Travelling Technocratic Rationality: Historical Narratives of China’s Agricultural Development and their Implications for China- Africa Agricultural Cooperation

Contemporary China-Africa agricultural cooperation (CAAC) has been internally dominated by three streams of narrative: promotion of food security for state building in the post-war landscape; productivity enhancement through technocratic modernisation; and promotion of aid sustainability through business engagement in the new era of globalisation. This paper explores the domestic drivers and strategies underpinning these narratives, as well as their respective implications for CAAC, using a historical review approach. The paper summarises three elements entrenched in the narratives of CAAC – state leadership, productivity-centrism and the governmentbusiness nexus – which are examples of travelling technocratic rationality. These differentiate China’s aid, focusing on developmental state building, from the established aid consensus, with its marriage of orthodox neoliberalism and a new institutionalism

Research on the performance of buffer for landing gear based on the drop test

Based on the drop test of the articulated main landing gear of Seagull 300 light multifunctional amphibious airplane, a further study has been conducted to establish buffer performance under different air chamber pressures and attitude angles. Through comparative analysis of the test results, the influencing rule of air chamber pressure and attitude angle on the buffer performance parameters (system capacity, vertical load, buffer compression, system efficiency and buffer efficiency) was obtained. The results demonstrate that air chamber pressure has a significant effect on the buffer system efficiency, while the attitude angle influences the system capacity a lot. With air chamber pressure increasing system efficiency decreases first, then gradually increases after reaching its minimum at 2.15 MPa and decreases at last after reaching its maximum at 2.7 MPa. Buffer efficiency decreases first and then increases after reaching its minimum at 2.2 MPa. When the attitude angle is between 3 and 12 degrees, the smaller the attitude angle, the more energy the system absorbs and the better the buffer performance is. The rate of change of performance parameters varies linearly with attitude angle. With the increase of angle, system capacity, maximum vertical load and system efficiency increase, and the change rate of buffer compression decreases correspondingly. The rate of change of system efficiency has the fastest growth

Business Borderlands: China's Overseas State Agribusiness

In the context of widespread interests in China's agro?state?owned enterprises (SOEs), this article starts demystifying four narratives prevailing internationally. In this intellectual landscape, the article coins an innovative approach, ‘farm as business borderland’ to investigate an agro?SOE in Tanzania. Based on the ethnographic case study, the article presents the tensions arising between the case farm and its Beijing headquarters on the one hand, and between Chinese managers and local stakeholders on the other. The authors examine the reasons why the travelling business bureaucracy rationalities from Beijing to Tanzania works and how this is adapted locally in the farm's daily practices. The authors also explore why and how Chinese managers' footloose expatriate lifestyle is not as relevant as normally expected in constructing convergence with locals. Finally the article discusses the implications of the new approach on international development inquiry and global governance practices

Combined Pricing and Portfolio Option Procurement

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/90569/1/poms1255.pd

Significantly improved near-field communication antennas based on novel Ho3+ and Co2+ ions co-doped Ni–Zn ferrites

In near-field communication (NFC) antennas, soft magnetic ferrites are usually applied as a substrate to reduce eddy current loss and increase magnetic field coupling. For this purpose, the applied ferrites are required to have high permeability and saturation magnetization together with low magnetic loss and dielectric loss. However, for most soft magnetic ferrites, it is difficult to meet all the requirements. Herein novel Ni–Zn ferrite ceramics co-doped by Ho3+ and Co2+ ions with chemical formula Ni0.5−xZn0.5Ho0.02CoxFe1.98O4 (x = 0–0.2) were designed and prepared to balance these needs on the basis of molten salt synthesis with metal nitrates as raw materials and potassium hydroxide (KOH) as the precipitation agent and molten salt precursor. After the substitution of Ho3+, the saturation magnetization and initial permeability decrease, but with further doping of Co2+, the saturation magnetization gradually increases, while the initial permeability continues to decrease. When x = 0.1, the sample will have the lowest dielectric constant, magnetic and dielectric loss, as well as the highest Curie temperature (305 ℃). Moreover, the acquired Ni–Zn ferrites have been applied simulatively in NFC antennas, revealing that the device manufactured with the optimal Ni0.4Zn0.5Ho0.02Co0.1Fe1.98O4 ferrite ceramics would have significantly improved performance at 13.56 MHz with low leakage and long transmit distance of magnetic field. Therefore, the Ni0.4Zn0.5Ho0.02Co0.1Fe1.98O4 ferrite ceramics would be a good candidate for NFC antenna substrates

