Group movements of insects are bases for unravelling origin of social behavior of animals and are important in both theoretical (e.g., evolution) and practical (monitoriing) aspects. Automatic recognition and effective computational methods were developed for characterizing multi-individual interactions in laboratory conditions. Movements of Drosophila species in different genetic strains were continuously observed across days. Characteristic behaviors are objectively expressed based on parameter extraction and data structure visualization. Group activities, including aggregation, inter-individual interactions and arena positioning were objectively characterized in different photo- and scoto-phases according to machine-learning and spatio-termporal patterning techniques. Individual-group relationships are presented regarding how individual movements would contribute to formulating group activities. Usefulness of automatic monitoring of insect group movement is further discussed for a basis for genetic functioning in behavioral aspect.

The Chinese Marriage Law 2001 stipulates two kinds of divorce: registered divorce and litigated divorce. In this paper, the different grounds and procedures related to these two types of divorce will be examined and the judicial statistics and empirical experience about the legal system of grounds for divorce in practice will be explored. Compared to litigated divorce, the easier registered divorce predominates in terms of number. While the sole legal requirement for litigated divorce is that the marriage has broken down irretrievably, this breakdown needs to be evidenced by specific facts. The facts listed in Marriage Law 2001 are mostly fault-based. However, they are not in line with the situation in practice and increase the difficulty of litigated divorce. The legislative reform for the legal grounds for divorce in the Chinese Civil Code (2021) has been undergone in order to strike a balance between protecting people’s autonomy to divorce and assisting people to make divorce decisions.

Effective processing and use of coal slime is of great significance to protect the environment and save resources. Different coal slimes (untreated with 43 wt% ash content, crushed and flotation treated with 10 wt% ash content, and pre-carbonized) were activated with KOH to prepare porous activated carbon. The results show the activated carbon prepared from coal slime with 10 wt% ash had high specific surface area (3037 m2/ g) and pore volume (1.66 cm3/ g), which was ascribed to the suitable contents of minerals as template and oxygen-containing functional groups. Electrochemical measurements exhibited the best specific capacitance of 220 F/g at 0.1 A/g and the cycle stability of over 100% capacitance retention after 1000 cycles at 5 A/g in 6 M KOH solution. Due to the high specific surface area, superior electrochemical performance, and facile and low cost, developing highly porous activated carbon for supercapacitors is one alternative way for effective use of coal slime waste.

본문은 『小學文獻序跋彙編』에 수록된 역대 소학 관련서의 서와 발 중 학자들의 “정자”와 관련된 이론적 견해를 발췌하여 학술사의 관점에서 정자관을 정리하고, 역대 학자들의 정자관을 객관적으로 평가하였다. 또한, 오늘날 진행 중인 한자의 표준화 작업이 지니는 실제적 의미도 고찰해 보았다. 역대 학자들의 정자관은 각각 차이점이 존재하지만, 본 연구를 통해 과학적 정자관은 한자 발전의 객관적 법칙을 따르고, 한자의 구성 원리에 맞는 정자 표준을 지키고 있다는 사실을 알게 되었다. 우리는 이러한 역사적 사실을 토대로 역대 학자들의 과학적 정자 방법 및 경험을 수용하고 현대 사회의 실제 문자사용 양상과 부합하는 올바른 정자관을 견지하며 효과적인 한자 표준화 방안을 세워야 할 것이다.

Since the traditional definition of ‘foreign elements’ cannot meet the new requirements of the arbitration of China’s FTZs, Chinese judicial practice must create a useful supplement to already established standards. In free trade zone arbitration cases, Chinese courts determine foreign elements based on the standards of subject, object, and legal facts. In this regard, the explanation for ‘other circumstances’ in the First Judicial Interpretation of the Supreme Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law of the PRC on Foreign-Related Relations is based on the three abovementioned elements. The Chinese arbitration system and legislation must be further perfected; however, overly broad standards may impede China’s domestic arbitration system. Moreover, China must add certain restrictions to the standards: judges should distinguish the artificial foreign elements created by contracting parties, controversial civil relations should have a material connection with foreign countries, and discretion should be reasonable with sufficient nucleus.

