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Abstract
This study analyzed the morphology of the legs and feet of chairs from the Ming and Qing Dynasties using statistics, and the characteristics were presented in a data-based mode. With furniture samples collected from museums as the research object, the performances of chair legs and feet from different periods were analyzed using cross-analysis and chi-square tests in SPSS 22.0 to find out if statistically significant differences existed. The results show no statistical difference in the morphology of legs and feet of side chairs and armchairs with curved rest from different periods, while significant statistical differences exist in the morphology of the legs and feet of armchairs from the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The results can help people to have a deeper understanding of the legs and feet of chairs from the Ming and Qing Dynasties on a rational cognition level and provide new ideas for the inheritance and innovation of such furniture in modern times.
Abstract
Non-native species have numerous and significant, often negative, effects on amphibians, but that threat may be ameliorated if the native species is able to respond behaviourally to the non-native predators. We experimentally compared the behavioural response of tadpoles of the Ridged Tree Frog, Dryophytes plicatus, to cues from non-native Rainbow Trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, to those to a native predator, the Short-tail Alpine Garter Snake, Thamnophis scaliger. Dryophytes plicatus tadpoles did not alter activity in response to cues from O. mykiss but increased activity in the presence of cues from T. scaliger, although it is possible this increase is related, at least in part, to the order of the presentation of the cues. The activity of D. plicatus tadpoles was higher in the absence of the vegetation than in its presence when exposed to predator cues, both T. scaliger and O. mykiss, but not in the control. In conclusion, our results show D. plicatus tadpoles alter their overall activity when exposed to cues from a native predator, T. scaliger, but not the non-native O. mykiss. These results may explain, in part, why D. plicatus can co-occur with T. scaliger but not O. mykiss.
Abstract
Dynamics of a protracted conflict and restrictive norms and customs have created gender specific vulnerabilities for women living in rural areas of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (drc). Despite a growing awareness about women’s rights and protection needs among state actors and local authorities, women’s agency to break the culture of silence around violence remain limited. Based on extensive field work with selected communities in North and South Kivu in eastern drc, we analyse how this culture of silence limits the agency of individual women to seek self-protection. We also examine the role of women’s groups in these study areas and the strategies these groups use to advocate for their self and collective protection needs. We argue that the use of various frames to gain support of stakeholders, creating informal networks with key figures to gain access, and building allies among men have enabled women members of these groups to challenge restrictive norms around women’s access to decision-making spaces and visibilised their presence in public and break the culture of silence. We also point out that the sustainability of these mechanisms is open to question and backlash against women’s groups remains a possibility.