33,676 research outputs found
Wang Meng and contemporary Chinese literature: the vicissitudes of a committed writer
No full textThis thesis examines the way Wang Meng has developed as a writer from the 1950s to the 1990s in the context of New China's political and literary background. It looks at the compromises he was forced to make between his political beliefs in the Communist Party and his chosen role as a professional writer. After his disastrous early foray into what was deemed to be unacceptable political criticism with The Young Newcomer in the Organisation Department in the 1950s, when the opportunity came to start publishing again in the late 1970s he was boldly innovative in style, helping to transform New Period literature, but conservative in content, sticking to politically acceptable topics. It was only with Hard Porridge in 1989 that he ventured again, and very successfully, into political comment. There is no outstanding leading writer in contemporary China, but Wang Meng is a leading contender for the title
FIGURE 5. Rhodiola yushuensis S.Y. Meng et J in Rhodiola yushuensis, a new species of Rhodiola (Crassulaceae) from Qinghai, China
No full textFIGURE 5. Rhodiola yushuensis S.Y. Meng et J. Zhang, (A) natural habitat, (B) cyme, (C) fruits.Published as part of Rong, Yu-Lin, Li, Guo-Dong, Zheng, Hai-Lei, Zhang, Jun & Meng, Shi-Yong, 2022, Rhodiola yushuensis, a new species of Rhodiola (Crassulaceae) from Qinghai, China, pp. 63-72 in Phytotaxa 548 (1) on page 69, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.548.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/659254
Composition measurements of crude oil and process water emulsions using thick-film ultrasonic transducers
No full textThis paper presents an experimental study to investigate the suitability of thick-film ultrasonic transducers for composition measurements in heterogeneous mixtures. Following on from earlier developments [G. Meng, A.J. Jaworski, T. Dyakowski, J.M. Hale, N.M. White, Design and testing of a thick-film dual-modality sensor for composition measurements in heterogeneous mixtures, Meas. Sci. Technol. 16(4) (2005) 942–954], focused on the design and preliminary testing of the transducers for mixtures of vegetable oil and salty water, the current paper looks in more detail into their application to industrially relevant fluids, namely crude oil and process water, which are common in oil and gas extraction and petrochemical industries. The measurements are based on the time-of-flight of the ultrasonic pressure wave in order to obtain the speed of sound. The results, showing the variation of the speed of sound with the volume fraction of crude oil, for three different temperatures, are compared with five theoretical models available in the existing literature. It is shown that the models proposed by Urick [R.J. Urick, A sound velocity method for determining the compressibility of finely divided substances, J. Appl. Phys. 18 (1947) 983–987] and by Kuster and Toks¨oz [G.T. Kuster, M.N. Toks¨oz, Velocity and attenuation of seismic waves in two-phase media. Part I. Theoretical formulations, Geophysics 39 (1974) 587–606] provide a relatively accurate prediction for the speed of sound in the media studied. Interestingly, the model developed by Povey and co-workers [V.J. Pinfield, M.J.W. Povey, Thermal scattering must be accounted for in the determination of adiabatic compressibility, J. Phys. Chem. B 101 (1997) 1110–1112] only agrees with experiment when its thermal scattering features are neglected. Overall, the results obtained demonstrate that the slim-line and compact thick-film transducers can be considered as a viable means for the composition measurements in the process conditions
Migrant workers, collaborative research and spatial pressures : an interview with Meng Yue
No full textIn July last year I had the opportunity to interview Meng Yue, literary scholar and author of Shanghai and the Edges of Empire (2006). Meng Yue has been collaborating with Toronto-based architect and artist Adrian Blackwell for a number of years, with their students from literature and architecture undertaking highly interesting research on the peripheral zones of Beijing. Questions of peri-urban food production, land use, resource distribution and the multiplication of labour skills have framed these investigations. The interview below is extracted from a considerably longer discussion we had in Beijing during the late summer of 2007, half of which was lost to the faulty battery of an ipod (the rest remains to be transcribed from video…)
X. J. Meng accorded Honorary Diplomate status in American College of Veterinary Microbiology
No full textDr. X. J. Meng, of Blacksburg, Va., has recently been elected as an Honorary Diplomate in the American College of Veterinary Microbiology
