Marginal Position Research Articles

Kritik Sosial Natsume Soseki dalam Novel Bocchan

This research aims to reveal Natsume Soseki's attitudes and views in the form of social criticism regarding the phenomenon of social deviation in Japanese society due to the Meiji Restoration (1868-1912) in his novel, Bocchan. Social problems often arise in modern societies, including what happened in Japan during modernization from 1868-1912, called the Meiji Restoration. These social problems include social and cultural dislocation due to the penetration of dominant Western culture and the marginal position of traditional elements, especially in the second decade of the early Meiji era, when Japan aggressively adopted Western culture on a large scale. This social phenomenon can be seen from the decline in Japanese society's appreciation for traditional social and cultural values while simultaneously placing Western culture in a superior position. The theory used in this research is Alan Swingewood's Literary Sociology theory. Through this theory, we will analyze the influence of Natsume Soseki's social background as the author of the novel Bocchan, as well as his ideological tendencies in responding to the symptoms of social deviation in Japanese society (1868-1912), which became the background for the creation of the novel Bocchan. After that, it will be analyzed to what extent the novel Bocchan can reflect social phenomena. The analysis was done by connecting the social aspects of the novel with the historical, social reality that was the background for its creation, namely Japanese society during the Meiji Era (1868-1912). Next, the author will see what social criticism is depicted in the novel. The results of the research show that the novel Bocchan describes Natsume Soseki's social criticism of the phenomenon of socio-cultural dislocation in Japanese society due to Westernization during the Meiji era, as well as the problems of a group of people who persist with old habits in the condition of the Japanese nation which is changing towards a developed and modern country.

New palynological record for the Puesto Albornoz Formation (Golfo San Jorge basin, Argentina): Stratigraphic and paleoenvironmental implications

Palynomorph assemblages were recovered from the Puesto Albornoz Formation (Golfo San Jorge Basin, Southern Argentina) at its type locality. The scarcity of outcrops with a continental Lower Cretaceous sedimentary record in this basin, and its marginal position in the western sector of the studied area, make Puesto Albornoz a unique and key locality for determining the timing of the basin evolution during the Cretaceous. The palynological content includes thirty-five spore species, twenty-one pollen taxa, and two algae. Among the fifty-eight species identified, forty-eight were identified for the first time for the unit. Based on the previous records of the analyzed taxa, a late Valanginian to Barremian, and more probably late Valanginian to Hauterivian age is inferred for the studied palynoflora. The palynological assemblages studied here closely resemble the Interulobites-Foraminisporis Zone (late Valangian-Hauterivian) of the Argentinian Patagonia, and the Cyclusphaera psilata-Classopollis association (late Valanginian-Barremian) of the Neuquén Basin.

“A Right to the Square”: Practices of Urban Space Appropriation by the Religious Community of the Strastnoy Monastery in Moscow

In post-secular cities, many representatives of different religions claim places that, for one reason or another, they consider theirs. Researchers call such places mixed. Pushkin Square in Moscow, one of them, is used simultaneously by different groups. The first group is the community of the Strastnoy monastery, whose members have been striving for eighteen years to make their religious presence a familiar feature of this square, through collective practices and material symbols. However, they constantly face the presence of other groups that force them to adapt and explain their presence. This article explores the case of the Strastnoy monastery community, which sheds light on the situation of religious initiatives in contemporary Russia. They are aware of their marginal position in public space: however, pursuing their goal of restoring Orthodox order in the country, they are looking, unlike many other Orthodox groups, for non-conflictual ways of interacting with citizens and government institutions, by appealing to historical memory and cultural heritage.

