灵渠北渠创建问题辨析——兼与伍镇基先生商榷

灵渠是世界上现存最古老的人工运河,主要由铧嘴、大小天平坝和南北二渠、秦堤、陡门等组成。也许开凿之初没有现在这样完善,但是,史实表明灵渠北渠是秦代史禄所创建应该确信无疑。伍镇基先生所提出的灵渠北渠不是秦史禄所修,而是东汉马援创建的观点,无论从证据还是从逻辑上讲,都是无法成立的。     

Revisiting the Cheonan sinking in the Yellow Sea

This paper revisits the sinking of a South Korean naval ship called the Cheonan in March 2010, which profoundly undermined the security environment around the Korean peninsula. Employing an interactionist perspective in analysing the foreign policy behaviour of the Lee Myung-bak government and other key players at the time of the incident, the paper offers new insights into the debate over the mysterious sinking of the Cheonan. The paper reveals that the Lee government's use of the Cheonan tragedy to create a social structure that would pressure the North Korean government was only partly successful due to the counter-roles played by other relevant states.     

North Korea's juche ideology: indigenous communism or traditional thought?

ABSTRACT

This article examines the content of North Korea's juche ideology by analyzing official texts in comparison with Confucian classics and new religious movements in South Korea. The comparison revealed a series of similarities that vividly demonstrate that juche ideas have absorbed core elements of Korean and East Asian philosophical traditions.     

募兵制度与北宋的"百年无事"

北宋以募兵为基本国策,虽然存在着小规模兵变频发的负面影响,但它毕竟提供了一条由士兵到军官在政治上逐步上升的出路,满足了唐宋之际初步挣脱了血缘、门第观念束缚的社会底层成员对个人政治、经济地位的强烈追求,从而为北宋"百年无事"亦即社会大局的持续安定发挥了重要的积极作用。     

Characterization of Algerian-Seized Hashish Over Eight Years (2011–2018). Part II: Chemical Categorization

In Algeria, large quantities of hashish are seized every year. This study aimed to investigate the total content of major cannabinoids in the illicit seized hashish in Algeria over an 8-year period (2011–2018) in order to establish the chemical profile of North African hashish. A total of 3265 hashish samples were analyzed using a validated high-performance liquid chromatography–diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) method, allowing the simultaneous quantification of both the acidic and the neutral forms of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol (CBD), and cannabinol (CBN). The results revealed a slight upward trend in the mean THC content, from 7.0% in 2011 to 9.4% in 2018, with an overall mean value of 8.4%. The overall means of CBD and CBN content were 3.5% and 0.8%, respectively. The number of high-potency hashish samples gradually increased to reach 6% in 2018. Two distinct hashish chemotypes were identified: the highly populated chemotype II, corresponding to the traditional medium-potency hashish ([THC + CBN]/CBD ~ 2.16), and chemotype I, containing hashish samples of relatively high THC levels and low levels of CBD (ratio ~ 4.90). Both chemotypes I and II were characterized in the ternary plot, and the proportions (THC:CBD:CBN) were about 85%:13%:2% and 60%:35%:5%, respectively.     

Economic sanctions and the rhetorical responses of totalitarian regimes: Examining North Korean rhetorical strategies, 1949–2010

This study investigates the impact of economic statecraft on the North Korean Government. As a totalitarian regime, which is characterized by a controlled mass media, the North Korean Government tries to contain potential problems caused by sanctions by using three types of political rhetoric: appeasement, backlash, and surveillance. Using time-series data from 1949 to 2010 derived from a content analysis of the New Year's Day addresses by Kim Il Sung, Kim Jong Il, and Kim Jong Un, the empirical results suggests that the North Korean Government does alter its rhetorical strategies in response to external economic sanctions. Negative sanctions cause the regime to use appeasement strategies (or calls for reforms and internal changes). It tends to use backlash rhetoric (or blaming the sanctioning powers) in response to, interestingly, positive sanctions. Surveillance rhetoric, or the call for internal vigilance against enemies, on the other hand, does not have any statistical connection with sanctions, rather driven by other factors, such as the Korean War, external instability, and so on.     

Forever North–South? The political challenges of reforming the UN development system

Member states of the United Nations (UN) agree that its development system needs substantial reform given its fragmentation and outdated structures, as well as new demands from the 2030 Agenda. Yet, a recent two-year reform process yielded no substantial reform decisions. Why did member states fail to endorse the necessary reforms despite almost unanimous recognition of the need for change? This paper describes member states’ conflicting positions on reforming the UN and analyses their failure to delegate authority to the UN development system. North and South, donors and recipients, are locked in a struggle for power and control, maximising bilateral influence at the expense of the benefits of multilateral cooperation. The paper contributes to the pool of UN studies, adding a decidedly political perspective of the reform process. It is based on diplomatic statements, negotiation drafts and interviews with UN diplomats.     

North Korea’s Resurgence and China’s Rise: Implications for the Future of Northeast Asian Security

Today, Northeast Asia’s security situation is changing rapidly. North Korea is reviving and China’s power is growing at an alarming rate. While the U.S. continues to suffer diplomatically and militarily in the Middle East and from international terrorism, China’s and North Korea’s power is likely to futher increase, polarizing the Northeast Asian security structure, with South Korea, Japan (and Taiwan) all allied with the U.S. versus North Korea allied with China. The liberal democracies should pursue peace with North Korea and China to preclude the situation from aggravating, but should be ready in the longer term to meet, in diverse ways including strengthening their alliances, the challenges posed by rising powers.

辽宁省"北黄海经济带"开放开发与中朝边境旅游经济发展

长期以来,朝鲜半岛形势发展一波三折,严重影响地缘经济发展。辽宁省中朝边境旅游项目作为开展适合中朝边境地区特点的经济发展模式探索,业已成为优质品牌。随着"辽宁沿海经济带规划战略"上升为国家级战略,辽宁省适时提出"‘北黄海经济带’开放开发规划"。此举提升了边境地区开展经济合作的平台,拓宽了边境旅游经济向"转型升级"、"转型增效"方向发展空间,有利于造民福祉。     

Study of 16 X-STRs in a prostate cancer population sample (preliminary results)

Prostate cancer, like numerous other cancers is a result of genetic alterations that accumulate during disease progression. Study of short tandem repeats (STRs) have already demonstrated that this type of polymorphism could provide a mean to rapidly scan genomes at known or unknown predisposing loci for some diseases. In this study, DNA samples of 282 unrelated males with prostate cancer and 101 apparently healthy and unrelated males were analysed with Argus X-8 (Biotype^®) and 77 with a new X-Decaplex used in a collaborative study of GEP-ISFG.