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Objective To assess the prognostic values of susceptibility vessel sign (SVS) on T2*-weighted MRI using GRE and SWI sequences for recanalization status and clinical outcomes in patients with acute ischaemic stroke undergoing different therapies. Methods Literature search on PubMed, EMBASE databases and other sources from inception up to 01 June 2021 was conducted. 11 studies which reported SVS, recanalization and clinical outcomes were included in qualitative synthesis and meta-analysis. Results Pooled analysis demonstrated significant association between good clinical outcome and SVS-positive patients who underwent mechanical thrombectomy (RR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.07–1.67, p = 0.01), which is in line with higher recanalization rate in SVS-positive patients who were treated with mechanical thrombectomy compared to intravenous thrombolysis only. No statistically significant association was demonstrated between presence of SVS and successful recanalization, likely due to limitations in the recruited studies. Conclusions Presence of SVS in patients with acute ischaemic stroke who underwent mechanical thrombectomy is associated with good clinical outcome. SVS-positive patients treated with mechanical thrombectomy also shows better recanalization rate comparing to intravenous thrombolysis only, although not statistically significant. MRI assessment of the clot content using SVS is useful in selection of reperfusion strategy for acute ischaemic stroke and prognostication.

China has set ambitious goals to peak carbon emissions by 2030 and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, which will inevitably accelerate the transition from conventional fossil energy to new energy. However, the financing problem may be a major concern for the development of new energy. In this study, by employing the asymmetric spillover measurement, the financing performance of new energy stock market in China is investigated. Specifically, 5-minute intraday high-frequency data of 66 listed firms, selected to represent the field, are used. The new energy stocks are also divided into six categories, including photovoltaic power, nuclear power, new energy vehicles, lithium batteries, wind power, and new energy equipment and materials. The results suggest that the new energy stock market in China is much riskier than the large cap stock market. The investors in this stock market are sensitive to negative news and tend to be speculative in short-term, rather than to focus on the development of new energy sector in the long run. Policy implications and suggestions are thereupon derived for different types of stakeholders.

Food consumption is necessary for human survival. On a global scale, the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission related to food consumption accounts for 19%–29% of the total GHG emission. China has the largest population in the world, which is experiencing a rapid development. Under the background of urbanization and the adjustment of the diet structure of Chinese residents, it is critical to mitigate the overall GHG emission caused by food consumption. This study aims to employ a singleregion input-output (SRIO) model and a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model to measure GHG emission generated from food consumption in China and compare the contributions of different industrial sectors, uncovering the differences between urban and rural residents and among different provinces (autonomous regions/municipalities), as well as identifying the driving forces of GHG emission from food consumption at a national level. The results indicate that the total GHG emission generated from food consumption in China tripled from 157 Mt CO2e in 2002 to 452 Mt CO2e in 2017. The fastest growing GHG emission is from the consumption of other processed food and meat products. Although GHG emissions from both urban and rural residents increased, the gap between them is increasing. Agriculture, processing and manufacture of food, manufacture of chemical and transportation, storage and post services sectors are key sectors inducing food consumption related GHG emissions. From a regional perspective, the top five emission provinces (autonomous regions/municipalities) include Shandong, Hubei, Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu. Based on such results, policy recommendations are proposed to mitigate the overall GHG emission from food consumption.

BACKGROUND Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) can be clustered into three subtypes according to epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers: CTCs with epithelial markers (E-CTCs), CTCs with mesenchymal markers (M-CTCs), and CTCs with both markers (E&M-CTCs). CTC detection has clinical implications in the diagnosis of lung cancer (LC). AIM To clarify the diagnostic value of CTCs categorized by EMT markers in LC. METHODS The study included 106 patients with lung adenocarcinoma, including 42 ground-glass opacities (GGO) and 64 solid lesions, who underwent surgery between July 2015 and December 2019. Eleven patients with benign tumors and seventeen healthy controls were included. CTCs in peripheral blood and associated EMT markers were detected preoperatively using the CanPatrolTM technique. The diagnostic power of CTCs for discriminating LC cases from controls was analyzed by the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. The CytoploRare technique was used in 20 cases and 18 controls for validation, and Kappa values were calculated to evaluate consistency between techniques. RESULTS Of the 106 LC cases, 94 (89.6%) had at least one CTC. CTCs were detectable in 35 (83.3%) of 42 GGO cases. Total CTCs and E&M-CTCs were significantly more frequent in LC cases than in benign or healthy controls. The proportion of M-CTCs plus E&M-CTCs increased gradually from healthy controls, to benign controls, to LC cases. The area under the ROC curve of total CTCs and E&M-CTCs was > 0.8 and > 10.75, respectively. The combined sensitivity of total-CTCs and E&M-CTCs was 85.85% for LC patients (80.95% for GGO patients) and the specificity was 78.57%. The Kappa value was 0.415, indicating relative consistency between CanPatrolTM and CytoploRare. CONCLUSION CTC detection is valuable for distinguishing LC from controls, and particularly E&M-CTC detection warrants further study.

Immune checkpoint inhibition is an important strategy in cancer therapy. Blockade of CTLA-4 and PD-1/PD-L1 is well developed in clinical practice. In the last few years, LAG-3 has received much interest as an emerging novel target in immunotherapy. It was recently reported that FGL1 is a major ligand of LAG-3, which is normally secreted by the liver but is upregulated in several human cancers. FGL1 is a crucial biomarker and target for cancer immunotherapy. As the efficacy of immunotherapy is limited to specific types of patients, the subset of patients needs to be selected appropriately to receive precise treatment according to different biomarkers. To date, there is no test to accurately assess FGL1 expression levels. Nanobodies have some outstanding features, such as high stability, solubility and affinity for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Here, we report the development and validation of a rapid, sensitive, and cost-effective nanobody-based immunoassay for the detection of FGL1 in human serum. In this study, human FGL1 recombinant protein was expressed and purified for the first time as an immunized antigen. Then, we constructed a nanobody phage display library and screened several nanobodies that bind FGL1 with high affinity. We selected two nanobodies targeting different epitopes of FGL1, one as a capture and the other conjugated with HRP as a probe. The double nanobody-based sandwich ELISA to detect the concentration of FGL1 showed a good response relationship in the range of 15.625–2000 ng/mL, and the recoveries from the spiked sample were in the range of 78% and 100%. This assay could be used as a potential approach for evaluating FGL1 expression for patient stratification and for predicting the therapeutic efficacy of targeting the LAG3/FGL1 axis.

