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Worsening crises and geopolitical rivalries have destabilized many African states, prompting China to increase its security involvement, especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

The crisis in the Red Sea is currently putting Western deterrence mechanisms to the test and presenting a diplomatic challenge for China's interests in the region.

Massive Chinese infrastructure investments across the Eurasian landmass and Africa, together with the influx of Chinese personnel, are targeted by insurgents, rebels, and militants. The uncertainty in Ethiopia undermines China's efforts to boost economic links with the African continent via the One Belt One Road Initiative.

This Policy Report focuses on the overland routes that connect China to Europe via Central Asia and it aims to answer the question whether the European Union (EU) should engage China in the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative. The expansion of the OBOR initiative is forcing China's economic diplomacy to embrace a broader political and security engagement. While Russia and the United States are revising their roles in South and Central Asia, the EU has lost momentum.

This Policy Report focuses on the overland routes that connect China to Europe via Central Asia and it aims to answer the question whether the European Union (EU) should engage China in the One Belt One Road (OBOR) initiative. The expansion of the OBOR initiative is forcing China's economic diplomacy to embrace a broader political and security engagement. While Russia and the United States are revising their roles in South and Central Asia, the EU has lost momentum.

The way war is waged is evolving quickly - igniting the rapid rise of private military contractors who offer military-style services as part of their core business model. When private actors take up state security, their incentives are not to end war and conflict but to manage the threat only enough to remain relevant. Arduino unpacks the tradeoffs involved when conflict is increasingly waged by professional outfits that thrive on chaos rather than national armies. This book charts the rise of private military actors from Russia, China, and the Middle East using primary source data, in-person interviews, and field research amongst operations in conflict zones around the world. Individual stories narrated by mercenaries, military trainers, security entrepreneurs, hackers, and drone pilots are used to introduce themes throughout. Arduino concludes by considering today's trajectories in the deployment of mercenaries by states, corporations, or even terrorist organizations and what it will mean for the future of conflict. The book follows private security contractors that take on missions in different countries with a variety of challenges. First-hand data and intimate knowledge of the actors involved in the market for force allow a fully grounded narrative with personal input. Through this prism, readers will gain a better understanding of the human, security, and political risks that are part of this industry. The book specifically reveals the risk that unaccountable mercenaries pose in increasing the threshold for conflict, the threat to traditional military forces, the corruption in political circles, and the rising threat of proxy conflicts in the US rivalry with China and Russia.

This volume illustrates the role that Private Security Companies (PSC) with 'Chinese characteristics' play in protecting people and property associated with the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The revival of the ancient Silk Road economic 'belt', combined with the 21st Century sea lanes of communication known as the 'road', is intended to enhance global connectivity and increase commercial activity. However, the socio-political risks associated with Chinese outbound direct investments are often overlooked.

Intro -- Dedication -- Acknowledgements -- Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- Chapter 1: Protecting the New Silk Road -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Securing the Belt and Road Initiative -- 1.3 Security Privatization with Chinese Characteristics -- 1.4 Chinese Approach to PSC Employment: 'Crossing the River Feeling the Stones' -- References -- Chapter 2: From Shadow to Hype -- 2.1 Private Military and Security Companies: From Shadow to Hype -- 2.2 Private Security Companies Go Mainstream -- 2.3 Chinese Own Perception of the Domestic and International Security Market -- 2.4 From the Anabasis to the Online Security Apps -- 2.5 From Africa's Bush Wars to Afghanistan: The Evolution of the Anti-mercenary Law -- 2.6 Lack of Definition, Accountability and Transparency -- References -- Chapter 3: Protecting Chinese Overseas Interests -- 3.1 The Silk Road: Modern Solutions for Ancient Problems -- 3.2 Belt and Road Initiative Risk Mapping -- 3.3 China's Overseas Interests -- 3.4 Global Interest Vs. Global Ambitions: Stretching the Non-interference Principle -- 3.5 Securing the 'Chinese Dream': Narrowing the Gap Between Economic Diplomacy and Security Capabilities -- 3.6 Sino-Pakistan 'All Weather Friendship' -- 3.7 Central Asia Energy and Security Network -- 3.8 Afghanistan's Great Game -- 3.9 Africa: From Libya to Sudan -- 3.10 Opportunities and Challenges: Private Security Companies' Monitoring and Governance -- References -- Chapter 4: Globalization and the Market for Force -- 4.1 China Vs. US Market for Force -- 4.2 China Vs. Russia Market for Force -- 4.3 Kidnapping and Ransom: The Role of Special Insurances -- 4.4 China PSCs and the Terror Nexus -- 4.5 Catching Tigers and Flies: The Hunt for Corrupt Chinese Overseas -- References -- Chapter 5: Conclusion -- 5.1 Chinese Private Security Companies: Just Another Blackwater? -- 5.2 New Wars, New Businesses

The African continent's threat spectrum is unique in that it encompasses all the risks, from criminal to political violence, that public and private Chinese companies are likely to face as the Belt & Road Initiative continues to expand. Read Dr. Alessandro Arduino's latest working paper as he offers a novel, high-level analysis of the security frontier in Africa and the role Chinese private security companies (PSCs) are currently playing, and will continue to play, in the African security sector.

