Practices and Thoughts on the Construction of Scientific Research and Innovative Team of Agricultural Scientific Research Institute

The arrival of the era of agricultural science and technology enables agricultural scientific research and innovative team to become a strong guarantee to improve agricultural scientific and technological innovation, and organize joint scientific and technological research to tackle key projects. This paper takes Sugarcane Research Center of Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences as an example, explores the ideas, objectives, priorities as well as specific measures that agricultural scientific research institutions can build scientific research and innovation teams through its practices and successful experience in scientific and innovative team building

New insights into the influence of heavy metals on phenanthrene sorption in soils

Soil contamination by combinations of heavy metals and organic contaminants has become an increasingly important environmental issue. Effects of heavy metal cations (Cu(2+), Ni(2+), and Pb(2+)) on phenanthrene sorption were systematically investigated using two soils with contrasting physicochemical properties. Spectral and microscopic analyses provide direct evidence for the modification of composition and conformation of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and hydrophobicity of the interfaces in the presence of metal cations. Parts of rubbery organic carbon (including flexible DOC and humic acids) became condensed on solid surfaces in the presence of heavy metals as evidenced by an increase in the glass transition temperature of the soils. These modifications led to a significant increase in the capacity and nonlinearity of phenanthrene sorption in the soils. As the added metal cations aged for 70 days, the soil solution gradually recovered its original physicochemical properties, and the facilitating effects of the heavy metals on phenanthrene sorption were significantly attenuated. This work highlights the important implications of DOC properties and aging processes of metals in the sorption of hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) such as phenanthrene in soils and provides compelling evidence for the facilitating effects of heavy metals on HOC sorption in soils

Global Flow of Foreign Aid and Change in Recipients’ Local Labor Institutions

How does foreign aid affect recipient countries’ labor institutions? Extant empirical evidence is sparse due to ambiguous theoretical predictions and potential endogeneity issues. This study uses data detailing aid flow and institutional functions to mitigate such inconclusiveness and displays originality by constructing a concise theoretical framework in which foreign aid contributes to the improvement of the labor institutions in recipient countries through two mechanisms—economic growth purpose and expected aid attraction. The findings indicate that only aid to enhance local economic growth provides incentives to change domestic labor markets. Such effects have a more crucial influence on labor institutions of minimum wage, collective bargaining rights, and working hours than those related to hiring and firing regulations, mandated costs for worker dismissal, and conscription. For comparison with the actual aid level, we construct forecasted proxies to capture exogenous fluctuations in aid, determining that domestic labor markets can also change via a novel mechanism, as the recipient voluntarily mimics the funder’s labor policies in anticipation of receiving future aid, with exact amounts derived from the noninstitutional characteristics of pairs of bilateral recipient and giver economies. Therefore, we provide policy implications for the aid giver on how to secure a continued and increased aid flow and for the aid receivers on which aspects of reforming measures are most effective in enhancing the labor market regulations