With the relocation of heavy industries moving from downstream region to upstream and midstream regions in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB), it is critical to encourage coordinated low carbon development in different regions within the YREB. This paper uncovers the evolution of CO2 emissions in different regions within the YREB for the period of 2000–2017. It decomposes regional CO2 emission changes using the temporal and cross-regional three-layer logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method. Besides, it decomposes industrial CO2 emission changes using the temporal two-layer LMDI method. The research results show that economic growth is the major driver for regional CO2 emission disparities. The mitigation drivers, such as energy intensity and energy structure, lead to a more decreased CO2 emission in the downstream region than in the upstream and midstream regions. In addition, it proposes several policy recommendations based upon the local realities, including improving energy efficiency, optimizing energy structure, promoting advanced technologies and equipment transfers, and coordinating the development in the upstream, midstream and downstream regions within the YREB.

With the rapid industrialization, increasing of fossil fuel consumption and the environmental impact, it is an inevitable trend to develop clean energy and renewable energy. Hydrogen, for its renewable and pollution-free characteristics, has become an important potential energy carrier. Hydrogen is regarded as a promising alternative fuel for fossil fuels in the future. Therefore, it is very necessary to summarize the technological progress in the development of hydrogen energy and research the status and future challenges. Hydrogen production and storage technology are the key problems for hydrogen application. This study applied bibliometric analysis to review the research features and trends of hydrogen production and storage study. Results showed that in the 2004-2018 period, China, USA and Japan leading in these research fields, the research and development in the world have grown rapidly. However, the development of hydrogen energy still faces the challenge of high production cost and high storage requirements. Photocatalytic decomposition of water to hydrogen has attracted more and more research in hydrogen production research, and the development of new hydrogen storage materials has become a key theme in hydrogen storage research. This study provides a comprehensive review of hydrogen production and storage and identifies research progress on future research trend in these fields. It would be helpful for policy-making and technology development and provide suggestions on the development of a hydrogen economy.

This study aims to measure China's CO2 emissions embodied in fixed capital formation (FCF) from 2007 to 2017 by using both a multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model and a single-region input-output model (SRIO). Then decoupling analysis was performed for uncovering the relationship between embodied CO2 emissions and added values at provincial level. Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method was further conducted to identify driving factors underlying the growth of embodied CO2 emissions. Results show that CO2 emission from FCF doubled from 2436 million tons (Mt) in 2007 to 4820 Mt in 2012, and increased slightly to 5089 Mt in 2017. Electric power, gas, and water production and supply sector (EGW) and manufacturing industry (MFI) sector were two dominant emitters from supply-side perspective, while construction (CON) was the largest demanding sector driving the embodied emissions from upstream sectors. From geographical point of view, northern provinces were the major inter-regional net exporters of embodied CO2 emissions, while eastern and southern provinces were net importers of embodied CO2 emissions. Based on such results, policy recommendations are proposed considering the relation between supply and demand sector, inter-provincial CO2 emission transfer, and local economic development to mitigate CO2 emissions from China's FCF.

Background Our study aimed to verify the prognostic value of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) prior to initial treatment on survival of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by using meta-analysis and system review of published studies. Materials and methods The PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library were searched, respectively, to identify all studies that addressed the issues of CTCs prior to initial treatment and progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). Finally, ten citations were included for analysis and assessment of publication bias by using review manager 5.3 statistical software and STATA 15.0. Results Randomized model analyzing multivariate Cox Proportional Hazards Regression indicated that higher abundance of CTCs significantly predicts poorer prognosis of lung cancer cases basing both on PFS (Z = 2.31, P = 0.02) and OS of advanced cases (Z = 2.44, P = 0.01), and systematic study aslo indicated the similar results. Conclusion High CTCs prior to initial treatment can predict shorter PFS and OS in NSCLC, and further studies are warranted in the future.

There is significant potential for reducing energy use and emissions from buildings through energy efficiency retrofits. However, a number of barriers, including long payback periods and uncertainties around business models and technologies, restrict large scale implementation. A recent joint project, piloting green energy schemes and low-carbon investments in public and commercial buildings in the Changning district of Shanghai, China, indicated opportunities to break through these barriers. This study conducted a cost benefit analysis to investigate how an innovative combination of financial and non-financial supported retrofits, and could serve as a model for other urban areas. In total, 44 retrofit sub-projects were carried out and achieved energy savings of 30,217 tons of coal equivalent. The average payback period was 2.43 years, and with subsidies was further reduced to 1.79 years. The Changning Low Carbon Office played a critical role in coordinating and supporting the uptake of retrofit measures but non-economic factors continue to restrict investment by financial institutions and the implementation of retrofits on a larger scale. Key policy insightsPublic and commercial building retrofits in Shanghai are found to generate commercially acceptable payback periods while having achieved significant energy and emissions reductions.Subsidies from the city and district governments significantly reduced the payback periods of energy efficiency retrofits, but may also crowd out investment by financial institutions.The Changning Low Carbon Office has coordinated energy efficiency retrofitting efforts, provided access to information, helped to connect investment funds with project opportunities and support project management.Achieving the deeper retrofits needed to achieve China’s climate targets may require more substantial financial incentives. Public and commercial building retrofits in Shanghai are found to generate commercially acceptable payback periods while having achieved significant energy and emissions reductions. Subsidies from the city and district governments significantly reduced the payback periods of energy efficiency retrofits, but may also crowd out investment by financial institutions. The Changning Low Carbon Office has coordinated energy efficiency retrofitting efforts, provided access to information, helped to connect investment funds with project opportunities and support project management. Achieving the deeper retrofits needed to achieve China’s climate targets may require more substantial financial incentives.

