A few colonies in the Latin West (Augusta Emerita, Johnston 2017: 56-57 fn. 202-203; Abascal 2002: 284) and the Greek East (e.g. Philippi AE 1932, 21; briefly Samos IG XII,6 1:187 l. 8-11) used the annus coloniae, the year when the colony was founded, as their standard time-reckoning formula on inscriptions and perhaps other media as well. The list may include the Roman colony of Sinope, which coin issues carried legends such as C(olonia) F(elix) I(ulia) an(no) followed by (and later on simply with) Latin numerals (e.g. RPC I 2110, II 715). Curiously, since the 17th century, numismatists have observed two epochs on Sinope’s Roman period issues (e.g. Hardouin 1689: 140). There was the epoch of 45 BCE, likely the annus coloniae (e.g. RPC III 1229), as it coincided with reports of a Caesarian colony (Strab. 12.3.11). Then there was the epoch of 70 BCE (e.g. RPC VI 6501), seemingly replacing the earlier epoch, but only from the early third century onwards (Kubitschek 1908: 68-71; Magie 1950: 342 no. 42). Changing epochs was not a rare phenomenon in Anatolia, but known examples changed an earlier epoch for a later one, apparently to adapt to new circumstances, such as an imperial victory or visit (Leschhorn 1993: 439-541), and count years from a new beginning. Sinope, however, changed the epoch that was supposedly linked to the year of its colonial foundation to an earlier epoch that coincided with Lucullus’ “liberation” of Sinope from Mithridatid control. This suggests that Sinope was adapting to new circumstances that required the adaptation of an historical epoch. It is not the beginning per se, but a recaliberation of municipal history. While historical developments of Roman Sinope is not well documented in extant literary sources, and epigraphic evidence is scarce, this paper wishes to take two approaches to assess the problem of Sinope’s changing epochs. The first approach is to consider Sinope’s time-reckoning tradition. The era system that was prevalent in northern Anatolia and elsewhere during the first three centuries CE had a strong Hellenistic tradition. In this view, there may be more nuance – 45 BCE can be the annus coloniae, but it was reflecting a recent change in the city’s history, not an overhaul of the city’s established time-reckoning system, perhaps based on the Seleucid era (found on ceramic stamps, Saprykin & Fedoseev 1999: 135-143). This approach removes the Roman symbolism attached to the 45 BCE, and opens up additional possibilities for interpretation. The second approach considers the epoch of 70 BCE regionally. This epoch was primarily used at Amastris, but also attested at Abonuteichos. Both cities were described by Roman authors as prosperous in their own ways (e.g. Luc. Alex. 9, 25; Plin. Ep. 10.98). Both cities also began to issue 3 to 4 units of local bronze coinage from the reign of Trajan onwards, including the 6-assaria, associated with economic prosperity (Zajac 2023: 30-32, Tab. 1a). Epigraphic and numismatic evidence further suggest that Amastrians were mobile across the Black Sea and the Aegean, some even serving as koinon officials of Bithynian and other regional koina (Marek 2003: 63-67). There is the possibility that Sinope changed its epoch to adhere to regional time-reckoning norms set by more dominant peers. Since the 17th century, numismatists have observed two epochs on Sinope’s Roman period coin issues (e.g. Hardouin 1689: 140). There was the epoch of 45 BCE, perhaps the annus coloniae (e.g. RPC III 1229; cf. Augusta Emerita, Johnston 2017: 56-57 fn. 202-203; Abascal 2002: 284; Philippi AE 1932, 21; briefly Samos IG XII,6 1:187 l. 8-11), as it coincided with reports of a Caesarian colony (Strab. 