73 research outputs found
Climate warming reinforces the causal feedback between vegetation and soil in a coastal wetland
No full textData from 'Climate warming reinforces the causal feedback between vegetation and soil in a coastal wetland', submited in Ecology Letters, 2022. Authors: Baoyu Sun, Jiaye Ping, Ming Jiang, Guangxuan Han, Liming Yan, Jianyang Xia. </p
Representing language, culture and citizenship to minoritised ethnic groups: the teaching of Mandarin Chinese to Mongolian learners as a second language in China since 1912
Get PDFMy PhD study investigates the under-researched history of teaching Mandarin Chinese as a second language to Mongolian learners within China since 1912, and its implications for the present day. This research makes a novel contribution to understanding how a national language and national identities are promulgated to a minoritised ethnic group over time. Mandarin teaching to Mongolian learners is revealed as a site where different representations of the Chinese nation contest and negotiate with one another, shaped by the power relations between Mongolian and Han.
I employ critical discourse analysis to examine a wide range of Mandarin Chinese language textbooks for Mongolian learners issued by the Republican (1912-1949) and People’s Republic of China’s governments (1949-present) to explore the changes in expectations of Chinese cultural knowledge and values to be taught, in particular in terms of Chinese history and citizenship. The findings show that the Chinese cultural knowledge and values conveyed through the textbooks is given different emphases at different times, but it frequently serves as a tool serving the interests of the governments to reproduce official understandings of Chinese national identities, with Mongolian cultural features being often neutralised and/or made subservient to Han-dominant Chinese national values.
In addition, to explore how the dominance of Han culture and values in the textbooks has been embraced and/or challenged by Mongolian elites in the early twentieth century and Mongolian teachers of Mandarin Chinese in the present, two approaches are adopted. First, a historical linguistic analysis of how Mandarin Chinese pronunciation is presented to Mongolians in a dictionary compiled by a Mongolian official named Khaisan in 1917 is conducted, when the basis for a standard Chinese was still being debated. This part of the study reveals that the diverse linguistic sources that Khaisan drew on challenge the monolingual Han native speakership ideology. Second, the historical textual analysis is augmented by data from two months’ field work in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia in 2018. There, I conducted semi-structured interviews, surveys and classroom observations of the Mongolians and Han who work in the field of Mandarin teaching to Mongolian learners to explore their understandings of the Mandarin language and views on what cultural knowledge and values to teach. The data highlight how different views of Mandarin Chinese teaching, as a communicative tool, as linguistic and cultural capital, and as an identity marker, are negotiated by Mongolians today.
Looking into the past and present impact of Mandarin Chinese teaching on Mongolian ethnic identity, my work is the first to combine historical textbook analysis, historical linguistics, and ethnography. It makes an important contribution to the field of the History of Language Learning and Teaching, which has thus far been heavily skewed to the history of language education in Europe. Second, it addresses a gap in bilingual education studies, where little attention has been paid to the teaching of the majority language that Mongolians in the past and at present as the actors to define the knowledge of Chinese to teach. Third, my analysis of strategies for incorporating Mongolians into China are relevant to other non-Han studies such as Tibetans and Uyghurs and ethnic minority studies in different political and educational contexts
Representing language, culture and citizenship to minoritised ethnic groups: the teaching of Mandarin Chinese to Mongolian learners as a second language in China since 1912
Get PDFMy PhD study investigates the under-researched history of teaching Mandarin Chinese as a second language to Mongolian learners within China since 1912, and its implications for the present day. This research makes a novel contribution to understanding how a national language and national identities are promulgated to a minoritised ethnic group over time. Mandarin teaching to Mongolian learners is revealed as a site where different representations of the Chinese nation contest and negotiate with one another, shaped by the power relations between Mongolian and Han.