Трактат в обличье поэмы: пограничный жанр и особенности его языковой организации

The hybrid genre of poetic treatise occupies a somewhat marginal position within the lit­erary genres landscape. Nonetheless, it holds particular interest as a realm of interaction be­tween artistic and scientific discourses, sometimes intertwining with everyday speech. In the twentieth century, the interplay between scientific and poetic texts, as well as between verse and prose, took on new experimental forms. Western literature saw the influence of Ludwig Wittgenstein and his philosophical treatise form on artistic practices, including poetry. Witt­genstein's "Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus" left a significant imprint on poets associated with the ‘language school’ in the USA. Furthermore, Wittgenstein's treatise and its interpre­tation by Arkadii Dragomoshchenko continue to reverberate in contemporary Russophone poetry, particularly within the objectivist line. The research material encompasses texts of poetic treatises from the Russian avant-garde (Ivan Terentyev, Daniil Kharms, and Yakov Druskin), contemporary Russophone objectivist poetry (Arkadii Dragomoshchenko, Ale­ksandr Skidan, and Nikita Safonov), and American ‘language writing’ (Ron Silliman, Lyn Hejinian, Charles Bernstein, and Bob Perelman). The article scrutinizes the linguistic charac­teristics of such discursive interaction within the experimental form of a ‘treatise disguised as a poem’. Specific linguistic traits of the treatise genre, typically found in scientific and philo­sophical works, are transposed onto poetic texts. These include discourse words and expres­sions conveying metatextual deixis and the process of argumentation, a distinct I-We subjec­tivity characteristic of scientific discourse, a pronounced focus on propositionality as a deter­minant of truth or falsity, and a clearly delineated, mathematically ordered division of state­ments.

Características estruturais e fatores de influência da rede espacial do comércio agrícola: evidências de 15 países do RCEP

ABSTRACT: Based on national agricultural trade panel data of Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) countries from 2002 to 2020, the structural characteristics of the RCEP national agricultural trade spatial network are reconstructed by the social network analysis method in this paper. Specifically, the characteristics consist of overall characteristics, individual characteristics, core-periphery structure analysis, and block models. Moreover, the influence factors on the agricultural trade network are also examined by the QAP regression model. The conclusions are summarized as follows. Firstly, the agricultural trade in RCEP countries has significant spatial correlation, showing favorable stability and accessibility. Secondly, Australia, China, Thailand, and Vietnam are the central actor’s leading position in the correlation network. While Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and other countries are in the marginal position. Thirdly, the network can be divided into four blocks, including the net benefit block, the two-way spillover block, the broker block, and the net spillover block. The spillover effect between the blocks is transitive. And finally, geographical distance, economic and social conditions, resource endowment, and language proximity index significantly impact the RCEP agricultural trade network structure.

Desire lines: Filipina transwomen and black girls’ wayward paths in the imperial city

This article explores desire, beauty, and waywardness in the narratives of transwomen in the Philippines through the theoretical and artistic intersections between Saidiya Hartman’s book Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women and Queer Radicals (2019) and PJ Raval’s film Call Her Ganda (2018). I foreground how these concepts are collectively imagined and lived out by black girls in early 20th century New York and transwomen in present-day US military bases in the Philippines: where geo-political pressures shape the environment of the city and our paths through public life and intimacy within it. The confluence of transphobia, racial aggression, and military intimidation perpetuated by the presence of US soldiers in Philippine soil, I argue, stems from the same criminalizing and racist logic that the US government has imposed on black communities for centuries. This article traces definitions of the wayward in 20th century New York and how these have developed in and through the environment of the city from the metropole, the United States, and to the neo-colony, the Philippines. Through the narratives that Hartman and Raval foreground in their texts, I argue that the girls’ practice of agency gives rise to a “wayward” figure, one that re-shapes the bounds of the city through her marginal position. Transwomen and black girls’ desirous movements are foundational, not merely marginal, to life in the imperial city. In this light, waywardness resists definition from the law and its agents in its longing for life and stubbornly creates a present and a future otherwise.

