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Building Stories: Retelling Pasts and Presents and Building Unpredictable Futures for Stories and Buildings
No full textThis research engages with the building of three stories.
Each one is about a building: a disused colonial school in Tasmania; a decaying glass room in Rajasthan; and an industrial landscape in West Bengal. Their stories narrate their development between their origins in the nineteenth-century British Empire and the present.
Each story is also ‘about’ writing. This research considers what happens if we apply spatial intelligence (van Schaik 2013) to writing: verbing as well as nouning the word ‘building’.
This research engages with three aspects of this operation: framing fictions, fabricating space and time, and telling for retelling. Each might apply to buildings or stories: both of which can be both ‘fictional’ and ‘factual’; both of which structure time and space; both of which can be handed from generation to generation, preserved and altered every time.
As the ‘-ing’ implies, ‘building’ is an ongoing activity rather than, as the theorist Giovanni Corbellini says of architecture, the reproduction of an idea (Corbellini 2018, 38). Buildings can ramble or run to ruin in ways that architecture cannot. Buildings can be reused and adapted. Buildings live lives beyond those of their makers. Adaptive reuse is no longer the peripheral practice it was when I started practicing as an architect in 1991, but its (largely Eurocentric and implicitly modernist) dogmas are challenged by new situations today. What does a beautifully crafted shadow gap or a process of patient excavation – what does the progressive layering of historical time actually mean in a fast-changing Asian city, for example, rather than the Venice or the Rome that spawned them? Building Stories attempts to make new sense of this practice by narrating the ways in which, in different times and places, other people have lived or are living with ‘build’-ing in diverse ways.
‘Story’ is also a vague term, its sea overflowing the containers and conventions of fictional or factual writing; associated, Walter Benjamin writes, with fairy tales and their tricksters, unreliable narrators, and the implication of untruth. (Benjamin [1936] 2019). Many architectural thinkers discuss buildings as texts, designing as authoring, and so on. However, this research reverses the analogy to explore how methods more commonly used in building design and construction – including diagramming, drawing, materialising, and animating – can elicit, generate, structure, and communicate stories. As buildings, these stories become not just the static verbal representations of static objects but also something that can unfold in time, in telling and occupation.
This means that unlike much of the literature (including architecture fiction, historical fiction, alternative history, ficto-critical writing) that forms one context for the practice explored here, the ‘end result’ of the practice of building stories is not only textual, and nor is it always finished. Rather, the building is reproduced – storied – through multiple means, including drawing, speaking, making, and animating as well as writing. In some cases, those means include inserting stories back into the buildings they imagine, triggering subsequent cycles of stories, imaginings, and interventions.
Bringing the two words together amplifies their ambiguity. Building Stories is a series of stories about buildings that could be understood as history, manual, or guidebook. However, the process of building stories also engages with the structuring of stories, their design, and their possible occupation through telling and listening.
In heritage preservation, storying and building come together as a single practice. As the experimental preservationist Jorge Otero-Pailos suggests, this can become an experimental project of reimagining, reproducing, or cocreating buildings from the past (Otero-Pailos, Langdalen, and Arrhenius 2016). Worlds in which memories are disputed, resources often scarce, institutional support absent or labyrinthine, whose protocols for preservation are often seen as crude imperial impositions, are worlds that invite experiments with the reproduction of change in space and time through practices like that of building stories.
How might my research contribute to these practices?
First, for this PhD, I have created building stories that aim to be what Otero-Pailos calls ‘institutionally unrecognisable objects’ (Otero-Pailos, Langdalen, and Arrhenius 2016, 39) that negotiate the interzones between heritage, narrative, or architecture.
Second, the notion I develop of the story as a quasi-autonomous ‘image’ of its subject offers an approach to preservation that transcends material intervention: when it is impossible to ‘save’ everything, it may be more useful to story some things instead.
