Let there be light … and bread: the United Nations,the developing world,and atomic energy’s Green Revolution

Although President Eisenhower’s 1953 ‘Atoms for Peace’ speech typically is associated with the promotion of nuclear power, it also recommended other peaceful uses of the atom, including applications in agriculture. ‘Developing’ countries in particular took a keen interest in food preservation, grain disinfestation, fertilizer studies, insect control, and mutation breeding, all using irradiation. A conflict of philosophies emerged at the United Nations between the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The IAEA stood accused of promoting a narrow range of technological solutions, ignoring more sensible but less sensational techniques, and tempting the poorest countries of the world to achieve ‘modernization’ with unproven technologies. The present essay outlines the origins of FAO/IAEA conflict and collaboration in the 1960s, and explores the failed effort of plant geneticist Ronald Silow to stop what he saw as the IAEA’s hijacking of agriculture at the UN.     

A Note on the Meaning of Ḥamas in Ezekiel

ABSTRACT

The entries for ?amas in the biblical lexicons read “violence, wrong”; “treat violently”; or “theft, exploitation, social oppression;” namely, this word is understood as referring to the social sphere. On this basis, in the usual exegesis of the verses in which it appears in Ezekiel, ?amas is understood to refer to social violence. I suggest, however, that a closer examination of each of the seven occurrences of this term in Ezekiel indicates that it refers to the sins of the people that led to the destruction of the Temple—including idolatry and bloodshed—and that Ezekiel utilized and adjusted this pentateuchal concept to his prophetic needs.     

From Personel to Dekalog: Michnik,Havel, Konrad,Camus and the Search for the Individual in the Cinema of Krzysztof Kieślowski1

This article analyses the extent to which samizdat publications by Central European dissidents, in particular those of the Pole Adam Michnik, the Czech Václav Havel, and the Hungarian György Konrád, had an influence on Kie?lowski’s feature films. The article follows the development of the dissidents’ ideas in parallel to the development of Kie?lowski’s own search for the lost individual in former Soviet-bloc societies. Finally, the article also explores the impact Camus’s thought had on Kie?lowski’s work of the 1980s.     

Articulate Bodies: Forms and Figures at Çatalhöyük

This paper examines the materializing practices of bodies at the Neolithic site of Çatalhöyük. We focus on the clay and stone figurine corpus (over 1,800 total, with over 1,000 of those being diagnostic), but also consider other media such as wall paintings and sculptured features, as well as the skeletal evidence. This paper is the first attempt to analyze particular bodily characteristics in the Çatalhöyük figurine repertoire from a perspective that investigates, rather than assumes, a priori the representational priorities of their makers. Within a wide range of anthropomorphic and abbreviated figurines, we find that specific areas such as the stomach and buttocks were often clearly delineated and emphasized, whereas demarcation of primary sexual characteristics was typically downplayed. These traits and their material “prominence” might underscore specific bodily areas that have generally been overlooked as potential sites of articulation and attention. Our work challenges older assumptions that figurines were always engaged in projects of either deification or self-making. Instead, we suggest that these body types might mediate other kinds of social concerns and practices.     

A Hierarchy of Geographies: A Skinnerian Model of Indochina’s Overseas Chinese Congrégations and Their Influence on French Colonialism

In Indochina, overseas Chinese were organized by dialect group into associations called congregations, which shared many of the functions of huiguan in China. The spread of overseas Chinese economic and social networks followed a Skinnerian model in which large urban con?régations wielded more political and economic authority than did smaller, rural con?régations. By examining the impacts of French colonialism upon overseas Chinese networks within Indochina and upon overseas connections with their Chinese native places, this paper proposes that the Skinnerian model of local-system hierarchy fits quite comfortably when applied to the world of French colonial Indochina and its overseas Chinese. Furthermore, it argues that French colonialism actually reinforced the Skinnerian hierarchy of politics and markets in ways that endured long after the collapse of Imperial China.     

