Journal articles on the topic 'Mongolian pony'

The purpose of study was to determine properties of humic substances by combination of modern and traditional methods. Humic substances isolated from three different sources from Mongolia such as peloid from Lake Gurban nuur, coal from Baganuur deposit and oil shale from Shine khudag deposit. On the basis of determination H/C and O/C atomic ratios in humic substances by elemental analysis, confirmed existing of aromatic structures in the molecules and oxidized functional groups. Have been studied the structure of humic substances by spectral method. For example infrared spectrums showed that humic substances are characterizing with poly-structural components, with different quantity in the samples. Light adsorption of samples in the UV-Vis region, a decrease on the absorption intensity with an increase of the wave length was observed (Fig. 2). The high ratio Н/С, attributed to stretching of C=C bond of aromatic rings in IR spectrums, the high content of functional groups, lower extinction coefficients, confirmed that aromatic fragments to prevail than aliphatic chain fragments in structure of all studied HS. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5564/mjc.v14i0.199 Mongolian Journal of Chemistry 14 (40), 2013, p51-56

This article studied how wastewater treatment performance of a short rotation forestry system was influenced by the seasonal operational changes under the extreme Mongolian winter conditions. For this reason, two beds planted with Willow (Salix spec.) and Poplar (Populus spec.) trees were operated over a period of two years under two different seasonal conditions: (A) “external winter storage” and (B) “internal winter storage” of pretreated wastewater. For operational condition A, the tree-bed was loaded with wastewater for only 4 summer months. For this operational condition it was considered that the treatment bed was fed with primary treated wastewater, which was stored in a sealed pond during the remaining 8 months. The other Bed B was irrigated throughout the year (12 months) with the same daily loading rate. In winter, the wastewater accumulated as ice in the tree-bed. Bed A, with external winter storage, showed mass removal percentage up to 95%, while the bed with internal winter storage showed mass removal rates up to 86% for pollutants such as COD, BOD5, TN, and TP. A high yield of biomass was recorded for both beds with slight differences. Based on the results, a design recommendation was developed for full-scale systems of short rotation coppice irrigated with wastewater under various operational conditions, which show these systems to be a viable method for treating wastewater and producing biomass for energy production in Mongolia.

Sorption activity of two types of Silicon-organic sorbents for the previous metals has been studied. A polymer – poly (3- silsesquioxanilpropylthiocarbamate) - 3- silsesquioxanilpropylammonium which was obtained by the hydrolytic poly-condensation reaction and has been determined its physical, chemical characteristics and its sorption activity for the Ag(I), Au(III), Pt(IV), Pd(II), Rh(III). It has been found out that the sorbent shows high static sorption of Gold (III), Mercury (II) at acidic condition. The second a net structured silicon-organic copolymer {SiO2*2[O1.5Si(CH2)3NHC5H4N}n was synthesized by hydrolytic co-poly-condensation reaction. It likely to react as an anionit that adsorbs chloro-complex anion of the Au (III), Pt(IV), Pd(II), Rh(III).DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5564/mjc.v12i0.167 Mongolian Journal of Chemistry Vol.12 2011: 29-34

The batch removal of copper (II) from aqueous solution under different experimental conditions using silicon-organic sorbent poly[N,N’-bis(3-silseskquioxanilpropyl)thiocarbamide] (PSTM-3T) was investigated in this study. This sorbent was produced from the hydrolytic poly-condensation reaction. The removal was favoured at pH = 5 for PSTM-3T. The effects of concentration and temperature have been reported. PSTM-3T was found to efficiently remove Cu(II) from solution. The batch sorption kinetics have been tested for a first-order reaction. The rate constants of adsorption have been calculated. The thermodynamic parameters (ΔG0, Kc) obtained to indicate the endothermic nature of Cu(II) adsorption on PSTM-3T.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5564/mjc.v12i0.162 Mongolian Journal of Chemistry Vol.12 2011: 1-6

A full-scale intensive pond system (IPS) with shorter HRT was designed, constructed and operated in Jining, Inner-Mongolia for the treatment of municipal wastewater, which is a mixed domestic and industrial wastewater characterized by quite high SS and lower BOD5/COD ratio values or lower biodegradability. Therefore, the pond system was designed as an integrated intensive pond system (IIPS) consisting of settling/anaerobic pond (SAP), intensified anaerobic pond (IAP), facultative pond (FP), and polishing ponds (PPs). In order to improve the performance of the IPS, some intensified measures were made, including inlet and outlet even-distribution systems of each unit pond, package of biofilm carrier in IAP for the increase and even distribution of biomass; overflow waterfalls on the dikes between unit ponds for the increase of DO in pond water, gravel filtration dike (or dam) for removing suspended solids including algae, which have improved the performance of the IPS remarkably in terms of removal of main pollutants, such as SS, COD, BOD5, TN, NH3-N, TP and total bacteria. The final effluent from the IPS in warm seasons from May to October were SS 7.2–10.8 mg/L, BOD5 8.5–19.6 mg/L, COD 44.1–76.5 mg/L, and NH3-N 1.5–10.2 mg/L, which well meet Chinese national discharge standard (2nd class) of secondary municipal wastewater treatment plants, i.e. BOD5 and SS 30 mg/L respectively, COD 100 mg/L, and NH3-N 25 mg/L.

Alkali-activated materials were prepared from pond ash from the Darkhan city (Mongolia) thermal power station. This ash contains about 60 wt % X-ray amorphous material in addition to quartz, mullite, hematite and magnesioferrite, and presents significant storage problems since it is accumulating in large amounts and is a hazardous waste, containing 90–100 ppm of the heavy metals As, Pb and Cr, and about 800 ppm Sr. Alkali-activated materials synthesized from the as-received pond ash achieved compressive strengths of only 3.25 MPa. Reduction of the particle size by mechanical milling for up to 30 min progressively increases the compressive strength of the resulting alkali-activated geopolymer up to 15.4 MPa. Leaching tests indicate that the combination of milling and alkali treatment does not cause the release of the hazardous heavy metals from the product, making it suitable for construction applications.

Dental cast analysis is one of the important thing in orthodontic treatments. One of the dental cast analysis which is usually used is Pont analysis, proposed in 1909. Pont did his research to a population in French which is Caucasian and stated that his theory needs to be tested to another ethnics to verify the applicability of Pont analysis to that population. On each race, there are some specific physical characteristics such as the form and width of dentition and dental arch. Minang population are Mongolian who has the different characteristics of dentition and dental arch with the Caucasians.The aim of this study is to identify whether Pont analysis is precise to be used to Minang population. Method : Cross-sectional design was used in this study. This study was done to 65 upper dental casts from Minang student at the Faculty of Dentistry Andalas University who met the inclusion criteria. The difference between the measured and the calculated interpremolar and intermolar arch width was tested with paired T test with the significant value of 0.05 (p=0.05). Result : Mean value of interpremolar width was 37.8838 ± 2.29042 mm and intermolar width was 47.6046±3.18780 mm. The result of statistical analysis showed that there is no significant differences of the measured and the calculated interpremolar and intermolar width of Minang Student at Faculty of Dentistry Andalas University (p>0.05). Conclusion : Pont analysis can be used as one of the dental cast analysis in orthodontic diagnosis and treatment planning to Minang population. It is suggested to do a further research to identify lower dental arch form of the Minang population whose upper dental arch width equals to the predicted arch width according to Pont’s formula.

