Jianchuan Museum Complex: Memory, Ethics and Power in Chinese Private Heritage Entrepreneurship

This thesis delineates and reflects upon an emerging phenomenon of private heritage entrepreneurship in China, through the examination of the Jianchuan Museum Complex (JMC), the country’s largest private museum project. Adopting an ethnographic approach, I seek to offer critical insights into how, in the context of state dominance of social remembrance, difficult and contentious histories are addressed through ambiguous and evocative narratives at the Jianchuan Museum Complex. One of my core concerns is to critically understand how different interests, powers, relations and moral commitments are involved and mobilised in this enterprise, and what is implied about the social and political role of the museum, in a relationship with the state that it maintains through constant adjustments and changes. In doing so, I explore the complexity of the project through multiple aspects of its design and operation. By tracing the personal history of Fan Jianchuan, the founder and director of the JMC, I consider the different social personas he occupies to unpack the moral ethical discourse surrounding a ‘historical responsibility’ to collect and remember ‘national memories’ that he professes through the museum project, as crystallised in the construct of himself as a charismatic public figure. I present my analysis of the museums in a historicised framework that I call a genealogy of the JMC from its establishment in 2003 to 2015, which demonstrates significant shifts over the course in both its curation and strategical focus. I also draw on my ethnographic experience to address the consulting business which has become a crucial sector in the project’s operation. And I attend to the social life within the JMC pertaining particularly to the tensions between the museum’s position as an ethical project of remembering and a shifting dynamics of power relations in the museum’s management of labour

The implications of adult sex ratios on evolutionary dynamics of dung beetles:insights from Onthophagus taurus

The Adult Sex Ratio (ASR), defining the proportion of adult males to females in a population, is recognized as a cardinal determinant governing ecological interactions and evolutionary trajectories. This thesis delves into the pivotal role of Adult Sex Ratio in ecological and evolutionary processes, leveraging innovative methodologies to elucidate the multidimensional impacts of ASR on behavioural dynamics and breeding systems, primarily using the dung beetle, Onthophagus taurus, as a model organism. The comprehensive analysis reveals that ASR significantly influences contest and courtship competition intensity, correlating with male reproductive success without altering parental investment or female reproductive outcome. It additionally provides novel insights, suggesting that ASR does not directionally impact individual personalities, with social experience emerging as a more determinant factor in shaping behaviours like righting and aggressiveness, but not boldness and foraging behaviours. Further investigations into parental ASR and offspring development indicate no discernible impacts on either developmental outcomes or parental care within a single generational cycle, challenging prevailing hypotheses. Cumulatively, the findings spotlight the necessity for an expanded ASR research framework, advocating for broader applicability in future studies, both in species range and research dimensions, while emphasizing the integration of advanced biotechnologies to unearth intricate ASR-related dynamics. This thesis contributes valuable perspectives to behavioural and evolutionary ecology, underlining the subtle complexities and far-reaching implications of ASR in shaping ecological interactions and evolutionary trajectories

Pattern formation in oscillatory complex networks consisting of excitable nodes

Oscillatory dynamics of complex networks has recently attracted great attention. In this paper we study pattern formation in oscillatory complex networks consisting of excitable nodes. We find that there exist a few center nodes and small skeletons for most oscillations. Complicated and seemingly random oscillatory patterns can be viewed as well-organized target waves propagating from center nodes along the shortest paths, and the shortest loops passing through both the center nodes and their driver nodes play the role of oscillation sources. Analyzing simple skeletons we are able to understand and predict various essential properties of the oscillations and effectively modulate the oscillations. These methods and results will give insights into pattern formation in complex networks, and provide suggestive ideas for studying and controlling oscillations in neural networks.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Stabilized antiferroelectricity in xBiScO3-(1-x)NaNbO3 lead-free ceramics with established double hysteresis loops

We previously reported various solid solution systems that demonstrated the stabilized antiferroelectric (P) phases in NaNbO 3 through lowering the tolerance factor. However, all those reported modifications were achieved by adding A 2+ B 4+ O 3 type solid solutions. A lead-free antiferroelectric (AFE) solid solution xBiScO 3 -(1-x)NaNbO 3 was rationalized by adopting the tolerance factor design rule. Specifically, adding BiScO 3 was found to effectively stabilize the AFE phase without changing the crystal symmetry of NaNbO 3 . Microstructure and electron zone axis diffraction patterns from transmission electron microscopy revealed the stabilized AFE (P) phase in this solid solution. Besides, the electric-field-induced polarization with a double-hysteresis loop was observed. The present results pointed out that the strategy could also be applied while adding A 3+ B 3+ O 3 type solid solutions. In addition, it expanded the compositional design that can be applied to antiferroelectric materials

Effect of short-term exercise intervention on cardiovascular functions and quality of life of chronic heart failure patients: A meta-analysis

AbstractObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the effect of short-term exercise intervention on the cardiovascular functions and quality of life (QoL) of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF).MethodsThis meta-analysis was analyzed using RevMan5.3 and Stata 13.0. The parameters of cardiovascular functions and QoL were assessed. Weighted mean differences and their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were computed for continuous variables.ResultsData from 2533 CHF patients enrolled in 28 published studies of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were collated. There were significant differences in VO2 max prior to and after exercise intervention in CHF patients who are 50–55 years old (5 RCTs; 95% CI, −4.86 to −2.29; I2 = 50.5%), 60–65 years old (10 RCTs; 95% CI, −2.66 to −2.04; I2 = 0%), and 69–75 years old (5 RCTs; 95% CI, −1.88 to −0.34; I2 = 38.5%). VO2 max was significantly increased by aerobic exercise (9 RCTs; 95% CI, −3.45 to −1.92; I2 = 37.7%) and combined aerobic resistance exercise (4 RCTs; 95% CI, −4.41 to −0.26; I2 = 76.6%). There were significant differences in cardiac output (n = 303; 95% CI, −0.25 to −0.02; I2 = 12%) and QoL (n = 299; 95% CI, 3.19 to 9.70; I2 = 17%) prior to and after short-term exercise.ConclusionAerobic exercise and aerobic with resistance exercise can significantly improve the aerobic capacity of CHF patients, whereas resistance exercise cannot. The improvement in aerobic capacity caused by aerobic exercise and aerobic with resistance exercise decreases with age. Systolic blood pressure and ventricle structures and functions of CHF patients show no significant changes after the short-term exercise intervention