Springer Science and Business Media LLC

The socialist built heritage (SBH) is a product of the great and typical socialist construction and is considered to be one of the unique contemporary legacies. However, due to political controversy and a shorter history, its conservation status is dire. In order to better understand and promote future conservation, this study explored the typology and evolution of SBH, using representative socialist China as an example. Based on the official People’s Daily, the spatial term database of various socialist construction fields was generated by utilizing Python and Excel software. Through qualitative logical induction and quantitative word frequency statistics, the basic types and evolutionary characteristics of SBH were obtained. It was found that (1) the composite, multiscale, and extensive SBH were identified as twenty-six basic types. It was most widespread in the industry and agroforestry fields, while factories and facilities, collective organization buildings, government agencies, and assembly buildings were the most common basic types. (2) Related to social development, the fastest growth stage for SBH was from 1953 to 1960 and vice versa from 1966 to 1975. The evolution of SBH in technology field shifted from a non-significant increase to a sudden increase, while those in the finance and trade, and diplomacy fields fluctuated. The remaining fields were marked by large fluctuations to smoothness. The nature of SBH has become more modernized over time. These results further illustrated the distinctive value of the SBH, and can provide positive targeted support for their conservation.

Precious objects made of silver and/or its alloys tarnish and become black when exposed to ambient atmospheres containing moisture and ppb-amounts of H2S. Such objects usually contain small but variable amounts of copper as alloying constituent and this affects the corrosion process due to a preferential oxidation of copper. However the visual appearance of the formed tarnishing layers on different types of silver alloys is very similar. Therefore, conservators-restorers are confronted with the problem that in some cases certain cleaning techniques are very effective while in other similar cases the removal of tarnishing layers is unsatisfactory. Since cleaning experiments are not allowed on genuine objects, many investigations use artificially corroded dummies instead. In order to evaluate the representativity and reproducibility of this often used methodology, differences in morphology, microstructure and composition of the sulfide layers on sterling silver generated by different sulfidation methods were analysed. Sterling silver samples were artificially aged in five different environments. The samples exposed to uncontrolled ambient air at different locations (e.g. residential and laboratory environments) showed different corrosion rates and corrosion colours. Three accelerated ageing methods were executed in a gaseous or liquid environment under controlled conditions. These tests showed different results in morphology, microstructure, composition, thickness and the interface between bulk and corrosion layer. A first accelerated sulfidation procedure in a Na2S solution alternated with exposure to air, resulted in a fast corrosion rate and an even corrosion layer formation with several S-species. A second series of sulfidation in a controlled gas environment of H2S and SO2 developed a thin but uneven corrosion layer, mainly consisting of oxides. A third corrosion methodology used was based on the thioacetamide method. This resulted in an even and relative thick corrosion layer, comparable to the Na2S/aeration sulfidation system. However, the interface between the corrosion layer and the bulk is importantly different, showing severe voids. The corrosion layers generated by five different experimental sulfidation series on identical prepared sterling silver coupons were clearly different from each other. Analyses demonstrated that the composition and microstructure of the corrosion layers were strongly dependent on the sulfidation method used and copper was found to be an important element present in all sulfide layers analysed. Therefore, artificially corroded sterling silver is not necessarily representative for naturally tarnished historical objects and the extrapolation of the cleaning results obtained on dummies to historical objects must be performed with care.

Classification of the weathering degree of large outdoor stone relics has long been a challenge in their protection engineering. An approach to classifying the weathering levels of the Yungang Grottoes is presented in this paper. This approach is based on combined terahertz (THz) spectra and ultrasonic velocity and the use of a least squares support vector machine (LS-SVM). A regression model for prediction of the weathering level was established using the optimal values of parameters determined by the double cross-validation (D-CV) method. This SVM regression prediction model (SVMRPM) predicts the weathering levels of the grottoes with relative errors of 8.16% or less. The SVMRPM can also be used to predict the weathering levels of some areas where ultrasonic testing is extremely difficult; the THz spectra can easily be obtained using approximately 0.2 g of sample material. This method is a highly efficient and economical technique for determining the degree of weathering of large exposed stone relics.