12.3.11). Then there was the epoch of 70 BCE (e.g. RPC VI 6501), seemingly replacing the earlier epoch, but only from the early third century onwards (Kubitschek 1908: 68-71; Magie 1950: 342 no. 42). Neither changing epochs or the use of many epochs were rare phenomena. That said, known examples show cities replacing old epochs with those that commemorate new events and circumstances (Leschhorn 1993: 439-541). It is then odd for Sinope to abandon the epoch commemorating its colonial foundation in favor of an epoch 25 years earlier. Why? Leschhorn gave two potential scenarios: perhaps 70 BCE was the outcome a pro-Severan party defeating the old guard, or there was a “Gräzisierung" movement under which Sinope opted for a symbolically more acceptable epoch (Leschhorn 1993: 162), but these suggestions are limited by lack of evidence. This paper reassesses Sinope’s changing epochs with two approaches. First is a reframing of the Leschhorn’s assumed constitutional symbolism attached to the epoch of 45 BCE that leads to factionalism, and the “Roman” nature of Sinope’s so-called Kolonieära in Leschhorn’s alternative “Gräzisierung” thesis. The question asked here is whether Sinope had an established era system in place as part of its Hellenistic past. Sinope likely used the Pontic era while under Mithridatid control (Leschhorn 1993: 150). Recent discussions of stamped amphorae further indicates that the Seleucid era system was likely present if not also used at Sinope (Saprykin & Fedoseev 1999: 135-143). Further, we now have ceramic tiles time-stamped with a formula such as "s(aeculo) S(inopensis) (colonia) i(nducta) an(no) IV" (Fedoseev 2019: 16-17). If Fedoseev’s reading of the time-stamp is correct, we may consider the possibility that the saeculum Sinopensis was a system that could have accommodated multiple epochs, and the phenomenon in question was a symptom of an entrenched but adaptative time-reckoning mechanism at work. The second approach considers the epoch of 70 BCE regionally. This epoch was primarily used at Amastris, but also attested at Abonuteichos. Both cities were described by Roman authors as prosperous in their own ways (e.g. Luc. Alex. 9, 25; Plin. Ep. 10.98). Both cities also began to issue 3 to 4 units of local bronze coinage from the reign of Trajan onwards, including the 6-assaria, associated with economic prosperity (Zajac 2023: 30-32, Tab. 1a). Epigraphic and numismatic evidence further suggest that Amastrians were mobile across the Black Sea and the Aegean, some even serving as koinon officials of Bithynian and other regional koina (Marek 2003: 63-67). There is the possibility that Sinope changed its epoch to adhere to regional time-reckoning norms set by more dominant peers.
With the rapid development of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), spatial audio recording and reproductionhave gained increasing research interest. Higher Order Ambisonics (HOA) stands out for its adaptabilityto various playback devices and its ability to integrate head orientation. However, current HOA recordings oftenrely on bulky spherical microphone arrays (SMA), and portable devices like smartphones are limited by arrayconfiguration and number of microphones. We propose SHB-AE, a spherical harmonic beamforming based methodfor Ambisonics encoding using a smartphone microphone array (SPMA). By designing beamformers for eachorder of spherical harmonic functions based on the array manifold, the method enables Ambisonics encoding andup-scaling. Validation on a real SPMA and its simulated free-field counterpart in noisy and reverberant conditionsshowed that the method successfully encodes and up-scales Ambisonics up to the fourth order with just fourirregularly arranged microphones.
This paper investigates whether a location's growth benefits or suffers from proximity to a big city and explores the underlying mechanisms. Using county-level data from China for 1990–2020, we find that an area's being close to a big city (in the 150–250 km range) reduces its decadal population growth rate by 2.9–3.6 percentage points relative to areas beyond 250 km, which we call the urban growth shadow effect. Initial agricultural employment share has the strongest power to explain whether the negative effect exists. The mechanism is consistent with lower opportunity costs of migration for people employed in agriculture, yet contrasts with core–periphery models that give transport costs a central role. Notably, this effect exhibits a temporal trend. Over time, being proximate to a big city becomes increasingly beneficial.