Introduction Over the past 30 years, Chinese textile and clothing manufacturers have successfully established themselves as leading original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for world markets. This reputable position requires dedicated cost management; however, incremental increases in labor, land prices, rent, and production costs in China threaten and may eventually eliminate their OEM advantage (Yam, Lo, Sun, & Tang, 2003). The worldwide economic and business recession has intensified cost cutting measures as the essential survival tool for maintaining competitiveness. Since the mid-1990s, many Chinese companies have begun to recognize the importance of developing their own global brands and moving up the value-creation ladder (Fan, 2006). One such company is Aimer Group, Ltd., a vertically integrated premium underwear manufacturer. Initially founded in 1993 as an OEM, Aimer quickly transitioned to establish its own brands in domestic markets and, in recent years, has ventured into international markets. Currently, Aimer and its umbrella product lines are among the most recognized underwear brands in China with a manufacturing capacity of 10 million pieces. Their merchandise includes an array of women’s, men’s, teen girl’s and children’s lines as well as custom-made lingerie. According to the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, Aimer Group has maintained the highest market share and the largest sales volume in the underwear sector for several years in China’s markets (Aimer, 2011). Objectives The purpose of the study was to investigate the design strategies implemented by Aimer to support their successful branding efforts. Specifically, the researchers seek to find: (a) the core elements in Aimer’s design strategies; (b) Aimer designers’ approach to product development; and (c) How design strategies support Aimer’s overall branding and marketing strategies. Findings will provide valuable implications for other Chinese apparel manufacturers who strive to integrate design innovation in order to remain competitive. Research Method A case study method was implemented which included: on-site visits to Aimer Group’s headquarters, manufacturing facility, and retail stores in Beijing; in-depth interviews with Aimer Groups’ Chairman, senior management, Chief Design Officer, designers, retail store managers, and the general manger of the Beijing manufacturing facility; and a review of the company website and other internal documents, as well as an extensive external search of relevant news reports, social media contents, industry information, and academic literature. A qualitative data analysis method was utilized. Findings Aimer brands have grown and matured along with the Chinese consumers. Until the late 1990s, consumers passively accepted whatever the industry provided for them. Today, 15 years later, consumers have become keenly aware of what they want in underwear and that desire drives the industry’s new product development. Aimer’s design strategies are consumer-centric but also a reflection of its internal strategic direction. Its core elements include the following: (1) Understanding consumer lifestyles: Extensive fashion industry trend analysis, consumer research, and market/sale feedback are just starting points for product development at Aimer. In addition, they use broader consumer lifestyle analysis, including an examination of new technology trends, consumer preferences for jewelry, cosmetics, car and cell phone designs, popular video/computer games, consumers’ financial management behaviors, and societal hot topics as a way of guiding product design. (2) Innovation: Innovation is of paramount importance in Aimer’s product development. They have maintained active partnerships with international suppliers and Research & Development teams to ensure the latest fiber discoveries, fabric developments, and pattern engineering technology are incorporated into new product design. (3) Tradition preserved and reinvented: Aimer brands keep certain essential elements integral to their overall style, reinventing and integrating heritage elements into new designs. By doing so, brand history is enriched and continuity sustained. Aspers (2010) suggests that product development must embrace contextual knowledge: the designer’s general knowledge of fashion and their lifeworld. Each domain is used to interpret fashion. A designer’s lifeworld comprises their inherent values and beliefs, presenting challenges when creating products for consumers who live in different lifeworld. Aimer’s solutions to the challenge include the following: (1) Designers as entrepreneurs: Designers are trained to be entrepreneurs who must think of design not only from creative aspects but also within a business context. The company has established effective protocols for new product design and adoption procedures and standards; meanwhile, designers are provided with weekly sales records as market feedback to guide their future design directions. They are also given opportunities on a regular basis to travel to various international and domestic markets to gain first-hand experience and knowledge of fashion trends and consumers. (2) Teamwork: Designers from various regions of China and internationally are grouped in teams and assigned to work together on brands. This provides ample opportunity for them to interact and learn from each other so that their lifeworld is expanded. Branding literature suggests that consumer’s individual and shared brand experiences affect a consumer-brand relationship (Chang, Long, Chieng, & Hua, 2006) which is of critical importance to brand loyalty. Aimer’s design strategies support its branding and marketing strategies by: (a) contributing to consumers’ positive, consistent, and multi-dimensional brand knowledge as a part of the brand-leveraging process (Keller, 2003); (b) providing value-added product and service features to enhance brand-augmentation (Magrath, 1997); and (c) offering strong and effective design capacity for brand tiering (Magrath, 1997). Implications Based on the findings, implications for Chinese apparel manufacturers who strive to upgrade with design innovation will be discussed.

For more than two decades, the intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) technique has been used as a valuable tool to provide opportunities for studying fertilization, treating human infertility, and producing transgenic animals. Not only in facilitating fertilization but also in propagating mammalian species, ICSI has enhanced the potential of assisted reproductive technologies in human. Polyspermic fertilization has been one of major problems in pig reproduction, but the ICSI helped to solve the problem, and used widely to generate transgenic piglets. Although the ICSI technique is considered to be a very useful tool in assisted reproductive technologies, including generation of transgenic animals, there are some disadvantages using the technique. In this review, we describe the ICSI technique and its application in animal production and human infertility, and discuss advantage and disadvantage of the technique in mammals.

