Overstretching or overreaction? China's rise in Latin America and the US response

This article examines how the Chinese elites are interpreting China's growing presence in the Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) region and the various ways in which the United States is responding to China's expanding activity in the region. Some of China's elites caution that China's international posturing could be overly assertive. Regarding China's growing role in the LAC, they have made a note of US sensitivities, in addition to China's challenges and limitations in various Latin American countries. Regarding the US response, some US concerns may be legitimate, and others are less valid. Looking ahead, even though US–China interactions in the LAC will remain competitive, the US and China could potentially avoid counterproductive policies while also pursuing pragmatic co-operation. While China does not yet face a serious problem of strategic overstretching in the LAC, China's domestic debate on the topic will provide feedback to China's policymakers and promote fruitful China-LAC relations

H-Diplo ISSF round table: Steven Ward. status and the challenge of rising powers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017.

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Stability analysis for heterogeneous traffic flow with lane-change disturbance

Stability analysis and benefit estimation have substantial implications for lane-change decision-making to reduce delay and variation. Connected platoons drive with minor headway to increase capacity, whereas dividing or reforming platoons significantly impacts traveling efficiency. Therefore, this article focuses on the instability of the platoon caused by an en-route lane-change. Construction of platoon forming, combination rules, and car-following models for various vehicle types are presented to describe driving behaviours. Then, a velocity adjustment and a model for lane-change preparation and recovery are proposed. In addition, a group of stability recognition indexes and related stability evaluation factors are presented. Experiments involving numerical comparisons of the proposed factors are conducted to demonstrate the propagation properties of the instability and reveal the fluctuation degree. The variation duration, velocity variation range, and total delay are the primary indicators for evaluating lane-change feasibility. The models and findings can be applied effectively in practice to determine the optimal time and location for en-route lane-change and to assist with traffic management and lane selection at the entrance

Global Military Issues Symposium: Russia, China and the SCO

The University Archives has determined that this item is of continuing value to OSU's history.Students, faculty and the public are invited to attend the first annual Global Military Issues Symposium at The Ohio State University. This symposium will explore the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a permanent intergovernmental international organization created in 2001 in Shanghai by the Republic of Kazakhstan, People's Republic of China, Kyrgyz Republic, Russian Federation, Republic of Tajikistan and Republic of Uzbekistan. The SCO member states occupy a territory of around 30 million square kilometers, equal to three-fifths of the Eurasian continent, and have 1.5 billion people, a quarter of the planet's population. The discussion will be led by Peter Mansoor, Raymond E. Mason Jr. Chair in Military History, and will include presentations on both the Russian and Chinese militaries.The Ohio State University Center for Slavic and East European StudiesThe Ohio State University East Asian Studies CenterOhio State University. Mershon Center for International Security StudiesEvent Web page, event photo

Meta analysis of correlation between lipid accumulation product and hypertension in Chinese adults

Objective·To explore the correlation between lipid accumulation product (LAP) and hypertension in Chinese adults.Methods·By searching the English literature databases including PubMed and Web of Science, and the Chinese literature databases including CNKI and WanFang Data Knowledge Service Platform database, the earliest literature related to LAP and hypertension in Chinese adults that could be retrieved from databases establishment to August 2022. Two researchers independently screened all the retrieved literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and used the diagnostic research scale developed by Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) to evaluate the literature quality of the selection, comparability, exposure evaluation and results of the study population. The sample size, gender, sensitivity, specificity and other information were extracted from the included literature. Stata 16.0 software was used for meta-analysis.Results·A total of 6 articles were included, including five in English and one in Chinese. The JBI bias scores of the included articles ranged from 14 to 17 points, all of which were greater than 70% of the total score, so the biases could be considered small. The total number of samples included was 48 329, including 15 746 patients with hypertension. The results of meta-analysis showed that in the total population, the sensitivity of LAP in predicting hypertension was 0.50 (95%CI 0.35‒0.64), and the specificity was 0.78 (95%CI 0.66‒0.86); In women, the sensitivity was 0.48 (95%CI 0.32‒0.64), and the specificity was 0.77 (95%CI 0.64‒0.86); In males, the sensitivity was 0.56 (95%CI 0.39‒0.72), and the specificity was 0.64 (95%CI 0.49‒0.77). The area under the summary receiver operator characteristic curve (SROC curve) of the total population included was 0.70 (95%CI 0.66‒0.74), indicating that there was a certain correlation between LAP and hypertension.Conclusion·In Chinese adult population, LAP is associated with hypertension to a certain extent

