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China, the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide, has promised to become carbon neutral before 2060 and to begin cutting its pollutant emissions. Is China's environmental target achievable in the forthcoming 14th and 15th five-year periods (2021–2030)? Widespread attention has been devoted to end-of-pipe measurements. However, few efforts have been made to examine the optimal path of industrial upgradation with respect to the economy–energy–environment objectives. To fill this gap, this study proposes a dynamic optimization model to examine the desirable evolution path of industrial restructure. The main findings are as follows. First, to achieve the energy and environmental targets, the optimal share of tertiary industry should increase from 28% to 57% by 2030. Secondary industry should fall by 44.68%, and primary industry should be relatively stable. Second, coal will still dominate the total consumption despite a slight decline of 6.4% in the next decades. However, oil proportion may decline significantly from 26.7% to 15.2%. Non-fossil energy sources will increase from 10.6% to 28.5%. Third, with the optimization of economic structure, the GDP growth will decouple from energy consumption and gas emissions. By comparing different scenarios, it appears that the results are more sensitive to energy and emission efficiency rather than economic constraints. In the next decades, industrial upgradation will play a more important role than end-of-pipe treatment for the dual objective of economic development and environmental governance. The desirable restructuring roadmap can provide explicit guidance for future policy-making. more...

This study examines the relationship between economic growth and participation in global value chains (GVCs) and demonstrates that the U-shaped nonlinear pattern of GVCs could be more effective than the simple linear pattern of GVCs in terms of economic growth in high- and middle-income economies. The U-shaped nonlinear pattern expresses that an economy decreases foreign dominated GVCs (increases domestic value chains) for building local value chains and then raises the GVCs participation to benefit at a better position in GVCs. This paper investigates a panel of 63 advanced and emerging economies and obtained significant evidence by using systemic quantitative analysis. This research suggests that emerging markets should decrease foreign-dominated GVCs (increase high value-added domestic value chain) and then raise the participation of the GVC for economic growth. more...

This study compares the evolution of automotive sectors in Malaysia, Thailand, and China with that of Korea by focusing on industrial policy, particularly local content requirements (LCRs) and global value chains (GVCs). Although LCRs show common effects of increasing the localization ratio to a certain degree, the eventual development paths of automotive sectors diverge in the three countries. In terms of three measures of upgrading in GVC, namely, the share of domestic (or foreign) value-added in their exports, export orientation (re-exported intermediate imports), and international competitiveness of their intermediate parts (domestic value-added embodied in foreign exports), China is the most successful (highest in two measures), followed by Thailand with strong export orientation, and with Malaysia being the least successful. Such divergent outcomes in three countries are explained in terms of three key factors, namely, local ownership, disciplines from market competition, and firm-level effort and strategies. Given the monopoly by national brand makers, Malaysia lacks discipline from market competition, whereas Thailand lacks local ownership and consistency in promoting domestic value-added. China is neither a national monopoly nor dominated by foreign joint ventures, but a strong entry by locally owned firms result in fierce market competition. In addition, Chinese firms attempt to build their technological capabilities and localize the production of key parts and components. more...

A new strictly anaerobic bacterium, strain DYL19T, was enriched and isolated with phosphite as the sole electron donor and CO2 as a single carbon source and electron acceptor from anaerobic sewage sludge sampled at a sewage treatment plant in Constance, Germany. It is a Gram-positive, spore-forming, slightly curved, rod-shaped bacterium which oxidizes phosphite to phosphate while reducing CO2 to biomass and small amounts of acetate. Optimal growth is observed at 30 °C, pH 7.2, with a doubling time of 3 days. Beyond phosphite, no further inorganic or organic electron donor can be used, and no other electron acceptor than CO2 is reduced. Sulphate inhibits growth with phosphite and CO2. The G+C content is 45.95 mol%, and dimethylmenaquinone-7 is the only quinone detectable in the cells. On the basis of 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and other chemotaxonomic properties, strain DYL19T is described as the type strain of a new genus and species, Phosphitispora fastidiosa gen. nov., sp. nov. more...

This study compares foot–ankle temporal kinematics characteristics during planned and unplanned gait termination (PGT and UGT) in subjects with different arch stiffnesses (ASs) based on the statistical nonparametric mapping (SnPM) method. By measuring three-dimensional arch morphological parameters under different loading conditions, 28 healthy male subjects were classified and participated in gait termination (GT) tests to collect metatarsophalangeal (MTP) and ankle-joint kinematics data. The two-way repeated-measures ANOVA using SnPM was employed to assess the impacts of AS on foot–ankle kinematics during PGT and UGT. Our results show that joint angles (MTP and ankle joints) were altered owing to AS and GT factors. The flexible arches hahadve periods of significantly greater MTP and ankle joint angles than those of stiff arches during the stance phase of GT, whereas subjects exhibited significantly smaller ankle and MTP joint angles during UGT. These results add additional insights into the morphological arch biomechanical function, and the comprehensive compensatory adjustment of lower-limb joints during gait stopping caused by unplanned stimulation. more...

