Tianjin University’s 10th International Cultural Festival Attracts Crowds
Want to travel around the world in just one day? Then you shouldn’t have missed the 10th International Cultural Festival at Tianjin University (TJU), which is also called the “little Expo”. This cultural extravaganza, which brought together people from about 50 nationalities learning in TJU, was held on Saturday, May 6th at Peiyang Square on Weijin Road 92th. This is the tenth year that the International Students Cultural Festival has wowed students from across campus, and this year’s topic was “Study in TJU, love school, honor school.” Being open to all visitors, this activity attracted thousands people to Tianjin University.
The festival is held every year and TJU has seen an increase in participation from the students and community year on year. Over the course of ten years, the festival has served to bring cultural awareness to the campus and its surrounding area through the art of music and dance. It has promoted the importance of friendly national exchanges while partnering this with cultural acceptance. The aim of this exhibition is to remind us that we live in a global society. It’s our unshakable responsibility to participate in this historical mission to promote world peace through advancing mutual understanding between nations.
Being diverse and inclusive, Tianjin University was one of the first Chinese universities to accept International students. The international students in TJU have various ethnic backgrounds. There are currently over two thousand international students coming from over one hundred countries studying in TJU. They come from Asia, Africa, Europe and America. Their distinct cultural backgrounds create a harmonious and diverse atmosphere on campus.
The International Cultural Festival contained three parts.
The first part was the opening ceremony and performances. In the opening ceremony, Mao Dongmin, the Deputy Commissioner of the overseas student section of the National Bureau of Education of China congratulated TJU on its successful hosting of this international cultural festival. Zhong Denghua, the president of TJU officially declared the opening of this festival. Then the performances began. International students showed their traditional costumes, music and dance to audiences. Students from Malaysia, Cambodia and Chad performed a poetry recital “I love this land—China”. Their deep feelings moved everyone in the audience. At the end of this performance was a fashion show of different ethnic traditional costumes. Together they held a display board on which was written “I love China, I love TJU”.
The second part of this festival was a photo exhibition of national customs, while the third part was exhibiting world food. Tianjin University celebrated the diversity of the city through food, music, dance performances, art and sports. Peiyang Square hosted more than 50 stalls that included food delicacies from different nations, clothing, cultural artifacts, and sports events.
Some visitors enjoyed the face painting and delicious snacks, while the others delved into the live performances and danced to the tunes of different ethnic music. With trays of food lining every stall, visitors could jump from country to country through food choices. Even rice here was provided in different forms, such as Samoan rice, South Korean rice, Bangladesh pilaf and Laos rice. You can also taste coffee from Saudi Arabia or Kenya and traditional snacks from Indonesia, Mexico, Thailand, Burma, Chile and so on. Different vendors were decorated regarding to different national features. You could take a photo with a “Pharaoh” before a “Pyramid”, or you could chat with a “Saudi Prince” in his tent.
Tianjin University Designs a Clean “Lung” for C919
The Chinese jet-liner, C919 completed its maiden flight on May 5th. As the first Chinese-made passenger jet manufactured according to the latest international civil aviation rules and regulations, the C919’s performance is superior to most other similar aircraft, especially its innovative air distribution system providing cleaner air to passengers. The in-cabin air freshness of C919 is improved by 20% compared with that of the traditional large aircraft.
Designing the “Respiratory System” of the C919
The cabin environmental control system or the “respiratory system” of the C919, including the mathematical simulation and optimal design was completed by Tianjin University’s scientific research team. The environmental quality of the large aircraft’s cabin directly affects the health and comfortness of passengers. Air becomes thin at ten thousand meter altitude and the air pressure inside and outside the cabin increases with the aircraft climbing. In addition, although the aircraft only takes less than 20 minutes from its take-off to achieve cruise altitude, the external atmospheric temperature changes by more than 70 degrees Celsius. Therefore, the reliability of the air environmental control system of large air aircraft is of great importance.
The task for Tianjin University was to simulate and optimize in-cabin air distribution which is the key part of the cabin environmental control system. The research team made many scientific analyses to make sure that all passengers can enjoy clean and comfortable air no matter where they sit.
Professor Liu Junjie of the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at Tianjin University, said that one of the highlights of the C919 is the new air distribution system which provides passengers with cleaner, fresher and more stable air. The air outlet adopts the latest design which simultaneously circulates air from the top of the cabin and the side of the luggage rack. This innovation can not only accelerates the flow of the air but also reduces passengers’ discomfort caused by uneven temperature. “The Airbus and Boeing mainly take into consideration Westerners’ body temperature sensitivity, while the C919 has accumulated more data information concerning Chinese people’s body temperature sensitivity.”
Breakthrough in Pharmaceutical Research to Treat Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea
A research team from the School of Life Science of Tianjin University has made a remarkable breakthrough in pharmaceutical research in the treatment of porcine epidemic diarrhea. A new antiviral inhibitor was designed and its molecular mechanism was identified at atomic resolution. The study was published in Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, an authoritative journal in the field of medicinal chemistry.
Porcine epidemic diarrhea is an intestinal infectious disease which causes heavy losses to the hog industry as no existing medicine can effectively combat it. In 1971, porcine epidemic diarrhea firstly broke out in Britain, then Asian countries. China also became a victim with the loss of many piglets at the end of 2010. In 2013 porcine epidemic diarrhea struck North America, spreading across America, Canada and Mexico. The North American pork market witnessed a sharp rise in pork prices as the result of losing more than eight million pigs in that year.
Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) causes high mortality in pigs. PEDV main protease plays an essential role in viral replication. The new antiviral inhibitor is able to identify the active site of the main protease and launch a “chemical attack” against key amino acids catalytic to the main protease. As a result, it can inhibit the viral protease.
To precisely explain the action mechanism of the new inhibitors, X-ray diffraction is used to determine the crystal structure of complex of virus protease with inhibitors. All achievements concerning porcine epidemic diarrhea lay a foundation to combat the disease.