Third, this ‘image’ is not static but, as a story, unfolds in time and space through retelling. Building Stories is like the buildings it shows, things that will not just be read or told but can be retold and, indeed, invite retelling, perpetuating their own existence beyond the circumstances of their authoring.
This research asks how we can build stories that invite retelling, just as we might build a building that (explicitly or not) invites diverse and unpredictable occupations or rebuild one in the knowledge that our work will be transformed or undone.
All too often, even when redesign or retelling is undertaken or invoked, the project of adaptive reuse is understood as the ‘final’ version of the building; the critical retelling of the tale is understood as authored and autonomous; the act of preservation or heritage interpretation aims to preserve a building, removing it from the flow of time.
Nonetheless, the methods I have developed through the practice of building stories aim instead to release them to swim in time instead, using the fluid medium of storytelling to understand, to narrate, and to thereby intervene in the processes of changing buildings and, thereby, building change.</p
Solids Settling in High Concentration Slurries under Static and Sheared Conditions
No full textElectrical Resistance Tomography (ERT) has been used previously in multiphase systems to detect different phases based on differences in their conductivities. ERT measures particles' position in a settling vessel using solid-liquid mixture conductivities, which determine solids concentration at different heights. Developing mathematical models for estimating solids settling velocity in settling vessels relies on detecting the motion of particles rather than tracking the solid-liquid interface. For the first time, ERT is used in this work to study solids settling velocity in slurries under static and sheared conditions.In this work, a custom-designed ERT cup, equipped with three sensor planes, was used in solids settling experiments. Glass particles and glycerol solution were used as the solid and liquid phases in settling experiments. Settling experiments were carried out under static conditions using solids concentrations ranging from 5 to 30 vol% in glycerol-water solutions with glycerol concentrations ranging from 80 to 90 vol%. Experimental results showed that the solids settling velocity decreases with increasing solids concentration and liquid viscosity. A semi-empirical model was developed using experimental results and the well-known Richardson and Zaki's model to incorporate the effects of hindered settling and slurry viscosity. The predictions from the model agreed closely with the experimental results. In addition to the solids settling rate, the buildup of the settled bed at the bottom is also an important parameter to be determined in settling tanks and slurry transportation in pipelines. In this work, the temporal variations in solids concentration obtained from ERT measurements were used to determine the volume and height of the settled bed at the vessel bottom using solids mass balance. The settled bed buildup velocity estimated from the above measurement was found to increase with increasing solids concentration in suspension and decrease with an increase in liquid viscosity. An empirical model was developed for settled-bed buildup velocity, and its predictions agreeed closely with the experimental results. A comparison of settling and settled bed buildup velocities under static conditions showed that, with increasing solids concentration, solids settling velocity decreases, whereas the settled bed buildup velocity increases. Additionally, with an increase in liquid phase viscosity, both settling and settled bed buildup velocities decrease. The above findings indicate that, as a direct and non-invasive method, ERT could simultaneously measure the solids settling and settled bed buildup velocities in slurries.Study of solids settling velocity under sheared conditions is important for designing and operating many slurry handling equipment, including pipelines for slurry transportation. In this work, ERT was used for the first time to determine solids settling velocity under sheared conditions using an HR3 rheometer. The ERT cup was used as the rheometer cup in a cup-and-bob arrangement. The solids settling velocity of glass particles descending in 90 vol% glycerol solution located in the annular space between the rheometer cup and bob was evaluated by tracking particles' downward movement using the changes in slurry conductivity. The shear rate applied by the rheometer was varied from 5 to 125 s-1 by changing the bob rotational speed. Solids concentration was varied from 5 to 25 vol%. Experimental results showed that solids settling velocity decreases with increasing solids concentration, slurry viscosity