Zombie Culture in Past and Modern Mythologies

In modern media the notion of a zombie brings to mind the images of rotting flesh, a desire for flesh, and surviving in a desolate post-apocalyptic world. While zombies have certainly evolved into a niche genre separate from horror and science fiction, it is imperative that the origins of this modern-day phenomenon are explored and analyzed in an academic context. From the empty threats of the goddess Ishtar in ancient Mesopotamia to urban legends of former Haitian slaves, the foundation of zombie culture provides strong insight to humanity’s fear of losing itself to mere corporeal forms. Zombie culture is the ultimate symbol of mindless oppression and the preservation of human ethics in face of adversity. While the modern idea of a zombie entails the horrors inspired by George Romero’s infamous film Night of the Living Dead, there are cultural aspects and impacts that come from the walking dead that this presentation hopes to portray academically. The origins of Romero’s zombie come from former Haitian slave culture. With the horrors of slavery, it was believed that the worst possible fate for a man was to become a thoughtless body, unable to think freely and doomed to forever work under the torturous sun. This basis, a mindless form, is present in numerous mythologies. From here it is intended that these aspects of zombie culture among others such as cannibalism and the dead rising from beyond to terrorize the living shall be explored. With the foundation in place as history is examined, modern trends in zombie media will be examined and presented in an orderly fashion. It will be asked, how has humanity projected its own fears and frustrations onto zombie media? How has the idea of a zombie evolved from simple notions of human mindlessness and cannibalism

The effect of plant growth regulators on the growth of Closterium moniliferum

Physiologic responses to Gibberellic Acid (GA), I-Naphthalene Acetic Acid (NAA), Benzylaminopurine (BAP), and Abscisic Acid (ABA). suggest that Oosterium monilfferum has the ability to utilize these plant growth factors. The growth promoters NAA and GA both increased growth when added to the media. The cell division regulator BAP (a synthetic cytokinin). also had a promotive effect on growth. Abscisic acid was found to be inhibitive to growth

A Comparative Study of Move Analysis in Chinese and International Research Article Abstracts

To raise the authors’ awareness of using the moves and move models in abstract writing, this study compares the frequency, type, and significant difference of moves and move models in 100 abstracts written in English by Chinese scholars and 100 abstracts written by international scholars in 10 prestigious international journals in the field of linguistics. The adapted Hyland’s five-move model was used as research framework, Corpus and statistic software SPSS were used as research instruments. The comparisons report that Chinese scholars tend to use introduction, result, and conclusion moves. International scholars are inclined to use purpose, method, result, and conclusion moves. The results also indicate that the four-move model is the most prevalent in the two groups. Chinese scholars used the two-move model more than the English authors whereas used the five-move model less than the international authors. The findings are intended to provide referential value for the writing and teaching of English for academic purposes

Correlates of Smoke-Free Policies in Homes and Cars Among Hawaii Residents

The detrimental health effects of environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) have been well established. Cars and homes are two of the primary places that nonsmokers, particularly children, are exposed to ETS. This study examined the prevalence of smoke-free policies in homes and cars among 4,557 residents of Hawaii using cross-sectional data collected from a random-digit dial telephone survey. Smokers were much less likely than nonsmokers and former smokers to have smoke-free policies. Multivariate analysis of current smokers revealed that significant predictors of banning smoking in the home were: disagreeing that it is okay to smoke indoors, smoking fewer cigarettes per day, and higher confidence in ability to quit smoking. Significant predictors of banning smoking in the car were: disagreeing that it is okay to smoke indoors, smoking fewer cigarettes per day, and having children in the household. This study indicates that changing smokers’ attitudes about ETS may be an important component of a comprehensive program to increase smoke-free homes and cars

Current Situation and Future Development of Activity Theory in China

The cultural-historical activity theory was developed by the Russian psychologist Vygotsky and his colleagues in the 1920s and 1930s. Since then, it has been expanded globally and rapidly, particularly during the past 15 years. However, there has been little interaction between the broader international community and China with respect to the development of the theory and its applications in China, which has taken place along a path of its own. This paper aims to examine this development, focusing on 1) the general situation and background of the research, 2) the basic understanding, theoretical construction and unique features of development; 3) the focal areas in and limitations of the application; and 4) idea evolution in terms of different generation theories. At the end of the paper, emerging trends and future prospects of activity theoretical research in China will be suggested and discussed

Marine Ecological Governance Under New Media Environment: Tripartite Evolutionary Game and Simulation Analysis