Monitoring of microbial contamination and molecular traceability analysis in the production of prepackaged cooked meat products

Objective To understand the microbial contamination during the production and processing of prepackaged cooked meat products in Henan, find out the high-risk links and key control points of contamination, reduce theprobability of food contamination, and incidence of foodborne diseases. Methods Sample collection and detection were performed according to the National Manual for Risk Monitoring of Food Contamination and Hazardous Factors, serotyping and molecular typing of positive strains were all performed according to the National Manual for Foodborne Disease Surveillance. Results A total of 168 samples were monitored, including 104 environment samples (4 in the raw area and 100 in the cooked area), 8 strains of Listeria monocytogenes were detected. A total of 24 strains of Listeria monocytogenes and 2 strains of Salmonella were detected from 60 cooked meat-related samples. 2 strains of Salmonella were Salmonella Enteritidis and had 2 molecular patterns with similarity of 92.9% by digestion with Xba Ⅰ and pulsed field gel electrophoresis. The 32 strains of Listeria monocytogenes were classified into six serotypes (1/2a, 1/2b, 1/2c, 4ab, 3a and 4b), and the dominant serotype was 1/2a.32 strains were divided into 17 molecular patterns by digestion with Asc Ⅰ and pulsed field gel electrophoresis, and each pattern contains 1-10 strains with similarity ranged 55.8%-100.0%. There were 4 water samples, and the total number of colonies and the coliform was all less than 1 CFU/mL, which met the requirements according to the national standard for drinking water. Conclusion There were common sources or cross-contamination in the environment and foods, microbial contamination could be effectively controlled after cooking, however, there were still deficiencies in other aspects. Therefore, it is suggested to further strengthen the management of product division, strengthen the disinfection treatment of ground and operators, and stipulate reasonable production processing and storage period

Authentication method of sea duck eggs based on targeted metabolomics

Objective A targeted metabolomics based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was established for the authentication of sea duck eggs. Methods In this study, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to characterize the fat acid profiles of sea duck eggs and cage duck eggs. Chemometrics was used to analyze the difference between sea duck eggs and cage duck eggs to screen the markers that could be used to identify the authenticity of sea duck eggs. Results Omega-3 fatty acids (Ω-3) in sea duck eggs account for a higher proportion of total fatty acids than cage duck eggs, and there were significant differences (t=23.58, P<0.05). Sea duck eggs and cage duck eggs were distinguished by principal component analysis. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) were screened by orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis that contributed the most to the difference of sea duck eggs and cage duck eggs. EPA was detected only in sea duck eggs, and the content of DHA in sea duck eggs was higher than that of cage duck eggs. Conclusion This study showed that EPA and DHA can be used as a reliable marker to authenticate sea duck eggs

Integrated single-cell RNA-seq analysis reveals the vital cell types and dynamic development signature of atherosclerosis

Introduction: In the development of atherosclerosis, the remodeling of blood vessels is a key process involving plaque formation and rupture. So far, most reports mainly believe that macrophages, smooth muscle cells, and endothelial cells located at the intima and media of artery play the key role in this process. Few studies had focused on whether fibroblasts located at adventitia are involved in regulating disease process.Methods and results: In this study, we conducted in-depth analysis of single-cell RNA-seq data of the total of 18 samples from healthy and atherosclerotic arteries. This study combines several analysis methods including transcription regulator network, cell-cell communication network, pseudotime trajectory, gene set enrichment analysis, and differential expression analysis. We found that SERPINF1 is highly expressed in fibroblasts and is involved in the regulation of various signaling pathways.Conclusion: Our research reveals a potential mechanism of atherosclerosis, SERPINF1 regulates the formation and rupture of plaques through the Jak-STAT signaling pathway, which may provide new insights into the pathological study of disease. Moreover, we suggest that SRGN and IGKC as potential biomarkers for unstable arterial plaques