I employ critical discourse analysis to examine a wide range of Mandarin Chinese language textbooks for Mongolian learners issued by the Republican (1912-1949) and People’s Republic of China’s governments (1949-present) to explore the changes in expectations of Chinese cultural knowledge and values to be taught, in particular in terms of Chinese history and citizenship. The findings show that the Chinese cultural knowledge and values conveyed through the textbooks is given different emphases at different times, but it frequently serves as a tool serving the interests of the governments to reproduce official understandings of Chinese national identities, with Mongolian cultural features being often neutralised and/or made subservient to Han-dominant Chinese national values.
In addition, to explore how the dominance of Han culture and values in the textbooks has been embraced and/or challenged by Mongolian elites in the early twentieth century and Mongolian teachers of Mandarin Chinese in the present, two approaches are adopted. First, a historical linguistic analysis of how Mandarin Chinese pronunciation is presented to Mongolians in a dictionary compiled by a Mongolian official named Khaisan in 1917 is conducted, when the basis for a standard Chinese was still being debated. This part of the study reveals that the diverse linguistic sources that Khaisan drew on challenge the monolingual Han native speakership ideology. Second, the historical textual analysis is augmented by data from two months’ field work in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia in 2018. There, I conducted semi-structured interviews, surveys and classroom observations of the Mongolians and Han who work in the field of Mandarin teaching to Mongolian learners to explore their understandings of the Mandarin language and views on what cultural knowledge and values to teach. The data highlight how different views of Mandarin Chinese teaching, as a communicative tool, as linguistic and cultural capital, and as an identity marker, are negotiated by Mongolians today.
Looking into the past and present impact of Mandarin Chinese teaching on Mongolian ethnic identity, my work is the first to combine historical textbook analysis, historical linguistics, and ethnography. It makes an important contribution to the field of the History of Language Learning and Teaching, which has thus far been heavily skewed to the history of language education in Europe. Second, it addresses a gap in bilingual education studies, where little attention has been paid to the teaching of the majority language that Mongolians in the past and at present as the actors to define the knowledge of Chinese to teach. Third, my analysis of strategies for incorporating Mongolians into China are relevant to other non-Han studies such as Tibetans and Uyghurs and ethnic minority studies in different political and educational contexts
Формування світоглядно-ціннісних орієнтацій студентської молоді в мистецьких коледжах КНР: методичний аспект
No full textThe article is devoted to methodological aspects of the process of forming worldview and value orientations of students in art colleges of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The current state of scientific development of the problem of forming worldview and value orientations in the art education system of the PRC is analysed. The principles of promoting the modernisation of education, including arts education, related to supporting party leadership, Chinese specificity, development priorities, serving the people, supporting reforms and innovations, the rule of law in education, and promoting coordinated progress are clarified. A comparative analysis of the formation of worldview and value orientations among students at art colleges in the PRC demonstrated the government's policy in the field of international communication, revealing the soft power and global understanding of the PRC's public diplomacy, including the system of spokespersons, the development of the PRC's image projection, national management of its development, and the possibility of influence at the global level. Problems have been identified in the integration of aesthetic and moral education, among which the lack of political support, ideological awareness, the complex process of implementation, and other factors make aesthetic and moral education incompatible. The thesaurus of the problem of forming the value formation of personality in an artistic and aesthetic educational environment is substantiated. The term ‘value-based worldview of college students’ is interpreted as a system consisting of ideas, beliefs and assessments, characterised by the attitude of students towards the fundamental values of life, moral and ethical norms, and social guidelines. Students with a developed value-based worldview