White Encrustation Produced from Deer Antler Phosphate on Prehistoric Ceramics from Podunavlje

The composition and structure of the white pigments used in the encrustation paste on prehistoric ceramics is analysed and described. Encrustations, pigments and their use were studied chronologically, starting with their first appearance during the early Kostolac culture (3500–3000 bc , Copper Age), their very extensive use in the Vu?edol culture (3000–2500 bc , Copper Age) and their final disappearance with the Pannonian complex of Encrusted Pottery (2000–1500 bc , Bronze Age). Most of the Kostolac and Vu?edol culture material is from the Vu?edol and Vinkovci Hotel localities. The Pannonian culture material is from the Grabrovac (Ðakovo) locality. The encrustations were analysed by deep field optical microscopy, polarization microscopy, scanning electron microscopy with EDS, and XRD. Our investigation showed that from the very beginning to the end of the use of the encrustation technique in this area and by these cultures, the composition of the white paste was quite unique. The base material is produced by burning and powdering of deer antler. Crushed freshwater clam shells (Unio sp.) were a common addition to the phosphate paste.     

Do We Need a GCC Bank to Facilitate the Economic Turnaround of the GCC Region?

Amidst the ongoing crisis of plummeting oil prices, the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) terrain has become a haunt of economists and financial analysts to tackle the ongoing challenges in the region. GCC constituents are gearing themselves with a robust political will that they hope could result in a turnaround of their economy by adopting a policy of economic diversification in nonoil‐based sectors. With this background supported by extensive qualitative scan of literature pertaining to the reforms proposed by the six members of the GCC to drive the economy forward amidst ongoing economic crisis, this article seeks to underscore the prospect of a shared initiative by the GCC constituents in institutionalizing a GCC bank as a potent innovative solution which may serve to provide an edifice for pushing forth the region's economy in nonhydrocarbon segments contingent upon the individual needs of the GCC constituents. As an exploratory study, this paper sheds light on these issues besides discussing the fundamental functions of the GCC bank.     

Examining the Impact of Turkey's Approach Vis‐à‐Vis Syria into Turkey's Iraq Policy

The tension between “international order” and justice has long been a focus of critical attention of many scholars. Today, with the rise of the humanitarian crises, the debate is once again visible, and Turkish foreign policy is one of the most important areas of observation of this tension. Indeed, the U.S.‐led invasion of Iraq in 2003 paved the way for Turkey to actively engage in regional affairs. Meanwhile, the need to bring human justice into world politics makes Turkish foreign policy decision makers operate on a much more humanitarian basis. Nevertheless, active humanitarian engagement poses an important challenge to traditional Turkish foreign policy as it is mainly based on the notion of “non‐interference,” as well as on the elementary components of international order, by raising suspicions on the intentions of the Turkish authorities. This article aims to explore the challenges Turkey has been facing since the U.S.‐led invasion of Iraq, and diagnose Turkish foreign policy vis‐à‐vis Iraq in the shadow of the Syrian civil war from Hedley Bull's framework of “order” and “justice.” It argues that Turkey's recent fluctuations in the Middle East could be linked to Turkey's failure to reconcile the requirements of “order” with those of “justice” and the Turkish governing party's (AKP) attempts to use justice as an important instrument to consolidate its power both in Turkey and in the Middle East.     

History,Culture, and Politics: On Historical Formation and Identity Dilemmas of “China”

This lecture is concerned with some historical issues of “China,” “territory,” “culture” and “identity” that are placed against the background of politics, culture and scholarship in contemporary China. I want to draw attention to the question of how historians understand and interpret “China.” It addresses the following questions. First, where did the idea of “China” come from? and how did it become a topic of scholarly research? What kind of dilemmas does “China” confront in its current condition and historical interpretation? Second, how do various new historical theories and methods in international academic circles enrich our understanding of “China”? Third, how does China’s history and reality challenge the theories of “empire” and “nation-state”? Fourth, is it possible to write “East Asian history”? Does “national history” prove still effective in describing China or East Asia?     

