Development Strategy, Viability, and Economic Institutions: The Case of China

development strategy, institution, viability, trinity system

THE PROBLEM OF TAXING FARMERS IN CHINA

Replaced with revised version of paper 08/25/03.Agricultural Finance, H22, O53,

Long-range mechanical force in colony branching and tumor invasion

The most concerned factors for cancer prognosis are tumor invasion and metastasis. The patterns of tumor invasion can be characterized as random infiltration to surrounding extracellular matrix (ECM) or formation of long-range path for collective migration. Recent studies indicate that mechanical force plays an important role in tumor infiltration and collective migration. However, how tumor colonies develop mechanical interactions with each other to initiate various invasion patterns is unclear. Using a micro-patterning technique, we partition cells into clusters to mimic tumor colonies and quantitatively induce colony-ECM interactions. We find that pre-malignant epithelial cells, in response to concentrations of type I collagen in ECM ([COL]), develop various branching patterns resembling those observed in tumor invasion. In contrast with conventional thought, these patterns require long-range (~ 600 μm) transmission of traction force, but not biochemical factors. At low [COL], cell colonies synergistically develop pairwise and directed branching mimicking the formation of long-range path. By contrast, at high [COL] or high colony density, cell colonies develop random branching and scattering patterns independent of each other. Our results suggest that tumor colonies might select different invasive patterns depending on their interactions with each other and with the ECM

Long-range mechanical force enables self-assembly of epithelial tubular patterns

Enabling long-range transport of molecules, tubules are critical for human body homeostasis. One fundamental question in tubule formation is how individual cells coordinate their positioning over long spatial scales, which can be as long as the sizes of tubular organs. Recent studies indicate that type I collagen (COL) is important in the development of epithelial tubules. Nevertheless, how cell–COL interactions contribute to the initiation or the maintenance of long-scale tubular patterns is unclear. Using a two-step process to quantitatively control cell–COL interaction, we show that epithelial cells developed various patterns in response to fine-tuned percentages of COL in ECM. In contrast with conventional thoughts, these patterns were initiated and maintained by traction forces created by cells but not diffusive factors secreted by cells. In particular, COL-dependent transmission of force in the ECM led to long-scale (up to 600 μm) interactions between cells. A mechanical feedback effect was encountered when cells used forces to modify cell positioning and COL distribution and orientations. Such feedback led to a bistability in the formation of linear, tubule-like patterns. Using micro-patterning technique, we further show that the stability of tubule-like patterns depended on the lengths of tubules. Our results suggest a mechanical mechanism that cells can use to initiate and maintain long-scale tubular patterns

Vibration characteristic analysis of the multi-drilling mechanism

For enhancing drilling efficiency and controlling drilling direction, it is necessary to predict and control dynamic behavior of drilling mechanism effectively. In view of the coupling vibration and low drilling efficiency of auger drilling machine, a dynamic coupling model of multi-drilling mechanism was established to analyze the vibration characteristics under different coal hardness, drilling depths and rotating speeds. Simultaneously, the vibration tests of drilling process were conducted on the coal cutting test bed, and the results correspond with the simulation results. The results show that: the vibration displacement magnitude and fluctuation of multi-drilling mechanism increase with the coal hardness, while decrease then increase with the drilling depth, and increase then decrease with the rotating speed. The increases of coal hardness and drilling depth result in difficulty for coal cutting. The cutting torque decreases with rotating speed, while there is little influence on the feeding resistance

On the Accuracy of Judgments in the AHP

Errors or inaccuracy always occurs when we use the Analytic Hierarchy Process to aid decision making. This paper shows the errors can be divided into two parts. One is called System Error and another is called Judgment Error. System Error is caused by the judgment ratio of pairwise compare matrix which must be taken from set of {1/9, 1/8, ..., 1,2,..., 9}. The Judgment Error is caused by human wrong judgment. The computational results in this paper demonstrate that the System Error may cause the confusable priority of the alternatives and a proposed method which increase the ratio accuracy can clear the priority of the alternatives

