Dissemination of Information Communication Technologies: Mobile Government Practices in Developing States

Information Communication Technologies (ICT) has offered m-government applications as an intermediate technology to provide effective and efficient government services to the public. Due to high rate of corruptions in developing states, government policies diversified governmental services from offline to virtualized perspective to expose accessibility, transparency, accountability and accessibility through mobile government. Deployment of such ICT tool also exposed a unique opportunity for the recovery of the public confidence against government which has damaged due to corruption activities in country. Virtualization of the government services became compulsory due to high rate of corruption that occurred in the economic context and it became a serious obstacle for economic development of developing states. The virtualized services aimed to harmonize governmental services into mobile platform in order to become more transparent to the public. This research paper comparatively investigates the mobile government services that are located in Malta and Singapore which are classified as developing countries. The criteria of the comparison have done based on demographic structure of the country, M-government policies and ICT infrastructure of the country. The findings of this study exposed the impact of e-government practices and differences between them in terms of applicability and provide a specific point of view for m-government adoption policy.

Alternative States of Saline Lake Ecosystems and Development of Salinology

Modern hydrobiology,mainly,is based on conception,which may be named Conception of unicity of ecosystem stable state(CUESS):Mature ecosystems are stable and in dynamic equilibrium.Ecosystem state fluctuates around

Levels of economic developement and the spread of coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)in 50 U.S.states and territories and 28 European countries:an association analysis of aggregated data

Background:The coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)became a global pandemic within several months after it was first reported at the end of December,2019.Countries in the Northern Hemisphere have been affected the most,including the United States and European countries.Contrary to the common knowledge that infectious diseases are more prevalent in low-and middle-income countries,COVID-19 appears to affect wealthy countries more.This paper attempts to quantify the relationship between COVID-19 infections and levels of economic development with data from the U.S.and Europe.Methods:Public domain data on the confirmed COVID-19 cases during January 1 and May 31,2020 by states and territories in the U.S.and by countries in Europe were included.Incidence rate was estimated using the 2019 total population.COVID-19 cases were associated with 2019 gross domestic product(GDP)using regression models after a logarithmic transformation of the data.The U.S.data and European data were analyzed separately,considering significant heterogeneity between the two.Results:A total of 2451691 COVID-19 cases during a 5-month period were analyzed,including 1787414 from 50 U.S.states and territories and 664277 from 28 European countries.The overall incidence rate was 5.393/1000 for the U.S.and 1.411/1000 for European countries with large variations.Lg(total cases)was significantly associated with lg(GDP)for U.S.states(=1.2579,P<0.001)and European countries(=0.7156,P<0.001),respectively.Conclusion:This study demonstrated a positive correlation between COVID-19 case incidence and GDP in the United States and 28 European countries.Study findings suggest a potential role of high-level development in facilitating infectious disease spread,such as more advanced transportation system,large metropolitan cities with high population density,better domestic and international travel for businesses,leisure,and more group activities.These factors must be considered in controlling the COVID-19 epidemic.This study focuses on the impact of economic development,many other factors might also have contributed to the rapid spread of COVID-19 in these countries and states,such as differences in national and statewide anti-epidemic strategies,people's behavior,and healthcare systems.Besides,low-and middle-income countries may have an artificially low COVID-19 case count just due to lack of diagnostic capabilities.Findings of this study also encourage future research with individual-level data to detect risk factors at the personal level to understand the risk of COVID-19.

Toward sustainable waste management in small islands developing states: integrated waste-to-energy solutions in Maldives context

Effective waste management is a major challenge for Small Island Developing States (SIDS) like Maldives due to limited land availability. Maldives exemplifies these issues as one of the most geographically dispersed countries, with a population unevenly distributed across numerous islands varying greatly in size and population density. This study provides an in-depth analysis of the unique waste management practices across different regions of Maldives in relation to its natural and socioeconomic context. Data shows Maldives has one of the highest population density and per capita waste generation among SIDS, despite its small land area and medium GDP per capita. Large disparities exist between the densely populated capital Male’ with only 5.8 km2 area generating 63% of waste and the ~194 scattered outer islands with ad hoc waste management practices. Given Male’s dense population and high calorific waste, incineration could generate up to ~30 GW/a energy and even increase Maldives’ renewable energy supply by 200%. In contrast, decentralized anaerobic digestion presents an optimal solution for outer islands to reduce waste volume while providing over 40%–100% energy supply for daily cooking in local families. This timely study delivers valuable insights into designing context-specific waste-to-energy systems and integrated waste policies tailored to Maldives’ distinct regions. The framework presented can also guide other SIDS facing similar challenges as Maldives in establishing sustainable, ecologically sound waste management strategies.

