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In the field of electric aircraft, the axial force of the conical motor is used to offset propeller thrust and reduce bearing wear. For the problem of accurate calculation of the no‐load axial force of the conical motor, combined with the characteristics that the rotor magnetic bridge of the hybrid conical inner‐mounted permanent magnet synchronous motor (HC‐IPMSM) is easy to be saturated and difficult to be calculated analytically, an equivalent analytical calculation method is proposed. According to the principle of constant air‐gap magnetic flux, the HC‐IPMSM is equivalent to many cylindrical surface‐mounted permanent magnet synchronous motors (CY‐SPMSM), and an analytical model is gained. Combining with the scalar magnetic potential Laplace equation and Poisson equation, the air‐gap flux density distribution on the rotor surface is calculated. And finally, the no‐load axial force of the motor is obtained by using the cone angle and the Maxwell stress method. Simulation and experiments verify the correctness and validity of the analytical model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The formal aza‐Diels‐Alder reaction of dihydro‐β‐carboline with heterodiene mediated by caesium carbonate has been described. This pathway provided a mild approach to functionalized polycyclic frameworks in 41%–91% yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exogenous carbon turnover within soil food web is important in determining the trade‐offs between soil organic carbon (SOC) storage and carbon emission. However, it remains largely unknown how soil food web influences carbon sequestration through mediating the dual roles of microbes as decomposers and contributors, hindering our ability to develop policies for soil carbon management. Here, we conducted a 13C‐labeled straw experiment to demonstrate how soil food web regulated the residing microbes to influence the soil carbon transformation and stabilization process after 11 years of no‐tillage. Our work demonstrated that soil fauna, as a "temporary storage container," indirectly influenced the SOC transformation processes and mediated the SOC sequestration through feeding on soil microbes. Soil biota communities acted as both drivers of and contributors to SOC cycling, with 32.0% of exogenous carbon being stabilizing in the form of microbial necromass as "new" carbon. Additionally, the proportion of mineral‐associated organic carbon and particulate organic carbon showed that the "renewal effect" driven by the soil food web promoted the SOC to be more stable. Our study clearly illustrated that soil food web regulated the turnover of exogenous carbon inputs by and mediated soil carbon sequestration through microbial necromass accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The composition of glutenin protein significantly affects protein–starch interactions and starch digestion characteristics in wheat dough matrices. To elucidate the effects of high molecular weight glutenin subunits at the Glu‐B1 locus on dough processing quality, the detailed structural changes of protein, starch, and their complexes were compared in Mixolab dough samples of two near isogenic lines 7 + 8 and 7 + 9. Results: The results showed that the degree of protein aggregation increased continuously during dough processing, as did the destruction and rearrangement of the gluten network. Compared to 7 + 8, the stronger and more stable protein network formed in 7 + 9 dough induced intensive interactions between protein and starch, primarily through hydrogen bonds and isomeric glycosidic bonds. In 7 + 9 dough, the more compact and extensive protein–starch network significantly inhibited starch gelatinization during dough pasting, while during the dough cooling stage [from C4 (82.8 °C) to C5 (52.8 °C)], more protein–starch complexes composed of monomeric proteins and short‐chain starch were generated, which remarkably inhibited starch retrogradation. All protein–starch interactions in the 7 + 9 dough improved the starch digestion resistance, as reflected by the high content of resistant starch. Conclusion: The more extensive and intensive protein–starch interactions in the 7 + 9 dough inhibited the gelatinization and enzymatic hydrolysis of starch, thereby producing more slowly digestible starch and resistant starch. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of optimizing the texture and digestibility of wheat‐based food products by regulating the behavior and interactions of proteins and starch during dough processing. