•Each increase of 10 μg/m3 in PM2.5 was associated with decreased fecundity by 11%.•It was also associated with an 20% increased likelihood of infertility.•The association might explain the increased ...infertility rates in polluted areas.
Whether exposure to airborne particulate matter less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) could impact human fecundity is unclear. We aimed to evaluate the potential impact of PM2.5 exposure on time to pregnancy (TTP) and the prevalence of infertility in the general Chinese population.
We collected reproductive information, sociodemographic characteristics, and lifestyle data of 10,211 couples at risk of pregnancy from a large-scale community-based fertility survey in China. Then, we estimated each participant’s 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year average PM2.5 exposure levels based on remote sensing information. After adjusting for demographic, lifestyle, and environmental co-variables, discrete-time Cox regression models were used to estimate the fecundability odds ratio (FOR) per 10 μg/m3 change of PM2.5. We also estimated the odds ratio (OR) of infertility per 10 μg/m3 change of PM2.5, using logistic regression models.
Among the 10,211 couples, 6,875 (67%) had conceived spontaneously, with a median TTP of 5 months (interquartile range: 2–10 months). The median PM2.5 exposure was 56.8 μg/m3, with a wide range of 9.2–93.5 μg/m3. In Cox regression models, each increase of 10 μg/m3 in the 1-year average PM2.5 exposure was associated with a significant decrease in fecundity by 11% (FOR: 0.89; 95% confidence interval CI: 0.86–0.92). In logistic regression models, it was also associated with an 20% increased likelihood of infertility (OR: 1.20; 95% CI: 1.13–1.27).
PM2.5 exposure was associated with reduced human fecundity, presented by a longer TTP and higher odds of infertility, which might explain the increased infertility rates in areas with heavy PM2.5 pollution.
In near offshore oil fields, drilling and platform construction costs are high. Therefore, waterflooding optimization becomes the cheapest and most effective method to enhance project economics and ...consequently receive considerable attention. In this paper, a systematic approach was proposed to automatically determine well placement and operation constraints. The well-placement was optimized through an efficient ranking-based method which consisted of two stages. In the first stage, it was assumed that every column of cell in the reservoir simulation model contained a producer. Through iterative simulation, the most effective producers were identified by applying the screening criteria to maximize the oil production. In the second stage, the injector-placement was determined based on the dynamic injection allocation and volumetric sweep efficiency of waterflooding patterns through streamline numerical simulation. This ranking-based well-placement optimization method was validated by two examples. The results suggest that this method is very efficient and effective. Also, the adjoint-based optimization algorithm was employed to optimize the water injection rate for each injector and the liquid production rate for each producer. This systematic waterflooding-optimization approach was applied to manage NP1-29 Block, a near offshore faulted reservoir in China. After the optimization, 10-year oil production increased about 16% over the conventional waterflooding design.
•Two-stage optimization strategy was proposed to optimize the well-placement.•Ranking method, black oil and streamline simulation were integrated in optimization.•Adjoint-based gradient optimization method was used to optimize the operation rates.•Using proposed strategy can improve cumulative oil production greatly.
Two major challenges for sustainability of the textile industry are water consumption and hazardous industrial effluents. A solvent dyeing technology for polyethylene terephthalate fabrics was ...developed to facilitate the reduction of chemical consumption and to eliminate the use of water. Liquid paraffin was selected as the optimum dyeing medium from a collection of 110 organic solvents using a combination of Hansen solubility parameters and environmental, health, and safety profiles. The solvent dyeing method developed in the present work offers three advantages over traditional aqueous dyeing: high quality dyed goods without using water and auxiliaries, efficient reduction of surface oligomers without additional reduction cleaning and easy reuse of spent dye liquors. As a result, negative environmental impacts can be minimized compared to conventional aqueous process. Substantial savings in chemicals (115 kg per metric ton of dyed polyester) and water (70 m3 per metric ton of dyed polyester) can be achieved. The result of a 7-cycle reuse sequence demonstrates excellent color consistency of dyed fabrics. By implementing the principle of reducing waste, reusing, and recycling resources, the solvent dyeing process developed in this study effectively reduces the consumption of chemicals and eliminates the use of water. Compared with traditional aqueous dyeing method, the solvent dyeing is a promising alternative technology for the protection of scarce freshwater resource and for sustainability of the textile industry.