and shear rate. An empirical settling velocity model was developed using a modified Richardson-Zaki model incorporating the effects of solids concentration, slurry viscosity and shear rate. The prediction from the model agreed well with the experimental values. The empirical correlation developed for solids settling velocity under sheared conditions was used to develop a model to predict the settling velocity of solids in slurry transported in a pipeline under laminar flow conditions. The predictions from the proposed model were verified using solids settling velocity data available from the literature. The model was used to develop a follow-up model to predict the critical pipe length beyond which accumulated solids settling could lead to eventual blockage in laminar flow conditions. The model’s predictions showed that the critical pipe length increases with increasing solids concentration in the slurry, pipe diameter and slurry viscosity.</p
A Bioengineered Approach to Study The Mechanobiology of Endothelial Cells in Response to Cyclic Stretch and Substrate Stiffness
No full textVascular ageing results in mechanical and structural changes to the vascular wall causing loss of vessel elasticity and decreased vessel compliance. Arterial stiffening is a major risk factor associated with the progression of age-related health conditions such as cardiovascular diseases and dementia. Increasing vessel stiffness significantly impacts the intensity of flow-induced cyclic stretch applied on the vascular endothelium. However, to date, less is known on the cooperative effects of cyclic stretch (CS) and vessel stiffness on endothelial cell biology. Advancements in the field of endothelial biology has been considerably hampered by a lack of technology that can mimic vessel wall elasticity in the presence of cyclic stretch.
Chapter 1 presents a summary on vascular ageing and ageing-associated vascular dysfunction. This literature review explains the physiological and pathological effects of arterial stiffening on vascular morphology. It includes a brief outline of the biomechanical effects of vascular ageing on vascular endothelial cells and its surrounding extracellular matrix. It also incorporates a review of in vitro bioengineered vascular models used to study vascular ageing and age-associated cardiovascular disorders. I summarized the recent progress in in vitro platforms including traditional two-dimensional (2D) and newly emerging advanced three-dimensional (3D) vascular platforms. This review identified a clear gap in the current available platforms and motivated me to develop a novel 3D in vitro vascular model for exploring age- associated vascular dysfunctions.
Chapter 2 presents my first research contribution. Here, I designed and characterised a 3D-printed vascular simulation model that can mimic vascular endothelial cells (VECs) in young and aged blood vessels with adjustable stiffness, thus combining the physiological relevance of animal models with the simplicity of in vitro models. I demonstrated a cam-driven system for cyclic stretch of aortic endothelial cells and used this versatile system for studying the cytoskeletal structure and morphology of aortic endothelial cells in response to cyclic stretch. Using this unique model and a combination of fluorescent microscopy and image processing approaches, I further demonstrated that cyclic stretch leads to the changes in cytoskeletal alignment of the endothelial actin stress fibres, increases the cell area and aspect ratio in a dose- and time- dependent manner. This new model enabled me to successfully show the effects of ageing-associated diseased blood vessels on endothelial cell morphology and how cyclic stretch contributes to endothelial dysfunction.
Chapter 3 presents my second research contribution. To outline the molecular and mechanical pathways involved in complex stretch patterns during the development of vascular pathologies, a greater understanding of the effects of stiffness and CS on VEC signalling, gene expression, structure, and function is crucial. Here, I developed a versatile model to investigate the synergistic effect of CS and substrate stiffness on endothelial cells. I cultured endothelial cells on elastomeric wells covered with fibronectin-coated polyacrylamide gel and by varying the concentrations of acrylamide and bisacrylamide; this enabled me to develop soft and stiff substrates to mimic the stiffness and stretch levels that endothelial cells experience in young and aged arteries. I investigated the effect of cyclic stretch and substrate stiffness on endothelial cytoskeleton remodelling, cell and nuclear morphology, and NF-kB nuclear translocation. Experiments indicated that exposure of endothelial cells to cyclic stretch affects the cytoskeleton remodelling and the cell morphology depending on the substrate stiffness.
