and even an incipient Internet connection. At the same time, current digital technology has encouraged the development of new methods of documenting rock paintings, which might be appropriate and more accessible for the Saharawi technicians. This paper discusses the successful and failed aspects, as well as future perspectives, of a training course in rock art documentation intended for empowering local archaeologists who are living in very unfavourable circumstances.     

A Spectral-Acceleration-Based Linear Combination-Type Earthquake Intensity Measure for High-Rise Buildings

With the consideration of higher modes, an attempt is made to develop a spectral-acceleration-based linear combination-type earthquake intensity measure (IM) for high-rise buildings. The modal mass participation factors are determined to take weighting coefficients. A parametric analysis on the correlation between IM and the maximum interstory drift that utilizes the bend-shear coupled continuum model yields a bilinear relationship between the optimal number of modes involved and structural fundamental period. The proposed IM and several other combination-type IMs are shown to be efficient and sufficient, while the scaling robustness of the proposed IM is more stable compared with that of fundamental-mode-based IMs.     

Assessing the relationship between physician availability and viral load suppression in British Columbia

In 2014, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS set the target of dramatically reducing the burden of HIV through expansion of access to timely HIV treatment. In order to achieve this target, it is necessary to expand access to care along the HIV cascade of care. This study examines the relationship between viral suppression and the availability of physicians providing HIV treatment in British Columbia, Canada. Data from the Drug Treatment Program of the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS was analyzed. The floating catchment method was used to assess physician availability and multivariable logistic regression was used to implement a confounder selection technique to independently assess the relationship between physician availability and viral load suppression. Individuals with more than 25 physicians within a one‐hour catchment were more likely to reside in urban areas and almost twice as likely to have a suppressed viral load (adjusted odds ratio: 1.97; 95% CI 1.50 – 2.58). This study highlights the impact of physicians’ availability on viral load levels. Mapping technology was used to identify the locations in which patients were most impacted by the lack of physicians.     

The working and living conditions of college-educated rural migrants in China

In the past one and a half decades, Chinese cities have witnessed an influx of college-educated rural migrants. Until now, there has been little systematic research on the working and living conditions of this growing population. The objective of this paper is to empirically examine similarities and differences in living conditions between college-educated rural migrants, non-college-educated rural migrants, and local urban workers. The data are from the 2010 National Health and Family Planning Commission Survey of China’s migrant population. Our study has produced several findings. First, the monthly income of college-educated rural migrants is significantly higher than that of non-college-educated rural migrants and is similar to that of college-educated local urban workers. However, less-educated rural migrants earn more than local urban workers with similar levels of education. Second, while college-educated rural migrants work fewer hours than non-college-educated rural migrants, they work longer hours than their local urban counterparts. Third, local urban workers receive greater social benefits than college-educated rural migrants, whose benefits are better than those of non-college-educated rural migrants. Overall, while college-educated rural migrants enjoy more favourable working and living conditions than non-college-educated rural migrants, they remain disadvantaged when compared to urban workers with a similar level of education. These findings highlight the insurmountable institutionalised exclusion and discrimination that imposes significant barriers on rural-origin people to reap the benefits of higher education.     

"德先生"和"赛先生"之外的关怀——从"穆姑娘"的提出看新文化运动时期道德革命的走向

Today, Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science are always invoked in the discussion of the May Fourth New Culture Movement. However, Miss Moral, who was also introduced in the later stages of the movement, is much less known. It would clearly be of interest to study the way in which “moral” became a catchword but then faded away and was forgotten. The emphasis on solidarity and patriotism, stimulated by foreign encroachment that had existed since the late Qing Dynasty, began to shift to an ethical revolution centering on individual liberation. However, after the rise of the May Fourth Movement, public attention was attracted by collectivism and nationalism again, while the appeal for individuality and ethical revolution was decayed gradually. The introduction of Miss Moral had a direct relationship with the trend of ethical revolution in the later stages of the New Culture Movement. Translated from Lishi Yanjiu 历史研究 (Historical Research), 2006, (1): 79–95     