Вице-губернатор в системе управленческой элиты степных областей ЗападноСибирского и Степного генерал-губернаторств во второй половине XIX–начале XX века

The article analyzes the position of Vice-governor in the system of administrative elite of Akmola, Semipalatinsk and Semirechensk regions of the Russian Empire. Using the normative-legal base of local institutions of these regions, the «formal» position of officials in this position in the general structure of administrative power is characterized. Management in steppe regions is characterized by remoteness of territories from the center of decision-making, high share of nomadic population, marginal position. In this regard, the peculiarities of the position of Vice-governors in the steppe regions and in the interior of Russia are revealed. One of the important features of the service of these officials is the combination of military and civil power in the steppe regions and the lack of a clear division of responsibilities between the elements of the administrative elite. For the socio-cultural characterization of the composition of the Vice-governor corps we used the form lists and personal files of officials kept in the archives: the Historical Archive of the Omsk Region, the Russian State Historical Archive and the Central State Archive of the Republic of Kazakhstan. These data are published for the first time. The article concludes with a socio-cultural portrait of a typical Vice-governor of a steppe region, an analysis of the typical career trajectories of the official and a comparison of the scope of authority with similar officials from internal Russian provinces.

Связь религиозного опыта и этнокультурной идентичности как индикатор деструктивного социального конструирования российской интеллигенции (к 70-летию В. В. Черных)

The purpose of the article is a philosophical analysis of the problem of the connection between ethnocultural identity and religious experience, as a watershed between intellectuals and intelligentsia within Russian society. In the context of this division, the author argues that the antinomic state of the identity of the intelligentsia in Russia is obvious. In this connection, it is proposed to carry out a philosophical and anthropological analysis of her worldview. Its essence lies in the fact that the intelligentsia in Russia easily defines itself as the “conscience of the people,” but does not recognize itself as the creator of unjustified symbolic violence against it. The author suggests that her marginal position in the social structure is due to the fact that she does not know the true meaning of constitutive violence in the ethnocultural space. Within the religious experience of Orthodoxy, the constitutive sacred is contained in the inviolability of distance from the West and in the special flow of social time, where retribution for inadequate violent exchange is postponed or even canceled. The process of denying the leading role of the founding sacred in the history of the people leads to the fact that the intelligentsia is not capable of identifying the sociality of a multi-subjective nature that has developed in Russia. Violence through fanatical imitation of the West, chosen by the Russian intelligentsia, is a way to strengthen the phobia of ethnocultural identity. A phobia that Russian intellectuals help overcome. The “deadly identity” of the Russian people is a phenomenon that was constructed and continues to be constructed by the intelligentsia, which believes that a rational, disenchanted existence can accommodate a person.

Staged esthetic crown lengthening: Classification and guidelines for periodontal-restorative therapy.

This article presents technical guidelines for perio-restorative esthetic crown lengthening, along with a discussion of the biologic rationale. A classification system is proposed to assist in treatment planning and sequencing the surgical and restorative phases. When esthetic crown lengthening is performed as an adjunct to restorative therapy, the surgical approach must be determined by the anticipated position of the restorative margins. The removal of sufficient bone to achieve the desired clinical crown length and preserve the supracrestal gingival tissue dimensions is facilitated by the use of a surgical guide fabricated according to the design of the restorations. A staged approach allows sequencing the provisional restoration to minimize unesthetic sequelae during the healing period. Inadequate bone resection and/or alteration of the soft tissue dimensions results in delayed healing, leading to coronal gingival rebound and biologic width impingement. The identification and preservation of appropriate restorative and biologic landmarks is essential for success in pre-prosthetic esthetic crown lengthening treatment. A staged approach improves the esthetic management during the postsurgical healing and maturation period. A restorative driven classification system for sequencing and staging adjunctive esthetic crown lengthening procedures is presented. Technical guidelines to enhance gingival margin predictability are suggested, accompanied by relevant evidence. In addition, wound healing timelines following gingival and osseous resection are provided.

