An Approach to Carbon Emissions Prediction Using Generalized Regression Neural Network Improved by Genetic Algorithm

The study on scientific analysis and prediction of China’s future carbonemissions is conducive to balancing the relationship between economicdevelopment and carbon emissions in the new era, and actively respondingto climate change policy. Through the analysis of the application of thegeneralized regression neural network (GRNN) in prediction, this paperimproved the prediction method of GRNN. Genetic algorithm (GA) wasadopted to search the optimal smooth factor as the only factor of GRNN,which was then used for prediction in GRNN. During the prediction of carbon dioxide emissions using the improved method, the increments of datawere taken into account. The target values were obtained after the calculation of the predicted results. Finally, compared with the results of GRNN,the improved method realized higher prediction accuracy. It thus offers anew way of predicting total carbon dioxide emissions, and the predictionresults can provide macroscopic guidance and decision-making referencefor China’s environmental protection and trading of carbon emissions

Inputs, outputs and living standards in rural China during the 1920s and 30s: a quantitative analysis

Since Kenneth Pomeranz’s Great Divergence that was published in 2000, the scholarly debate has been focused on when the divergence was likely to begin. But a lack of real data for the Pomeranz framework has been noticeable. For our purpose, real data are imperative. The primary-source data this study uses are from the first large-scale modern survey of the rural economy in China in the 1920s and 30s to establish correlations between inputs, outputs and living standards in China’s rural sector. This study views China’s traditional growth trajectory continuing from the Qing to troubled times of the 1920s and 1930s despite considerable negative externalities from a regime change. The present view is that given that the rural economy managed to hang on during the Republican Period despite many disadvantages Qing China would have performed at least at the 1920s-30s’ level. Our findings indicate that rural population did indeed eat quite well during the politically troubled time, supporting Pomeranz’s pathbreaking comparison of utility functions between China’s Yangzi Delta and Western Europe. Secondly, food consumption proved incentives for improvement in labour productivity. Thirdly, China’s peasants were rational operators to maximise their returns. Fourthly, China’s highyield farming depended on land and labour inputs along a production probability frontier, which explains the root cause of the Great Divergence. Finally, there was a ‘little divergence’ inside China which was dictated by rice production, which justifies the Yangzi Delta as the best scenario

Performance and mechanisms of the Maoist economy: a holistic approach, 1950-1980

This article probes performance and mechanisms of the Maoist economy from 1950 to 1980, a period commonly regarded as a turning point that ushered in a bumpy but new path for China’s new economic fortune, including industrialisation and modernisation. Mao and his government have often been regarded as a developer and moderniser for China. This study questions it. To that end, the Maoist economy is re-conceptualised, re-examined, and re-assessed with qualitative and quantitative evidence including empirical modelling. The key findings suggest that the Maoist economy was a closed one with industrial dependence on agriculture in an urbanrural zero-sum. In the end, despite the official propaganda agriculture declined, industrial workforce stagnated, and the population was poor. This gloomy performance justified the post-Mao reforms and opening up, a game changer that put China on a very different trajectory of growth and development

Screening and cloning of differentially expressed genes in Dendrobium nobile induced by orchid mycorrhizal fungus promoting the growth

Appropriate mycorrhizal fungi could effectively promote plant growth and development. Our previous research results showed that the growth of Dendrobium nobile was obviously promoted under inoculating one orchid mycorrhizal fungi, Epulorhiza sp. AR-18. To understand the growth-promoting molecular mechanisms, differential displayed real time polymerase chain reaction (DDRT-PCR), reverse Northern blot and Southern blot were used to isolate and identify genes whose transcription were altered in cultured D. nobile plants that were treated with Epulorhiza sp. AR-18. Amplified by 8 primer combinations from one anchor primers and 8 random primers, a total of 14 complementary DNA (cDNA) fragments including 12 differentially expressed cDNA bands were isolated. Reverse northern blot analysis showed that only 2 genes were differentially displayed cDNA bands. One band was an especially expressed fragment, expressed in the treated group but not in the control; while another was a differentially expressed fragment, weak in the treated and strength in the control. Southern blot analysis demonstrated that the two gene fragments were from the plant and not from the fungus. Sequence analysis and database searches revealed no significant homology to any known sequences. The results suggested that the usefulness of messenger RAN (mRNA) differential display technique for the detection of differentially expressed genes in D. nobile whose growth could be promoted by mycorrhizal fungi.Keywords: Dendrobium nobile, differential displayed real time polymerase chain reaction (DDRT-PCR), orchid mycorrhizal fungus, Epulorhiza sp., reverse northern blo

Mechanism of Three-Component Collision to Produce Ultrastable pRNA Three-Way Junction of Phi29 DNA-Packaging Motor by Kinetic Assessment

