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The goal of reaching the peak of carbon in the construction industry is urgent. However, the research on the feasibility of realizing this goal and the implementation of relevant policies in China is relatively superficial. In view of the historical data of energy consumption and building CO2 emission from 1995 to 2019, this paper establishes a BP neural network model for predicting building CO2 emissions. Moreover, the influencing factors, such as population, GDP, and total construction output, are introduced as the parameters in the model. Through the scenario analysis method explores the practical path to accomplish the peak of building CO2 emissions. When using traditional prediction methods to predict building carbon emissions, the long prediction cycle will increase the possibility of significant errors. Therefore, this paper constructs the calculation model of building carbon emission and forecasts the future carbon emission value through the BP neural network to avoid the error caused by the nonlinear relationship between influencing factors and predicted value. It will effectively predict the feasibility of the carbon peak and the carbon-neutral target set by government, and provide a useful predictive tool for adjusting the new energy structure and formulating related emission reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the energy and economic uncertainty of residential apartments using a stochastic AC behavior model and evaluates the appropriateness of existing building standards/codes-based AC setting in predicting energy and life cycle economic performance of energy-saving measures (e.g. wall insulation) in hot summer and cold winter zone of China. Monte Carlo simulation, distribution fitting and statistical tests were used to conduct relevant analysis. Results show that cooling energy uncertainty at different temporal scales is significant ranging from 8.59% (annual) to 70.22% (hourly) while standards/codes-based AC setting does not provide uncertainty information. The widely used simple assumption that the relative values of the energy-saving effects in actual are the same as those in thermal simulation (standard-based AC setting) is incorrect and there is a significant overestimation of cooling energy saving by standard-based AC setting. Further life cycle economic analysis of adding wall insulation shows that standards/codes-based AC setting may overestimate net present value (NPV) by about 1243.82% and lead to an inappropriate design decision when comparing different energy-saving measures. Therefore, existing building standards/codes-based AC setting may lead to biased energy and economic prediction of energy-saving measures and recommendations on future building standard and policy improvements are provided. Image 1 • An air conditioning (AC) behavior model was used for energy and economic analysis. • Monte Carlo simulation was combined with statistical test for energy prediction. • Indicators were proposed for uncertainty and convergence quantification. • Cooling energy uncertainty is significant at different temporal scales. • Energy and economic savings are over-predicted by standard-based AC setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new isobenzofuranone derivatives (1 and 2) together with six known compounds (3–8) were isolated from the roots of Phlomis betonicoides, a highly sweet plant in China. Their structures were determined by means of HR-ESI-MS and extensive 1D and 2D NMR spectroscopic studies. Compounds 1–8 were tested for their anti-rotavirus activity. The results showed that compounds 1–8 exhibited potent anti-rotavirus activity with therapeutic index value 7.5–16.4. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The photovoltaic-thermal heat pump system, which integrates multiple energy technologies, can meet the building's diverse energy needs. This study evaluates the energy, economic, and environmental performance of a direct-expansion photovoltaic-thermal heat pump system for domestic hot water supply through a life cycle approach. The annual thermal and electrical outputs are estimated. On this basis, economic analysis is conducted with indicators of life cycle cost, levelized cost of heat, and investment payback time. Moreover, a detailed life cycle assessment is performed to evaluate the environmental impact, following three methods: cumulative energy demand, IPCC 2021 global warming potential, and ReCiPe 2016 Endpoint. Results show that the proposed system is highly effective, with a 9.67% increase in annual electricity output over traditional photovoltaic systems and a self-sufficient rate of 88.21%. The system also has a significantly lower environmental impact than conventional heating systems, with a life cycle environmental impact of only 3–5% compared to electric boilers. The environmental payback time ranges from 0.33 to 5.18 years, according to the three methods used in the study, which is shorter than the investment payback time of 2.49–5.21 years, suggesting the need for cost reduction for future promotion. Moreover, electricity consumption during the operation stage accounts for 32–52% of the total environmental impacts. Thus, decarbonization of the power grid and improvements in system efficiency can significantly reduce the system's environmental footprint. Overall, the