Коммунальная квартира (коммуналка) в референтном поле современной художественной литературы для детей и подростков

Representation in the modern culture of the Soviet past is associated with such a phenomenon as a communal apartment, which is also in demand in modern literature for children and adolescents. In the article, based on the material of the Corpus of Russian Prose for Children and Youth, as well as the most representative examples from the works of the last decade for children and adolescents, an attempt is made to determine the specifics of the topos of a communal apartment, which has become a “system sign” (referent) of Soviet childhood. The vectors of interpretation of a communal apartment set the ideological and spatial “us vs them” and “individual vs common” oppositions and their assessment. At the same time, various attributes of a communal apartment are significant for artistic modeling, defining the subject organization (neighbor, family member, etc.), the organization of space (room, corridor, kitchen, etc.), subject realities (bell, door, etc.). Modern writers’ work with the topos of a communal apartment is based on the tradition that developed in children’s literature of the Soviet period. The child hero, reproducing the stable components of the associative field of the concept “communal apartment” necessary for the objectification of the attribute, translates a potentially conflict situation associated with the concept of neighbor and determined by a stable set of plot situations and motifs into a comic one. In children’s and adolescent literature, the process of blurring the boundaries between anomaly and norm under the influence of communal life is reflected (the character type “crazy old woman”, zoomorphic images of neighbors, the acquisition of supernatural significance by things, the process of segmentation of “our” space, etc.). The transformation of the binary opposition “us vs them” can occur due to the inclusion of the element “nobody’s”, fixed in the definition of a unique type of character - “nobody’s grandmother”. In modern children’s literature, the situation associated with the marginal position of “nobody’s” old people in communal apartments, due to inclusion in the context of children’s play, loses its negative assessment, due to the functional connection of the types of “nobody’s grandmother” and “nanny”, which leads to the correlation of “nobody’s” and “common” in the picture of the communal world. The semantics of the “common” is more often manifested in relation to referents defining the spatial organization. The allocation of certain loci in a communal apartment that transmit ideas about one’s own and someone else’s or about one’s own and common, returns us to the description of relations with neighbors in the apartment, more precisely, to the predominance of emotive characteristics of the topos in question, objectified through the motif of quarrels and conflicts over the use of common places and property. “Common” loci (kitchen, corridor, restroom), being a boundary space, can, depending on the plot situation, actualize the “own” or “alien” semes. For example, a corridor, in accordance with the strategy of mastering and appropriating someone else’s space during the game, can also act as “own” space. The representation of the topos of a communal apartment in children’s literature, of course, reflects the realities of the Soviet era and the everyday life of the “inhabitants” of the communal apartment, with its “conflict zones”, but the child’s consciousness, acting as a focalizer of the narrative, allows emphasizing the semantics of the common. We can talk about the transformation of the opposition “us vs them” according to the laws of dialectics. The realities of the time, seen through the eyes of a child, allow us to consider the topos of a communal apartment/kommunalka as a “system sign” (referent) of Soviet childhood, as a dialectical image expressing the collectivist pathos of Soviet culture and metaphorically reflecting Iosif Vareikis’ idea of a communal apartment as the USSR. The authors declare no conflicts of interests.

Biological Width around One- and Two-piece Implants: A Systematic Review

The concept of biological width (BW) around dental implants is crucial for the long-term success of implant placement. This systematic review aimed to investigate the differences in BW around one- and two-piece dental implants and to assess the impact of implant design on peri-implant soft tissues. To compare biological width around one-piece and two-piece implant in a population undergone implant treatment. A comprehensive search of MEDLINE (via PubMed), EMBASE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar was conducted to identify studies that compared the BW around one- and two-piece dental implants. Eligibility criteria included published peer-reviewed studies that provided quantitative measurements of BW and related soft-tissue dimensions. Data extraction and synthesis were performed, and the findings were compared for consistency and relevance to the research question. The review included four studies that met the inclusion criteria. Two studies suggested that two-piece implants might lead to an adaptive change in BW and marginal bone levels over time. One study indicated that one-piece implants could maintain a BW and gingival margin position similar to that of natural teeth, while another found no significant long-term differences in soft-tissue volumetric stability between the one- and two-piece systems. The evidence pointed toward the microgap and implant design as influential factors in determining peri-implant soft-tissue dimensions. We found that implant design, particularly the presence of a microgap, plays a significant role in the establishment and maintenance of BW around dental implants. Two-piece implants may induce a greater adaptation in BW, whereas one-piece implants may better mimic the natural soft-tissue architecture. Long-term volumetric stability of the soft tissues appeared to be comparable between the two systems. These findings can inform clinical decision-making regarding the choice of implant systems for optimal soft-tissue health and integration.

