This paper decomposes energy intensity change across countries into five components attributable to technological catch-up, technological progress and changes in capital–energy ratio, labor–energy ...ratio and output structure. It is found that (1) technological progress, capital accumulation and output structure change contributed to the decline of energy intensity from 1980 to 2010, (2) changes in labor–energy ratio drove up energy intensity, and (3) spatial and temporal heterogeneity existed regarding relative importance of the five components.
•This paper identifies sources of changes in energy intensity of economies in the world.•Technological progress, capital accumulation and changes in output structure contributed to the declines.•Changes in labor–energy ratio drove up energy intensity.•Spatial and temporal heterogeneity existed.
China has implemented an emission trading system (ETS) to reduce its ever-increasing greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining rapid economic growth. With low carbon prices and infrequent allowance ...trading, whether China's ETS is an effective approach for climate mitigation has entered the center of the policy and research debate. Utilizing China's regional ETS pilots as a quasi-natural experiment, we provide a comprehensive assessment of the effects of ETS on firm carbon emissions and economic outcomes by means of a matched difference-in-differences (DID) approach. The empirical analysis is based on a unique panel dataset of firm tax records in the manufacturing and public utility sectors during 2009 to 2015. We show unambiguous evidence that the regional ETS pilots are effective in reducing firm emissions, leading to a 16.7% reduction in total emissions and a 9.7% reduction in emission intensity. Regulated firms achieve emission abatement through conserving energy consumption and switching to low-carbon fuels. The economic consequences of the ETS are mixed. On one hand, the ETS has a negative impact on employment and capital input; on the other hand, the ETS incentivizes regulated firms to improve productivity. In the aggregate, the ETS does not exhibit statistically significant effects on output and export. We also find that the ETS displays notable heterogeneity across pilots. Mass-based allowance allocation rules, higher carbon prices, and active allowance trading contribute to more pronounced effects in emission abatement.
By using output distance functions, this paper decomposes energy productivity change into several components: effects of the changes in the ratios of non-energy inputs to energy, energy supply ...composition, and output composition; technical efficiency change; technological change. We apply this method to decompose energy productivity change in 23 OECD countries between 1980 and 1990. Results show that technological change is the most important source; increase in capital–energy ratio and the growing importance within total energy supply of electricity also contribute to it.
In this work, an exhaustive study on post effect processing of three-dimensional (3D) image is carried to solve the problem of nonlinear digital watermarking algorithm. First, through the feature ...space decomposition method of the host image, the embedded watermark is constructed with the full row or column rank of the matrix, and then the public key is constructed by using the existence of the unitary matrix of the full row rank and column rank matrix, so that the algorithm can embed and extract the watermark in an asymmetric way. Watermark extraction correlation coefficient (
) value is 1. When the deformation amplitude of the model is slight and the noise intensity is
= 0.0001, the watermark can be extracted successfully, and the watermark extraction correlation coefficient (
) is 0.92. In addition, the security of the algorithm is analyzed from many angles, the theoretical analysis is given, and verified by the experimental results. The proposed 3D watermarking methods are used to examine the information capacity of various 3D meshes. The 3D watermarking methods’ resistance to noise perturbation and object cropping is also investigated.
•First, a hidden attractor chaos system is used to encrypt digital image. Compared to self-excited attractor, hidden attractor's attracting basin does not intersect with any small neighborhoods of ...the equilibria. It is difficult for attackers to reconstruct the attractor by finding equilibrium points.•Second, Knuth–Durstenfeld algorithm has good randomness. At the same time, Knuth–durstenfeld algorithm can reduce the time complexity and the space complexity of the permutation while achieving good permutation effect.
