Struggle vs. Harmony: Symbols of Competing Values in Modern China

1953 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur F. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Social Groups ◽  
Modern China ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Competing Values ◽  
The Past ◽  
Western Power ◽  
Traditional Institutions ◽  
New Institutions ◽  
The Impact

TRaditional China was characterized by a remarkable homogeneity of mores, institutions, and values. In this it resembled the simpler societies in which, as Maclver has pointed out, the institutions are in broad accord with the mores, and one system of values prevails, being reaffirmed in every aspect of life. During the past hundred years, China's perdurable synthesis of doctrines and institutions has been slowly but certainly undermined. While the impact of the Western powers and Western technology forced the modification of Chinese institutions, the subtle penetration of Western ideas altered or destroyed every long-accepted value. The past century of China's history can be seen as a continuous struggle to regain its ancient homogeneity. That century is marked by repeated attempts to create groups of modified institutions to meet the challenge of Western power, together with groups of modified values which, it was hoped, would support the new institutions and check the spread of divisive Western ideas. These efforts failed, and with each failure more and more traditional institutions and values were abandoned as incapable of existing in amalgam with Western elements. In this process, different social groups reacted differently to the persisting appeal of the old and the attraction of the new and, in so reacting, further undermined the old synthesis of values and institutions.

scholarly journals Impact of Recent Climate Change on Water-Use Efficiency Strategies of Larix sibirica in the Altai-Sayan Mountain Range

Forests ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 1103
Author(s):  
Olga V. Churakova (Sidorova) ◽  
Marina V. Fonti ◽  
Rolf T. W. Siegwolf ◽  
Matthias Saurer ◽  
Vladimir S. Myglan
Keyword(s):  
Water Use ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Siberian Larch ◽  
Larix Sibirica ◽  
Strong Increase ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Mountain Range ◽  
The Past ◽  
Recent Climate ◽  
The Impact

A strong increase in the mean annual air temperature during the past 50 years by up to 0.54 °C was recorded in the Altai region (45°–52° N; 84°–99° E) compared to the global value of 0.07 °C over the period 1901–2008. The impact of the climatic changes on the hydrology are complex in these mountainous forest ecosystems and not fully understood. We aim to reveal differences in the intrinsic water-use efficiencies (iWUE) strategy by larch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) derived from stable carbon isotopes at contrasting sites, ranging from the steppe (Ersin, Chadan) to high-elevation (Mongun, Koksu) sites of the Altai over the past century. The iWUE trends increased rapidly for all study sites except Chadan, where a decreasing trend after 2010 has been observed. This decline can be related to increased amount of precipitation compared to increased drought at the other sites. In general, the iWUE is increased up to 14% (1985–2019 compared to 1919–1984), which is lower compared to other studies across the globe likely due to harsh climatic conditions. Vapor pressure deficit and maximal air temperature are impacting Siberian larch significantly and affecting their iWUE differently at the high-elevated and steppe sites of the Altai over the past century.

The Impact of Anarchy on English Monasticism, 1135-1154

1974 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 218-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Callahan
Keyword(s):  
Civil Wars ◽  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Traditional View ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Impact

King Stephen's reign has long been recognized as a crucial period for monasticism in England. Many authors have written about alleged anarchical conditions during those nineteen years, and scholars have done a great deal of work on twelfth century English monasticism; nevertheless, comparatively little attention has been paid to the impact of this supposed anarchy on the monastic establishment. This impact is the concern of this essay. Due to the limitation of space, I will confine myself to the material damages suffered by monastic houses during Stephen's reign and will offer an extended summary of my findings.The traditional picture of anarchy in England during Stephen's reign is that the civil wars wreaked havoc with nearly all aspects of life and inflicted massive and long lasting material damages. Medieval writers—most memorably the Peterborough chronicler— emotionally depicted scenes of terror and devastation, and the majority of later scholars—most notably H. W. C. Davis—upheld the basic validity of this picture. During the past century, however, historians have somewhat modified the traditional view. Whereas most medieval writers described an England embroiled in internal warfare for nearly all of Stephen's nineteen year reign, modern scholars have realized that the area of active fighting was more limited and that actual warfare lasted less than half of the reign. Also, modern scholars have shown that many of the occurrences in Stephen's reign were not characterized by aimless chaos and confusion, but rather by purposeful actions directed towards specific ends.

Father Marquette’s Place in American History

1949 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-438
Author(s):  
Francis Borgia Steck
Keyword(s):  
American History ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Past

To Judge from the numerous monuments erected to honor Father Marquette during the past century; the festive demonstrations held at intervals to pay tribute to his name; the prominence accorded him in textbooks and literary productions as discoverer and explorer; the naming for him of localities, social groups and commercial enterprises—to judge from all this, one must conclude that Marquette deserves to rank among the foremost celebrities in American history. Assuredly, no one would think of depriving him pf this place in our annals if it tallied with the testimony which the available records of the past supply. But does it?

