The impact of SO2 emissions trading scheme on pollution abatement and labor market for industrial enterprises in China

To cope with the emissions permit trading program, industrial firms have to change production decisions, which may affect their pollution discharge, labor demand, and workers’ wage earnings. Using a time-varying difference-in-differences framework together with robustness checks, this research explores the impacts of the SO2 emissions trading scheme (SETS) on SO2 emissions, employment, and wages of industrial firms in China. It was noted that the program resulted in a remarkable decline not only in SO2 emissions but also in labor demands and wages. The mechanism analyses further show that emissions reduction is mainly driven by fossil energy input decrease rather than by desulfurization technology. The negative effects of employment and wages are driven by the negative output effect and insufficient technology rather than by the environmental substitute effect. Our findings contribute to the improvement of the market-oriented environmental permit trading program and development of regulated firms in developing countries

RIS-assisted Scheduling for High-Speed Railway Secure Communications

With the rapid development of high-speed railway systems and railway wireless communication, the application of ultra-wideband millimeter wave band is an inevitable trend. However, the millimeter wave channel has large propagation loss and is easy to be blocked. Moreover, there are many problems such as eavesdropping between the base station (BS) and the train. As an emerging technology, reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) can achieve the effect of passive beamforming by controlling the propagation of the incident electromagnetic wave in the desired direction.We propose a RIS-assisted scheduling scheme for scheduling interrupted transmission and improving quality of service (QoS).In the propsed scheme, an RIS is deployed between the BS and multiple mobile relays (MRs). By jointly optimizing the beamforming vector and the discrete phase shift of the RIS, the constructive interference between direct link signals and indirect link signals can be achieved, and the channel capacity of eavesdroppers is guaranteed to be within a controllable range. Finally, the purpose of maximizing the number of successfully scheduled tasks and satisfying their QoS requirements can be practically realized. Extensive simulations demonstrate that the proposed scheme has superior performance regarding the number of completed tasks and the system secrecy capacity over four baseline schemes in literature.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, to appear in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technolog

Synthesis and biological evaluations of oleanolic acid indole derivatives as hyaluronidase inhibitors with enhanced skin permeability

Oleanolic acid (OA) is a natural cosmeceutical compound with various skin beneficial activities including inhibitory effect on hyaluronidase but the anti-hyaluronidase activity and mechanisms of action of its synthetic analogues remain unclear. Herein, a series of OA derivatives were synthesised and evaluated for their inhibitory effects on hyaluronidase. Compared to OA, an induction of fluorinated (6c) and chlorinated (6g) indole moieties led to enhanced anti-hyaluronidase activity (IC50 = 80.3 vs. 9.97 and 9.57 µg/mL, respectively). Furthermore, spectroscopic and computational studies revealed that 6c and 6g can bind to hyaluronidase protein and alter its secondary structure leading to reduced enzyme activity. In addition, OA indole derivatives showed feasible skin permeability in a slightly acidic environment (pH = 6.5) and 6c exerted skin protective effect by reducing cellular reactive oxygen species in human skin keratinocytes. Findings from the current study support that OA indole derivatives are potential cosmeceuticals with anti-hyaluronidase activity

Simultaneous bond-selective deuterium-based isotopic labeling sensing with disposable ultra-miniature CARS fiber probe

Deuterium-based isotopic labeling is an important technique for tracking cellular metabolism with the Raman signals analysis of low-wavenumber (LW) C–D bonds and high-wavenumber (HW) C–H bonds. We propose and demonstrate a disposable ultra-miniature fiber probe to detect LW and HW coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectra for deuterated compounds simultaneously and bond-selectively sensing. The 10.78 µm diameter disposable fiber probe, comprised of focusing taper as fiber probe head and time-domain walk-off eliminating fiber section with designed length, realizes wide-frequency-interval dual Stokes pulse delivering and focusing. The fiber probe enables quantitative concentration determination with resolution down to 11 mM. The chemical vibration modes of LW region C–D bonds and HW region C–H bonds of the mixture samples of organic compounds and their deuterated counterparts in a simulated cell are simultaneously excited and characterized. The CARS disposable fiber probe introduces a promising handle for in vivo biochemical detection based on isotopic labeling sensing

Dual sensitization enhancement in cavity optomechanics for ultra-high resolution temperature sensing

As a basic physical parameter, temperature plays an important role in science and industry areas. The cavity optomechanics especially the spring effect provide an ideal platform for precision measurement. Here, we bridge between optical sensitization and optomechanical transduction by fabricating a liquid-core microbubble resonator to realize dual sensitization enhancement. The high thermo-optic coefficient liquid is injected into the microbubble to increase the temperature sensitivity of optical resonant peak shift. The optomechanical spring effect is used to transduce the amplified optical shift to mechanical frequency change and further enhance the temperature response. Through the enhancement combination of optical and mechanical methods, we have achieved a sensitivity of 8.1 MHz/°C, which is at least two orders of magnitude higher than traditional optomechanical approaches. The temperature resolution is estimated as high as 5.3×10 -5 °C with mechanical frequency linewidth 8.6 kHz. A capillary ethanol evaporation experiment is constructed to demonstrate capability of the tiny temperature fluctuations measurement. The novel dual approach greatly enhanced the ultra-high resolution sensing capability and have a flexible sensitivity adjust potential with simply injecting different liquids

Liquid-core-microtubule-enhanced Laser sensor for high resolution temperature measurement

