The capital is the centre of the established order but it always had to accept a relatively uncontrollable world of individuals redefining urban space in their own way or pioneering new means of support. As their existence is both a political nuisance and a foreshadowing of institutional changes (sometimes revolutionary) of nation-wide importance, I call such ways of life political frontiers. One may wonder what will become of political frontiers in the information society (or postmodern society) that, apart from borderless, has been described as society without a centre as well. Actually information society is the prototype of a frontier society with self-responsible groups and individuals. However, capitals – even stripped of their governmental functions – may offer a symbolical environment (a condensation of space and time) that precisely satisfies the wants of those who wish to politicise a way of life. Niches for pioneering behaviour may get dispersed over a wider territory but new types of political activity will gravitate to the capital even if the capital's official political status has dwindled. 相似文献
An ESR experimental study of artificial optical bleaching of sedimentary quartz has shown that the aluminum center was maximally bleached after a 6-month illumination equivalent to natural light. This duration seems too long to apply in natural conditions. Nevertheless, the measurement of the ESR intensity of aluminum centers in quartz extracted from modern sediments and deposited in sandy bars shows that the maximum bleaching has effectively been reached.
In order to determine the relationship between the bleaching and the distance covered by a quartz grain in a river, samples were collected along the Creuse River (France) from its spring to about 170 km downstream, where maximum bleaching levels were observed in previous studies. The ESR intensities of the aluminum and titanium centers in quartz were measured, using X-band spectroscopy, before and after artificial bleaching. The difference measured between these sub-samples shows that the maximum bleaching level is obtained in the course of the first kilometer. Hence, the assumption that ESR dating of fluvial sediment is based on the optical bleaching was validated. 相似文献