Geospatial conditions of landslide formation on the territory of Sakhalin Island

The paper considers the conditions for the formation of landslide-prone areas of Sakhalin Island, the intensity of development and the main characteristics of landslides of various types common on the territory of Sakhalin Island. Sakhalin Island, determined by the geospatial location of the territory. It is due to the geospatial location of the territory as a result of the tectonic and geological history of its development that the present relief, in addition to extensive sedimentation basins, is represented by steeply sloping erosion-denudation and abrasion forms of macro and mesorelief with high potential energy, overlain by layered significantly dislocated and structurally disturbed terrigenous strata represented by relatively weak rocks, the accumulation of which occurred as a result of cyclic sedimentation. The tectonic and accompanying seismic activity, as well as the geologic history of the terrane formation, have led to the formation of complex engineering, geological, and hydrogeological conditions of the territory. Furthermore, the marginal position of the region determines its monsoon climate with high cyclonic activity, leading to a general high moisture content of the territory and activation of exogenous processes. Thus, due to the geospatial position of Sakhalin in the transition zone, a whole complex of natural factors of landslide formation was formed in the territory, including global factors (tectonic, climatic) and their subordinate determinants, as well as secondary (trigger) factors (geomorphologic, geological, hydrogeological, seismic), contributing to the widespread development of modern active landslides of different scales, characteristics, as well as types of landslide process and mechanism of mountain displacement.

Minerageny of Jurassic deposits of the northeastern side of the Ulyanovsk-Saratov depression

The Jurassic terrigenous-clayey complex on the territory of the northeastern side of the Ulyanovsk-Saratov depression contains numerous groups of solid minerals. Some of them are at the stages of industrial development, some have not found application due to local distribution. Analysis of the composition and conditions of formation of solid mineral raw materials showed that the main factor influencing the formation of minerals was the marginal position of the territory in the Middle-Upper Jurassic time. The relatively high bioproductivity of the epicontinental Central Russian paleosea contributed to the accumulation of layers of calcareous marls, oil shale and phosphate raw materials. All these rocks were formed in the Mesozoic basin of sedimentation with the active participation of organic matter, the producers of which were zoo- and phytoplankton. The accumulation of coccolithophora in clayey silts led to the formation of calcareous marls, the accumulation of dying algae in bottom sediments led to the formation of oil shale. Nodular phosphorites are also biochemogenic raw materials. During periods of regressive development of the Central Russian paleosea along the coast, conditions were created for the accumulation of oolitic siderites together with leguminous goethite-hydrogethite aggregates of iron ores. Periodically, regional faults were activated on the northeastern edge of the Ulnovsko-Saratov depression. At this time, there was an upward migration of deep mineralized fluids through weakened zones. Unloading in the bottom part of the Central Russian paleosea, they contributed to the formation of fields of pyrite and barite mineralization in sedimentary rocks.

ТОПОНИМДЕРДІ ЗЕРТТЕУДІҢ ӘЛЕМДІК ТІЛ БІЛІМІНДЕГІ ӘДІСТЕРІ

Annotation. The use of data and methods from several scientific directions in onomastics, more specifically, in toponymy, allows us to raise research to a new qualitative level and achieve new scientific results. Over time, onomastics established itself as an independent discipline with its own linguistic methods. Due to its interdisciplinary and complex nature, onomastics was initially considered a marginal field of world linguistics. However, in the 20th century, in the 1970s and 1980s, the field of onomastics got rid of its marginal position in world, Russian and Kazakh linguistics and began to move towards the core of “large, continental” linguistics. This is due to the fact that the empirical, scientific and theoretical base of Russian and national onomastics during the years of the Soviet Union expanded and became more complete, the methods of systematic self-research became mature, and it was recognized as a full-fledged fundamental independent linguistic discipline. This article presents global methods for studying toponyms and conducts a comparative analysis. Traditional and modern technological types of research in Kazakh onomastics are described. Key words: onomastics, ontology, toponym, toponyms of Mangistau, topoarea, toponymic information, toponymic code.