Correction to: Visible lattice points along curves
No full textThe article “Visible lattice points along curves”, written by Kui Liu and Xianchang Meng, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal on 27 July 2020 without open access. With the author(s)’ decision to opt for Open Choice the copyright of the article changed on 9 July 2021 to © The Author(s) 2020 and the article is forthwith distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Sequels to honglou meng : how gu taiqing continues the story in honglou meng ying
No full textAfter Honglou meng (1791) was published, a number of sequels appeared that redefined its major characters, rewrote its ending, and continued the story of life within the two Jia households. One of these was Honglou meng ying (1877), by female poet, Gu Taiqing. Despite its status as the earliest extant novel written by a woman, few studies have been devoted to examining it. Building on research that Ellen Widmer has provided on Gu Taiqing and her work, including Honglou meng ying, I will explore the novel further in terms of its relationship to the parent work and to other sequels written by men, and also examine it on its own terms as a literary work. Some of the main questions that I will address include: how does it compare to other sequels to Honglou meng? How does Gu Taiqing’s continuation of Honglou meng depart from the parent novel? I have organized my discussion by providing an introduction to Gu Taiqing, whilst providing contextual information about women’s education, their relationship to fiction, and the impact of Honglou meng. Chapter One will deal with the broad issue of sequels in the Chinese context, the popularity of writing sequels during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and conclude with some observations about Honglou meng sequels in particular. The second chapter will deal exclusively with Gu Taiqing’s Honglou meng ying, evaluating it in terms of how the author continues the parent work, how she refashions its characters and themes, and how her sequel reflects her own unique concerns (which may not have been part of the original parent work). Finally, I will conclude with some remarks about Honglou meng ying in terms of its relation to sequel writing in late imperial China and its contribution to our understanding of women’s reading and writing in the final years of the Qing dynasty.Arts, Faculty ofAsian Studies, Department ofGraduat
Rhodiola yushuensis S. Y. Meng et J. Zhang 2022, sp. nov.
No full textRhodiola yushuensis S.Y. Meng et J. Zhang sp. nov. (Figs 5, 6) Type:— China. Qinghai, Yushu, Sanjiangyuan, N33° 1’ 34.20” E97°12’ 54.48”, 3,478 m, 28 June 2020, J. Zhang, C046 (holotype: PEY! Isotype: PEY! PE!). Diagnosis:—Similar to Rhodiola smithii (Hamet) S. H. Fu but differing in caudex leaves, outer caudex leaves are wide triangular while the inner caudex leaves with distinctly petiole are obovate-triangular. Description:—A perennial low and small herb, 2-4 cm high. Caudex nearly erect, few branches, robust, typically 6-10 mm across; apical part often short, branched and accrescent, crowned by persistent old flowering stems. There are two types of caudex leaves. Outer caudex leaves scalelike, wide triangle, yellow to maroon, long 1.8-2 mm, wide 2.5-3.0 mm. Inner caudex leaves leaflike, long obovate-triangular with the entire margin, acute-obtuse at the apex, 12-25 mm long, 3-8 mm wide, petiole 6-35 mm. Flowering stems 1–3 from the apex of each caudex branch, deciduous, 11–30 mm long, erect, simple, terete and smooth. Leaves alternate, few and scattered, petiole 1-3mm long, spurless, obovatetriangular, glabrous, 6-11 mm long, 2-5 mm wide, entire; Inflorescences terminal, 4-5 flower buds form cymes, flower buds are pink, pink to red when blooming. Bracts leafy. Flowers 5-merous, calyx 5, base connate 0.5 mm, long triangular, apex acuminate, entire, green, fleshy, 2.5-3 mm long, 0.8–1.0 mm wide; Petals 5, free, oblong, pink to red, apex shortly acuminate, long 6-8 mm, wide 1.5-2.0 mm; Stamens 10, slightly shorter than petals, antepetalous ones inserted ca. 0.5 mm from petal base, long 6-8 mm, antesepalous ones 6-8 mm long, anther red; Nectar scales 5, yellow, wide quadrangular, apex emarginate, ca. 0.7 mm long, ca. 0.5 mm wide; Carpel 5, erect, long oblong, long 5-7 mm, base separated; Style long ca. 2.5 mm; Follicles 6–8 mm long, each carpel erect, Styles usually out curved, 4–8 seeds each carpel. Seeds oblong-lanceolate, 0.4-1.2 mm long, 0.2-0.4 mm wide. Phenology: Flowers from June to July; fruits from July to October. Habitat: Rock crevices of the valley, 3800–4000m. Etymology: The specific epithet of this new species refers to Yushu City. Common name (assigned here): Yu Shu Hong Jing Tian (玉树ṱạƛ; Chinese name). Proposed IUCN conservation status: The new species has been found in the rock crevices