In the multirotation computational imaging system (MRCI), the rotation angle of the cylindrical lens is vital to the reconstruction results from the experimental data. However, the rotation angles of the cylindrical lens are hard to be measured directly and precisely. High-precision angle evaluation methods are urgently needed to improve the recovered images. This paper proposes an angle estimation scheme based on principal component analysis (PCA), which can calculate the rotation angle of the cylindrical lens efficiently and accurately. Its accuracy is an order of magnitude higher than that of the existing methods. The proposed method is also stable for the image reconstruction when testing complex samples and under defocusing case.

Many water footprint studies have been conducted on those water scarce regions to respond their water crisis, while water rich regions also face water sustainability challenges due to inadequate water management or being virtual water exporter. Therefore, this paper tries to clarify the water footprint and detail virtual water flow features of a water-rich province, namely Yunnan province in China, to pursuit for more enlightenment for water conservation of not only water scarce regions but also water abundant regions. Multi-regional input-output (MRIO) method was adopted for water footprint and virtual water flow calculation. Results showed that the total water footprint of Yunnan was 11.35 billion m3, with 7.98 billion m3 (70%) of internal water footprint, demonstrating that Yunnan was a high water self-sufficient province. Moreover, Yunnan was a net virtual water exporter with a value of 1.18 billion m3, which was not good for Yunnan but was good for water scarce provinces. As for the detailed virtual water flow trade, high water intensity Guangxi, Hunan, Xinjiang were the top three net importers of Yunnan, while low water intensity Guangdong, Shanghai and Zhejiang were the top three export provinces of Yunnan. This did not affect Yunnan, but was not a good phenomenon for water sustainability of whole China. Moreover, agricultural sector was found to be the dominant sector for both virtual water import and export, accounting for about 88% and 86%, respectively. To maintain sustainable water management of both Yunnan and China, policy insights on keeping Yunnan as a net virtual water exporter, making use of its advantage in green water, adjusting trade structure by considering provincial water intensity were proposed.

China's pharmaceutical industry has experienced a rapid growth and is now facing a great challenge of reducing its CO2 emission. However, a detailed study concerning its energy consumption and corresponding CO2 emission characteristics, including emission trajectory, spatial distribution and driving forces at the whole sectoral scale is still lacking. In order to fill these research gaps, this study first uncovers the CO2 emission trajectory of China's pharmaceutical industry and then identifies the key driving forces of its emission growth by utilizing an extended Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method. The results show that the total emission increased from 23.03 Mt in 2000 to 55.34 Mt in 2016. The consumptions of electricity, raw coal and heat were three major CO2 emission sources. From the provincial perspective, the top 5 provinces emitted 51.77% of the total CO2 emission in 2016, of which Shandong province was the biggest emitter, followed by Jiangsu, Jilin, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia. The analysis of relevant driving forces reveals that production scale effect was the most prominent factor of CO2 emission growth and investment intensity also contributed to CO2 emission growth. Conversely, energy intensity and R&D efficiency were the main contributors of CO2 emission reduction. Mitigation measures are finally proposed by considering the Chinese realities, including improving pharmaceutical industrial structure, promoting cleaner production strategy, encouraging rational R&D and investment activities, optimizing energy structure and initiating capacity-building efforts.

To move towards sustainable urban development, interactions between economic and ecological systems should be further investigated due to their coupled relations. In this study, we propose an emergy-based ecological footprint (EEF) analysis framework. Shanghai was selected as a case study city to see its dynamic changes from 2007 to 2016. The results show that Shanghai had a large ecological deficit, an extremely high ecological footprint intensity and a poor coordination relationship between its ecological system and its economic system, indicating a great ecological challenge that it is facing. The uneven distribution of its emergy ecological footprint is mainly due to the large share of fossil fuels land type. But with the city's great efforts, the overall ecological pressure has been reduced and the coordination relationship has also been improved, while the local economy is still booming. Pearson correlation analysis further indicates that the city's policy on developing tertiary industry has resulted in a positive effect on improving the coordinating relationship. The ratio between the output value of heavy industry and gross industrial output value has the most negative correlation with the coordinating relationship. Finally, policy recommendations are raised by considering the local realities. These recommendations can also provide valuable insights to other megacities with similar challenges.

China's demand for crop products is increasing, leading to a great deal of consumption of local resources and industrial inputs such as agricultural machineries, chemical fertilizers, pesticides and energies. Many environmental problems also occurred, such as water pollution, soil erosion and contamination, and CO2 emissions. Therefore, it is imperative to assess crop production's sustainability and identify the key driving forces of its rapid development so that the proper mitigation policies can be proposed. An emergy analysis method was employed due to its advantage of linking economic development with natural ecosystem service. Emergy sustainability index was chosen as the key indicator to measure crop production performances in 31 Chinese provinces for the period 2006–2015. The results demonstrate that the EYRs in 31 Chinese provinces are entirely keeping around 1 and the maximum and minimum values of ELR are respectively 1.71 in Guizhou and 8.29 in Tibet. Under this circumstance, the mean ESI values in 30 Chinese provinces are all less than 1, except Guizhou. This indicates that most Chinese provinces will have to improve their crop production toward sustainable agricultural development. Then, a logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) decomposition method was applied to identify the key driving forces that affect the evolution of ESI. The change of ESI (ΔESI) was decomposed into five factors: Scale and intensity factor (I), which depends on emergy density; Non-renewable resources factor (T), which depends on the density of non-renewable resources emergy; Productivity of labor factor (P), which depends on the productivity of labor; Renewable resources factor (E), which depends on intensity of renewable resources and number of Labor (G), which depends on labor inputs. The decomposition analysis results indicate that labor and renewable resources are the major factors affecting China's sustainable crop production, while other factors also have certain impacts. Such findings can provide valuable policy insights so that more appropriate crop production policies can be prepared by considering the local realities.