are capable of understanding and interpreting their environment, influencing the behavioural stereotypes of others, making decisions and forming attitudes towards educational and cognitive activities, future professional realisation, relationships in society and cultural aspects of life. The author's vision of the methodological aspects of ensuring the effective formation of worldview and value orientations in students of art colleges in the PRC is proposed. Attention is focused, in particular, on identifying components, approaches, principles, forms, methods, and means of teachingСтаття присвячена методичним аспектам процесу формування світоглядно-ціннісних орієнтацій студентської молоді в мистецьких коледжах Китайської Народної Республіки (КНР). Проаналізовано сучасний стан наукового розроблення проблеми формування світоглядно-ціннісних орієнтацій у системі мистецької освіти КНР. Уточнено принципи сприяння модернізації освіти, зокрема й мистецької, пов’язані з підтримкою лідерства партії, китайською специфікою, пріоритетом розвитку, служінням народові, підтримкою реформ та інновацій, верховенством права в освіті та сприянням скоординованому прогресові. Компаративний аналіз формування світоглядно-ціннісних орієнтацій студентської молоді в мистецьких коледжах КНР засвідчив демонстрацію політики уряду в галузі міжнародної комунікації, виявлення м’якої сили та світового розуміння публічної дипломатії КНР, зокрема й системи речників, розроблення проєкції іміджу КНР, національного управління його розвитком і можливості впливу на глобальному рівні. Установлено проблеми в інтеграції естетичного й морального виховання, серед яких відсутність політичної підтримки, ідеологічна усвідомленість, складний процес впровадження та інші фактори роблять естетичне виховання та моральне виховання невзаємними. Обґрунтовано тезаурус проблеми формування ціннісного становлення особистості в художньо-естетичному освітньому середовищі. Термін «ціннісний світогляд студентів коледжів» по трактовано в ролі системи, що складається з уявлень, переконань та оцінок, характеризується ставленням здобувачів освіти до основних цінностей життя, морально-етичних норм і соціальних орієнтирів. Студенти з розвиненим ціннісним світоглядом здатні до усвідомлення й інтерпретації оточення, впливу на стереотипи поведінки інших, прийняття рішень і ставлення до навчально-пізнавальної діяльності, майбутньої фахової реалізації, стосунків у соціумі й культурних сторін життя. Запропоновано авторське бачення методичних аспектів забезпечення ефективного формування світоглядно-ціннісних орієнтацій у студентів мистецьких коледжів КНР. Увагу, зокрема, зосереджено на виокремленні компонентів, підходів, принципів, форм, методів, засобів навчанн
Analysis and Treatment for Fatigue Vibration of Instrument Tubes in a PWR Nuclear Power Plant Conventional Island
No full textSeveral instrument tubes vibrated during the C stage commissioning period of a PWR nuclear power plant. This essay firstly analyzed the selection of instrument tubes and the velocity of the tubes vibration. Moreover, the author proposed solution towards the tubes vibration which was proved to be effective after applying on the nuclear power plant instrument tubes. The method proposed should be applicable when similar situation reoccurred in other plants
Negotiating Mongolian ethnic identity through the teaching of Mandarin Chinese as a second language
Get PDFDespite growing attention paid to the language ideologies of teachers as actors in bilingualism or multilingualism studies, little research has examined whether and how power dynamics between majority and minority languages play a role in the promulgation of a majority language to ethnic minority learners of that majority language. This paper explores how both linguistic and cultural knowledge of Mandarin are understood by a specific group of Mongolian teachers and trainee teachers of Mandarin in Inner Mongolia, China. Drawing on Geeraerts’ (2003. “Cultural Models of Linguistic Standardization.” In Cognitive Models in Language and Thought. Ideology, Metaphors and Meanings, edited by R. Dirven, R. Frank, and M. Putz, 25–68. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter; 2020. “Romantic and rationalist models of linguistic diversity.” SKASE Journal of Theoretical Linguistics 17 (3): 2–19) two cultural models of language standardisation, we shall show that the Mongolian teachers and trainees appear to adopt both a ‘rationalist’ and a ‘romantic’ view. On the one hand, they hold a rationalist view of modern Chinese literature, perceiving it as linguistic and cultural capital (Bourdieu, P. 1992. Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge and Malden: Polity Press) for Mongolian students in the Han-dominant linguistic market. At the same time, they hold a romantic view of classical Chinese literature, perceiving it as a marker of the dominant, and therefore ‘ideal’, Han ethnic identity. Such mixed perceptions have significant implications for understanding how teaching a majority language may be viewed by an ethnic minority group: as a communicative tool, as linguistic and cultural capital, and/or as an identity marker
