Terrain-Specific: Contemporary Landscape Architecture in Canada

The Canadian landscape has typically captured a global imaginary of a pristine wild, but how might its urban designed landscapes be distinctly understood? Foregrounded by the landscape transformations accelerated by climate change, the book Innate Terrain: Canadian Landscape Architecture, edited by Professor Alissa North from the University of Toronto, highlights landscape architecture projects situated on the unique Canadian terrain. Providing further provocation on Canadian landscape architecture, Innate Terrain seeks to fill the literary gap on contemporary landscape perspectives, distinguishing Canadian landscape architecture from global practice, and particularly, its well-documented American counterpart. Landscape architecture in the Canadian context has evolved and established its own distinct identity, one imbued with national and local sensitivities. Informed by diverse environmental and cultural contexts, Canadian-designed landscapes reflect and refer to the prevailing ecosystems of Canada’s innate terrain. Contrary to the preceding International Style, landscape architecture projects in Canada have adopted the ethos of Critical Regionalism in the second half of the 20th century. Contemporary Canadian practitioners are designing landscapes that are deeply informed by their surrounding geographical context while emphasizing cultural specificity. Central to this cultural specificity, addressed by a new generation of landscape architects, is the increasing recognition of Indigenous Traditional Knowledge within the discipline. Canadian landscape architects have collaborated with First Nations, Inuit, and Métis communities, including the keepers of this knowledge, to develop land management strategies and design landscape interventions.     

Profiling of knowledge organisation systems for the annotation of Linked Data cultural resources

The importance of cultural heritage for supporting the knowledge economy has promoted its digitisation and online publication. Many cultural heritage repositories have published millions of digitised items using semantic web technologies and Linked Data approaches. These repositories frequently use knowledge organisation systems to classify the resources, but the domain heterogeneity makes it difficult to know if they are the most suitable ones. This paper describes the process used to discover and profile the knowledge organisation systems used in the cultural heritage domain. Additionally, for those knowledge organisation systems with a thesaurus-like structure, a detailed quality analysis is performed. The results of this analysis can be used as a key factor for the selection of knowledge organisation systems in classification tasks.     

基于宜兴彩陶山水图案的女式针织衫设计

对宜兴彩陶装饰艺术中典型的山水图案进行分析,阐述宜兴彩陶山水图案的文化内涵。分析宜兴彩陶山水图案的审美特征,包括浓淡有序的色彩层次、抽象凝练的造型肌理、形饰一体的结构布局。以各类针织纱线为原料,采用岛精电脑横机,对女式针织衫进行款式、图案及组织结构设计。详细介绍基于宜兴彩陶山水图案元素的女式针织衫色彩、款式、图案和肌理设计应用实例。该研究为女式针织衫的设计提供了新的思路,为中国传统装饰艺术元素在服饰品中的跨界设计提供了理论与实践参考。     

Micro-structural study of Yaozhou celadons (Tang to Yuan Dynasty): probing crystalline and glassy phases

The Yaozhou kiln complex is a representative production center of ancient northern China, famous for the celadon production. In this work, bubbles, glassy matrix and residual crystals of celadon glazes produced from the Tang to Yuan Dynasty were analyzed by using optical microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The results revealed that the Song, Jin and Yuan productions present bigger bubble and higher area ratios of the Si-O bending over stretching modes than the Tang and Wudai productions. This is consistent with firings at higher temperatures during Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasties. It is also in agreement with the historical studies, which revealed the change from wood-firing to coal-firing during Song Dynasty. The observation of calcium phosphate in Yaozhou productions indicated that the glaze ash had been used. No iron-based particle was identified by Raman spectroscopy in the glazes of all periods. The green color is certainly due to iron ion dispersed in the glassy matrix. Our study also confirmed no significant change in glaze raw materials used for Yaozhou productions from Tang to Yuan Dynasty.     

Bracketing or reinforcing? Socio-economic status,network power,and online deliberation

The extent to which the deliberative scenario brackets socio-economic inequalities (i.e., functioning as an ideal public sphere) has been long-debating. This study empirically addresses this question in the online setting. We test whether offline advantages (i.e., economic and cultural capitals) can be translated into power in online deliberation and how their dynamic relations further influence interlocutors’ deliberation experience (i.e., perceived procedural fairness and validity claim). Power is conceptualized as network power, including prestige (indegree), leadership (outdegree), and brokering power (betweenness). A national sample of Singaporeans participated in a three-week online deliberation, and network power is measured based on the web log. The participants answered a two-wave (i.e., pre- and post-deliberation) survey to indicate individual attributes. Structural equation modeling finds that online deliberation brackets as well as reinforces offline status. Economic capital is suppressed while cultural capital translates into network power, which further influences interlocutors’ evaluation of the deliberation.     