With fast development and urbanization, Chinese cities are facing several challenges including issues of environmental pollution, climate change, resource depletion and landfills shortage. Waste recycling is one effective way to respond these challenges. Under such a situation, this paper aims to evaluate energy saving and carbon reduction potential of recycling wastes by taking Shanghai, the biggest city in China, as a case study. Results show that 8.7 Mt standard coal (tce) and 16.81 Mt CO2 could be reduced under current recycling system in Shanghai. And recycling of waste steel and nonferrous metals were the two dominant contributors, accounting for about 44% and 42% of energy saving, and 60% and 33% of CO2 reduction, respectively. If the recycling rates of main recyclable wastes were improved to 100%, additional 6.44 Mt energy and 10.02 Mt CO2 could be further saved, mainly from recycling waste glass, waste plastic and waste metals. Adoption of RPF (Refuse Plastic & paper Fuel) could further contribute to 1.24 Mt energy saving and 2.67 Mt CO2 reduction. Finally, policy implications on establishing a mature recycling system and promoting RPF technologies are discussed, in which the potential on reducing total energy consumption and CO2 emission of Shanghai can reach 6.6% and 4.9%, respectively.

Water embodied in traded commodities is important for water sustainability management. This study provides insight into China's water footprint and virtual water trade using three specific water named Green, Blue and Grey. A multi-region input-output analysis at national and sectoral analysis levels from the years 1995 to 2009 is conducted. The evolution and position of China's virtual water trade across a global supply chain are explored through cluster analysis. The results show that China represented 11.2% of the global water footprint in 1995 and 13.6% in 2009. The green virtual water is the largest of China's exports and imports. In general, China is a net exporter of virtual water during this time period. China mainly imports virtual water from the USA, India and Brazil, and mainly exports virtual water to the USA, Japan and Germany. The agriculture sector and the food sector represent the sectors with both the largest import and export virtual water quantities. China's global virtual water trade network has been relatively stable from 1995 to 2009. China has especially close relationships with the USA, Indonesia, India, Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Australia. Trade relations, resource endowment and supply-demand relationships may play key roles in China's global virtual water footprint network rather than geographical location. Finally, policy implications are proposed for China's long term sustainable water management and for global supply chain management in general. Keywords: Water footprint, Global supply chain, Cluster analysis, Virtual water trade, China

The expansion of renewable energy sources for electricity generation is an important part of China's energy strategy to reduce the dominance of coal generated power. Different energy systems face unique challenges with their different energy structures and economic context, which make it necessary to identify the roadmap for renewable energy development with consideration of local energy system. Our study aims to fill a research gap by identifying the penetration of renewable energy in China's energy system. The study begins with a brief review of the current state of renewable energies in China and then identifies the effect of large penetration of wind power and solar energy. China's energy system is simulated using the EnergyPLAN model and assessed under different penetration points of renewable energy sources from technical and economic perspectives. Different realistic intervals of penetration are discussed. Finally, our analysis identifies that the maximum realistic penetration of wind power and solar energy are respectively 38% and 27%.

In the recent decades, global climate change has become a world concern in the social-political issue context. Low carbon economy aims at reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by means of technological innovation, development of alternative energy, industrial upgrading etc. Carbon labeling is considered as an effective measure to raise consumers awareness of climate change, to help change their lifestyles and purchasing behaviors, ultimately to promote low carbon economy. This chapter serves as introductory remarks that provide a brief overview of carbon labeling by using a bibliometric analysis, to address the development of carbon labeling, and the issues related to carbon labeling practice.

Dissipative Kerr soliton microcomb has been recognized as a promising on-chip multi-wavelength laser source for fiber optical communications, as its comb lines possess frequency and phase stability far beyond the independent lasers. In the scenarios of coherent optical transmission and interconnect, a highly beneficial but rarely explored target is to re-generate a Kerr soliton microcomb at the receiver side as local oscillators that conserve the frequency and phase property of the incoming data carriers, so that to enable coherent detection with minimized optical and electrical compensations. Here, by using the techniques of pump laser conveying and two-point locking, we implement re-generation of a Kerr soliton microcomb that faithfully clones the frequency and phase coherence of another microcomb sent from 50 km away. Moreover, leveraging the coherence-cloned soliton microcombs as carriers and local oscillators, we demonstrate terabit coherent data interconnect, wherein traditional digital processes for frequency offset estimation is totally dispensed with, and carrier phase estimation is substantially simplified via slowed-down phase estimation rate per channel and joint phase estimation among multiple channels. Our work reveals that, in addition to providing a multitude of laser tones, regulating the frequency and phase of Kerr soliton microcombs among transmitters and receivers can significantly improve optical coherent communication in terms of performance, power consumption, and simplicity.

This chapter presents insights into carbon labelling practice from a perspective of stakeholders’ interactions, followed by future work. The implication regards the consumers and their motivation, as well as the use of new business models and technologies. It is necessary to define strategies to motivate green consumers towards decreasing of carbon emissions, facilitate the knowledge of the labels meanings. Besides, the adoption of carbon labeling scheme may lead to a sustainable business, reinforcement of the corporate social responsibility, attraction of new markets. Future study will center on neuroscience to evaluate public’s emotional engagement in bringing carbon labeling scheme into practice.

The omnidirectional Bragg reflection of cholesteric liquid crystals molded into spheres turns them into narrow-band retroreflectors with distinct circular polarization. It is shown that these cholesteric spherical reflectors (CSRs) can encode information onto surfaces for far-field optical read-out without false positives, as the selective retroreflectivity allows the background to be easily subtracted. In order to hide the encoding from detection by the human eye, the retroreflection band is tuned to the near-UV or IR spectra, allowing ubiquitous deployment of CSRs in human-populated environments. This opens diverse application opportunities, for instance, in supporting safe robotic navigation and in augmented reality. A key breakthrough is our ability to permanently embed CSRs in a binder such that undesired scattering and reflections are minimized. This is achieved by realizing CSRs as shells that are polymerized from the liquid crystalline state. The resulting shrinkage around an incompressible fluid deforms the thinnest region of each shell such that it ruptures at a well-defined point. This leaves a single small hole in every CSR that gives access to the interior, allowing complete embedding in the binder with optimized refractive index, minimizing visibility.