Based on the general reality that new media with massive information and strong interactivity play an increasingly prominent role in marine ecological governance, this study introduces the coastal public participation mechanism under the new media environment. Furthermore, based on the assumption of limited rationality, an evolutionary game model among local governments, marine enterprises, and the coastal public is constructed to explore the changes in game strategies among the three participating subjects over time. Then, we used MATLAB to simulate and analyze the evolutionary stabilization strategies under different parameters by combining our research data on governments at all levels, marine enterprises, and the coastal public in 14 cities in coastal areas of China. The study shows that: 1) an objective and a fair new media environment exert a positive guiding effect on marine ecological governance, whereas a false and distorted one will lead to chaos in marine ecological governance. 2) Considering the high accuracy of new media reports, the higher the sensitivity of the local governments and marine enterprises to media reports, the more inclined they are toward strong regulation and active governance. 3) The local governments can effectively restrain the marine hazard behavior of the marine enterprises by increasing penalties and environmental protection taxes, and it is equally important to guide marine enterprises to fully utilize high and new technology in the marine industry for improving economic benefits and reducing governance costs. 4) Coastal public participation can effectively compensate for the local governments’ regulatory loopholes and can reduce the cost of government regulation. Therefore, for ensuring objective reports of new media by establishing reward and punishment mechanisms and regularly selecting excellent new media, using new media to enhance the level of marine publicity and education to encourage the coastal public to widely and fully participate in marine ecological governance is an effective means

Solidification of High Organic Matter Content Sludge by Cement, Lime and Metakaolin

Based on orthogonal experimental design, the key solidification controlling technology of Solidified/Stabilized (S/S) sludge with high total organic content (TOC) by cement, lime and metakaolin was explored by macroscopic tests, chemical components measurements and microscopic analysis. The macroscopic tests show that, the permeability coefficient is mainly affected by initial water content and lime content, and the unconfined compression strength is mainly affected by cement content and lime content. The chemical components measurements show that, the solidification effect of S/S sludge with high TOC is controlled by organic matter consumption, and organic matter consumption is determined by the alkaline environment from the cement and lime hydration reactions, which is mainly affect by the initial water content and lime-metakaolin content ratio. The microscopic analysis results show that, lime consumes parts of organic matter while excess lime produces weak Ca(OH)2 crystal fluffy sheet structure, matakaolin produces pozzolanic reactions with cement and lime instead of soil particles, and consumes the weak Ca(OH)2 crystal fluffy sheet structure produced by superfluous lime. The research has confirmed key controlling points of S/S sludge in case of high TOC, which will provide theoretical guidance and technical support for S/S sludge promotion with high TOC

Impact Investing in Social Property: A Case Study of Cheyne Capital

This thesis offers a solution to one of the most enduring housing challenges: how to come up with the capital, which is affordable for housing, built for social purposes? To achieve this, it presents the first in-depth academic study on impact investing in social property or impact real estate, specifically focusing on the case of Cheyne Capital, the London-based alternative investment manager, and its role in developing housing for disadvantaged groups. Looking at one of the earliest examples of impact investing – an emergent market that has not been institutionalised as of yet – this research examines the mechanisms developed to create Big Society Capital (BSC), the world’s first social investment wholesale bank, and introduce Social Investment Finance Intermediaries (SIFIs), like Cheyne Capital, to help build the modern social finance market to fund social and environmental initiatives. It further examines the challenges that Cheyne Capital faced as a new social landlord, particularly those relating to inefficiencies in building procurement, its need to develop a viable real estate scheme and its pledge to demonstrate a measurable social impact, alongside a financial return, for each investment. Here this real-world case analysis reveals that it is possible to achieve a sweet spot model where the business model and the impact model are the same. The outcome is that Cheyne Capital has invested around £900 million to help tackle the shortage of affordable housing solutions and deliver key worker housing, supported living, elderly extra-care housing, and housing for the homeless for local councils, housing associations, and charities. This thesis also introduces design principles and a proto-typical housing module for housing without a site, which can be replicated and scaled and includes an exploratory framework for social impact measurement for housing. These findings offer insight into the opportunities, risks and challenges of using this new model to deliver quality and affordable urban housing at a large scale and its policy implications

Study on the Creep Characteristics of Sandstone under Coupled Stress-water Pressure

Long-term interaction between stress and water pressure leads to creep damage of reservoir bank slope. As a result there will be instability of the bank slopes in many water conservancy projects. The rock mass creeping effect of coupled stress-water pressure was studied by using a typical sandstone rock from the Three Gorges reservoir area. The experiment was conducted by using the rock immersion-air-drying cyclic load rheometer device (designed and manufactured by our research team). Based on the experimental results, the following key points were observed: 1) the creep strain and the steady-state creep rate was increasing when the water pressure increased (at the same stress level). Under the same water pressure, the increase in the axial pressure resulted in the increase in the creep strain and steady creep rate of the sandstone specimens. 2) the increase in the axial pressure increased the creep strain and steady-state creep rate of the sandstone specimens while the water pressure increased. The mechanical properties of the sandstone specimens were affected by the water pressure. 3) the water infiltrates through the pore surfaces. As a result, the rate of deformation will increase while the bearing capacity and long-term strength of the rock decrease. This paper provides a solid theoretical foundation for the evaluation and prediction of reservoir geological hazards