从战后重建到预防性保护 —— 比利时建筑遗产保护之路

本文分为两个部分,第一部分简述了比利时在不同时期的建筑遗产保护实践,主要包括:第二次世界大战后的战后重建,威尼斯宣言颁布前后的相关实践,1975年"欧洲建筑遗产年"后对"历史文物古迹"的保护延伸到对次要建筑群及其所处环境以及历史城市、村镇的整体性保护,1988年文化遗产保护管理从比利时联邦下放到弗兰芒、瓦隆、布鲁塞尔三区实行分区管理等方面;第二部分着重介绍了比利时在建筑遗产的预防性保护这块的实践,以"文物古迹监护"机构近30年的实践为例,并试图从历史、社会、经济、管理、教育等角度对预防性保护得以成功实施的原因进行了分析。     

Structural Characteristics and Contemporary Value of Traditional Water Cultural Landscapes in Huizhou Region

Water culture is one of the key issues in Water Ecological Civilization. China’s traditional water cultural landscape embodies rich water cultures, and have a significance in related research and protection practice. This paper proposes the concept of “water cultural landscape,” that is, the landscape formed through humans’ environmental alteration during water activities—including how people use, transform, and manage it. The traditional water cultural landscapes in Huizhou Region have developed over hundreds of years, reflecting the locals’ wisdom in sustainable water use. The water cultural landscape in Huizhou Region should be interpreted as a systematic notion, in which all landscape elements such as ponds, weirs, and shuikous are interdependent, composing the landscape components e.g. valleys, hills, and basins, and establishing water security patterns for cities, towns, villages, and for production. The traditional water cultural landscape in Huizhou Region requires local generations’ long-term maintenance and management, and in turn it is also vital to Huizhou people's life and Huizhou culture. Today, it acts as an ecological infrastructure for sponge countryside and sponge city construction, and an important resource for heritage protection and tourism development.     

Dissecting culture at work: Conversation with Indian immigrant scientists & engineers in the US industrial sector

Scientists and engineers’ social background, cultural upbringing, educational training, and world outlook influence how they perform the work and interact with their colleagues. We conducted a study on Indian immigrant scientists and engineers employed in the US industrial sector. We interviewed 40 Indian immigrant scientists and engineers, some of whom came for higher studies and found employment after graduation, while others came directly from India to work. Findings show that the overwhelming majority of interviewees (n = 35) noted significant cultural differences with their colleagues in the workplace; only a small number of interviewees (n = 5), believed that their foundation in professionalism eliminated significant impacts from cultural dissimilarities. Interviewees identified cultural differences in the areas of social interactions, work-related practices, intercultural communication, and management. When immigrant scientists and engineers from developing countries join industrial organizations, they do not leave their cultural practices at home. A conversation with Indian immigrant scientists and engineers shows how Indian culture manifests itself in the workplace.     

Insects as food: Exploring cultural exposure and individual experience as determinants of acceptance

Edible insects have attracted much Western interest in recent years due to their nutritional and environmental advantages. Consumers, however, remain aversive towards a class of items that is not traditionally considered to be food. While the focus is often on the Western disgust, looking at consumer perceptions in a culture that considers insects to be delicious could provide new insights into the psychological and cultural mechanisms that underpin these evaluations. This cross-cultural qualitative study explores how cultural exposure and individual experience contribute towards the contrasting evaluations of insects as food by those who do and do not eat them. Eight focus groups were conducted across two cultures—four in Thailand where insects are part of the local food culture, and four in the Netherlands where insects are generally not recognised as food. Within these cultures, two groups consisted of individuals who have experience with eating insects, and two groups consisted of individuals with little or no experience with insects as food. Cultural exposure created expectations of which species were more appropriate to eat and how they should be prepared, whereas individual experiences determined whether judgements were made based on memories of past eating experiences or based on the visual properties and item associations. This study provides insights into the acceptance and rejection factors of unfamiliar food items and identifies the factors to be considered when introducing novel food items that are not yet culturally acceptable as food.     

威廉·钱伯斯爵士与邱园

威廉·钱伯斯爵士对东西方园林艺术交流、英国自然式园林的发展有着积极的推动作用。通过介绍钱伯斯生平及其有关中国的建筑、园林论著,梳理了钱伯斯对中国园林艺术认知的缘由、发展和观点,在此基础上阐述钱伯斯时代的邱园建造的背景、特征及变化,总结钱伯斯开创的"绘画式"风景园的风格特点。不同于肯特和布朗关于自然与艺术的看法,钱伯斯提出园林艺术应源于自然、高于自然的思想,并在自然与艺术的融合方面进行了大胆的尝试。