11,753 research outputs found
The political role of the people's liberation army 1949-1973
No full textThis thesis is to study the political role of the People's Liberation Army from the approach of structure and function. The framework of the thesis consists of three major parts, first, the influence of Chinese traditional political culture on, and the formation of, the political role of the PL A; second, the influence of domestic political struggles and external military conflicts on the development of the political role of the PLA; and the third, the analysis of the transition of the PLA's political role from the structure and personnel arrangements of the CCPCC Within the above-mentioned three scopes, this thesis make a thorough discussion on the following: (1) The relationship between the structure of the PRC and the formation of the PLA's political role; (2) How has ideology influenced the army's political role; (3) What is Mao's viewpoint and his influence on the development of the army's political role; (4) What is the link between the army and the party, and how has this developed; (6) What accounts for the expansion of the PLA's political functions; (7) What is the influence of political factional struggles on the PLA's political role; (8) Is it political institution or military institution that controls the recruitment of the military elite; (9) What are the disparities between the military elite in handling international conflicts and what are their political considerations; (10) What is the Party's position in the army; (11) How have the Party’s important meetings and personnel arrangements influenced the rise and fall of the PLA's political role
The Development of a PiezoelectricI Fan System for the Flapping Wing Micro-Air-Vehicle Application
No full textA micro air vehicle (MAV) is a semiautonomous airborne vehicle which measures less
than 15 cm in any dimension. It can be used to access situations too dangerous for direct
human intervention, e.g., explosive devices planted in buildings and video
reconnaissance and surveillance, etc. As demonstrated by flying birds and insects,
flapping flight is advantageous for its superior manoeuvrability and much more
aerodynamically efficient at small size than the conventional steady-state aerodynamics.
Piezoelectric actuators are easy to control, have high power density and can produce
high output force but usually the displacement is small. With appropriate stroke
amplification mechanisms piezoelectric actuators can be used to drive the flapping
wings of MAV.
This research aims to develop a piezoelectric fan system with 2 degrees of freedom of
motion for flapping wing MAV applications. In this project, piezoelectric fans
consisting of a piezoelectric layer and an elastic metal layer were prepared by epoxy
bonding. A flexible wing formed by carbon fibre reinforced plastic wing spars and
polymer skin was attached to two separate piezoelectric fans to make them coupled.
Two sinusoidal voltages signals of different phase were then used to drive the coupled
piezoelectric fans. High speed camera photography was used to characterize the two
degrees of freedom motion of the wing. Theoretical equations were derived to analyse
the performance of the piezoelectric fans in both quasi-static and dynamic operations,
and the calculated results agreed well with the finite element analysis (FEA) modelling
results. It has been observed that the phase delay between the driving voltages applied
to the coupled piezoelectric fans plays an important role in the control of the flapping v
and twisting motions of the wing. Selected factors such as the gap between the two
piezoelectric fans which can affect the performances of the wing have been investigated
and the experimental results were compared with the FEA modelling results
Sedum triangulisepalum T. S. Liu & N. J. Chung ex T. C. Hsu & S. W. Chung 2022, sp. nov.