Abstract The OSL, post-IR OSL and pulsed post-IR OSL applied to polymineral grains and calculated by fitting to the data the contributions from fast, medium and slow components revealed that the polymineral samples under study are dominated by the medium component. An increase in De’s with increasing integration intervals was observed, which is considered as an indication of increasing medium and decayed fast component; and the equivalent doses obtained using different components or minerals reflect also the shape of the dose distributions. The identified fast component in polymineral sample has photoionization cross section of 1.2±0.02 × 10−17 cm2. The present study shows the usefulness of the application of different luminescence techniques combined with fitting procedures as a check which should be adopted in dating protocols. Based on luminescence ages obtained on poly-mineral grains from prehistoric pottery samples from the Boroo settlement, Mongolia, which are in agreement with independent age control by 14C on charcoal material, it is argued that the manufacturing of Xiongnu — pottery at this site lasted until ca. 130±75 AD.

Gujin Shilin 古今释林 is a multilingual dictionary, published in 1789 by Yi Ui-Pong (李义凤). The initial motivation for publishing the book was to supplement the incompleteness of other commentary books on Zhuzi Yulei 朱子语类, including Yi Hwang’s (李滉) Yulujie 语录解. At last, Yi Ui-Pong completed his project as an unabridged encyclopedia of East Asian languages based on more than 1500 Jingshiziji 经史子集 (classics, history, philosophy and collections of belle letters) of China and Korea. The book has been understudied because of its enormous number of entries, its inaccessibility due to the many languages used within, and its lack of readability due to typos and variant letters. Therefore, the goal of the present paper is to analyze the background of the publication of Gujin Shilin, and its structure, content and research value. Gujin Shilin contains vocabulary from Mongolian, Manchu, Japanese, Vietnamese, Thai as well as Korean and Chinese from different historical periods. These can be used as invaluable data for the study of international studies involved in each field, including the phonological changes that the Asian languages have gone through, the interrelation among Asian languages and their mutual influences, the linguistic life, culture and custom shared by the ‘Chinese character cultural sphere’ countries and the study of the variant Chinese characters.

Migrations in the intercontinental macro-region have been studied as proto-Slavic early settlement; as transit zone for Varangian-Arab trade and Byzantine-Kiev interactions; as space of Mongolian intrusion and as a territorially integrated Muscovite state with rural populations immobilised as serfs. This article integrates migrations from and to the neighbouring Scandinavian, East Roman, and Steppe macro-regions up to the fifteenth century and, more briefly, from the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. In these poly-ethnic worlds, resident and in-migrant cultural groups adapted in frames of intercultural contact, migration, hierarchies, processes of power imposition and of exchange. An important facet is the ‘small numbers-large impact’ character of many migrations before the advance of Mongol/Tatar armies. From the fifteenth century, elites of the new Muscovite state such as traders and colonisers moved east into Siberia’s societies and attracted technical and administrative personnel from German-language societies. The traditional historiographical narrative, centred on an east-west perspective, is expanded to include the north-south axes of migration and cultural contact.

Tectonic sheets of various size along the southern slope of the Mongolian and Chinese Altai ranges and in eastern Kazakhstan include high-grade metamorphic rocks, which are collectively referred to as the Southern Altai Metamorphic Belt. Rocks of the sheets show traces of amphibolite-facies elevated-pressure metamorphism of the kyanite–sillimanite type M2. Some of the tectonic sheets display evidence of polymetamorphism: the rocks preserve textures and mineral assemblages of an earlier metamorphic episode (of elevated temperature and relatively low pressure) of the andalusite–sillimanite facies series M1. The earlier metamorphic episode occurred at 390–385 Ma, and the later one, at ~370–356 Ma. The protoliths of the high-grade metamorphic rocks were mostly Early Paleozoic terrigenous rocks and subordinate amounts of volcanic rocks analogous to the weakly metamorphosed or unmetamorphosed rocks in their northern surroundings. Typical rocks of the tectonic sheets are mafic dikes and massifs of the Gashun Nuur Complex, which were emplaced between metamorphic episodes M1 and M2. According to their geochemistry and Nd isotopic parameters, most of the metabasites are similar to enriched basalts of mid-oceanic ridges and oceans plateaus. The quantitatively subordinate group of the layered mafic bodies displays geochemical characteristics of subduction-related rocks. Correlations between the metamorphic events and magmatism in the continental (Mongolian and Chinese Altai) and paleoceanic (Trans-Altai Gobi and eastern Junggar) regions led us to suggest a geodynamic model for the development of the Southern Altai Metamorphic Belt. The volcano-terrigenous rocks, which were later metamorphosed, were accumulated mostly in the Early Paleozoic as an accretion wedge on an active continental margin. The earlier episode of high-temperature metamorphic M1 and coeval large-scale calc–alkaline magmatism occurred at the same active continental margin after the magmatic front shifted southward (in modern coordinates). The emplacement of the swarms of mafic bodies of the Gashun Nuur Complex and simultaneous rifting in the southern Chinese Altai were triggered by the subduction of an spreading ridge of an oceanic or backarc basin beneath the active margin. The second metamorphic episode (elevated-pressure metamorphism) M2 and overthrusting in the structures of the Altai are correlated with deformations at low angles and the transition from oceanic to continental volcanism in the Trans-Altai Gobi and Junggar. These tectonic processes were induced by the accretion of a system of mid-Paleozoic ensimatic island arcs of the Trans-Altai Gobi and Junggar to the Altai margin of the Siberian paleocontinent.

A sewage treatment plant is located in the middle of Inner Mongolia. There is a large amount of slaughtering wastewater in the influent with high COD, SS, low annual temperature, poor nitrogen removal effect, and the effluent quality is only grade B. In order to solve the above problems, A\A\O-MBBR + high efficiency sedimentation tank continuous sand filter process was adopted to establish a new anaerobic tank and a first stage AO-MBBR bioreactor. The selection tank and partial oxidation ditch were transformed into the second stage A pool (anoxic pool), and the remaining part of the existing oxidation ditch was transformed into the second stage O pond (aerobic pool), which further removed phosphorus and reduced the SS in the sewage, and solved the problem of low temperature biological treatment in winter in the north of China. The quality of the effluent reached level A after the upgrading.

The study area and plant 928786 trees, of which the most enjoy trees, accounting for about 45.6% of the total number of trees in the city. Eight of the region in the study area covered 2.7-7.9% of trees. Salix matsudana, Populus pseudo-simonii, Pinus sylvestnis var. mongolica Litv, Pinus tabulaeformis var.mukdensis Uyeki and Prunus persica f. rubro-plena is the most important species, they represent 32.2% of the number of all the trees, leaves area of 50.6% and 43.1% of the leaf biomass. The city a lot of trees concentrated in diameter at breast height 15.3-38.1 cm. In general, the tree is younger Changchun city (50.7% of DBH less than 23 cm). A large part of Changchun city area (accounting for 54% of the whole city) is by impervious material, asphalt, cement, stone cover, and the remaining 46% is permeable ground, herb areas, lawns and a small proportion of the pond, artificial lakes and rivers.