•Solvent was selected based on dye uptake, environment, health and safety profiles.•High quality dyed goods were obtained without consuming water and auxiliaries.•Surface oligomers were efficiently reduced without reduction cleaning.•Multi-cycle dyeing sequence was implemented to reuse the spent dye liquors.
A sustainable and hydrolysis-free dyeing process was developed for polylactic acid (PLA) fibers. PLA is a biobased alternative to petroleum based polyethylene terephthalate (PET), which is the most ...widely used textile fiber. However, the hydrolytic degradation of PLA fibers under the conventional aqueous dyeing conditions limited its applications in textile industry. A new solvent dyeing process was developed using liquid paraffin as a nonaqueous dyeing medium. High quality dyed PLA fabrics were obtained without consuming water and auxiliaries. Minimal strength loss of dyed fibers was achieved by postheat setting treatment. The 3R principle (reduce, reuse, and recycle) was implemented to ensure the environmental friendliness of solvent dyeing process. The result of a 9-cycle reuse sequence demonstrated excellent color consistency of dyed PLA fabrics. The sustainability of our new dyeing process was quantified in the framework of environmental-health-social impact. The dyeing process sustainability index indicated that the solvent dyeing process was preferred over the aqueous dyeing. The method developed in the present work enabled the practical applications of PLA as textile fibers. It represented an important step toward a sustainable textile industry.
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•Two predictive models for adsorption and diffusion were established.•Models were based on the basic principles of physical chemistry.•Models were built and validated using ...experimental data.•Models required only molecular surface area and temperature as input parameters.•Models quantified the impact of dye size on adsorption and diffusion.
Two predictive models were presented for the adsorption affinities and diffusion coefficients of disperse dyes in polylactic acid matrix. Quantitative structure–sorption behavior relationship would not only provide insights into sorption process, but also enable rational engineering for desired properties. The thermodynamic and kinetic parameters for three disperse dyes were measured. The predictive model for adsorption affinity was based on two linear relationships derived by interpreting the experimental measurements with molecular structural parameters and compensation effect: ΔH° vs. dye size and ΔS° vs. ΔH°. Similarly, the predictive model for diffusion coefficient was based on two derived linear relationships: activation energy of diffusion vs. dye size and logarithm of pre-exponential factor vs. activation energy of diffusion. The only required parameters for both models are temperature and solvent accessible surface area of the dye molecule. These two predictive models were validated by testing the adsorption and diffusion properties of new disperse dyes. The models offer fairly good predictive ability. The linkage between structural parameter of disperse dyes and sorption behaviors might be generalized and extended to other similar polymer–penetrant systems.
The prevalence of infertility in couples actively trying to conceive is 25%. What is the consultation-seeking behaviour, diagnosis and related treatment in infertile couples across China?
Large ...cross-sectional population-based study in 2010–2011, in which 25,270 couples from eight provinces/municipalities in China were approached by a multistage stratified cluster sampling strategy.
Among the 2680 couples reporting infertility, 1246 infertile couples consulted a fertility doctor. Age of the couple, man's body mass index and women's educational level were found to be associated with consultation behaviour. After the fertility work-up, diagnoses were tubal infertility (n = 353, 28.3%), unexplained infertility (n = 311, 25.0%), male infertility (n = 234, 18.8%), ovulatory disorder (n = 194, 15.6%) and endometriosis (n = 34, 2.7%), while 8.6% (n = 107) were not classified. Most couples received non-assisted reproductive technology (ART) fertility treatment (n = 906, 89.3%), with a proportion using traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) (n = 298, 29.4%). Intrauterine insemination (n = 62, 6.1%) and IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (n = 57, 5.6%) were less frequent. Medical treatment and outcomes among five subtypes of infertility were also reported: about 30% of couples with unexplained infertility (n = 94, 30.3%) or male infertility (n = 67, 29.0%) used TCM to treat infertility. Apart from patients with endometriosis, of whom 20.6% (n = 7) received ART, patients with other infertility subtypes rarely received ART. For subsequent fertility outcome, 94% of them did not achieve a pregnancy.
