The Formation of Wenzhou Footwear Clusters: How Were the Entry Barriers Overcome?

Wenzhou used to be one of the poorest regions in eastern China. With limited arable land, poor road access to major cities, and little support from the government, it seemed to lack all the necessary conditions for economic growth according to the standard textbook. However, over the past several decades, Wenzhou has achieved one of the fastest growing rates and owned the most dynamic private sector in China. The footwear industry in particular has grown from a negligible place to the largest market share and has formed one of the largest industry clusters in China. Therefore, the footwear industry provides us with a good example to unde rstand the driving forces behind the dramatic rural industrial growth. For this study, we undertake a survey on about 140 enterprises at different scales in Wenzhou. The survey enables us to examine how the start -up capital, credit, technology, and institutional barriers have been overcome in the formation process.International Relations/Trade,

The role of clustering in rural industrialization: A Case Study of the Footwear Industry in Wenzhou

"Wenzhou used to be one of the poorest regions in eastern China. With limited arable land, poor road access to major cities, and little support from the upper level governments, this region seemed to lack all the conditions necessary for economic growth. However, over the past several decades Wenzhou has developed the most dynamic private sector in China, and has accordingly achieved one of the fastest growth rates. In particular, the footwear industry in Wenzhou has grown from a negligible market share to the largest in China. Here, we report a survey of 140 Wenzhou-based footwear enterprises of various scales, and use this information to examine the driving forces behind the dramatic rural industrial growth seen in this region. Our results show that clustering deepens the division of labor in the production process and makes it possible for small entrepreneurial firms to enter the industry by focusing on a narrowly defined stage of production. Therefore, Wenzhou represents an example of how clustering plays a significant role in helping fledgling rural industries overcome the growth constraints of capital and technology in the incipient stage of industrialization." from Authors' AbstractCluster analysis, Industrialization, Finance, Economic development, Nonfarm economy,

Fracture Toughness of Ceramic Composite Containing Damage Eutectics and Transformation Particles

The toughness of eutectic ceramic composites are obtained by multiple toughening mechanisms involving crack-bridging and pull-out of rod-shaped eutectics, as well as stress-induced transformation toughening. In the loading procedure, damage will emerge in the rod-shaped eutectic.The transformation toughening of eutectic ceramic composites are obtained by stress-induced transformation mechanisms. Firstly, defining a parabola transformation yield function, the transformation plastic strain increment is gotten by transformation plastic potential function. Secondly, the transformation region is determined by the stress field associated with a crack involves I-II combination. Thirdly, on base of weighted function method, the screening impact of transformation particles for mixed-mode I-II crack is gained. The result shows that the transformation toughening is associated with the fraction of the transformation particles, the elastic modulus of composite ceramic and the half width of transformation region

WHAT KEEPS HOTEL ASSET MANAGERS UP AT NIGHT: KEY INDUSTRY ISSUES AND PROPOSED SOLUTIONS

The Hospitality Asset Managers Association (HAMA), which represents hotel owners globally, regularly surveys its members to identify issues of concern to owners. The association conducts an annual student competition to research these issues and present their results at the annual HAMA conference. The article identifies these issues and presents research conducted by one of the students on the issue of hotel room service and recommends alternatives to room service

Comparative Study and Simulation of Soil Infiltration Performance in Open Green Space

Soil infiltration is important for urban open space to exert sponge benefits, and its permeability characteristics are influenced by physical and chemical properties. To determine the characteristics and differences of soil permeability in different open spaces, we used the cutting-ring method to measure the soil infiltration process in four types of open space. The effects of physicochemical properties on soil infiltration were analyzed through comparison. The infiltration process of the four types of green spaces was fitted on the basis of Kostiakov and Philip infiltration models, and the suitability of the models was discussed. The water infiltration process shows that the law of initial infiltration rate > average infiltration rate > stable infiltration rate. The stable infiltration rate of each green space ranges from 2.46 mm/min to 3.60 mm/min, and the ranking is as follows: park > square > block > other shared space. The determination coefficient of the Kostiakov model for the soil infiltration process of the four types of green space is higher than 0.94, which is suitable to describe the soil infiltration characteristics of green space in the study area. The soil infiltration performance of green space shows a negative correlation with soil bulk density and moisture content but a positive correlation with non-capillary porosity. This study provides a reference for the construction of sponge cities and ecological hydrological observation

Liver fatty acid composition in mice with or without nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most frequent causes of abnormal liver function. Because fatty acids can damage biological membranes, fatty acid accumulation in the liver may be partially responsible for the functional and morphological changes that are observed in nonalcoholic liver disease. The aim of this study was to use gas chromatography-mass spectrometry to evaluate the fatty acid composition of an experimental mouse model of NAFLD induced by high-fat feed and CCl₄and to assess the association between liver fatty acid accumulation and NAFLD. C57BL/6J mice were given high-fat feed for six consecutive weeks to develop experimental NAFLD. Meanwhile, these mice were given subcutaneous injections of a 40% CCl₄-vegetable oil mixture twice per week.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A pathological examination found that NAFLD had developed in the C57BL/6J mice. High-fat feed and CCl₄led to significant increases in C14:0, C16:0, C18:0 and C20:3 (P < 0.01), and decreases in C15:0, C18:1, C18:2 and C18:3 (P < 0.01) in the mouse liver. The treatment also led to an increase in SFA and decreases in other fatty acids (UFA, PUFA and MUFA). An increase in the ratio of product/precursor n-6 (C20:4/C18:2) and n-3 ([C20:5+C22:6]/C18:3) and a decrease in the ratio of n-6/n-3 (C20:4/[C20:5+C22:6]) were also observed.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data are consistent with the hypothesis that fatty acids are deranged in mice with non-alcoholic fatty liver injury induced by high-fat feed and CCl₄, which may be involved in its pathogenesis and/or progression via an unclear mechanism.</p

Accelerating ferroic ageing dynamics upon cooling

Once a structural glass is formed, its relaxation time will increase exponentially with decreasing temperature. Thus, the glass has little chance of transforming into a crystal upon further cooling to zero Kelvin. However, a spontaneous transition upon cooling from amorphous to long-range ordered ferroic states has been observed experimentally in ferroelastic, ferroelectric and ferromagnetic materials. The origin for this obvious discrepancy is discussed here conceptually. We present a combined theoretical and numerical study of this phenomenon and show that the diffusive and displacive atomic processes that take place in structural glass and amorphous ferroics, respectively, lead to markedly different temperature-dependent relaxation behaviors, one being ‘colder is slower’ and the other being ‘colder is faster’.National Basic Research Program of China (2012CB619402)National Basic Research Program of China (2014CB644003)National Key Basic Research Program of China (51671156)National Basic Research Program of China 111 Project (B06025)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Division of Materials Research (DMR-1410322)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Division of Materials Research (DMR-1410636