Three distinct but overlapping dinosaur-dominated faunas characterize the Upper Cretaceous Djadokhta, Baruungoyot, and Nemegt formations of the Nemegt Basin of Mongolia. Documented faunal differences cannot be explained easily by temporal succession, but can be understood in light of the physical processes controlling the life, death, and burial of taxa. The stratigraphy of the Gobi Desert region records tectonically driven geometries, clearly documenting preservational processes that differ from those acting in most other dinosaur-dominated beds worldwide. Small, asymmetric tectonic grabens were filled with Upper Cretaceous dinosaur-bearing deposits showing asymmetric distributions of facies, here termed lithobiotopes. The water-lain fluvial and alluvial plain facies of the Nemegt lithobiotope supported and preserved a fauna dominated by gigantic dinosaurs, but had a preservational bias against smaller animals. The Nemegt passed laterally into the interdune facies of the Baruungoyot lithobiotope, which represented a hostile environment for large species, but preserved smaller animals. This in turn passed laterally into the aeolianite facies of the Djadokhta lithobiotope, which is characterized by the remains of small dinosaurs and a rich fauna of other animals. The Nemegt Gobi Basin can be visualized as an oasis with a central pond supplied with water from ephemeral channels and surrounded by a semi-arid alluvial plain and dune fields.

Acceleration urbanization and industrialization has resulted in challenges such as river ecosystem degradation and water scarcity that have hindered sustainable development in China. Healthy rivers provide ecosystem services that improve human well-being. The Happy River Index (HRI) integrates trends in river health and human well-being. This study aimed to establish an HRI assessment framework. The assessment framework was applied to the Yellow River, China at three spatial scales in which the analytic hierarchy process (AHP)-entropy weight and single index quantification-multiple indices syntheses-poly-criteria integration (SMI-P) methods were utilized. Limiting factors were diagnosed by the obstacle degree model and approaches to improve the HRI in regions along the Yellow River are suggested. The results showed that: (1) the overall HRI of the Yellow River was relatively low, with some differences among different regions; (2) the HRI for the upper, middle, and lower reaches of the Yellow River showed a decreasing trend from 0.77 to 0.65; (3) Sichuan had the highest HRI at the regional scale, followed by Gansu and Qinghai, whereas Inner Mongolia had the lowest; (4) scarcity of water resources and the fragility of the ecological environment were the two dominant factors restricting the improvement of the HRI in regions along the Yellow River. The results of this study can provide a valuable reference for protection of river health and improvement of human well-being in China.

Inulin is a natural polysaccharide abundant in plants. In the latest decades, in Mongolia, have been cultivated some plants which used in traditional medicine. Inulin polysaccharides were isolated from the roots of the Helianthus tuberosus L. and Inula helenium L. by ultrasound-assisted, microwave extraction, and conventional extraction methods. This polysaccharide is light yellow, tasteless, powder. The polysaccharide structure was confirmed by infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The poly fructose content of the Helianthus tuberosus L. ranged from 69 to 84%; in comparison, Inula helenium L ranged from 13 to 51%. The IR-FT spectra revealed typical inulin structure - 820, 876, and 937 cm-1 with terminated α-D-glucose residue. Булцуут цэцэг (Helianthus tuberosus l.) Өндөр зоосон цэцэг (Inula helenium l.) -ийн үндэснээс инулин гарган авах боломж Инулин нь ургамалд элбэг байдаг байгалийн полисахарид бөгөөд манай оронд инулинаар баялаг зарим төрлийн ургамлыг амжилттай нутагшуулан тарималжуулж байгаа билээ. Манай оронд нутагшсан Булцуут цэцэг (Helianthus tuberosus L.) болон Өндөр зоосон цэцэг (Inula helenium L.) ургамлын үндэснээс инулин полисахаридыг хэт авиа (ХА), богино долгион (БД) болон уламжлалт хандлах аргын тусламжтайгаар ялган авлаа. Энэ полисахарид нь ямар нэгэн амтгүй, цайвар шаргал өнгөтэй, нунтаг хэлбэртэй. Уг полисахаридын бүтцийг нил улаан туяаны спектроскопийн (FT-IR) аргаар баталгаажуулсан ба инулины агууламжийг нийт фруктозод шилжүүлэн тооцов. Булцуут цэцгийн полифруктаны агууламж 69-84%, Өндөр зоосон цэцгийнх 13-51% хооронд хэлбэлзэж байсан бөгөөд богино долгионы тусламжтай ялган авсан инулины полифруктаны агууламж хамгийн өндөр байв. НУТ-ны спектрийн шингээлтээр инулины бүтцийн гол зурвасууд нь 820, 876 саяны хэсэгт болон фураноз хэлбэртэй b-D-фруктоз, харин 937 см-1 саяны хэсэгт пираноз хэлбэртэй a-D-глюкозын үлдэгдэл байгааг харуулж байна. Түлхүүр үг: булцуут цэцэг, инулин, НУТ спектроскоп, өндөр зоосон цэцэг, полифруктан

Mercury (Hg) is one of the trace toxic and bioaccumulative global pollutants, and due to its long atmospheric lifetime, it presents a significant global challenge. The present study (1) utilizes total gaseous mercury (TGM) measurements made around a former Hg-cell chlor-alkali plant (CAP) located in Pavlodar, Kazakhstan, and predicts the spatial distribution of Hg over its premises and the nearby city. It then (2) estimates the environmental repartition of Hg deposited by the CAP using three fugacity models of varying complexity: Level I, QWASI, and HERMES. Finally, it (3) predicts long-range Hg transport via forward trajectory-based cluster analysis. The atmospheric Hg levels measured in Pavlodar and around Lake Balkyldak were elevated: in the range of 1–37 ng/m3 with an urban background level at 4.9 ng/m3. Specifically, concentrations up to 37 ng/m3 close to Lake Balkyldak and up to 22 ng/m3 nearby the city’s industrial zone (where the CAP was located) had been observed. Interpolation maps created using kriging also suggest these locations as the primary sources of atmospheric Hg in the city. The Level I fugacity model indicated that almost all of Hg is expected to end up in the atmosphere. The modeling results obtained using more complex QWASI and HERMES models showed that some significant quantity of Hg would still be associated with the sediments of Lake Balkyldak (a large wastewater discharge pond nearby the CAP). The forward trajectory-based cluster analysis method revealed the long-range atmospheric transportation routes and local, regional, and global impact zones. Furthermore, a source-receptor relationship using air transportation pathways to identify “areas of impact” was addressed. During both heating and non-heating seasons, the frequency-based analysis identified the distribution of Hg reaching the territories of Mongolia, northwest China, southwest Kazakhstan. The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT-4) model forward trajectory analysis has confirmed similar patterns during heating and non-heating seasons, except with shorter impact distances during the non-heating period. Even though the CAP was closed more than 30 years ago and those past remediation efforts cleaned up the site, the residual Hg pollution seems significant and should be further investigated in different environmental media.

