China's Low-carbon-city Development with ETS: Forecast on the Energy Consumption and Carbon Emission of Chongqing

AbstractThe low carbon development roadmap is an extremely important topic of fundamental research in China due to China's lack of energy resources, serious environment pollution, and huge greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. In this paper, an overview of energy supply and demand in Chongqing, and a summary of current social and economic development planning and energy policies were provided, as background to the implementation of Long-range Energy Alternatives Planning System (LEAP) model of Chongqing. The LEAP model is used to compare future energy demand and supply patterns, as well as GHG emissions peak arriving. Results of scenarios featuring business-as-usual (BAU) policies, low carbon development (LCD) strategy, carbon emission trading scheme (ETS) pilot, and coal consumption controlling (CCC) action are provided and compared, along with sensitivity cases exploring the impacts of various scenario assumptions. Results show that, Chongqing's emission peak would arrive at nearly 2025 in BAU scenario; while keeping the carbon intensity of GDP reduction continuously, utilizing more clean energy, and implementing ETS could help Chongqing to achieve energy consumption and GHG emission more cost effective than BAU scenario. This study provides a quantitative, city-specific analysis of low carbon development roadmap, which can be used to support policymakers’ decision

The Role of China in 2 Degree World: The Needs for Change in Energy System Planning

AbstractChina is taking the crucial role to fulfill the global 2-degree target, which is claimed that the global temperature should be kept below 2 degrees by 2100. China is now the top CO2 emitter in the world and has much potential in carbon mitigation, and is now on the stage of its 12th five years plan and facing the problem of energy system optimization.This paper presents an assessment of possible changes in energy system planning in China within a 2 degree world. Our study is based on China-ESPT, a bottom-up and technological based optimization model with rich technical details at sectorial levels, including industry, power generation, and transportation, residential and commercial sectors. Three scenarios are designed referring to three kinds of mitigation pathways to fulfill the global 2-degree target: Equal per capita cumulative principle (EPC), grandfather principle (GF), and contraction and convergence (CC). The results show us the effect of carbon mitigation pathway, and relevant changes for energy system infrastructure, it is possible to evaluate both mitigation policies and technology innovation. Besides, we also considered the total cost for the adjustment of energy system. This analysis offers good reference and strong support for China's policy design and optimization both in short term by year 2020 and long term by year 2050. Under the 2-degree global target scheme, China should find its own way to both meet the global target as a main role and make optimal and cost-effective adjustment for energy system via a sustainable development way

Geographic differential privacy for mobile crowd coverage maximization

For real-world mobile applications such as location-based advertising and spatial crowdsourcing, a key to success is targeting mobile users that can maximally cover certain locations in a future period. To find an optimal group of users, existing methods often require information about users' mobility history, which may cause privacy breaches. In this paper, we propose a method to maximize mobile crowd's future location coverage under a guaranteed location privacy protection scheme. In our approach, users only need to upload one of their frequently visited locations, and more importantly, the uploaded location is obfuscated using a geographic differential privacy policy. We propose both analytic and practical solutions to this problem. Experiments on real user mobility datasets show that our method significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art geographic differential privacy methods by achieving a higher coverage under the same level of privacy protection

A Promoter Region Polymorphism in PDCD-1

Objective. Programmed cell death 1 (PD-1) induces negative signals to T cells during interaction with its ligands and is therefore a candidate gene in the development of autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Herein, we investigate the association of PDCD-1 polymorphisms with the risk of RA among Chinese patients and healthy controls. Methods. Using the PCR-direct sequencing analysis, 4 PDCD-1 SNPs (rs36084323, rs11568821, rs2227982, and rs2227981) were genotyped in 320 RA patients and 309 matched healthy controls. Expression of PD-1 was determined in peripheral blood lymphocytes by flow cytometry and quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. Results. We observed that the GG genotype of rs36084323 was associated with a increased risk for developing RA (OR 1.70, 95% 1.11–2.61, P=0.049). Patients carrying G/G genotype displayed an increased mRNA level of PD-1 (P=0.04) compared with A/A genotype and healthy controls. Meanwhile, patients homozygous for rs36084323 had induced basal PD-1 expression on activated CD4+ T cells. Conclusion. The PDCD-1 polymorphism rs36084323 was significantly associated with RA risk in Han Chinese population. This SNP, which effectively influenced the expression of PD-1, may be a biomarker of early diagnosis of RA and a suitable indicator of utilizing PD-1 inhibitor for treatment of RA