China-Arab States Expo:Practical Cooperation for New Opportunities and Future Development

The autumn of Ningxia is always fresh and cold.The fourth China-Arab States Expo,organized by the Ministry of Commerce,the CCPIT and the Ningxia government,was held in Yinchuan during September 5-8,2019.About 2,900 regional organizations,business associations,institutions and enterprises under 107 exhibition groups from 89 countries participated into the expo.

Balancing Development and Security in the Context of Containment and Pressure by the United States

The United States is launching an all-out crackdown against China in the name of competition,which has posed increasingly severe challenges to development and security in China.The strategic competition between China and the United States is becoming an essential part of once-in-a-century changes that is shaping the world today.Under such circumstances,the Communist Party of China applies a holistic approach to national security,which aims to balance development and security as well as opening up and security.Furthermore,it intends to implement the national rejuvenation strategy within the wider context of once-ina-century global changes.Managing China’s affairs well to achieve a dynamic balance and positive interaction among high-quality development,high-level security,and high-standard opening-up can provide the basis for realizing the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and response to containment by the United States.While fostering a new development paradigm,China advances scientific and technological innovation and pursues common prosperity.Moreover,it defends national security through firm but flexible struggles and promotes safe development by accelerating domestic circulation.However,China needs to control the costs of its security investment,pay equal attention to the risks and gains brought about by its opening-up policy,and,thus,enhance its capability to compete with the United States in the long term.

China's study on coal mining beneath surface buildings——state-of-the-art and developing trend

Extensive coal deposits are sterilized beneath surface buildings in China. The paper elaborates on the present status of the study on mining beneath surface buildings from several aspects involving the techniques for reducing ground subsidence and deformation and the measures for protecting buildings. Following that, it is pointed out that, in the future, more efforts should be directed forwards the following aspects: the laws governing the ground movement; the techniques for constructing anti-deformation buildings; coal-bed gasification and protection of buildings; grouting of the overlying strata with bed separation phenomena; and the method for evaluating the stability of the ground above a worked-out area.

Deployment Challenges of Offshore Renewable Energy Systems for Sustainability in Developing Countries

This research aims to expose deployment challenges of offshore renewable energy systems in developing countries. The investigation of the deployment model covers climate conditions, economic conditions, necessary infrastructure services and wind power by considering the case of Cyprus Island which is one of the Small Island Developing States (SIDS) countries. The convenience of Offshore Energy Systems to the territory and their systematic proper work is an important issue. Because of that, the setting up of Offshore Wind Energy Tribunes in Cyprus, the planning process, structuring of cost values and necessary resources, the investigation of the geographic conditions for obtaining the energy flow and assessment of these conditions for Offshore Wind Tribunes are the prime objectives of this study. The orientation period and the applicable qualifications of the offshore energy systems were evaluated on the basis of the world wide references. The study is concluded by the estimation of the advantages and disadvantages of the system for Cyprus.