The prevalence of infertility in China is high, but the uptake of treatment is relatively low.
The cyclic solvent injection (CSI) process has been suggested as the most promising solvent‐based recovery method for post‐CHOPS reservoirs. Six CSI experiments were performed in three sandpacks with ...different scales and wormhole locations. Numerical simulations were conducted to history‐match the six CSI experiments. The effects of uncertain parameters such as relative permeability, capillary pressure, reaction rate (foamy oil model), and dispersion coefficient on the history‐matching were studied. The sensitivity analysis indicated that relative permeability and capillary pressure significantly affected the production performance of the CSI process in the numerical simulation. In particular, capillary pressure played the greatest role in upscaling in both axial and radial directions. Furthermore, capillary pressure effects were aggravated when the wormhole was located in the top of the experimental model. Thus, all CSI experimental production data were matched successfully by tuning the capillary pressure based on the same matched relative permeability curves.
A heavy oil post‐CHOPS reservoir in western Canada was evaluated for the CSI process at field scale. Wormholes were considered by applying the multi‐lateral well model. Post‐CHOPS conditions were established by history‐matching the field's production of oil and water. The parameters obtained from the history match upscaling studies were adopted in simulating the subsequent CSI process and were set with certain constraints to consider its uncertainty at field scale. The recovery factor after ten years of the CSI process was in the range of 13.5–16.0 %.
This paper presents the application of genetic algorithm (GA) to the history-matching problem. As history matching of VAPEX (vapour extraction) experiments is a complex, highly nonlinear, and ...non-unique inverse problem, a modified GA was developed to assist the history-matching process. Compared to conventional GA, the computational time in this modified GA approach was reduced by 71 %, and an excellent match between the simulation data and experimental data was achieved, with the error being less than 1 %. This study is focussed on automatic history matching of the VAPEX heavy oil recovery process.
Phenology is an important indicator for how plants will respond to environmental changes and is closely related to biomass production. Due to global warming and the emergence of intermittent warming, ...vegetation in northeast Asia is undergoing drastic changes. Understanding vegetation phenology and its response to climate change is of great significance to understanding the changes in the sustainable development of ecosystems. Based on Global Inventory Modelling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI)3g data, and the mean value of phenological results extracted by five methods, combined with climatic data, this study analyzed the temporal changes in phenology and the responses to climatic factors of five vegetation types of broad-leaved, needle-leaf, mixed forests, grassland, and cultivated land in northeast Asia over 33 years (1982–2014). The results showed that, during the intermittent warming period (1999–2014), the start of the growing season (SOS) advancement (Julian days) trend of all vegetation types decreased. During 1982–2014, the average temperature sensitivity of the SOS was 1.5 d/°C. The correlation between the SOS and the pre-season temperature is significant in northeast Asia, while the correlation between the EOS and the pre-season precipitation is greater than that between temperature and radiation. The impact of radiation changes on the SOS is relatively small.
Stimuli-sensitive nanomaterials with cooperative response are capable of converting subtle and gradual biological variations into robust outputs to improve the precision of diagnostic or therapeutic ...outcomes. In this study, we report the design, synthesis and characterization of a series of degradable ultra-pH sensitive (dUPS) polymers that amplify small acidic pH changes to efficacious therapeutic outputs. A hydrolytically active polycarbonate backbone is used to construct the polymer with pH-dependent degradation kinetics. One dUPS polymer, PSC7A, can achieve activation of the stimulator of interferon genes and antigen delivery upon endosomal pH activation, leading to T cell-mediated antitumor immunity. While a non-degradable UPS polymer induces granulomatous inflammation that persists over months at the injection site, degradable PSC7A primes a transient acute inflammatory response followed by polymer degradation and complete tissue healing. The improved therapeutic window of the dUPS polymers opens up opportunities in pH-targeted drug and protein therapy.
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