The pre-Mongolian time materials in the territory of the Irtysh River basin in Kazakhstan are associated with the functioning of the Kimak-Kipchak proto-state federation that existed in the end of the 1st — beginning of the 2nd mil. AD. Due to the nomadic lifestyle of these ethnic groups, the sites are represented by barrow cemeteries, the majority of which consists of «chains» of individual burial structures aligned in meridian direction. The most inter-esting funerary objects are the «long» mounds, usually ending the system of memorial structures in the northern or southern sector of the burial ground. Particular features of these objects include the presence of several attached enclosures under a common mound, which developed in the meridian direction, as well as the burial of children and adolescents, virtually unknown from individual Kimak-Kipchak mounds. Here, we analyse the materials of the «long» barrow of the Menovnoye VI burial ground, located in the Upper Irtysh region 1.5 km southeast from the village of Menovnoye, Tavrichesky District, East Kazakhstan Oblast. Under the kurgan mound, there was an en-closure with two extensions containing burials of two men, a teenager, and a child. The buried were laid stretched on their backs, with their heads towards the east. The remains of men and the teenager were accompanied by horses, and those of the child — with sheep bones. An adult man, buried within the central enclosure, apart from horse, was accompanied for his afterlife by a dog. The grave goods discovered with the buried represent wea-ponry items, military and horse equipment. The weaponry included fragments of a sword, a bone grip, arrowheads, combat and household knives. Horse harness items included stirrups and a bit made of iron, a bronze figured buckle with flexible iron prong. The child was accompanied by a bronze teardrop-shaped amulet pendant and a small cattle astragalus used for playing dice. The number of «long» mounds in the cemetery ranges from one or two to three or four. The number of individuals in them varies from 2–3 to 8–11, which emphasizes the familial proximity of adults and children buried together. The «long» barrows of the «Menovnoye VI type», which contained burials of male members of the society, reflected the presence of patriarchal family ties within the tribal communities on the one hand, and formation of patriarchal-feudal relations in the context of development of the Kimak-Kipchak nomadic proto-state on the other.

En este artículo se presenta la biografía de Antonio de Monserrat con el objeto de insertar en el pensamiento crítico budista a quien se considera el primer occidental iniciado en la filosofía tántrica e impulsor de ésta en Occidente a través de la Compañía de Jesús. Para ello, primero se hace un recorrido histórico que pone en foco cómo el budismo es desplazado de la India y se refugia entre las poblaciones de Asia central como la etnia Uigur en la actual Turquestán, cómo es adoptado por los emperadores chinos y se expande a lo largo de toda la Ruta de la Seda. La combinación del budismo indio con influencias occidentales (grecobudismo) dio origen a diversas escuelas budistas en Asia Central y en China. Luego se caracteriza en forma sintética la versión esotérica que adquiere el budismo (el tantra) y que se consolida en el siglo VIII en el Tíbet como budismo vajrayana (tántrico).Ésta es la forma de budismo que toman los gobernantes, que promueve la igualdad completa de personas y género, la idea del sujeto como una construcción de la cultura y la noción de deidades metafóricas —útiles para modelar el carácter de las personas pero de absoluta inexistencia— además del postulado budista de verdad relativa. Esta visión no teísta —o transteísta, como Gómez la prefiere llamar— se reflejaba en la total tolerancia religiosa del imperio Chino, Uigur y Mongol, que garantizaba la seguridad y el libre intercambio por la Ruta de la Seda. Es esta visión de sujetos no divididos en castas ni diferenciados por sangre lo que maravilla a de Montserrat al decir que los tibetanos “no tienen reyes entre sí” e inflama la avidez de quienes viajaron especialmente (a partir de los escritos de éste) a iniciarse en el budismo tántrico tibetano como los jesuitas Antonio de Andrade y Juan de Brito. El tercer apartado se dedica de lleno a la biografía de Antonio de Monserrat y a precisar su contacto con el tantra.Abstract This article presents Antonio de Montserrat’s biography to insert him in Buddhist critical thinking as whom is considered the first Westerner initiated into tantric philosophy and who became a driver thereof in the West through the Society of Jesus. To do so, a historical review is first presented to focus on the way Buddhism was removed from India and found refuge among the peoples of Central Asia such as the Uyghurs in present-day Turkistan, how it was then adopted by Chinese emperors and spread throughout the Silk Road. The combination of Indian Buddhism and Western influences (Greco-Buddhism) gave rise to several Buddhist schools in Central Asia and China. Then, the esoteric form Buddhism took (tantra) is briefly described, which was consolidated as Vajrayana (tantric) Buddhism in Tibet in the eighth century. That is the Buddhist form rulers have adopted, which promotes full social and gender equality, the idea of the subject as a cultural construction and the notion of metaphorical deities —useful to model people’s character but completely non-existent— in addition to the Buddhist principle of relative truth (not absolute). This non theistic view —or transtheistic, as Gómez would rather call, was projected in the absolute religious tolerance within the Chinese, Uyghur, and Mongolian empires, which ensured safety and free exchange on the Silk Route. Such standpoint of people not divided into castes or differentiated by reason of bloodline is what amazes de Montserrat when saying Tibetans "have no kings among them" and what encourages those who made a journey (based on de Montserrat’s writings) especially to receive initiation into Tibetan Tantric Buddhism such as Jesuits Antonio de Andrade and John de Brito. Finally, the article jumps in Antonio de Montserrat’s biography and it shows its connection with tantrism.

Abstract Background The mechanism of body growth in mammals is poorly understood. Here, we investigated the regulatory networks involved in body growth through transcriptomic analysis of pituitary and epiphyseal tissues of smaller sized Debao ponies and Mongolian horses at the juvenile and adult stages. Results We found that growth hormone receptor (GHR) was expressed at low levels in long bones, although growth hormone (GH) was highly expressed in Debao ponies compared with Mongolian horses. Moreover, significant downregulated of the GHR pathway components m-RAS and ATF3 was found in juvenile ponies, which slowed the proliferation of bone osteocytes. However, WNT2 and PLCβ2 were obviously upregulated in juvenile Debao ponies, which led to premature mineralization of the bone extracellular matrix. Furthermore, we found that the WNT/Ca2+ pathway may be responsible for regulating body growth. GHR was demonstrated by q-PCR and Western blot analyses to be expressed at low levels in long bones of Debao ponies. Treatment with WNT antagonistI decreased the expression of WNT pathway components (P < 0.05) in vitro. Transduction of ATDC5 cells with a GHR-RNAi lentiviral vector decreased the expression of the GHR pathway components (P < 0.05). Additionally, the expression of the IGF-1 gene in the liver was lower in Debao ponies than in Mongolian horses at the juvenile and adult stages. Detection of plasma hormone concentrations showed that Debao ponies expressed higher levels of IGF-1 as juveniles and higher levels of GH as adults than Mongolian horses, indicating that the hormone regulation in Debao ponies differs from that in Mongolian horses. Conclusion Our work provides insights into the genetic regulation of short stature growth in mammals and can provide useful information for the development of therapeutic strategies for small size.