发展五十镇旅游业的思考

建设社会主义新农村,首先必须发展经济,而旅游业作为一个朝阳产业、新兴产业,具有投资少、见效快、链条长、吸纳能力强的特点。发展旅游业对于调整产     

工艺生产与中国古代社会的复杂化进程

社会复杂化的表层是社会分层和政治组织形式上的专制统治,但社会复杂化无疑是建立在经济发展的基础之上的。文德安(Anne P.Underhill)教授的《中国北方地区手工业生产与社会变迁》(Craft Production and Social Change in Northern China)一书,就是从陶器生产探讨社会复杂化过程的一部专著,本文是该书的第一章,主要介绍作者的研究意图和书中将要采用的阐释理论。作者长期从事黄河中下游地区史前至夏商考古学研究。她注意到,当时社会的一个显著特征是陶质或铜质饮食器具在贵族奢侈品中占有异常重要的地位。作者认为,饮食器具地位的凸现,显示的是社会上层对高级食物和饮品以及生产、制作这些食品所耗费的劳动力的占有,是社会上层集团为了在竞争中彰显自身财富和威望这一社会行为的反映。为了适应这种社会需求,陶器手工业者不断改进生产技术,提高生产效力,增加产品种类,其结果是导致了陶器的专业化生产;而这些因素又反过来影响了生产组织的变化。在社会复杂化过程中,贵族总是在谋求对经济、政治、意识形态和军事上的控制权,而经济控制权是实现一切权利的基础。鉴于高级饮食器具在社会上扮演的异常重要的角色,控制高端陶器的生产、流通和消费,尤其是对最为关键的“生产”阶段的控制,也便有了不寻常的社会意义。精英阶层通过对专业陶匠及其相关的专业化生产的持续投资,实现了对这种高端陶器生产的有效地控制,而陶器生产技术的日益复杂,也使得对其生产的控制变得相对容易。这种“资助式”专业化或称附属式专业化生产,实际上是最早出现的“官营”手工业。判断附属式或官营手工业与独立的非专职的专业化生产的主要标准是器物的标准化程度。为了了解中国早期陶器生产,文德安博士曾屡次亲赴贵州、云南和新疆各省区,采集人类学、民族学第一手资料,并有长篇调查报告发表。这是北美人类学考古学家的治学路数。这种亲历的经验,使得作者在对中国史前陶器生产的研究上受益良多。陶器标准化程度主要是靠测量数据来体现,苦于国内考古发掘报告中往往缺少“典型器物标本”以外陶器的测量数据,作者数度穿梭于山东、河南各地的博物馆和考古工作站,测量必须的陶器数据。她认为龙山文化陶器已经属于附属式手工生产。作者的这一认识,已经从制陶技术的研究中予以证实。两城镇龙山文化制陶所反映的工艺流程,清楚地显示了陶器生产专业化发达程度。关于宴享在社会复杂化进程中的作用,国外人类学界与考古学界已有许多成果。越来越多的研究者认为,宴享是个人用以显示自身财富、维持或提高自身权力的一种手段。在我国,龙山时代存在饮品酒已经得到证实,但史前和原史时代宴饮的社会功能却并非一个不证自明的命题。实际上,我国后代文献如《国语·周语中》所记“饫以显物,宴以合好”,就道出了宴饮的性质。《周礼·春官·大宗伯》所言,“以饮食之礼,亲宗族兄弟”;“以飨燕之礼,亲四方之宾客”,说得更为直白。也正是因为宴饮容易“合族”、“聚众”,故立足未稳的西周年统治者规定民众不得“群饮”,违者“尽执拘”、“其杀”(《尚书·酒诰》)。这是从反面理解宴饮功能的文字记载。本文对于我们的最大启示,与其说是作者得出的结论,不如说是在研究方法方面。作者实际上是把考古学上最为常见的陶器,放到政治经济领域加以考察,即把陶器的生产、流通与消费过程放在特定的历史背景下,考察器物所具有的社会性质或者产品蕴含的象征意义。史前时代晚期某些陶器所具有的礼器性质早就为学界所公认,但对于陶器礼器化的过程却缺乏有说服力的论证。作者假设,贵重食物、饮品和盛放它们的饮食器具及其背后所隐含的劳动,导致了精英阶层对某些高端陶器生产的控制与独占;而控制陶器生产的结果,直接引发了隶属式专业化生产组织的出现(这本身就是社会复杂化的一个体现),其在考古学上的表现形式,就是陶器本身所反映出来的生产效率和产品质量的提高。前一个假设,通过对高端陶器与高等级墓葬等共存现象的考察很容易得到证实;后一个假设,则通过统计测量得出的陶器标准化程度和陶器工艺流程的复原得以验证。所谓先有假说,再加以验证,这是一个很好的个案。     

《全唐文》误收南宋人所作《长芦崇福禅寺僧堂上梁文》考

《全唐文》卷八四七录五代李琪文若干,其中有一篇上梁文:《长芦崇福禅寺僧堂上梁文》.杨挺先生在《不存在儿郎伟文体和儿郎伟曲调》一文中将此文系于天韦占三年,注云:"此文见《全唐文》卷847.     

辽宁朝阳隋唐时期砖构墓葬形制及演变

朝阳曾是隋唐王朝统治东北地区的边陲重镇,经过多年的考古工作,在这里发现了大量隋唐时期的墓葬.这些墓葬以砖构墓为主,形制复杂多样,等级差别明显,并具有一定的演变规律.本文首先总结砖构墓葬的形制,然后以纪年墓葬为标尺分析其演变过程,最后将朝阳唐墓与中原唐墓进行了初步比较.     

Towards a Multi-Agent-Based Modelling of Obsidian Exchange in the Neolithic Near East

This paper examines an alternative approach to previously proposed models of prehistoric exchange such as the law of monotonic decrement or the down-the-line exchange model developed by Renfrew (Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 34: 319–331, 1968, Renfrew 1977) to explain the distribution of obsidian across the Near East during the Neolithic period. Renfrew’s down-the-line model, which results in a very regular and clustered network, does not permit the circulation of obsidian to regions of the Near East that are further than 300 km from the source zones, as is shown in the archaeological data available. Obsidian exchange is a complex system where multiple factors interact and evolve in time and space. We therefore explore Agent-Based Modelling (ABM) so as to get a better understanding of complex networks. ABM simulations of an exchange network where some agents (villages) are allowed to attain long-distance exchange partners through correlated random walks are carried out. These simulations show what variables (population density, degree of collaboration between villages…) are relevant for the transfer of obsidian over long distances. Moreover, they show that a type of small-world exchange network could explain the breadth of obsidian distribution (up to 800 km from source) during the Near Eastern Neolithic.