Search

After a long policy development process under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, the High-Speed Ground Transportation Act of 1965 was enacted. Section One of the Act called for developing futuristic ground transport systems with, for example, high-speed vehicles floating on cushions of air over specialised guideways and inside vacuum tubes. These unconventional technologies were conceived and promoted by aerospace companies and military agencies that exercised increasing influence within the federal government after World War II. During the implementation of the 1965 Act, contractors such as Grumman Aerospace made tangible progress towards a prototype air-cushion system. However, just when it was ready for testing, President Nixon changed course and terminated the Section One programme in 1972. An important lesson derived from this generally unknown chapter in American transport history is that the promotion of futuristic technologies by powerful corporations creates seductive, but often perilous choices for governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines Sang (丧) subculture within the context of positive energy (正能量) in post-reform China, and how as an emergent subculture it is characterised by feelings of defeatism and loss. Chinese youths share Sang memes via social media as a form of affective identification to communicate their sense of disenchantment with the 'main melody' of official discourse in post-reform China, and in this sense it is similar to other Internet cultures such as e'gao and diaosi. However, unlike subcultures in the West, Sang subculture does not constitute a form of political resistance, but expresses instead an inchoate feeling of loss among Chinese youths. This article asks two research questions: how does Sang subculture parody normative subject positions of youth constructed by official state discourse, and what does it reveal about the subjectivity of its participants? This article employs Raymond Williams' concept of 'structures of feeling' within a semiotic framework to analyse three sets of Sang memes to understand the processes of subjectivity formation and the affective significance to its participants. Through semiotic analysis of Sang memes and semi-structured interviews with 20 participants aged between 18 and 26, we find that Sang subculture is a current of thought-feeling due to a perceived incapacity by Chinese youths to live up to the ideological re-positioning within official consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between online media platforms in China and fan groups is a dynamic one when it comes to the distribution of international TV series and other media content, as media platforms incorporate user-generated content to encourage or foster audience engagement. Through a series of case studies, this article investigates how international TV series are acquired, distributed, marketed and curated on Chinese online video platforms. This helps to identify specific strategies and themes used by these platforms to promote international content and engage users. These marketing techniques, however, are not always as successful as expected, suggesting the need for a closer examination of the types of engagement sought by media platforms, and the ways in which Chinese audiences have responded within their cultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the Al2O3/InGaAs interface was studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) after a breakdown (BD) event at positive bias applied to the gate contact. The dynamics of the BD event were studied by comparable XPS measurements with different current compliance levels during the BD event. The overall results show that indium atoms from the substrate move towards the oxide by an electro-migration process and oxidize upon arrival following a power law dependence on the current compliance of the BD event. Such a result reveals the physical feature of the breakdown characteristics of III-V based metal-oxide-semiconductor devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, the post-breakdown characteristics of metal gate/Al2O3/InGaAs structures were stud-ied using surface analysis by x ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results show that for dielectric breakdown under positive bias, localized filaments consisting of oxidized substrate atoms (In, Ga and As) were formed, while following breakdown under negative bias, a decrease of oxidized sub-strate atoms was observed. Such differences in the microstructure at the oxide-semiconductor inter-face after breakdown for positive and negative voltages are explained by atomic diffusion of the contact atoms into the gate dielectric in the region of the breakdown spot by the current induced electro-migration effect. These findings show a major difference between Al2O3/InGaAs and SiO2/Si interfaces, opening the way to a better understanding of the breakdown characteristics of III-V complementary-metal-oxide-semiconductor technology [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fe uptake in dicotyledonous plants is mediated by a root plasma membrane-bound ferric reductase that reduces extracellular Fe(III)-chelates, releasing Fe 2+ ions, which are then absorbed via a metal ion transporter. We previously showed that Fe deficiency induces an increased capacity to absorb Fe and other micronutrient and heavy metals such as Zn 2+ and Cd 2+ into pea ( Pisum sativum L.) roots [Cohen et al. (1998) Plant Physiol 116:1063?1072). To investigate the molecular basis for this phenomenon, an Fe-regulated transporter that is a homologue of the Arabidopsis IRT1 micronutrient transporter was isolated from pea seedlings. This cDNA clone, designated RIT1 for root iron transporter, encodes a 348 amino acid polypeptide with eight putative membrane-spanning domains that is induced under Fe deficiency and can functionally complement yeast mutants defective in high- and low-affinity Fe transport. Chelate buffer techniques were used to control Fe 2+ in the uptake solution at nanomolar activities representative of those found in the rhizosphere, and radiotracer methodologies were employed to show that RIT1 is a very high-affinity 59Fe 2+ uptake system ( K m =54?93 nM). Additionally, radiotracer ( 65Zn, 109Cd) flux techniques were used to show that RIT can also mediate a lower affinity Zn and Cd influx ( K m of 4 and 100 µM, for Zn 2+ and Cd 2+, respectively). These findings suggest that, in typical agricultural soils, RIT1 functions primarily as a high-affinity Fe 2+ transporter that mediates root Fe acquisition. This is consistent with recent findings with Arabidopsis IRT1 knockout mutants that strongly suggest that this transporter plays a key role in root Fe uptake and nutrition. However, the ability of RIT1 to facilitate Zn and Cd uptake when these metals are present at elevated concentrations suggests that RIT1 may be one pathway for the entry of toxic metals into the food chain. Furthermore, the finding that plant Fe deficiency status may promote heavy metal uptake via increased expression of this transporter could have implications both for human nutrition and also for phytoremediation, the use of terrestrial plants to sequester toxic metals from contaminated soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]