Browsing by Author "Hu, Ming"

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    Analysis of a discrete-layout bimorph disk elements piezoelectric deformable mirror
    (SPIE, 2018-04) Wang, Hairen; Chen, Ziguang; Yang, Shengfeng; Hu, Lin; Hu, Ming; Mechanical and Energy Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology
    We introduce a discrete-layout bimorph disk elements piezoelectric deformable mirror (DBDEPDM), driven by the circular flexural-mode piezoelectric actuators. We formulated an electromechanical model for analyzing the performance of the new deformable mirror. As a numerical example, a 21-actuators DBDEPDM with an aperture of 165 mm was modeled. The presented results demonstrate that the DBDEPDM has a stroke larger than 10  μm and the resonance frequency is 4.456 kHz. Compared with the conventional piezoelectric deformable mirrors, the DBDEPDM has a larger stroke, higher resonance frequency, and provides higher spatial resolution due to the circular shape of its actuators. Moreover, numerical simulations of influence functions on the model are provided.
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    Community Reconstruction after the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake: A Reflection on Participatory Development Theories
    (2008) Hu, Ming; Zhu, Jiangang
    The participation of China’s civil society in the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake reconstruction featured a number of NGOs and social work organizations. Additionally, participatory development theories were broadly accepted and applied in their community efforts. However, our three-year field work effort in an earthquake-stricken village finds that those theories, based as they are on the presumption of alienated traditional communities, are being confronted with great challenges. Applying the extended case method, we claim that, quite contrary to a single and closed self-recovery, community reconstruction is deeply embedded in and reshaped by a series of much broader social processes: state-dominated post-disaster reconstruction, urban-rural integration development, and social management measures. We further recognize three major forces constructing those social processes: neo-authoritarian local governments, victims with rising citizenship awareness, and community-based NGOs. Redefining the power structure in community reconstruction, we argue that, instead of the traditional bottom-up empowerment approach, in open communities pluralistic governance, through the collaboration of governments, residents, and NGOs, can work more effectively to empower communities and reach sustainable development.
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    Termination of NGO alliances in China : typology and determinants
    (2014-02-25) Hu, Ming; Guo, Chao, 1971-; Bies, Angela; Osili, Una Okonkwo
    In 2008, grassroots NGOs formed 13 alliances in response to the need for emergency relief and post-disaster recovery after the Sichuan Earthquake that occurred in West China and killed approximately 87,000 people. These alliances served to raise and deliver relief materials, train and supervise volunteers, promote information sharing, and assist victims with mental health and livelihood recovery. However, all alliances were terminated within less than four years. Although plenty of scholarship discusses how corporate alliances evolve or fail, few studies focus on interorganizational collaboration among nonprofits. To explore how NGOs developed collective actions in China’s adverse sociopolitical environment, the author performed three years of observation in four coalitions and interviewed 60 alliance leaders, employees, and volunteers. This paper identifies four types of termination these NGO alliances experienced: three of them failed at their very births, five self-disbanded shortly after the end of emergency aid, three dissolved due to failed institutionalization, and the remaining two evolved into independent organizations. Tracking their life cycles, this study finds four main factors accountable for their terminations: political pressure, funding shortage, short-term orientation, and leadership failure. In particular, the repressive NGO regulation regime and limited funding sources fundamentally restricted all alliances’ capacity and sustainability. Further, the transient nature of disaster relief efforts and the conflict between disaster management and planned work areas contributed to the short-term orientation among alliance members and, thus, led to the closure of some alliances shortly after they provided emergency relief. In addition, though generally exempt from internal rivalry that often undermines inter-firm partnerships, NGO alliances of all types were confronted with leadership challenges—partner misfits concerning resources, strategy, and mission; flawed governing structures, and undesired individual leadership. The four factors interplayed and led to alliance dissolution through different combinations. The paper points out that, in addition to environmental uncertainty, leadership failure has become a major challenge for nonprofit collaborations.