Pillars and perspective: demarcation of the Belgian Congo–Northern Rhodesia boundary

From 1911 to 1914 an Anglo-Belgian boundary commission demarcated the 885 km boundary between the Belgian Congo and Northern Rhodesia along the watershed of the Congo and Zambezi rivers with a total of just 46 markers. Such low-density boundary demarcation with widely spaced pillars was typical of early British boundary-making in southern Africa. Less than fifteen years later, a second Anglo-Belgian boundary commission was created to re-demarcate the boundary. Not only was it unique for a colonial boundary in southern Africa to be re-demarcated, this second Anglo-Belgian boundary commission worked for six years with a budget that exceeded any previous British boundary commission in colonial Africa. This commission marked the Belgian Congo–Northern Rhodesia boundary on the ground with nearly five times the number of pillars as the first commission, literally etching the boundary in the African landscape. Its techniques of survey and boundary demarcation set a new standard, serving as a model for later British colonial boundary commissions and influencing boundary-making theory through the present day.     

Illustrating the Phaenomena: Celestial Cartography in Antiquity and the Middle Ages

Abstract

The Ordnance Survey's Boundary Survey, carried out between 1841 and 1888, was a major undertaking which resulted in the local administrative boundaries of the whole of Great Britain being reliably mapped for the first time. This was not achieved by imposition but by the use of local knowledge of boundaries, thus making permanent a communal memory of administrative geography and rendering it globally accessible through maps. The Boundary Survey aided the reform of local government areas, a process which started during the same period and provided derived data for the burgeoning collection of statistics in the nineteenth century.     

清代阿拉善蒙古与甘州、凉州二府的划界纷争及边界调整

清康熙年间,阿拉善蒙古归附清廷后,与河西府(县)展开了长达数年的划界纷争。该文利用档案、地方志等相关文献资料,对清代河西走廊北部汉蒙交接地区的凉州、甘州二府与阿拉善蒙古边界纷争事件的过程、起因进行了详细考察,分析了在此事件处理过程中,国家与地方社会复杂而多元的互动关系。清代以来河西走廊北部边界的变迁,不仅折射出传统社会政治大环境的改变,而且也是区域农牧经济互动消长的反映。     

IBEM for Impedance Functions of an Embedded Strip Foundation in a Multi-Layered Transversely Isotropic Half-Space

An indirect boundary element method (IBEM) is developed to study the dynamic impedance functions (stiffness coefficients) of a rigid strip foundation embedded in a multi-layered viscoelastic transversely isotropic (TI) half-space. The proposed IBEM using half-space Green’s functions of distributed loads as fundamental solutions have the merits of fictitious loads being directly applied on the real boundaries without the problem of singularity and of the discretization effort restricted to local boundaries. In addition, the accuracy of the proposed method is not affected by the thickness of the discrete TI layers, as the exact dynamic stiffness matrix is employed. The presented algorithm is verified via comparisons with published results for the isotropic medium. By taking a rigid strip foundation embedded in a homogeneous half-space, a single-layered half-space, and a multi-layered half-space as examples, the effects of material anisotropy, frequency of excitation, and soil layer on the impedance functions are studied in detail. Numerical results show that impedance functions for the TI medium can be significantly different from those of the isotropic case. The variation of TI parameters alters the dynamic characteristics of the TI layered site, which in turn alters the dynamic interaction between the soil and foundation. In addition, the soil sedimentary sequence also has a remarkable influence on the impedance functions.     

近代上海法租界“越界筑路区”城市化空间过程分析(1895-1914)

本文运用法租界公董局档案、上海道契等文献资料,运用GIS空间分析的方法,复原了上海法租界越界筑路区洋人地产的空间分布。在此基础上,以1900年新扩展区为例,进一步分析了城市化的具体过程。研究证明,在越界筑路之前,洋人便开始了越界购地,但洋人租地并不等同于土地开发,筑路等基础设施建设才是土地开发的最重要因素,因为筑路不仅重新划分了土地,而且导致地块被不断分割出售,最终使土地利用方式由农业用地转变为居住和商业用地。     

Pseudo-Dynamic Testing and Analytical Modeling of AAC Infilled RC Frames

Two concrete frames were tested by the PsD procedure. One frame was bare and the other was infilled with AAC blocks in the middle bay. The objective was to determine the effect of AAC infills on the seismic performance of reinforced concrete frames and developing an AAC strut model. Based on the test results, it was found that AAC infill panels did not modify the deformation response of the RC test frame significantly; however, shear in diagonal strut must be considered in boundary column design. A shear design procedure is proposed for the boundary columns in infilled frames. The drift limits of AAC infill panels measured during the tests were 0.005, 0.008, and 0.014 during diagonal cracking, corner crushing, and severe damage states, respectively.     

达旺历史归属论

文章认为,门隅地方古代史是我国西藏地方史的一个组成部分,在与西藏地方史一道融入中华民族整体发展史的进程之中,达旺成为门隅政治、宗教、文化中心.英国入主阿萨姆后在相当长时期内沿袭了沿喜马拉雅山南侧坡脚的传统习惯线.1910年英属印度提出战略边界计划,谋图将传统边界线北移至山脊,目的在于建立封锁印度民族解放运动的防火墙.英国对战略边界在达旺地区的走向多次修改,但根本目的没有改变,是在不同形势下出于维护对印度殖民统治需要而做出的扩展或收缩的调整,战略边界计划及有关活动是英国单方面作为.直至1951年中国西藏地方政府仍然对达旺进行有效治理.     

清代伊克昭盟长城沿线“禁留地”诸概念考释

清初陕北边外禁留地承自明代烧荒形成的隔离蒙汉的黑色地带。乾隆八年,双方在边外五十里一线划出有形界线,称黑(牌)界,该谓附会于烧荒形成的黑色地带,是汉人对边外自然景观记忆延续的反映。黑界以内,伊克昭盟各旗汉族移民的耕地范围并不相同,使得黑界与移民垦殖北界之间形成宽窄不一的土地,由此衍生出当时文献未言,却实际存在的所谓黑界地。牌界地是指边墙与牌界之间的土地。伙盘地是移民定居和租耕之地,具有不连续分布的空间特征。白界地一称晚出于民国绥远编纂的文献,实为牌界地的异写,其产生可能与牌借地、白借地称谓有关。陕绥双方对诸称谓的不同书写,反映各自从己方利益和地方本位的角度,对重构清代鄂尔多斯南缘汉族移民垦殖史的不同表达和现实立场。     

"边疆"一词在世界主要法系中的镜像:一个语源学角度的考察

法系是比较法学的基础概念。本文主要利用语源学的方法,分析了世界三大主要法系——中华法系、罗马法系和伊斯兰法系——中领土、疆域、边疆等概念所反映的不同镜像,力图将不同的地方性知识构成较为全面的世界法律文化图景。