No full text<p> <i>Sedum triangulisepalum</i> T.S. Liu & N.J. Chung ex T.C. Hsu & S.W. Chung, <i>sp. nov.</i></p> <p> [“ <i>Sedum triangulisepalum</i> T.S. Liu & N.J. Chung (1977: 21, as <i>triangulosepalum</i>)”, <i>nom. inval.</i>; “ <i>Sedum triangulisepalum</i> T.S. Liu & N.J. Chung ex H.W. Lin (1999: 102, as <i>triangulosepalum</i>)”, <i>nom. inval.</i>; “ <i>Sedum triangulisepalum</i> T.S. Liu & N.J. Chung ex S.W. Chung ” in Chen <i>et al.</i> (2017: 329, as <i>triangulosepalum</i>), <i>nom. inval.</i>].</p> <p> <b>Type:</b> — TAIWAN. Hualien County: Hsiulin Township, Lo-ma-wan Shan, 1800 m elev., 15 June 1973, <i>N.J. Chung 280</i> (holotype: NTUF!, barcode: F00008307; isotypes: NTUF!, eight sheets, barcodes: F00008308–F00008315).</p> <p> <b>Diagnosis:</b> — <i>Sedum triangulisepalum</i> is similar to <i>S. truncatistigmum</i> T.S. Liu & N.J. Chung (1977: 23) in sharing epiphytic life-form, alternate and ±flattened leaves and fused calyx, while the former is readily distinguished in having longer calyx (1.5–2.0 vs. 0.8–1.0 mm) that are only fused at the base (vs. nearly entirely fused).</p> <p> <b>Morphological descriptions and illustrations:</b> —This species has been described by Liu & Chung (1977: 21) and illustrated by Tang & Huang (1989: 27, pl. 15, as <i>Sedum microsepalum</i>), Chen <i>et al.</i> (2017: 329) and Ito <i>et al.</i> (2017: 11, fig. 1D).</p> <p> <b>Distribution and ecology:</b> — <i>Sedum triangulisepalum</i> is endemic in Taiwan, where it occurs in the northern and eastern portions of the main island and usually grows on tree trunks in montane cloud forests at 500–2000 m elev. (Liu & Chung 1977; Chen <i>et al.</i> 2017; Ito <i>et al.</i> 2017).</p> <p> <b>Etymology:</b> —The specific epithet is composed of two Latin elements: <i>triangulus</i>, triangular, and <i>sepalum</i>, sepal, referring to its triangular calyx lobes. It should be spelt as “ <i>triangulisepalum</i> ” instead of “ <i>triangulosepalum</i> ” as originally published by Liu & Chung (1977) according to Art. 60.10 of the ICN.</p> <p> <b>Note:</b> —Two gatherings, “ <i>Suzuki s.n.</i> ” collected from Wulai and “ <i>Chuang 280</i> ” collected from Lomawanshan, were cited under <i>Sedum triangulisepalum</i> by Liu & Chung (1977), and “ <i>Chuang 280</i> ” is presumably a typo of “ <i>Chung 280</i> ” since the “ <i>N.J. Chung 280</i> ” gathering, collected by the second original author and currently preserved in NTUF, matches well with the data given in the original publication (Liu & Chung 1977). There are nine duplicates of <i>Chung 280</i>, including one (barcode: F00008307) labelled as “ holotype ” and the others (barcodes: F00008308–F00008315) as “isotype”. Although these labels could not be archived as the legitimate designation of types as they are not effectively published (see Art. 7.10 of the ICN), they supposedly reflect the original author’s intention and are thus adopted here. Images of all type materials are available in the “Plants of Taiwan ” database [http://tai2.ntu.edu.tw].</p>Published as part of <i>Hsu, Tian-Chuan & Chung, Shih-Wen, 2022, Validation of the name Sedum triangulosepalum (Crassulaceae), pp. 215-216 in Phytotaxa 547 (2)</i> on page 215, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.547.2.10, <a href="http://zenodo.org/record/6571375">http://zenodo.org/record/6571375</a>
Concentration in Knowledge Output: A case of Economics Journals
No full textThis paper assesses the degree of author concentration in seven economics journals, which were published in India during 1990-2002. To measure the degree of author concentration, Lotka's Law was used. Moreover, we also make an exploratory analysis of the geographic, economics subfield and institutional concentration in 704 economics journals. An important finding of this paper is that specialized journals in the sample report the highest degree of author concentration. This result is quite similar to the findings by Cox and Chung (1991). Furthermore, there are several instances showing that the journals lean towards certain norms; this may affect the flow of innovative ideas into economics. We conclude that a knowledge activity, involving the high degree of concentration and a biased publication process, may affect the flow of new ideas into the discipline.Concentration, Lotka's Law
Retracted: Release of CXCL12 From Apoptotic Skeletal Cells Contributes to Bone Growth Defects Following Dexamethasone Therapy in Rats
No full textAbstract not availableQian Tang, Yu-Wen Su, Chia-Ming Fan, Rosa Chung, Mohammadhossein Hassanshahi, Yaser Peymanfar, and Cory J Xia
[[alternative]]A Study on Spatiality of Folk Beliefs on Chung-kang River Basin
No full text[[abstract]]A settlement, where people live, must be formed to satisfy settlers’ requisites for both material and spirit. This king of space constructed in accordance with subjective intentionality is called “existential space.” The present study aimed to explore how subjective intentionality stemming from folks’ spiritual desire influences belief space.
