The Paradox of Autonomy : Japan’s Vernacular Scholarship and the Policy Pursuit of “Super Global”

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Higher Education Policy. The definitive publisher-authenticated version Ishikawa, M. & Sun, C. High Educ Policy (2016) 29: 451. doi:10.1057/s41307-016-0014-8 is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-016-0014-8

Impact of Municipal Political Decision Makers’ Turnover on the Degree of Building and Land Use in China: an Empirical Study Based on the Profiles of the Secretaries of Municipal Party Committees

China’s rapid urbanisation in the past 30 years has been a prominent issue all over the world. Few studies have elaborated the urbanization in China, especially the overly speedy building intensity growth in contemporary China from the perspective of local decision makers. This study aims to explain the local decision-making driving force of the rapid growth of the degree of building and land use by analysing the interaction between local decision makers’ turnover and the degree of building and land use. The Secretaries of Municipal Party Committees (SMPCs) have been selected as the representatives of the decision makers of Chinese local governments while the newly increased floor area has been selected as an indicator of the degree of building and land use. On the basis of the panel data of 35 large- and medium-sized Chinese cities from 2000 to 2014, Stata 14.0 has been applied to implement a regression analysis. The research findings show that any turnover of the Secretaries of Municipal Party Committees (SMPCs) may create new floor area. The causal mechanisms hypotheses have also been proven. Generally, the SMPCs are motivated by a need to promote urban growth, and especially, when the SMPCs hold power by the same-ranking lateral transferring or same-ranking vertical dispatch in the municipality, its floor area is more likely to increase. Furthermore, the more the floor area increases, the greater the possibility of promotion will get. These findings could be an explanation for China’s high-speed spatial urbanization from a public administration point of view and a practical understanding of the Chinese decision-making mechanism in urban development.</p

A heat pipe cooled modular reactor concept for manned lunar base application

ABSTRACT A lithium heat pipe cooled modular fast reactor (HPCMR) power system concept has been developed for manned lunar base application. The system is designed to use the static thermoelectric conversion module to produce over 100kW electricity for up to ten years. Waste heat is rejected by potassium heat pipe radiator. This system has advantages of low mass, long lifetime, no pumped liquid coolant, and no single point of failure. Main parameters of the system are also given in this paper. INTRODUCTION Early prior research demonstrated the superiority of ceramics for bearings (1, 2) and the existence of elastohydrodynamic (ehd) lubricant films at ball and roller contacts (3), the calculation of which is now an accepted part of bearing engineering. These new concepts are now used in the design of lubrication systems with solid lubricants that operate in much more severe environments than oils and greases (4, 5). Proprietary computer codes and unique patented bearing configurations for optimizing the performance of bearing/solidlubricant systems have been developed (6, 7 and 8). In this way, patented self-contained solid-lubricated all-steel and hybrid-ceramic ball and roller bearings are now available for environments that do not contribute to their lubrication, such as in air or vacuum. With the development of space exploration technologies and urgent demand for resources exploitation, many countries have made their plans to explore the moon in the next fe

Development of Food-Luring Baited Traps for Solenopsis invicta (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) Monitoring in the Field in Southern China

Solenopsis invicta Buren (Hymenoptera: Formicidae), a red imported fire ant that originated from South America, is a worldwide invasive pest. This study investigated the efficacy of the newly designed baited trap to detect red imported fire ants, Solenopsis invicta Buren, under field conditions in China. Among the five food lures tested for red imported fire ants, the ants preferred ham sausage and fish powder, followed by mixed powder (50% fish powder + 50% black soldier fly powder) and black soldier fly powder. These lures were compared to sugar water (control) to determine their efficacy in trapping red imported fire ants. Field data revealed that the ham sausage powder trap was more efficient than the fish powder trap based on its ability to trap more red imported fire ants under field conditions and ease of use. Thus, it was concluded that the baited traps are efficient for longterm red imported fire ants monitoring

Berberine Ameliorates Diabetic Cardiomyopathy in Mice by Decreasing Cardiomyocyte Apoptosis and Oxidative Stress