Vạn Lý Trường Thành của Trung Quốc là một công trình quân sự đã được xây dựng và sử dụng liên tục trong suốt hàng nghìn năm và ngày nay là một di sản văn hóa nổi tiếng thế giới. Các loại thực vật mọc trên bề mặt Vạn Lý Trường Thành đã gây hại cho công trình này, nhưng quá trình loại bỏ những thực vật này có thể gây thiệt hại thêm cho cơ thể của Vạn Lý Trường Thành. Trong bài báo này, dựa trên Phương pháp Phân tích Thứ bậc và phương pháp Delphi của các chuyên gia, chúng tôi đã chọn 13 chỉ số cụ thể từ ba yếu tố của lớp ràng buộc, sau đó ước lượng và xác định 45 loài/danh mục thực vật trên bề mặt của đoạn Dazhuangke của Vạn Lý Trường Thành. Kết quả cho thấy cấu trúc và cấp độ đánh giá của hệ thống đánh giá. Yếu tố Ảnh hưởng Gây Rối đóng vai trò hướng dẫn chính trong hệ thống đánh giá của Lớp Ràng Buộc; Chỉ số Ảnh hưởng lên Bức Tường Gần là yếu tố cốt lõi của mô hình đánh giá với trọng số cao nhất của Lớp Tiêu chuẩn. Đồng thời, các khuyến nghị “Bảo tồn”, “Bảo tồn một phần” và “Loại bỏ” đã được đưa ra dựa trên ba cấp độ đánh giá (từ Cấp I đến Cấp III). Nghiên cứu này cung cấp cơ sở khoa học cho việc sửa chữa và bảo vệ di sản Vạn Lý Trường Thành cũng như "Vườn trên Vạn Lý Trường Thành".

Many muqarnas ground projection plans contain stars with unequal edge lengths in their compositions. In this study, the geometric reasons behind the unequality of star edge lengths in muqarnas ground projection plans have been searched. The main gates with complex-looking muqarnas belonging to the period of Suleiman the Magnificent (Kanuni Sultan Suleyman), designed by Architect Sinan in Istanbul, have been selected to examine. From the data obtained by 3D laser scanning and from the verification made, it has been confirmed that there are stars with unequal edge lengths in these muqarnas plans. From the geometrical examinations made according to the shape grammar theory, it was concluded that the muqarnas plans were created using spider-web grid and square grid layouts. It was also concluded that these grid types cause some of the star edge lengths to be unequal.

Cultural heritage is the sum of material wealth and spiritual wealth left by a nation in the past. Because of its precious and fragile characteristics, cultural heritage protection and tourism development have received extensive global academic attention. However, application visualization software is still underused, and studies are needed that provide a comprehensive overview of cultural heritage tourism and prospects for future research. Therefore, this research employs the bibliometric method with CiteSpace 5.8. R2 software to visualize and analyze 805 literature items retrieved from the SSCI database between 2002 and 2022. Results show, first, scholars from China, Spain, Italy have published the most articles, and Italian scholars have had the most influence. Second, Hong Kong Polytech University, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Jinan University have had significant influence on cultural heritage tourism research. Third, Annals of Tourism Research is the most cited journal in the field. Influenced by politics, culture, and technology, sustainable development and consumer behavior have become key topics in this field over the past 21 years. Fourth, tourist satisfaction, rural development, cultural heritage management are the key research frontiers. Fifth, in future, cultural heritage tourism should pay more attention to micro-level research, using quantitative methods to integrate museums, technology, and cultural heritage into consumer research. The results offer a deeper understanding of the development and evolution of the global cultural heritage tourism field from 2002 to 2022. At the same time, our findings have provided a new perspective and direction for future research on global cultural heritage tourism among scholars.

Identification of archaeological and historical textile fibres is important because it gives insight into resource management in former times. The arrival of new tools such as table-top scanning electron microscopes, have led to an increased interest in the topic. Unfortunately, there have been cases where a lack of documentation regarding instrument settings and selection criteria has led to questionable conclusions being drawn. Optical and scanning electron microscopy are powerful techniques, but they must be used correctly and with proper knowledge of their limitations. Furthermore, ancient fibre material is often difficult to examine due to issues such as sample degradation, mineralization and the scarcity of material, which means that conclusions based on a statistical analysis of a large number of fibres are essentially not possible. In a cultural heritage context, it is therefore essential to distinguish between characteristic features, by which we mean features that are often, but not always present in a particular species and distinguishing features, which are always present in a particular species and can therefore be used for identification even if only a small amount of sample material can be examined. We argue that the community will have to accept that, quite often, a secure identification is not possible and that absolute statements such as: “This textile is made of flax” will often have to be replaced by relative statements such as “The material is likely to be flax”. In this paper, we address these issues as follows: first, we present a fibre identification diagram which can be used, with some limitations, to distinguish between flax, hemp, nettle, jute, hops, and cotton using optical and electron microscopy. We then move on to highlight some of the typical pitfalls of using optical and electron microscopy for fibre identification. Finally, we present measurement documentation tables for optical and electron microscopy images, which we suggest should always be included in publications. Material scarcity means that the amount of material used for investigations should be kept at an absolute minimum. It is thus crucial that results are published with proper documentation so that measurements do not need to be repeated (more material is used) in future studies. It is our hope that the measurement documentation tables will be adapted by the community and used in future publications in the field. The paper finishes with a demonstration example, presenting a fibre analysis of Viking Age textile fragments from the 10th Century with documentation tables.