We demonstrate cloning of two Kerr soliton combs via using the techniques of pump laser conveying and two-point locking. The cloned Kerr combs are used as carriers and local oscillators for coherent optical transmission.

The morbidity and mortality of lung cancer are increasing. The Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV-2, leading to subsequent pulmonary interstitial fibrosis with chronic inflammatory changes, e.g., inflammatory factors repeatedly continuously stimulating and attacking the alveolar epithelial cells. Meanwhile, 2019-nCoV-2 can activate PI3K/Akt and ERK signaling pathways, which can play the double roles as both anti-inflammatory and carcinogenic factors. Moreover, hypoxemia may be developed, resulting in the up-regulation of HIF-1 α expression, which can be involved in the occurrence, angiogenesis, invasion and metastasis of lung cancer. Additionally, the immune system in 2019-nCoV-2 infected cases can be suppressed to cause tumor immune evasion. Therefore, we speculate that COVID-19 may be a risk factor of secondary lung cancer.

We demonstrate output power enhancement of dissipative Kerr soliton microcomb by reducing the bus-resonator gap and equivalently increasing the coupling efficiency of the microcavity, providing a straightforward way to realize high efficiency Kerr comb generation. © 2020 The Author(s)

We propose a computational coherent imaging system based on cylindrical lens’s rotation modulation(RSCL), in which rotation angle is calculated by designed two-step Radon transform(TsRT). This method overcomes longitudinal sampling rate fluctuation in axial multiimage imaging.

This study investigates the impacts of launching a national carbon trade market through the IMED|CGE (Integrated Model of Energy, Environment and Economy for Sustainable Development|Computable General Equilibrium) model, between Shanghai and the Rest of China (ROC). Five scenarios are established by considering China’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) targets, including a baseline scenario (BaU scenario), a carbon cap on ETS participating sectors scenario (CAPsec scenario), a carbon cap on Shanghai and ROC regions scenario (CAPreg scenario), a carbon cap scenario with local carbon emissions trading among ETS participating sectors (ETsec scenario) and a carbon cap scenario with inter-regional carbon emissions trading (ETreg scenario). The results under the ETreg scenario predict a carbon price of 164.64 USD/tCO2 and a total carbon trade volume of 189.91 Mt by 2030. The metal smelting sector will be the largest seller of emissions quotas in Shanghai, whereas the power generation sector will be the largest buyer. Due to its higher carbon mitigation cost and increasing autonomous carbon intensity, the aviation sector will face more challenges to reduce emissions among ETS participating sectors in Shanghai. The results indicate that launching a national carbon trade market could generate both economic and environmental benefits and help China achieve its NDC targets.

Ecosystems play critically important roles in supporting human society, while human activities seriously disturb their initial balance. Lots of researches on ecosystem services are conducted due to the increasing concern on ecological security worldwide. In order to provide valuable insights for understanding the primary performance of ecosystem services–related studies, a qualitative and quantitative analysis by using a bibliometric tool is performed in this study. Journal impact factor, CiteScore, and h-index are used for identifying influential journals, while h-index is used for recognizing productive countries/territories and institutions. Social network analysis of countries/territories and institutions is visualized, respectively, so that relationships among them can be uncovered. Citation analysis of publications and co-occurrence analysis of high-frequency keywords are also performed to explore hotspots and popular methods in this field. This study uncovers a holistic picture on the primary performance of ecosystem services–related literatures published from 1997 to 2016, including journals, countries/territories, and institutions. Results find that forest, agriculture, and wetland ecosystems attract lots of attention. Finally, major methods used for ecosystem services evaluation are identified and discussed. Research outcomes will provide valuable insights to stakeholders interested in ecosystem services.

Megacities consume a large amount of energy and materials, leading to various environmental impacts. In this paper, multi-scale integrated analysis of societal and ecosystem metabolism (MuSIASEM) is applied to compare and analyze the metabolic characteristics of four global megacities. This paper extends the analytical framework of MuSIASEM to the N-3 level (detailed industries) providing a higher level of details than current applications. Based on model results, among the four global megacities, Shanghai's labor productivity and energy efficiency are lowest given its large manufacturing sector and complex industrial structure. Tokyo's labor productivity is the highest with a productive tertiary sector. London has the lowest exosomatic energy metabolic rate and a mature tertiary sector. Paris has the best social welfare system. Such results highlight key factors affecting the metabolic pathways of the respective cities and provide city planners and policy-makers critical information to support green growth and low carbon development.

Due to increasing concerns on climate change, air pollution, and associated public health, China's new-energy-vehicle (NEV) industry has received great support and experienced rapid development. Many patents have been approved and applied in this field to support its rapid development. However, few studies investigated the evolution of these patents. Under such a background, we measure China's NEV-related patents by using a social network analysis approach. The top 38 organizations with the most NEV-related patents were chosen as the study targets. Patent numbers, technological innovation and development, and the geographical distribution of patents were examined. The cooperation network of NEV-related patents was also investigated, including its features and performance during different stages of the NEV growth. The results show that China's NEV-patents cooperation network has evolved smoothly with a growing network density, stable structure, and more cohesive subgroups. Policy recommendations were raised by considering the Chinese realities, such as the encouragement of cooperation, the creation of NEV-related patents pools, and the roles of various stakeholders.