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of NEAA and leptin supplemented to in vitro culture medium on the developmental competence of porcine embryos after intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), and to modify the culture condition to improve the quality and the development of ICSI-derived porcine embryos in vitro. After ICSI, the putative zygotes were then cultured in PZM-3 medium with/without NEAA or leptin. The proportion of embryos that developed to the blastocyst stage significantly increased when 1% NEAA (24.62%) was added to the medium compared with 2% NEAA and no NEAA group (17.24% and 20.24%, respectively, p<0.05). The effect of different concentration of leptin (0, 10, 100, 500 ng/ml) was evaluated on the development of porcine ICSI embryos cultured in vitro. In case of blastocyst formation, 100 ng/ml group (27.05%) showed significantly higher rate than 10, 500 ng/ml, and control group (23.45%, 17.99%, and 19.68%, respectively, p<0.05). We also evaluated the effects of different NEAA and leptin treatment time on the development of porcine embryos after ICSI. Among groups of embryos cultured in the presence of NEAA or leptin for whole 7 days (D 1-7), first 4 days (D 1-4), the subsequent 3 days (D 5-7), both NEAA (27.13%, 21.17 %, and 17.56%, respectively, p<0.05) and leptin (25.60%, 20.61%, and 16.53%, respectively, p<0.05) showed that supplementation for whole 7 days significantly increased the blastocyst formation rate compared with the other groups of D1-4 and D5-7. We further evaluated the combination effect of 1% NEAA and 100 ng/ml leptin compared with the effect of each supplementation with 1% NEAA or 100 ng/ml leptin or no supplementation on development of embryos. For blastocyst formation, combination group of NEAA and leptin (24.78%) showed significantly higher rate than other three groups (18.37%, 20.44 %, and 13.27%, respectively, p<0.05). We further evaluated the expression of proapoptosis genes such as BAX and BAK and anti-apoptosis genes, BCL-XL and BCL-2 in blastocysts cultured in the presence of 100 ng/ml leptin. RT-PCR analysis revealed that leptin supplementation significantly decreased the expression of pro-apoptosis genes as well as increased the expression of anti-apoptosis genes. These results of present study demonstrate that NEAA and leptin could improve the in vitro development of ICSI- derived porcine embryos with optimal concentration of each reagent. Furthermore, the optimal culture condition could increase the quality of ICSI-derived embryos in vitro.

In this paper, by investigating soil, field vegetation, and surface wind erosion status, combining in2 door analysis, the effect of vegetation recovery on sandy degraded grassland in Yanchi is studied. The results show t㏊t : after the process of protective growth, grazing rest and reseeding, the plant species and vegetation coverage are increased, and biomasses are enhanced about 66. 3214, at the same time, the effect of the measure of combining protective growth, grazing rest and reseeding is better t㏊n t㏊t of single protective growth and grazing rest, the formers biomass is 1. 54 times more t㏊n the latter. With the fixing of drifting - sand and the recovering of vegetation in demonstration area, the content s of physical clay minerals, organic matter, total N, available P and available K are all increased compared with those on drifting - sand. The thickness of wind erosion in drifting - sand control area is reduced, and the thickness is different in different vegetation recovering area, in which Artemisia sphaerocephala planting area suffers slight wind erosion; Caragana korshinskii forest present s slightly accumulating status, the accumulating thickness in Tamarix and Salix psammophila forest is the most.

The mechanical properties of ferrous powder metallurgy (P/M) materials are directly related to their microstructure. Ferrous P/M materials with sufficient hardenability will develop microstructures containing significant percentages of martensite in the as-sintered condition. Recently, sinter-hardening has developed into a highly cost effective production method through hardened P/M parts without the need for additional heat-treatments. This paper reviews the advances of sinter-hardening as well as some key processing parameters such as sintering temperature, cooling rate, tempering required to produce high quality sinter-hardened components. Specific topics including effect of alloying elements, alloying methods, and the Characterization and observation of microstructure are discussed.

An apparatus measuring changes of various forces directly and continuously was developed by a way of direct touch between powders and transmitting force component, which can be used to study forces state of powders during warm compaction. Using the apparatus, warm compaction processes of iron-based powder materials containing different lubricants at different temperatures were studied. Results show that densification of the iron-based powder materials can be divided into four stages, in which powder movement changes from robustness to weakness, while its degree of plastic deformation changes from weakness to robustness.

This study aims to investigate whether Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) performance can help companies gain more bank unsecured loans. Additionally, this study analyzes the moderating effect of firm size and industry characteristics. Data was collected through the case of companies listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange or the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in China between 2009 and 2018 with 5373 firmyear observations. The results of multivariable regression analysis show that good CSR performance exhibits a strong positive impact on unsecured debt, including short-term, long-term, and total unsecured debt, which indicates that corporate with good CSR performance can borrow more unsecured debt. further research shows that this effect is more pronounced for small enterprises and firms operating in heavy-polluting industries. Additionally, research on the impact mechanism finds that good CSR performance can help mitigate information asymmetry between borrower and lender, reduce moral hazard of borrower, and obtain support from key stakeholders, and therefore reduces the risk of default. The findings of this study suggest that firms with good CSR performance exhibit a preference for unsecured debt, but decline to provide collateral for debt. Overall, we emphasize and illustrate the important role of corporate CSR in bank credit financing.