Time-Stage Model of Failure

In the past few decades, failure has attracted more attention as people realize that experiencing and learning from failure is an essential part of achieving success. In light of this, I propose a time-stage model of failure, which describes and predicts the processes and responses at three stages of failure: In the first stage, individuals experience immediate emotional pain and a sense of threat to their fundamental needs upon detecting failure; in the second stage, individuals reflect on the significance of their failure and develop different motives to recover from the threatened needs. In the third stage, prolonged exposure to failure drains individuals’ resources and leads them to believe that they are destined for continuous failure. This can result in compliance, avoidance, and a decrease in self-efficacy. Finally, we call for more research to explore the factors and psychological mechanisms that affect the individuals’ response to failure, so that more strategies can be developed to help individuals recover from short-term failures and minimize the negative consequences of long-term failure

Fabrication, modeling, and characterization of form-birefringent nanostructures

A 490-nm-deep nanostructure with a period of 200 nm was fabricated in a GaAs substrate by use of electron-beam lithography and dry-etching techniques. The form birefringence of this microstructure was studied numerically with rigorous coupled-wave analysis and compared with experimental measurements at a wavelength of 920 nm. The numerically predicted phase retardation of 163.3 degrees was found to be in close agreement with the experimentally measured result of 162.5 degrees, thereby verifying the validity of our numerical modeling. The fabricated microstructures show extremely large artificial anisotropy compared with that available in naturally birefringent materials and are useful for numerous polarization optics applications

性別話語的協商 : 中國當代婦女研究對女性主義話語的接受與建構(1980-2000)

1980 年代以來，女性主義話語(Feminist Discourse)在中國當代婦女研究的引入與發展，無疑是 跟中國內地的再度現代化同步的，它既是中國現代化進程的時代產物，同時也這個現代化大計 的其中一個非常重要的構成部分。事實上，除了為新時期的中國人民帶來現代性的想像外(例如 西方女性主義話語的「性別平等」觀念以及科學性格)，女性主義話語亦實際上夾帶著「主體」、 「個體自由」等作為現代性標記的概念。 本論文將會借助知識考古學的方法(Archaeology of Knowledge)，透過話語分析(Discourse Analysis)，探討改革開放以來對女性主義話語的接受、建構與變遷，尤其是其間種種的文化協 商。本論文將會把焦點集中在中國當代婦女研究的頭兩個發展階段(1980 年代初至1993 年、1993 至2000 年)，從中分別抽取在中國當代女性主義話語中的一系列關鍵概念(key concepts)，透過 一些具有分析意義或重要的相關話語事件(discursive events)個案，追溯這個理論旅行的歷史過 程。 本論文提出的主要立論是﹕二十世紀八十年代以來中國當代婦女研究對於女性主義話語的接受 與建構，是一個充滿文化協商的過程，它開始於後文革與改革開放的雙重語境之中，面對中國 社會主義的遺產與債務，其間障礙重重，無法得到真正的開展，而直至1995 年聯合國第四次世 界婦女大會的舉行、聯合國成員國對《北京宣言》、《行動綱領》等兩份全球性的綱領文件的簽 定，契機才逐漸出現。可以這麼說，在這一個文化協商的過程中，借著歷史性的契機，中國當 代婦女研究透過對於女性主義話語的接受和建構，在新自由主義邏輯與社會主義的既有體制之 間，在話語以至體制上，為現實中的婦女以及自身建構了一個廻轉與生存的環境