Eco-civilisation and Reformed Communism in a Contested G-One World

This article offers an ideological examination of China's ecological civilisation initiative with respect to its globalisation agenda. The basic argument is that the Chinese state's eco-civilisation project is an open-ended, statist technocratic bricolage that appropriates a philosophy of human­-nature harmony and facilitates a reformed communism intended to enchant both domestic and global audiences with a set of human universal values. The article considers eco-civilisation to be technically devised as an attractive initiative packed with the Chinese state's propagated universal values without a specific manual of operations. It is a one-size-fits-all concept but provides enough room for creative tailoring under specific circumstances in different geographical, cultural, economic and political contexts. In the course of delivering this argument, the article discusses how eco-civilisation is domestically and internationally promoted and how it is an inherent part of the renewed but reformed communism of the Chinese state

Study of the Value of Soft Power of the Traditional Confucian Moral Sentiments

Western philosophy is basically holding the dichotomy of reason and emotional attitude. Rational ability than emotional, it has an innate superiority for inductive, which is originated in the way of Plato’s classic thinking. But in comparison with the rational, the perceptual is often considered as blind, spontaneous, and difficult to control and dominate. In the tradition of Western philosophy, the relationship between the emotional and rational has been unequal; the sensibility is always at a disadvantage position, even once reduced to the ability to collect empirical material. Then, is perceptual has rich content itself. What is the relationship between the emotional and moral? This problem has not meant a good answer.The crux of the problem is that the real person is a whole life. This whole life is required to cross-examine the meaning and value of life. The meaning and value of life are closely connected with emotion. Chinese traditional Confucianism especially places great importance on the emotional problems. This attention to the emotional issues of concern for man as man, that is to say, for the meaning and value of life, traditional Confucianism focus on the value and dignity of the person

Absorption coefficients in light oil scrubbers

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, 1941.Includes bibliographical references (leaf 91).by Edward Colin Forbes, John Yü-Ling Kao.M.S

Verbesserte Risikostratifizierung nach Schwangerschaftsdiabetes

Hintergrund: Frauen nach einem Gestationsdiabetes (GDM) haben ein erhöhtes Risiko an Diabetes Typ 2 (T2D) zu erkranken. Der aktuelle Goldstandard zur Abschätzung des späteren Risikos stellt der oGTT postpartum dar. Dieser zeigt eine schlechte Compliance und eine unzuverlässige Prognose im klinischen Alltag. Ziel dieser Arbeit war die Erstellung eines einfachen Modells aus einer einmaligen Blutabnahme zur Abschätzung des T2D Risikos als Alternative zum postpartalen oGTT bei Frauen nach einem GDM. Herangenommen wurden Parameter aus einer erweiterten Nüchternblutabnahme sowie einer Gelegenheitsblutabnahme. Als zusätzliche Fragestellung wurde untersucht, ob sich die Vorhersagequalität des postpartalen oGTT durch Hinzunahme weiterer Parameter verbessern lässt. Methodik: Um die Fragestellungen zu bearbeiten, wurden Daten einer prospektiven, monozentrischen Kohortenstudie zur Prädiktion, Prävention und Subklassifikation von Diabetes (PPS-Diab Studie) genutzt. Dabei wurden 192 Frauen konsekutiv drei bis 16 Monate nach Schwangerschaft mit einem GDM rekrutiert. Die Frauen wurden bei Baselinevisite in normoglykäm (NGT) und pathologische Glukosetoleranz (PGT) eingeteilt. Es wurde ein 5-Punkt-oGTT durchgeführt. Zusätzlich wurden anamnestische, klinische, anthropometrische und laborchemische Daten erhoben. Basierend auf dem Datensatz wurden per binär logistische Regression mögliche Einflussfaktoren auf eine pathologische Glukosetoleranz (PGT) untersucht. Ergebnisse: Es konnte festgestellt werden, dass ein einfaches Modell aus Alter, Triglyceriden, Kreatinin und Glucagon im nüchternen Zustand einen Prädiabetes oder Diabetes auch ohne oGTT gestörte Glukosetoleranz detektieren kann. Die Sensitivität in diesem Modell lag bei 96%, die Spezifität bei 63%, der positive prädiktive Wert bei 60%, der negative prädiktive Wert bei 96%. Eine Gelegenheitsblutabnahme war dagegen nicht ausreichend, um ein sinnvolles Modell zu erstellen. Bezüglich der zusätzlichen Fragestellung zeigte sich, dass durch Hinzunahme von weiteren Parametern aus einer Nüchternblutabnahme die Vorhersagekraft des oGTT bezüglich des zukünftigen Blutzuckerverlaufs etwas verbessert werden konnte. Ein Modell aus den Parametern Alter, Nüchternglukose und NEFA enthielt die meiste zusätzliche Information. Diskussion: Ein einfaches Modell aus anamnestischen und laborchemischen Daten kann eine Abschätzung zum späteren T2D geben. Zur Verbesserung des Modells sollten weitere Parameter evaluiert werden. Zudem müsste das Modell extern validiert werden. Ein Überdenken des jetzigen Standards ist anzustreben

Substituting or Complementing?---The Influence of Chinese Overseas Direct Investment on Domestic Exports