Background Compensatory hyperhidrosis (CH) is a frequent side effect after sympathectomy for the treatment of primary palmar hyperhidrosis. We determined the effects of demographic and clinical factors which may increase the duration of CH (DCH). Methods One hundred twenty-two patients who had undergone sympathectomies from 2014 to 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Anxiety was evaluated using the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory score. Follow-up evaluations continued until CH remitted. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to determine the association between DCH and variables. Results DCH ranged from 5 to 27 weeks (median, 11.47 weeks). Severe CH (HR = 0.318, 95% CI, 0.136–0.741) and exacerbated anxiety 1 month post-operatively (HR = 0.816, 95% CI, 0.746–0.893) may prolong CH. A positive correlation between post-operative anxiety and DCH was common in patients with moderate or severe CH, and in cases with forearm CH. Conclusions Pre- and post-operative anxiety should be evaluated, and anti-anxiety treatment is offered to patients with moderate-to-severe CH to shorten the DCH. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s13019-018-0736-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Economic impact assessments of air pollution-related health effects from a sectoral perspective in China is still deficient. This study evaluates the PM 2.5 pollution-related health impacts of the road transport sector on China's economy at both national and provincial levels in 2030 under various air mitigation technologies scenarios. Health impacts are estimated using an integrated approach that combines the Greenhouse Gas and Air Pollution Interactions and Synergies (GAINS) model, a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and a health model. Results show that at a national level, the road transport sector leads to 163.64 thousand deaths per year, increases the per capita risk of morbidity by 0.37% and accounts for 1.43 billion Yuan in health care expenditures. We estimate 442.90 billion Yuan of the value of statistical life loss and 2.09 h/capita of work time loss in 2015. Without additional control measures, air pollution related to the transport sector will cause 177.50 thousand deaths in 2030, a 0.40% per capita increase in the risk of morbidity, accounting for 4.12 billion Yuan in health care expenditures, 737.15 billion Yuan of statistical life loss and 2.23 h/capita of work time loss. Based on our model, implementing the most strict control strategy scenario would decrease mortality by 42.14%, morbidity risk by 42.14%, health care expenditures by 41.94%, statistical life loss by 26.22% and hours of work time loss by 42.65%, comparing with the no control measure scenario. In addition, PM 2.5 pollution from the road transport sector will cause 0.68% GDP loss in 2030. At a provincial level, GDP losses in 14 out of 30 provinces far exceed the national rate. Henan (1.20%), Sichuan (1.07%), Chongqing (0.99%), Hubei (0.94%), and Shandong (0.90%) would experience the highest GDP loss in 2030. Implementing control strategies to reduce PM 2.5 pollution in the road transport sector could bring positive benefits in half of the Chinese provinces especially in provinces that suffer greater health impacts from the road transport sector (such as Henan and Sichuan).

Trade plays an important role in redistributing resources and also brings significant environmental impacts to involved countries. This relatively complex research domain of international trade and environmental burden shifts is informed through study of embodied environmental flows of products. Research trends to identify features of international trade embodied flows between 1997 and 2016 are determined through a bibliometric study. Research contribution of countries, authors, institutions and journals are described. Co-citation and network analyses are completed. Results show that there has been significant research interest increase on this topic. Given the interdisciplinary and global nature of this topic, increases in countries, author, and institutional collaborations has occurred. USA, China, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Norway were the top 5 countries with high academic influence, and country as USA and institution as Chinese Academy of Sciences has the largest number of collaborations, respectively. Embodied flows such as carbon emission and water are popular ones associated with international trade in the given period, and the most popular methodological tool is Input/Output Analysis. In addition, hotspots which extracted from keywords are analyzed, additional avenues of research are also discussed in this study.

On one hand, natural resources and energy provide the basis for life on earth, but waste and emissions are produced during their throughput on the other hand. China, as the most populous country and an emerging economic powerhouse, has taken on the challenge of hitting peak carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 2030. Pursuing resource co-benefits from carbon mitigation is an effective approach for China on the road to achieving the 2030 goal. In this study, we combine the computable general equilibrium (CGE) model and the economy-wide material flow accounts or analysis (EW-MFA) method to estimate China's future CO2 emissions and resource consumption, and their co-benefit effect. Three scenarios are analyzed: business as usual (BaU), nationally determined contributions (NDC), and the scenario of achieving the 2-degree target (2deg). We find that both the NDC and 2deg targets can be achieved by 2030 without a significant compromise in economic growth. With the effect of carbon mitigation, China's resource consumption would rise by a factor of 1.7 (BaU), 1.6 (NDC), and 1.5 (2deg) during 2012–2030, and the reduction in co-benefits of metal ores, nonmetallic minerals, and fossil fuels would be 0.6 billion tons and 1.4 billion tons, 0.8 billion tons and 2.0 billion tons, and 2.6 billion tons and 4.6 billion tons for NDC and 2deg, respectively. Sectoral disparity indicates that sectors with high emissions and resource consumption include traditional heavy industrial sectors and energy-related sectors, for which additional mitigation policies should be employed, not only because they offer the most co-benefit effects, but they also have the least cost.

Construction and demolition waste (CDW) accounts for 30% to 40% of the total amount of waste in China. CDW is usually randomly dumped or disposed in landfills and the average recycling rate of CDW in China is only about 5%. Considering there is big challenge in adoption of circular economy in CDW industry in China while related research is still limited, we conduct the CDW management analysis through 3R principle. Existing policies and management situations were investigated and analyzed based on the reduction, reuse and recycle principles. Results reveal that primary barriers of reducing CDW in China include lack of building design standard for reducing CDW, low cost for CDW disposal and inappropriate urban planning. Barriers to reuse CDW include lack of guidance for effective CDW collection and sorting, lack of knowledge and standard for reused CDW, and an under-developed market for reused CDW. As for recycling of CDW, key challenges are identified as ineffective management system, immature recycling technology, under-developed market for recycled CDW products and immature recycling market operation. Proposals to improve the current situation based on 3R principle are also proposed, including designing effective circular economy model, reinforcing the source control of CDW, adopting innovative technologies and market models, and implementing targeted economic incentives.

Recovering the landfill gas from municipal solid wastes for power generation is one feasible approach to respond both climate change and resource depletion issues. Under such a circumstance, it is important to evaluate the overall performance of its production process. This study proposes an integrated evaluation method by integrating emergy analysis and eco-indicator 99 method. Key impact factors influencing the sustainability are uncovered by adopting Kaya identity and index decomposition analysis (IDA). One MSW treatment plant in Yunnan province of China was selected as one case study site. The results indicate that the overall performance of the MSW treatment plant has been improved after operating a power generation system. The emissions' impact has been reduced by 56.85% and 2.44gCO2eq has been offset when generating 109sej of electricity. However, the low economic benefit, the increase of nonrenewable empower density and the low investment effectiveness are still key factors that hinder its sustainability. In order to address these issues, several suggestions are raised by considering the local realities.

