By using a dynamic panel data model, this study investigated how the production of thermal power affects China's regional pilot carbon markets with a focus on carbon price, trading volume, realized ...volatility, and market liquidity. Our results suggest that the production of thermal power has slightly increased the trading volume, but has not affected carbon prices based on the existence of excessive CO
allowances. Moreover, thermal power production has increased realized volatility in the pilot markets. However, this impact was reduced following the announcement of the National Emission Trading System (ETS). This demonstrates that thermal power companies in pilot carbon markets tend to trade carbon credit more actively in response to policies favouring further market liberalization, rather than passively following government instructions. Furthermore, we find that realized volatility and liquidity increased in the Hubei and Shanghai pilots following the announcement. This demonstrates that the announcement of the National ETS improved the market activity and efficiency, and pricing capacity of its host pilot markets. However, this improvement could only be observed in the short term. Therefore, the government should reallocate CO
allowances to match its emission reduction targets and incentivize industries with high carbon intensity to participate in carbon trading.
Background. To cure ischemic diseases, angiogenesis needs to be improved by various strategies in ischemic area. Considering that microRNA-132 (miR-132) regulates endothelial cell behavior during ...angiogenesis and the safe and efficacious delivery of microRNAs in vivo is rarely achieved, an ideal vehicle for miR-132 delivery could bring the promise for ischemic diseases. As a natural carrier of biological molecules, exosomes are more and more developed as an ideal vehicle for miRNA transfer. Meanwhile, mesenchymal stem cells could release large amounts of exosomes. Thus, this study aimed to investigate whether MSC-derived exosomes can be used for miR-132 delivery in the treatment of myocardial ischemia. Methods. MSC-derived exosomes were electroporated with miR-132 mimics and inhibitors. After electroporation, miR-132 exosomes were labelled with DiI and added to HUVECs. Internalization of DiI-labelled exosomes was examined by fluorescent microscopy. Expression levels of miR-132 in exosomes and HUVECs were quantified by real-time PCR. The mRNA levels of miR-132 target gene RASA1 in HUVECs were quantified by real-time PCR. Luciferase reporter assay was performed to examine the targeting relationship between miR-132 and RASA1. The effects of miR-132 exosomes on the angiogenic ability of endothelial cells were evaluated by tube formation assay. Matrigel plug assay and myocardial infarction model were used to determine whether miR-132 exosomes can promote angiogenesis in vivo. Results. miR-132 mimics were effectively electroporated and highly detected in MSC-derived exosomes. The expression level of miR-132 was high in HUVECs preincubated with miR-132 mimic-electroporated exosomes and low in HUVECs preincubated with miR-132 inhibitor-electroporated exosomes. The expression level of RASA1, miR-132 target gene, was reversely correlated with miR-132 expression in HUVECs pretreated with exosomes. Luciferase reporter assay further confirmed that RASA1 was a direct target of miR-132. Exosomes loaded with miR-132, as a vehicle for miRNA transfer, significantly increased tube formation of endothelial cells. Moreover, subcutaneous injection of HUVECs pretreated with miR-132 exosomes in nude mice significantly increased their angiogenesis capacity in vivo. In addition, transplantation of miR-132 exosomes in the ischemic hearts of mice markedly enhanced the neovascularization in the peri-infarct zone and preserved heart functions. Conclusions. The findings suggest that the export of miR-132 via MSC-derived exosomes represents a novel strategy to enhance angiogenesis in ischemic diseases.
Large-area monolayer WS2 is a desirable material for applications in next-generation electronics and optoelectronics. However, the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) with rigid and inert substrates for ...large-area sample growth suffers from a non-uniform number of layers, small domain size and many defects, and is not compatible with the fabrication process of flexible devices. Here we report the self-limited catalytic surface growth of uniform monolayer WS2 single crystals of millimetre size and large-area films by ambient-pressure CVD on Au. The weak interaction between the WS2 and Au enables the intact transfer of the monolayers to arbitrary substrates using the electrochemical bubbling method without sacrificing Au. The WS2 shows high crystal quality and optical and electrical properties comparable or superior to mechanically exfoliated samples. We also demonstrate the roll-to-roll/bubbling production of large-area flexible films of uniform monolayer, double-layer WS2 and WS2/graphene heterostructures, and batch fabrication of large-area flexible monolayer WS2 film transistor arrays.
This brief presents a robust formation control method for a team of quadrotors with communication delays. The dynamics of each quadrotor is subject to nonlinearities, parametric perturbations, and ...external disturbances. A distributed formation controller is developed for the quadrotor team, which consists of a position controller to achieve the desired formation trajectories and patterns, and an attitude controller to regulate the attitude angles for each quadrotor. It is proven that the tracking errors can converge into a neighborhood of the origin bounded by a given constant in a finite time. Experimental results on multiple microquadrotors are provided to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control method.
In this paper, we propose a computationally efficient algorithm with improved effective aperture for coherent angle estimation in a monostatic multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar. First, the ...direction matrix of MIMO radar is mapped into a low-dimensional matrix of virtual uniform linear array (ULA). Then, an augmented data expansion matrix with improved effective aperture is obtained by exploiting the Vandermonde-like structure of the low-dimensional direction matrix and radar cross section (RCS) matrix to enlarge the aperture of the array. Next, a unitary transformation is used to transform the augmented matrix into a real value and the approximate signal subspace of the augmented matrix is obtained by the Nyström method, which can reduce the computational complexity. The eigenvectors of the approximate signal subspace are used to reconstruct the matrix for direct decorrelation processing. Finally, direction of arrivals (DOAs) can be estimated faster by utilizing the unitary ESPRIT algorithm since the rotation invariance of the extended reconstruction matrix still exists. The proposed algorithm has a lower total computational complexity, and the estimation accuracy is improved by utilizing real values and enlarging the array aperture for estimation. Several theoretical analyses and simulation results confirm the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed method.