Excess TGF-β mediates muscle weakness associated with bone metastases in mice

Cancer-associated muscle weakness is a poorly understood phenomenon, and there is no effective treatment. Here we find that seven different mouse models of human osteolytic bone metastases-representing breast, lung and prostate cancers, as well as multiple myeloma-exhibited impaired muscle function, implicating a role for the tumor-bone microenvironment in cancer-associated muscle weakness. We found that transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, released from the bone surface as a result of metastasis-induced bone destruction, upregulated NADPH oxidase 4 (Nox4), resulting in elevated oxidization of skeletal muscle proteins, including the ryanodine receptor and calcium (Ca(2+)) release channel (RyR1). The oxidized RyR1 channels leaked Ca(2+), resulting in lower intracellular signaling, which is required for proper muscle contraction. We found that inhibiting RyR1 leakage, TGF-β signaling, TGF-β release from bone or Nox4 activity improved muscle function in mice with MDA-MB-231 bone metastases. Humans with breast- or lung cancer-associated bone metastases also had oxidized skeletal muscle RyR1 that is not seen in normal muscle. Similarly, skeletal muscle weakness, increased Nox4 binding to RyR1 and oxidation of RyR1 were present in a mouse model of Camurati-Engelmann disease, a nonmalignant metabolic bone disorder associated with increased TGF-β activity. Thus, pathological TGF-β release from bone contributes to muscle weakness by decreasing Ca(2+)-induced muscle force production

Epidermal stem cells in orthopaedic regenerative medicine.

PMC3709750In the last decade, great advances have been made in epidermal stem cell studies at the cellular and molecular level. These studies reported various subpopulations and differentiations existing in the epidermal stem cell. Although controversies and unknown issues remain, epidermal stem cells possess an immune-privileged property in transplantation together with easy accessibility, which is favorable for future clinical application. In this review, we will summarize the biological characteristics of epidermal stem cells, and their potential in orthopedic regenerative medicine. Epidermal stem cells play a critical role via cell replacement, and demonstrate significant translational potential in the treatment of orthopedic injuries and diseases, including treatment for wound healing, peripheral nerve and spinal cord injury, and even muscle and bone remodeling.JH Libraries Open Access Fun

Quantifying co-benefit potentials in the Chinese cement sector during 12th Five Year Plan: an analysis based on marginal abatement cost with monetized environmental effect

International audienceIncreasing urbanization in China has led to growing demands for better air quality and human welfare. Global warming and local pollutants, such as SO2, NOx and PMs are the two main issues during China's development. However, these two topics are always studied separately and the co-benefits of mitigation measures are always ignored. Therefore, the interaction between carbon mitigation and local pollutant reduction measures should receive more attention. This paper presents a case study of co-benefits in the cement sector, which is the main building materials sector during urbanization. Different with the Ex-ternE methodology based on doseeresponse functions, a simplified method built upon benefit transfer is introduced to evaluate the co-benefits of mitigation measures and their impact on marginal abatement cost during 12th Five Year Plan period (2011 e2015). The result shows that the co-benefits of 18 main carbon mitigation technologies are significant when considering the environmental effect. The range of co-benefit varies from-3 RMB/tCO2 to 267 RMB/tCO2, with Co-control technologies in the upstream of the production chain have better co-benefits than downstream technologies, and energy conservation is the most critical issue in increasing co-benefits. Co-benefits should be integrated into project evaluation through various modes in order to promote the most cost-effective mitigation technologies

Multiplex PCR for Detection of Genes for Staphylococcus aureus Enterotoxins, Exfoliative Toxins, Toxic Shock Syndrome Toxin 1, and Methicillin Resistance

A multiplex PCR assay for detection of genes for staphylococcal enterotoxins A to E (entA, entB, entC, entD, and entE), toxic shock syndrome toxin 1 (tst), exfoliative toxins A and B (etaA and etaB), and intrinsic methicillin resistance (mecA) was developed. Detection of femA was used as an internal positive control. The multiplex PCR assay combined the primers for sea to see and femA in one set and those for eta, etb, tst, mecA, and femA in the other set. Validation of the assay was performed using 176 human isolates of Staphylococcus aureus. This assay offers a very specific, quick, reliable, and inexpensive alternative to conventional PCR assays used in clinical laboratories to identify various staphylococcal toxin genes