Adoption of increasing block tariffs (IBTs) among urban water utilities in major cities in China

<p>Increasing block tariffs (IBTs) have been officially endorsed by the Chinese government since 1998, but by the end of 2013, fewer than half of the country’s 36 major cities had adopted IBTs as the tariff structure for their water utilities. Our study examines the main factors affecting these cities’ decisions on whether or not to adopt IBTs, considering both general characteristics of the cities and characteristics of their water utilities. A discrete-time hazard model is used for empirical analysis. Results show that factors most likely to affect a major city’s decision on IBT adoption include the city’s economic development as measured by growth rate of GDP; changes in the relative importance of the domestic water sector; the city’s wastewater treatment rate and leakage rate; and business structure of the water utility.</p

Hybrid Density Functional Valence Bond Method with Multistate Treatment

Recently, a hybrid density functional valence bond (VB) method, λ-DFVB(U), has been proposed and shown to give accuracy that is comparable to that of CASPT2 in calculations of atomization energies, atomic excitation energies, and reaction barriers, while its computational cost is approximately the same as the valence bond self-consistent-field (VBSCF) method. However, the interaction between electronic states is not included in λ-DFVB(U) since the last step of λ-DFVB(U) is not a diagonalization of the Hamiltonian matrix on the electronic state basis. Therefore, λ-DFVB(U) gives the wrong topology of the potential energy surfaces (PESs) near the conical intersection region. In the present paper, we propose a novel hybrid density functional VB method with multistate treatment, named λ-DFVB(MS), in which an effective Hamiltonian matrix is constructed on the basis of the diabatic states obtained by the valence-bond-based compression approach for the diabatization scheme, and the interaction between electronic states can be included through the diagonalization of the effective Hamiltonian matrix. Test calculations show that λ-DFVB(MS) gives the correct topology of the PESs near the conical intersection region. We also show that the VBSCF wave function with selected VB structures can be applied as a reference in λ-DFVB(MS)

Ionic Liquid from Vitamin B1 Analogue and Heteropolyacid: A Recyclable Heterogeneous Catalyst for Dehydrative Coupling in Organic Carbonate

The ionic liquid [HMTH]2H2[SiW12O40] was prepared from the inexpensive, nontoxic vitamin B1-like compound, i.e., 5-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-methylthiazole (HMT), and the noncorrosive heteropolyacid (H4SiW12O40). This acidic ionic liquid was found to be an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for the direct dehydrative coupling of alcohols with alcohols (or alkenes) to synthesize various polysubstituted olefins in good to excellent yields with dimethyl carbonate (DMC) as a green solvent. Furthermore, this protocol was applicable in a gram-scale reaction, and the catalyst could be used at least for 8 runs without significant loss of activity

Data_Sheet_1_A Dynamic Analysis of the Asymmetric Effects of the Vocational Education and Training on Economic Growth, Evidence From China.pdf

Since 2010, China's economic growth has stagnated due to an unbalanced regional industrial structure and lack of sufficient qualified technical personnel. A nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model has been used in this study to examine the asymmetric effects of secondary vocational education and training (SVET) and higher vocational education and training (HVET) and their interaction with high-tech industries on economic growth over the period 1980–2020. The findings show that an increase in secondary vocational education and training (SVET) significantly boosts long-term economic growth, while a decrease in secondary vocational education and training (SVET) insignificantly reduces long-term China economic growth. Likewise, the upward change in higher vocational education and training (HVET) promotes and the downward fluctuation in higher vocational education and training (HVET) significantly reduces China's long-term economic growth. The moderating role of secondary vocational education in the impact of high-tech industries on China's economic growth is positive, but not significant. However, higher vocational education plays a significant positive moderating role in high technology industries impact on economic growth. Strategically, the study analysis suggests that economic transition prosperity can be achieved by encouraging higher vocational education and the equal development of high-tech industries in all regions. In addition, this study also proposes to cultivate high-quality talents related to high-tech development and modern industrial innovation and upgrading through higher vocational education, improve productivity, and promote the country's intensive development.</p

Appendix – Supplemental material for Simulation of gas–leachate pressure in various tested landfills using the differential quadrature method

Supplemental material, Appendix for Simulation of gas–leachate pressure in various tested landfills using the differential quadrature method by Jianyong Shi, Shi Shu, Minghao Chen, Xun Wu, Feng Dong and Kunyong Zhang in Waste Management & Research</p

Influence of Concentration of Sodium Metasilicate and Descaling on the High Temperature Lubricating Effects Evaluated by Hot Rolling Mill