Non-destructive chemical characterization of ceramic sherds from Shipwreck 31CR314 and Brunswick Town, North Carolina

The purpose of this study was to chemically and texturally characterize ceramic oil jar sherds from North Carolina Shipwreck 31CR314 and to explore the utility of environmental scanning electron microscopy/X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM/EDS) for that purpose. The oil jar sherds, widely dispersed about Shipwreck 31CR314, are morphologically similar to each other, which suggests they could be from a single jar, but with so few joins this could not be concluded with certainty. Therefore, an aim of this study was to investigate whether chemical or textural characterization of the sherds might reveal unique attributes that could distinguish individual jars; results of characterization perhaps could give information on their origin and possibly site formation processes, such as whether environmental forces could have scattered sherds of a single jar during and after sinking of the ship. Previous studies have indicated this shipwreck is likely the remnants of the Queen Anne's Revenge, flagship of the pirate Blackbeard. Sherds from this shipwreck were compared with similar oil jar sherds excavated from a land site, Brunswick Town, North Carolina, to explore the use of composition and texture as hallmarks. The chemical components of the artifacts were determined by SEM/EDS. This method of analysis is valuable for archaeological research because it is rapid and non-destructive to the ceramic artifacts. Both groups of lead-glazed coarse red earthenware sherds were texturally similar except for the glazed sides of all 31CR314 sherds that exhibited small tracks of unique crescent-shaped marks. These marks may be due to manufacturing effects and immersion in seawater, and the marks may serve as hallmarks for individual jars or potentially individual manufacturers. The sherds were generally similar in composition, but the two groups exhibited distinct differences. Brunswick Town sherds consistently contained more phosphate on unglazed sides, an average 1.46 wt.% P₂O₅, and also contained trace elements not detected in the Shipwreck 31CR314 sherds. These distinct differences could be due to different manufacturing origins for Shipwreck 31CR314 and Brunswick Town ceramics but also could reflect their subjection to different environments during use and loss prior to archaeological recovery.     

用微探针型EDXRF技术研究南宋官窑瓷片的化学组成及其含义

本文报道了用ENGLE-Ⅱ微探针能量色散型X荧光光谱（EDXRF）技术测定一批青瓷残片中的16种元素氧化物的含量．其残片来自浙江杭州地区南宋的郊坛窑和老虎洞窑。由主量元素判别方程。值表明,郊坛和老虎洞青釉瓷均属官窑制品,与龙泉民窑产品有很大差别。从主成分统计分析看出．郊坛下官窑与老虎洞官窑的瓷釉成分有明显不同,但其胎质成分的分布却有部分的重叠。这显示两类同属官窑的制品,其釉料可有不同的矿物组合。但胎料有时会交流使用。从釉层、中间层、和胎层的Al2O3和CaO的含量变化数据表明,郊坛下官窑和老虎洞官窑的青瓷制品有厚度分别为120-140um和230-240μm的中间层,反映出烧造工艺上有一定的差别。化学成分鉴定证实了考古工作者认为老虎洞窑实为史书记载的修内司官窑的观点．     

EDXRF无损测定琉璃构件釉主、次量元素

古代建筑琉璃构件釉层的厚度通常在130μm左右,因此难以将釉层剥离下来进行分析测试。目前,尚不见有关制备琉璃釉校准参考样品的报道,且很难找到与琉璃釉基体接近的标样进行定量分析。为此,在研制建筑琉璃校准参考样品的基础上,建立了用能量色散X射线荧光谱仪（EDXRF）无损测定琉璃釉料主、次量元素的分析方法,并对元素分析线在琉璃釉层中的饱和厚度问题,方法的检测限、精密度等问题进行了讨论。结果表明,所建立的无损测试方法可满足对琉璃釉主、次量元素测定的要求,为今后测试研究古代建筑琉璃构件釉料的元素组成特征打下基础。     

EDXRF探针分析古瓷产地的尝试

由于古汝瓷原料产地的信息能为汝瓷科技鉴定工作提供可靠的借鉴,本工作采用EDXRF探针技术测试了若干汝瓷和钧瓷等样品中的常量元素及微量元素。再利用多元统计中的因子分析处理成分数据,对各样品的因子得分用因子轮廓图和聚类分析图来表示。结果表明,新安钧瓷、古汝瓷和现代仿汝瓷能较好地加以区分,金钧和元钧能从釉的微量元素上加以区分,严和店窑青瓷也能和其他样品区分开。这说明上述两种数据处理方法相结合能较好地反映出样品中所隐含的产地信息,从而为汝瓷科技鉴定和其他古陶瓷的产地分析提供了参考。