The African continent's threat spectrum is unique in that it encompasses all the risks, from criminal to political violence, that public and private Chinese companies are likely to face as the Belt & Road Initiative continues to expand. Read Dr. Alessandro Arduino's latest policy brief as he offers a novel, high-level analysis of the security frontier in Africa and the role Chinese private security companies (PSCs) are currently playing, and will continue to play, in the African security sector.

Intro -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Foreword -- CHAPTER 1: Private Armies -- Introduction -- Our Business Is Killing, and Business Is Good -- Challenges in the Field and in Cyberspace to Track Private Military Contractors -- The Rise of Private Armies: A Call from the Past? -- The Second Oldest Profession's Historical Cycle -- Russia and Turkey's Private Military Rise and China's Private Security Function -- In Search of Order: Rules and Regulations -- Looking to the Future -- CHAPTER 2: From Russia with Love: Mercenaries Fit the Bill -- The Stage -- The Script -- The Rehearsal -- The Act -- CHAPTER 3: Russian Gray Is the New Black -- The Kremlin's Gray Zone Playbook -- The Little Green Men Evolution from Ukraine to Syria -- Africa's Return of Mercenaries -- Fake Russian Contractors, Honeypot, and Disinformation for Hire -- Russian Roulette: Becoming a Contractor -- CHAPTER 4: Mercenaries' Russian Roulette -- The Sword of Damocles over Ukraine: The Wagner Group and Syrian Mercenaries -- Russian PMCs and the Future of Warfare -- CHAPTER 5: Private Security with Chinese Characteristics: No More Local Guards, Not Yet Wolf Warriors -- Wolf Warriors? -- Chinese PSCs' Evolution: The Third Phase -- Chinese PSCs: What Is Next? -- Blackwater with Chinese Characteristics -- CHAPTER 6: Defending the BRI from Africa to the Middle East -- The Africa-China Relationship through the Prism of the Private Security Sector -- Not Just Protecting Oil: China's Middle East Security Quagmire -- Expanding China's Security Footprint in the Middle East -- Defending US63 Billion: Chinese PSCs in Pakistan -- Defending China's Near Abroad: Central Asia -- CHAPTER 7: How China Sees Its Own Private Security Sector -- Academic Discourse -- Chinese Experts Call for the Private Security Sector Reforms.

Purpose: Bearing partially or fully metallic passive implants represents an exclusion criterion for patients undergoing a magnetic hyperthermia procedure, but there are no specific studies backing this restrictive decision. This work assesses how the secondary magnetic field generated at the surface of two common types of prostheses affects the safety and efficiency of magnetic hyperthermia treatments of localized tumors. The paper also proposes the combination of a multi-criteria decision analysis and a graphical representation of calculated data as an initial screening during the preclinical risk assessment for each patient. Materials and methods: Heating of a hip joint and a dental implant during the treatment of prostate, colorectal and head and neck tumors have been assessed considering different external field conditions and exposure times. The Maxwell equations including the secondary field produced by metallic prostheses have been solved numerically in a discretized computable human model. The heat exchange problem has been solved through a modified version of the Pennes' bioheat equation assuming a temperature dependency of blood perfusion and metabolic heat, i.e. thermorregulation. The degree of risk has been assessed using a risk index with parameters coming from custom graphs plotting the specific absorption rate (SAR) vs temperature increase, and coefficients derived from a multi-criteria decision analysis performed following the MACBETH approach. Results: The comparison of two common biomaterials for passive implants - Ti6Al4V and CoCrMo - shows that both specific absorption rate (SAR) and local temperature increase are found to be higher for the hip prosthesis made by Ti6Al4V despite its lower electrical and thermal conductivity. By tracking the time evolution of temperature upon field application, it has been established that there is a 30 s delay between the time point for which the thermal equilibrium is reached at prostheses and tissues. Likewise, damage may appear in those tissues adjacent to the prostheses at initial stages of treatment, since recommended thermal thresholds are soon surpassed for higher field intensities. However, it has also been found that under some operational conditions the typical safety rule of staying below or attain a maximum temperature increase or SAR value is met. Conclusion: The current exclusion criterion for implant-bearing patients in magnetic hyperthermia should be revised, since it may be too restrictive for a range of the typical field conditions used. Systematic in silico treatment planning using the proposed methodology after a well-focused diagnostic ; This work has been supported by the NoCanTher project, which has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No [685795]. The authors acknowledge support from the COST Association through the COST actions `RADIOMAG' [TD1402] and `MyWAVE' [CA17115]. D.O. and I.R.R. acknowledge financial support from the Community of Madrid under Contract No. [PEJD-2017-PRE/IND-3663], from the Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. through the Ramon y Cajal grant [RYC2018-025253-I] and Research Networks [RED2018-102626-Hiroshima], as well as the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the grants [MAT2017-85617R] and the `Severo Ochoa' Program for Centers of Excellence in R&D [SEV-2016-0686]. We gratefully acknowledge the support of NVIDIA Corporation through the GPU Grant Program with the donation of the Quadro P6000 GPU used for this research. D. O. acknowledges support from the Programme for the Promotion and Encouragement of Research and Transfer activities at the University of Cadiz.