Death at the End of the 20th Century: Individual Processes and Developmental Tasks in Old Age

2002 ◽  
Vol 54 (4) ◽  
pp. 315-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Röcke ◽  
Katie E. Cherry
Keyword(s):  
Life Expectancy ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Personal Experience ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Developmental Tasks ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
The Past ◽  
And Coping ◽  
The Impact

In this article, we address the topic of death from historic and contemporary perspectives. In the first section, we describe the changes in life expectancy, personal experience, and public awareness of death that have occurred over the past century. In the next section, we examine the impact these changes have had on the mastery of the two developmental tasks in adulthood, acceptance of one's own mortality and coping with the death of a spouse. We describe select findings from the literature on attitudes, fear or acceptance of death, and grief processes. Implications for research, practice, and social change are considered.

Civilization and Rapid Climatic Change

1988 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reid A. Bryson
Keyword(s):  
Climatic Change ◽  
Volcanic Activity ◽  
Plate Tectonics ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
Climatic Variation ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Ice Ages ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Impact

Research over the past century has shown that the rates and magnitudes of climatic change constitute a continuum. Changes have now been identified in the climatic record that range in duration from interannual through decades and centuries to the multi-millennial time-scale. Examples range from the drought years of the 1930 and 1970 decades to the ponderous comings and goings of the ice-ages. More recently it has become clear that some changes can be quite rapid. In recent decades great progress has been made in identifying the causes of climatic variation.The present understanding of the causes of climatic change emphasizes continental drift (or ‘plate tectonics’) at the million-years' scale, with pulses of plate movement producing significant bursts of volcanic activity that may act on the millennial or century scale. At the multi-millennial scale there is growing agreement that the variations in irradiance of the Earth, resulting from slow changes in the Sun-Earth geometry (the so-called Milankovitch variations), exercise the operative control on the timing of ice-ages and interglacials. At the decadal and interannual scales there is less agreement; but there is at least a body of research which suggests that significant volcanic activity is a contributing factor. There is considerable agreement—but little direct evidence—that anthropogenic causes such as increased carbon dioxide and other Man-made or-enhanced trace gases in the atmosphere, will be important in the coming decades.Cultural responses might be expected to differ across this continuum. To assess the expected response to a climatic variation, one must know at least the shape of the response surface.There is probably a critical threshold combination of climatic change magnitude and duration. Human cultures seem to be adapted to frequently-occurring short ‘aberrations’ from the expected climate. Some evidence indicates, on the other hand, that relatively small changes of climates (of the order of a century in duration) have been associated over the past 8,000 years with cultural changes that proved large enough to lead to different names being assigned in perhaps half of the cultural termini identified. A climate model which includes the effect of volcanic aerosols, suggests that most of the climatic changes associated with these globally synchronous cultural termini are related to peaks of volcanic activity. Some apparently catastrophic events have been recognized in this connection.There remains the problem of assessing, in realistic terms, the impact of large-magnitude climatic variations on modern human societies. Of particular concern is the effect of climatic events associated with very large-scale short-term insertions of aerosols into the atmosphere. It is likely that non-equilibrium models of the atmosphere, with specified sea-surface temperatures, would give realistic results if refined to the degree that they could replicate events of lesser magnitude which have occurred in the past century. At present there appear to be no models in which the formulation of the radiative effect of aerosols or gases gives a good match with observed radiative effects. It seems that much more research, including field experiments, will be needed if science is to supply reliable advice to society on the nature of coming climatic changes.

The Iranian Power Structure and Social Change 1800–1969: An Overview

1971 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nikki R. Keddie
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Social Groups ◽  
Power Structure ◽  
Power Relationships ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Personal Power ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Past

Scholars have often been struck by the traditional and highly personal power relationships and manipulations that underlie the westernized and modernized forms of Iranian political machinery. Such analyses, stressing the continuity between traditional and modern Iran, are most enlightening, but they should not blind us to the very real changes in the power structure that have occurred in Iran between 1800 and the present. One can agree with analysts who stress traditional continuities that the change in power relationships has had rather little to do with the formal constitutionalist structure of Iranian politics since 1906. The real changes in the structure of power over the past century or more have been tied to social and economic changes that have reduced the power of certain social groups and classes while increasing that of others, and also of the central government. This essay will attempt a very brief and tentative analytic overview of the nature of these changes

scholarly journals ABOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF COOLANT FLOWING THROUGH THE PIPES OF THE SOLAR COLLECTOR SYSTEM FOR HEATING

2020 ◽  
pp. 131-137
Author(s):  
А.N. Odintsov ◽  
L.A. Nichkova ◽  
I.I. Zaruk
Keyword(s):  
Past Century ◽  
Anthropogenic Pressure ◽  
Solar Collectors ◽  
Additional Energy ◽  
The Past ◽  
Collector System ◽  
Average Global Temperature ◽  
Instrumental Observations ◽  
Gaseous Coolant ◽  
The Impact