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant residue is an important carbon (C) source for soil communities that motivates underground C cycling. However, the effects of plant residue quantity on the structure of the soil micro‐food web and the transformation of exogenous C within the micro‐food web after increasing organic input are not known. Thus, a microcosm experiment was carried out to investigate the responses of soil micro‐food web (including microorganisms and nematodes) to different amounts of 13C‐labelled maize residue addition treatments [without residue addition, 1/3 (1/3R), 2/3 (2/3R) and total residue addition (R)]. The abundances of residue 13C in CO2 (13CO2), soil organic C (SO13C), microorganisms (13C‐microorganisms) and nematodes (13C‐nematodes) were determined after 1, 7, 35 and 84 days. Increasing organic input changed the micro‐food web composition and increased the amount of 13C‐bacteria, 13C‐fungi and 13C‐fungivores but not 13C‐bacterivores. The result of the 13C‐based network showed that bacterivores were positively correlated with omnivores‐predators at the early stage after increasing organic input, while fungivores were at the late stage. Greater 13CO2/SO13C but lower SO13C/total 13C input ratios were found in the R than in the 1/3R treatment at the early stage. At the late stage, the R treatment decreased both 13CO2/total 13C input and 13CO2/SO13C ratios. We concluded that increasing organic input strengthened the trophic interactions between microorganisms and nematodes. The transformation of exogenous C from bacteria to bacterivores might accelerate the turnover of soil C pool, however, the C flow from fungi to fungivores and then to omnivores‐predators could contribute to the exogenous C sequestration in soil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transition metal oxides (TMOs) are potential anode materials for lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs) owing to their superior theoretical capacities, environmental benignity and abundant supply. However, because of the intrinsically poor conductivity, inevitable volume variation, inferior capacity and cyclic stability, the progress of TMOs in practical application is seriously hindered. In this study, a new N‐doped carbon concave‐dodecahedron has been successfully manufactured through a facile method utilizing bimetallic zeolitic imidazolate framework (ZnCo‐ZIF) as both precursor and sacrificial template, in which ultrafine ZnO/Co3ZnC nanoparticles uniformly distributed on the surface can provide additional active sites to effectively accelerate the diffusion of lithium ions. As a result, the as‐prepared ZnO/Co3ZnC/C (ZCC) anode exhibits outstanding mechanical tolerance during lithiation process. Attributed to the superior structure and compositional optimization, the ZCC anode achieves remarkable electrochemical performance with considerable high‐rate capacity (424 mAh g−1 at 2.0 A g−1) and ultralong cyclability (942 mAh g−1 at 0.2 A g−1 after 300 cycles). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Accurate dose calculation is a critical step in proton therapy. A novel machine learning‐based approach was proposed to achieve comparable accuracy to that of Monte Carlo simulation while reducing the computational time. Methods: Computed tomography‐based patient phantoms were used and three treatment sites were selected (thorax, head, and abdomen), comprising different beam pathways and beam energies. The training data were generated using Monte Carlo simulations. A discovery cross‐domain generative adversarial network (DiscoGAN) was developed to perform the mapping between two domains: stopping power and dose, with HU values from CT images incorporated as auxiliary features. The accuracy of dose calculation was quantitatively evaluated in terms of mean relative error (MRE) and mean absolute error (MAE). The relationship between the DiscoGAN performance and other factors such as absolute dose, beam energy and location within the beam cross‐section (center and off‐center lines) was examined. Results: The DiscoGAN model is found to be effective in dose calculation. For the abdominal case, the MRE is found to 1.47% (mean), 3.30% (maximum) and 0.67% (minimum). For the thoracic case, the MRE is found to ~2.43% (mean), 4.80% (maximum) and 0.71% (minimum). For the head case, the MRE is found to ~2.83% (mean), 4.84% (maximum) and 1.01% (minimum). Comparable accuracy is found in the independent validation dataset (different CT images), achieving a mean MRE of ~1.65% (thorax), 4.02% (head) and 1.64% (abdomen). For the energy span between 80 and 130 MeV, no strong dependency of accuracy on beam energy is found. The results imply that no systematic deviation, either over‐dose or under‐dose, occurs between the predicted dose and raw dose. Conclusion: The DiscoGAN framework demonstrates great potential as a tool for dose calculation in proton therapy, achieving comparable accuracy yet being more efficient relative to Monte Carlo simulation. Its comparison with the pencil beam algorithm (PBA) will be the next step of our research. If successful, our proposed approach is expected to find its use in more advanced applications such as inverse planning and adaptive proton therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residue mulching has been adopted to improve soil organic carbon and to prevent soil erosion and degradation, which in turn promote the sustainable development of soil ecosystems. Nematode metabolic footprints provide information about the responses of nematodes to resources and also help in quantifying the contributions of nematodes to ecosystem functions and services. However, how