Technology of Medieval Mortars: An Investigation into the Use of Organic Additives

This work proposes a multi‐analytical approach to determine the additives in historical mortars, the use of which is widely described in bibliographical sources, but has rarely been reported in the literature. A protocol to thoroughly analyse mortars was created (optical microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, thermal analyses and gas chromatography – mass spectrometry). These techniques, which had already been carried out on samples from various sites from the Roman to the modern era, determined that additives had only been used in the mortars from the internal masonry at our sampling site: the medieval military shipyard of Amalfi (Italy). The investigations yielded information on the production technology, and FT–IR and GC–MS revealed a saccharide material‐based additive in the mortars, of plant origin. The FT–IR spectra suggested the presence of a natural gum, which has been used since ancient times to strengthen the cohesion properties of mortars and their resistance to tensile stress.     

ON THE MANY WAYS OF SAYING MEMORY

This essay examines the concept and the discourse of collective memory in view of interpreting the novel function with which it has been endowed in recent decades and the problematic character of its interpretation. To this end, it focuses on the recent book by Manuel Cruz, On the Difficulty of Living Together: Memory, Politics, and History, which examines the contemporary functions that collective memory has assumed in recent decades and takes into account interpretations of it elaborated in a number of seminal works that have set the framework for contemporary ways of understanding it. My investigation engages critical analysis of the psychological approach to collective memory that Cruz adopts, which, in interpreting recent public preoccupation with collective memory as an expression of trauma occasioned by the Holocaust and other horrific twentieth‐century events, assumes that analogous psychic mechanisms govern forms of remembrance in the public sphere and memory in personal and small‐group interaction. By taking into account alternate possibilities of interpretation, suggested above all by the public function of the mass media, I seek to widen the scope of enquiry to scrutinize in a broader perspective the contemporary role of collective memory and its political significance in the public realm.     

文物中蜡类材料的热裂解-气相色谱/质谱识别

为识别文物中蜡质原材料,以及文物保护修复工作中常用蜡类材料的类别,研究通过在线甲基化热裂解-气相色谱/质谱联用技术对蜂蜡、棕榈蜡、小烛树蜡、地蜡、石蜡等蜡类材料进行分析检测。研究发现:蜂蜡的主要裂解产物为直链烷烃、直链脂肪酸、直链醇、含羟基脂肪酸;棕榈蜡为直链醇、直链脂肪酸、脂肪酸衍生物;小烛树蜡为直链烷烃、直链脂肪酸、直链醇、羽扇豆醇及其衍生物、计曼尼醇及其衍生物、脂肪酸衍生物;地蜡、石蜡等矿物蜡的主要裂解产物为直链烷烃。不同蜡中裂解产物的种类及其相对含量分布规律均有所区别,因此通过在线甲基化热裂解-气相色谱/质谱联用技术可以实现不同种类蜡的区分。通过所建立的方法及总结的数据,研究推断故宫旧藏清代紫檀木边座嵌玉人鸂鶒木山水图插屏中镶嵌珐琅构件所用棕色蜡为蜂蜡,所用白色蜡为矿物蜡及少量蜂蜡。本研究所建立方法易于推广,适用于文物中蜡类材料的准确、快速识别。     

热脱附-气质联用法无损测定函套中挥发性物质的探索研究

热脱附-气质联用法作为一种无损分析技术,可以用于测定函套中的挥发性物质。为此,用Tenax-TA吸附管对10种目标化合物进行吸附,在优化的色谱条件下,苯、甲苯、乙酸正丁酯、乙苯、间/对二甲苯、苯乙烯、邻二甲苯、正十一烷和糠醛等组分相关性良好。对实际样品进行测定,可以实现函套等装具中挥发性有害物质的分离分析。研究结果对纸质文献的保护有参考作用。     

