Whatever Happened to Historical Reconciliation between China and Japan? : Reflections over the New Millennium

With the return of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo in December 2012 and his visit to the Yasukuni Shrine exactly a year later, history issues that have largely been on the backburner in Japan-China relations are once again making headlines and are likely to dominate bilateral relations. Whereas this seems to bring China-Japan relations back to Prime Minister Koizumi’s tenure at the beginning of the new millennium, the basic contours of this relationship have experienced important shifts. The continued economic trends, the escalation of territorial disputes, and the adoption of the “Asia Pivot” policy by the U.S., are bound to shape this crucial relationship between China and Japan. What does it mean now to speak of historical reconciliation in general and between China and Japan in particular? Has reconciliation become a more remote goal now that tensions between these two giant neighbors have allegedly risen to the level seen on the eve of World War I? Are there any roles for historians and the scholarly community to play at such a critical juncture? Although much more sectors must be involved to reduce the rising tension between the two countries, I argue that historians can still play a crucial role in clarifying conflicting interpretations over various disputes as well as promote a new history that transcend national boundaries in the long run

Two dimensional agonistic control

The conventional method of precise multiple-axis motion control entails use of a multiple axis positioning system with each axis carrying not only the workpiece but also the positioning system of the remaining axes. The resultant structure is heavy, sluggish, and expensive. An alternative positioning technique is being investigated in which the motion of the workpiece is controlled by pulling it with tendons, each of which has its own actuator. Since the actuators can be mounted on the base of the structure instead of being carried by motion system of the other axes, they can be relatively large and powerful without the need for a massive structure such as is found in a conventional motion control system. This method of control is given the appellation agonistic, based on the usages of the word suggesting tension or a contest. Agonistic control system can be used for low cost accurate positioning of workpiece. The control task can be moving the workpiece from one point to another point and kept there or tracking a given trajectory. While the workpiece moves, the tendons should be always kept in tension. In this thesis, the model of two dimensional agonistic control (in the case of tendons of infinite elastic modulus) is established. It leads to a nonlinear multi-variable control problem. Based on this nonlinear model, a full-state feedback control law is synthesized. It is composed of two parts. The first part is a feedforward control to cancel the nonlinear dynamics. The second part is a PD control term which requires velocity information. In the practice, velocity measurement may be contaminated by noise. In order of only using position measurement in the control law, a nonlinear observer is designed to provide the velocity information. Numerical simulation is performed to verify the ability of the proposed control law. In reality, the tendon has some elasticity. This finite elasticity, if not accounted for, can render the closed-loop system unstable. The investigation shows that the effect of elastic tendons can be compensated for by appropriately modifying the control law designed for inelastic tendons. In particular, the control law is synthesized using the singular perturbation method. It consists of a fast control and a slow control. The fast control is used to stablize the oscillations incurred by the finite elasticity of the tendon. The slow control drives the system to track the desired trajectory. Robustness of the controller is enhanced by using sliding mode control. In the chapter 4, the design of observer in the elastic case is addressed. Linear uncertain system theory is used. The observer is globally stable. The use of decentralized control scheme makes very simple the controller design and reduces the computational complexity. It is very useful for real time agonistic control. A design approach is presented for the decentralized control scheme. A simple linear second order model is used instead of complex nonlinear model used in centralized version. In this approach, the tension in each tendon is treated as disturbance, estimated by an observer, to be compensated

Telecommunication and the Japanese Empire: a preliminary analysis of telegraphic traffic

'Die Untersuchung von Informationsflüssen war in der Geschichte der Telekommunikation zum Teil aufgrund des Datenmangels rückständig. Interessanterweise hinterließ das Kaiserreich Japan eine bemerkenswert große Sammlung an Telekommunikationsdaten, die von anderen imperialen Großmächten wohl nicht übertroffen wird. Angesichts der enormen Bedeutung, die Japan seinem Telekommunikationsnetzwerk im Inland und in Ostasien eingeräumt hat, ist es nur angebracht zu fragen, wie es genutzt wurde und welche Art von Informationen durchgeflossen sind. Als eine einleitende Analyse der Verkehrsdaten aus der 50-jährigen Geschichte des japanischen Kaiserreichs untersucht meine Arbeit sowohl den Inhalt, den Umfang und die Richtung von Informationsflüssen, als auch die zugrunde liegenden ökonomischen, politischen und technologischen Faktoren. Eine solche Auswertung kann unser Verständnis von der Informationskontrolle durch ein modernes Imperium bereichern. Sie kann, wie von Johan Galtung und anderen vorgeschlagen, zur strukturellen Theorie des Imperialismus das empirische Fleisch bilden.' (Autorenreferat)'The study of information flow has been under-developed in telecommunications history in part due to the paucity of traffic data. Interestingly Imperial Japan has left a remarkably large collection of telecommunication traffic data, perhaps unmatched by other imperial powers. Given the enormous importance Japan placed on its telecommunications network at home and in East Asia, it is only appropriate to ask how it was used and what kind of information went through it. As a preliminary analysis of the traffic data in the Japanese empire over its fifty-year history, the paper examines the content, volume, and direction of information flows as well as the underlying economic, political, and technological factors. Such an analysis can enrich our understanding of how a modern empire operates in terms of its control of information flows. It can provide empirical flesh to the structural theory of imperialism, as proposed by Johan Galtung and others.' (author's abstract

