Xia Yan and the Chinese School of Film

A revolutionary, film theorist, and screenwriter, Xia Yan (1900–1995) is known as one of the pioneers of Chinese cinema. Xia’s pursuit of a national style and international status for Chinese cinema and his aspirations for the prosperity of the Chinese nation are in line with the basic ideas and goals of the nascent “Chinese School of Film.” In the context of the under-theorized and problematic production practices of current Chinese cinema, it is high time to revisit Xia’s professional and academic contributions to cinematic art, which shed light on the construction of both the “Chinese School of Film” and “shared aesthetics.”

Homogenization Modes Effect on Mechanical Properties and Corrosive Characteristics of the Rolled Products from Al-Mg (1570) Aluminum Alloy with Addition of Scandium and Zirconium

Objective of the study: study of various homogenization modes effects on mechanical and corrosive properties of rolled sheets from Al-Mg system alloy 1570 with additions of zirconium and scandium transition metals. The sheets were produced in laboratory conditions from the ingot, cast in production DC mold based on the commercial production practices and treatment modes. 4 homogenization modes, 2 tempers H12 and H321, and several modes of stabilization annealing in the temperature range from 240 °C to 325 °C have been reviewed. The samples have been comprehensively examined using optic and electron scanning microscope, mechanical properties were achieved by break test in compliance with ISO 6892-1, corrosion was examined using ASTM G66 and G67 standards. The curve of 1570 alloy sheets softening as the function of annealing temperature was constructed. It was demonstrated that the increasing temperature effect during homogenization leads to strength properties decrease and corrosion resistance improvement due to interdendritic segregation elimination. Among analyzed homogenization modes, 360 - 380 °C - 6 h mode is established as the most practical, and the sheets. produced without stabilization annealing, occurred to be the most resistant to exfoliation corrosion. The sheets, subjected to annealing at 260 °C - 2 h, show no traces of layer corrosion, but have pit corrosion locations rated as «PC» based on ASTM G-66 classification, such rating is unacceptable for the manufacture of products for use in the marine environment.

An Inquiry into Gradable Zero-Waste Apparel Design

The implementation of standardized grading production practices within the mass market has been challenging for scholars experimenting with zero-waste apparel design. The purpose of this research was to test the efficacy of the Carrico Zero-waste Banded Grading (CZWBG) technique, which utilizes bands inserted in strategic locations as a method of grading zero-waste patterns across various consumer categories. An additional purpose was to evaluate the ways in which this grading approach affected the aesthetic outcomes of garments across a size run, and to determine whether this method affected the overall design process of the designers involved. Through experimental research design, six design scholars successfully tested and incorporated the CZWBG technique in zero-waste one or two-piece apparel item(s), subsequently developing three sizes in an industry-specified size range for their product category. Each design was cut from zero-waste patterns in a mid-range size and graded up and down one–two sizes using an industry-standardized grading scale. The grading was achieved by varying the widths and lengths of strategically inserted bands of fabric or trim. The designers utilized various grading methods, textiles, pattern development methods, and size runs, showing that the CZWBG technique can successfully be applied across multiple consumer categories in the apparel industry.

Extent of Knowledge and Adoption of Recommended Wheat Production Practicesamong Wheat Growers in Malwa Region (M.P.)

Wheat is an important source of nutrition in our staple diet. Although farmers in northernIndia are growing wheat for a long time many farmers are lacking good knowledge of wheatand its new varieties production practices. The study was conducted to know the extentof knowledge and adoption of recommended wheat production practices among wheatcultivating farmers of the Malwa region. Nine farmers (3 big, 3 medium and 3 small farmers)were selected randomly from each (thirty-six) selected village of nine blocks of Hosangabad,Hadra and Sehore districts making a total of 324 wheat growers. Among the practicewiselevel of knowledge regarding recommended wheat production technology;method of storage(mean score- 2.30) was ranked first and selection and preparation of land (mean score-2.25) was ranked second. On the whole, the highest number of the wheat growers (46.29%)had a medium knowledge level of recommended wheat production practices while 41.66%had a medium level of adoption on thebasis of their level of adoption of recommendedtechnological practices of wheat crop cultivation.

Making land grabbable: Stealthy dispossessions by conservation in Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania

This paper seeks to answer the question: how does land become grabbable and local people relocatable? It focuses on the historical and current conditions of land tenure that enable land grabbing. While recognising the important contributions thus far made by the critical literature on land grabbing, this paper moves forward towards understanding specific processes that befall before land is grabbed and its original users relocated. Based on an empirical analysis of policy and practices of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania, the paper proposes that land grabbing, particularly in the context of conservation in rural Africa, is not an instantaneous phenomenon and does not happen in a vacuum. It is a result of long-term structural marginalisation of rural land users that produces scarcity and the deterioration of life conditions, which make people relocatable and land grabbing justifiable. Local people either relocate themselves because they could not make a living due to systematic disinvestments on basic social services or life is made unbearable through restrictions imposed on their production practices to make “voluntary” relocation possible. The paper highlights the need to focus on the stealthy dispossessions in addition to major events of grabbing as starting points of analysis. Insight from this study can be useful in analysing other cases of land grabbing where large swathes of ostensibly empty land are made available for investment.

Commercial Production Practices, Returns and Risk-bearing Ability in the Small-scale Gardening of Agar Plants in Selected Areas of Bangladesh

Commercial gardening of Agar Plant (AP) is an emerging part of agribusiness enterprises in Bangladesh which is existence in some cases at a small scale of limit, demanding the proper strategies for prompting AP commercial production. Therefore, the objectives of the study were to identify the commercial production practices, producers’ returns and the risk-bearing ability in small-scale gardening of agar plants. Bharlekha upazila in Moulvibazar district of Bangladesh was selected as the study area. Data were collected from randomly selected eighty AP producers of that area during the year 2017.The average life of the plants is around 16 years, and the production activities are the seed and sapling collection and growing; land selection and preparation and sapling planting; intercultural operation; nail setting on agar plants; and harvesting and selling which are mainly done by the AP producers. There is a strong backward and forward linkages have been identified. Results showed that the AP plant production enterprise is highly profitable only in the long-term period of 16 years time, which is not possible in short-run. Also, the break-even analysis of AP production resists a large drop of yield and price before incurring a loss, which gives the farmers a comfortable margin of safety and a risk bearing ability. The study recommended that the government and non-government organizations should come forward to provide directions and supports for promoting and sustaining agar plant production on commercial basis throughout the country.

Mapping practices and spatiality in IR knowledge production: from detachment to emancipation

This article conceptualises the variety of approaches taken by International Relations (IR) scholars around the world to dominant forms of knowledge production in IR. In doing so, it advances Global IR debates along two axes: on practices and on spatiality. We argue that binary conceptions are unhelpful and that engagement with knowledge production practices is best captured by a landscape of complexity, requiring a deeper interrogation of positionality, globality and context. Using 26 qualitative interviews with IR academics at institutions in East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, Eurasia and Africa, we construct a typology comprising seven modes of engagement that capture the conflicted relationships to dominant forms and practices of knowledge production in IR. The typology is intended to highlight the variation, complexity and contextual particularities in global IR knowledge production practices and to enable an interrogation of spatial hierarchies that unsettle conventional geopolitical West/non-West fault-lines.