New,early ostracods from the Ordovician (Tremadocian) of Iran: systematic,biogeographical and palaeoecological significance

New Tremadocian ostracod material from the Alborz Mountains of Iran confirms the early and widespread occurrence of the Ordovician genus Nanopsis, and the apparently simultaneous first appearance of ostracods in the fossil record at the level of the P. deltifer conodont biozone (485.5 Ma) from China to Argentina. Nanopsis pairidaeza sp. nov. adds to the pool of species diversity for the Early Ordovician, though documented Tremadocian ostracod generic diversity remains low, with only four genera. The presence of Early Ordovician ostracods in Alborz, their occurrence elsewhere in palaeocontinental Gondwana, Baltica and China coupled to their marked absence from the Tremadocian of Laurentia and Siberia, supports the notion of the earliest occurrence of ostracods centred on Gondwana/Baltica.     

World Geography: Organizational and Teaching Strategies

Teaching students to develop an appreciation and understanding of World Geography is a difficult task. This article presents a number of approaches to design effective teaching methods and strategies to stimulate student learning and to develop spatial interconnections. A suggested framework for organization and study of geographic regions of the world is suggested in the article. Atlas exercises, written assignments, course objectives, and seminar projects are designed to improve the understanding of geographic relationships and spatial concepts in World Geography.     

Emerging Chinese Role in Shaping St. Petersburg's Urban Landscape: Interscalar Investment Strategies in the Development of a Residential Megaproject

The paper, by an American geographer, discusses the origin and development of a Chinese-financed residential megaproject (Baltic Pearl) located southwest of St. Petersburg's historical district. Viewing Baltic Pearl as reportedly the largest investment project undertaken outside China by a government-sponsored Chinese consortium, the author places it in the context of state-level Sino-Russian relations and Russian unease over the influx of Chinese migrants and culture. Reflecting the author's extensive field work in St. Petersburg and Shanghai, the focus of the paper is on the way the consortium was forced to adopt interscalar (i.e., both state and municipal/urban) strategies responsive to local conditions, providing a potentially useful precedent and model for Chinese and other investors seeking to penetrate Russia's urban markets.     

试析金代中都路城市群的发展演变及其空间分布特征

:本文以金代中都路地区城市群作为研究对象,对区域城市群的发展演变和空间布局进行了深入的探讨分析。本文认为,金代是北京地区城市发展的重要转折时期,随着金代社会经济的进一步发展,中都路城市群不仅在数量上有所增加,同时,金中都地区政治格局的改变、社会经济的进步以及交通格局的改善也使中都路城市群在地域结构上出现新的变化。在空间布局上,区域城市群呈现出以交通道路为骨架,按照河流流域组团分布的格局。     

当代中国军队的等级制度发展沿革概况

等级制度是军队建设的一项重要内容,对部队的正规化建设、制度化管理、调整军内各种人员之间的利益关系、调动广大官兵的积极性具有重要作用。我国从1952年全军统一评定“军队级别”开始,到目前实行的新军衔制度,先后在军内设置过的等级形式有11种,其中有的等级形式是军队专用的,有的是沿用了地方干部的级别。等级存在时间最长的为24年,寿命最短的只有2年。这些等级有的是在不同人员中设置,有的是在同类人员中重叠。目前人民解放军仍然有6种等级,即军衔等级、军官职务等级、文职级别、文职干部职务等级、专业技术等级、工资档次等级,是世界上等级最多的军队之一。     

New World States and Empires: Politics, Religion, and Urbanism

The past decade has seen a veritable explosion in archaeological research on complex societies in Latin America. In 1993, Smith published an overview of research to that date; this article is one of two bringing that summary up to the present. Our first article, New World states and empires: Economic and social organization (Smith and Schreiber, 2005), dealt with issues regarding economic and social organization. The present article tackles political organization and dynamics, religion, urbanism, and settlement patterns. We also review recent research in the context of various theoretical perspectives, some traditional, some more contemporary, including approaches to history and process, cultural evolution, agency-based models, linguistic prehistory, migration theory, and the relationship between environmental change and cultural events. Our discussion blends empirical findings, methodological advances, and theoretical perspectives.     

Origin and Collapse of Complex Societies in Oaxaca (Mexico): Evaluating the Era from 1965 to the Present

I summarize recent archaeological work in Oaxaca, Mexico, with a focus on questions central to world prehistory: the origin and collapse of complex societies. Monte Albán was the capital of an emerging civilization in the southern highlands of Mexico during the second half of the first millennium B.C. Soon after the foundation of the ancient city, there is evidence for state formation and a political expansion into regions outside the Valley of Oaxaca. Centuries later, Monte Albán went into decline, giving way to the competing small polities found throughout Oaxaca at the time of the Spanish conquest. Since the late 1960s, our knowledge of these changes has been transformed by study of Oaxaca's pre–Monte Albán past, regional settlement surveys, and processual model building. Evolutionary and historical perspectives allow for significant refinement of current debates surrounding the rise and fall of complex societies in Oaxaca.     

1953年东德事件与美国对苏东"演变"战略的起源

研究冷战高潮时期苏东地区的重大政治事件与美国针对苏东内部事态的政策演进历程,有助于更准确地认识“演变”战略的起源与性质。本所利用的档案材料表明,1953年的东德事件对美国决策层初步反省原先过于露骨的旨在激发或助长苏东内部社会紧张乃至“造反”行动的“激变”战略,开始酝酿“演变”战略产生了重要影响。“演变”战略的特征在美国对东德事件的反应中已初露端倪。这一政策转变的原因,除了原有政策在实践中的弊端和斯大林之后苏东形势的变化,也与美国决策的战略指导思想有关。     

Big Game and Small Prey: Paleolithic and Epipaleolithic Economy from Valencia (Spain)

This study analyzes the faunal assemblages corresponding to the Middle and Upper Paleolithic and the Early Epipaleolithic for the central Spanish Mediterranean Region dated from between 135,000 and 9,000 B.P. To interpret these data, we employ a zooarchaeological and paleoeconomic perspective. Human large and small game hunting systems are analyzed through the identification of the origins of faunal assemblages, bone breackage patterns, and prey selection patterns. Our study shows that hunting systems changed significantly through time, which may be related to the characteristics of the Mediterranean ecosystem and, above all, to cultural changes.