Reservoir-cap combination optimization and potential evaluation of CO2 geological storage in saline aquifer, in Wenxinan sag of Beibu Gulf Basin

CO2 geological storage is a guaranteed technology for achieving carbon neutrality. The offshore deposit basin is far away from the human activity area, and the implementation of a CO2 geological storage is more advantageous than the land sedimentary basin. To find out the CO2 storage potential in the Weixinan sag of the Beibu Gulf Basin, based on the 8 indicators such as caprock burial depth, the maximum thickness of single layer mudstone, mud-soil ratio, fault density and reservoir porosity, formation thickness, sand-soil ratio, permeability, etc., it has established a reservoir evaluation system for the secondary structure unit of the basin. Combined with the core physical property data of lays and 3D geological models, the reservoir and caprock of the Weixinan sag are optimized, and the effective storage potential is evaluated with the US-DOE method. The results show that within 800−3000 meters below the sea floor, in the Weixinan sag, there are two sets of reservoir-cap combinations suitable for CO2 storage. Combination 1: in Neogene, the neritic mudstone of the first member of the Jiaowei Formation is the cap rock, and the neritic sandstone of the second member of the Jiaowei Formation and the Xiayang Formation is the reservoir, and the effective storage capacity is 0.749 billion tons. Combination 2: in the Paleogene, the deep lake mudstone in the second member of the Weizhou Formation is the cap rock, and the sandstone in the third member of the Weizhou Formation is the reservoir, and the effective storage capacity is 0.374 billion tons. In the Weixinan sag, two sets of reservoir-cap assemblages suitable for CO2 storage in the saline aquifers are selected, with an effective storage capacity of 1.123 billion tons. According to the evaluation of the annual CO2 emission of 70 million tons in the west of Guangdong Province, it can meet the CO2 emission reduction needs of the region for more than 16 years. Offshore geological storage is a potential path for the green and sustainable development of coastal heavy chemical clustering areas and to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality

DrM: Mastering Visual Reinforcement Learning through Dormant Ratio Minimization

Visual reinforcement learning (RL) has shown promise in continuous control tasks. Despite its progress, current algorithms are still unsatisfactory in virtually every aspect of the performance such as sample efficiency, asymptotic performance, and their robustness to the choice of random seeds. In this paper, we identify a major shortcoming in existing visual RL methods that is the agents often exhibit sustained inactivity during early training, thereby limiting their ability to explore effectively. Expanding upon this crucial observation, we additionally unveil a significant correlation between the agents' inclination towards motorically inactive exploration and the absence of neuronal activity within their policy networks. To quantify this inactivity, we adopt dormant ratio as a metric to measure inactivity in the RL agent's network. Empirically, we also recognize that the dormant ratio can act as a standalone indicator of an agent's activity level, regardless of the received reward signals. Leveraging the aforementioned insights, we introduce DrM, a method that uses three core mechanisms to guide agents' exploration-exploitation trade-offs by actively minimizing the dormant ratio. Experiments demonstrate that DrM achieves significant improvements in sample efficiency and asymptotic performance with no broken seeds (76 seeds in total) across three continuous control benchmark environments, including DeepMind Control Suite, MetaWorld, and Adroit. Most importantly, DrM is the first model-free algorithm that consistently solves tasks in both the Dog and Manipulator domains from the DeepMind Control Suite as well as three dexterous hand manipulation tasks without demonstrations in Adroit, all based on pixel observations

Fully Inkjet-Printed, 2D Materials-Based Field-Effect Transistor for Water Sensing

