Economic Competitiveness of China and the US:Comparison,Dynamic Change and Global Position

Research of competitiveness of China and the United States is of great significance to enhancing China＇s economic competitiveness and achieving the objective of national rejuvenation. By creating a competitiveness framework and a system of heterogeneous indicators, this paper investigates the competitiveness of China and the US in terms of current status, historic change and global environment. Our research led to the following findings： core factors determine the level of competitiveness for China and the US; the national competitiveness of both countries is evolving towards structural homogeneity; and China and the US lead most countries in many common areas. China has the potential to overtake the US in competitiveness in the future. We suggest that China increase its competitiveness by promoting its advantages, addressing its weaknesses and focusing on core areas.

A meta-analysis of soluble suppression of tumorigenicity 2 （sST2） and clinical outcomes in pulmonary hypertension

Suppression of Tumorigenicity 2 （ST2） is a member of the interleukin （IL）-1 receptor family The ST2 receptor exists in two isoforms - ST2 ligand （ST2L） and soluble ST2 （sST2）.ST2L is a membrane receptor and sST2 is a trun- cated receptor which is soluble in the blood, allowing it to be detected in serum. IL-33 is a member of the IL-1 family of ligand and is the fimctional ligand of ST2L receptor. It binds to the ST2L, thereby mediating its immune function.

Survey of Residential Air Conditioning Electricity Consumption in Shanghai

With proliferation of electric appliances, residential electricity consumption, in particular the air conditioning load becomes more and more important and shares higher and higher percentage in total consumption in large cities like Shanghai. The paper reports in detail the survey on characteristics of residential electric consumption, in particular the air conditioning consumption. To optimize power system operation and expand power market, the paper concludes that power industry must learn to investigate, open up and adapt itself to power market economy.

Calculation and decomposition of regional household energy consumption in China:based on perspectives of urbanization and residents' consumption

Demographic urbanization caused great changes in scale of residents' consumption and residents' lifestyle and then impacted changes of regional household energy consumption. This paper expanded Logarithmic Mean Decomposition Index method through introducing variables of urbanization and residential consumption into the model. It also analyzed the influences of six factors as energy structure, energy intensity, population scale, urbanization, residential consumption, and consumption inhibit on regional household energy consumption. Results showed that in 2003-2012, impact of urbanization on regional household energy consumption of Chinese three areas was significantly higher than population size. The "population gathered in eastern region" phenomenon caused eastern region getting the largest population scale effect. Driving force of residential consumption on regional household energy consumption was much higher than the other five effects. Due to the comparative advantage of residential consumption compared with government consumption, investment, and net export, the decrease of consumption ratio promoted the growth of regional household energy consumption. Energy intensity in Chinese three regions kept reducing in 2003-2012. The progress of energy utilization technology slowed the growth of regional household energy consumption, and energy intensity effect was most significant in the central region.

Impact of Labor Transfer on Agricultural Land Use Conversion at Rural Household Level Based on Logit Model

Since land and labor force are primary resources to be used and controlled by rural households, the allocation of labor forces will influence land uses, and further lead to land use conversion. The present study used the Binary Logit model to investigate the influence of labor force transfer, characteristics of rural households, location, and land market on agricultural land use conversion at rural household level. This study was conducted based on 329 valid questionnaires, which were obtained in Changshu, Rudong, and Tongshan counties, respectively representing the southern, middle and northern areas of Jiangsu Province. The results showed that land market participation, location, zonal difference and labor transfer had strong influences on agricultural land use conversion. The participation of land market had a strong positive effect on land use conversion, especially for the farmland converted to the fishpond. The nearer to the county seat, the more conversion of land use occurred. Particularly, the labor force transfer caused by wage employment decreased this conversion probability, while the labor transfer caused by self-employment led to more conversion; and the increasing of income from labor transfer increased the conversion. Moreover, land use con- versions demonstrated zonal difference, which were more in Rudong and Changshu counties than in Tongshan County, and the factors influencing this conversion were different in the three regions.

