READING TOURS INTO MALAYSIAN NARRATIVES: LOCALES IN THE GARDEN OF EVENING MISTS AND THE NIGHT TIGER

If one has not read local English novels like The Garden of Evening Mists and The Night Tiger, one would never be able to imagine the wonders of locales depicted in these two books. One of the reasons the authors here want to visit a said destination is because of the way a certain place is pictured in narratives. Tan Twan Eng brings to life the beauty of Japanese gardens in Cameron Highlands, in the backdrop of postWorld War II while Yangsze Choo takes us into several small towns of Kinta Valley in the state of Perak in her beautifully woven tale of the superstitions and beliefs of the local people in Chinese folklore and myth in war torn Malaysia in the 1930s and after. Many of the places mentioned in these two novels should be considered places to visit by tourists local and international. Although these Malaysian novelists live away from Malaysia, they are clearly ambassadors of the Malaysian cultural and regional heritage. In this paper, a few of the places in the novel will be looked at as potential spots for the coming decade. The research questions considered here are i) what can be done to make written narratives the new trend to pave the way for Visit Malaysia destinations? ii) how could these narratives be promoted as guides to the history and culture of Malaysia? The significant destinations and the relevant cultural history of the regions will be discussed in-depth to come to a relevant conclusion.

Jardín japonés en Six Japanese Gardens de Kaija Saariaho

La obra Six Japanese Gardens (1994) de la compositora finlandesa Kaija Saariaho (1952) es el objeto de estudio de esta investigación como obra significativa no solo en la producción de su autora sino también como visión finisecular de la aplicación de principios estéticos japoneses en obras musicales occidentales. Una orientación eminentemente analítica permite establecer que los principales fundamentos del jardín japonés (el vacío, la dualidad, la asimetría, la sencillez y la abstracción) se aplican en la composición tanto en la construcción y tratamiento del material como en lo referente a la elección y agrupación instrumental. Además, la simbología actúa de eje vertebrador en las decisiones compositivas ya que afecta tanto al parámetro tímbrico como a la construcción matérica, fundamentada en la aplicación del número tres.

Insights Into Heat Response Mechanisms in Clematis Species: Physiological Analysis, Expression Profiles and Function Verification

Clematis species are commonly grown in western and Japanese gardens. Heat stress can inhibit many physiological processes mediating plant growth and development. The mechanism regulating responses to heat has been well characterized in Arabidopsis thaliana and some crops, but not in horticultural plants, including Clematis species. In this study, we found that Clematis alpina ‘Stolwijk Gold’ was heat-sensitive whereas Clematis vitalba and Clematis viticella ‘Polish Spirit’ were heat-tolerant based on the physiological analyses in heat stress. Transcriptomic profiling identified a set of heat tolerance-related genes (HTGs). Consistent with the observed phenotype in heat stress, 41.43% of the differentially expressed HTGs between heat treatment and control were down-regulated in heat-sensitive cultivar Stolwijk Gold, but only 9.80% and 20.79% of the differentially expressed HTGs in heat resistant C. vitalba and Polish Spirit, respectively. Co-expression network, protein–protein interaction network and phylogenetic analysis revealed that the genes encoding heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) and heat shock proteins (HSPs) played an essential role in Clematis resistance to heat stress. Ultimately, we proposed that two clades of HSFs may have diverse functions in regulating heat resistance from C. vitalba and CvHSFA2-2 could endow different host with high temperature resistance. This study provides first insights into the diversity of the heat response mechanisms among Clematis species.

Climate-Responsive Green-Space Design Inspired by Traditional Gardens: Microclimate and Human Thermal Comfort of Japanese Gardens

Urban green spaces can provide relaxation, exercise, social interaction, and many other benefits for their communities, towns, and cities. However, green spaces in hot and humid regions risk being underutilized by residents unless thermal environments are designed to be sufficiently comfortable. Understanding what conditions are needed for comfortable outdoor spaces, particularly how people feel in regard to their thermal environment, is vital in designing spaces for public use. Traditional gardens are excellent examples of successful microclimate design from which we can learn, as they are developed over the generations through observation and modification. This study analyzed how Japanese gardens affect people’s thermal stress on extremely hot summer days. Meteorological data was collected in three Japanese gardens, and human thermal comfort was evaluated through physiological equivalent temperature (PET). Statistical analysis examined the relationship between spatial configurations of the gardens and thermal comfort. Our study revealed that Japanese gardens can efficiently ameliorate thermal stress. Spatial analysis showed that garden elements affect thermal comfort variously depending on time of the day and spatial distribution.

Ordination of Selected Traditional Japanese Gardens, Traditional Chinese Gardens, and Modern Chinese Gardens

Designers and academics are interested in the characteristics, differences, and similarities between built environments such as garden types. This investigation aims to examine the ordination of traditional Japanese gardens in Kyoto, the classical Chinese gardens in Suzhou and the modern Chinese gardens in Xiamen. A hundred and thirty-four variables were selected for the ordination. According to a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) ordination, the first three principal components covered 70.77 percent of the sample variance: the first principal component (traditional Asian values to non-Asian dimension) and second principal component (a complexity to simplicity dimension) divides the gardens into three identifiable groups; the first and the third principal component (a hardscape to softscape dimension) indicates the similarities of traditional Japanese gardens and classical Chinese gardens; the second and third principal component implies the similarities of traditional Japanese gardens and modern Chinese gardens.