of the Tong-tian River, Zha-qu River and Zi-Qu River valley in Yushu City, Qinghai Province, China. Because there is no medicinal and economic value, the populations remain relatively stable. However, the habitats are mainly in river valleys and roadsides, and more active economic and construction activities may affect the population. The species is considered to be “Vulnerable” (VUD1) according to the IUCN Red List Criteria (IUCN 2017). Additional specimens examined (paratypes): CHINA. Qinghai, Yushu, Sanjiangyuan, 3,890 m, 28 August 2010, S. Y. Meng & J. Q. Zhang, zhang02 (PEY); Tongtian River, N33° 7’ 35.73” E97°7’ 55.21”, 3,536 m, 27 June 2020, J. Zhang, C037 (PEY).Published as part of Rong, Yu-Lin, Li, Guo-Dong, Zheng, Hai-Lei, Zhang, Jun & Meng, Shi-Yong, 2022, Rhodiola yushuensis, a new species of Rhodiola (Crassulaceae) from Qinghai, China, pp. 63-72 in Phytotaxa 548 (1) on pages 69-71, DOI: 10.11646/phytotaxa.548.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/659254
Fracture resistance after simulated crown lengthening and forced tooth eruption of endodontically-treated teeth restored with a fiber post-and-core system
No full textPURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of ferrule preparation length on the fracture resistance after simulated surgical crown lengthening and after forced tooth eruption of endodontically-treated teeth restored with a carbon fiber-reinforced post-and-core system. METHODS: 40 extracted endodontically-treated mandibular first premolars were decoronated 1.0 mm coronal to the buccal cemento-enamel junction. The teeth were divided randomly into five equal groups. The control group had no ferrule preparation (Group A). Simulated crown lengthening provided ferrule preparations of 1.0 mm (Group B) and 2.0 mm (Group C). Simulated forced tooth eruption provided ferrule preparations of 1.0 mm (Group D) and 2.0 mm (Group E). After restoration with a carbon fiber post-and-core system, each root was embedded in an acrylic resin block from 2.0 mm apical to the margins of a cast Ni-Cr alloy crown, and loaded at 150 degrees from the long axis in a universal testing machine at a crosshead speed of 1.0 mm/minute until fracture. Data were analyzed using ANOVA with Tukey HSD tests, and Fisher's exact test, with alpha = 0.05. RESULTS: Mean failure loads (kN) for Groups A, B, C, D and E were: 1.13 (SD = 0.15), 1.27 (0.18), 1.02 (0.11), 1.63 (0.14) and 1.92 (0.19), respectively. Significant differences were shown for the effects of treatment method and ferrule length, with significant interaction between these two sources of variation (P or = 0.24).Meng, QF; Chen, LJ; Meng, J; Chen, YM; Smales, RJ; and Yip, KH
Assessment of the cross-protective capability of recombinant capsid proteins derived from pig, rat, and avian hepatitis E viruses (HEV) against challenge with a genotype 3 HEV in pigs
No full textHepatitis E virus (HEV), the causative agent of hepatitis E, is primarily transmitted via the fecal-oral route through contaminated water supplies, although many sporadic cases of hepatitis E are transmitted zoonotically via direct contact with infected animals or consumption of contaminated animal meats. Genotypes 3 and 4 HEV are zoonotic and infect humans and other animal species, whereas genotypes 1 and 2 HEV are restricted to humans. There exists a single serotype of HEV, although the cross-protective ability among the animal HEV strains is unknown. Thus, in this study we expressed and characterized N-terminal truncated ORF2 capsid antigens derived from swine, rat, and avian HEV strains and evaluated their cross-protective ability in a pig challenge model. Thirty, specific-pathogen-free, pigs were divided into 5 groups of 6 pigs each, and each group of pigs were vaccinated with 200 μg of swine HEV, rat HEV, or avian HEV ORF2 antigen or PBS buffer (2 groups) as positive and negative control groups. After a booster dose immunization at 2 weeks post-vaccination, the vaccinated animals all seroconverted to IgG anti-HEV. At 4 weeks post-vaccination, the animals were intravenously challenged with a genotype 3 mammalian HEV, and necropsied at 4 weeks post-challenge. Viremia, fecal virus shedding, and liver histological lesions were compared to assess the protective and cross-protective abilities of these antigens against HEV challenge in pigs. The results indicated that pigs vaccinated with truncated recombinant capsid antigens derived from three animal strains of HEV induced a strong IgG anti-HEV response in vaccinated pigs, but these antigens confer only partial cross-protection against a genotype 3 mammalian HEV. The results have important implications for the efficacy of current vaccines and for future vaccine development, especially against the novel zoonotic animal strains of HEV
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