Pyrolysis of Low-Rank Coal: From Research to Practice

Low-rank coal (LRC), as a conventional fossil fuel, has wealth of reserves and a wide range of distribution around the world, and pyrolysis is thought to be an easy way for clean and efficient conversion of LRC. In this chapter, the characteristics and world’s reservation of LRC are introduced. Then, the chemical reactions and product formation process during pyrolysis of LRC are described. Meanwhile, how the factors, such as temperature, minerals in coal, heating rate, particle size and atmosphere, influence the pyrolysis process are discussed. Finally, three LRC pyrolysis-based polygeneration systems are illustrated for recent developments on LRC industrial practice

Single-layer behavior and slow carrier density dynamic of twisted graphene bilayer

We report scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy (STS) of twisted graphene bilayer on SiC substrate. For twist angle ~ 4.5o the Dirac point ED is located about 0.40 eV below the Fermi level EF due to the electron doping at the graphene/SiC interface. We observed an unexpected result that the local Dirac point around a nanoscaled defect shifts towards the Fermi energy during the STS measurements (with a time scale about 100 seconds). This behavior was attributed to the decoupling between the twisted graphene and the substrate during the measurements, which lowers the carrier density of graphene simultaneously

Job Satisfaction by Chinese Primary Care Doctors Following Health Care Reform

The purpose of this study is to compare primary care doctors’ job satisfaction and factors associated with it before and after the latest health care reform in China. Data for the study were obtained from China Primary Care Workforce Surveys conducted in 2008 and 2011. Compared to results from the 2008 survey, primary care doctors (PCDs) in the 2011 survey were more satisfied with their jobs overall as well as work conditions and equipment, but less satisfied with their income. In both surveys rural CHC and village clinic doctors were less satisfied than their urban counterparts with their jobs overall, income, work condition, and equipment. Logistic regressions showed that practice setting (i.e. urban, rural, or village) and educational level were two important factors associated with job satisfaction. These findings demonstrated both significant achievements and further efforts to be made to strengthen primary care workforce and enhance their job satisfaction

Variability in the impacts of partisan conflict: a new perspective from bank credit

The purpose of this article is to analyse the impact of partisan conflict on bank credit, and take the global financial crisis as the time node to analyse the variability of this impact before and after the financial crisis. This article examines the impacts of partisan conflict on the bank credit by employing the US data covering the past 40 years and captures the variability in the effects of partisan conflict based on the rolling sample and time-varying parameter VAR analysis. The full sample results reveal that one standard deviation partisan conflict shock will shrink the bank credit growth rate to nonfinancial sectors, and the negative effects of partisan conflict on bank credit are more substantial after the global financial crisis. The rolling sample and time-varying parameter VAR analysis further confirm that the impacts of partisan conflict shock have varied substantially over time, where bank credit still negatively reacts to the impacts of partisan conflict in recent periods. Additionally, we estimate two extended models and support the intermediate role of economic policy uncertainty in transmitting the partisan conflict and the substitution effect of cross-border bank lending on domestic bank credit. Finally, our major results are unchanged by performing a series of robustness checks. The conclusion of this article is that partisan conflict has a significant impact on bank credit and shows obvious variability, which is more significant after the global financial crisis

Tetra­kis(μ2-phenyl­acetato-κ2 O:O′)bis­[(isoquinoline-κN)copper(II)]

In the title centrosymmetric binuclear CuII complex, [Cu2(C8H7O2)4(C9H7N)2], the two Cu cations are bridged by four carboxyl­ate groups of the phenyl­acetate anions; each Cu cation is further coordinated by an isoquinoline ligand to complete the distorted CuO4N square-pyramidal geometry. The Cu cation is displaced by 0.2092 (8) Å from the basal plane formed by the four O atoms. Within the dinuclear mol­ecule, the Cu⋯Cu separation is 2.6453 (6) Å. Although a parallel, overlapped arrangement of isoquinoline ligands exists in the crystal structure; the longer face-to-face distance of 3.667 (5) Å suggests there is no π–π stacking between isoquinoline ring systems