Industrial parks have played a key role in promoting economic development around the world. However, rapid industrial park development has resulted in many challenges, including resource depletion, environmental emissions and increasing pressure for industries to respond to climate change. Under such circumstance, a solution to optimize resource utilization and reduce environmental impact is needed. One effective approach is to adopt an eco-industrial development strategy that not only contributes to economic profit and resource conservation, but also to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions mitigation and environmental service. Such integrated benefits are often termed as co-benefits. However, at present, how to account for such co-benefits at the scale of an eco-industrial park (EIP) is still at an early stage. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the co-benefits resulting from eco-industrial development and demonstrate how an emergy accounting-based approach can be applied. A case study involving the Dalian Economic and Technological Development Zone (DETDZ) was completed to verify the applicability of this approach. The results indicate that co-benefits go far beyond simple direct economic benefits. The policy implications of such strategies and the application beyond industrial development such as urban symbiosis are discussed within the context of the DETDZ demonstrating how multiple objectives can be achieved.

Increasing concern about the challenges of climate change has triggered rapid growth of private investment into clean energy sectors. Currently, the uncertain global economic environment makes the risk spillovers in the “Oil-Clean energy stocks” system a vital topic to explore. Using a systematic framework involving both Spillover index and Multivariate quantile models, this paper aims at revealing the heterogeneous risk transmission mechanisms between WTI oil futures and 12 clean energy stock indexes over the period of October 2010 to August 2020 from a systematic perspective by considering both regular and extreme conditions. We find asymmetric and time-varying features in the connections between oil and clean energy. The main findings include: (1) responses of extreme downside risks are substantially intensified compared to normal and upside risks; (2) the (downside) VaR response of oil to shocks of clean energy stocks is greater when the oil price is low; (3) the (downside) VaR response of clean energy to oil shocks is heterogeneous especially when the oil price is low. We also find that oil market is a net volatility receiver from clean energy sector overall and especially from the Advanced material and Energy efficiency groups. However, oil is a risk trigger for the Renewable energy group. These findings have significant and abundant implications for investors, portfolio managers, and policymakers to inform their decision-making and promote clean energy investment.

Neodymium is widely used for magnetic materials in electronic devices, electric vehicles and home appliances. China is facing challenges of increased neodymium demand and a lack of neodymium recycling systems. However, few studies focus on neodymium resource utilization in China—a major consumer of this resource. This study traces and forecasts neodymium flows and stocks in China using dynamic material flow analysis from a life cycle perspective. The results show that China's demand for neodymium at the use stage had increased over 20 times during 2000-2017. By contrast, official neodymium production has only doubled, indicating the existence of illegal mining to meet the increasing neodymium demand. Also, the total net neodymium exports have continuously decreased due to reduced export of primary products and intermediate products. In addition, smuggling of primary products remains an issue and needs to be eliminated. Wind turbines and electric vehicles will become major neodymium consumption sectors greatly increasing future demand requirements. To avoid insufficient recycling and illegal neodymium mining, more appropriate neodymium management policies should be released to balance neodymium supply and demand.

We propose an on-chip all-optical multilevel amplitude regenerator scheme over a Mach Zehnder interferometer (MZI) configuration, enabling multiple amplitude-noise suppression on 16-QAM signals. Joint parameter optimization is carried out based on the general nonlinear model of the proposed scheme to significantly reduce the phase distortion caused by the nonlinear interferometer, which is the key to perform the phase preserving operation. The full function of the phase-preserving amplitude regeneration (PPAR) is verified by an experiment on an on-chip nonlinear waveguide with the length of the 2.31 cm. Furthermore, we perform thoughtful investigations on the oscillatory behavior achieved by the silicon MZI regenerator, enabling the full PPAR on 16-QAM signals through the optimized multiple power plateaus. A maximum 1.6 dB improvement of signal quality is achieved by the proposed on-chip amplitude regenerator at the input signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 25 dB. The impact from the two-photon absorption (TPA) effect as an positive role in the regenerator is also well discussed.

Global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be traced to five economic sectors: energy, industry, buildings, transport and AFOLU (agriculture, forestry and other land uses). In this topical review, we synthesise the literature to explain recent trends in global and regional emissions in each of these sectors. To contextualise our review, we present estimates of GHG emissions trends by sector from 1990 to 2018, describing the major sources of emissions growth, stability and decline across ten global regions. Overall, the literature and data emphasise that progress towards reducing GHG emissions has been limited. The prominent global pattern is a continuation of underlying drivers with few signs of emerging limits to demand, nor of a deep shift towards the delivery of low and zero carbon services across sectors. We observe a moderate decarbonisation of energy systems in Europe and North America, driven by fuel switching and the increasing penetration of renewables. By contrast, in rapidly industrialising regions, fossil-based energy systems have continuously expanded, only very recently slowing down in their growth. Strong demand for materials, floor area, energy services and travel have driven emissions growth in the industry, buildings and transport sectors, particularly in Eastern Asia, Southern Asia and South-East Asia. An expansion of agriculture into carbon-dense tropical forest areas has driven recent increases in AFOLU emissions in Latin America, South-East Asia and Africa. Identifying, understanding, and tackling the most persistent and climate-damaging trends across sectors is a fundamental concern for research and policy as humanity treads deeper into the Anthropocene.

All-optical regenerators can be used to suppress amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise introduced by cascaded erbium doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) in optical fiber communication systems and lead to the improvement of optical receiver sensitivity. By introducing the Q-factor transfer function (QTF), we evaluate the Q-factor performance of degenerate four-wave mixing (DFWM) regenerators with clock pump and reveal the differences between the optimal input powers determined from the static and dynamic power tranfer function (PTF) and the QTF curves. Our simulation shows that the clock-pump regnerator is capable of improving the Q-facor and receiver sensitivity for 40 Gbit/s ASE-degraded return-to-zero on-off keying (RZ-OOK) signal by 2.58 dB and 4.2 dB, respectively.

