Nanocomposites are high performance materials which reveal rare properties. Nanocomposites have an estimated annual growth rate of 25% and fastest demand to be in engineering plastics and elastomers. Their prospective is so prominent that they are valuable in numerous areas ranging from packaging to biomedical applications. In this review, the various types of matrix nanocomposites are discussed highlighting the need for these materials, their processing approaches and some recent results on structure, properties and potential applications. Perspectives include need for such future materials and other interesting applications. Being environmentally friendly, applications of nanocomposites propose new technology and business opportunities for several sectors of the aerospace, automotive, electronics and biotechnology industries.

The market demand for uniformity and productivity of commercial carrot roots has prioritized hybrid materials over open-pollinated varieties. In this sense, the objective of this work was to estimate the combining ability of carrot genitors for root productivity and resistance to leaf scorch. The experiments were conducted in Gama, DF, in the agricultural years 2012/13 and 2013/14. We evaluated 33 carrot hybrids, originated from crosses between three male-sterile populations, with 11 male-fertile S2 lines, all the genitors being of tropical origin. At 90 days after sowing, the severity of the leaf blight disease was estimated in the plots. At 100 days after sowing, harvesting was performed and root yield characters were evaluated. Analysis of variance and partial diallel analysis were performed for each year and jointly for both years. It was found that additive and non-additive genes are important in the manifestation of root yield and leaf blight resistance traits in carrot hybrids. The male-sterile parents with higher overall combining ability for root productivity are strains LM-649 and LM-650 and, among the male-fertile, strain LM-555-2-2. The best hybrids for root yield and leaf blight resistance are LM-649 × LM-555-11-1, LM-650 × LM-555-7-1 and LM-650 × LM-554-8-1.

Developing Asia’s infrastructure gap results from both inadequate public resources and a lack of effective channels to mobilize private resources toward desired outcomes. The public-private partnership (PPP) mechanism has evolved to fill the infrastructure gap. However, PPP projects are often at risk of becoming distressed, or worst, being terminated because of the long-term nature of contracts and the many different stakeholders involved. This paper applies survival-time hazard analysis to estimate how project-related, macroeconomic, and institutional factors affect the hazard rate of the projects. Empirical results show that government’s provision of guarantees, involvement of multilateral development banks, and existence of a dedicated PPP unit are important for a project’s success. Privately initiated proposals should be regulated and undergo competitive bidding to reduce the hazard rate of the project and the corresponding burden to the government. Economic growth leads to successful project outcomes. Improved legal and institutional environment can ensure PPP success.

The project finance scenario has changed significantly around the world after the 2008 financial crisis and following the subsequent Basel III recommendations. Project finance loans from commercial banks and financial institutions have largely dried up, leaving it mostly to the export credit agencies and the bilateral and multilateral development banks to provide the institutional credit. Unfortunately, those sources are not enough, given the huge needs for construction of new infrastructure and renovation of the old ones across Asia, Africa and Latin America. The need for capital markets, through market listed financial products across asset class, unlocking a large part of domestic and corporate savings, has never been felt as strongly before. This article seeks to analyze the development story of various Asian capital markets and examine financial products, which have succeeded in their short history in receiving investor interest. The article also delves into the challenges to market development, policy imperatives and the issues relating to market liquidity and credit rating, which are the most significant influencers for public market float and investor interest.

The paper examines the motivations, financing, expansion and challenges of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The BRI was initially designed to address China’s overcapacity and promote economic growth in both China and in countries along the “Belt” and “Road” through infrastructure investment and industrial capacity cooperation. It took into account China’s strategic transition in its opening-up policy and foreign policy to pay more attention to the neighboring countries in Southeast Asia and Central and West Asia when facing greater strategic pressure from the United States in East Asia and the Pacific region. More themes have been added to the initiative’s original framework since its inception in 2013, including the vision of the BRI as China’s major solution to improve international economic cooperation and practice to build a “community of shared future for mankind”, and the idea of the Green Silk Road and the Digital Silk Road. Chinese state-owned enterprises and policy and commercial banks have dominated investment and financing for BRI projects, which explains the root of the problems and risks facing the initiative, such as unsustainable debt, non-transparency, corruption and low economic efficiency. Measures taken by China to tackle these problems, for example, mitigating the debt distress and improving debt sustainability, are unlikely to make a big difference anytime soon due to the tenacity of China’s long-held state-driven investment model.

The objective of this work was to evaluate the combined effect of bovine manure, Pseudomonas putida and Trichoderma aureoviride on the development of lettuce (Lactuca sativa). The promotion of plant growth by microorganisms may be a viable and sustainable alternative for lettuce crop management. The experimental design was entirely randomized with five treatments: T0 (witness without fertilization, P. putida and T. aureoviride), TE (cattle manure), TEB (cattle manure + P. putida), TEF (cattle manure + T. aureoviride), TEFB (cattle manure + P. putida + T. aureoviride) and ten repetitions each. The following variables were analyzed: germination velocity index (GVI), first count (FC), germination percentage (GP), leaf area index and productivity. The TEFB treatment proved to be a viable alternative for the production of lettuce, especially for small producers, since all the vegetable production in the region comes from family farming.