The associations between resilience and socio-demographic factors in parents who care for their children with congenital heart disease

Objective To examine the resilience of parents of children with congenital heart disease and to investigate socio-demographic factors that may influence parents’resilience.Methods This is a web-based survey study using a cross-sectional design.A purposive sampling method was utilized to recruit 515 parents who care for children with congenital heart disease.Resilience was assessed using the Dispositional Resilience Scale-Ⅱ.Based on expert-interviews,a questionnaire was designed to collect socio-demographic data.Descriptive statistics,factor analysis,and linear regressions were used to analyze data.Results A total of 413 parents completed the survey study.The mean resilience score was 3.75(SD=0.61;range=1.89–4.89)with higher scores indicating higher resilience.The linear regression models demonstrated that parents who had lower education levels and lower gross household income had lower resilience(P<0.05).Conclusions Parents reported resilience that reflected their ability to cope with stressful events and mitigate stressors associated with having and caring for children with congenital heart disease.Lower education levels and lower gross household income are associated with lower resilience.To increase parents’resilience,nursing practice and nurse-led interventions should target screening and providing support for parents at-risk for lower resilience.As lower education level and financial hardship are factors that are difficult to modify through personal efforts,charitable foundations,federal and state governments should consider programs that would provide financial and health literacy support for parents at-risk for lower resilience.

Expert recommendation system based on analyzing expertise and networks of human resources in National Science & Technology Information Service

This work aims to implement expert and collaborative group recommendation services through an analysis of expertise and network relations NTIS. First of all, expertise database has been constructed by extracting keywords after indexing national R＆D information in Korea （human resources, project and outcome） and applying expertise calculation algorithm. In consideration of the characteristics of national R＆D information, weight values have been selected. Then, expertise points were calculated by applying weighted values. In addition, joint research and collaborative relations were implemented in a knowledge map format through network analysis using national R＆D information.

Special report on relationship between wind farms and power grids

The installed capacity of a large scale wind power plant will be up to a number of hundreds MW, and the wind power is transmitted to load centers through long distance transmission lines with 220 kV, 500 kV, or 750 kV. Therefore, it is necessary not only considering the power transmission line between a wind power plant and the first connection node of the power network, but also the power network among the group of those wind power plants in a wind power base, the integration network from the base to the existed grids, as well as the distribution and consumption of the wind power generation by loads. Meanwhile, the impact of wind power stochastic fluctuation on power systems must be studied. In recent years, wind power prediction technology has been studied by the utilities and wind power plants. As a matter of fact, some European countries have used this prediction technology as a tool in national power dispatch centers and wind power companies.

Review:Importance of ticks and their chemical and immunological control in livestock

The medical and economic importance of ticks has long been recognized due to their ability to transmit diseases to humans and animals. Ticks cause great economic losses to livestock, and adversely affect livestock hosts in several ways. Loss of blood is a direct effect of ticks acting as potential vector for haemo-protozoa and helminth parasites. Blood sucking by large numbers of ticks causes reduction in live weight and anemia among domestic animals, while their bites also reduce the quality of hides. However, major losses caused by ticks are due to their ability to transmit protozoan, rickettsial and viral diseases of live-stock, which are of great economic importance world-wide. There are quite a few methods for controlling ticks, but every method has certain shortcomings. The present review is focused on ticks importance and their control.

Population and Environment:Necessary Transition Initiatives for Developing Countries

Now environment is an important topic in academic field.Many researches focus on the negative outcomes of nature which are being continually created by human and much attention has been paid to how the environment is protected through integrated research,movement and policy.But few studies are concentrated on population and environment and are to find out the interconnectivity and underlying mechanism that have an effect on people's preferring additional children and perception to environment.Many researchers claim that population growth is a great problem for environment but they do not provide the indepth integrated knowledge and mechanism that influence fertility trend and environmental problems.It is very crucial to develop practical and concrete initiatives to confirm a transition to reduce population growth and redirect the perception on population and environment.