production and respiration components of nematode metabolic footprints vary in different mulching amounts is less clear. Therefore, to explore the impact of different mulching amounts on the production and respiration of nematode trophic groups, soil samples were collected from four mulching treatments (without mulching, with 33%, 67%, and 100% mulching of the stover remaining at harvest) at the depths of 0–5 cm and 5–10 cm in a 12‐year long no‐tillage system. Our results proved that the mulching effect on the production and respiration of fungivores was significant, and the production was 71.8%, 62.7%, 71.5% higher and respiration was 67.7%, 61.9%, 70% higher in 100% mulching treatment than without mulching, 33% and 67% mulching, respectively. More basal C flowed into the fungal decomposition pathways and fungivores contributed more to soil carbon sequestration through the decomposition of recalcitrant nutrients from residue at the end of crop growth. There was higher production than respiration in bacterivores and an opposite trend was observed in fungivores. Residue mulching increased the metabolic footprints of nematode communities and carbon use efficiency of fungivores and omnivores and predators and then enhanced the potential of soil carbon sequestration through the metabolic process of different nematode trophic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

K2CO3‐mediated [4+1] annulation reactions of N‐acetyl hydrazones with bifunctional amino reagents are described, which provide an environmental‐friendly strategy to construct 1,2,3‐triazoles that does not employ metals, azides, organocatalysis, or oxidants. A series of substituted 1,2,3‐triazole derivatives was prepared with good yields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive nitrogen (N) fertilization in croplands results in environmental problems, such as soil quality deterioration, water contamination, and biodiversity losses, which threaten the sustainable development of soil ecosystems. The soil nematode food web plays key roles in soil organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling, and thus the sustainable development of cropland ecosystems. However, how the negative impact from the excessive N fertilization on the nematode food web is effectively alleviated remains uncertain. This study aimed to explore the effects of different N fertilization management practices (N fertilizer reduction or organic material addition) on alleviating the negative effects on the nematode food web in croplands. Four treatments/ management practices were examined: conventional fertilization (N control), N fertilizer reduction of 100% (N0), N fertilizer reduction of 50% (N1), and conventional fertilization with organic material addition (N+S). The results showed that the abundance of nematodes and microbial phospholipid fatty acids (PLFAs) both increased in the treatments of N0, N1, and N+S compared with N. Besides, N+S also increased the nematodes' biomass, diversity, and metabolic footprint, which correspondingly strengthened the nutrient turnover through the nematode food web. Overall, two management practices 1)N fertilizer reduction and 2) organic material addition, differ in the abiotic or biotic process in alleviating the negative effects of N fertilization on the nematode food web. The reducing N fertilization can directly alleviate the negative effect of fertilizer on soil acidification and then benefit for the growth of microorganisms and nematodes. The exogenous carbon input from organic material addition might promote carbon flowing and immobilization into nematode food web, and ultimately enhance the stability of soil food web. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Specifically amplifying the emission signals of optical probes in tumors is an effective way to improve the tumor‐imaging sensitivity and contrast. In this paper, the first case of dendron‐based fluorescence turn‐on probes mediated by a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) mechanism is reported. Dendrons up to the fourth generation with a hydrophilic oligo(ethylene glycol) scaffold are synthesized by a solid‐phase synthesis strategy, and show precise and defect‐free chemical structures. To construct the fluorescence turn‐on probe, one Cy5.5 molecule is conjugated to the focal of a G3 dendron through a robust linkage and eight Black Hole Quencher 3 (BHQ‐3) molecules are conjugated to its periphery through a PEG chain bearing a reductively cleavable disulfide linkage. By in vitro and in vivo experiments, it is demonstrated that the fluorescence of the dendron‐based probe can be activated effectively and rapidly in the reductive environments of tumor cells and tissues, and the probe thus exhibits amplified tumor signals and weak normal tissue signals. Compared with the reported nanoscale turn‐on probes, the dendron‐based probe has several significant advantages, such as well‐defined chemical structure, precisely controllable fluorophore/quencher conjugation sites and ratio, desirable chemical stability, and reproducible pharmacokinetic and pharmacological profiles, and