Detecting One-Hundred-Year Environmental Changes in Western China Using Seven-Year Repeat Photography

Due to its diverse, wondrous plants and unique topography, Western China has drawn great attention from explorers and naturalists from the Western World. Among them, Ernest Henry Wilson (1876 –1930), known as ‘Chinese’ Wilson, travelled to Western China five times from 1899 to 1918. He took more than 1,000 photos during his travels. These valuable photos illustrated the natural and social environment of Western China a century ago. Since 1997, we had collected E.H. Wilson's old pictures, and then since 2004, along the expedition route of E.H. Wilson, we took 7 years to repeat photographing 250 of these old pictures. Comparing Wilson's photos with ours, we found an obvious warming trend over the 100 years, not only in specific areas but throughout the entire Western China. Such warming trend manifested in phenology changes, community shifts and melting snow in alpine mountains. In this study, we also noted remarkable vegetation changes. Out of 62 picture pairs were related to vegetation change, 39 indicated vegetation has changed to the better condition, 17 for degraded vegetation and six for no obvious change. Also in these photos at a century interval, we found not only rapid urbanization in Western China, but also the disappearance of traditional cultures. Through such comparisons, we should not only be amazed about the significant environmental changes through time in Western China, but also consider its implications for protecting environment while meeting the economic development beyond such changes

STM-Publizieren in China. Branchenrahmenbedingungen und wirtschaftliche Entwicklungen 2001-2006

Trotz des Beitritts Chinas zur World Trade Organisation 2001 und der Öffnung vieler Wirtschaftsbereiche, ist der Verlagsbuchhandel aus ideologischen Gründen nach wie vor geschlossen. Aufgrund seiner kulturellen Neutralität besitzt das STM-Segment innerhalb der Verlagsbranche das größte Öffnungspotenzial. Die wirtschaftliche Größe und der Internationalisierungsgrad dieses Segments halten mit den inländischen wissenschaftlichen und technologischen Entwicklungen jedoch noch nicht mit. Gründe sind die strengen staatlichen Kontrollen und die Steuerung der Branche über administrative Vorgaben. Zudem existiert eine Vielzahl dezentralisierter sowie unsystematischer Verordnungen. Die staatlichen Institutionen greifen außerdem in die strategischen und operativen Entscheidungen ein. Aufgrund künstlicher Marktzutrittsbeschränkungen besitzen die Verlage in einigen Gebieten aber auch Monopolstellung. Die Entwicklung der Wettbewerbsfähigkeit und die Herausbildung von Kernkompetenzen werden somit beschränkt. Die Globalisierungstendenz und die Liberalisierung anderer Wirtschaftszweige haben jedoch Änderungen innerhalb der Buchbranche und vor allem im STM-Segment zur Folge. Die Verwaltungstätigkeiten werden an interne Branchenverbände übertragen und das Regelungssystem wird überarbeitet. Um als kommerzielle Unternehmen agieren zu können, erhalten die Verlage mehr Autonomie. Neben diesen Verbesserungen bietet zudem der Aufschwung des elektronischen Publizierens dem STM-Segment eine große Chance, da bereits eine zufriedenstellende Infrastruktur aufgebaut wurde.In spite of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, and the opening of many economic sectors, the publishing trade is still closed for ideological reasons. Due to its cultural neutrality the STM segment has the greatest opening potential of the publishing industry. However, the economic size and the degree of internationalization of this segment cannot yet compete with national scientific and technological developments. Reasons for this are the strict state control and the control of the industry through administrative guidelines. Additionally, there exists a multitude of decentralized as well as unsystematic regulations. The public institutions interfere with the strategic and operative decisions as well. Due to artificial market entry restrictions the publishing houses possess monopolies in their own areas. The development of competitiveness and core competencies are therefore restricted. Yet, the tendency for globalization and the liberalization of other economic sectors cause changes within the book industry and the STM segment. The administrative activities are transferred to internal branch associations and the control system is revised. In order to be able to act as commercial businesses the publishing houses receive more autonomy. Apart from these improvements the rise of electronic publishing offers the STM segment a great chance, since an adequate infrastructure has already been built

Electrospun Poly(L-Lactide-co-ε-Caprolactone)/Polyethylene Oxide/Hydroxyapaite Nanofibrous Membrane for Guided Bone Regeneration

A series of poly(L-lactide-co-ε-caprolactone)/polyethylene oxide/hydroxyapaite (PLCL/PEO/HA) composite fibrous membranes were prepared by elecrospinning technology for guided bone regeneration. The morphology, water permeability and mechanical properties of the membranes were investigated. The HA nanocrystals can be well distributed in the PLCL/PEO matrix. And the diameter of composite nanofiber is larger than that of pure PLCL. The fibers with uniform size and large diameter were obtained when the contents of PEO and HA were 0.4% and 0.03%, respectively. In this condition, the obtained membrane presents the best water permeability. Furthermore, the nanofibrous membrane with largest tensile strength was obtained when the contents of PEO and HA were 0.5% and 0.03%, respectively