Chapter 4 presents my third research contribution. Here, I investigated the complex signalling pathways involving mechanosensitive ion channels which govern endothelial responses to change in mechanical forces associated with vessel stiffening. Here, I used a novel method of modifying the surfaces of the elastomeric wells with different ratios of PDMS thereby generating different stiffness levels to simulate young and ageing artery stiffness level. I demonstrated the suitability of this novel technique for studying changes in the orientation of actin stress fibres, nuclear area and circularity as well as NF-kB and senescence activity within endothelial cells in response to both cyclic stretch and substrate stiffness. Using this method, I focused on elucidating the role of mechanosensitive cation permeable ion channels TRPV4, which modulated the calcium ion (Ca2+) influx into VECs. I further studied the contribution of TRPV4 in endothelial cell cytoskeletal remodelling, nuclear morphology, senescence and NF-kB nuclear translocation. Experiments deduced that TRPV4 plays a protective role in stiff substrates to decrease premature senescence and inflammation of endothelial cells. TRPV4 mechanosignalling also appeared to mediate endothelial cell reorientation, senescence and inflammation.
Chapter 5 presents a general discussion of the significant findings of this study. This novel and unique model provides opportunities for a better understanding of the vascular endothelium during age-associated vessel stiffening. This provides avenues for the development of new therapies for targeting age-related conditions such as CVD and dementia. Here, I also discussed potential future work for progression in this field to improve the current model.</p
Dataset for the manuscript of Influencing Mechanism of Parasocial Interaction on Impulse Buying in Livestreaming Commerce
No full textInteractions between the anchor and viewers play an important role in fostering viewers’ fashion product impulse buying in the fast-growing livestreaming commerce. However, its influence mechanism is still unknown. We proposed an S-O-R model based on parasocial interaction (PSI), which refers to friend-like interactions, to explain the viewers’ urge to buy impulsively. Customer experience (CX) and trust were selected as the mediatory factors. Based on a sample of 440 livestreaming viewers who purchased fashion products in China, we validated the model and found that PSI does not contribute to the urge to buy impulsively without CX acting as a mediator. Unexpectedly, trust has a negative impact on the urge to buy impulsively while significantly enhancing CX. This result further emphasised the importance of CX, as it also mediates the relationship between trust and impulse buying urge. This study enriches our understanding of PSI and CX within livestreaming commerce.To submit this manuscript to one journal paper, the dataset needs to be published on Figshare. </p
Strong Light-Matter Coupling With Plasmonic Nanostructures
No full textOur earths diminishing natural resources is at the forefront of scientific concern, where utilising energy sources readily available in nature has become the driving force for many fields of research. Noble metal plasmonic nanoparticles are a unique and promising class of material for light harvesting, capable of highly absorbing light and converting its energy in useful ways. Under appropriate conditions, these materials can strongly couple with light and surrounding materials, where light energy fed into the system is equally exchanged. Consequently, these systems allow the observation of energy transfer, sometimes termed ‘artificial photosynthesis’, along with the possible observation of quantum effects in ambient conditions, deeming them highly desirable. Unfortunately, due to their nanoscale size, the fabrication of such nanomaterials along with the conditions required to achieve strong coupling are extremely difficult to realise in scalable macroscopic systems, thus many efforts into optimising strongly coupled systems focus heavily on altering its optical components. This thesis investigates the strong coupling capabilities of plasmonic nanoparticles in strongly coupled systems, utilising wet chemistry to facilitate the observation of their fascinating physics. This thesis provides a comprehensive study of the strong coupling capabilities of plasmonic nanomaterials by investigating their implementation into various strong coupling designs. Further, it offers design freedoms for future strong coupling systems, whereby manipulation and control of the plasmonic components is shown.</p
Investigating The Biochemical Effects of Exposure to Environmentally Relevant Concentrations of Per and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) In Aquatic Invertebrates
