Non-CO2 Greenhouse Gas Emissions in China 2012: Inventory and Supply Chain Analysis

Reliable inventory information is critical in informing emission mitigation efforts. Using the latest officially released emission data, which is production based, we take a consumption perspective to estimate the non-CO2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for China in 2012. The non-CO2 GHG emissions, which cover CH4, N2O, HFCs, PFCs, and SF6, amounted to 2003.0 Mt. CO2-eq (including 1871.9 Mt. CO2-eq from economic activities), much larger than the total CO2 emissions in some developed countries. Urban consumption (30.1%), capital formation (28.2%), and exports (20.6%) derived approximately four fifths of the total embodied emissions in final demand. Furthermore, the results from structural path analysis help identify critical embodied emission paths and key economic sectors in supply chains for mitigating non-CO2 GHG emissions in Chinese economic systems. The top 20 paths were responsible for half of the national total embodied emissions. Several industrial sectors such as Construction, Production and Supply of Electricity and Steam, Manufacture of Food and Tobacco and Manufacture of Chemicals, and Chemical Products played as the important transmission channels. Examining both production- and consumption-based non-CO2 GHG emissions will enrich our understanding of the influences of industrial positions, final consumption demands, and trades on national non-CO2 GHG emissions by considering the comprehensive abatement potentials in the supply chains

The transport performance evaluation system building of logistics enterprises

Purpose: modern logistics has a significant role in today’s society, logistics cost accounts for 35% to 50% of total logistics costs, so it’s great significance to improve the transport performance of logistics enterprises. Design/methodology/approach: the authors select the transportation performance evaluation index of logistics enterprise, with the aid of the fuzzy theory and analytic hierarchy process (AHP), adopt the combining method of quantitative and qualitative analysis, construct the transport performance evaluation system of logistics enterprises. Findings: the choice of transport performance evaluation indicator system for Logistics enterprise is in a state of "high", which indicates the indicator selection is reasonable. Research limitations/implications: the selected indicators with experts’ subjective factors can not accurately quantify. Practical implications: it has important practical significance to promote the development of modern logistics enterprises and save social cost. Originality/value: current research methods mainly include the PDCA cycle model, key performance indicators (KPI) and benchmarking method, principal component analysis method, etc. The authors for the first time with the aid of fuzzy theory and analytic hierarchy process (AHP), adopt the combining method of quantitative and qualitative research on transport performance problems.Peer Reviewe

A Counterexample for the Principal Eigenvalue of An Elliptic Operator with Large Advection

There are numerous studies focusing on the convergence of the principal eigenvalue $\lambda(s)$ as $s\to+\infty$ corresponding to the elliptic eigenvalue problem \begin{align*} -\Delta\varphi(x)-2s\mathbf{v}\cdot\nabla\varphi(x)+c(x)\varphi(x)=\lambda(s)\varphi(x),\quad x\in \Omega, \end{align*} where $\Omega$ is a bounded domain and the advection term $\mathbf{v}$ under some certain restrictions. In this paper, we construct an infinitely oscillating gradient advection term $\mathbf{v}=\nabla m(x)\in C^1(\Omega)$ such that the principal eigenvalue $\lambda(s)$ does not converge as $s\to+\infty$. As far as we know, this is the first result that guarantee the non-convergence of the principal eigenvalue

Tailored biosynthesis of plant-derived ginsenoside Rh2 in yeast via repurposing a key promiscuous microbial enzyme

With the development of synthetic biology, substantial progress has been made in the low-cost production of plant natural products in microbes. Ginsenoside Rh2 is a potential anticancer drug isolated from medicinal plant ginseng. Fermentative production of ginsenoside Rh2 in yeast has recently been investigated as an alternative strategy compared to extraction from plants. However, the titer was quite low due to low catalytic capability of the key ginseng glycosyltransferase in microorganisms. Please click on the link below for full content

Combinatory optimization of chromosomal integrated mevalonate pathway for β-carotene production in Escherichia coli

Additional file 1: Table S1. Primers used in this work. Table S2. Modulating genes of mvaS-mvaA-mavD1 operon for improving β-carotene production. Table S3. Modulating genes of Hmg1-erg12 operon for improving β-carotene production. Table S4. Sequences of representative artificial regulatory parts. Table S5. Plasmids used in this work. Table S6. Escherichia coli strains used in this work. Table S7. Calculated strength of mvaS and Hmg1 RBS, RBS sequence and relative β-carotene yield of strains from Re-modulation libraries. Figure S1. Two-step recombination method for inserting Hmg1-erg12 operon in E. coli chromosome. Figure S2. Two-step recombination method for modulating gene expression in E. coli chromosome by different artificial regulatory parts