For the new display technology based on quantum dots (QDs), achieving high‐precision red, green, and blue pixel arrays has always been a research focus in the pursuit of high‐quality and vivid image ...displays. However, problems such as material stability and process environment make it difficult to guarantee the quality of high‐precision patterns. The new optical patterning technology represented by direct photolithography is considered a highly promising method for achieving ultrafine patterns at the submicron level. This process prepares patterned quantum dot‐polymer films through light‐induced chemical changes. This paper reviews the progress of direct photolithography research focused on QD‐polymer materials and presents recent advances in such processes for monochromatic/multicolor light patterning. The article classifies QD‐polymers into three categories by combining QDs with polymers in different ways, including polymer‐coated QDs, polymers as QD ligands, and polymers as photocrosslinkers for QDs. Their synthesis schemes, functional features, and challenges are also presented. In addition, a scheme to remove the photomask during direct lithography using lasers and light field modulation is also proposed. It aims to provide readers and researchers with some generalized research information and improvement ideas. This can further advance the development of direct photolithography for QD‐polymers.
QD‐Polymer composites for direct photolithography are of great significance to the development of today's display technology. This review presents representative design strategies for QD‐Polymer that can be used for direct photolithography and the development of the direct photolithography process for de‐photomasking, which provides guidance for advancing QD‐Polymer for high‐quality patterning and display applications.
An effective method for the determination of 49 pesticide residues and 17 mycotoxins in wine by a modified QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe) method and ultrahigh‐performance ...liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry was developed. The target compounds were extracted with 1% (v/v) formic acid–acetonitrile, and no cleanup steps were required. The extracts were separated on a C18 chromatographic column (2.1 mm × 50 mm, 1.7 µm) with acetonitrile and water with 0.2% formic acid solution and ammonium acetate (10 mM) as the mobile phases under gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.2 mL/min. The determination was conducted using electrospray ionization in positive ion mode with multiple reaction monitoring. The analytes were quantified by comparison with matrix‐matched standard solutions. The good linearities were obtained in the range of 0.05 to 500.0 µg/kg, and the correlation coefficients were all greater than 0.9935. The average recoveries of the 66 target compounds ranged from 69% to 119%, and the RSDs were in the range of 1% to 10%. The limits of detection were in the range of 0.05 to 20.0 µg/kg. The method was proved to be rapid, selective, sensitive, and stable, and it has been applied to analysis of 64 wine samples.
We present a novel paradigm that allows to define a composite theory at the electroweak scale that is well defined all the way up to any energy by means of safety in the UV. The theory flows from a ...complete UV fixed point to an IR fixed point for the strong dynamics (which gives the desired walking) before generating a mass gap at the TeV scale. We discuss two models featuring a composite Higgs, Dark Matter and partial compositeness for all SM fermions. The UV theories can also be embedded in a Pati–Salam partial unification, thus removing the instability generated by the
U
(
1
)
running. Finally, we find a Dark Matter candidate still allowed at masses of 260 GeV, or 1.5–2 TeV, where the latter mass range will be covered by next generation direct detection experiments.
Recently, communications with the aid of reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), which operates with the aim of enhancing the system communication performance, have aroused extensive researches. ...Furthermore, the use of RIS for positioning has been considered. Therefore, we focus on a practical structure of indoor positioning assisted by distributed RISs through utilizing their ability to manipulate multipath signals, through the developed quasi-static and dynamic modes. Specifically, in the quasi-static mode, for reducing the implementation cost, the reflection coefficients for each RIS are preset and remain constant. In the dynamic mode, the reflection coefficients can be timely updated with a two-step positioning approach toward more accurate positioning performance. Furthermore, the Cramér-Rao lower bound of the developed positioning scheme is quantified through theoretical analysis. Both theoretical analysis and simulation results demonstrate that RIS has the potential to realize accurate positioning even with a single access point, due to its ability to mark the channel and replace traditional active positioning anchors. Meanwhile, we also show that the developed two-step positioning scheme can achieve considerable performance gain in accurate positioning.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine what influence travelers’ adoption of online reviews, and whether the online reviews will influence their travel planning decisions.
...Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 193 respondents from eWOM websites and analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
The results revealed that eWOM has a significant influence on travel decisions. Furthermore, travelers were willing to adopt information from eWOM and this information was useful in their travel planning and decisions. Gender and time spent on online reviews were found to affect travel planning and decisions. Travelers also found that the reviews and issues raised in eWOM had credibility and were of good quality.
Research limitations/implications
The study was not able to incorporate all factors which may be relevant to this study and so further theoretical development may be necessary to develop the conceptual model. The sample size, while adequate, can be expanded further.
Practical implications
Operators and administrators of eWOM can use these findings to develop more user-friendly interfaces so that more positive reviews and sales can be generated.
Social implications
The results showed that travelers who adopt the information in eWOM will, in turn, use eWOM in their travel planning. This confirms the importance of eWOM and travelers in general will translate their pre-travel decisions into actual travel planning.
Originality/value
This research extended existing eWOM and information system adoption studies and focused on the travel planning context. This research validated the significant roles of eWOM argument quality and credibility in predicting the information usefulness of eWOM.
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