A Triangular Model for Social Work Groups： Teaching the Forgotten Practice Modality

Social Work students typically enroll in the required practice methods courses that are specified by the Council on Social Work Education. At least in the majority of BSW Programs, these practice methods courses are divided into micro-level and macro-level sequences. Individual and family systems are covered in the former sequence, while communities and organizations are the systems of focus in the latter sequence. The group system is often minimized and/or completely ignored in the process, even though there may be some reference made to groups in both practice methods sequences. Consequently, the mezzo-level system of groups is only given ＂lip-service＂ in the dyadic division of micro and macro-level practice. Furthermore, students often do not have the opportunity to practice in group settings, much less, develop competency in these professional venues. This paper describes a teaching format used in a BSW Program in an effort to ensure student competency as required in a Groups Practice course. The triangular model includes： （1） Classroom teaching of theory; （2） Practice of group dynamics; and （3） Supervision by instructors and MSW students.

China's Fumiture Industry——How to Deal with Foreign Teehnical Barriers to Trade in the Global Economic Crisis

At present,the global economic crisiscontinues to spread across the world.Theeconomies of all countries are sliding into aslump,trade protectionism is gaining ground,andexport orders have declined substantially for productprocessing and trading enterprises.Chinesefurniture companies are suffering from certainnegative impacts.China,as a large furniture producer,should draw lessons from this global economiccrisis.Furniture companies should enhancetheir capabilities of independent innovation andbrand building,increase product quality,and addvalue.In order to reduce losses from foreign technicalbarriers to trade,relevant departmentsshould strengthen their ability to respond to foreigntechnical regulation,standard,conformity assessment,inspection,and quarantine.Because agreat variety of environmental regulations areemerging endlessly,furniture companies must doa good job of producing green label certificationand actively respond to green trade barriers.

Contribution to the Investigation of Structure and Origin of the East African Graben by Gravi metry

For our investigation we have 235 measurements done in the east part of Democratic Republic of Congo by P.Herrinck during a magnetic survey including the graben region from the parallel joining Goma city and Mahagi city, the region between Albert and Aka lakes, and the route from Aba to Kinsagani. During the surveys the density of recording points has been selected according to the importance of anomalies. In this way, the offset was 1 km where the disturbance was high in Goma city and 20 km have been sufficient along the route from Aba to Kinsagani. For the topographic and isostatic reductions only one cartographic document has been chosen that was the international map of the scale 1/1 000 000 which presents a certain characteristic of homogeneity.

A Moringa Oleifera Disinfectant-Sand Filter Integration： A Review of an Alternative Sustainable Technology for Household Water Treatment

This review provides an insight and up-to-date information on the application of Moringa oleifera seeds, the short falls of existing technologies as a coagulant and disinfectant in domestic water treatment. While the coagulant properties are well reported, the disinfectant properties are not well studied. Literatures on low cost alternative technologies such as the application of hiocoagulants and slow sand filters are extensively reported. However, there is limited work addressing the limitations of these technologies that have restricted its widespread use to solve the global soaring water crises. Slow sand filters have a very slow filtration rate that depends on the biofilm layer which takes about 17 days to form. Moringa oleifera treated water cannot last more than 48 hours without bacteria regrowth. Investigation of the best method of isolating coagulant component continues with differing opinions over the nature of its coagulant ingredient not resolved in ongoing literature. An attempt was made in this paper to highlight the advantages of a Moringa disinfectant sand filter hybrid system that can purify water. Microbiological advantages of this system in providing a 100% removal of pathogens, and engineering considerations such as water treatment within an hour residence time, faster flow rates, less clogging and backwashing could be some of the advantages ofa Moringa sand filter system. The need to focus on integrating Moringa and sand filter systems for more practical applications is recommended.

Empirical assessment of adaptation to climate change impacts of mountain households:development and application of an Adaptation Capability Index

The present study proposes an index to assess the potential for adaptation to climate change for households in the mountainous regions. The index provides a realistic approach to recognize social and natural factors which contribute to successful adaptation and addresses several household functions, such as social networking, livelihood strategy, adjustment strategies, resource availability and accessibility. The proposed Adaptation Capability Index （ACI） is analytically defined, mathematically formulated and field tested on mountainous households in urban and semi-urban regions of the Uttarakhand Himalaya in India. To gather data on the topic relevant to the ACI, a household scale questionnaire was developed and administered to 12o heads of households through face-to-face interviews. The results highlight higher adaptive capability of urban households and low adaptation capacity of rural households due to poor farm productivity, low accessibility and availability of resources and technological input. Future programs and policies must include and implement regulations to remedy attributive factors responsible for higher adaptation. This paper may be applicable to other mountainous regions and may provide insights for effective adaptation strategies to climate change.

