Indicator-based reporting on the Chinese innovation system 2010: Life sciences in China

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The impact of national systems of innovation on therapeutic cloning: A comparison between the UK and China in the clinical area of diabetes

Since the discovery of genetic inheritance by Mendel (1890) and the identified role of DNA in cell division (Crick/Watson 1950), scientists have worked to advance stem cell technologies to treat and cure human disease. The broad techniques of therapeutic cloning are gene therapy, stem cells growth and pharmacogenetics together constitute a complex and demanding science. Each involves the alternating and growth of new cells including the use of human embryos undifferentiated cells and a potential to grow into any organ and tissue type. This work explores the national context in which stem cell science is advancing in a case study between the UK and China using National Systems of Innovation (NSI) as a theoretical structure. NSI is defined by the literature, which includes economic performance, political and legislative structure, research investment, and societal values (Freeman 1997; Fagerberg 2004). Using ethnographic and statistical analysis, it compares the effect each National System of Innovation is having on the advance of therapeutic cloning. Diabetes is chosen as the clinical model because of its global prevalence, affecting over 200m people (BHF 2004) and accounting for 9% of mortality (WHO 2002). and the prediction that it will become the world's most major non- communicable cause of death by 2025 (Atlas 2004).During this study, China experienced unprecedented economic growth underpinned by strong research investment, which is now three times the size of that in the UK (Wilsden 2006). It has a permissive social culture for stem cell research (Mann 2003), having adapted much of the European legislation (Salter 2007) with much of its research led by doctors, enabling a quicker advance of stem cell therapies to the clinic (Prescott). The UK is, in comparison, a global leader in stem cell science, having a prestigious record of achievements including the final mapping of the human genome (Goodfellow 2001), the cloning of Dolly the Sheep (PHGU 2002), and being first to legislate for such embryo research (HFA 1990). The UK's economic performance is also strong during this study, but well behind that of China, and neither does it enjoy the relaxed ethical stance of the Chinese structure. This is evidenced in its research investment, which has fallen as a proportion of GDP from 2.24 in 1990 to 1.78 in 2005 (National Statistics 2007), whereas China has increased from 0.7 to 1.31 (Wilsdon 2006).There is evidence in the literature of the importance of innovation to economic growth (OECDa 2004) and the relationship of this to GDP performance. This research explores the impact the National System of Innovation is having on the advance of stem cell research in the UK and China, using diabetes as a clinical model

PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND INTERNATIONAL TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER IN ASIA

This study addresses the questions of future sources of technology for increasing food and agricultural production by considering the situation in Asia. This region of the world is particularly appropriate for studying these questions because of the dynamic changes in population and incomes. How much private research is there and what is it producing? Will the private sector compensate for declining public agricultural research investments in Asia? What can governments do to stimulate private research and protect farmers from harmful or defective technology? Agribusiness firm's R&D investments were evaluated in selected developing countries during 1996 and 1998 and compared with data from a similar study conducted in the mid-1980s. The largest amount of private research was in India where investment was about $55 million per year in the mid-1990s, followed by Thailand, Malaysia, and China. China's private R&D spending represents less than one one-hundredth of 1 percent of agricultural gross domestic product. In contrast, in Thailand and Malaysia, firms spent about 0.1 percent. From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, private sector R&D grew in real terms in the countries in our sample. However, at this rate, private research will not fill the gap needed to support rapid growth in demand for agricultural products. Foreign firms made an important contribution to private research in all of these countries. The most important policy that helped induce this growth was liberalization of industrial policy that allowed private and foreign firms to operate and expand in agricultural input industries. A second important policy was investments in public research. Patents and tax incentives seem to have had little effect so far, but could be important in the future.Agricultural research and development (R&D), private sector R&D, technology transfer, Asian R&D, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Oceanus.

v. 26, no. 4 (1983

Towards Internationalization: A Critical Assessment of China's Public Administration Research in a Global Context 2000-2014