Chaotic systems have been widely applied in digital image encryption due to their complex properties such as ergodicity, pseudo randomness and extreme sensitivity to their initial values and parameters. An image encryption algorithm based on a hidden attractor chaos system and Knuth–Durstenfeld algorithm is proposed. First, a hidden attractor chaos system is used to encrypt digital image. Compared to a self-excited attractor, the hidden attractor's attracting basin does not intersect with any small neighbourhoods of the equilibria. It is difficult for attackers to reconstruct the attractor by finding equilibrium points. Therefore, the hidden attractor chaotic system is difficult to decrypt. Meanwhile, the hidden attractor chaos system is very sensitive to initial values and parameters. Second, the Knuth–Durstenfeld algorithm has good randomness. In addition, the Knuth–Durstenfeld algorithm can reduce the time complexity and the space complexity of the permutation while achieving good permutation effects. Thus, Knuth–Durstenfeld algorithm is used to permutate the digital image. Finally, DNA sequence operations are used to diffuse image pixels values. Some experimental analyses have been applied to measure the new scheme, and the experimental results illustrate the scheme possesses better encryption performances. This method can be applied in secure image communication fields.
This paper proposes a multi-attractor period multi-scroll chaotic system and a second-generation current-controlled current conveyor (CCCII) with a wide tunable range of intrinsic resistance. The ...newly proposed multi-attractor period multi-scroll chaotic system is constructed by this CCCII. The proposed chaotic system can generate single-attractor period, double-attractor period, three-attractor period, and even more attractor period multi-scroll. The four-dimensional state equation of the chaotic system contains four nonlinear functions for generating multi-attractor period multi-scroll chaos. Since the intrinsic resistance of the CCCII can be adjusted by external voltages or currents, the multi-attractor period multi-scroll chaotic integrated circuit based on the proposed CCCII have a tunable characteristic. It is worth noting that a chaotic integrated circuit has been implemented completely using current signals instead of voltage signals, and more interestingly, it does not contain any passive resistor. The dynamic characteristics of the multi-attractor period multi-scroll chaotic system are given. The circuit designs of the CMOS CCCII and the corresponding chaotic circuit are made in detail. We conduct the numerical and circuit simulations of the proposed chaotic system and the integrated circuit implementation of the chaotic circuit based on the CMOS CCCII. The correctness of the CCCII circuit and the chaotic system are proved through hardware experiments. The comparison between the implementation scheme of the chaotic circuit in this paper and several reported chaotic circuits is conducted.
Summary
Root endodermis, the innermost cortical layer surrounding the root vasculature, serves as the foremost barrier to water, solutes, and nutrients taken up from soil. Endodermis barrier ...functionality is achieved via its hydrophobic coating of lignified Casparian strips and the suberin lamellae; nonetheless the regulatory mechanisms underlying endodermis suberization are still elusive. Here, we discovered that the Arabidopsis SUBERMAN (SUB) transcription factor controls the establishment of the root suberin lamellae. Transient expression of SUB in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves resulted in the induction of heterologous suberin genes, the accumulation of suberin‐type monomers, and consequent deposition of suberin‐like lamellae. We demonstrate that SUB exerts its regulatory roles by transactivating promoters of suberin genes. In Arabidopsis, SUB is expressed in patchy and continuous suberization root endodermal cells, and thus roots with higher or lower expression of SUB display altered suberin polymer deposition patterns and modified composition. While these changes did not interfere with Casparian strip formation they had a substantial effect on root uptake capacity, resulting in varied root and leaf ionomic phenotypes. Gene expression profiling revealed that SUB function impacts transcriptional networks associated with suberin, phenylpropanoids, lignin, and cuticular lipid biosynthesis, as well as root transport activities, hormone signalling, and cell wall modification. Our findings highlight SUB as a regulator of root endodermis suberization during normal development, and its characterization is thus a key step towards dissecting the molecular mechanisms partaking in root endodermal barrier functionalities.
Significance Statement
The capacity of root endodermis to function as a successful barrier is achieved by the deposition of lignified Casparian strips and suberin lamellae in its cell walls during development. Here, we discovered that the Arabidopsis SUBERMAN (SUB) transcription factor controls establishment of the root suberin lamellae. Its characterization constitutes a key step towards dissecting the molecular mechanisms partaking in root endodermal barrier functionalities.