Due to different resource endowment, geographical features, culture and population sizes, different regions are facing different challenges and therefore need to adopt different strategies toward sustainable development. China’s Eastern, Central and Western provinces are taking different policies on international trade in order to boost their economy. This paper tries to investigate to what extent a province receives a trade advantage and the corresponding environmental resource flows by employing an emergy accounting method for the period of 1993–2012. Three emergy trade indicators (Exchange Emergy Ratio, Emergy Benefit Ratio and Opportunity Ratio) were calculated along with conventional monetary indicators, to describe the benefits and losses in trade over the investigated period. The results show that the total trade volume of each province increased, but the trajectory of growth has a clear regional disparity. Eastern provinces gained economic advantages during the investigated period, while western provinces did not. The key finding is that benefits in terms of resource availability and work potential are not always in line with monetary advantages. Foreign trade partners received more advantages than their Chinese counterparts although Eastern Chinese provinces performed much better than both Central and Western Chinese provinces. Policy suggestions are then raised so that more sustainable trade policies can be prepared by considering the local realities.

With fast development, it is not easy for China to achieve carbon reduction targets only by traditional command and control measures (e.g., the measures for energy-efficiency). Carbon tax is advocated as one effective complementary measure and has high possibility to be implemented for China’s future low carbon development. Under such a circumstance, this paper aims at forecasting the possible impact of carbon tax on both carbon reduction and economic loss of 30 Chinese provinces. A 30-Chinese-province CGE (Computational general equilibrium) model has been developed to conduct the provincial evaluation, and seven scenarios including Business-as-Usual (BaU) scenario and six carbon tax scenarios with carbon price from 20 USD/ton to 120 USD/ton up to 2030 are set. The results show that China’s industrial CO2 will be reduced from 12.2 billion tons under BaU scenario to 10.4 billion tons, 9.3 billion tons, 8.5 billion tons, 7.9 billion tons, 7.4 billion tons and 7.0 billion tons under scenarios of TAX20, TAX40, TAX60, TAX80, TAX100 and TAX120 in 2030, respectively. Electricity, Metal and Chemicals sectors have high reduction potentials and are priority sectors for carbon tax policy. Provincial disparity analysis demonstrates that coal production/consumption and total energy consumption are key factors to affect carbon tax effect on CO2 reduction, and Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Shanxi and Hebei have the largest industrial CO2 reduction potentials after levying carbon tax. However, the implementation of carbon tax will impede economic development for all provinces. Therefore, the concept of carbon tax efficiency is further proposed in order to evaluate the effectiveness of carbon tax by considering both CO2 reduction and GDP loss. Policy suggestions indicate that provinces of Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Hebei and Anhui should be set priority when implementing carbon tax policy in China, and carbon price should be no more than 50 USD/ton.

The aim of this study is to establish an energy use efficiency and GHG emissions (EUE-GHG) model to promote ecological agriculture, not only examining these indicators on crop production in Anhui Province from 1990 to 2014, but also comparing them among 16 provincial cities in 2014. The results reveal that energy use efficiency decreased significantly from 3.75 to 1.87 during 1990–2005, and then increased to 2.08 in 2014, while the GHG emissions increased rapidly from 2919.51 CO 2 -eq in 1990–8993.46 CO 2 -eq in 2014. These two important indicators were mainly determined by the great energy consumption from the use of agricultural machines and the use of chemical fertilizers. Regard to spatial perspective, the central and northern cities, including Fuyang, Bengbu, Suzhou, Huaibei, and Hefei, had the smaller EUEs and the higher GHG emissions than those in the southern cities, due to their large consumption of agricultural resources and the economic reasons. Several mitigation policies are then proposed by considering the local realities so that valuable policy insights can be shared by the stakeholders in other Chinese regions.

Based on energy and CO2 emission efficiencies, this paper proposes a definition of the elasticity of the potential of emission reduction to energy saving (Eperes), and measures the elasticity in China’s 30 provincial regions. Although Eperes is a relative definition, it can be used (1) to measure the amount of reduced CO2 emissions per unit fossil energy saving, (2) to reflect the effectiveness of fossil energy saving for CO2 emission reduction in different regions, and (3) to provide decision-making criteria for selecting pathways for emission reductions in different regions. The results show that compared with energy saving, emission reduction is a more serious issue in China. This indicates that energy saving policies have been highly effective since their implementation during the 11th “Five-Year Plan”. With respect to provincial disparities, the emission reductions caused by fossil energy saving are not significant in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangdong. Fujian province has significant Eperes, indicating that emission reduction causing by fossil energy saving is effective. Eperes has been increasing over time in Hunan and Hubei. Hainan’s Eperes has remained less than 1, indicating that its emission-reduction effect of fossil energy saving is worse than in other provinces. Moreover, the elasticity of Eastern China is greater than that of Central China and Western China. This finding sheds light on pathway selection for energy saving and emission reduction in China: it would be more appropriate to encourage fossil energy saving in Eastern China, and to promote clean energy use (e.g., water electricity and solar energy) in Central China and Western China.

The Emission Trading Schemes of China and Europe show that China’s envisaged national ETS could bring a major contribution in the international approach against global warming; new perspectives on the use of composite sustainability indicators are also highlighted. China’s regional pilot schemes will converge to a (more) uniform price of emission allowances. As China is a major economic and political actor in the world economy, China’s progress with ETS is important. At the same time, China’s progress in the field of green international competitiveness – standing for a positive revealed comparative advantage in environmentally friendly goods – in the period 2000–2015 is considerable and the improved positioning of China in the EIIW-vita sustainability indicator shows considerable technological dynamics in Asia. The European ETS is working, but it suffers from the rather low price of emission allowances. The long-term time horizon of 2050 in the EU climate policy is rather ambitious and it is unclear whether or not a consistent G20 approach can be achieved – with the EU, China, Japan and the US cooperating amongst each other. There is a lack of a specialized climate stabilization institution in the world economy, the traditional anchoring of climate policy in the UN weakens the practical pressure for efficient cooperation since the UN is very heterogeneous in terms of per capita income and GHG emissions per unit of GDP; G20 might be an institution that is suitable for effective policy cooperation. More initiatives in the field of recycling could be useful.