In Mongolia coal fired thermal power stations produce over 90% of the country’s electricity. Three thermal power stations located in Ulaanbaatar city produce more than 80% of all electricity produced in Mongolia. The annual output of fly ash and bottom ash from these thermal power stations is about 600,000 tons. The thermal power plants in Ulaanbaatar city use coal from Baganuur and Shivee-Ovoo deposits. This research was conducted to compare morphologies of various fly ashes and pond ashes from TPS in Mongolia. Fly ashes from TPS4 and pond ashes from TPS3 and TPS4 of Ulaanbaatar city were characterized by x-ray fluorescence (XRF), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), laser particle size distribution analyzer, specific surface area measurement (BET), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The chemical compositions of the fly ashes and pond ashes indicate that they are class C ashes. Specific surface areas of the fly ashes and pond ashes varied from 1.04 to 25.2 m2/g. Radiation measurements that were performed by γ-spectroscopy indicate that the radium equivalent changed from 292 to 761 Bq/kg in the various ashes.

The purpose of this research was to identify dispersion and transporting of white dust for tailings pond of Erdenet copper mining in Mongolia. Spring and autumn have a significantly higher level of PM10 mass concentration in Erdenet city. Probably caused by the stagnant atmosphere which leads to pollution’s cumulative effect and ‘white dust’ from the storage of tailings pond in spring and autumn. We used meteorological data for 2015 gathered from Information and Research Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Environment (IRIMHE) in Erdenet city and GDAS meteorological data provided by U.S NOAA. In the present study, white dust simulation by using the ArcGIS, HYSPLIT program modeling. The Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model is used to identify the white dust dispersion and transportation trends. According to the simulation from model HYSPLIT, white dust was spread between 14 and 65 km in 2015. The main month of white dust distribution was May and October when mass concentration of PM10 was high due to white dust. White dust distribution was four times lower when the rainy day.

AbstractGreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from rivers and lakes have been shown to significantly contribute to global carbon and nitrogen cycling. In spatiotemporal-variable and human-impacted rivers in the grassland region, simultaneous carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide emissions and their relationships under the different land use types are poorly documented. This research estimated greenhouse gas (CO2, CH4, N2O) emissions in the Xilin River of Inner Mongolia of China using direct measurements from 18 field campaigns under seven land use type (such as swamp, sand land, grassland, pond, reservoir, lake, waste water) conducted in 2018. The results showed that CO2 emissions were higher in June and August, mainly affected by pH and DO. Emissions of CH4 and N2O were higher in October, which were influenced by TN and TP. According to global warming potential, CO2 emissions accounted for 63.35% of the three GHG emissions, and CH4 and N2O emissions accounted for 35.98% and 0.66% in the Xilin river, respectively. Under the influence of different degrees of human-impact, the amount of CO2 emissions in the sand land type was very high, however, CH4 emissions and N2O emissions were very high in the artificial pond and the wastewater, respectively. For natural river, the greenhouse gas emissions from the reservoir and sand land were both low. The Xilin river was observed to be a source of carbon dioxide and methane, and the lake was a sink for nitrous oxide.

A haloalkaliphilic strain XQ-INN 246T was isolated from the sediment of a salt pond in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China. Cells of the strain were rods, motile and strictly aerobic. The strain was able to grow in the presence of 2.6–5.3 M NaCl (optimum concentration is 4.4 M) at 30–50 °C (optimum temperature is 42 °C) and pH 7.0–10.0 (optimum pH is 8.0–8.5). The whole genome sequencing of strain XQ-INN 246T revealed a genome size of 4.52 Mbp and a DNA G+C content of 62.06 mol%. Phylogenetic tree based on 16S rRNA gene sequences and concatenated amino acid sequences of 122 single-copy conserved proteins revealed a robust lineage of the strain XQ-INN 246T with members of related genera of the family Natrialbaceae . The strain possessed the polar lipids of phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylglycerol phosphate methyl ester. No glycolipids were detected. Based on phylogenetic analysis, phenotypic characteristics, chemotaxonomic properties and genome relatedness, the isolate was proposed as the type strain of a novel species of a new genus within the family Natrialbaceae, for which the name Salinadaptatus halalkaliphilus gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed. The type strain is XQ-INN 246T (=CGMCC 1.16692T=JCM 33751T).

Abstract Objectives Vitamin A (VA) is an essential micronutrient with key roles in many biological processes, including growth, vision, reproduction, and immunity. While VA deficiency effects these physiological roles, the impact on many metabolic pathways are poorly studied. Since VA deficiency is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality throughout the world, a more comprehensive understanding of deficiency-associated metabolic alterations is needed. Here we investigate changes in metabolism associated with VA status in a rodent model using targeted metabolomics. Methods Male Mongolian gerbils (n = 8/group) were group housed (2−3/cage) during VA depletion and treatment (2/cage). After 28 d depletion, remaining gerbils were weight-matched and allocated to treatment groups. The VA positive group (VA+) was fed white maize and 40 µg retinyl acetate in ∼50 µL cottonseed oil daily, while the VA deficient group (VA-) received white maize and ∼50 µL cottonseed oil. Liver retinol concentrations were measured by HPLC. Liver samples were analyzed by LC-MS using six targeted assays for primary metabolomics, aminomics, bile acids, oxylipins, endocannabinoids, and sphingoid bases. Results Hepatic retinol concentrations were lower in the VA- group (P < 0.001). Of 277 identified metabolites, the cardiovascular risk associated trimethylamine-N-oxide and, numerous bile acids, including cholic acid, chenodeoxycolic acid, glycocholic acid, and tauroursodeoxycholic acid, were lower in this group (P < 0.05). Components of DNA, including purine deoxyribonucleosides deoxyadenosine (P < 0.02) and deoxyguanosine (P < 0.006), were differentially altered. Furthermore, the VA- group had lower nucleosides cytidine and the uracil derivative carbomoyl-beta-alanine (P < 0.05). Numerous acylcarnitines, vital for energy utilization of fatty acids, were also changed. Conclusions A number of hepatic metabolites were altered by deficiency whose connection to VA status has not been investigated previously. Future studies that test the direct biological impact of these changes with VA status are necessary. Funding Sources USDA Intramural Project 2032-51530-022-00D, NIH U24 DK097154, Cal Poly SURP

