全球史视野与国家史观念:近代边疆史研究的两个维度

近代边疆研究日益引起学术界广泛关注,既是学术研究内在学理自然发展之结果,也与当代社会各界关注边疆问题的历史性反思有着密切关联。对近代边疆史的研究,既不能割裂其与古代边疆史的延续性,也不能拘泥于断代史的话语诠释;既不能忽略边疆问题的殊相,也不要陷入地方史的思维;既要有纵向的深入思考,也要有横向的宽广视野。须从整体思维出发,在全球史视野下审视近代中国边疆问题与全球化进程中国际秩序重构的复杂关系,以国家史观念从全局上把握近代边疆问题与中国国家建设之间密切不可分割的互动关系。     

土质文物盐害中硫酸钠的研究——从微观到宏观

土遗址和壁画遗址可溶盐主要为NaCl和Na_2SO_4,其中Na_2SO_4是破坏程度最严重的盐。一般认为,硫酸钠只有在温度、湿度变化时才不稳定,才发生得失结晶水引起的晶型及体积变化。为研究土质文物盐害的形成机制及内在原因,调研了全国几处典型土遗址和壁画遗址的盐害状况并取样分析。分析发现:1)土遗址和壁画遗址中硫酸钠的形貌、结构是动态变化的(无论在任何极端干燥环境甚至真空条件下);2)环境因素如温度、相对湿度的变化只是加剧上述变化进程。硫酸钠结晶析出时,其体积膨胀约4倍。这一系列的过程,深刻影响着硫酸钠的相变复杂性和对依存土质文物本体的破坏性。本工作从微观和宏观两个层面探讨了这些发现,并通过不同盐分(不同浓度氯化钠、硫酸钠)侵蚀破坏模拟试验、不同温度条件下模拟试验、不同相对湿度下模拟试验,从宏观层面印证了上述微观机制在土遗址和壁画遗址本体的外在表现。本研究发现土遗址中硫酸钠的形貌、结构是动态变化的,该工作弥补了以往研究和认识上的局限。本研究将对阻止、延缓及预测土质文物盐害的发生、发展提供科学参考。     

“History had taken such a large piece out of my life” — Neuroscientist refugees from Hamburg during National Socialism

ABSTRACT

Approximately 9,000 physicians were uprooted for so-called “racial” or “political” reasons by the Nazi regime and 6,000 fled Germany. These refugees are often seen as survivors who contributed to a “brain drain” from Germany. About 432 doctors (all specialties, private and academic) were dismissed from the major German city of Hamburg. Of these, 16 were Hamburg University faculty members dismissed from their government-supported positions for “racial” reasons, and, of these, five were neuroscientists. In a critical analysis, not comprehensively done previously, we will demonstrate that the brain drain did not equal a “brain gain.” The annihilation of these five neuroscientists’ careers under different but similar auspices, their shameful harassment and incarceration, financial expropriation by Nazi ransom techniques, forced migration, and roadblocks once reaching destination countries stalled and set back any hopes of research and quickly continuing once-promising careers. A major continuing challenge is finding ways to repair an open wound and obvious vacuum in the German neuroscience community created by the largely collective persecution of colleagues 80 years ago.     

Visitors’ place-based evaluations of unacceptable tourism impacts in Oulanka National Park,Finland

Visitors’ assessments of the negative impact of tourism, on physical and social environment, vary based on the location where the evaluation occurs. Research that focuses on identifying visitors’ norms within outdoor recreation settings has not been able to link the geographical location with the corresponding evaluation of unacceptable levels of impact. This study combines a traditional on-site visitor survey with a Public Participation Geographic Information Systems survey to produce spatially explicit information on visitors’ acceptance of tourism impacts. Using a web-based participatory survey, visitors were asked to indicate specific locations where they felt the effects of tourism disturbed the quality of their experience in Oulanka National Park. These evaluations were analyzed at multiple scales – destination, specific zones, and sites – to promote more efficient park management. Based on visitor evaluations, we found a collection of hotspots in the park where tourism has already caused unacceptable impacts. Visitors noted that crowding and erosion disturbed their experiences, especially along highly visited trail sections, while littering was considered problematic near wilderness huts. However, participant satisfaction at these sites was not lower than elsewhere in the park. This indicates that the association between negative impacts of tourism and visitor satisfaction is not straightforward, but complex. This study encourages the collection of spatially accurate data on visitors’ assessments of the effects of tourism because it has the potential to more efficiently direct park management policies. In addition, spatial techniques provide a new means to monitor the impacts of tourism, acknowledging that visitors’ perceptions of acceptability of tourism impacts also vary within tourism destinations, such as parks.     