In Ch’ ing dynasty, large-scale land cultivation of Han-Chinese in Tzu-chien（竹塹） area was propelled from the seaside to mountain areas. In the meanwhile, because of conflicts between Han-Chinese and Sheng-fan（生番）, and cooperation between Han-Chinese and Shou-fan（熟番）, the Ch’ing government in 1761 A. D. dug Tuu-niou Ditches（土牛溝）. In 1790 A. D., a boundary line between Han-Chinese and Sheng-fan was delimited. These two steps would divide the whole Tzu-chien area into three cultivation areas: Han-keen area（漢墾區）, reserved area（保留區）, and Ay-keen area（隘墾區）. Chung-kang River Basin（中港溪流域） is situated in the south of Tzu-chien area. Consequently, this basin possesses this kind of humane environment, and it can represent one of these basic types of Han cultures.
Because of constitution of different areas and historical development along Chung-kung River, this study attempted to illustrate whether folk beliefs displayed different religious spheres and different spaces. Besides, this study attempted to address whether folk beliefs in different zones suffered the same culture shock under modernization and globalization.
Chung-kung River Basin is located in northern Taiwan and Tzu-chien area of Ch’ing dynasty , so the environments of these areas were introduced first. Then the courses of natural and humane environments were discussed in details, inclusive of the cultivation process in the early era of Ch’ing dynasty, fulfillment of paddy-planting techniques and social system in the middle era, and the establishment of Han cultural thoughts and concepts in the last era. Gradually, folk beliefs of Han-Chinese were established along Chun-kung River.
Folk beliefs are the worship systems shaped by means of long-run living experiences. Despite of the so-called”system,” folk beliefs are actually diverse and lax, mainly resulting from the mixture of living. Diverse living deepened the contents of folk beliefs which symbolizes Chun-kung River Basin.
Through worship, folk beliefs present the space which temples exercise jurisdiction over. The social meanings of the space are anthropologically and geographically explained by “religious sphere” and “sacred space.” In this study, the religious sphere of Han-keen area was found from the area’s corner to other towns while the spheres of the reserved area and Ay-keen area were discovered from the area’s corner to other villages. This revealed that Han-keen area was most qualified for large-scale religious sphere. In addition, the concept of the sacred space emphasizes the worship sphere and the space holiness formed by temples（center）, shrines and Wuu-yng（五營）（four directions）. The findings of this study were that the sacred space was stable in Ay-keen area in contrast with Han-keen area and the reserved area.
Although the names and the meanings of these areas do not exist nowadays, the social development and life styles of these three areas still effect Chung-kung River Basin, and folk beliefs are also developed on these bases.
New damselfly hosts and species identification of an aquatic parasitoid Hydrophylita emporos (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) in Taiwan
No full textLin, Chun-Yu, Hsu, Yu-Hsun, Wang, Jo-Fan, Lin, Chung-Ping (2019): New damselfly hosts and species identification of an aquatic parasitoid Hydrophylita emporos (Hymenoptera: Trichogrammatidae) in Taiwan. Journal of Natural History 53 (35): 2195-2205, DOI: 10.1080/00222933.2019.169471
Activity engagement with people with dementia at home: family carers' perspectives
No full textGovernment policies currently emphasise the need to support those with dementia at home, and family carers are increasingly advised to engage their relative in daily activities. Knowledge about family carers involvement in the activity needs of individuals living with dementia is fragmented. This study explored carers' decision making related to their engagement with their relative in everyday activities at home. Following research governance and ethical approval, 30 in-depth interviews (initial and follow-up) were carried out with 15 resident-carers who were recruited via local community mental health teams. Then five focus groups were conducted through carer support groups. The majority of carers were spouses, three were daughters and one a female friend. Both the interviews and focus groups explored the experiences of involving relatives in daily activities and highlighted the carers' strategies, feelings and reflections. Themes were identified which formed a temporal model consisting of five activity patterns. These were the usual, recognisable, illogical, irresponsible and dispossessed patterns. The model illustrated the complexity and long-term nature of family carers activity-related decisions. Over the passage of time carers attempted to recapture the past self of their relative through engaging them in beneficial activity. The findings provided deeper insight in the understanding of the processes by which carers negotiated strategies; and how such processes challenged the carers' own sense of self. The model offers a new approach for occupational therapists and other healthcare professionals to guide home-based activity programmes in which carers' perspectives are taken into account. Practitioners could gain a more complete understanding of the caregiving situation, so that they can, more effectively, support the family member and hence the person with dementia more effectively. Further research will focus on developing a toolkit to enable practitioners to recognise the complexities, uncertainties and conflicting values which confront carers in their decision-making and so enhance partnership working
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