RNA nanotechnology is rapidly emerging. Due to advantageous pharmacokinetics and favorable in vivo biodistribution, RNA nanoparticles have shown promise in targeted delivery of therapeutics. RNA nanotechnology applies bottom-up assembly, thus elucidation of the mechanism of interaction between multiple components is of fundamental importance. The tendency of diminishing concern about RNA instability has accelerated by the finding of the novel thermostable three-way junction (3WJ) motif of the phi29 DNA-packaging motor. The kinetics of these three components, each averaging 18 nucleotides (nt), was investigated to elucidate the mechanism for producing the stable 3WJ. The three fragments coassembled into the 3WJ with extraordinary speed and affinity via a two-step reaction mechanism, 3WJb + 3WJc ↔ 3WJbc + 3WJa ↔ 3WJabc. The first step of reaction between 3WJb and 3WJc is highly dynamic since these two fragments only contain 8 nt for complementation. In the second step, the 3WJa, which contains 17 nt complementary to the 3WJbc complex, locks the unstable 3WJbc complex into a highly stable 3WJ. The resulting pRNA-3WJ is more stable than any of the dimer species as shown in the much more rapid association rates and slowest dissociation rate constant. The second step occurs at a very high association rate that is difficult to quantify, resulting in a rapid formation of a stable 3WJ. Elucidation of the mechanism of three-component collision in producing the ultrastable 3WJ proves a promising platform for bottom-up assembly of RNA nanoparticles as a new class of anion polymers for material science, electronic elements, or therapeutic reagents

Standardized Volume Power Density Boost in Frequency-Up Converted Contact-Separation Mode Triboelectric Nanogenerators

The influence of a mechanical structure’s volume increment on the volume power density (VPD) of triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) is often neglected when considering surface charge density and surface power density. This paper aims to address this gap by introducing a standardized VPD metric for a more comprehensive evaluation of TENG performance. The study specifically focuses on 2 frequency-up mechanisms, namely, the integration of planetary gears (PG-TENG) and the implementation of a double-cantilever structure (DC-TENG), to investigate their impact on VPD. The study reveals that the PG-TENG achieves the highest volume average power density, measuring at 0.92 W/m3. This value surpasses the DC-TENG by 1.26 times and the counterpart TENG by a magnitude of 69.9 times. Additionally, the PG-TENG demonstrates superior average power output. These findings introduce a new approach for enhancing TENGs by incorporating frequency-up mechanisms, and highlight the importance of VPD as a key performance metric for evaluating TENGs

An Arginine Finger Regulates the Sequential Action of Asymmetrical Hexameric ATPase in the Double-Stranded DNA Translocation Motor

Biological motors are ubiquitous in living systems. Currently, how the motor components coordinate the unidirectional motion is elusive in most cases. Here, we report that the sequential action of the ATPase ring in the DNA packaging motor of bacteriophage ϕ29 is regulated by an arginine finger that extends from one ATPase subunit to the adjacent unit to promote noncovalent dimer formation. Mutation of the arginine finger resulted in the interruption of ATPase oligomerization, ATP binding/hydrolysis, and DNA translocation. Dimer formation reappeared when arginine mutants were mixed with other ATPase subunits that can offer the arginine to promote their interaction. Ultracentrifugation and virion assembly assays indicated that the ATPase was presenting as monomers and dimer mixtures. The isolated dimer alone was inactive in DNA translocation, but the addition of monomer could restore the activity, suggesting that the hexameric ATPase ring contained both dimer and monomers. Moreover, ATP binding or hydrolysis resulted in conformation and entropy changes of the ATPase with high or low DNA affinity. Taking these observations together, we concluded that the arginine finger regulates sequential action of the motor ATPase subunit by promoting the formation of the dimer inside the hexamer. The finding of asymmetrical hexameric organization is supported by structural evidence of many other ATPase systems showing the presence of one noncovalent dimer and four monomer subunits. All of these provide clues for why the asymmetrical hexameric ATPase gp16 of ϕ29 was previously reported as a pentameric configuration by cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) since the contact by the arginine finger renders two adjacent ATPase subunits closer than other subunits. Thus, the asymmetrical hexamer would appear as a pentamer by cryo-EM, a technology that acquires the average of many images

ROD-revenue: seeking strategies analysis and revenue prediction in ride-on-demand service using multi-source urban data

International audienceRecent years witness the rapidly-growing business of ride-on-demand (RoD) services such as Uber, Lyft and Didi. Unlike taxi services, these emerging transportation services use dynamic pricing to manipulate the supply and demand, and to improve service responsiveness and quality. Despite this, on the drivers' side, dynamic pricing creates a new problem: how to seek for passengers in order to earn more under the new pricing scheme. Seeking strategies have been studied extensively in traditional taxi service, but in RoD service such studies are still rare and require the consideration of more factors such as dynamic prices, the status of other transportation services, etc. In this paper, we develop ROD-Revenue, aiming to mine the relationship between driver revenue and factors relevant to seeking strategies, and to predict driver revenue given features extracted from multi-source urban data. We extract basic features from multiple datasets, including RoD service, taxi service, POI information, and the availability of public transportation services, and then construct composite features from basic features in a product-form. The desired relationship is learned from a linear regression model with basic features and high-dimensional composite features. The linear model is chosen for its interpretability-to quantitatively explain the desired relationship. Finally we evaluate our model by predicting drivers' revenue. We hope that ROD-Revenue not only serves as an initial analysis of seeking strategies in RoD service, but also helps increasing drivers' revenue by offering useful guidance