Characteristics of Agricultural Development on the Sanjiang Plain： Case Study of Irrigation and Drainage Development of State Farm

The Sanjiang Plain, formed with confluence of the Amur River, Ussuri River and Songhua River, is one of the three major stretches of wetland in the world. The large-scale agricultural development on the Sanjiang Plain started at the end of the 40s of the 20th century. The low-lying terrain and frequent floods caused a lot of difficulties to the agricultural development in the area. Water conservancy program has always been the kernel in agricultural development on the Sanjiang Plain in its history. The entities involved in its development project from different levels, including the state, state farms and farmers. Thus far, we have used the findings of their analysis of the paddy field development process at one state farm to take a microscopic approach to shed light on the development of paddy fields by farms and farmers and their roles in subsequent rice production. Because paddy field management on the Sanjiang Plain is very broad, but its rice producing techniques and economic structure have a certain definite form, the microscopic approach to understanding the paddy field development process and rice fanning management structure on the level of farmers could be considered a success. This paper is intended to elucidate from a macroscopic perspective the characteristics of the rapid development of irrigation and drainage systems and paddy fields on the Sanjiang Plain. Sanjiang Plain is a flood plain, and so major infrastructure development was required, thereby necessitating this national project for flood control. As politics and an economic integrated body, state farms also contributed to the promotion of agricultural development. As principals for the development, the state and state farms are taken by this paper as the main objects of our analysis.

The development of brain functional connectivity networks revealed by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging

Previous studies on brain functional connectivity networks in children have mainly focused on changes in function in specific brain regions, as opposed to whole brain connectivity in healthy children. By analyzing the independent components of activation and network connectivity between brain regions, we examined brain activity status and development trends in children aged 3 and 5 years. These data could provide a reference for brain function rehabilitation in children with illness or abnormal function. We acquired functional magnetic resonance images from 15 3-year-old children and 15 5-year-old children under natural sleep cond让ions. The participants were recruited from five kindergartens in the Nanshan District of Shenzhen City, China. The parents of the participants signed an informed consent form with the premise that they had been fully informed regarding the experimental protocol. We used masked independent component analysis and BrainNet Viewer software to explore the independent components of the brain and correlation connections between brain regions. We identified seven independent components in the two groups of children, including the executive control network, the dorsal attention network, the default mode network, the left frontoparietal network, the right frontoparietal network, the salience network, and the motor network. In the default mode network, the posterior cingulate cortex, medial frontal gyrus, and inferior parietal lobule were activated in both 3- and 5-year-old children, supporting the "three-brain region theory” of the default mode network. In the frontoparietal network, the frontal and parietal gyri were activated in the two groups of children, and functional connectivity was strengthened in 5-year-olds compared with 3-year-olds, although the nodes and network connections were not yet mature. The high-correlation network connections in the default mode networks and dorsal attention networks had been significantly strengthened in 5-year-olds vs. 3-year-olds. Further, the salience network in the 3-year-old children included an activated insula/inferior frontal gyrus-anterior cingulate cortex network circu让 and an activated thalamus-parahippocampal-posterior cingulate cortex-subcortical regions network circuit. By the age of 5 years, no des and high-correlation network connections (edges) were reduced in the salience network. Overall, activation of the dorsal attention network, default mode network, left frontoparietal network, and right frontoparietal network increased (the volume of activation increased, the signals strengthened, and the high-correlation connections increased and strengthened) in 5-year-olds compared with 3-year-olds, but activation in some brain nodes weakened or disappeared in the salience network, and the network connections (edges) were reduced. Between the ages of 3 and 5 years, we observed a tendency for function in some brain regions to be strengthened and for the generalization of activation to be reduced, indicating that specialization begins to develop at this time. The study protocol was approved by the local ethics committee of the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences in China with approval No. SIAT-IRB- 131115-H0075 on November 15, 2013.

Perspective on the Economic Evolution of the European Union States Under the Impact of the Pandemic and Financial-Economic Crisis

The European Union,which is at the beginning of its term of office for all Member States in the European Parliament,the European Commission,its governing body and the Member States,is concerned with finalizing directives and future development strategies.Of course,the fundamental objective of the European Union would be to establish strategies to ensure economic growth in all the Member States of the European Union and,on the other hand,to establish how each Member State seeks to implement the European directives aimed at this end desideratum.There are a number of areas in which some countries,especially those that have joined European Union in recent waves,still have difficulty responding to the European Union’s desires and concerns to ensure economic growth,with a tendency to level the playing field trains in the next period.It aims at establishing a minimum wage in the European Union,divides a number of other issues in the field of environment,in the field of economic development,being important challenges for all Member States.Of course,it should be noted that these Member States have different possibilities to respond to these challenges,through strategies that correlate,on the one hand,the individual interests of each of the Member States,but at the same time,in close coordination(correlation)with the major objectives set by the European Union.All these aspects are important,but must be reconsidered,in the context of the global effect of the pandemic and financial-economic crisis.The European Union is now considering a program to support all states,but especially those most affected by the above-mentioned crisis.