Since the establishment of the Chinese Public Administration Society (CPAS) in 1988, Public Administration (PA) research and practice have grown considerably after a gap of more than 30 years. Emerging universities and local research institutes have established specialized departments/centres for PA. This study reports on mainland China's performance in PA research by examining publication size, impact and scientometric indicators, including China's global publication share, growth rate, citation impact and leading journals based on the last 15 years publications data, as retrieved from the Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) database; recognized international collaborators and domestic contributors are also considered. Findings suggest that the quantity and quality of mainland China's PA research has increased steadily, with mainland scholars playing equally as important roles as their international peers. Evidence suggests that mainland China scholars will continue to achieve international publishing success. Finally, opportunities and challenges brought about by internationalization are also discussed

CHINA'S FOOD ECONOMY IN THE EARLY 21ST CENTURY; DEVELOPMENT OF CHINA'S FOOD ECONOMY AND ITS IMPACT ON GLOBAL TRADE AND ON THE EU

Development of Chinese food economy and Chinese agricultural policies. Simulations of future developments in China and in global trade with a model for the Chinese food economy and a model for global trade analysis. Simulation of developments in a 'business as usual' scenario. Assessment of impacts of WTO accession and phasing out of multi fiber agreement. Simulation of possible impacts of the WTO-Doha round. Simulation of impacts of Chinese 'green box' policies on Chinese food economy. Simulation of impacts of application of GM products in Chinese agriculture for the Chinese economy and global trade. Analysis of trade between China and the Netherlands and foreign direct investment in China.Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade,

2019 Undergraduate Research Conference

Event Program for the 2019 Undergraduate Research Conference (URC) at SFASU

Responses and adaptation strategies of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change

