Figures of Deterrence in Late Imperial China. Frequency, Spatial Repartition, and Types of Crimes Targeted by Dismemberment under the Qing Dynasty

Although the Chinese empire applied a sophisticated codified legal system for centuries, very few attempts have been made to measure its impact on society. Digitization now provide for data to be collected on a scale wide enough to allow assessment on how the penal system operated in practice. As a blueprint for further research, the scope of the present study is limited to the executions by dismemberment (lingchi), the most deterrent form of death penalty, as it is the best-documented and easiest to find in the archives. A data-set of around 1,140 lingchi sentences executed over 260 years under the Qing dynasty provides the statistical basis for examining the frequency of this punishment, as well as its evolution over time, its repartition across the territory, and the nature of the crimes targeted. While the original purpose of this penalty was to deter crimes against the State, such as rebellions or banditry, our data show that lingchi was increasingly employed to strengthen the hierarchy within the family by primarily targeting unfilial children and murderous wives. Instead of being the rudimentary instrument to crush social upheavals, as claimed by many historians, lingchi functioned as a sophisticated device to maintain a complex Confucian agenda.Quoique l’empire chinois ait employé un système de codification juridique sophistiqué pendant des siècles, on a très rarement tenté d’en mesurer l’impact sur la société. La numérisation offre la possibilité de collecter des données à une échelle suffisante pour évaluer les pratiques pénales. Cette recherche constitue l’esquisse de recherches futures, et se limite aux exécutions par démembrement (lingchi), forme la plus dissuasive de la peine de mort, car elle est la mieux documentée et la plus aisée à retrouver dans les archives. Une base de données d’environ 1 140 sentences de lingchi exécutées sur environ 260 ans sous la dynastie des Qing permet l’examen statistique de la fréquence, de l’évolution dans le temps, de la répartition géographique et de la nature des crimes concernés. Initialement, cette peine visait les crimes contre l’État tels que la rébellion ou le brigandage, mais nos données montrent que le lingchi fut employé de manière croissante pour conforter la hiérarchie interne à la famille, en visant les enfants indignes et les épouses meurtrières. Plutôt que l’arme rudimentaire servant à écraser les soulèvements souvent décrite par les historiens, le lingchi constituait un dispositif sophistiqué de soutien d’un projet confucéen complexe

Wetting by liquid sodium and fracture path analysis of sodium induced embrittlement of 304L stainless steel

The wettability of the 304L steel is an important parameter in Liquid Metal Embrittlement studies. Empirically, it is found to be greatly enhanced by pre-exposure to oxygenated liquid sodium. The corrosion interface formed during exposure to sodium has been analyzed at the nanoscale by transmission electron microscopy using the focused ion beam sampling. A thin layer of sodium chromite (Na xCrO2 with x ≤ 1) is detected at the interface validating wetting on an oxide mechanism for the enhanced wetting after pre-exposure. Fracture micromechanisms and the crack path of liquid sodium-embrittled austenitic steel 304L at 573 K have been investigated down to the nanoscale. High-resolution orientation mapping analyses immediately below the fracture surface show that abundant martensitic transformations (γ → α) and twinning occur during deformation of austenite. The preferential crack path is intergranular along the newly formed γ/γ interfaces. It is concluded that these transformations play a major role in the fracture process

Bullet-Shaped Magnetite Biomineralization Within a Magnetotactic Deltaproteobacterium: Implications for Magnetofossil Identification

Magnetite produced by magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) provides stable paleomagnetic signals because it occurs as natural single‐domain magnetic nanocrystals. MTB can also provide useful paleoenvironmental information because their crystal morphologies are associated with particular bacterial groups and the environments in which they live. However, identification of the fossil remains of MTB (i.e., magnetofossils) from ancient sediments or rocks is challenging because of their generally small sizes and because the growth, morphology, and chain assembly of magnetite within MTB are not well understood. Nanoscale characterization is, therefore, needed to understand magnetite biomineralization and to develop magnetofossils as biogeochemical proxies for paleoenvironmental reconstructions. Using advanced transmission electron microscopy, we investigated magnetite growth and chain arrangements within magnetotactic Deltaproteobacteria strain WYHR‐1, which reveals how the magnetite grows to form elongated, bullet‐shaped nanocrystals. Three crystal growth stages are recognized: (i) initial isotropic growth to produce nearly round ~20 nm particles, (ii) subsequent anisotropic growth along the [001] crystallographic direction to ~75 nm lengths and ~30-40 nm widths, and (iii) unidirectional growth along the [001] direction to ~180 nm lengths, with some growing to ~280 nm. Crystal growth and habit differ from that of magnetite produced by other known MTB strains, which indicates species‐specific biomineralization. These findings suggest that magnetite biomineralization might be much more diverse among MTB than previously thought. When characterized adequately at species level, magnetofossil crystallography, and apomorphic features are, therefore, likely to become useful proxies for ancient MTB taxonomic groups or species and for interpreting the environments in which they lived.This study was supported financially by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants no. 41920104009, 41890843, and 41621004), The Senior User Project of RVKEXUE2019GZ06 (Center for Ocean Me Mega‐Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences), and the Australian Research Council (grant DP160100805

En trompe-l'oeil

Criticism. Inspired by Hermann Broch's essay Creation litteraire et connaissance and Maurice Blanchot's L'Espace litteraire, $underline {Cr 'eation, 'ethique et v 'erit 'e}$, Broch et Blanchot questions both the possibility and the necessity for a writer to maneuver within the realm of Fiction (i.e. inevitably the realm of Lies), while following an ethical code of Truth.Fiction. $underline {En trompe-l'oeil}$ is a novella about Mance Dussault who, after parting from her lover, is compelled to redefine her own identity, by herself and outside of the gaze of the Other. Her quest is complicated by the fact that she is torn between her passions from the past and her current dreams which are luring her into a state of being never experienced before. Furthermore, the veil of novelty could hide a side of reality darker than suspected

Study of grain growth and defect formation in Ag thin films by planar TEM with in-situ heating

International audienc

Nanostructured Cu-Cr alloy with high strength and electrical conductivity

International audienc

Strain localization and delamination mechanism of cold-drawn pearlitic steel wires during torsion

International audienc

In situ production of visible light absorbing Ti-based nanoparticles in solution and in a photopolymerizable cationic matrix

International audienc

Hydrogen absorption in 1 nm Pd clusters confined in MIL-101(Cr)

International audienc

Orientation imaging- ASTAR investigation of the grain and precipitate morphology in Al–Cu–Mg alloy processed by Equal Channel Angular Pressing

International audienc