Deepening China's Investment System Reform——The State Development Investment Corporation

The Chinese government set up the State Development Bank against the background of the Chinese economic system being transformed from planned to market. In May 1995, the State Development Investment Corporation was established. Does this mean that China’s investment system reform is advancing at a much

The State Power Grid Development Ltd Corp. officially established

The establishment of the State Power Grid Development Corp Ltd(SPG) was officially announced on June 18, marking the government’s determination to form a nationwide united power network to make the best of power generating capability. The State-owned corporation, with 2.5 billion yuan ($301 million) worth of operating capital raised by the government, will be responsible for investment. construction and management of the power transmission and substation projects involved in the construction of the Three Gorges Project.

Promote Sound Development of China's Medicine Industry——Interview with Zheng Xiaoyu, Director-General of State Administration of Medicines

In the practice of instituting the system of intellectual property, medicine production is one of the key points concerning people inside and outside China. In the past six years, the medicine industry has undergone rapid development in the wake of the market economy. Although some problems cropped up in 1994, a series of laws, policies, regulations and measures has been formulated for strengthening administration. This shows how the protection of intellectual property and the deepening reform of the medicine industry are being enhanced by the Chinese government.

A Study of Chinese Students in the United States and Its Implication for English Teaching in China

Language acquisition is a system with four components： language development, academic development, cognitive development and sociocultural development. Based on this theory, Chinese students in the United States are studied from three perspectives： linguistically, culturally, and social psychologically. It indicated that, to help Chinese students develop their English performance and cultural appreciation in this diverse world, the profession of English teaching in China should cover a variety of domains, including linguistic, cultural and psychological input. Both American and Chinese education can benefit from this special group of Chinese students if they can be better understood, and used as a bridge between China and U. S. cultural and academic exchange. In the meantime, the mirror held up to the Chinese students in these perspectives reflects not only who they are but also who they can become.

The Department of Social Development of the State Planning Commission

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State Restructuring and Urban Innovation Development in Post-re­form China:Shanghai’s Innovation Action in Review

Given the ample evidences from present studies on national-level innovation policies evolution and mechanisms,this paper contributes to a city-level understanding towards innovation-related state restructuring,the consequent innovation policy change and its relational performance with urban development in post-reform Shanghai,China from an input-output perspective.It unfolds that state restructuring relinquishing state power to the market has revived non-government innovation activities and a synchronous,though a bit backward,firms-oriented transition towards innovation development in Shanghai throughout 1990s has been observed.Though scholars are reluctant to label the party-state in post-reform China as a developmental state due to dysfunctionality of state intervention in corporate sectors,in the field of technological upgrading,such top-down,elite driven and state-sponsored mode giving priority to innovation competitiveness well captures the developmental state model at local level,thus exhibits elements of local developmental state.Impacts of this restructuring and policy change are substantial,which can be observed in the soaring increase of science and technology expenditures and patents applications in Shanghai.Additional analysis further unveils that in most circumstances,innovation growth kept paces with urban development,yet its synergy with economic development and permanent residents is more significant than with other aspects.

Promoting East-West Interaction Exclusive interview with Dr.Cao Yushu,Deputy Director of the Office of the Leading Group for Western Region Development at the State Council

Economic growth and environmental "friendliness" are the dual missions of China's grand western development. In the past eight years,China has seen the gap between eastern and western regions still widening while also taking on the arduous task of protecting nature,ecology and environment in the western region. How has western development fared in the past eight years? What difficulties and challenges are being encountered? The development of the western region poses the single greatest difficulty facing China's regional economic development,but how can we advance along a "sound and fast" development path? The establishment of economic zones in Chengdu and Chongqing,Guanzhong and North Bay has opened up new possibilities and expectations for western China's economic development.