美国早期运河热潮的舆论准备:论共和国初期大众刊物对国家命运的关注

修建运河以连接自然河流和湖泊成为美国建国初期的一大政治共识。逐渐增多的大众刊物为美国早期运河意识从政治领域向社会生活领域普及提供了重要媒介,在美国早期运河热潮中发挥了积极作用。通过报道和评论当时仍然比较零星的运河工程,共和国初期的大众刊物不仅为以1825年伊利运河为代表的运河建设高潮打下了舆论基础,崭露头角的刊物本身也因此表达了对美国命运的关注,有机地融入了美国联邦的巩固进程。     

晚清江苏民变中的反地方自治现象探析

晚清江苏地方自治的推行在当时堪称典型。但由于统治者对自治本意的歪曲及对官办模式的偏重;由于严重的财政危机,国地税改革的功利性与不断加重的捐税;由于下层群众被排除在文化资源拥有者之外,民智民力水平的低下;由于官府与新、旧士绅对基层政治资源的争夺;加之统治者处理民变措施的失误,地方自治陷于困厄并引发江苏省反自治民变。其突出表现为抗捐抗税、反对户口调查、捣毁学校与自治公所等。反地方自治民变表现的社会动员的缺乏、国家—社会关系失序的教训十分深刻。     

The Aakash tablet and technological imaginaries of mass education in contemporary India

Abstract

We explore here public and private initiatives in technological solutions for educating the poor and the disadvantaged in India since the second half of the twentieth century. Specifically, we document Ministry of Human Resource Development’s project to develop an affordable tablet computer, named ‘Aakash,’ as a personal access device for digital courses and online learning materials. We approach this case study in relation to several educational technologies that preceded it, and with a wider interest in mapping a contemporary transition from satellite-based mass education to Internet-based mass education. We argue that this process cannot be easily seen as a transition from unilateral broadcasting to more democratic multi-casting model of communication and learning. Specifically, we study the manufacturing process of Aakash and the public debates around it, to comment on the nature of state power in India, as revealed in its attempts to imagine and develop a digital personal device to deliver mass education.     

建国初期山区土改中的群众动员——以陕南土改为例

建国初期山区土改的顺利进行,离不开成功的群众动员。为了在旧势力强大、信息闭塞的山区把广大群众普遍地动员起来,土改工作组广泛开展了阶级教育、"谁养活谁"的教育和翻身教育。群众一经动员起来形成轰轰烈烈的群众运动,难免出现混乱现象,针对这种情况,中共中央、国务院、各省或下发文件予以指导纠正,或派人赴山区检查制止,使不正确的做法得到及时纠正,保证了土改工作在广泛发动群众的基础上没有发生太大的偏差,得以比较顺利地完成。     

加强有效信息传播努力实现"三贴近"

为了进一步提高新闻宣传的社会效益,实现有效信息的传播,我们党要求新闻媒体在坚持正确舆论导向的同时,要遵循“三贴近”的基本原则,以增强新闻宣传的实效性、吸引力和感染力。而加强有效信息的传播,即是有效落实”三贴近”的具体体现,它们二者之间是相互联系、相辅相成的辨证关系。     

新时期文化产业建设考察

文化与文化生产、文化产业是不同性质、不同层次的概念。新中国对文化事业和文化产业的理解既受到经济发展水平的限制,也受到意识形态观念的影响。从单一的文化建设向文化事业与文化产业并举的转变反映了新时期理论界、文化界对社会主义文化建设理论的大胆探索和积极实践。群众文化作为意识形态的一部分,因其具有广泛的大众娱乐消费基础以及与传统文化和民间文化的紧密联系,成为催生文化产业最丰饶的沃土。文化经济正崛起为21世纪我国新的经济增长点,文化产业处于大发展时期。而文化产品作为文化的载体,其生产与传播方式的变革必然会对文化的传承与发展产生巨大的影响。文化的核心是价值观,文化传统必定持续地存在并显现于文化生活和文化产品中。在繁荣文化经济的同时,如何处理当代文化与传统文化、民族文化与外来文化的关系,是发展繁荣社会主义文化必须面对的课题。