This article discusses the impact of anthropogenic pressure on the environment, in particular, the tendency for the average global temperature to change on the earth’s surface. As one of the factors that have a significant effect on the increase in temperature should certainly include an increase in the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Although over the past century of instrumental observations, its concentration has increased from 0.02% to 0.03%, the effect of this change is felt in all corners of the planet. One of the ways to reduce the anthropogenic load is the search for ways to further, more efficiently use the energy of solar radiation to heat various buildings and structures. The article considers the possibility and feasibility of changing the framework of traditional coaxial vacuum tubular solar collectors. The proposed changes in the framework of traditional coaxial vacuum tubular solar collectors will allow the movement of a liquid or gaseous coolant, without changing its phase state, due to the action of gravitational forces. The proposed framework can function completely autonomously and does not require additional energy sources for ability of circulation of the coolant.

scholarly journals Human-Induced Enrichment of Potentially Toxic Elements in a Sediment Core of Lake Balkhash, the Largest Lake in Central Asia

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 4717 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kun Huang ◽  
Long Ma ◽  
Jilili Abuduwaili ◽  
Wen Liu ◽  
Gulnura Issanova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Sediment Core ◽  
Human Activities ◽  
Toxic Elements ◽  
Potentially Toxic Elements ◽  
Dominant Factor ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
Lake Balkhash ◽  
The Impact

Over the past century, the impacts of human activities on the natural environment have continued to increase. Historic evolution of the environment under anthropogenic influences is an important reference for sustainable social development. Based on the geochemical analyses of a short sediment core of 49 cm from Lake Balkhash, the largest lake in Central Asia, potential factors historically influencing geochemical variation were revealed, and influences of human activity on regional environmental change were reconstructed over the past 150 years. The results showed that the dominant factor inducing changes in potentially toxic elements (V, Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, Cu, Cd, and Pb) is the physical weathering of the terrestrial materials. The variation in Ca content was influenced by the formation of authigenic carbonate. Since 1930, potentially toxic elements (Cr, Co, Ni, Zn, Cu, Cd, and Pb) in the lake sediments have obviously been affected by human activities, but the impact of human activities has not exceeded that of natural terrestrial weathering. In particular, the enrichment factors (EFs) for Cd and Pb reached 1.5. The average ecological risks of Cd were higher than the criterion of 30, suggesting a moderate risk to the local ecosystem in recent years. Total risk indices indicated moderate potential ecological risk for the lake ecology. The results will provide support for the environmental protection and better management practices of the Lake Balkhash watershed.

scholarly journals History Lessons Sanctions: Neither War nor Peace

2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lance Davis ◽  
Stanley Engerman
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Collective Action ◽  
Foreign Trade ◽  
Success Rate ◽  
Past Century ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Impact

This paper surveys the increasing international use of sanctions over the past century. Sanctions are a form of action taken by one state or by collective action to influence another state to change its behavior, as a substitute for welfare. They generally involve restrictions on foreign trade, either of all goods or of specific commodities. Sanctions have generally been imposed by larger countries on smaller countries. Sanctions have had a mixed success rate, depending on the costs imposed on the targeted nation, their response to these costs, and the impact on the economy and public opinion in other nations.

scholarly journals Overview of Education in Ethiopia: Traditional Institutions and Language Perspectives

Afrika Focus ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-359
Author(s):  
Gemechis T. Chali ◽  
Miriam Taverniers ◽  
Guta Legesse
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Traditional Approach ◽  
Traditional Education ◽  
Cultural Institutions ◽  
Historical Trends ◽  
Western Education ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
Traditional Institutions ◽  
The Impact

Abstract This article briefly introduces the phases of education in Ethiopia in the last 150 years and the impact of traditional institutions on languages. The intention of this report is to present the background section of a PhD (Gemechis, 2020) defended at Ghent University in September 2020. It is believed that the period of modern education in Ethiopia is shorter when compared with that of traditional education, which lasted for more than a century. Modern or “Western” education was launched in 1908, and Western educational ideas have flourished since the early twentieth century; but the traditional approach characterised Ethiopian education throughout the history of this ancient nation (Hoot, Szente and Mebratu, 2004). This article aims to review the past 150 years of education in Ethiopia in connection with historical trends and the influence of traditional institutions on education in general and languages in particular. Respondents discuss the fact that that, unlike the Orthodox and Missionary churches in Ethiopia, some of the traditional institutions such as the Waaqqeffannaa of Oromoo Institution were not allowed to reflect their values and languages. The study reveals that traditional institutions have played a crucial role in education in Ethiopia. Furthermore, understanding the impact of languages in education is important in teaching and learning in general. However, the findings confirm that there was no structure that could equally understand and accommodate all traditional institutions to contribute to the education of Ethiopia in the past. This article concludes with the recommendation that there should be a well-established implementation system on the languages and cultural institutions that could attract all nations and nationalities to promote their traditional institutions. For instance, there are no language and cultural policies aimed at sustainability.

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