No full textPer- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) encompass over seven million potential synthetic compounds that are currently listed on the PubChem database, following the updated definition of PFAS in 2021 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (Wang et al. 2021; Schymanski et al. 2023). The updated definition now describes PFAS as fluorinated substances that contain at least one fully fluorinated methyl or methylene carbon atom (without any H/Cl/Br/I atom attached to it, with a few noted exceptions, for example a carbon atom with a H/Cl/Br/I atom attached to it). PFAS is any chemical with at least a perfluorinated methyl group (−CF3−) or a perfluorinated methylene group (−CF2−) (Wang et al. 2021). There are thousands of these compounds that have been in use since the 1940s in a diverse range of mixtures and volumes for a wide variety of industrial/commercial applications. This includes their original use in Teflon® and Scotchgard™ as well as more modern uses in food packaging, cosmetics, waterproof and stain-proof textiles and carpets, aqueous film-forming foams (AFFF) and metal plating processes (Pelch et al. 2019). There are global concerns about the exposure to PFAS at high levels (mg/L), such as developmental toxicity (Lau et al. 2004; 2007); neurotoxicity (Mariussen 2012), carcinogenicity, cell membrane disruption, and genetic damage (Gong et al. 2019) that have all been linked to PFAS exposure in humans. This leads to concerns about their presence in the environment and organisms worldwide, however, their effects at environmentally relevant concentrations, in ng/L and µg/L on organisms remains poorly understood. The effect of low-level exposure is the knowledge gap I am endeavouring to understand in this thesis.
The primary aim of this project is to address this significant gap in the published literature on the mechanisms of PFAS toxicity to aquatic organisms at a biochemical level and the specific concentration thresholds at which this occurs. Such insights are crucial for the effective management of PFAS in the environment. The objectives are to establish a robust scientific foundation to tackle this issue, employing the powerful analytical approach of metabolomics (the study of small biological metabolites). To begin understanding the extent of the knowledge gap, I first reviewed the existing ecotoxicology data on PFAS at environmentally relevant levels and conducted a Hazard Quotient Analysis, which is used to determine the risk of pollutants on ecosystems, using an environmental measurement and a concentration that causes an observed effect (Sardiña et al. 2019). The HQA showed a low-level risk at ng/L concentrations. I went on to test the analytical instruments, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) and Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) to determine the best application for this project and develop my experimental design. Once the experimental design and analytical instrument had been determined, the effects of PFAS at environmentally relevant concentrations on aquatic organisms using metabolomics as a sublethal endpoint could be addressed.
The thesis conducted ecotoxicity experiments involving method development of metabolomic laboratory-based exposures, extraction, and analysis for Austrochiltonia subtenuis (a freshwater amphipod commonly found in Victorian waterways and wetlands). Before the amphipods were exposed to three PFAS compounds at environmentally relevant concentrations as well as concentrations above what you would usually find. While PFAS encompasses millions of compounds, the focus of my research zeroes in on three key compounds: perfluoro-octane sulfonic acid (PFOS), renowned as the most frequently detected PFAS compound globally; Hexafluoropropylene oxide dimer acid (GenX), a short chain replacement for PFOS with increased use and detection, and Perfluorohexanesulphonic acid (PFHxS), as this compound is of growing concern particularly in environments around Australia. Both shorter-chained PFAS, GenX and PFHxS, are relatively new and were thought to be safer than PFOA and PFOS as they had shorter chain lengths therefore were assumed to degrade faster than longer chained PFAS. However, concerns over the widespread detection of these shorter-chained compounds are increasing. In 2022, UN countries agreed to a global ban of PFHxS with no exceptions and it was added to Annex A of the Stockholm Convention on persistent organic pollutants (POPs) (Hogue 2022). GenX has recently been detected in ecosystems in Europe and North America, indicating that it may be just as persistent as other PFAS compounds (Xiao 2017; Hassell et al. 2019). Subsequently, samples were extracted and analysed using Gas Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and metabolites were identified from a polar metabolite reference library. Metabolic effects were observed at lower concentrations of PFAS than were seen with more traditional ecotoxicological endpoints such as survival, growth, or reproduction, indicating that our understanding of the effects of these compounds is not complete. Metabolomic pathways detected to be affected by PFAS included fatty acid, arginine, proline, glycolipid, galactose, and aspartate metabolism, which have been reported in other organisms to respond to PFAS exposure. A key finding was metabolomic responses were detected without accumulation of a toxicant, rather than the common perception that increasing accumulation can lead to a level of toxicity where it overwhelms the mechanisms the organism has in place.
