Developer’s willingness to construct green dwellings in China: factors and stimulating policies

Green dwelling (GD) is a way to mitigate impacts of the building stock on environment and provide a better living condition for residences. However, the number of GDs is relatively small. Especially in China, GDs only account for less than 0.4% of the total buildings. It is directly due to the shortage of supply, which is influenced by the lack of willingness to develop. To stimulate the GD diffusion, the study applies structural equation model to analyse the factors in developers’ willingness to construct GDs, considering the inter-relationships and relative influences among factors. Further, it calculates the influence of each policy and policy subseries on developers’ willingness. It is showed that developers’ willingness is mostly influenced by their developing ability, followed by market development. Then comes government policy and corporate responsibility. In terms of stimulating policies on developers’ willingness, floor-to-area density award is of the biggest impact, followed by the green building requirement and interest rare. As to the policy subseries, mandatory requirements has larger effects on developers then voluntary incentives. Besides, in China, developers are more sensitive to financial incentives than non-financial ones. Accordingly, suggestions for policy making are proposed to stimulate developers to construct GDs

Preoperative lung immune prognostic index predicts survival in patients with pancreatic cancer undergoing radical resection

BackgroundLung immune prognostic index (LIPI), a combination of derived neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (dNLR) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), is currently attracting considerable interest as a potential prognostic indicator in many malignancies. Our study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of preoperative LIPI in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) undergoing radical resection.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed PDAC patients treated with radical resection from February 2019 to April 2021 at Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) general hospital. Based on the cut-off value of dNLR and LDH identified by X-tile, patients were divided into LIPI good and LIPI intermediate/poor group. Kaplan-Meier curve and log-rank test were used to compare the recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) of the two groups. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression was used to identify the independent prognostic value of LIPI. Subgroup analysis was performed to identify specific population benefited from radical resection.ResultsA total of 205 patients were included and the median RFS and OS was 10.8 and 24.3 months, respectively. Preoperative LIPI intermediate/poor was related to worse RFS and OS (p < 0.05). Preoperative LIPI intermediate/poor, vascular invasion and no adjuvant chemotherapy were indicators of poor OS. Patients with LIPI intermediate/poor had worse OS especially among females and those with adjuvant chemotherapy (p < 0.05). Adjuvant chemotherapy related to better RFS and OS in patients with LIPI good (p < 0.05).ConclusionsPreoperative LIPI intermediate/poor can be an indicator of poor prognosis in patients with PDAC undergoing radical resection. LIPI good could be an effective marker of benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. Larger studies are warranted for further validation

Mechanical Performance Evaluation of Concrete Beams Strengthened with Carbon Fiber Materials

As a kind of novel material of high strength and light weight, carbon fiber materials have been widely used in construction industry to repair the damaged bridges improving its mechanical performance. In this work, the reinforced plates made of carbon fiber materials (for short CFRP) are externally bonded to the bottom of concrete beams to enhance load capacity of beams. The strain energy release rates are calculated at the interest crack in concrete beams based on virtual crack closure technology using FEM and are chosen as the criterion to determine whether the mechanical properties of beams are strengthened by being externally bonded with CFRP. The effects of main crack propagation on plain concrete beam, on concrete beam strengthened with CFRP, and on inclined crack are also discussed. The comparison between the beams with and without CFRP shows that the CFRP significantly increases the loading capacity and crack resistance. It also shows that the main crack propagation can reduce loading capacity and crack resistance regardless of strengthening. The experiment observation also supports this. It proves the validity of the method, and it is concluded that in order to increase the loading capacity and crack resistance effectively, controlling over the crack propagation is necessary

Study on induction hardening performance of 34CrNi3MoA steel crankshaft

The evolution of the temperature field, microstructure field, and residual stress field of a 34CrNi3MoA steel marine diesel engine crankshaft during medium-frequency induction hardening was studied based on an electromagnetic-thermal-transformation-stress coupled numerical model, which considers the effect of internal stress induced by transformation induced plasticity on residual stress. Using the equal conversion rate method, the austenitizing region of the crankshaft was determined during the induction heating stage. In the quenching stage, the parameters of the phase transformation model are derived from the continuous heating expansion curve and the continuous cooling transformation curve, and the phase transformation kinetics equation is used to analyze the phase transformation process of the crankshaft. The results indicate that extending the heating time can enhance the uniformity of the surface temperature of the crankshaft and the thickness of the hardened layer. The simulation results are validated by measurements of hardened layer, hardness and residual stress, and the simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results

The valproate mediates radio-bidirectional regulation through RFWD3-dependent ubiquitination on Rad51

Ionizing radiation (IR) can induce DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) in tumor cells during radiotherapy (RT), but the efficiency of RT is limited because of the toxicity to normal cells. Locating an adjuvant treatment to alleviate damage in normal cells while sensitizing tumor cells to IR has attracted much attention. Here, using the 7,12-dimethylbenz[α]anthracene (DMBA)-induced malignant transformed MCF10A cells, we found that valproate (VPA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor (HDACi), radiosensitized transformed cells while alleviated IR-induced damage in normal cells at a safe dose (0.5 mM). We further demonstrated the decrease of homologous recombination (HR)-associated Rad51 in the transformed cells was related to the increase of its ubiquitination regulated by E3 ligase RFWD3 for the radiosensitization, which was opposite to normal cells, indicating that RFWD3-dependent ubiquitination on Rad51 was involved in the VPA-mediated radio-bidirectional effect. Through DMBA-transformed breast cancer rat model, VPA at 200 mg/kg radiosensitized tumor tissue cells by increasing RFWD3 and inhibited Rad51, while radioprotected normal tissue cells by decreasing RFWD3 and enhanced Rad51. In addition, we found high-level Rad51 was associated with tumorigenesis and poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. Our findings uncovered RFWD3-dependent Rad51 ubiquitination was the novel mechanism of VPA-mediated radio-bidirectional effect, VPA is a potential adjuvant treatment for tumor RT

Co-production of pigment and high value-added bacterial nanocellulose from Suaeda salsa biomass with improved efficiency of enzymatic saccharification and fermentation

This study evaluated the co-production of pigment and bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) from S. salsa biomass. The extraction of the beet red pigment reduced the salts and flavonoids contents by 82.7%–100%, promoting the efficiencies of enzymatic saccharification of the biomass and the fermentation of BNC from the hydrolysate. SEM analysis revealed that the extraction process disrupted the lignocellulosic fiber structure, and the chemical analysis revealed the lessened cellulase inhibitors, consequently facilitating enzymatic saccharification for 10.4 times. BNC producing strains were found to be hyper-sensitive to NaCl stress, produced up to 400.4% more BNC from the hydrolysate after the extraction. The fermentation results of BNC indicated that the LDU-A strain yielded 2.116 g/L and 0.539 g/L in ES-M and NES-M, respectively. In comparison to the control, the yield in ES-M increased by approximately 20.0%, while the enhancement in NES-M was more significant, reaching 292.6%. After conducting a comprehensive characterization of BNC derived from S. salsa through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), the average fiber diameter distribution of these four BNC materials ranges from 22.23 to 33.03 nanometers, with a crystallinity range of 77%–90%. Additionally, they exhibit a consistent trend during the thermal degradation process, further emphasizing their stability in high-temperature environments and similar thermal properties. Our study found an efficient co-production approach of pigment and BNC from S. salsa biomass. Pigment extraction made biomass more physically and chemically digestible to cellulase, and significantly improved BNC productivity and quality