Two skulls of Late Cretaceous multituberculates from Mongolia, Nemegtbaatar gobiensis and Chulsanbaatar vulgaris , were serially sectioned on a Jung microtome at thicknesses respectively of 25 and 20 pm. A wax model of the endocranial cavity, with casts of certain vessels and nerves, was made for Nemegtbaatar . On the basis of the sections, model, various entire skulls from Mongolia and isolated Late Cretaceous multituberculate petrosals from Montana, U.S.A., a reconstruction of the vascular system was made. The internal carotid artery entered the pituitary fossa laterally at the junction of petrosal, basisphenoid and probably alisphenoid and pterygoid. A stapedial artery was present, possibly with a meningeal branch entering the skull through the ‘hiatus Fallopii’. In some genera a canal ran from the facial sulcus to open in front of the mandibular nerve foramina outside the semilunar fossa, possibly transmitting the maxillary artery. In addition to undoubted arteries two other systems of cranial vessels were apparent: a dural sinus system and an orbito-temporal system. The dural sinus system included: sagittal sinus, transverse sinus, sigmoid sinus, prootic sinus, tentorial sinus; it received a tributary glenoprootic vein, which passed medially through a canal to join the ventral part of the prootic vein. The primary head vein passed from the cavum epiptericum through a post-trigeminal canal into the facial sulcus, received the prootic vein here and probably left the sulcus as the stylomastoid vein before joining the jugular system. The orbito-temporal system consisted of vessels that ran from the post-temporal fossa, through an ascending canal running between the anterior lamina of the petrosal and the squamosal, to enter the cranial cavity. Then it passed across the prootic sinus and bifurcated at the postorbital process with an intracranial branch running anteriorly and an extracranial branch running in the postorbital groove to the ethmoid foramen. In forms with a large post-temporal fossa the vessels entered the post-temporal recess of the subarcuate fossa to run to the ascending canal. In forms with a small post-temporal fossa the vessels ran to the ascending canal without entering the subarcuate fossa, and had a major communication with either the stylomastoid or the postglenoid foramen. This route shows considerable similarity to that of the arteria diploetica magna of Tachyglossus , and examination of the embryos of monotremes, marsupials and placentals suggests that an artery, not a vein, should be considered as the major vessel primarily associated with this orbitotemporal system, although the presence of companion veins can be expected. Because a very similar system occurs also in triconodonts, tritylodonts and cynodonts, although with larger portions extracranial, the attention of students of those groups is called to the possibility that this orbitotemporal or ‘sinus canal’ system may be primarily arterial rather than, as hitherto accepted, venous. The cavum epiptericum was completely floored and was separated from the cranial cavity by a bony wall consisting of the orbitosphenoid with a persistent pila antotica. The optic foramen may have pierced this medial wall. The semilunar ganglion was very large, the mandibular nerve leaving the skull by two main foramina, though a small foramen piercing the anterior part of the anterior lamina may have been for a deep temporal branch of the nerve. The sphenorbital fissure is hardly visible in lateral view, forming the anterior opening of a large cavum epiptericum lying between the anterior lamina and the posterior part of the orbitosphenoid. It is suggested that the bone previously referred to as tabular may be the mastoid part of the petrosal because it included the semicircular canal. In some genera the occipital condyles are hollow, the cavity probably acting as an accessory tympanic air sinus. The endocranial cast of Nemegtbaatar reconstructed here differs in proportions from the previously known endocast of Chulsanbaatar , and is characterized by large olfactory bulbs, shallow telencephalon with cerebral hemispheres extensive in dorsal aspect and concave latero-ventrally, deep rhombencephalon, no midbrain exposure on the dorsal surface, large central lobe of cerebellum, no obvious cerebellar hemispheres and relatively very large paraflocculi. The pons is situated caudal to the emergence of the trigeminal nerve, as in monotremes. A glossary is given of the osteological, vascular and neuroanatomical terms used in this paper.