Moving beyond controlled laboratory conditions, I exposed laboratory-cultured amphipods and chironomids (Chironomus tepperi) to water collected from a wetland with known concentrations of PFAS in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Amphipod metabolite responses were compared between PFAS standards (from the lab exposures) and PFAS from real-world environmental samples. Field-collected invertebrates (Chironomus species) from the PFAS-contaminated site were analysed using GC-MS, allowing for insightful comparisons in uptake and metabolite response between laboratory-cultured chironomids and resident organisms collected from their natural environment. These studies illustrate the challenges in understanding the biochemical effects of PFAS exposure within ecosystems, especially at concentrations assumed to not be of concern. The findings from these studies confirm previous studies that reported similar metabolomic pathway alterations in response to PFAS in other organisms to both environmental samples and controlled laboratory exposures to PFAS. A recommendation is to shift towards investigations involving 'real' environmentally relevant exposures of PFAS, rather than the effects of individual compounds in isolation at high exposure levels in a laboratory culture. This approach will hold the potential to unveil metabolomic markers indicative of PFAS exposure.
The outcomes of this research have contributed to the understanding of how PFAS impact the biochemistry of aquatic organisms, particularly at environmentally relevant concentrations. In terms of the current guideline levels, the results show that levels deemed reasonable in an ecosystem can cause metabolomic alterations and PFAS accumulation to occur despite other endpoints not indicating an impact. These insights are instrumental in improving the effectiveness of environmental regulations governing these compounds, thereby advancing environmental protection and management.</p
The Impact of Ageing on CAR T Cell Therapy
No full textChimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy (CTT) is a ground-breaking T cell-based treatment for haematological cancers but response rates to specific cancer types decrease with the average age of diagnosis. Natural ageing can limit T cell activation and drive T cells towards various states of dysfunction, such as terminal differentiation, senescence, and exhaustion. We therefore hypothesise that ageing undermines T cell function, compromising the peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) starting material used in CAR T cell generation, thereby reducing CTT efficacy.
To explore this hypothesis, we first tested whether common markers of T cell ageing (differentiation, exhaustion, senescence and metabolic dysfunction) had predictive value as biomarkers of CTT outcomes, using samples from young and older healthy donors and multiple myeloma (MM) patients. Donor age was the main driver of multiple markers of differentiation, exhaustion (PD1) and senescence (CD57) in CD8 and CD4 T cells. MM drove the expression of specific exhaustion markers (LAG3) and further augmented differentiation. A significant de novo mitochondrial biogenesis defect was observed during CAR T cell generation in samples from older donors and MM patients. In the CAR T cell product, IFN production and in vitro cytotoxicity increased with donor age, but no additional functional change was seen in MM patients. When the predictive value of age-related markers was assessed for various CAR T cell outcomes, several markers of T cell naivety predicted CAR T cell yield, killing capacity, quality, and differentiation. In contrast, CD57 expression predicted CAR T cell cytokine production.
Followed by evaluating the impact of autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) on CAR T cell generation, as ASCT has been proposed to drive premature ageing of the T cell compartment. We tested whether age-related biomarkers could predict changes in CAR T cell outcomes before vs after ASCT. In the PBMC starting material, ASCT led to a marked reduction in naïve T (TN) cells and the CD4:CD8 ratio. ASCT did not alter CAR T cell cell yield and transduction efficiency, but it dramatically increased differentiation and elevated in vitro cytotoxicity of the CAR T cell product. Moreover, the reduction in CD4:CD8 ratio seen in the PBMC starting material persisted into the CAR T cell product.