Synthesis and growth behavior of CeO2/ZrO2/LaAlO3 nanorods on hierarchical macroporous gamma-alumina monoliths
No full textDifferent kinds of metal oxide nanorods (CeO2, ZrO2 and LaAlO3) grown on hierarchical macroporous gamma-alumina monolith with excellent thermostability and mechanical strength are successfully synthesized by combining sol-gel method with boiled water-bath crystallization. Different kinds of metal oxide nanorods have different growth behavior. Monolayer stripe CeO2 nanorods with approximately equal length accumulated by nanoparticles covered mainly on the surface of the skeleton. Minor ZrO2 nanoparticles not only accumulated on the surface but also grew on hollow and conjunct part of the skeleton as well as the internal surface of the pore channels in a stagger and grid way. While the LaAlO3 crystal particles were grown mainly on the skeleton surface of alumina monolith but hardly any on the internal surface. In addition, the dipping time and temperature of metal ions have important effects on the nanoparticles morphology. The unique combination of excellent support and auxiliaries candidates can be used as promising functional materials in the field of heat/mass transfer, microchannel and separation especially in heterogeneous catalysis.</p
Effects of Chinese Text Size on the In-Vehicle Text Legibility and Driver Distraction: A Simulator Study
No full textThe rising popularity of in-vehicle information systems (IVIS) in China highlights the significance of Chinese character displays. A key design factor for text-rich in-vehicle human–machine interfaces (HMI) is Chinese text size (CTS). However, the impact of CTS on text legibility and driver distraction has not been extensively explored. The present study launches a simulator experiment and adopts several one-way repeated-measure analyses of variance to identify the optimal CTS that maximizes text legibility while minimizing driver distraction. The findings indicate that both text legibility and driver distraction improved progressively as the CTS increased, reaching a specific size of seven millimeters, at which they approached asymptotes. Subjective measures were more sensitive than objective measures. The analysis showed no significant impact of CTS on task completion time, number of errors, total glance duration, mean speed, or lane position variation. However, larger CTS led to more frequent, shorter glances, whereas smaller CTS resulted in fewer, longer glances. CTS below seven millimeters was associated with lower subjective preference and a higher perceived workload. Therefore, it is recommended that a CTS of seven millimeters or larger be used to promote the design of driver-friendly in-vehicle HMI, control IVIS-related distractions, and enhance road safety in China
A Longitudinal Survey Exploring the Psychological Determinants of Concealed Smartphone Use While Driving: Insights from an Expanding Theory of Planned Behavior
No full textConcealed smartphone use while driving (CSUWD), a prevalent and covert form of distracted driving, poses significant threats to road safety. However, the psychological determinants underlying this illegal behavior remain underexplored. A two-wave longitudinal study based on the expanding theory of planned behavior (TPB) investigates the intention and prospective behavior of CSUWD in China. In the first wave, 256 respondents assessed the standard TPB constructs, alongside extended constructs of descriptive norms, moral norms, and perceived risks. Subsequently, 156 participants reported their actual behavior in the second wave. Hierarchical multiple regression results revealed that the traditional TPB variables accounted for 57.1% of intention variance and 45.2% of behavior variance, while extended variables contributed an additional 11.7% to intention variance. All variables, except perceived crash risk, emerged as significant determinants of intention. Notably, the perceived risk of being caught and fined inversely correlated with intention, suggesting a potential disinhibition effect. Both perceived behavioral control and intention were significant determinants of subsequent behavior. The findings underscore the validity of TPB in predicting CSUWD, informing the design of non-legal interventions (e.g., public education advertisement, road awareness campaigns, and technological interventions) to mitigate CSUWD-related distracted driving and promote sustainable transportation systems
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