Discharge Characteristics and Changes over the Ob River Watershed in Siberia

This study analyzes long-term (1936–90) monthly streamflow records for the major subbasins within the Ob River watershed in order to examine discharge changes induced by human activities (particularly reservoirs and agricultural activities) and natural variations. Changes in streamflow pattern were found to be different between the upper and lower parts of the Ob watershed. Over the upper Ob basin, streamflow decreases in summer months and increases in the winter season. The decreases in summer are mainly due to water uses along the river valley for agricultural and industrial purposes and to reservoir regulation to reduce the summer peak floods. The increases in winter streamflow are caused by reservoir impacts to release water for power generation over winter months. In the lower Ob regions, however, streamflow increased during midsummer and winter months and weakly decreased in autumn. These increases in summer flow are associated with increases in summer precipitation and winter snow cover over the northern Ob basin. Because of reservoir regulations and water uses in the upper parts of the Ob basin, it is a great challenge to determine hydrologic response to climate change and variation at the basin scale. Discharge records observed at the Ob basin outlet do not always represent natural changes and variations mainly due to impacts of large dams; they tend to underestimate the natural runoff trends in summer and overestimate the trends in winter and autumn seasons. This study clearly demonstrates regional differences in hydrologic response to climate changes and variations within a large watershed such as the Ob River. It also illustrates that, relative to climatic effects, human activities are sometimes more important and direct in altering regional hydrologic regimes and affecting their long-term changes particularly at both seasonal and regional scales. It is, therefore, necessary to consider human activities in regional/global environment change analyses and further examine their impacts in other large northern watersheds

River Water Temperature in Relation to Local Air Temperature in the Mackenzie and Yukon Basins

Water temperature has an important impact on many aspects of basin hydrology and ecology. In the northern regions, investigation of river thermal regimes and their changes over space and time is a challenge because of data limitations. This study determines the water temperature regimes at several locations within the Yukon and Mackenzie River basins and examines their relationship with air temperature. The Yukon and Mackenzie Rivers have distinct water temperature dynamics. They remain near zero from freeze-up in the fall to ice breakup in the spring and reach their peak temperature during mid-summer. For the locations examined, peak mean monthly water temperatures ranged from 9˚ to 15˚C, and mean July air temperatures ranged from 13˚ to 16˚C. The lags between water and air temperatures ranged from 1 to 40 days. The largest lag was found at the Great Bear River monitoring location, since water temperature at this site is strongly influenced by the heat storage of Great Bear Lake. Tests of three models, linear regression, logical regression (s-shape), and the physically based air2stream model, show that the air2stream model provided the best results, followed by logical regression. Linear regression gave the poorest result. Model estimates of water temperature from air temperature were slightly improved by the inclusion of discharge data. The water temperature sampling regimes had a considerable effect on model performance; long-term data provide a more robust test of a model. Comparisons of mean monthly water temperatures suggest significant spatial variability and some inconsistency between upstream and downstream sites that is due mainly to differences in data collection schemes. This study strongly demonstrates the need to improve water temperature monitoring in the northern regions.La température de l’eau a de grandes incidences sur de nombreux aspects de l’hydrologie et de l’écologie des bassins. Dans les régions nordiques, l’étude des régimes thermiques des cours d’eau et de leurs changements au fil du temps et de l’espace pose des difficultés en raison des limites qu’imposent les données. La présente étude détermine les régimes des températures de l’eau en maints endroits des bassins de la rivière Yukon et du fleuve Mackenzie et examine leur relation avec la température de l’air. La rivière Yukon et le fleuve Mackenzie ont des dynamiques distinctes en matière de température de l’eau. De la prise de la glace de l’automne jusqu’à la débâcle du printemps, les températures de ces cours d’eau se situent à près de zéro, et c’est vers le milieu de l’été que leurs températures augmentent le plus. Dans le cas des sites à l’étude, les températures mensuelles moyennes les plus élevées de l’eau ont atteint entre 9˚ et 15 ˚C, tandis que les températures moyennes de l’air en juillet ont varié entre 13˚ et 16 ˚C. Le décalage entre les températures de l’eau et de l’air a fluctué entre un et 40 jours. Le plus grand décalage a été enregistré au site de surveillance de la rivière Great Bear, la température de l’eau à cet emplacement étant fortement influencée par le stockage de la chaleur dans le lac Great Bear. Des essais effectués à l’aide de trois modèles, soit la régression linéaire, la régression logique (en forme de s) et le modèle air2stream aux caractéristiques physiques indiquent que le modèle air2stream a donné les meilleurs résultats, suivi de la régression logique. Les résultats les moins bons ont été obtenus au moyen de la régression linéaire. Les estimations du modèle de la température de l’eau à partir de la température de l’air ont été légèrement améliorées avec l’inclusion des données du débit. Les régimes d’échantillonnage de la température de l’eau ont eu un effet considérable sur le rendement du modèle; les données à long terme ont permis d’obtenir un essai de modèle plus robuste. La comparaison des températures moyennes mensuelles de l’eau suggère une variabilité spatiale importante et certaines incohérences entre les sites en amont et les sites en aval, principalement en raison des différences dans les modes de collecte des données. Cette étude montre à quel point il est important d’améliorer la surveillance des températures de l’eau dans les régions nordiques