MARRIAGE SQUEEZE IN CHINA'S FUTURE

The preference for sons in China and discrimination against girls have resulted in a male marriage squeeze. This paper develops two new indices of the sex ratio among potential first marriage partners by normalising first marriage frequencies and by eliminating the tempo effect in first marriage. Using two newly developed indices and two existing ones, the authors predict China's marriage squeeze for the period 2000–2100. The authors find that the new indices produce almost the same results as the existing ones when measuring the sex ratios of marriageable males to females. For the years 2015 to 2050, the sex ratio of potential males to females is over 1.15, and then fluctuates around 1.1 after 2060. From 2015 to 2045, China will face an annual surplus of one million males. However, if the high sex ratio at birth cannot be controlled, the male marriage squeeze will be much more severe.     

Radiocarbon dating of marine shell samples. The marine radiocarbon reservoir effect of coastal waters off Atlantic Iberia during Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic Periods

Radiocarbon dates on marine shells have not been used as extensively as charcoal or bone dates for the setting up of absolute chronologies because interpreting these dates is complicated by the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect. Nevertheless marine shellfish were used widely at least during the Holocene and their shells are abundant and usually well preserved in archaeological deposits located near shorelines. Consequently prior research concerning the oceanographic conditions and the marine radiocarbon reservoir effect of a particular coastal area is needed in order to set up reliable chronologies for that region. Values of regional marine radiocarbon reservoir effect – ΔR – of coastal waters off Atlantic Iberia, some of its variability along the Holocene and its correlation with the upwelling phenomenon were determined during previous research. More data related to the ΔR values for western Portuguese coastal waters during the Late Neolithic and the Chalcolithic, a time interval badly sampled in previous research, were recently obtained. These values can be compared with ΔR values already determined for the Gulf of Cadiz. Besides the importance of these values for a better knowledge of the palaeoceanography and palaeoclimatology of Atlantic Iberia, from now on archaeologists can set up reliable chronologies for Late Neolithic and Chalcolithic contexts using marine shell samples of that origin for radiocarbon dating.     

THE SYNTAX OF OBJECTS AND THE REPRESENTATION OF HISTORY: SPEAKING OF SLAVERY IN NEW YORK

The representation of history continues to evolve in the domain of museum exhibitions. This evolution is informed in part by the creation of new display methods—many of which depart from the traditional conventions used to achieve the "museum effect"—in part by an increased attention to the museum-visitor relationship. In this context the ethical force of bearing witness, at times a crucial aspect of the museum experience, has emerged as a particularly compelling issue. In seeking to represent and address atrocity, injustice, and the abrogation of human rights, museums have the potential to become "sites of conscience" and to encourage "historical consciousness." Through a series of three exhibitions devoted to slavery, the New-York Historical Society demonstrated how such sites can be constructed and how objects can be deployed to represent extreme or "limit cases." In this review/essay I investigate and interrogate these exhibitions, looking closely at the use of objects as a source of "indirect testimony" (Marc Bloch) and at the "dialogical situation" (Paul Ricoeur) that might arise in an encounter among objects, exhibit narratives, and visitors. Thinking in terms of point of view, I look at the variety of rhetorical platforms from which objects speak in these exhibitions; thinking in terms of syntax, I look at the effects of ordering and of the radical juxtaposition of objects; thinking in terms of irony, I look at the provocations of double-voiced narratives and at how objects are used to support those historical sentences.     

过渡金属离子与有机物对钢铁的缓蚀协同效应

从过渡金属离子的特点、过渡金属离子对钢铁的缓释作用机理、及其与有机物对钢铁的缓释协同等方面,较全面地综述了过渡金属离子与有机物缓蚀体系应用于钢铁的研究现状,并结合铁质文物保护技术要求,提出了模拟制作铁质文物试片,选择合适的过渡金属离子与有机物,借鉴现代钢铁缓释剂研究的分析技术,开展铁质文物保护研究课题的技术路线.     

论郑珍文学创作的经学化

文学经学化是郑珍文学创作的基本特征之一,也是郑珍文学创作能够取得巨大成就的基础。本文分析了郑珍文学经学化形成的原因、特点以及表现方式,揭示了经学与文学在郑珍诗文创作中的密切互动关系。     

Computer programmes for the correction of matrix effects in the XRF analysis of glass,ceramics and related silicate systems

The quantitative analysis of glass, ceramics and related silicate systems by means of energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry is considered and problems arising from the selective absorption of X-rays in multi-element specimens are discussed. A computer programme written in FORTRAN and based upon a “semi-fundamental parameters” approach to the correction of matrix effects in glass and chemically similar materials is fully described. Model data are provided to enable the programme to be run and tested. An “empirical coefficients” computer programme for the quantitative analysis of silicate systems is outlined and the limitations of this type of programme are pointed out. The importance of adequate sample preparation prior to X-ray spectrometric analysis is stressed.