Introduction Lillian Ng was born in Singapore and lived in Hong Kong and the United Kingdom before migrating to Australia with her daughter and Ah Mah Yin Jie (“Ah Mahs are a special group of people who took a vow to remain unmarried … [so they] could stick together as a group and make a living together” (Yu 118)). Ng studied classical Chinese at home, then went to an English school and later on studied Medicine. Her first book, Silver Sister (1994), was short-listed for the inaugural Angus & Robertson/Bookworld Prize in 1993 and won the Human Rights Award in 1995. Ng defines herself as a “Chinese living in Australia” (Yu 115). Food, flesh and meat are recurrent topics in Lillian Ng´s second novel Swallowing Clouds, published in 1997. These topics are related to desire and can be used as a synecdoche (a metaphor that describes part/whole relations) of the human body: food is needed to survive and pleasure can be obtained from other people´s bodies. This paper focuses on one type of meat and animal, pork and the pig, and on the relation between the two main characters, Syn and Zhu Zhiyee. Syn, the main character in the novel, is a Shanghainese student studying English in Sydney who becomes stranded after the Tiananmen Square massacre of June 1989. As she stops receiving money from her mother and fears repression if she goes back to China, she begins to work in a Chinese butcher shop, owned by Zhu Zhiyee, which brings her English lessons to a standstill. Syn and Zhu Zhiyee soon begin a two-year love affair, despite the fact that Zhu Zhiyee is married to KarLeng and has three daughters. The novel is structured as a prologue and four days, each of which has a different setting and temporal location. The prologue introduces the story of an adulterous woman who was punished to be drowned in a pig´s basket in the HuanPu River in the summer of 1918. As learnt later on, Syn is the reincarnation of this woman, whose purpose in life is to take revenge on men by taking their money. The four days, from the 4th to the 7th of June 1994, mark the duration of a trip to Beijing and Shanghai that Syn takes as member of an Australian expedition in order to visit her mother with the security of an Australian passport. During these four days, the reader learns about different Chinese landmarks, such as the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Ming Tomb and the Summer Palace, as well as some cultural events, such as a Chinese opera and eating typical foods like Peking duck. However, the bulk of the plot of the book deals with the sexual relationship, erotic games and fantasies of Syn and Zhu Zhiyee in the period between 1989 and 1992, as well as Syn´s final revenge in January 1993. Pigs The fact that Zhu Zhiyee is a butcher allows Lillian Ng to include references to pigs and pork throughout the novel. Some of them refer to the everyday work of a butcher shop, as the following examples illustrate: “Come in and help me with the carcass,” he [Zhu Zhiyee] pointed to a small suckling pig hung on a peg. Syn hesitated, not knowing how to handle the situation. “Take the whole pig with the peg,” he commanded (11).Under dazzling fluorescent tubes and bright spotlights, trays of red meat, pork chops and lamb cutlets sparkled like jewels … The trays edged with red cellophane frills and green underlay breathed vitality and colour into the slabs of pork ribs and fillets (15).Buckets of pig´s blood with a skim of froth took their place on the floor; gelled ones, like sliced cubes of large agate, sat in tin trays labelled in Chinese. More discreetly hidden were the gonads and penises of goats, bulls and pigs. (16)These examples are representative of Syn and Zhu Zhiyee´s relationship. The first quotation deals with their interaction: most of the time Zhu Zhiyee orders Syn how to act, either in the shop or in bed. The second extract describes the meat’s “vitality” and this is the quality of Syn's skin that mesmerised Zhu when he met her: “he was excited, electrified by the sight of her unblemished, translucent skin, unlined, smooth as silk. The glow of the warmth of human skin” (13). Moreover, the lights seem to completely illuminate the pieces of meat and this is the way Zhu Zhiyee leers at Syn´s body, as it can be read in the following extract: “he turned again to fix his gaze on Syn, which pierced and penetrated her head, her brain, eyes, permeated her whole body, seeped into her secret places and crevices” (14). The third excerpt introduces the sexual organs of some of the animals, which are sold to some customers for a high price. Meat is also sexualised by Zhu Zhiyee´s actions, such as his pinching the bottoms of chickens and comparing them with “sacrificial virgins”: “chickens, shamelessly stripped and trussed, hung by their necks, naked in their pimply white skin, seemed like sacrificial virgins. Syn often caught Zhu pinching their fleshy bottoms, while wrapping and serving them to the housewives” (15-16). Zhu also makes comments relating food with sex while he is having lunch next to Syn, which could be considered sexual harassment. All these extracts exemplify the relationship between Syn and Zhu Zhiyee: the orders, the looks and the implicit sexuality in the quotidian activities in the butcher´s shop. There are also a range of other expressions that include similes with the word `pig´ in Ng´s novel. One of the most recurrent is comparing the left arm and hand of Zhu Zhiyee´s mother with a “pig´s trotter”. Zhu Zhiyee´s mother is known as ZhuMa and Syn is very fond of her, as ZhuMa accepts her and likes her more than her own daughter-in-law. The comparison of ZhuMa´s arm and hand with a trotter may be explained by the fact that ZhuMa´s arm is swollen but also by the loving representation of pigs in Chinese culture. As Seung-Og Kim explains in his article “Burials, Pigs, and Political Prestige in Neolithic China”: In both Melanesia and Asia, pigs are viewed as a symbolic representation of human beings (Allen 1976: 42; Healey 1985; Rappaport 1967: 58; Roscoe 1989: 223-26). Piglets are treated as pets and receive a great deal of loving attention, and they in turn express affection for their human “parents.” They also share some physiological features with human beings, being omnivorous and highly reproductive (though humans do not usually have multiple litters) and similar internal anatomy (Roscoe 1989: 225). In short, pigs not only have a symbiotic relationship with humans biologically but also are of great importance symbolically (121). Consequently, pigs are held in high esteem, taken care of and loved. Therefore, comparing a part of a human´s body, such as an arm or a hand, for example, to a part of a pig´s body such as a pig´s trotter is not negative, but has positive connotations. Some descriptions of ZhuMa´s arm and hand can be read in the following excerpts: “As ZhuMa handed her the plate of cookies Syn saw her left arm, swollen like a pig´s trotter” (97); “Syn was horrified, and yet somewhat intrigued by this woman without a breast, with a pig´s trotter arm and a tummy like a chessboard” (99), “mimicking the act of writing with her pig-trotter hand” (99), and ZhuMa was praising the excellence of the opera, the singing, acting, the costumes, and the elaborate props, waving excitedly with her pig trotter arm and pointing with her stubby fingers while she talked. (170) Moreover, the expression “pig´s trotters” is also used as an example of the erotic fetishism with bound feet, as it can be seen in the following passage, which will be discussed below: I [Zhu Zhiyee] adore feet which are slender… they seem so soft, like pig´s trotters, so cute and loving, they play tricks on your mind. Imagine feeling them in bed under your blankets—soft cottonwool lumps, plump and cuddly, makes you want to stroke them like your lover´s hands … this was how the bound feet appealed to men, the erotic sensation when balanced on shoulders, clutched in palms, strung to the seat of a garden swing … no matter how ugly a woman is, her tiny elegant feet would win her many admirers (224).Besides writing about pigs and pork as part of the daily work of the butcher shop and using the expression “pig´s trotter”, “pig” is also linked to money in two sentences in the book. On the one hand, it is used to calculate a price and draw attention to the large amount it represents: “The blouse was very expensive—three hundred dollars, the total takings from selling a pig. Two pigs if he purchased two blouses” (197). On the other, it works as an adjective in the expression “piggy-bank”, the money box in the form of a pig, an animal that represents abundance and happiness in the Chinese culture: “She borrowed money from her neighbours, who emptied pieces of silver from their piggy-banks, their life savings”(54). Finally, the most frequent porcine expression in Ng´s Swallowing Clouds makes reference to being drowned in a pig´s basket, which represents 19 of the 33 references to pigs or pork that appear in the novel. The first three references appear in the prologue (ix, x, xii), where the reader learns the story of the last woman who was killed by drowning in a pig´s basket as a punishment for her adultery. After this, two references recount a soothsayer´s explanation to Syn about her nightmares and the fact that she is the reincarnation of that lady (67, 155); three references are made by Syn when she explains this story to Zhu Zhiyee and to her companion on the trip to Beijing and Shanghai (28, 154, 248); one refers to a feeling Syn has during sexual intercourse with Zhu Zhiyee (94); and one when the pig basket is compared to a cricket box, a wicker or wooden box used to carry or keep crickets in a house and listen to them singing (73). Furthermore, Syn reflects on the fact of drowning (65, 114, 115, 171, 172, 173, 197, 296) and compares her previous death with that of Concubine Pearl, the favourite of Emperor Guanxu, who was killed by order of his aunt, the Empress Dowager Cixi (76-77). The punishment of drowning in a pig´s basket can thus be understood as retribution for a transgression: a woman having an extra-marital relationship, going against the establishment and the boundaries of the authorised. Both the woman who is drowned in a pig´s basket in 1918 and Syn have extra-marital affairs and break society’s rules. However, the consequences are different: the concubine dies and Syn, her reincarnation, takes revenge. Desire, Transgression and Eroticism Xavier Pons writes about desire, repression, freedom and transgression in his book Messengers of Eros: Representations of Sex in Australian Writing (2009). In this text, he explains that desire can be understood as a positive or as a negative feeling. On the one hand, by experiencing desire, a person feels alive and has joy de vivre, and if that person is desired in return, then, the feelings of being accepted and happiness are also involved (13). On the other hand, desire is often repressed, as it