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Emulsion wastewater contain substantial amounts of oil and various additives, which pose threats to the environment and human health. Demulsification is a crucial pretreatment stage for wastewater. This study aims to identify a novel electro-demulsification method with high oil removal efficiency and low energy consumption. Modified carbonized birch wood with a unique isotropic multiscale pore structure is used as a self-standing electrode to treat a toluene oil-in-water (O/W) emulsion. The electrode must have a highly porous structure to facilitate efficient water diffusion and oil adsorption. It must also have high electronic conductivity to expedite polarized molecular electrophoresis to realize penetration into the pores and, subsequently, demulsification. Guided by an applied electric field force, polarized O/W droplets are drawn toward the electrode, revealing electrical characteristics distinct from those of polarized organic molecules. This electric field force augments the capture and adhesion of droplets by the electric double layer at the electrode interface. Consequently, adsorbed droplets in close proximity to the electrode rupture due to the combined influence of the electric field force and the electrostatic effects stemming from the electrode's multiscale porous structure. This synergistic action enables demulsification to occur efficiently at low energy consumption levels. This study has revealed that electro-demulsification can effectively treat toluene emulsions stabilized by various surfactants and microemulsion containing toluene. Therefore, this electro-demulsification technology can be further developed for various types of water pollution., QC 20240229

We study the impact of housing wealth and individual preferences on demand for annuities and long-term care insurance (LTCI). We build a multi-state lifecycle model that includes longevity risk and health shocks. The preference is represented by a recursive utility function that separates risk aversion and elasticity of intertemporal substitution (EIS). When health shocks are considered, a higher level of risk aversion lowers the annuity demand, while a lower level of the EIS has the opposite effect. The impact diminishes with a weaker bequest motive, more liquid wealth, or access to LTCI, all of which increase the demand for annuities. The presence of home equity can enhance annuity demand, but the enhancement is marginal when LTCI is available. The presence of home equity has a crowding-out effect on LTCI demand, and the effect is strengthened by a lack of bequest motives or a lower degree of risk aversion. The cash poor but asset rich may demand more LTCI coverage than their renter counterparts to preserve bequests. When both life annuities and LTCI are available, we find that the product demand is robust to changes in risk aversion and the EIS, providing insights into product designs that bundle annuities and LTCI., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Fusang Wang,1,2,* Xiaohan Zheng,1,2,* Juan Zhang,3,* Fuping Jiang,4 Nihong Chen,5 Mengyi Xu,5 Yuezhang Wu,2 Junshan Zhou,5 Xiaoli Cui,3 Jianjun Zou,2,61School of Basic Medicine and Clinical Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Neurology, Nanjing Yuhua Hospital, Yuhua Branch of Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Geriatrics, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 5Department of Neurology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China; 6Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Nanjing First Hospital, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jianjun Zou; Xiaoli Cui, Email zoujianjun100@126.com; 849110554@qq.comBackground and Purpose: Predicting poor outcome for stroke patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in clinical practice is difficult. There are no tools available to use for predicting poor outcome in these patients. We aimed to construct and validate a dynamic nomogram to identify CKD–stroke patients at high risk of a 3-month poor outcome.Patients and Methods: We used data for 502 CKD patients who had an acute ischemic stroke, from Nanjing First Hospital, between September 2014 and September 2020, to train the nomogram. An additional 108 patients enrolled from October 2020 to May 2021 were used for temporal external validation. The performance of the nomogram was evaluated by the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC) and a calibration plot. The clinical utility of the nomogram was measured by decision curve analysis (DCA) and

info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The transition from defined benefit to defined contribution (DC) pension schemes has raised concern about whether retirees will have adequate income for their retirement. Prior literature has studied the optimal investment strategies for DC funds that provide minimum guarantees. But far less attention is paid to portfolio insurance strategies, despite their suitability to pension funds and their optimality to certain investors. This thesis evaluates the performance of option-based and constant proportion portfolio insurance strategies. They are implemented to a DC fund that targets an inflation- and longevity-protected annuity at retirement. The results show that both strategies provide strong protection against downside risk. In addition to occupational pension, housing is another important source of retirement savings. For young people entering the work force, home property purchase can significantly affect their savings for retirement. Literature on housing tenure choice largely focuses on determinants of home ownership, while its impact on retirement planning is rarely explored. This thesis investigates the question of when to become a homeowner from the perspective of financing retirement and conducts a welfare analysis. The presence of home equity can also affect individual demand for retirement products, such as annuities and long-term care insurance (LTCI). Despite high home ownership rates among retirees and significance of housing wealth in retired homeowners' portfolios, housing is often excluded from the literature of optimal consumption and portfolio choice. This thesis explains how homeowners' demand for annuities and LTCI differ from that of non-homeowners. Individuals have heterogeneous levels of risk aversion and willingness to substitute consumption over time, as measured by elasticity of intertemporal substitution (EIS). LTCI insures against uncertain healthcare costs, so retirees of higher risk aversion will demand more coverage. Annuities smooth