The antidiabetic and antioxidant activities of the ethyl acetate-soluble extract (MFE) of mulberry fruit (Morus alba L.) were investigated. In vitro, MFE showed potent α-glucosidase inhibitory ...activity and radical-scavenging activities against DPPH and superoxide anion radicals. In vivo, MFE could significantly decrease fasting blood glucose (FBG) and glycosylated serum protein (GSP), and increase antioxidant enzymatic activities (SOD, CAT, GSH-Px) in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice. Bioactivity-guided fractionation of the MFE led to the isolation of 25 phenolic compounds, and their structures were identified on the basis of MS and NMR data. All the 25 compounds were isolated from mulberry fruit for the first time. Also, the α-glucosidase inhibitory activity and antioxidant activity of the phenolics were evaluated. Potent α-glucosidase inhibitory and radical-scavenging activities of these phenolics suggested that they may be partially responsible for the antidiabetic and antioxidant activities of mulberry fruit.
Coronaviruses (CoVs) act as cross-species viruses and have the potential to spread rapidly into new host species and cause epidemic diseases. Despite the severe public health threat of severe acute ...respiratory syndrome coronavirus and Middle East respiratory syndrome CoV (MERS-CoV), there are currently no drugs available for their treatment; therefore, broad-spectrum inhibitors of emerging and endemic CoVs are urgently needed. To search for effective inhibitory agents, we performed high-throughput screening (HTS) of a 2,000-compound library of approved drugs and pharmacologically active compounds using the established genetically engineered human CoV OC43 (HCoV-OC43) strain expressing
luciferase (rOC43-ns2Del-Rluc) and validated the inhibitors using multiple genetically distinct CoVs
We screened 56 hits from the HTS data and validated 36 compounds
using wild-type HCoV-OC43. Furthermore, we identified seven compounds (lycorine, emetine, monensin sodium, mycophenolate mofetil, mycophenolic acid, phenazopyridine, and pyrvinium pamoate) as broad-spectrum inhibitors according to their strong inhibition of replication by four CoVs
at low-micromolar concentrations. Additionally, we found that emetine blocked MERS-CoV entry according to pseudovirus entry assays and that lycorine protected BALB/c mice against HCoV-OC43-induced lethality by decreasing viral load in the central nervous system. This represents the first demonstration of
real-time bioluminescence imaging to monitor the effect of lycorine on the spread and distribution of HCoV-OC43 in a mouse model. These results offer critical information supporting the development of an effective therapeutic strategy against CoV infection.
Currently, there is no approved therapy to treat coronavirus infection; therefore, broad-spectrum inhibitors of emerging and endemic CoVs are needed. Based on our high-throughput screening assay using a compound library, we identified seven compounds with broad-spectrum efficacy against the replication of four CoVs
Additionally, one compound (lycorine) was found to protect BALB/c mice against HCoV-OC43-induced lethality by decreasing viral load in the central nervous system. This inhibitor might offer promising therapeutic possibilities for combatting novel CoV infections in the future.
The purposes of this paper are to determine the sources of energy productivity growth at the provincial level in China and to examine the relative contributions of the sources and their impacts on ...regional inequality. Energy productivity change is first decomposed into five components attributable to changes in capital–energy ratio, labor–energy ratio, output structure, and technical efficiency change and technological change. Then a nonparametric analysis is implemented to statistically test the relative contributions of the components and their roles in the distribution dynamics of energy productivity. It is found that (1) changes in capital–energy ratio, output structure, and technological change contribute to energy productivity growth in China, (2) increase in capital–energy ratio caused by capital accumulation is the primary driving force for energy productivity growth, and (3) capital accumulation contributes to energy productivity convergence between Chinese provinces over the time period of 1990–2005.
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