is very promising in tumor detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Online dose verification based on proton‐induced positron emitters is a promising strategy for quality assurance in proton therapy. Because of the nonlinear correlation between dose and the activity distributions, a machine learning‐based approach was developed to establish their relationship. Methods: Simulations were carried out using a pencil beam scanning system and a computed tomography (CT) image‐based phantom. A DiscoGAN model was developed to perform dose verification for both central and off‐center lines. Besides the activity as input, HU information from CT images and stopping power (SP) prior were incorporated as auxiliary features for the model. The performance was quantitatively studied in terms of mean absolute error (MAE) and mean relative error (MRE), under different signal‐to‐noise ratios (SNRs). In addition to a dataset comprising monoenergetic beams, two additional datasets were generated to evaluate the model's generalization capability: five reconstructed PET images based on an in‐beam PET system and a dataset comprising spread‐out Bragg peaks (SOBPs). Results: The feasibility of dose verification was successfully demonstrated for all three datasets. For the monoenergetic case (i.e., raw activity of positron emitters), the MRE is found to be <1% for the central lines and 5% for the off‐center lines, respectively. The range uncertainty is found to be less than 1 mm. The prediction based on five PET images, which take into account the detection of 511‐keV photons and image reconstruction, yields slightly inferior performance. For the SOBP case, the MRE of the center lines is found to be <3% and the range uncertainty is <1 mm. The inclusion of anatomical information (HU and SP) improves both accuracy and generalization of the DiscoGAN model. Conclusion: The combination of proton‐induced positron emitters, in‐beam PET, and machine learning may become a useful tool allowing for patient‐specific online dose verification in proton therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tree diversity has been shown to promote a broad range of ecosystem functions in forests. However, how important these effects are in driving ecosystem multifunctionality in natural forests, relative to other drivers, such as below‐ground biodiversity (e.g. soil microbial diversity), community‐level functional traits and environmental conditions, remains poorly understood. Here, we hypothesize that tree species or phylogenetic diversity (PD), stand structure, functional traits and soil microbial diversity jointly regulate temperate forest multifunctionality (FM) along a local‐scale environmental gradient.Using repeated census data from a 25‐ha old‐growth temperate forest, we first quantified eight ecosystem functions and properties related to above‐ and below‐ground nutrient cycling. We then used these to estimate ecosystem multifunctionality using both averaging and multiple threshold (50%, 75% and 95%) approaches. Finally, we used structural equation models to explore how different facets of tree (tree species, functional and PD) and soil (bacteria, fungi and nematode diversity) biodiversity influence ecosystem multifunctionality, as well as how these relationships are modulated by stand structural attributes and environmental conditions (topography and soil nutrients).Forest multifunctionality was positively related to stand structural complexity but negatively related to acquisitive traits (i.e. community‐weighted mean of specific leaf area). Plant PD had no significant direct effect on FM, but it had a significant indirect effect via increased stand structural complexity. The effect of soil microbial diversity on FM increased with increasing threshold levels of FM and outperformed tree diversity and environmental conditions at the highest threshold level (i.e. 95%). Forests on steep slopes had lower levels of ecosystem multifunctionality due to decreased stand structural complexity. Soil nutrients were responsible for regulating FM via plant trait composition and, to a lesser extent, via tree diversity, stand structure and soil microbial diversity.Synthesis. Plant PD, stand structure and soil microbial diversity jointly regulated FM, and these effects were influenced by local‐scale changes in environmental conditions. Soil microbial diversity was a key driver of highly multifunctional forests, whereas conservation of complex stand structure and conservative trait dominance could enhance mean values of multiple functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate changes in temperature and precipitation are influencing the function of semiarid ecosystems, especially that of biocrust. Biocrust is the key biotic component in semiarid land and delivers multiple functions to belowground ecosystems. However, how biocrust affects belowground biota when temperature and water change remains unclear. We set a microcosm experiment to evaluate how soil micro‐food web responds to biocrust by changing air temperature and water content. Soil microbes and nematodes were sampled at