Reconceptualizing the Policy Subsystem: Integration with Complexity Theory and Social Network Analysis

The concept of the policy subsystem is an essential building block for several of the basic frameworks of policy process studies. Over time issues have become more complex, crossing subsystem boundaries, and so subsystems have escalated in their complexity as well. It is increasingly insufficient to study just one policy subsystem and so scholars have turned to studying boundary‐spanning regimes or policy networks. In this essay, we review the major contributions to developing the concept of a policy subsystem and trace its evolution into broader conceptualizations like issue and policy networks. We argue that the future for theories of the policy process is in more explicit integration of complexity theory and more effective modeling of subsystems with the utilization of social network analysis. In closing, we discuss the enduring nature of the concept of policy subsystems and highlight studies that continue using it in innovative ways.     

Social Policy Perspectives on Economic Inequality in Wealthy Countries

This essay reviews the policy‐oriented literature on economic inequality in wealthy countries published from 2008 to 2018. We focus on this decade because it is a period bookended by both the beginnings of the Great Recession of 2008–2009 as well as the recovery. During this timeframe, attention to inequality by social policy scholars grew substantially, which we argue reflects an interest in both inequality trends as well as redistributive social policy. We observe in the literature sustained efforts to understand both the relationship between social policy and economic inequality, as well as determinants of changes to redistributive social policy. We also note substantial variation in research traditions, as well as opportunities to address substantive, methodological, and theoretical gaps. Our review summarizes the approaches and findings from the literature and discusses the implications of the findings for the study of economic inequality within the academic field of public policy.     

万历援朝战争期间东北亚地区地理知识的获取、 传递与呈现: 以《华夷沿海图》为中心的考察

万历援朝战争(1592—1598)是16世纪末在东亚影响深远的重要历史事件,与之相关的《华夷沿海图》的编纂,在地图学研究中的学术意义亦值得探讨。通过综合分析中朝文献,重点发掘朝鲜王朝实录和地理书籍等资料,可以发现: 《华夷沿海图》及相关地理论述对中国北部与朝鲜沿海形势详加说明,是当时两国间地理知识交流大为增强的证明。明朝东征经略宋应昌主持创作该图时,除了既往知识和经验积累外,还融汇了自己在朝鲜的见闻,对特定地理信息的选择与处理也有的放矢。因此,《华夷沿海图》有很强的时效性和准确性。他对特定地理信息的选择与处理背后有着深刻的内涵。即使看似微小的信息的呈现与解读也能成为表达政治立场、阐明军事思想的有效工具,并能反映出战时明朝经略渤海、黄海思想之转变。     

世博会与上海旅游业:互动机制研究

本文以世博会与上海旅游业的相关性作为切入点,首先从实际效果上和理论上分析了上海世博会对上海旅游业的推动作用,然后从前期效应、当期效应、后期效应三个方面探讨了上海旅游业对上海世博会顺利召开的支持作用,最后提出了一个世博会与上海旅游业的互动机制模型,同时针对如何激活这个互动力机制从组织结构、市场战略、促销战术、产品设计、企业运作、人力资源开发等方面提出了一些真体对策与思路。     

A Late Iron Age settlement in Wādī Banī Ḫālid: First season of the joint Omani-Italian archaeological project

This paper introduces the first results of the joint Omani-Italian archaeological project at Wādī Banī Ḫālid (northern Šarqiyyah governorate, eastern al-Ḥaǧar), where a dense Iron Age and ancient Islamic occupation was detected. The aim of the project is the definition of the Iron Age settlement patterns along the eastern al-Ḥaǧar landscape and its relationship with both the coastal areas and the al-Ḥaǧar inner piedmont sites of central Oman. In fact, this project follows previous studies of the coastal environment between Muscat and Raʾs al-Ḥadd, where several seasonal fishermen villages were investigated, and their connections with inner permanent sites, such as Lizq, recognised during the Early Iron Age II (1300–600 BCE). Therefore, Wādī Banī Ḫālid stands as a peculiar case of an Iron Age territorial unit, a natural scenario made of a narrow alluvial valley which provided natural conditions for the development of a complex culture. Moreover, the material culture emerged after a first excavation campaign proved that the main occupational phase of the imposing fortified settlement WBK1 is the Late Iron Age (late first millennium BCE to third–fourth centuries CE), thus hopefully allowing new questions to be posed for the definition of Late Iron Age cultures and the chronology in central Oman, which is mostly known based on the excavation of funerary evidence. For this reason, the first part of the paper focuses on the results of the first season in Wādī Banī Ḫālid, and the second part discusses the links between Wādī Banī Ḫālid and the south-eastern Arabia general framework during the Late Iron Age.