Mean-reverting behavior of consumption-income ratio in OECD countries: evidence from SURADF panel unit root tests

This paper examines the existence of the mean-reverting behavior of the consumption-income ratio from a panel of 24 OECD countries through the application of the series-specific SURADF panel unit root test. The results show that the consumption-income ratios in 22 OECD countries exhibit mean-reverting behavior. Furthermore, the half-life of the consumption-income ratio for these 22 OECD countries is between 0.28 to 3.48 years. This implies that policy shocks in industrialized economies are not likely to have permanent effects on the consumption-income ratio.Mean reversion; Consumption-income ratio; SURADF; Half-life

Implementing the 3E assessment model of sustainable development to investigate coastal pollution management: using PET recycling (bottle-to-fiber) as a case study

Recently, plastic pollution of the ocean has been garnering increasing attention. The United Nations considers the problem as a major issue, and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has launched a global "Clean Ocean" campaign. An estimated 51 trillion plastic particles can be found in our oceans, and the pollution has caused plastics to enter the food chain. This study investigates the life cycle of recycling waste PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles in the ocean to the regeneration of recycled raw materials in the process of producing blankets made from such materials. First, the activity data of the relevant literature was collected, and the life cycle assessment software Open LCA was used as the assessment tool. We assume that the functional unit is 1 kg of recycled PET bottles. Secondly, with the ILCD 2011 Midpoint impact assessment method for environmental impact analysis, we identify the impact of pollutants generated during the recycling process on the environment as follows: Photochemical ozone formation 7872256.41218/ kg NMVOC eq; Fresh-water ecotoxicity 240566129.10051/ CTUe; Human toxicity, cancer effects 120.28305/ CTUh; Human toxicity, non-cancer effects 1.53496/ CTUh. Finally, we conduct risk assessment using the 3E (Engineering, Environment and Economic) assessment model, and propose an overall recovery treatment optimization assessment model

Developing a SCORM-based U-Learning LMS System

An integrated content and learning management system (LMSs) which has the characteristic of being ubiquitous is the most essential component of U-Learning. However, most modern learning management systems have different architectures, which makes it’s difficult to integrate the numerous learning resources, and reusability is hard to achieve. Otherwise, most learning resources read on mobile platforms are still restricted to electric books or digital learning materials. So, it’s not easy to manage the learning progress and immediately information providing or interactions between learners and instructors are impossible. A research is proposed in this paper to develop a SCORM compliant blended U-Learning LMS system, which emphasizes the content compilation, content packaging and the implement of SCORM run-time environment to have learning materials being reusable and interoperable

Flares from merged magnetars: their prospects as a new population of gamma-ray counterparts of binary neutron star mergers

Long-lived massive magnetars are expected to be remnants of some binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. In this paper, we argue that the magnetic powered flaring activities of these merged magnetars would occur dominantly in their early millisecond-period-spin phase, which is in the timescale of days. Such flares endure significant absorption by the ejecta from the BNS collision, and their detectable energy range is from 0.1-10 MeV, in a time-lag of $\sim$ days after the merger events indicated by the gravitational wave chirps. We estimate the rate of such flares in different energy ranges, and find that there could have been ~0.1-10 cases detected by Fermi/GBM. A careful search for $\sim10$ milliseconds spin period modulation in weak short gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) may identify them from the archival data. Future MeV detectors can detect them at a rate from a few to tens per year. The recent report on the Quasi-Period-Oscillation found in two BASTE GRBs should not be considered as cases of such flares, for they were detection in a lower energy range and with a much shorter period spin modulation.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to ApJ

Electronic Tuning of Mixed Quinoidal‐Aromatic Conjugated Polyelectrolytes: Direct Ionic Substitution on Polymer Main‐Chains

The synthesis of conjugated polymers with ionic substituents directly bound to their main chain repeat units is a strategy for generating strongly electron-accepting conjugated polyelectrolytes, as demonstrated through the synthesis of a series of ionic azaquinodimethane (iAQM) compounds. The introduction of cationic substituents onto the quinoidal para-azaquinodimethane (AQM) core gives rise to a strongly electron-accepting building block, which can be employed in the synthesis of ionic small molecules and conjugated polyelectrolytes (CPEs). Electrochemical measurements alongside theoretical calculations indicate notably low-lying LUMO values for the iAQMs. The optical band gaps measured for these compounds are highly tunable based on structure, ranging from 2.30 eV in small molecules down to 1.22 eV in polymers. The iAQM small molecules and CPEs showcase the band gap reduction effects of combining the donor-acceptor strategy with the bond-length alternation reduction strategy. As a demonstration of their utility, the iAQM CPEs so generated were used as active agents in photothermal therapy

3D Stretchable Arch Ribbon Array Fabricated via Grayscale Lithography.

Microstructures with flexible and stretchable properties display tremendous potential applications including integrated systems, wearable devices and bio-sensor electronics. Hence, it is essential to develop an effective method for fabricating curvilinear and flexural microstructures. Despite significant advances in 2D stretchable inorganic structures, large scale fabrication of unique 3D microstructures at a low cost remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate that the 3D microstructures can be achieved by grayscale lithography to produce a curved photoresist (PR) template, where the PR acts as sacrificial layer to form wavelike arched structures. Using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) process at low temperature, the curved PR topography can be transferred to the silicon dioxide layer. Subsequently, plasma etching can be used to fabricate the arched stripe arrays. The wavelike silicon dioxide arch microstructure exhibits Young modulus and fracture strength of 52 GPa and 300 MPa, respectively. The model of stress distribution inside the microstructure was also established, which compares well with the experimental results. This approach of fabricating a wavelike arch structure may become a promising route to produce a variety of stretchable sensors, actuators and circuits, thus providing unique opportunities for emerging classes of robust 3D integrated systems