Ovarian carcinoma is one of the most common malignant cancers in women. Previous research has shown that Smad4 participates in the progression of multiple biological reactions as a crucial regulator. Nevertheless, studies on the role of Smad4 in ovarian carcinoma have been extremely limited. The study aim was to explore the mechanism underlying Smad4 regulation of HO-8910 and SKOV3 cell viability and autophagy. We observed that Smad4 gene expression in ovarian carcinoma tissues and cell lines was downregulated, and Smad4 overexpression resulted in decreased proliferation and increased autophagy in HO-8910 and SKOV3 cells (ovarian carcinoma cells). We also found that Smad4 overexpression induced apoptosis of ovarian carcinoma cells. A co-immunoprecipitation assay also revealed that Smad4 interacted with the P85 subunit of PI3K and caused its degradation and dephosphorylation. Subsequently, expression of mTOR was inhibited. Accordingly, these findings showed that further investigation of the biological mechanisms underlying ovarian carcinoma occurrence and progression is warranted, which may lead to new ovarian carcinoma treatment strategies. Impact statement This study investigated the effect and mechanism of Smad4 in ovarian carcinoma (OC) cell viability and demonstrated that Smad4 acted as a tumor suppressor in OC, which may contribute to the understanding of molecular mechanisms underlying OC occurrence and progression. Smad4 expression was decreased in the OC specimens, but Smad4 recovery in the OC cell lines impaired the survival and viability of OC cells by increasing autophagy and apoptosis. Further investigation showed that Smad4 interacted with the P85 subunit of PI3K and caused deactivation of the PI3K/mTOR pathway. Therefore, Smad4 could be considered as a target in cancer therapy due to its regulatory effect in OC carcinogenesis. more...

This paper presents a hypothesis stating that at the initial stage of growth by a latecomer, increased participation in the global value chain (GVC) is necessary to learn foreign knowledge and production skills, that functional upgrading at middle-income stage requires effort to seek separation and independence from existing foreign-dominated GVCs, and that latecomer firms and economies might have to seek reintegration back into the GVC after establishing their own local value chains. This paper aims to verify this “in–out-in-again” hypothesis by looking into firm cases of upgrading in Korea and Brazil. Trends in the share of foreign value-added in gross exports (FVA) in successful catching-up economies of Korea and Taiwan, including China recently, are consistent with this pattern. Regression results also confirm a negative correlation between the degree of local creation and diffusion of knowledge and FVA values, such that gaining increased local knowledge is a basis for increasing (reducing) domestic value-added (foreign value-added). Given that this variable of local creation and diffusion of knowledge is a key innovation system variable, this finding implies that building local innovation systems is the key in making a possible upgrade while being integrated into the GVC. more...

The indazolium halides containing various N -substituents have been conveniently prepared and applied in the palladium-catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions of aryl bromides with arylboronic acids at mild reaction conditions. The cross-coupling reaction provides the desired products in good to high yields. The ease of synthesis and the modularity, and the broad range of aryl bromides and arylboronic acids make this type of ligand attractive and promising for transition metal catalysis. more...

New C 2 -symmetric chiral sulfurous diamides were synthesized from (1 R ,2 R )-(+)-1,2-diphenylethylenediamine and used as efficient chiral sulfur–olefin hybrid ligands for enantioselective rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-addition reactions. High yields (up to 99%) and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 96%) were achieved for both cyclohexenone and cyclopentenone substrates. more...

A convenient synthesis of 1,2-dihydroquinazolines via rearrangement of indazolium salts was described. A mechanistic study using isotope labeling experiment revealed that the rearrangement passes through cleavage of N–N bond/ring opening after basic deprotonation of 2-benzyl in indazolium salts to yield intermediate E, which proceeds in an intramolecular N-nucleophilic addition to form the observed product. Computational analyses imply that the pathway of the rearrangement is determined by the energy barriers of the ring-closing process and the stability of the product. more...

The indazolium halides containing various N -substituents have been conveniently prepared and applied in the palladium-catalyzed Suzuki–Miyaura cross-coupling reactions of aryl bromides with arylboronic acids at mild reaction conditions. The cross-coupling reaction provides the desired products in good to high yields. The ease of synthesis and the modularity, and the broad range of aryl bromides and arylboronic acids make this type of ligand attractive and promising for transition metal catalysis. more...

New C 2 -symmetric chiral sulfurous diamides were synthesized from (1 R ,2 R )-(+)-1,2-diphenylethylenediamine and used as efficient chiral sulfur–olefin hybrid ligands for enantioselective rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric 1,4-addition reactions. High yields (up to 99%) and excellent enantioselectivities (up to 96%) were achieved for both cyclohexenone and cyclopentenone substrates. more...

Unfortunately the wrong surname of the guest editor Sampath was inserted during the typesetting process. The correct name is Gehl Sampath.

This chapter describes reforms in the supervision and regulation of China’s commercial banking system. The new regulation reforms under conditions of interest rate liberalization are discussed.