may be considered evil, anarchic, an enemy of reason and an alienation from consciousness (14). According to Pons: Sometimes repression, in the form of censorship, comes from the outside—from society at large, or from particular social groups—because of desire´s subversive nature, because it is a force which, given a free rein, would threaten the higher purpose which a given society assigns to other (and usually ideological) forces … Repression may also come from the inside, via the internalization of censorship … desire is sometimes feared by the individual as a force alien to his/her true self which would leave him/her vulnerable to rejection or domination, and would result in loss of freedom (14).Consequently, when talking about sexual desire, the two main concepts to be dealt with are freedom and transgression. As Pons makes clear, “the desiring subject can be taken advantage of, manipulated like a puppet [as h]is or her freedom is in this sense limited by the experience of desire” (15). While some practices may be considered abusive, such as bondage or sado-masochism, they may be deliberately and freely chosen by the partners involved. In this case, these practices represent “an encounter between equals: dominance is no more than make-believe, and a certain amount of freedom (as much as is compatible with giving oneself up to one´s fantasies) is maintained throughout” (24). Consequently, the perception of freedom changes with each person and situation. What is transgressive depends on the norms in every culture and, as these evolve, so do the forms of transgression (Pons 43). Examples of transgressions can be: firstly, the separation of sex from love, adultery or female and male homosexuality, which happen with the free will of the partners; or, secondly, paedophilia, incest or bestiality, which imply abuse. Going against society’s norms involves taking risks, such as being discovered and exiled from society or feeling isolated as a result of a feeling of difference. As the norms change according to culture, time and person, an individual may transgress the rules and feel liberated, but later on do the same thing and feel alienated. As Pons declares, “transgressing the rules does not always lead to liberation or happiness—transgression can turn into a trap and turn out to be simply another kind of alienation” (46). In Swallowing Clouds, Zhu Zhiyee transgresses the social norms of his time by having an affair with Syn: firstly, because it is extra-marital, he and his wife, KarLeng, are Catholic and fidelity is one of the promises made when getting married; and, secondly, because he is Syn´s boss and his comments and ways of flirting with her could be considered sexual harassment. For two years, the affair is an escape from Zhu Zhiyee´s daily worries and stress and a liberation and fulfillment of his sexual desires. However, he introduces Syn to his mother and his sisters, who accept her and like her more than his wife. He feels trapped, though, when KarLeng guesses and threatens him with divorce. He cannot accept this as it would mean loss of face in their neighbourhood and society, and so he decides to abandon Syn. Syn´s transgression becomes a trap for her as Zhu, his mother and his sisters have become her only connection with the outside world in Australia and this alienates her from both the country she lives in and the people she knows. However, Syn´s transgression also turns into a trap for Zhu Zhiyee because she will not sign the documents to give him the house back and every month she sends proof of their affair to KarLeng in order to cause disruption in their household. This exposure could be compared with the humiliation suffered by the concubine when she was paraded in a pig´s basket before she was drowned in the HuangPu River. Furthermore, the reader does not know whether KarLeng finally divorces Zhu Zhiyee, which would be his drowning and loss of face and dishonour in front of society, but can imagine the humiliation, shame and disgrace KarLeng makes him feel every month. Pons also depicts eroticism as a form of transgression. In fact, erotic relations are a power game, and seduction can be a very effective weapon. As such, women can use seduction to obtain power and threaten the patriarchal order, which imposes on them patterns of behaviour, language and codes to follow. However, men also use seduction to get their own benefits, especially in political and social contexts. “Power has often been described as the ultimate aphrodisiac” (Pons 32) and this can be seen in many of the sexual games between Syn and Zhu Zhiyee in Swallowing Clouds, where Zhu Zhiyee is the active partner and Syn becomes little more than an object that gives pleasure. A clear reference to erotic fetishism is embedded in the above-mentioned quote on bound feet, which are compared to pig´s trotters. In fact, bound feet were so important in China in the millennia between the Song Dynasty (960-1276) and the early 20th century that “it was impossible to find a husband” (Holman) without them: “As women’s bound feet and shoes became the essence of feminine beauty, a fanatical aesthetic and sexual mystique developed around them. The bound foot was understood to be the most intimate and erotic part of the female anatomy, and wives, consorts and prostitutes were chosen solely on the size and shape of their feet” (Holman). Bound feet are associated in Ng’s novel with pig´s trotters and are described as “cute and loving … soft cottonwool lumps, plump and cuddly, [that] makes you want to stroke them like your lover´s hands” (224). This approach towards bound feet and, by extension, towards pig´s trotters, can be related to the fond feelings Melanesian and Asian cultures have towards piglets, which “are treated as pets and receive a great deal of loving attention” (Kim 121). Consequently, the bound feet can be considered a synecdoche for the fond feelings piglets inspire. Food and Sex The fact that Zhu Zhiyee is a butcher and works with different types of meat, including pork, that he chops it, sells it and gives cooking advice, is not gratuitous in the novel. He is used to being in close proximity to meat and death and seeing Syn’s pale skin through which he can trace her veins excites him. Her flesh is alive and represents, therefore, the opposite of meat. He wants to seduce her, which is human hunting, and he wants to study her, to enjoy her body, which can be compared to animals looking at their prey and deciding where to start eating from. Zhu´s desire for Syn seems destructive and dangerous. In the novel, bodies have a price: dead animals are paid for and eaten and their role is the satiation of human hunger. But humans, who are also animals, have a price as well: flesh is paid for, in the form of prostitution or being a mistress, and its aim is satiation of human sex. Generally speaking, sex in the novel is compared to food either in a direct or an indirect way, and making love is constantly compared to cooking, the preparation of food and eating (as in Pons 303). Many passages in Swallowing Clouds have cannibalistic connotations, all of these being used as metaphors for Zhu Zhiyee’s desire for Syn. As mentioned before, desire can be positive (as it makes a person feel alive) or negative (as a form of internal or social censorship). For Zhu Zhiyee, desire is positive and similar to a drug he is addicted to. For example, when Zhu and Syn make delivery rounds in an old Mazda van, he plays the recordings he made the previous night when they were having sex and tries to guess when each moan happened. Sex and Literature Pons explains that “to write about sex … is to address a host of issues—social, psychological and literary—which together pretty much define a culture” (6). Lillian Ng´s Swallowing Clouds addresses a series of issues. The first of these could be termed ‘the social’: Syn´s situation after the Tiananmen Massacre; her adulterous relationship with her boss and being treated and considered his mistress; the rapes in Inner Mongolia; different reasons for having an abortion; various forms of abuse, even by a mother of her mentally handicapped daughter; the loss of face; betrayal; and revenge. The second issue is the ‘psychological’, with the power relations and strategies used between different characters, psychological abuse, physical abuse, humiliation, and dependency. The third is the ‘literary’, as when the constant use of metaphors with Chinese cultural references becomes farcical, as Tseen Khoo notes in her article “Selling Sexotica” (2000: 164). Khoo explains that, “in the push for Swallowing Clouds to be many types of novels at once: [that is, erotica, touristic narrative and popular], it fails to be any one particularly successfully” (171). Swallowing Clouds is disturbing, full of stereotypes, and with repeated metaphors, and does not have a clear readership and, as Khoo states: “The explicit and implicit strategies behind the novel embody the enduring perceptions of what exotic, multicultural writing involves—sensationalism, voyeuristic pleasures, and a seemingly deliberate lack of rooted-ness in the Australian socioscape (172). Furthermore, Swallowing Clouds has also been defined as “oriental grunge, mostly because of the progression throughout the narrative from one gritty, exoticised sexual encounter to another” (Khoo 169-70).Other novels which have been described as “grunge” are Edward Berridge´s Lives of the Saints (1995), Justine Ettler´s The River Ophelia (1995), Linda Jaivin´s Eat Me (1995), Andrew McGahan´s Praise (1992) and 1988 (1995), Claire Mendes´ Drift Street (1995) or Christos Tsiolkas´ Loaded (1995) (Michael C). The word “grunge” has clear connotations with “dirtiness”—a further use of pig, but one that is not common in the novel. The vocabulary used during the sexual intercourse and games between Syn and Zhu Zhiyee is, however, coarse, and “the association of sex with coarseness is extremely common” (Pons 344). Pons states that “writing about sex is an attempt to overcome [the barriers of being ashamed of some human bodily functions], regarded as unnecessarily constrictive, and this is what makes it by nature transgressive, controversial” (344-45). Ng´s use of vocabulary in this novel is definitely controversial, indeed, so much so that it has been defined as banal or even farcical (Khoo 169-70).ConclusionThis paper has analysed the use of the words and expressions: “pig”, “pork” and “drowning in a pig’s basket” in Lillian Ng´s Swallowing Clouds. Moreover, the punishment of drowning in a pig’s basket has served as a means to study the topics of desire, transgression and eroticism, in relation to an analysis of the characters of Syn and Zhu Zhiyee, and their relationship. This discussion of various terminology relating to “pig” has also led to the study of the relationship between food and sex, and sex and literature, in this novel. 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