Chinese Involvement in Tanzania and Its Local Impacts

The rise of China is among the most discussed and watched topics in the fields of African Studies and International Relations. One area of particularly noticeable and rapid expansion is in Africa. This thesis aims to answer the question of what impact Chinese involvement is having on the population of Tanzania and to what extent is it beneficial to and what extent detrimental to the nation. I do so by examining the impact of Chinese investment from three perspectives: 1) case studies from Tanzania in regard to local communities and individual\u27s perspectives; 2) views of Chinese workers in Tanzania; and 3) state rhetoric and relations from both Tanzania and China. The relationships China has developed in Eastern Africa, the Indian Ocean littoral and inland, has a history many centuries old, but in terms of the post-Communist shifts in China and the post-socialist Ujamaa state of Nyerere, the economic, diplomatic, and social relationships being built are relatively recent events (1990s) and thus are new subjects of scholarly study, which remain under-researched. Likewise US aid regimes have acquired more attention in the scholarship to date than Chinese investment or aid in Tanzania specifically. While much of the research focuses on macro level influences of Chinese investment, this thesis employs perspectives from local communities and workers whose lives have been directly and indirectly impacted by Chinese investments in Tanzania. Based on qualitative and quantitative evidence collected in Tanzania, I argue that Chinese investment in Tanzania has helped many local people by increasing mobility and business opportunities with inexpensive infrastructure from means of transportation and communications technologies. However, in exchange for affordability and fast delivery of Chinese products that represent one level of investment, local communities in Tanzania very often purchase low quality products that consistently do not last and may have other less beneficial social, health, or economic consequences. Chinese investors as well as local communities in Tanzania are interested in the short-term benefit and opportunities of the infrastructure and consumer goods imported from China to Tanzania, but may not always be prioritizing all of the negative long-term impacts, support, and improvement. Moreover, the potential for dependency of Tanzania on Chinese capital inputs would likely ultimately undermine the capability of the Tanzanian state to control the allocation of investment and plan its economic growth independently, strategically, and in its own interests. While China is very clear that its relationships in Africa are not exploitative in a colonial sense, some analysts accuse China of exploitation for lack of interest in social issues, health, or education. These are heavily debated critiques within Tanzania and one\u27s that both the Tanzanian and Chinese governments defend against. For the governments the short-term benefits seem to be justified in subtle ways as a means that will lead to longer-term improvements despite the negative consequences of lower quality imports and infrastructure

Current status of umbilical cord blood storage and provision to private biobanks by institutions handling childbirth in Japan

[Background] The Act Regarding the Promotion of the Appropriate Supply of Hematopoietic Stem Cells for Transplant regulates only how public banks store and provide umbilical cord blood (UCB) for research or transplantation. Japan had no laws to regulate how the private banks manage the procedures, harvesting, preparation, and storage of such blood. As a result, the status of UCB distribution remains unknown. We conducted a survey to investigate the current status of UCB storage and provision to private biobanks by Japanese institutions that handle childbirth. [Methods] Questionnaire forms were mailed to 3, 277 facilities handling childbirth that were registered in the Japan Council for Quality Health Care website. [Results] Of the 1, 192 institutions handling childbirth that participated in the survey (response rate: 36.7%), 34.4% responded that they currently provide UCB to private biobanks, while 16.1% of facilities did so in the past. Moreover, some institutions currently provide or formerly provided UCB to medical treatment facilities (2.6%), research institutions (5.9%), companies (2.2%), or overseas treatment facilities, research institutions, or companies (0.3%). A certain number of institutions handling childbirth did not even provide explanations or obtain consent when the UCB was harvested from private bank users. [Conclusions] This is the first study to determine the status of UCB provision to private banks by Japanese institutions handling childbirth. Future studies will need to examine in detail how institutions handling childbirth provide explanations to private bank users and UCB providers as well as how these institutions obtain consent

White Paper from Workshop on Large-scale Parallel Numerical Computing Technology (LSPANC 2020): HPC and Computer Arithmetic toward Minimal-Precision Computing

In numerical computations, precision of floating-point computations is a key factor to determine the performance (speed and energy-efficiency) as well as the reliability (accuracy and reproducibility). However, precision generally plays a contrary role for both. Therefore, the ultimate concept for maximizing both at the same time is the minimal-precision computing through precision-tuning, which adjusts the optimal precision for each operation and data. Several studies have been already conducted for it so far (e.g. Precimoniuos and Verrou), but the scope of those studies is limited to the precision-tuning alone. Hence, we aim to propose a broader concept of the minimal-precision computing system with precision-tuning, involving both hardware and software stack. In 2019, we have started the Minimal-Precision Computing project to propose a more broad concept of the minimal-precision computing system with precision-tuning, involving both hardware and software stack. Specifically, our system combines (1) a precision-tuning method based on Discrete Stochastic Arithmetic (DSA), (2) arbitrary-precision arithmetic libraries, (3) fast and accurate numerical libraries, and (4) Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) with High-Level Synthesis (HLS). In this white paper, we aim to provide an overview of various technologies related to minimal- and mixed-precision, to outline the future direction of the project, as well as to discuss current challenges together with our project members and guest speakers at the LSPANC 2020 workshop; https://www.r-ccs.riken.jp/labs/lpnctrt/lspanc2020jan/

Development of Hydrophobic Cell-Penetrating Stapled Peptides as Drug Carriers

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) are widely used for the intracellular delivery of a variety of cargo molecules, including small molecules, peptides, nucleic acids, and proteins. Many cationic and amphiphilic CPPs have been developed; however, there have been few reports regarding hydrophobic CPPs. Herein, we have developed stapled hydrophobic CPPs based on the hydrophobic CPP, TP10, by introducing an aliphatic carbon side chain on the hydrophobic face of TP10. This side chain maintained the hydrophobicity of TP10 and enhanced the helicity and cell penetrating efficiency. We evaluated the preferred secondary structures, and the ability to deliver 5(6)-carboxyfluorescein (CF) as a model small molecule and plasmid DNA (pDNA) as a model nucleotide. The stapled peptide F-3 with CF, in which the stapling structure was introduced at Gly residues, formed a stable & alpha;-helical structure and the highest cell-membrane permeability via an endocytosis process. Meanwhile, peptide F-4 demonstrated remarkable stability when forming a complex with pDNA, making it the optimal choice for the efficient intracellular delivery of pDNA. The results showed that stapled hydrophobic CPPs were able to deliver small molecules and pDNA into cells, and that different stapling positions in hydrophobic CPPs can control the efficiency of the cargo delivery

Difference between far-infrared photoconductivity spectroscopy and absorption spectroscopy: theoretical evidence of the electron reservoir mechanism

The intriguing difference between far-infrared photoconductivity spectroscopy and absorption spectroscopy in the measurement of the magnetoplasmon frequency in GaAs quantum wells reported by Holland et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 186804 (2004)] remains unexplained to date. This Letter provides a consistent mechanism to solve this puzzle. The mechanism is based on the electron reservoir model for the integer quantum Hall effect in graphene [Phys. Lett. A 376, 616 (2012)]. We predict sharp kinks to appear in the magnetic induction dependence of the magnetoplasmon frequency at very low temperatures such as 14 mK in the same GaAs quantum well sample used by Holland et al.