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This study analyzes the effect of China’s import dominance on Africa’s structural transformation, measured through the Shapley decomposition approach. A pooled mean group Autoregressive Distributed Lag (PMG-ARDL) model is analyzed using panel data from 1995–2018 for 21 countries. We find that Chinese imports of goods and services, like those from the rest of the world, increase Africa’s structural transformation in the long-run. However, the magnitude of the coefficient for China is larger than that of the rest of the world for both goods and services (total). The Chinese impact on Africa’s structural transformation is mainly through capital goods and other commercial services (such as ICT, financial, and construction), whose coefficients are larger than those of the rest of the world. Imposing barriers on Chinese imports is not a viable option for African countries. Instead, they should pursue policies that enrich the manufacturing sector, including adopting an Africa-wide trade agreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the influence of microfinance institutions' (MFIs) financial innovation on structural transformation. For this purpose, we considered a household survey from Nepal. The survey collected data on various individual and household characteristics, borrowing patterns, and occupations over the years. The key question focused on occupations before and after borrowing, a categorical response variable indicating 1 for occupational change after borrowing and 0 otherwise. Therefore, we use logistic regression to estimate the probability of occupational change, given two measures of financial innovation: loan purpose and size. The results show that the number of households involved in agriculture significantly decreased, with the majority switching to businesses and convenience stores, indicating a shift to the manufacturing and service sectors. These findings suggest that MFIs contribute to local-level structural transformation by enabling borrowers to move away from traditional employment. This study has important implications for policymakers, development practitioners, and academics interested in promoting economic development through microfinancing in low-income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have been widely used in physics, chemistry, and medicine due to their large porosity and adjustable pores, high specific surface area, and good chemical and thermal stability. Most MOFs are structurally stable, but they still undergo morphological transformation and structural transformation under the stimulating factors, and these transformations are unavoidable. In this paper, we focus on the transformations of MOF under the different factors, such as chemistry, electrochemistry, photochemistry, thermochemistry and so on. Structure-property relationship is also discussed. What's more, the future development trends and challenges of MOF are also described. • Recent metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) for different applications are reviewed. • Transformation of MOFs in different factors is summarized. • Future developments and challenges of MOF application are highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern detection technology has driven camouflage technology toward multispectral compatibility and dynamic regulation. However, developing such stealth technologies is challenging due to different frequency-band principles. Here, this work proposes a design concept for a fluid-actuated multispectral compatible smart stealth device that employs a deformable mechanochromic layer/elastomer with a channeled dielectric layer. After fluid actuation, the deformable elastomer layer transmits mechanical strain to the mechanochromic layer, thereby altering the visible reflectance wavelengths in [568, 699] nm. Concurrently, the pumped-in liquid reconfigures the spatial structure parameter to alter microwave resonance and diffraction for dynamic radar absorption, enabling dynamic radar absorption with significant broadband absorption at [8.16, 18.0] GHz. Using the heat-absorption property also achieves dynamic infrared stealth, shown by a Δ T ≈ 16.5 °C temperature difference. Additionally, the device exhibits a rapid response time (∼1 s), excellent cycling performance (100 cycles), and programmability (10 codes), offering a new stealth strategy.