国际敦煌项目新进展：敦煌文字数据库

敦煌文字数据库是国际敦煌项目IDP的一个子项目 ,目标是利用敦煌写卷建立一个互动的中文文字数据库。这个项目不但能帮助学者研究写卷 ,而且为研究文字提供一个实用性很高的工具。由于近几十年的考古发现 ,人们对研究古文字学的热情日趋高涨。尽管敦煌文献发现已经有一个多世纪 ,然而利用这批文献进行文字研究所做的工作还很少。迄今为止 ,尚未有一个综合性的研究成果 ,本项目即尝试填补这一空白。1　概况迄今为止 ,学者研究古文字的成果有印刷本和数据库两种形式。从其功用来讲 ,两者的差别不是很大 ,绝大部分网上古文字数据库可以说是印…     

Minimum mass convective fins with variable heat transfer coefficients

Pontryagin's maximum principles are applied to obtain the solution of minimum mass convective fins with variable heat transfer coefficients. It is shown that the volume and the width of the fin are uniquely related to the specified heat transfer rate and the properties of the material. For a power law spatial variation of the heat transfer coefficient, the results are set forth in a dimensionless form and they are given in tables or graphs, in order to aid design procedures. Several properties relating to the optimum volume, base thickness and the width of the fins with the properties of the material are also discussed. The method can also be used to solve problems of minimum mass fins having restricted width, often encountered in practice.     

The school theatre as a place of cultural learning: the case of Soviet Latvia (1960s–1980s)

Abstract

The goal of this article is to reveal how through school theatre activities under authoritarian rule, changes took place in pupil knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviour regarding culture, namely, how the process of cultural learning occurs. I use a historical case study, specifically the case of the Valmiera School Theatre, which was the leading theatre group, not only in Soviet Latvia, but also in the entire Soviet Union. My primary sources are eight unstructured interviews, 20 published memoirs, articles in the press, theatre programmes, and photographs. One part of Soviet pedagogy was aesthetic upbringing, which was implemented through state-funded collectives, including school theatre groups. By participating in theatre activities, students gained knowledge of cultural heritage (literature, theatre, art, etc.), the ability to perform and acquire skills in other practical fields, and developed an appreciation of culture as a value. I argue that cultural learning through theatre was demonstrated by the fact that the students transferred their knowledge, skills, and attitudes to a new context, namely, their places of work and public cultural activities (e.g. amateur theatres). This case study also reveals the specific role of school theatre in the process of cultural learning, as well as some sensitive issues in the relationship between knowledge-orientated or formal educational environments, and the informal creativity of school theatre.     

Global norms and local politics: uses and abuses of education gender quotas in Tajikistan

In Central Asia, the post‐Soviet transformation period has been accompanied by significant economic and social costs, including the widening of the gender gaps in politics, economy and the social sphere. Tajikistan, which receives the largest amount of international aid and has the worst record of gender inequity in Central Asia, has quickly responded to the worsening situation by introducing quotas favoring female representation in politics, labor market and education. This article examines the context within which international gender equity norms were introduced in the 1990s as well as the factors that account for the variation in implementation of these policies. By using the case study of Tajikistan, this article suggests that the introduction of policies favoring female participation in political, economic and social life has largely depended on the transfer of international discourses on gender equality, while their implementation has been halted by historical legacies, economic realities and local political factors.     

The “cosmopolitan” project and Hungarian kindergarten education: Re-reading socialism

In this paper we argue that the socialist kindergarten in Hungary (1948–1989) was set up to aid the modernizing of a nation in a particular way and in a historical and political context in which the only way forward was to leave behind aspects of the past and start a new chapter in Hungarian history. Comparing this project to the “cosmopolitan” project discussed by Thomas Popkewitz, we argue that kindergarten education was more similar to education in the fictionalized West than previously thought. By reading socialist kindergarten education, curriculum, and pedagogy as part of the broader “cosmopolitan project”, we show how particular civic/civil habits, behaviour, and morals were formed to produce modern citizens, often in contradistinction to stated socialist ideology. We also explore regional versions of cosmopolitanism that are attached to the developing nation-state and the creation and violent negotiations of what it means to be Hungarian, against the background of the region’s rich cultural and ethnic diversity.     

The Truth Between the Lines: Conceptualization of Trust in News Media in Serbia,Macedonia, and Croatia

This study explored, by comparative thematic analysis, the conceptualization of trust in news media in Serbia, Macedonia, and Croatia—three countries of Eastern Europe where past oppressive regimes might have left a heritage of distrust in all institutions. The analysis of 61 in-depth interviews showed the coexistence of three connotations of trust: trust as faith in news media as expert systems, trust in journalistic selectivity (found in all three countries), and trust as confidence in news media (found only in the Serbian sample). The analysis of the interviews also indicated a possible new dimension of journalistic selectivity and showed that, when looking for the truth in media messages, Serbians, Macedonians, and Croatians relied more on themselves than on the trustworthiness of their news media systems. The implications of these results on the measurement of trust in news media and on the relationship of Eastern Europeans toward their news media systems are discussed in light of sociological theories of trust, as well as specific historical, social, and cultural circumstances in the region.     

Remote Sensing: An Interview with Ursula Biemann

Even more so than that first significant moment of the video age-the brutal footage of the Los Angeles Police Department's attack on the prostrate body of Rodney King-the antiglobalization protests have marked the first sustained use of new digital technologies (audio and visual) to document the contemporary uses of power and the resistances to it.