The aim of this paper is to verify whether overseas direct investment activities of China can substitute or complement domestic exports. Using panel data of 85 host countries from 2003 to 2011 we conduct detailed empirical examinations within the framework of the gravity model. After correcting for bias caused by synchronism between trade flow and investment flow and also for econometrical misspecifications we discover that, contrary to all existing studies, Chinese overseas direct investment has a very weak substituting relationship with domestic exports. Sub-sample regressions show that Chinese overseas direct investment substitutes exports to developed countries but complements exports to developing countries. Panel threshold model further confirms the role of host country’s economic developmental stage (measured by per capita GDP) in determining the influence of overseas direct investment on exports and detects two thresholds. Thus the sample is divided into three regimes: (1) in the first regime where per capita GDP is lower than 1150.39 dollars, overseas direct investment complements exports to the host country; (2) in the second regime where per capita GDP falls between 1150.39 and 11601.63 dollars, the “gray zone”, overseas direct investment has very weak influence on domestic exports; (3) in the third regime where per capita GDP exceeds 11601.63 dollars, overseas direct investment substitutes exports to the host country. This paper concludes with possible explanations to the empirical results and the threshold phenomenon

Substituting or Complementing?---The Influence of Chinese Overseas Direct Investment on Domestic Exports

The aim of this paper is to verify whether overseas direct investment activities of China can substitute or complement domestic exports. Using panel data of 85 host countries from 2003 to 2011 we conduct detailed empirical examinations within the framework of the gravity model. After correcting for bias caused by synchronism between trade flow and investment flow and also for econometrical misspecifications we discover that, contrary to all existing studies, Chinese overseas direct investment has a very weak substituting relationship with domestic exports. Sub-sample regressions show that Chinese overseas direct investment substitutes exports to developed countries but complements exports to developing countries. Panel threshold model further confirms the role of host country’s economic developmental stage (measured by per capita GDP) in determining the influence of overseas direct investment on exports and detects two thresholds. Thus the sample is divided into three regimes: (1) in the first regime where per capita GDP is lower than 1150.39 dollars, overseas direct investment complements exports to the host country; (2) in the second regime where per capita GDP falls between 1150.39 and 11601.63 dollars, the “gray zone”, overseas direct investment has very weak influence on domestic exports; (3) in the third regime where per capita GDP exceeds 11601.63 dollars, overseas direct investment substitutes exports to the host country. This paper concludes with possible explanations to the empirical results and the threshold phenomenon

Curcumin-Protected PC12 Cells Against Glutamate-Induced Oxidative Toxicity

Glutamat je glavni ekscitacijski neurotransmiter u središnjem živčanom sustavu. Izmjena je glutamata i cistina (sustav xc-) glavni poveznik mehanizma obrane od oksidacijskog stresa s prijenosom živčanih podražaja i promjenom ponašanja. Prekomjerna aktivacija ionotropnih receptora glutamata dovodi do odumiranja neurona; taj se proces zove ekscitotoksičnost. Oksidacijski je stres uzrokovan glutamatom glavni uzročnik neurodegenerativnih bolesti, poput moždane ishemije, Alzheimerove i Huntingtonove bolesti. Kurkuma ima širok spektar bioloških aktivnosti, poput zaštite živčanog sustava i neurokognitivnih sposobnosti. Kurkumin smanjuje oksidacijski stres i time ublažava posljedice ishemijsko-reperfuzijske ozljede leđne moždine, epileptične napadaje i gubitak neurona u hipokampusu. Stanice PC12 feokromocitoma štakora imaju mnoge korisne osobine koje omogućuju proučavanje neurozaštitnih i neurokognitivnih aktivnosti. Ovo je istraživanje provedeno radi utvrđivanja mogućnosti praćenja aktivnost kurkumina u zaštiti živčanih stanica pomoću modela stanica PC12 oštećenih glutamatom. Rezultati pokazuju da glutamat (u koncentraciji od 20 mM) pojačava izražaj glutation peroksidaze 1, glutation disulfida, utoka iona kalcija, proizvodnju dušikovog oksida, oslobađanje citokroma c, omjer proteina Bax/Bxl-2, aktivnost kaspaze-3, oslobađanje laktat dehidrogenaze, reaktivnih kisikovih spojeva, vodikovog peroksida i malondialdehida, te smanjuje izražaj glutationa, glutation reduktaze, superoksid dismutaze i katalaze, čime se pojačava stanična apoptoza. Kurkumin ublažava sve te negativne učinke, pa se može zaključiti da učinkovito štiti stanice PC12 od oksidacijskog stresa uzrokovanog glutamatom. Njegova se aktivnost zasniva na uklanjanju reaktivnih kisikovih i dušikovih spojeva pomoću glutationa te u matriksu mitohondrija.Glutamate is a major excitatory neurotransmitter present in the central nervous system. The glutamate/cystine antiporter system xc– connects the antioxidant defense with neurotransmission and behaviour. Overactivation of ionotropic glutamate receptors induces neuronal death, a pathway called excitotoxicity. Glutamate-induced oxidative stress is a major contributor to neurodegenerative diseases including cerebral ischemia, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s disease. Curcuma has a wide spectrum of biological activities regarding neuroprotection and neurocognition. By reducing the oxidative damage, curcumin attenuates a spinal cord ischemia-reperfusion injury, seizures and hippocampal neuronal loss. The rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cell line exhibits many characteristics useful for the study of the neuroprotection and neurocognition. This investigation was carried out to determine whether the neuroprotective effects of curcumin can be observed via the glutamate-PC12 cell model. Results indicate that glutamate (20 mM) upregulated glutathione peroxidase 1, glutathione disulphide, Ca2+ influx, nitric oxide production, cytochrome c release, Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, caspase-3 activity, lactate dehydrogenase release, reactive oxygen species, H2O2, and malondialdehyde; and downregulated glutathione, glutathione reductase, superoxide dismutase and catalase, resulting in enhanced cell apoptosis. Curcumin alleviates all these adverse effects. Conclusively, curcumin can effectively protect PC12 cells against the glutamate-induced oxidative toxicity. Its mode of action involves two pathways: the glutathione-dependent nitric oxide-reactive oxygen species pathway and the mitochondria-dependent nitric oxide-reactive oxygen species pathway