In Vivo Optical Imaging of Interscapular Brown Adipose Tissue with 18F-FDG via Cerenkov Luminescence Imaging

Objective: Brown adipose tissue (BAT), a specialized tissue for thermogenesis, plays important roles for metabolism and energy expenditure. Recent studies validated BAT’s presence in human adults, making it an important re-emerging target for various pathologies. During this validation, PET images with 18F-FDG showed significant uptake of 18F-FDG by BAT under certain conditions. Here, we demonstrated that Cerenkov luminescence imaging (CLI) using 18F-FDG could be utilized for in vivo optical imaging of BAT in mice. Methods: Mice were injected with 18F-FDG and imaged 60 minutes later with open filter and 2 minute acquisition. In vivo activation of BAT was performed by norepinephrine and cold treatment under isoflurane or ketamine anesthesia. Spectral unmixing and 3D imaging reconstruction were conducted with multiple-filter CLI images. Results: 1) It was feasible to use CLI with 18F-FDG to image interscapular BAT in mice, with the majority of the signal (>85%) at the interscapular site originating from BAT; 2) The method was reliable because excellent correlations between in vivo CLI, ex vivo CLI, and ex vivo radioactivity were observed; 3) CLI could be used for monitoring BAT activation under different conditions; 4) CLI signals from the group under short-term isoflurane anesthesia were significantly higher than that from the group under long-term anesthesia; 5) The CLI spectrum of 18F-FDG with a peak at 640 nm in BAT after spectral unmixing reflected the actual context of BAT; 6) Finally 3D reconstruction images showed excellent correlation between the source of the light signal and the location and physical shape of BAT. Conclusion: CLI with 18F-FDG is a feasible and reliable method for imaging BAT in mice. Compared to PET imaging, CLI is significantly cheaper, faster for 2D planar imaging and easier to use. We believe that this method could be used as an important tool for researchers investigating BAT

Type IIs restriction based combinatory modulation technique for metabolic pathway optimization

Additional file 1: Table S1. Oligonucleotides used in this study

College Students' Learning Performance, Teaching Skills, and Teaching Innovation in Intercultural Communication Class: Evidence Based on Experiential Learning Theory

In China, the improvement of the learner performance is critical a challenge for the teaching staff and the management in intercultural communication class. Indeed, the administration of the Chinese schools is failed to provide effective learning to the students with innovative methods. The objective of this study was to identify the role of college students' learning performance, teaching skills, and teaching innovation in intercultural communication class. This study is based on the quantitative data collected on a five-point Likert scale from the target respondents who were the students of different colleges and 700 questionnaires distributed for it. The study concludes that there is a significant relationship among abstract conceptualization, active participation, and reflective observation in students' learning performance. Furthermore, this study highlights that the mediating role of teaching innovation is critical for students' learning performance. This study contributes to the literature with a significant theoretical framework. Finally, this study provides significant theoretical implications and practical implications which are key game-changers for improving the performance of the students in the intercultural communication class

Treatment decision making in psychiatry: Formulating patients’ perspectives in outpatient psychiatric consultations

Seeking and understanding patients’ values and preferences is one of the essential elements in shared decision making, which is associated with treatment adherence in psychiatry. However, negotiating treatment in psychiatric contexts can be challenging with patients whose ability to evaluate treatment recommendations rationally may be impaired. This article attempts to examine a conversational practice that psychiatrists use to deal with patients’ views and perspectives by formulating what the patients have said related to treatment. Taking the naturally occurring, face-to-face outpatient psychiatric consultations as the data, the present study uses conversation analysis (CA) as a method to demonstrate in a fine-grained detail what functions formulations of patients’ perspectives serve in psychiatric contexts. We found that by eliciting patients’ views and perspectives toward treatment, this type of formulation is not only used to achieve mutual understanding and establish the grounds for treatment decisions, but may also be used to challenge the legitimacy of patients’ position, steering treatment decision to the direction preferred by the psychiatrists. We argue that in the process of treatment decision making, psychiatrists do not simply impose their perspectives upon the patients, instead, they attempt to achieve consensus with patients by balancing their institutional authority and orientation to the patients’ perspectives. Data are in Chinese with English translation