•Energy consumption patterns have long-term impacts on energy demand.•We explore determinants and structure of household energy consumption.•Tobit and OLS models are adopted to explore factors ...influencing energy expenditure.•Residential energy consumption in 2030 is evaluated using scenario analysis.
China’s growing energy demand is driven by urbanization. Facing the problem of energy scarcity, residential energy consumption is a crucial area of energy conservation and emissions reduction. Household energy consumption patterns, which are characterized by effects of “path lock-in”, have long-term impacts on China’s energy demand. Based on the survey data, this paper explores factors that influence household energy consumption and analyzes the structure of residential energy consumption in China. Based on the results of analysis of variance (ANOVA), this paper applies the Tobit and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) models to investigate impacts of variables of “the tiered pricing for household electricity (TPHE)”, “solar energy usage”, “automobile ownership”, “rural or urban areas”, “household income” and “city scale” on the residential energy expenditure. In addition, household energy consumption is estimated under different scenarios including improving the utilization of solar energy, rise in energy prices and the increase in automobile ownership. Residential energy consumption in 2030 is evaluated by simulating different models for urban development. Policy recommendations are suggested for China’s urban development strategy, new energy development and household pathway selection of energy consumption.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPUK
The fast-growing interest in de-internationalization research calls for a comprehensive synthesis of extant literature to identify paths for future research. We have responded to this call with a ...framework-based thematic review of 218 articles published between 1979 and 2019. The review synthesizes theoretical arguments and empirical findings with the conceptual mapping of four themes: the concept of de-internationalization and its antecedents, consequences, and moderators. This synthesis ensures the theoretical contributions of future research on the dynamics of de-internationalization and its motives, barriers, and long-term impacts on multiple stakeholders as well as the conditions under which the impacts occur. This study, therefore, contributes to the literature with a thematic framework showing key themes in de-internationalization research as well as new directions in which to move forward.
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CEKLJ, EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Based on statistical physics and graph theory, the research paradigm of a complex network, which has sprung up in the last decade, provides us with new global perspective to discuss the topic of ...international trade. In this paper, we engage in the issue of countries' roles and positions in international trade using the latest complex network theories. On a mid-level structure, countries are classified into three communities that reflect the structure of the “core/periphery” using the weighted extremal optimisation algorithm and the coarse graining process. On a micro-level, countries' rankings are provided with the aid of network's node centralities, which presents world trade as a closed, imbalanced, diversified and multi-polar development. Further, we firstly introduce the improved bootstrap percolation to simulate cascading influences following the breaking down of bilateral trade relations. We find that the breakdown of EU's export relations can more easily form a cascading reaction, which would result in a global collapse of world trade. All the results highlight the important positions of the EU, USA and Japan in the international trade system, which plays a positive role in promoting the world economy.
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•Bootstrap percolation model simulates cascading effects in international trade relations.•Countries are classified into three communities with geographical features.•World trade is a closed, imbalanced, diversified and multi-polar network.•The rupture of unilateral trade relations cannot be ignored.•Breakdown of EU's export easily results in global collapse of world trade.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
In order to explore high efficiency microwave absorption materials, heteronanostructured Co@carbon nanotubes-graphene (Co@CNTs-G) ternary hybrids were designed and produced through catalytic ...decomposition of acetylene at the designed temperature (400, 450, 500 and 550 °C) over Co
O
/reduced graphene oxide (Co
O
/RGO). By regulating the reaction temperatures, different CNT contents of Co@CNTs-G ternary hybrids could be synthesized. The investigations indicated that the as-prepared heteronanostructured Co@CNTs-G ternary hybrids exhibited excellent microwave absorption properties, and their electromagnetic and microwave absorption properties could be tuned by the CNT content. The minimum reflection loss (RL) value reached approximately -65.6, -58.1, -41.1 and -47.5 dB for the ternary hybrids synthesized at 400, 450, 500 and 550 °C, respectively. And RL values below -20 dB (99% of electromagnetic wave attenuation) could be obtained over the as-prepared Co@CNTs-G ternary hybrids in the large frequency range. Moreover, based on the obtained results, the possible enhanced microwave absorption mechanisms were discussed in details. Therefore, a simple approach was proposed to explore the high performance microwave absorbing materials as well as to expand the application field of graphene-based materials.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Amniotic epithelial cells develop from the epiblast by 8 days after fertilization and before gastrulation, opening the possibility that they might maintain the plasticity of pregastrulation embryo ...cells. Here we show that amniotic epithelial cells isolated from human term placenta express surface markers normally present on embryonic stem and germ cells. In addition, amniotic epithelial cells express the pluripotent stem cell–specific transcription factors octamer‐binding protein 4 (Oct‐4) and nanog. Under certain culture conditions, amniotic epithelial cells form spheroid structures that retain stem cell characteristics. Amniotic epithelial cells do not require other cell‐derived feeder layers to maintain Oct‐4 expression, do not express telomerase, and are nontumorigenic upon transplantation. Based on immunohistochemical and genetic analysis, amniotic epithelial cells have the potential to differentiate to all three germ layers—endoderm (liver, pancreas), mesoderm (cardiomyocyte), and ectoderm (neural cells) in vitro. Amnion derived from term placenta after live birth may be a useful and noncontroversial source of stem cells for cell transplantation and regenerative medicine.
Nuclear fusion reactions which produce energies and most of the elements in the Universe are the keys to driving the process of the Big Bang nucleosynthesis, as well as the evolution of stars. For ...fusions in real astrophysical conditions, it is crucial to directly measure them in the plasma environments. However, it is challenging to obtain reaction cross sections quantitatively because of the high instabilities of plasma. Here, an innovative self-calibration method is proposed to eliminate the large uncertainties caused by the plasma instabilities. And for the first time, it is applied to investigating the deuteron-lithium nuclear-fusion reaction 7Li(D,n)8Be in the plasma, which is related to the Big Bang lithium abundance puzzle. Further, the reaction's astrophysical S-factor in the Gamow window around 173 keV in the plasma is measured to be S=(24±8) MeV⋅barn, which demonstrates from an experimental point of view that the coulomb screening effect does not play an essential role in this 7Li consuming reaction related to the Big Bang lithium abundance puzzle. This self-calibration method for nuclear reactions in the plasma can also be applied to exploring other nuclear-fusion reactions, such as 7Li(p,α)4He and 6Li(p,α)3He, as well as providing a new probe for detecting plasma dynamics.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Sepsis-induced acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) was associated with higher mortality. It is unclear whether albumin supplementation early in the course of ARDS can affect the prognostic ...outcomes of septic shock (SS) patients with ARDS.
The MIMIC-III database was employed to identify SS patients with ARDS. The effect of early application (<24 h after ICU admission) of human albumin on 28-day mortality in SS patients with ARDS was explored. The propensity score matching was used to minimize the bias between the non-albumin and early albumin treatment groups.
The analysis for all eligible patients who received human albumin showed significantly lower 28-hospital mortality rates than the non-albumin group (37% versus 47%,
= 0.018). After propensity matching, the difference between the two groups also significantly (34.8% versus 48.1%,
= 0.031). Moreover, we found that the relationship between albumin use and reduced 28-day mortality was inconsistent across SOFA score subgroups (P
= 0.004, non-adjustment for multiple testing).
Early human albumin administration in SS patients with ARDS was independently associated with a reduction of 28-day mortality. Furthermore, the benefit of human albumin treatment appeared to be more pronounced in patients with a SOFA score of ≤ 10.
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