Power generation expansion planning model towards low-carbon economy and its application in china

Climate change poses a huge threat to human welfare. Hence, developing a low-carbon economy has become a prevailing and inevitable trend. Decarbonization of power generation, especially converting the current power mix into a low-carbon structure, will be a critical option for CO2 emission mitigation. In this paper, an integrated power generation expansion (PGE) planning model towards low-carbon economy is proposed, which properly integrates and formulates the impacts of various low-carbon factors on PGE models. In order to adapt to the characteristics of PGE models based on low-carbon scenario, a compromised modeling approach is presented, which reasonably decreases complexities of the model, while properly keeping the significant elements and maintaining moderate precision degree. In order to illustrate the proposed model and approach, a numerical case is studied based on the background of China's power sector, making decisions on the optimal PGE plans and revealing the prospects and potentials for CO2 emission reduction. © 2010 IEEE.published_or_final_versio

Can board climate-responsible orientation improve corporate carbon performance? The moderating role of board carbon awareness and firm reputation

Overwhelming evidence from prior research suggests the functions of the board of directors have a vital influence on carbon performance. However, very little is known about the moderating effect of board functions. This study attempts to fill this gap by developing and empirically testing a conceptual model that highlights the role of board carbon awareness and firm reputation in the relationship between board climate-responsible orientation (BCO) and carbon performance. Using a fixed effect model to analyze data from 665 US listed firms covering a period of 2010–2019, we find that BCO and carbon performance show a U-shaped non-linear relationship. Increased experience of BCO improves corporate carbon performance. The results also provide evidence of the moderating effect of carbon awareness and firm reputation on the relationship between BCO and carbon performance. Carbon awareness reduces symbolic emission reduction actions in carbon management, while, firm reputation will cause symbolic emission reduction actions. Besides, splitting the sample according to firm size and carbon dependency shows BCO has a better effect on the carbon performance of small or medium-sized and high carbon-dependency firms. The findings have important implications for managers to use firm governance mechanisms to improve carbon performance

The Mitochondrial Calcium Uniporter participates in Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury and in Cardioprotection by Ischemic Preconditioning

The objective of the present study was to determine whether the mitochondrial calcium uniporter plays a role in cardioprotection by ischemic preconditioning (IPC). Isolated rat hearts were subjected to 30 min regional ischemia by ligation of the left anterior descending artery followed by 120 min reperfusion. We found that both IPC and inhibition of the mitochondrial calcium uniporter during reperfusion improved recovery of left ventricular developed pressure, maximal rise velocity and end-diastolic pressure, and reduced infarct size and lactate dehydrogenase release. These protective effects were attenuated by activating the mitochondrial calcium uniporter. We conclude that the mitochondrial calcium uniporter is involved in the cardioprotection of ischemic preconditioning.published_or_final_versio

Role of the Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pore in TNF-α -Induced Recovery of Ventricular Contraction and Reduction of Infarct Size in Isolated Rat Hearts Subjected to Ischemia/Reperfusion

Pretreatment with tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) is known to trigger cardioprotection. TNF-α can activate multiple downstream signaling cascades. However, it is not known whether the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MitoPTP) is involved in TNF-α -induced cardioprotection. In the present study, we examined whether TNF-α inhibits MitoPTP opening. In isolated rat hearts subjected to 30 min regional ischemia and 120 min reperfusion, pretreatment with 10 U/ml TNF-α for 7 min followed by 10 min washout improved the recovery of left ventricular developed pressure (LVDP) and rate-pressure product (RPP = LVDP × heart rate) during reperfusion and reduced the infarct size. Administration of 20 μ mol/L atractyloside, a MitoPTP opener, for 20 min (last 5 min of ischemia and first 15 min of reperfusion) and pretreatment with 1 μ inhibitor of the Ca2+-activated K+mol/L paxilline, an channel, for 5 min before ischemia, attenuated the recovery of LVDP and RPP and the reduction of infarct size induced by TNF-α. The findings indicate that, in the isolated heart model, TNF-α protects myocardium against ischemia/reperfusion injury via inhibiting MitoPTP opening as well as by activating the Ca2+-activated K+channel.published_or_final_versio

Self-Activatin Process to Fabricate Activated Carbon from Kenaf

Self-activation takes advantage of the gases emitted from the pyrolysis process of biomass to activate the converted carbon, so that a high performance activated carbon is obtained. Kenaf fiber, one type of biomass, was self-activated into activated carbon. The Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area (SABET) of non-activation and self-activation pyrolyzed at 1100°C for 2 hours were analyzed and obtained as 252 m2/g and 1,280 m2/g, respectively, with 408% difference. The results showed that the highest SABET (1,616 m2/g) was achieved when a kenaf fiber was pyrolyzed at 1,000°C for 15 hours. A linear relationship was shown between the ln(SABET) and the yield of kenaf fiber based activated carbon through the self-activation process. The study also showed that a yield of 9.0% gave the highest surface area by gram kenaf fiber (80 m2 per gram kenaf fiber), and the yields between 7.2 – 13.8% produced a surface area per gram kenaf fiber that was higher than 95% of the maximum surface area by gram kenaf fiber