Design of Cultural Experience Space From the Perspective of Ecological Aesthetics:A Case Study of Aixi Lake Beauty·Library

Ecological aesthetics is the organic combination of ecology and aesthetics.It is the mainstream and basic form of aesthetics to integrate the ecological concepts of balance,system and entirety into the study of aesthetics.Cultural experience space is a new reading space with the characteristics of public cultural services.In this paper,Aixi Lake Beauty·Library is taken as research object,to analyze its design connotation and public effect from the perspective of ecological aesthetics.The research aims to explore a feasible way for the construction of urban cultural experience space.

A structural equation model to analyze the use of a new multi media platform for increasing awareness of cultural heritage

Dedicated multi media platforms have the potential to enhance experiences and increase people’s awareness of cultural heritage.It is,however,not clear to what extent and by which functions these platforms accomplish this.Therefore,the aim of this research is to investigate the influence of functionalities offered by a well-designed multi-media web-platform on the awareness and experience of cultural heritage.The multi media platform used is focused on Strijp-S,an industrial cultural heritage in Eindhoven,the Netherlands.The platform was created as a prototype based on a study of users’preferences for contents and media types offered.To collect data,a sample of 302 respondents used the platform to explore and view Strijp-S.To test assumed relationships between different functionalities,awareness and experience in an integrated fashion,the data are analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling(SEM).The results show that information-collection funtionality plays a significant role in improving awareness of cultural heritage,whereas auxiliary functions are particularly helpful for enhancing experiences.The perceived helpfulness of these two sets of functions differ however between users depending on theitr level of prior knowledge.Policymakers and urban planners can use these results to create their own platform based on local heritage to increase the citizens’awareness of cultural heritage.

Responses of benthic foraminifera to changes of temperature and salinity:Results from a laboratory culture experiment

The effects of temperature and salinity on intertidal foraminiferal community under laboratory conditions are poorly understood. We designed a two-factor crossed experiment in which foraminiferal communities were cultured at different temperatures (6, 12, and 18℃) and salinities (15, 20, 25, and 30 psu) for 10 weeks. In total, 2616 living (stained) specimens were obtained and analyzed. Foraminiferal abundance ranged from 9 to 202 individuals/10 g wet weight of sediment. The highest abundance was obtained at 12℃, 25 psu and the lowest at 6℃, 15 psu. Statistical results demonstrated that temperature affected foraminiferal community more significantly than salinity. Most foraminiferal community parameters (abundance, species richness, Margalef index, and Shannon-Wiener diversity) were significantly positively correlated to temperature, but not to salinity, whereas Pielou's evenness was significantly negatively correlated to both temperature and salinity. The interactive effect of temperature and salinity on foraminiferal abundance was significant. In addition, with increasing temperature, the species composition shifted from hyaline Rotaliida to porcellaneous Miliolida. The abundance of dominant species (e.g., Ammonia aomoriensis, A. beccarii, and Quinqueloculina seminula) showed significant positive correlations to temperature. Our study indicated that the intertidal foraminiferal community responds sensitively and rapidly to the changes of salinity and, especially,temperature by shifting foraminiferal species composition and altering the community parameters.

Acid resistance of methanogenic bacteria in a two-stage anaerobic process treating high concentration methanol wastewater

In this study,the two-stage upflow anaerobic sludge blanket(UASB)system and batch experiments were employed to evaluate the performance of anaerobic digestion for the treatment of high concentration methanol wastewater.The acid resistance of granular sludge and methanogenic bacteria and their metabolizing activity were investigated.The results show that the pH of the first UASB changed from 4.9 to 5.8 and 5.5 to 6.2 for the second reactor.Apparently,these were not the advisable pH levels that common metha-nogenic bacteria could accept.The methanogenic bacteria of the system,viz.Methanosarcina barkeri,had some acid resis-tance and could still degrade methanol at pH 5.0.If the meth-anogenic bacteria were trained further,their acid resistance would be improved somewhat.Granular sludge of the system could protect the methanogenic bacteria within its body against the impact of the acidic environment and make them degrade methanol at pH 4.5.The performance of granular sludge was attributed to its structure,bacteria species,and the distribution of bacterium inside the granule.

Changing structure of benthic foraminiferal communities due to declining pH:Results from laboratory culture experiments

The ocean absorbs large amounts of CO_2 emitted from human activities, which results in a decrease in seawater p H.Marine calcifying organisms such as foraminifera, are most likely to be affected by this declining pH. In this study, we collected sediments from five stations of different depths(34–73 m) in a continental shelf of the Yellow Sea. The entire benthic foraminiferal communities together with sea sediments were cultured under three constant pHs(8.3, 7.8, and 7.3) for 6 and 12 weeks in the laboratory to study their responses to pH or incubation time. The microcosm's experimental results obtained showed that most of the foraminiferal community parameters(abundance, species richness, Margalef index, and Shannon-Wiener diversity) decreased significantly(p<0.05) with the decline in pH in all the tested stations. The responses of foraminifera to the decline in p H were species-specific, for instance, Protelphidium tuberculatum and Cribroelphidiumfrigidum were highly sensitive to declining pH and were finally eliminated at low pH, while some species(e.g., Lagenammina atlantica, Verneuilinulla advena, V. propinqua, Haplophragmoides applanata, and H. canariensis) could tolerate low pH and acted as pH-tolerant species. In addition, the proportion of hyaline taxa showed a significant(p<0.05) positive correlation with pH, while agglutinated type showed a negative response. Furthermore, different incubation times(6 and 12 weeks) showed significant effects on the nearshore communities other than the offshore treatments, which were, however, entirely declined after 6 weeks' incubation under low p H manipulation. Our results indicated that nearshore foraminiferal communities showed rather a resilience to the declining p H and the offshore foraminifera, especially those in the central area of the Yellow Sea Cold Water Mass were found to be more sensitive to the decline in pH in the continental shelf sediments of the Yellow Sea.

Turning Scars into Stars:A Reconceptualized View of Modern University Development in Beijing,Hong Kong,Taipei,and Singapore

Since the 19th century,Chinese societies,as latecomers to modernization,have prioritized Western learning.Modelled on European and North American experiences,modern universities were created to serve this purpose.Having little linkage to their indigenous cultural traditions,they operate in Confucian socio-cultural contexts,with constant and longstanding struggles with their cultural identity.In recent decades,these societies have progressed remarkably well in higher education.Their experience could be seen as a cultural experiment that is placed highly on their sustainable development agendas.The products of their modern education systems especially at the elite level have demonstrated a grasp of both traditional and Western knowledge,with their very best universities well positioned to combine Chinese and Western ideas of a university in everyday operation.Such a bi-cultural condition contrasts sharply to the still largely mono-cultural(Western only)university operating environment in the West.The integration opens further space for their universities to explore an alternative to the Western academic model that has long dominated world higher education.Based on fieldwork at premier universities in Beijing,Hong Kong,Singapore,and Taipei,this article calls for a reconceptualized view of modern university development in Chinese societies.It argues that the experiment enables their top universities to bring back their cultural traditions to integrate with Western values and contribute to inter-civilizational dialogue.