Finally, we evaluated which of the current clinical activation protocols (either CD3 or CD3/CD28 monoclonal antibody (mAb) stimulation) generated a better CAR T cell product using PBMC samples from older patients. Both advanced age and the CD3/CD28 mAb protocol reduced CAR T cell yield and increased differentiation. Advanced age and the CD3/CD28 mAb protocol also generated CAR T cells with heightened IFN production and elevated in vitro cytotoxicity. We generated a novel metric of CD28 abundance that was predictive of CTT outcomes and was a stronger correlate with the CD3/CD28 mAb protocol, suggesting that CD28 abundance has more of an impact on activation strategies that employ CD28 stimulation.
Given that T cells are the raw starting material for CTT, it is notable that the functional capacity of a patient’s T cells is not considered explicitly during clinical decision-making for CTT. This thesis has dissected the impact of ageing from the impact of cancer and conventional therapies on CAR T cell generation to help guide decisions for CTT with older, heavily treated patients with haematological malignancy.</p
Comparison of hydrostatic and non-hydrostatic compression of glassy carbon to 80 GPa
No full textUnderstanding new mechanisms for phase transformation in carbon is of considerable interest. This study investigates on the compression conditions required to create recoverable diamond during room-temperature high-pressure compression of glassy carbon. Under non-hydrostatic compression conditions when shear is present, glassy carbon transforms into an oriented graphitic structure at ∼45 GPa, and then forms mixed diamond and lonsdaleite nanocrystals when the pressure is higher than ∼80 GPa. In contrast, during hydrostatic compression no significant changes in the microstructure was observed, highlighting glassy carbon's resilience under compression. Molecular dynamics modelling supports the proposed model that shear drives the phase transition mechanism and causes a temperature spike that drives crystallisation. Our work demonstrates that shear is key to high-pressure diamond formation in the absence of heating
Play to Preserve the Past: Vietnamese Intangible Heritage XR
No full textPlay to Preserve the Past is the convergence of two worlds – my Vietnamese heritage and an unwavering commitment to safeguarding our intangible cultural heritage through augmented reality (AR).
In an era of rapid urbanisation and globalisation, countries like Vietnam are witnessing the erosion of their invaluable intangible heritage. AR serves as the medium to bring the audience into the heart of Vietnamese heritage. The series of apps ‘Play to Preserve the Past’ offers immersive cultural experiences that bridge spatial and generational gaps, introduce a contemporary image of Vietnamese tradition to international audiences, while reclaiming Vietnam’s narratives through lesser-known aspects of our heritage.
Modernity has changed the way we celebrate festivals over time, and in this digital era, when portable device becomes an integral part of our daily lives, this work asks: how can our cultural heritage evolve with AR technologies, becoming a living heritage in its own right? This journey is not merely an academic pursuit but an introspective journey reflecting human advancement in a technology-dominated era.
Standing at a critical juncture where traditions evolve with technology, we must always explore the complexities of cultural authenticity and technology usage in design for heritage safeguarding. This work hopes to inspire creative practitioners to become responsible “future ancestors”, ensuring sustainable digitisation of their heritage through creative practice.</p
Expected return, volume, and mispricing: Evidence from China
No full textWe investigate the relation between trading volume and future stock returns across stocks with different levels of mispricing in the Chinese equity market. We first show a negative relation between trading volume and future stock returns. When replicating the main results reported in Han, Huang, Huang and Zhou (2022), we find no evidence of the volume amplification effect in Chinese equities. There is no strong evidence that mispricing plays a role in explaining the volume-return relation. Overall, the results from China suggest that the mechanism in the volume-return relation is somewhat different when compared to those documented in Han et al. (2022).</p