China’s NGO Partnerships in a New Era of Development Cooperation

China’s 2021 White Paper, China’s International Development Cooperation in the New Era, offers a new vision for a more people-centred approach to its development cooperation. While the White Paper extensively discusses partnerships, it only briefly mentions encouraging cooperation with non-governmental organisations (NGOs). This article argues that NGO engagement in international development activities would improve their effectiveness, a view shared by many Chinese scholars and practitioners. However, challenges exist that constrain optimal engagement, especially access to funding, and a weak enabling environment and policy framework. This article addresses these challenges, drawing from the literature on ‘going out’ among Chinese NGOs and social organisations, along with interviews with key players in the Chinese NGO ecosystem. The article recommends, among other things, that the government clarify and improve its policy framework for NGOs/social organisations in support of China’s international development collaboration, especially regarding funding flows, personnel regulations, and material and capital outflows.Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Offic

Food Consumption in China: the revolution continues

Recent decades have seen China's domestic consumption in sectors such as food, housing, health care, education and travel greatly increase. This important book assesses China's current food consumption trends and the outlook for its future needs of such a crucial commodity. Key features of this book include: -A systematic examination of the key elements shaping food consumption, with particular attention to factors peculiar to China; -An evaluation of changes in food consumption between rural and urban residents, the rich and poor, and consumers of different regions and identification of the key drivers behind such changes; -A comprehensive coverage of all major food items including food grains, meats and other animal products, fruits and vegetables, alcoholic drinks, and aquacultural products; and -A projection for China's food import needs by 2020. This book will be of great relevance to anyone who is interested in the dynamics of Chinese food consumption, such as commodity traders, leaders of agri-food industries, food trade officials, and food market researchers. It will also prove a valuable reference for undergraduate and postgraduate students majoring in food marketing and trade, general food and agricultural economics, and scholars studying food consumption issues

The promoting effect of byproducts from Irpex lacteus on subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis of bio-pretreated cornstalks

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Irpex lacteus</it>, a versatile lignin-degrading fungus with various extracellular enzymes, has been widely used for biological pretreatment. However, most studies have focused on the change of substrate structure after biological pretreatment, and the effect of these changes on the enzymatic hydrolysis, but the effect of byproducts from biological pretreatment process on subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis is not well understood.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We developed a biological pretreatment process with <it>I. lacteus </it>that can produce stimulatory byproducts that enhance the enzymatic hydrolysis of cornstalks.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The maximum hydrolysis yield of glucan (82%) was obtained after pretreatment for 28 days. The maximum reducing sugar yield decreased from 313.5 to 200.1 mg/g raw cornstalks after water-soluble byproducts of biological pretreatment were removed from pretreated cornstalks. The effect of byproducts on enzymatic hydrolysis was also investigated. We found that the hydrolysis efficiency of commercial cellulase preparation on cornstalks could be improved by water extracts from bio-pretreated cornstalks with hydrolytic enzyme activity and iron-reducing activity.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The key finding suggested that byproducts from biological pretreatment play important roles in enhancing downstream hydrolysis, which might be attributable to hydrolytic enzymes and iron-reducing compounds produced by <it>I. lacteus</it>.</p

Euryale Ferox Seed-inspired Super-lubricated Nanoparticles for Treatment of Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis has been regarded as a typical lubrication deficiency related joint disease, which is characterized by the breakdown of articular cartilage at the joint surface and the inflammation of the joint capsule. Here, inspired by the structure of the fresh euryale ferox seed that possesses a slippery aril and a hard coat containing starchy kernel, a novel superlubricated nanoparticle, namely poly (3‐sulfopropyl methacrylate potassium salt)‐grafted mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs‐NH2@PSPMK), is biomimicked and synthesized via a one‐step photopolymerization method. The nanoparticles are endowed with enhanced lubrication by the grafted PSPMK polyelectrolyte polymer due to the formation of tenacious hydration layers surrounding the negative charges, and simultaneously are featured with effective drug loading and release behavior as a result of the sufficient mesoporous channels in the MSNs. When encapsulated with an anti‐inflammatory drug diclofenac sodium (DS), the lubrication capability of the superlubricated nanoparticles is improved, while the drug release rate is sustained by increasing the thickness of PSPMK layer, which is simply achieved via adjustment of the precursor monomer concentration in the photopolymerization process. Additionally, the in vitro and in vivo experimental results show that the DS‐loaded MSNs‐NH2@PSPMK nanoparticles effectively protect the chondrocytes from degeneration, and thus, inhibit the development of osteoarthritis.Peer reviewe

Engineered neutrophil-derived exosome-like vesicles for targeted cancer therapy

Neutrophils are the most abundant innate immune cells in human circulation; however, their derived exosomes have been rarely studied for tumor treatment. Here, we reported that exosomes from neutrophils (N-Ex) induce tumor cell apoptosis by delivering cytotoxic proteins and activating caspase signaling pathway. In addition, we decorated N-Ex with superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles ( SPIONs) to achieve higher tumor-targeting therapeutic effect. We further fabricated exosome-like nanovesicles from neutrophils (NNVs) at high yield. Compared with liposome-loaded doxorubicin (DOX) and natural NNVs, DOX-loaded NNVs show an improved inhibition of tumor cell proliferation. Moreover, DOX-loaded, SPION-decorated NNVs selectively accumulate at the tumor sites under an external magnetic field, effectively restraining tumor growth and extensively prolonging the survival rate in mice. Overall, a simple and effective method to engineer N-Ex and NNVs at clinical applicable scale was developed, which enables the efficient and safe drug delivery for targeted and combined tumor therapy.Peer reviewe

Combustion reactivity of ilmenite with coal volatiles under steam gasification atmosphere

学位記番号：理工博甲6

Escape-zone-based optimal evasion guidance against multiple orbital pursuers

The orbital evasion problem is getting increasing attention because of the increase of space maneuvering objects. In this paper, an escape-zone-based optimal orbital evasion guidance law for an evading spacecraft on near circular reference orbit is proposed against multiple pursuing spacecraft with impulsive thrust. The relative reachable domain is introduced first and approximated as an ellipsoid propagating along the nominal trajectory under the short-term assumption. The escape zone for the impulsive evasion problem is presented herein as a geometric description of the set of terminal positions for all the impulsive evasion trajectories that are not threatened by the maneuvers of pursuers at the maneuver moment. A general method is developed next to calculate the defined escape zone through finding the intersection of two relative reachable domain approximate ellipsoids at arbitrary intersection moment. Then, the two-sided optimal strategies for the orbital evasion problem are analyzed according to whether the escape zone exists, based on which the escape value is defined and used as the basis of the proposed orbital evasion guidance scheme. Finally, numerical examples demonstrate the usefulness of the presented method for calculating escape zone and the effectiveness of the proposed evasion guidance scheme against multiple pursuing spacecraft