The new resilience of emerging and developing countries: systemic interlocking, currency swaps and geoeconomics

The vulnerability/resilience nexus that defined the interaction between advanced and developing economies in the post-WWII era is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Yet, most of the debate in the current literature is focusing on the structural constraints faced by the Emerging and Developing Countries (EDCs) and the lack of changes in the formal structures of global economic governance. This paper challenges this literature and its conclusions by focusing on the new conditions of systemic interlocking between advanced and emerging economies, and by analysing how large EDCs have built and are strengthening their economic resilience. We find that a significant redistribution of ‘policy space’ between advanced and emerging economies have taken place in the global economy. We also find that a number of seemingly technical currency swap agreements among EDCs have set in motion changes in the very structure of global trade and finance. These developments do not signify the end of EDCs’ vulnerability towards advanced economies. They signify however that the economic and geoeconomic implications of this vulnerability have changed in ways that constrain the options available to advanced economies and pose new challenges for the post-WWII economic order

Traçabilité dans la filière viande. I. La traçabilité administrative.

peer reviewedLe secteur de la viande a été secoué ces dernières années par quelques scandales, tels ceux des hormones et de la dioxine, avec pour conséquences une perte de confiance de la part du consommateur et une perturbation du marché de la viande. Pour redresser l’image des produits carnés belges, il est important de pouvoir en déterminer et en garantir l’origine. En Belgique, il existe divers systèmes de traçabilité administrative dont le principal est le système SANITEL qui comprend un système automatisé de traitement de données relatives à l’identification et l’enregistrement des animaux. Au-delà de l’aspect légal et réglementaire, différentes initiatives, visant une amélioration de la qualité, fleurissent : "les labels". Ceux-ci intègrent fréquemment la traçabilité dans leur cahier des charges. La traçabilité administrative n’est pas infaillible, la perte de documents et les fraudes peuvent ternir l’image de celle-ci. C’est pourquoi le système documentaire a été associé aux empreintes génétiques des animaux.

A systematic approach in analyzing sustained oscillations in an NF-kB signal transduction pathway system

Oscillation phenomenon is very common in biological systems. It is crucial to study oscillatory behaviors to understand gene regulation functions. Model-based analysis in combination with experimental study provides a new and systematic way to investigate biological oscillations. The nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB) signaling is an important signaling pathway that is involved in a variety of cellular processes including immune response, inflammation, and apoptosis. Recent studies revealed damped oscillations of NF-kB activity both experimentally and computationally, etc. In this work, based on a differential equation model, bifurcation analysis was used to examine whether it was possible for this system to produce sustained oscillations (limit cycle oscillations) rather than damped oscillations. Both one- and two-parameter bifurcation analyses have been performed and it was found that certain conditions could possibly result in sustained oscillations of nuclear NF-kB activity. The parameter regimes corresponding to such oscillations were calculated with this method

Superconductivity in iron telluride thin films under tensile stress

By realizing in thin films a tensile stress state, superconductivity of 13 K was introduced into FeTe, an non-superconducting parent compound of the iron pnictides and chalcogenides, with transition temperature higher than that of its superconducting isostructural counterpart FeSe. For these tensile stressed films, the superconductivity is accompanied by the softening of the first-order magnetic and structural phase transition; and also, the in-plane extension and out-of-plane contraction are universal in all FeTe films independent of sign of lattice mismatch, either positive or negative. Moreover, the correlations were found exist between the transition temperatures and the tetrahedra bond angles in these thin films.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Physical Review Letter

Focus on vulnerable populations and promoting equity in health service utilization ––an analysis of visitor characteristics and service utilization of the Chinese community health service

Background Community health service in China is designed to provide a convenient and affordable primary health service for the city residents, and to promote health equity. Based on data from a large national study of 35 cities across China, we examined the characteristics of the patients and the utilization of community health institutions (CHIs), and assessed the role of community health service in promoting equity in health service utilization for community residents. Methods Multistage sampling method was applied to select 35 cities in China. Four CHIs were randomly chosen in every district of the 35 cities. A total of 88,482 visitors to the selected CHIs were investigated by using intercept survey method at the exit of the CHIs in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011. Descriptive analyses were used to analyze the main characteristics (gender, age, and income) of the CHI visitors, and the results were compared with that from the National Health Services Survey (NHSS, including CHIs and higher levels of hospitals). We also analyzed the service utilization and the satisfactions of the CHI visitors. Results The proportions of the children (2.4%) and the elderly (about 22.7%) were lower in our survey than those in NHSS (9.8% and 38.8% respectively). The proportion of the low-income group (26.4%) was apparently higher than that in NHSS (12.5%). The children group had the lowest satisfaction with the CHIs than other age groups. The satisfaction of the low-income visitors was slightly higher than that of the higher-income visitors. The utilization rate of public health services was low in CHIs. Conclusions The CHIs in China appears to fulfill the public health target of uptake by vulnerable populations, and may play an important role in promoting equity in health service utilization. However, services for children and the elderly should be strengthened

London’s rise as an offshore RMB financial centre: state-finance relations and selective institutional adaptation

China’s currency, the Renminbi (RMB), is increasingly important in global financial markets, facilitated by the global expansion of offshore RMB centres. This paper examines London’s development as the first Western offshore RMB centre established in 2013, drawing on original research conducted between 2013 and 2015 in London and China. The longitudinal analysis reveals that the development of RMB finance in London is characterised by selective adaptation in which state-private bargaining dynamics have shifted from strategic alignment to a bifurcation of interests. Understanding these state-finance relations has important implications for research and policymaking concerned with (offshore) financial centres and RMB internationalisation