We present a fiber laser temperature sensor based on temperature dependence whisper gallery mode-based microcavity. Three different thermo-optic coefficient liquids are injected into a thin wall thickness microtubule for different temperature sensitivity of whisper gallery mode shift. The sensor temperature sensitivity increases with the absolute value of the liquid core thermo-optic coefficient. The theoretical model of whisper gallery mode temperature response is analyzed. A liquid core microtubule is inserted into the erbium-doped fiber ring laser cavity as the optical filter and sensing unit simultaneously, so the lasing wavelength can be used to detect the temperature change of the medium. Due to the narrow spectral width of sensing laser, a high sensing resolution system is experimentally confirmed. With the combination of liquid core to increase the sensitivity and fiber ring laser cavity to increase sensing resolution, the high sensitivity 112.8 pm/°C of sensing system is demonstrated and the thermal resolution is 8.16 × 10 -3 °C

Insights into monkeypox pathophysiology, global prevalence, clinical manifestation and treatments

On 23rd July 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognized the ongoing monkeypox outbreak as a public medical crisis. Monkeypox virus (MPV), the etiological agent of monkeypox, is a zoonotic, linear, double-stranded DNA virus. In 1970, the Democratic Republic of the Congo reported the first case of MPV infection. Human-to-human transmission can happen through sexual contact, inhaled droplets, or skin-to-skin contact. Once inoculated, the viruses multiply rapidly and spread into the bloodstream to cause viremia, which then affect multiple organs, including the skin, gastrointestinal tract, genitals, lungs, and liver. By September 9, 2022, more than 57,000 cases had been reported in 103 locations, especially in Europe and the United States. Infected patients are characterized by physical symptoms such as red rash, fatigue, backache, muscle aches, headache, and fever. A variety of medical strategies are available for orthopoxviruses, including monkeypox. Monkeypox prevention following the smallpox vaccine has shown up to 85% efficacy, and several antiviral drugs, such as Cidofovir and Brincidofovir, may slow the viral spread. In this article, we review the origin, pathophysiology, global epidemiology, clinical manifestation, and possible treatments of MPV to prevent the propagation of the virus and provide cues to generate specific drugs

Comparison and assessment of NDVI time series for seasonal wetland classification

Satellite-based wetland mapping faces challenges due to the high spatial heterogeneity and dynamic characteristics of seasonal wetlands. Although normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series (NTS) shows great potential in land cover mapping and crop classification, the effectiveness of various NTS with different spatial and temporal resolution has not been evaluated for seasonal wetland classification. To address this issue, we conducted comparisons of those NTS, including the moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) NTS with 500 m resolution, NTS fused with MODIS and Landsat data (MOD_LC8-NTS), and HJ-1 NDVI compositions (HJ-1-NTS) with finer resolution, for wetland classification of Poyang Lake. Results showed the following: (1) the NTS with finer resolution was more effective in the classification of seasonal wetlands than that of the MODIS-NTS with 500-m resolution and (2) generally, the HJ-1-NTS performed better than that of the fused NTS, with an overall accuracy of 88.12% for HJ-1-NTS and 83.09% for the MOD_LC8-NTS. Future work should focus on the construction of satellite image time series oriented to highly dynamic characteristics of seasonal wetlands. This study will provide useful guidance for seasonal wetland classification, and benefit the improvements of spatiotemporal fusion models

Developing Family-Community Interactive program for the disabled older adults at home: a study protocol

Abstract Background With an aging population and the influence of traditional culture, the number of disabled older adults at home is increasing. Meanwhile, their care needs are also increasing. The cooperation between family and community can effectively improve the quality of home care for the disabled older adults. At present, there is a lack of research on the interaction between family and community in home care for disabled older adults. Methods The aim of this study is to determine the experience and demands of the interaction for disabled older adults, family and community, construct an interaction program among disabled older adults, family and community, and improve the quality of life. From may 2022 to July 2022, This study will select disabled older adults families from seven communities in Henan provinces. The researchers, after training, will conduct semi-structured interview to collect research data. According to the integration results of qualitative research, the interactive program is constructed and revised using the Delphi expert consultation method. Then the participants will be selected to accept the intervention of the interactive program and evaluated through questionnaires. Discussion Both family and community play an important role in the care of the disabled older adults at home. There is some evidence indicating the benefits of cooperation between family and community on disabled older adults. This study will take a step further and constructs a interaction program about how to create a positive and interactive home-based older adults care environment. Trial registration Registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry on April 19, 2021, number ChiCTR2100045584

Plants at population edges enjoy longer mating distances: Implications for conservation practice

Habitat fragmentation and population declines have led to increased population edges, exposing higher proportions of plants to ecotones. However, it remains a challenging question how edge plants perform compared with interior ones, as they usually experience dissimilar abiotic and biotic interactions. To address this question, we performed experiments on a monoecious herb (Sagittaria trifolia) focusing on the reproductive fitness and mating patterns of individuals at the edge of two common gardens established under varied light conditions (open vs. understory) with natural pollination. Plant female fitness was determined by seed production, whereas male fitness and mating patterns were resolved by paternity analysis employing eight microsatellite markers. Results showed that edge plants had lower pollinator visitation frequency than interior ones in both gardens. However, there was no significant reduction in female or male reproductive success of edge plants. Instead, edge plants enjoyed longer distances of effective pollen dispersal when reproduced as males, as well as longer distances of sires when reproduced as females. This pattern was consistent across habitats and years. Together, the results indicate that edge plants not only maintained a comparable level of reproduction as interior ones but also enjoyed greater mating distances, which would likely bring about higher genetic diversity in their offspring. This further implies that edge effects may play an important role in promoting gene exchange and encouraging population recovery