Analysis and Reflection about Necessity and Feasibility of corporate tax planning

Corporate tax planning is both an inevitable outcome of the market economy and an inevitable result of profit-driven enterprise. Through tax planning, companies can not only regulate their production and business activities, but also correctly handle the relationship between enterprise and government., The basic principles of corporate tax planning, including compliance law and consolidated financial capability, the security of national tax law and the both theory and practice of home and abroad corporate tax planning carry out the feasibility of providing guaranteed.

Exploration on Internal Inlaying Drip Irrigation Pipe and Standards

In the test, internal inlay drip irrigation pipes with different wal thicknesses or diameters （￠at 12 mm and 16 mm） were tested under varying tension forces and it was concluded that 90 N is the rational one. What’s more, the smal er drip-irrigation inner diameter, the thinner wal thickness, and the higher tension force, the lower acceptability, and the larger drip-irrigation inner diameter, the thicker wal thickness, and the lower tension force, the higher acceptability. The causes were analyzed in the research, including manufacturing technique leading to disqualifica-tion and different specifications with the same demands on techniques, and inadap-tation to tension force at 130 N.

Investigation on children's social adaptive capacity

Objective: To understand the present conditions of Children's social adaptive capacity. Methods: Using the social viability measuring list on infants-junior middle school students revised by Zuo Qi-hua, the social viability and its influence factors were investigated on 628 Children in,7 kindergartens of 4 cities in Chi-na. Results: The general trend of development of Child''s social adaptive capacity was fairly good. The rele-vance ratio on the edge level was 0. 3%. Of them 16.4% and 7% were excellent and extraordinary intelli-gence respectively. The family environment had played a very important role in child''s social adaptive capaci-ty. Conclusion: The research revealed that in the respect of training a child''s social adaptive ability, the ini-tiative of each family should be brought into full play and we should surmount the negative influence, and solve the contradiction between releasing one''s control and taking care of everything, and arouse the con-scious activity of the child, and ensure the unity and balance between the child''s own body and the living en-vironment.

Abbe Guinot： Teaching Logic during the 18th Century to Increase Scientific Abilities

In 1778, Abbe Guinot, a priest native of Lorraine and professor in the seminary of Toul, published in Nancy the two volumes of his philosophical lectures, whose subtitle is ＂On Logic.＂ This concerns a general philosophy of knowledge and a critic of philosophical systems. Guinot is interested in science and natural discoveries. He describes the organization of institutional science and appreciates the progress of sciences but he makes a distinction between scientific progress and philosophers＇ sophisms that he criticizes. In order to favor science and avoid philosophical errors, logic is essential in students＇ training. According to Guinot, logic allows us to extend our intellectual abilities, upliR our ideas, help our thought processes, and mature our reflection. However, this logic refers to the great book of nature written in mathematical language. Guinot thinks that scientific experiment is of the highest importance for accuracy of mind. This logic lecture is inspired by Aristotle but above all by Port-Royal Logic. It gives a place to Locke empiricism and it favors development of sciences. Abbe Guinot was a chaplain in the cathedral of Nancy; he emigrated in 1791. He came back in France during the Consulate and he died a few time later.

Segmentation of electricity market for households in Slovenia

This paper investigates the electricity market for households in Slovenia. The focus is on the investigation of some empirical facts in the Slovenian electricity market for households focusing on market segmentation, market concentration measures, real electricity price developments, and their implications for electrical energy consumption and consumer welfare. The authors apply descriptive statistics, Lorenz curve and Gini coefficient of concentration, and demand function using regression framework on time-series data. The authors found that the market liberalization and entry of new competitors have slightly caused variations in the patterns in real electricity price developments. Households＇ real income and real electricity prices for households are found as the crucial determinants for the electrical energy demands by households.