Despite significant progress in solution-processing of 2D materials, it remains challenging to reliably print high-performance semiconducting channels that can be efficiently modulated in a field-effect transistor (FET). Herein, electrochemically exfoliated MoS2 nanosheets are inkjet-printed into ultrathin semiconducting channels, resulting in high on/off current ratios up to 103. The reported printing strategy is reliable and general for thin film channel fabrication even in the presence of the ubiquitous coffee-ring effect. Statistical modeling analysis on the printed pattern profiles suggests that a spaced parallel printing approach can overcome the coffee-ring effect during inkjet printing, resulting in uniform 2D flake percolation networks. The uniformity of the printed features allows the MoS2 channel to be hundreds of micrometers long, which easily accommodates the typical inkjet printing resolution of tens of micrometers, thereby enabling fully printed FETs. As a proof of concept, FET water sensors are demonstrated using printed MoS2 as the FET channel, and printed graphene as the electrodes and the sensing area. After functionalization of the sensing area, the printed water sensor shows a selective response to Pb2+ in water down to 2 ppb. This work paves the way for additive nanomanufacturing of FET-based sensors and related devices using 2D nanomaterials

Li2NiO2F a new oxyfluoride disordered rocksalt cathode material

Lithium-rich disordered rocksalts such as Li1.3Nb0.3Mn0.4O2 and Li2MnO2F are being investigated as high energy density cathodes for next generation Li-ion batteries. They can support the (de) lithiation of lithium ions over large compositional ranges while preserving the same overall structure. Here, we present a new Ni-rich oxyfluoride cathode, Li2NiO2F, with a disordered rocksalt structure. Li2NiO2F and can deliver a discharge capacity of 200 mAh g−1 at an average voltage of 3.2 V

Analysis of epidemiological characteristics of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and malignant tumors based on the Shanghai community elderly cohort

Objective·To analyze the epidemiological characteristics of risk factors for cardiovascular diseases and malignant tumors based on the Shanghai community elderly cohort.Methods·The study subjects were selected from the Shanghai community elderly cohort established from February to August 2019, with a total of 17 948 people. The study subjects were divided into 4 groups according to self-reported presence or absence of tumors and/or cardiovascular diseases during the baseline survey: tumor-free and non-cardiovascular disease group, single cardiovascular disease group, single tumor group and tumor cardiovascular disease co-occurrence group. The differences among the four groups of subjects were collected and compared in terms of demographic characteristics and physiological indicators, daily living habits (smoking, drinking tea, drinking coffee, drinking carbonated drink, drinking alcohol, sedentary time, physical activity level and sleep quality), past medical history, psychological status (depression and anxiety) and dietary compliance.Results·Among the study subjects, 60.1% of tumor patients were complicated with cardiovascular diseases. The differences among the four groups of subjects in age, gender, educational level, pre-retirement occupation, waist circumference, hip circumference and body mass index were statistically significant (all P<0.05). Compared with the tumor-free and non-cardiovascular disease group, the single cardiovascular disease group, single tumor group and tumor cardiovascular disease co-occurrence group all exhibited lower proportions of smoking and high physical activity levels (all P<0.05), and higher proportion of sedentary time exceeding 4 h/d and poor sleep quality (all P<0.05); the proportion of subjects with past medical histories including hyperlipidemia, peripheral vascular disease, endocrine system disease, respiratory system disease, urinary system disease and digestive system disease of the single cardiovascular disease group and the tumor cardiovascular disease co-occurrence group was higher (all P<0.05), and the proportion of subjects with depression and anxiety was also higher (all P<0.05). Furthermore, compared with the tumor-free and non-cardiovascular disease group, the single cardiovascular disease group had lower compliance rates of poultry, fish, fruit and liquid milk (all P<0.05). Among the four groups, only the compliance rate of vegetable intake exceeded 50%, while the compliance rates of poultry, fish, fruit, liquid milk and tubers were all below 20%.Conclusion·In the elderly population of Shanghai communities, over half of malignant tumor patients are concomitant with cardiovascular diseases. Unhealthy daily habits are prevalent among those with cardiovascular diseases, tumors and tumor-cardiovascular disease co-occurrence. The intake of many foods in the elderly of the community do not reach the levels recommended by Chinese Dietary Guidelines