Model of “soft” and “hard” euroscepticism: Estonian case

The article explores the features of party Euroscepticism on the example of the Estonian case. A classification of a number of modern Estonian political parties is given on the basis of their classification as “hard” or “soft” Eurosceptics. Based on this typology the author structured the Estonian party-political landscape on the issue of European integration. The importance of this factor in the Estonian party-political space, which influences the further course of European integration in this Baltic state, is highlighted. The scale of anti-European sentiments in modern Estonia has been determined. The study identifies the reasons for the significant increase in electoral support for parties advocating anti-EU positions. It is revealed that the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (CPPE) demonstrates a consistent increase in the number of its members and is gaining more and more popularity among the Estonians and has an ever-increasing influence on Estonian politics. Represented in Parliament since 2015, the CPPE has achieved in 2019-2021 its entry into the government coalition. It is considered how the CPPE, which previously occupied a marginal position, is implementing its goal of gradually increasing its influence and entering the political forefront. Taking into account the analysis of the latest election program of the CPPE (for the parliamentary elections in March 2023), it was determined in which direction the radical Estonian populists are moving. At present the trend towards a steady increase in Euroscepticism in Estonia has changed to a course towards relative stabilization of the Eurosceptic mood of voters. Discursive and institutional methods were applied in the study.

Spatial and temporal variability in Holocene trough-fill sediments, King Haakon Trough System, sub-Antarctic South Georgia

The climate in the South Atlantic sector of the sub-Antarctic, and therefore on and around the island of South Georgia, is dependent on the Southern Hemisphere Westerlies (SHW) and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). The SHW and the ACC, in turn, are strongly controlled by climate variability in the Southern Hemisphere. Accordingly, thick sediment sequences in the troughs across South Georgia's continental shelf serve as valuable archives for past climate variations in the Southern Ocean. Since Holocene climate fluctuations led to only minimal oscillations in glacier margin positions within the fjords, the entire shelf was exposed to dynamic ocean currents since at least 10 ka BP. Its depositional systems are therefore a suitable target for the reconstruction of Holocene dynamics of both the SHW and the ACC. Sub-bottom profiler data and radiocarbon ages from four gravity cores from the south-western South Georgia continental shelf provide evidence for a complex interplay between island run-off and ocean currents intruding into a unique cross-shelf trough system during the last ∼10 ka. The data reveal several prominent changes in sediment and Holocene climate dynamics, the most significant occurring between 8 and 7.7 cal ka BP and between 2.6 and 2.2 cal ka BP. Both of these time periods represent transitions from warmer to cooler and windier conditions in South Georgia and the Southern Hemisphere. Our record from the King Haakon Trough System is the first highly resolved Holocene archive from the marine realm on the south-western South Georgia continental shelf and suggests several large-scale Southern Hemisphere climate changes during the mid-to late Holocene.

Karl Marx in Brazil: the reading capital of Capital (1958–2014)

ABSTRACT The national appropriations of Marx’s work have received two kinds of approaches. On the one hand, Marxists have dealt with the topic based on their internal disputes, elaborating “genealogies of ideas” in the service of demanding “ideological coherence” from each other or highlighting faithful interpretations and supposed betrayals. On the other hand, the field of historical sociology has neglected to address the transnational circulation of the work of Marx and Marxist authors. This area has accepted the current theoretical hierarchy, in which Marxism has no credibility – therefore, studies about its presence in the scientific field are unnecessary. Contrary to these two trends, the following article does not judge the value of Marx’s work. It focuses on the disputes surrounding its legitimate readings and uses, by addressing the main initiative that lifted this author out of a marginal position and turned him into an unavoidable figure in Brazil: the first university reading circle of Capital in the country started in 1958 at the University of São Paulo (USP). This is followed by an in-depth analysis of the determining factors behind Fernando Henrique Cardoso’s membership in that initiative and his stance on capitalism, slavery, and Marxism. Then, it defines the “reading capital” (in a Bourdieusian sense) of Capital and addresses its fate in current times.