Background: Diabetic cardiomyopathy is a multifaceted complication of diabetes that lacks effective treatments. Berberine (BBR), a bioactive compound from Rhizoma coptidis , has potential therapeutic implications, but its precise role in diabetic cardiomyopathy remains to be defined. Methods: In this study, a diabetic cardiomyopathy model was established by administration of a high-fat diet and streptozotocin injection to C57BL/6J mice. Concurrently, the mice received BBR treatment daily for a duration of 8 weeks. After the treatment period, myocardial injury, cardiac function, and the levels of oxidative stress and apoptosis were assessed. Results: BBR significantly ameliorated cardiac dysfunction and histopathological damage caused by diabetic cardiomyopathy. This treatment also elevated serum superoxide dismutase levels while decreasing malondialdehyde levels. The anti-apoptotic activity of BBR was evidenced by a decrease in TUNEL-positive cells and the percentage of apoptotic cells, as determined by flow cytometry, in conjunction with diminished levels of BCL2-associated X protein/B cell lymphoma 2 (BAX/BCL2) in heart tissues. Mechanistically, BBR was found to ameliorate diabetic cardiomyopathy by upregulating the expression of myocardial methionine sulfoxide reductase A (MsrA) and concurrently suppressing cardiac CaMKII oxidation. Conclusions: BBR alleviates diabetic cardiomyopathy by inhibiting myocardial apoptosis and oxidative stress through the MsrA and CaMKII signaling pathways

Microgravity-Induced Alterations of Inflammation-Related Mechanotransduction in Endothelial Cells on Board SJ-10 Satellite

Endothelial cells (ECs) are mechanosensitive cells undergoing morphological and functional changes in space. Ground-based study has provided a body of evidences about how ECs can respond to the effect of simulated microgravity, however, these results need to be confirmed by spaceflight experiments in real microgravity. In this work, we cultured EA.hy926 ECs on board the SJ-10 Recoverable Scientific Satellite for 3 and 10 days, and analyzed the effects of space microgravity on the ECs. Space microgravity suppressed the glucose metabolism, modulated the expression of cellular adhesive molecules such as ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and CD44, and depressed the pro-angiogenesis and pro-inflammation cytokine secretion. Meanwhile, it also induced the depolymerization of actin filaments and microtubules, promoted the vimentin accumulation, restrained the collagen I and fibronectin deposition, regulated the mechanotransduction through focal adhesion kinase and Rho GTPases, and enhanced the exosome-mediated mRNA transfer. Unlike the effect of simulated microgravity, neither three-dimensional growth nor enhanced nitric oxide production was observed in our experimental settings. This work furthers the understandings in the effects and mechanisms of space microgravity on ECs, and provides useful information for future spaceflight experimental design

Convolutional Neural Networks Facilitate River Barrier Detection and Evidence Severe Habitat Fragmentation in the Mekong River Biodiversity Hotspot

Construction of river infrastructure, such as dams and weirs, is a global issue for ecosystem protection due to the fragmentation of river habitat and hydrological alteration it causes. Accurate river barrier databases, increasingly used to determine river fragmentation for ecologically sensitive management, are challenging to generate. This is especially so in large, poorly mapped basins where only large dams tend to be recorded. The Mekong is one of the world's most biodiverse river basins but, like many large rivers, impacts on habitat fragmentation from river infrastructure are poorly documented. To demonstrate a solution to this, and enable more sensitive basin management, we generated a whole‐basin barrier database for the Mekong, by training Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)–based object detection models, the best of which was used to identify 10,561 previously unrecorded barriers. Combining manual revision and merged with the existing barrier database, our new barrier database for the Mekong Basin contains 13,054 barriers. Existing databases for the Lower Mekong documented under ∼3% of the barriers recorded by CNN combined with manual checking. The Nam Chi/Nam Mun region, eastern Thailand, is the most fragmented area within the basin, with a median [95% CI] barrier density of 15.53 [0.00–49.30] per 100 km, and Catchment Area‐based Fragmentation Index value, calculated in an upstream direction, of 1,178.67 [0.00–6,418.46], due to the construction of dams and sluice gates. The CNN‐based object detection framework is effective and potentially can transform our ability to identify river barriers across many large river basins and facilitate ecologically‐sensitive management