Lubricant is vital to improve energy efficiency and workpiece durability for the moving counterpart. High-temperature lubricants are important for the hot rolling process to reduce the rolling force and protect the roller and the strips. The current paper concerns eco-friendly sodium metasilicate as a high-temperature lubricant. A hot rolling mill is employed to evaluate the lubrication effect of sodium metasilicate. The influence of crucial factors of concentration of lubricant and descaling is discussed; the rolled surface was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, and 3D profilometer. The results depict that the sodium metasilicate can reduce the rolling force by about 7.8% when the concentration of sodium metasilicate is 18% and above, and descaling of the hot stripe makes the lubrication effect more effective, which can reach a 12.7% reduction in the rolling force. This lubrication is attributed to the formed melts of the sodium silicate layer that offers an easy shearing interface. For the un-descaled samples, the lubricant will be compacted and mixed with the oxide scale, and weakens the lubrication effect. This work suggests that sodium metasilicate can be a high-temperature lubricant for hot rolling; descaling is vital, not only for the quality of the product but also for the efficiency of the lubricant. This work will also be useful for the concentration selection of glass lubricant

Additional file 1: of Genetic characterization of maize germplasm derived from Suwan population and temperate resources

Table S1. Summary information of the 226 accessions. (XLS 25 kb

Video_1_A case of rare pulmonary sequestration complicated with congenital heart disease treated by arterial embolization and atrial defect closure: A case report and review of literature.mp4

Pulmonary sequestration with congenital heart disease is a rare congenital malformation. Herein, we report a 19-month-old toddler diagnosed with right lower pulmonary sequestration, right pulmonary artery dysplasia, right lower pulmonary venous ectopic drainage, and a right-sided heart with an atrial septal defect. The pulmonary sequestration had a rare blood supply, such as confluent arteries with the renal vessels draining into the hepatic veins. Arterial embolization and atrial defect closure were used to treat the rare congenital malformation with satisfactory results.</p

Relative localization of TAPP2, utrophin and F-actin upon chemokine stimulation. A.

<p>Relative localization of utrophin versus F-actin. NALM-6 cells without or with 100 ng/ml SDF-1 stimulation for 1 minute were fixed, permeabilized and stained for utrophin and F-actin. Images shown are representative of five experiments. Right panel: Colocalization of utrophin and F-actin was calculated as the average Pearson’s correlation coefficient of more than 100 cells from 5 experiments. With SDF-1 stimulation, the overall colocalization of utrophin and F-actin significantly decreased, as determined by Student <i>t</i> test: ***p<0.001. <b>B.</b> Relative localization of TAPP2 versus F-actin was visualized and quantified using similar methods as in A (5 experiments). A significant reduction in the overall colocalization of TAPP2 and F-actin was seen in SDF-1 stimulated cells (Student <i>t</i> test: ***p<0.001). <b>C</b>. TAPP2 colocalizes with utrophin at the sides and rear of migrating cells. NALM-6 cells were stimulated, processed and visualized as in <b>A</b>. Images representing two experiments are shown.</p

Image_5_Signature construction and molecular subtype identification based on cuproptosis-related genes to predict the prognosis and immune activity of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma.tif

BackgroundHepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common malignancies in the world, with high incidence, high malignancy, and low survival rate. Cuproptosis is a novel form of cell death mediated by lipoylated TCA cycle proteins-mediated novel cell death pathway and is highly associated with mitochondrial metabolism. However, the relationship between the expression level of cuproptosis-related genes (CRGs) and the prognosis of HCC is still unclear.MethodsCombining the HCC transcriptomic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas(TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases, we identified the differentially expressed cuproptosis-related genes (DECRGs) and obtained the prognosis-related DECRGs through univariate regression analysis.LASSO and multivariate COX regression analyses of these DECRGs yielded four genes that were used to construct the signature. Next, we use ROC curves to evaluate the performance of signatures. The tumor microenvironment, immune infiltration, tumor mutation load, half-maximum suppression concentration, and immunotherapy effects were also compared between the low-risk and high-risk groups. Finally, we analyzed the expression level, prognosis, and immune infiltration correlation on the four genes that constructed the model.ResultsFour DECRGs s were used to construct the signature. The ROC curves indicated that signature can better assess the prognosis of HCC patients. Patients were grouped according to the signature risk score. Patients in the low-risk group had a significantly longer survival time than those in the high-risk group. Furthermore, the tumor mutation burden (TMB) values were associated with the risk score and the higher-risk group had a higher proportion of TP53 mutations than the low-risk group.ESTIMATE analysis showed significant differences in stromal scores between the two groups.N6-methyladenosine (m6A) and multiple immune checkpoints were expressed at higher levels in the high-risk group. Then, we found that signature score correlated with chemotherapeutic drug sensitivity and immunotherapy efficacy in HCC patients. Finally, we further confirmed that the four DECRGs genes were associated with the prognosis of HCC through external validation.ConclusionsWe studied from the cuproptosis perspective and developed a new prognostic feature to predict the prognosis of HCC patients. This signature with good performance will help physicians to evaluate the overall prognosis of patients and may provide new ideas for clinical decision-making and treatment strategies.</p