Terrestrial ecosystems are likely to be affected by climate change, as climate change-induced shift of water and heat stresses patterns will have significant impacts on species composition, habitat distribution, and ecosystem functions, and thereby weaken the terrestrial carbon (C) sink and threaten global food security and biofuel production. This thesis investigates the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change and is structured in four main chapters.;The first chapter of the thesis is directed towards the impacts of snow variation on ecosystem phenology. Variations in seasonal snowfall regulate regional and global climatic systems and vegetation growth by changing energy budgets of the lower atmosphere and land surface. We investigated the effects of snow on the start of growing season (SGS) of temperate vegetation in China. Across the entire temperate region in China, the winter snow depth increased at a rate of 0.15 cm•yr-1 (p=0.07) during the period 1982-1998, and decreased at a rate of 0.36 cm•yr-1 (p=0.09) during the period 1998-2005. Correspondingly, the SGS advanced at a rate of 0.68 d•yr-1 (p\u3c0.01) during 1982 to 1998, and delayed at a rate of 2.13 d•yr-1 (p=0.07) during 1998 to 2005, against a warming trend throughout the entire study period of 1982-2005. Spring air temperature strongly regulated the SGS of both deciduous broad-leaf and coniferous forests; whilst the winter snow had a greater impact on the SGS of grassland and shrubs. Snow depth variation combined with air temperature contributed to the variability in the SGS of grassland and shrubs, as snow acted as an insulator and modulated the underground thermal conditions. Additionally, differences were seen between the impacts of winter snow depth and spring snow depth on the SGS; as snow depths increased, the effect associated went from delaying SGS to advancing SGS. The observed thresholds for these effects were snow depths of 6.8 cm (winter) and 4.0 cm (spring). The results of this study suggest that the response of the vegetation\u27s SGS to seasonal snow change may be attributed to the coupling effects of air temperature and snow depth associated with the soil thermal conditions.;The second chapter further addresses snow impacts on terrestrial ecosystem with focus on regional carbon exchange between atmosphere and biosphere. Winter snow has been suggested to regulate terrestrial carbon (C) cycling by modifying micro-climate, but the impacts of snow cover change on the annual C budget at the large scale are poorly understood. Our aim is to quantify the C balance under changing snow depth. Here, we used site-based eddy covariance flux data to investigate the relationship between snow cover depth and ecosystem respiration (Reco) during winter. We then used the Biome-BGC model to estimate the effect of reductions in winter snow cover on C balance of Northern forests in non-permafrost region. According to site observations, winter net ecosystem C exchange (NEE) ranged from 0.028-1.53 gC•m-2•day-1, accounting for 44 +/- 123% of the annual C budget. Model simulation showed that over the past 30 years, snow driven change in winter C fluxes reduced non-growing season CO2 emissions, enhancing the annual C sink of northern forests. Over the entire study area, simulated winter ecosystem respiration (Reco) significantly decreased by 0.33 gC•m-2•day -1•yr-1 in response to decreasing snow cover depth, which accounts for approximately 25% of the simulated annual C sink trend from 1982 to 2009. Soil temperature was primarily controlled by snow cover rather than by air temperature as snow served as an insulator to prevent chilling impacts. A shallow snow cover has less insulation potential, causing colder soil temperatures and potentially lower respiration rates. Both eddy covariance analysis and model-simulated results showed that both Reco and NEE were significantly and positively correlated with variation in soil temperature controlled by variation in snow depth. Overall, our results highlight that a decrease in winter snow cover restrains global warming through emitting less C to the atmosphere.;The third chapter focused on assessing drought\u27s impact on global terrestrial ecosystems. Drought can affect the structure, composition and function of terrestrial ecosystems, yet the drought impacts and post-drought recovery potential of different land cover types have not been extensively studied at a global scale. Here, we evaluated drought impacts on gross primary productivity (GPP), evapotranspiration (ET), and water use efficiency (WUE) of different global terrestrial ecosystems, as well as the drought-resilience of each ecosystem type during the period of 2000 to 2011. We found the rainfall and soil moisture during drought period were dramatically lower than these in non-drought period, while air temperatures were higher than normal during drought period with amplitudes varied by land cover types. The length of recovery days (LRD) presented an evident gradient of high (\u3e 60 days) in mid- latitude region and low (\u3c 60 days) in low (tropical area) and high (boreal area) latitude regions. As average GPP increased, the LRD showed a significantly decreasing trend among different land covers (R 2=0.53, p\u3c0.0001). Moreover, the most dramatic reduction of the drought-induced GPP was found in the mid-latitude region of north Hemisphere (48% reduction), followed by the low-latitude region of south Hemisphere (13% reduction). In contrast, a slightly enhanced GPP (10%) was showed in the tropical region under drought impact. Additionally, the highest drought-induced reduction of ET was found in the Mediterranean area, followed by Africa. The water use efficiency, however, showed a pattern of decreasing in the north Hemisphere and increasing in the south Hemisphere.;The last chapter compared the differences of performance in trading water for carbon in planted forest and natural forest, with specific focus on China. Planted forests have been widely established in China as an essential approach to improving the ecological environment and mitigating climate change. Large-scale forest planting programs, however, are rarely examined in the context of tradeoffs between carbon sequestration and water yield between planted and natural forests. We reconstructed evapotranspiration (ET) and gross primary production (GPP) data based on remote-sensing and ground observational data, and investigated the differences between natural and planted forests, in order to evaluate the suitability of tree-planting activity in different climate regions where the afforestation and reforestation programs have been extensively implemented during the past three decades in China. While the differences changed with latitude (and region), we found that, on average, planted forests consumed 5.79% (29.13mm) more water but sequestered 1.05% (-12.02 gC m-2 yr -1) less carbon than naturally generated forests, while the amplitudes of discrepancies varied with latitude. It is suggested that the most suitable lands in China for afforestation should be located in the moist south subtropical region (SSTP), followed by the mid-subtropical region (MSTP), to attain a high carbon sequestration potential while maintain a relatively low impact on regional water balance. The high hydrological impact zone, including the north subtropical region (NSTP), warm temperate region (WTEM), and temperate region (TEM) should be cautiously evaluated for future afforestation due to water yield reductions associated with plantations