Book Forum on Ivan Kalmar's White but Not Quite: Central Europe's Illiberal Revolt

This book forum discusses Ivan Kalmar´s pivotal book on the position of “Central Europe” in the racialized hierarchies of “West”/“Europe” and their not-quite-white Others. The authors debate the main contributions and potential blind spots of the book and its key concepts. The concepts of racism and whiteness answer the not-so-new question on Central Europe and Europe's “East” anew: How come that the populations of and in this diverse region happen to repeatedly find themselves in the very same marginal position in European historical orders? This question has very contemporary manifestations; Europe's persistent East-West socio-economic and socio-cultural hierarchies, among others, co-produce the local populations' marginalized or marginalizing positioning vis-à-vis each other and the rest of Europe or the world. In this honest discussion, the authors chart new intellectual pathways for utilizing racism and whiteness to help us better understand this question and its many manifestations from within and outside the region.

Telling the stories of China well? The perception of China's rise by second-generation Chinese immigrants in an Australian University

AbstractChina's rise has been discussed in various ways, but only recently has scholarship started to examine it in relation to overseas Chinese, as politicians and commentators outside China, as well as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) itself and some scholars on “smart power” have come to realize their importance as political messengers of China. This paper analyses interview results with second-generation Chinese immigrants in Australia in tertiary education to examine how they are “telling the China story”. The results reveal this cohort's complex attitudes towards China's rise. On the one hand, they are proud of China's rise, especially in economic terms, and their socio-cultural attachment to it. On the other, they critically evaluate political and social issues in China, and are aware of their marginal position in Chinese society. These findings argue against the oversimplistic approach that regards Chinese immigrants as a homogenous group acting as political messengers of the CCP.

How ICT capital affects the spatial correlation of energy consumption-a new perspective based on spatially correlation network.

ICT has significantly transformed the traditional energy production and service methods, changed the correlation characteristics of energy consumption network, and contributed to the establishment of cross-regional, open, and synergistic energy ecological networks. In this paper, social network analysis (SNA), dynamic SYS-GMM model, and mediating effects model are employed to deliberate on the mechanism of ICT capital's influence on the spatial correlation of energy consumption from 2000 to 2019. Firstly, this study employs an enhanced gravity model to precisely delineate the spatial correlation network of energy consumption in China, further applies the SNA to analyze the network structural characteristics, and then uses the econometric model to investigate the influence mechanism and heterogeneity of ICT capital on the spatial correlation of energy consumption. The study demonstrates a progressive spatial correlation in energy consumption in China, with eastern provinces emerge as the center of the network, assuming the position of the "dominant player." Conversely, the central provinces act as the "bridge," and western provinces are positioned at the periphery, referred to as the "edge" of the network. ICT capital contributes to improving the energy consumption spatial correlation, mainly by stimulating green technology innovation, promoting industrial structure optimization, accelerating human capital accumulation, and reducing income inequality. As ICT capital expands, the eastern region becomes more preeminent as a network hub for energy consumption, the central region increases its dominance slightly, and the western region's marginal position does not change significantly. Furthermore, the presence of ICT capital significantly enhances the intensity of energy consumption spatial correlation more prominently for low-carbon pilot areas and high Internet level areas. This study guides provinces to fully utilize ICT capital to reach collaborative energy-saving goals, and promotes the breaking down of regional competitive barriers in energy systems to build cooperative energy conservation ecological networks.