Finite element analysis of coupled vibration for hoisting cable with time-varying length

The coupled axial-torsional responses of the hoisting cable with time-varying length are investigated in order to predict the longitudinal vibration more accurately. The equations of motion are formulated by Hamilton’s principle and the finite element method (FEM), in which a variable-length cable element is introduced. In order to validate this theoretical model, an ADAMS simulation model is established in the framework of the multi-body system dynamic. The result shows that the numerical solution is in reasonably good agreement with the ADAMS simulation. The frequencies of the cables with the coupling considered and neglected are analyzed by varying the excitation frequency, which indicates that the coupling effect reduces the natural frequency of the cable and the maximum amplitude shifts from the resonance region to the deceleration stage as the coupling coefficient increases

Coupled vibration of hoisting cable in cable-guided hoisting system with different swivels

In most cases, the hoisting cable in the cable-guided hoisting system is connected to the hoisting bucket with the swivel. The coupled longitudinal-torsional responses of the hoisting cable with time-varying length are investigated. The hoisting cable and two guiding cables are discretized by employing the assumed modes method, while the equations of motion are derived using Lagrange equations of the first kind, where a coefficient λ varying from 0 to 1 is introduced to represent the free spinning, proportional and self-locking swivels. The longitudinal and torsional displacements with different swivels are obtained. The results indicate the torsional displacement in the free spinning swivel is much larger than that in the proportional and there is one resonance in the former, while the longitudinal resonance in the free spinning swivel occurs earlier than that in the other two, which implies the system frequencies decrease. In addition, the presented model could also be used to describe the coupled vibration in the rigid rail-guided hoisting system but needs more modes

Wide-field optical sectioning for live-tissue imaging by plane-projection multiphoton microscopy

Optical sectioning provides three-dimensional (3D) information in biological tissues. However, most imaging techniques implemented with optical sectioning are either slow or deleterious to live tissues. Here, we present a simple design for wide-field multiphoton microscopy, which provides optical sectioning at a reasonable frame rate and with a biocompatible laser dosage. The underlying mechanism of optical sectioning is diffuser-based temporal focusing. Axial resolution comparable to confocal microscopy is theoretically derived and experimentally demonstrated. To achieve a reasonable frame rate without increasing the laser power, a low-repetition-rate ultrafast laser amplifier was used in our setup. A frame rate comparable to that of epifluorescence microscopy was demonstrated in the 3D imaging of fluorescent protein expressed in live epithelial cell clusters. In this report, our design displays the potential to be widely used for video-rate live-tissue and embryo imaging with axial resolution comparable to laser scanning microscopy

Long-term antagonistic effect of increased precipitation and nitrogen addition on soil respiration in a semiarid steppe

Changes in water and nitrogen (N) availability due to climate change and atmospheric N deposition could have significant effects on soil respiration, a major pathway of carbon (C) loss from terrestrial ecosystems. A manipulative experiment simulating increased precipitation and atmospheric N deposition has been conducted for 9 years (2005–2013) in a semiarid grassland in Mongolian Plateau, China. Increased precipitation and N addition interactively affect soil respiration through the 9 years. The interactions demonstrated that N addition weakened the precipitation-induced stimulation of soil respiration, whereas increased precipitation exacerbated the negative impacts of N addition. The main effects of increased precipitation and N addition treatment on soil respiration were 15.8% stimulated and 14.2% suppressed, respectively. Moreover, a declining pattern and 2-year oscillation were observed for soil respiration response to N addition under increased precipitation. The dependence of soil respiration upon gross primary productivity and soil moisture, but not soil temperature, suggests that resources C substrate supply and water availability are more important than temperature in regulating interannual variations of soil C release in semiarid grassland ecosystems. The findings indicate that atmospheric N deposition may have the potential to mitigate soil C loss induced by increased precipitation, and highlight that long-term and multi-factor global change studies are critical for predicting the general patterns of terrestrial C cycling in response to global change in the future