different air temperatures (10 and 25°C) and soil water levels (4, 8, and 16% soil water content) under biocrust and bare soil. The results showed that biocrust highly increased soil microbe and nematode abundances compared with bare soil. Temperature change had no obvious effect on soil micro‐food web. Both microbial and nematode communities were strongly affected by soil water at 10°C under biocrust. Structural equation modeling analysis proved that soil pH and organic carbon were the two main factors that affected soil micro‐food channels under biocrust. Soil organic carbon affected bacterial channel and fungal channel. Soil pH affected soil bacterial channel and omnivores‐predators. Soil with 8% water content could provide the most stable habitat and soil environment to build a relatively complex and more reticulated soil micro‐food web. It can be concluded that colonization of biocrust could buffer temperature effect on soil micro‐food web. Additionally, appropriate increase in water could benefit the top‐down effect between nematodes and microbes under biocrust and could contribute to the resilience of semiarid ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The [4+1] cycloaddition reaction of bifunctional amino reagents has been achieved with in situ formed aza‐ortho‐quinone methides. Specifically, N‐(tosyloxy)carbamates were used as an N1 synthon and bifunctional amino reagents for this transformation, which provides a metal‐free, catalyst‐free, and oxidant‐free strategy to form nitrogen‐nitrogen bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hit, Lead & Candidate Discovery This study investigated the effects of a natural phenolic compound quercetin on surgical‐induced osteoarthritis (OA) in rabbits. Forty‐eight New Zealand White rabbits were used to establish OA model by Hulth modified method, and subsequently randomized into untreated OA group (treatment was drinking water), celecoxib treated group (celecoxib 100 mg kg‑1 by gavage), and quercetin treated group (25 mg kg‑1 by gavage). Sixteen nonoperated rabbits served as the normal controls (drinking water was given). The treatment (length: 4 weeks) started on the 5th week postoperation when the OA pathological changes were manifested. Expressions of superoxide dismutase (SOD), matrix metalloproteinase‐13 (MMP‐13) and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases‐1 (TIMP‐1) in serum, synovial fluid, and synovial tissue were measured at 8 and 12 weeks postoperation. Pathological analysis was performed with synovial tissue section and Osteoarthritis Research Society International histopathology grading and staging scores were determined. The quercetin treated group showed higher SOD and TIMP‐1 expressions but lower MMP‐13 expression than untreated OA group in the serum, synovial fluid and synovial tissues (p < .05). There was no significant difference in the SOD, MMP‐13 and TIMP‐1 expressions between the quercetin‐treated and celecoxib‐treated groups. The MMP‐13/TIMP‐1 ratio of the quercetin treated group was significantly lower than that of the untreated OA group (p < .05). Quercetin can up‐regulate SOD and TIMP‐1, down‐regulate MMP‐13, and improve the degeneration of OA through weakening the oxidative stress responses and inhibiting the degradation of cartilage extracellular matrix. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An effective and facile method for the synthesis of highly substituted 1,2,3,5‐tetrahydrobenzo[e][1,2,4]‐oxadiazepines is described. A formal [4+3] cycloaddition of N‐(2‐(chloromethyl) phenyl) amides with nitrones afforded benzo[e][1,2,4]‐oxadiazepine derivatives with high atom economy and excellent yields (up to 97%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An effective and facile method for the synthesis of highly substituted 1,2,3,5‐tetrahydrobenzo[e][1,2,4]‐oxadiazepines is described. A formal [4+3] cycloaddition of N‐(2‐(chloromethyl) phenyl) amides with nitrones afforded benzo[e][1,2,4]‐oxadiazepine derivatives with high atom economy and excellent yields (up to 97%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives: Near‐isogenic lines (NILs) of three Chinese winter wheat varieties were used to explore quality differences between subunits 5 + 10 and 2 + 12. Protein content, gluten quality, rheological properties, and bread‐making quality in the NILs possessing subunits 5 + 10 and 2 + 12 were assessed and compared. Findings: All measured parameters except protein content significantly changed when subunits 2 + 12 were replaced by subunits 5 + 10. The incorporation of subunits 5 + 10, in the absence of subunits 2 + 12, increased dramatically dough strength, but the extensibility was slightly decreased. The improved functionality of subunits 5 + 10 was only pronounced in the recipient cultivar (Xiaoyan 22) which had weak gluten strength but better extensibility, whereas, the inferior overall quality was obtained in the recipient cultivars (Xinong 2208 and Xinong 1718) carrying medium‐to‐strong gluten strength and poor extensibility. Conclusions: The functionality of subunits 5 + 10 was well expressed in the recipient cultivars with weak