Tourism global production networks and uneven social upgrading in Kenya and Uganda

This paper addresses how the growth of tourism global production networks (GPNs) based in Kenya and Uganda created uneven social upgrading outcomes for workers and communities. A tourism GPN and social upgrading framework follows a global political economy approach to analyzing tourism development and labor in diverse tourism geographies. Two tourism GPNs are investigated: Mombasa, Kenya, and Murchison Falls National Park, Uganda. Four main findings emerge: (1) governance relationships between tour operator and accommodation firms directly impacted social upgrading outcomes for hotel workers and indirectly for excursion workers; (2) excursion workers and community members had precarious connections to tourism GPNs; (3) public governance and collective power were key components to social upgrading while supporting its unevenness; and (4) societal embeddedness constructions around gender and regional space influenced worker and community social upgrading potential. Social upgrading is shaped by a confluence of firm, institution, geography, and labor conditions that differentially materializes in specific tourism GPN arrangements.     

Economic values for recreational planning at Horton Plains National Park,Sri Lanka

Although recreational planning in national parks has long taken visitor characteristics and perceptions into consideration, economic valuation to date has not been part of such planning. Our study applies economic valuation for recreational planning in the Horton Plains National Park (HPNP) in Sri Lanka. The study, using a pretested questionnaire, interviewed 188 respondents in order to identify existing visitor satisfaction levels as well as visitor perceptions on available facilities. The existing visitor satisfaction at HPNP was 54%. Two alternative recreational scenarios were, therefore, developed based on visitor perceptions on how to enhance visitor satisfaction at the park. A hypothetical travel cost method and contingent valuation method (CVM) were used to estimate (1) the welfare benefits in terms of consumer surplus and (2) the demand in terms of willingness to pay (WTP) for the proposed recreational scenarios. The sample size for the economic study was 352 respondents. The per-visitor welfare benefits were financially valued at Sri Lanka Rupees (SLR) 3794 (USD 1 = SLR 130) and SLR 7045 for scenarios 1 and 2, respectively. These values show a 15 to 30 times increase from the existing value of the welfare benefits. The net present value of benefits also increased from SLR 516.8 million to SLR 5296.92 million and SLR 9835.73 million under scenarios 1 and 2, respectively. Under CVM, the estimated mean WTP values were SLR 132.00 and SLR 190.32 under scenarios 1 and 2, respectively. These values can be used as a tool for revising pricing policies at HPNP. Visitors' response to the proposed recreational scenarios suggests the need for planners to institute proper recreational schemes to enhance the welfare benefits of visitors. The study underscores the role economic valuation can play in policy decisions relating to recreational planning in national parks.     

God,not Caesar: Revisiting National Socialism as ‘political religion’

This article argues that use of the concept of ‘political religion’ to describe the radicalized political movements of the twentieth century has again gained currency in recent years as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union as well as the global upsurge of religiously inspired violence and that research with respect to religion proper – what religion is, its role in public life, its evolving reception by ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ – can advance the discussion. The article subsequently offers the author's own research as evidence of the concept's applicability to the case of National Socialism. Analysis focuses, specifically, on a movement in nineteenth century Germany to develop a secular system of ethics, a project that eventually led, ironically and tragically, to the emergence of a new faith in a absolutized ‘collective will’ as the transcendent source of all moral values. The National Socialist movement subsequently co-opted this article of faith, the article argues, by transforming Hitler into a holy medium for the salvific dictates of what became, by the early 1930s, an unimpeachable ‘Volkswille.’     

美国国家经济研究局关于当代中国经济问题研究的最新进展——以中国经济研究项目组2009～2010年的工作手稿为基础

美国国家经济研究局自2003年成立了中国经济研究项目组,在2009～2010年,该项目组共发布了24篇与当代中国经济有关的工作手稿,分别涉及当代中国的经济、人力资本、对外贸易等问题。通过这些手稿,可以了解到国外机构对于当代中国经济问题研究的一些新特点以及最新的发展趋势;可以在相关问题的研究中,得到比较全面的见解和看法,从多角度审视这些重要理论,在面对国内现实问题时提出更为有效的解决办法。     

Professionalising Teaching: enhancing the status of teaching,improving the experience of learning and supporting innovation in higher education

Extant literature on professions suggests that there is a readily recognisable set of characteristics of a profession, but this is a contested issue, particularly in the area of recognising the professionalism of those who teach and support learning in higher education. In the UK, the Institute for Learning and Teaching was set up as a result of the Dearing report to recognise the experience and expertise of those working in these areas. The ILT offers a model for professionalising teaching, to which continuous professional development (CPD) is key. Geographers and those who teach related subjects are already in the vanguard of this activity.     

The failure of the Patarine movement

Although the authors of recent literature on the Patarine movement in Milan (1057-75) have very different intellectual backgrounds, they all try to study and interpret the movement in its complete historical context, and they point to the circumstances or special combination of circumstances which caused the movement to fail. Its failure was due in part to its relationship to the social structure. In this article we first show why this relationship needs to be re-examined and then go on to investigate how the place of the movement in the social structure contributed to its failure and dramatic collapse.