The Relational Self: Maternal Inheritance and Eurasian Identity in Han Suyin’s The Crippled Tree

This work examines Han Suyin’s representation of her Eurasian identity in relation to her maternal inheritance, focusing on her autobiography The Crippled Tree, the first volume in the series China: Autobiography, History. Drawing on Paul John Eakin’s concept of relationality in life writing, we consider that Han’s Eurasian identity was formed through her interactions and negotiations with significant others such as her mother. We argue that Han reveals her maternal inheritance in three ways: reconstructing her mother’s subjectivity, recalling her mother’s story, and speaking for her mother: actions that contribute to Han’s self-representation as Eurasian. By intertwining her story with that of her mother, Han shows that her self-identity is relational, and presents the boundaries of the autobiographical ‘I’ as shifting and flexible

Evaluating Alternative Nutrient Sources in Subsistence-Level Aquaponic Systems

Many food production methods are both economically and environmentally unsustainable. Our project investigated aquaponics, an alternative method of agriculture that could address these issues. Aquaponics combines fish and plant crop production in a symbiotic, closed-loop system. We aimed to reduce the initial and operating costs of current aquaponic systems by utilizing alternative feeds. These improvements may allow for sustainable implementation of the system in rural or developing regions. We conducted a multi-phase process to determine the most affordable and effective feed alternatives for use in an aquaponic system. At the end of two preliminary phases, soybean meal was identified as the most effective potential feed supplement. In our final phase, we constructed and tested six full-scale aquaponic systems of our own design. Data showed that soybean meal can be used to reduce operating costs and reliance on fishmeal. However, a more targeted investigation is needed to identify the optimal formulation of alternative feed blends

Impact of LHC probes of SUSY and recent measurement of (g−2)μ(g-2)_{\mu} on Z3\mathbb{Z}_3-NMSSM

It is well known that excessively heavy supersymmetric particles (sparticles) are disfavored to explain the $(g-2)_\mu$ anomaly, but some people overlook that moderately light sparticles are also disfavored by the LHC probes of supersymmetry. We take the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model as an example to emphasize the latter point. It is found that, if the theory is required to explain the anomaly at $2\sigma$ level and meanwhile keep consistent with the LHC results, the following lower bounds may be set: $\tan \beta \gtrsim 20$, $|M_1| \gtrsim 275~{\rm GeV}$, $M_2 \gtrsim 300~{\rm GeV}$, $\mu \gtrsim 460~{\rm GeV}$, $m_{\tilde{\mu}_L} \gtrsim 310~{\rm GeV}$, and $m_{\tilde{\mu}_R} \gtrsim 350~{\rm GeV}$, where $M_1$ and $M_2$ denote gaugino masses, $\mu$ represents the Higgsino mass, and $m_{\tilde{\mu}_L}$ and $m_{\tilde{\mu}_R}$ are the mass of Smuons with $L$ and $R$ denoting their dominant chiral component. This observation has significant impacts on dark matter (DM) physics, e.g., the popular $Z$- and Higgs-funnel regions have been excluded, and the Bino-dominated neutralino DM has to co-annihilate with the Wino-dominated electroweakinos (in most cases) and/or Smuons (in few cases) to obtain the correct density. It is also inferred that these conclusions should apply to the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model since the underlying physics for the bounds are the same

Extended imaging depth of en-face optical coherence tomography based on fast measurement of a reflection matrix by wide-field heterodyne detection.

Multiple light scattering in biomedical tissue limits the penetration depth of optical imaging systems such as optical coherence tomography. To increase the imaging depth in scattering media, a computational method based on coherent reflection matrix measurement has been developed using low coherence interferometry. The complex reflection matrix is obtained via point-by-point scanning followed by a phase-shifting method; then singular value decomposition is used to retrieve the singly back-scattered light. However, the in vivo application of the current reported method is limited due to the slow acquisition speed of the matrix. In this Letter, a wide-field heterodyne-detection method is adopted to speed up the complex matrix measurement at a deep tissue layer. Compared to the phase-shifting method, the heterodyne-detection scheme retrieves depth-resolved complex amplitudes faster and is more stable without mechanical movement of the reference mirror. As a result, the matrix measurement speed is increased by more than one order of magnitude

Spatial Association characteristics of facilities around scenic spots considering distance and orientation: A case study of 3A and above scenic spots in Beijing

In the urban tourism and service industry, the POI data with coordinate and attribute information of the major map platforms constitute one of the important data sources of the urban tourism and service industry. In this paper, the spatial data transaction database under four distances was established based on the gate buffer of 3A and above scenic spots in Beijing. The Apriori algorithm was used to calculate the lifting degree to obtain the distance for mining the best association features of 3A, 4A and 5A scenic spots, and then the association features of the three scenic spots in different directions were analysed

Enhanced CO2 Capture through SAPO-34 Impregnated with Ionic Liquid

The concurrent utilization of an adsorbent and absorbent for carbon dioxide (CO2) adsorption with synergistic effects presents a promising technique for CO2 capture. Here, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazole acetate ([Bmim][Ac]), with a high affinity for CO2, and the molecular sieve SAPO-34 were selected. The impregnation method was used to composite the hybrid samples of [Bmim][Ac]/SAPO-34, and the pore structure and surface property of prepared samples were characterized. The quantity and kinetics of the sorbed CO2 for loaded samples were measured using thermogravimetric analysis. The study revealed that SAPO-34 could retain its pristine structure after [Bmim][Ac] loading. The CO2 uptake of the loaded sample was 1.879 mmol g-1 at 303 K and 1 bar, exhibiting a 20.6% rise compared to that of the pristine SAPO-34 recording 1.558 mmol g-1. The CO2 uptake kinetics of the loaded samples were also accelerated, and the apparent mass transfer resistance for CO2 sorption was significantly reduced by 11.2% compared with that of the pure [Bmim][Ac]. The differential scanning calorimetry method revealed that the loaded sample had a lower CO2 desorption heat than that of the pure [Bmim][Ac], and the CO2 desorption heat of the loaded samples was between 30.6 and 40.8 kJ mol-1. The samples exhibited good cyclic stability. This material displays great potential for CO2 capture applications, facilitating the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.Validerad;2024;Nivå 2;2024-05-07 (hanlid);Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China (22327809); Post-graduate Research &amp; Practice Innovation Program of Jiangsu Province (KYCX23-1467);Full text license: CC BY</p