Studying Gardens of the World with Students of Higher Education Establishments

The image of one of the greatest actresses, Audrey Hepburn, is presented in different ways: actress, model, dancer, the Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF. Audrey Hepburn, who loved nature and gardens, saw a rare opportunity to bring forth their beauty in poetic and meaningful ways in Gardens of the World. Her unique vision of the series included fusing the historical and aesthetic aspects with the arts of literature, music and painting. Gardens of the World was filmed on location around the world, including:- Claude Monet s garden at Giverny; George Washington s Estate at Mount Vernon; the ancient moss temple garden Saiho-ji in Kyoto Japan; gardens at Mottisfont Abbey, Tintinhull House, Chilcombe Garden, Hidcote Bartram Village and Hidcote Manor in England; the Keukenhof Garden and the Tulip Fields of Lisse in the Netherlands, Villa Pancha in the Dominican Republic; Giardini di Ninfa and Villa Gamberaia in Italy; La-Roseraie de L Haÿ-les-Roses, Chateau de Courances, Jardin du Luxembourg, and Jardin du Luxembourg in France. The 8 episodes explore: Roses & Rose Gardens, Formal Gardens, Tulips and Spring Bulbs, Country Gardens Japanese Gardens Flower Gardens, Tropical Gardens, Public Gardens and Trees. Each episode presents a different garden theme as well as broader concepts of aesthetic, botanical, cultural or environmental significance.

A study on the preservation situation and spatial characteristics of Japanese style garden built in Taiwan during the Japanese rule

Japanese well developed cultural and aesthetic styles have influenced architecture, décor and landscaping around the world. Japanese influence has been particularly marked in eastern Asian countries such as Taiwan, where the nation's colonisation efforts between 1895 and 1945 led to a trend for garden design and landscaping at the time to demonstrate strong characteristics of Japanese style. The gardens created during this time showed a unique blend of Japanese and Taiwanese influences not otherwise found in landscape architectural history. Associate Professor Takashi Awano, from the Department of Landscape Architecture Science at Tokyo University of Agriculture, leads a study that looks into the preservation status, the construction and design processes and the characteristics of land allocation and design of Japanese gardens in palaces, official residences and other key locations during the Japanese occupation of Taiwan

Comparative Analysis of the Transcriptomes of Three Varieties Provides Insights Into the Diversity of the Heat Response Mechanisms in Clematis Species

Background: Clematis species are commonly grown in western and Japanese gardens. Heat stress can inhibit many physiological processes mediating plant growth and development. The mechanism regulating responses to heat has been well characterized in Arabidopsis thaliana and some crops, but not in horticultural plants, including Clematis species. Results: In this study, we identified a heat-sensitive Clematis variety (Clematis alpina ‘Stolwijk Gold’) and two heat-tolerant Clematis varieties (Clematis vitalba and Clematis viticella ‘Polish Spirit’) based on heat-related physiological indices. The leaf transcriptomes under normal and heat stress conditions were analyzed by RNA sequencing. Additionally, heat tolerance-related genes (HTGs) were identified and their expression levels were analyzed. Following heat treatments, 41.67% of the differentially expressed HTGs in Stolwijk Gold had down-regulated expression levels, whereas only 9.80% and 21.36% of the differentially expressed HTGs in C. vitalba and Polish Spirit, respectively, had the same trend. The HTGs’ co-expression and protein–protein interaction networks revealed that the hub genes regulating Clematis resistance to heat stress encode heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) and heat shock proteins (HSPs). Moreover, the sensitivity of Stolwijk Gold to heat is mainly due to the heat-induced down-regulated expression of these genes. On the basis of phylogenetic and expression analyses, the differentially expressed HSF and HSP genes in the three examined varieties were divided into three and four clades, respectively, with similar expression profiles common among orthologous family members. Furthermore, we identified two HSF classes in C. vitalba that may have diverse functions influencing heat resistance. Conclusions: Our study provides insights into the diversity of the heat response mechanisms among Clematis species and may be useful for breeding new heat-resistant ornamental Clematis varieties.

APPLICATION OF 3D TREE MODELING USING POINT CLOUD DATA BY TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNER

Constructing 3D models for trees such as those found in Japanese gardens, in which many species exist, requires the generation of tree shapes that combine the characteristics of the tree's species and natural diversity. Therefore, this study proposes a method for constructing a 3D tree model with highly-accurate tree shape reproducibility from tree point cloud data acquired by TLS. As a method, we attempted to construct a 3D tree model using the TreeQSM, which is open source for TLS-QSM method. However, in TreeQSM, since processing is based on the assumption that the tree point cloud consists of data related to trunks and branches, measuring trees in which leaves have fallen is recommended. To solve this problem, we proposed an efficient classification process that mainly uses thresholds for deviation and reflectance, which are the adjunct data of the object that can be acquired by laser measurement. Furthermore, to verify accuracy of the model, position coordinates from the constructed 3D tree model were extracted. The extracted coordinates were compared with the those of the tree point cloud data to clarify the extent to which the 3D tree model was constructed from the tree point cloud data. As a result, the 3D tree model was constructed within the standard deviation of 0.016 m from the tree point cloud data. Therefore, the reproducibility of the tree shape by the TLS-QSM method was also effective in terms of accuracy.