gluten strength and better extensibility. Significance and novelty: The findings expanded our knowledge on the functionality of subunits 5 + 10 on different genetic backgrounds with gradient elasticity‐to‐extensibility ratio. The transformed lines with extremely strong gluten strength and reduced extensibility could be used as parents in wheat quality breeding and their flour would be suitable for blending with flour of the lower grade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Natural wetlands are permanently or seasonally inundated with water, and the growth of vegetation in these wetlands is assumed to be sensitive to a warming climate. China's natural wetlands are mostly found in cold, high‐latitude (>40°N in NE China) and high‐altitude (>4,000 m in average on the Tibetan Plateau (TP)) areas. Rapid warming of regional climate (>0.30°C decade−1 since the 1960s) is thought to have promoted the growth of vegetation in these cold wetlands. However, using three independent greenness data sets, we show that the wetlands in the TP and NE China experienced significant browning between 1999 and 2007, rather than a straightforward increase in greening. The interannual variation in wetland greenness on the TP was regulated by both the temperature and the amount of solar radiation. In NE China, however, the effect of temperature and solar radiation was unable to explain the temporal variation in greenness and the changes were mostly regulated by the soil moisture content and drought. There was a decrease in the dependence of vegetation growth on temperature in NE China, but no significant change on the TP, which has experienced a warmer and wetter climate in recent decades. The effect of drought and the soil moisture content on the interannual variation in the greenness of wetlands consistently increased across the TP and NE China. Our results highlight the hydrological regulation of the growth of vegetation in a warmer climate, even in wetland environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, alpine grasslands have been seriously degraded on the Tibetan Plateau and grazing exclusion by fencing has been widely adopted to restore degraded grasslands since 2004. To elucidate how alpine grasslands carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) storage responds to this management strategy, three types of alpine grassland in nine counties in Tibet were selected to investigate C, N, and P storage in the environment by comparing free grazing ( FG) and grazing exclusion ( GE) treatments, which had run for 6-8 years. The results revealed that there were no significant differences in total ecosystem C, N, and P storage, as well as the C, N, and P stored in both total biomass and soil (0-30 cm) fractions between FG and GE grasslands. However, precipitation played a key role in controlling C, N, and P storage and distribution. With grazing exclusion, C and N stored in aboveground biomass significantly increased by 5.7 g m−2 and 0.1 g m−2, respectively, whereas the C and P stored in the soil surface layer (0-15 cm) significantly decreased by 862.9 g m−2 and 13.6 g m−2, respectively. Furthermore, the storage of the aboveground biomass C, N, and P was positively correlated with vegetation cover and negatively correlated with the biodiversity index, including Pielou evenness index, Shannon-Wiener diversity index, and Simpson dominance index. The storage of soil surface layer C, N, and P was positively correlated with soil silt content and negatively correlated with soil sand content. Our results demonstrated that grazing exclusion had no impact on total C, N, and P storage, as well as C, N, and P in both total biomass and soil (0-30 cm) fractions in the alpine grassland ecosystem. However, grazing exclusion could result in increased aboveground biomass C and N pools and decreased soil surface layer (0-15 cm) C and P pools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The financial crises of the 1990s triggered many changes to the design of the international financial system. We use the formulation of the new Basle capital accord for banks (B-II) to illustrate that, while much affected, developing countries have had very little influence on this so-called new international financial architecture. We argue that B-II has been formulated largely to serve the interests of powerful market players, with developing countries being left out. At the same time, we demonstrate that B-II is likely to raise the costs and reduce the supply of external financing for developing countries in particular. Furthermore, and importantly, B-II may well increase the pro-cyclicality of external financing, an unfortunate outcome given that developing countries already face much volatility in terms of capital flows. Overall, while B-II may indeed compensate for a range of weaknesses of Basle I, the exclusionary policy process and costs which B-II imposes on developing countries require a re-think of the way in which crucial elements of financial governance, such as the Basle capital accords, are developed and implemented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]