In response to the growing prevalence of online second language learning and the burgeoning field of international Chinese language education, this study examines the impact of multimodal inputs (MMI) on vocabulary acquisition within online environments among learners of Chinese as a second language (CSL). A teaching intervention was conducted with 90 Mongolian CSL learners, who were grouped into audiovisual, audio, and visual groups. The findings indicate that the audiovisual condition significantly improved vocabulary retention compared to the single-modality conditions in a delayed post-test. Nevertheless, the efficacy of the MMI treatment was observed to vary with learners’ proficiency levels, with beginner-level CSL learners deriving greater benefit from MMI than intermediate-level learners. Furthermore, participants expressed both favorable and critical perspectives regarding the application of MMI in vocabulary instruction. These results highlight the potential of MMI interventions to enhance vocabulary learning in online second-language education, while also underscoring the necessity of considering learners’ target language proficiency and their attitudes when developing MMI-based instructional approaches.
Awe, a self-transcendent emotion, has been theoretically posited as a precursor to wise reasoning. However, direct empirical evidence supporting this relationship and the underlying mechanism has been limited. In four studies (N = 3700), we examined the relationship between awe and wise reasoning, as well as the mediating effect of self-transcendence, employing cross-sectional, longitudinal, and experimental designs. We consistently found that awe had a lagged effect on (Study 1), enhanced (Studies 2 & 3), and was associated with (Study 4) wise reasoning. Furthermore, self-transcendence mediated this relationship (Studies 3 & 4). The impact of awe on wise reasoning and mediating effect of self-transcendence could not solely be attributed to awe’s predominantly positive nature, and the mediation model was established beyond the influence of self-smallness (Studies 3–4). These findings contribute to understanding the emotional trigger of wise reasoning, the cognitive implications of awe, and its role in promoting wise conflict resolution.
As artificial intelligence-generated content (AIGC) continues to evolve, video-to-audio (V2A) generation has emerged as a key area with promising applications in multimedia editing, augmented reality, and automated content creation. While Transformer and Diffusion models have advanced audio generation, a significant challenge persists in extracting precise semantic information from videos, as current models often lose sequential context by relying solely on frame-based features. To address this, we present TA-V2A, a method that integrates language, audio, and video features to improve semantic representation in latent space. By incorporating large language models for enhanced video comprehension, our approach leverages text guidance to enrich semantic expression. Our diffusion model-based system utilizes automated text modulation to enhance inference quality and efficiency, providing personalized control through text-guided interfaces. This integration enhances semantic expression while ensuring temporal alignment, leading to more accurate and coherent video-to-audio generation.
The asymmetrical global higher education and knowledge systems ordered by Euro–American hegemony have been increasingly interrogated, especially by scholars in the humanities and social sciences (HSS). With gathering awareness, growing HSS scholars from non-Western backgrounds have called for global intellectual pluriversality. Responding to such a trend, this article sheds new light on the status quo of East Asian and other non-Euro–American intellectual traditions by taking Chinese intellectual traditions as a case. Since the nineteenth century, generations of Chinese intellectuals have strived to transform their intellectual traditions into modern resources. This historical mission has been carried on by contemporary scholars and become even more complex in the current global era. By unpacking the real perceptions and recent experiences of Chinese HSS scholars, this study demonstrates that Chinese intellectual traditions deeply influence today’s knowledge production and have been transformed into three kinds of academic resources: approaches, methodologies/paradigms, and theories. However, the transformation process has never been smooth. Domestically, the great endeavours of Chinese HSS scholars are often impeded by the dominant intellectual extraversion and coercive audit culture; internationally, they feel constrained by epistemic injustice. This article proposes an empirical approach to examining and presenting intellectual traditions in the individual experiences of scholars. It reveals the high complexities of navigating through asymmetrical globalisation to achieve intellectual pluriversality.
This paper develops a unified theory integrating the three pillars of the pension system—public, occupational, and private pensions—within a heterogeneous-agent overlapping generations (OLG) model. By incorporating income heterogeneity and institutional features unique to each pillar, the model captures how individuals across the income distribution participate in the pension system and derive utility. We characterize the distinct yet interactive roles of each pillar in providing risk sharing and retirement security and identify fundamental trade-offs in pension design. Our model provides a laboratory for analyzing the coordination of the three pillars that aims at enhancing equity and fiscal sustainability.