photovoltaic-thermal heat pump system is an intriguing strategy for building energy conservation, offering high energy efficiency, acceptable costs, and low environmental impact. • A direct-expansion photovoltaic-thermal heat pump system for hot water production. • Operation simulation, life cycle cost, and life cycle assessment are conducted. • Investment, energy, CO 2 , and total environment payback time are evaluated. • The main factors impacting environmental performance are identified. • The system outperforms conventional systems in energy and environmental aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The effects of green roofs and practical green façades within courtyard area on public buildings investigated for "Hot Summer, cold Winter" region of China. • Internal surface temperatures for areas with and without external greening monitored and compared. • Heating and cooling energy consumption before and after greening compared from computer simulation as well as from smart meter readings. • Actual heating and cooling energy consumption before and after greening compared using statistical analyses. T -statistics and p -values show significant reductions were achieved. The "Hot Summer Cold Winter" climate region of China is one of the most challenging regions for providing occupant comfort in buildings, with high demands for heating as well as cooling, together with high humidity levels. Although the performance of buildings has improved with the implementation of the new Chinese National Building Standards for the Zhejiang Province, it is believed that adding passive strategies could help to alleviate the problem even further. This paper aims to investigate the effects of adding horizontal greening (green roof) and vertical greening in the courtyard area to existing public buildings in the "Hot Summer Cold Winter" climate region of China. Using computer simulation and measurements from a monitored case in the city of Ningbo, the effects of green retrofitting on human comfort and energy consumption are analysed. Simulation results suggest that with partial horizontal and vertical greening, the cooling load could be reduced by 8.8% and heating load by 1.85%. Comparisons between actual energy use before and after greening on the case building showed significant reductions in both winter and summer, confirming the positive effects of vertical and horizontal greening of public buildings in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Haitaite‐(La), (La, Ce)(U4+, U6+, Fe2+)(Fe3+, Al)2(Ti, Fe2+, Fe3+)18O38, is a new member of the crichtonite group. It is named after the Haita Village in the Miyi County of Sichuan Province, China, where the mineral was discovered. The mineral occurs as black opaque centimeter‐sized aggregates in the external contact zone between the Neoproterozoic (∼800 Ma) alkali feldspar granite and the Mesoproterozoic (∼1700 Ma) micaschist. In the studied sample, haitaite‐(La) is associated with other minerals, including ilmenite, magnetite, rutile, zircon, brannerite and uraninite. The new mineral is a black, metallic phase and has a Mohs hardness of 6, with a density of 4.99 g/cm3 (calculated) and 5.03 g/cm3 (measured). Haitaite‐(La) is opaque in transmitted light and grayish‐white under reflected light, with a reflectivity between 22.5% and 16.42% in the 400–700 nm band (SiC, in the air). The compositions of the mineral were measured by EPMA, the U4+/U6+ ratio was determined by X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy and the Fe2+/Fe3+ ratio was determined by Mössbauer spectroscopy. Haitaite‐(La) is trigonal, belongs to and has unit‐cell parameters a = 10.3678(5) Å, c = 20.8390(11) Å, V = 1939.9(2) Å3, Z = 3. The crystalline structure is composed of octahedra with 9 layers of close‐packed octahedra (M1, M3, M4, M5), tetrahedra (M2) and contains large 12‐coordinated M0 sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Current guidelines support different management of cryptococcosis between severely immunodeficient and immunocompetent populations. However, few studies have focused on cryptococcosis patients with mild-to-moderate immunodeficiency. We performed this study to determine the clinical features of pulmonary (PC) and extrapulmonary cryptococcosis (EPC) and compared them among populations with different immune statuses to support appropriate clinical management of this public health threat.Methods: All cases were reported by 14 tertiary teaching hospitals in Jiangsu Province, China from January 2013 to December 2018. The trends in incidence, demographic data, medical history, clinical symptoms, laboratory test indicators, imaging characteristics and diagnostic method of these patients were then stratified by immune status, namely immunocompetent (IC, patients with no recognized underlying disease or those with an underlying disease that does not influence immunity, such as hypertension), mild-to-moderate immunodeficiency (MID, patients with diabetes mellitus, end-stage liver or kidney disease, autoimmune diseases treated with low-dose glucocorticoid therapy, and cancer treated with chemotherapy) and severe immunodeficiency (SID, patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, haematologic malignancies, solid organ transplantation or haematologic stem cell transplantation, idiopathic CD4 lymphocytosis, agranulocytosis, aggressive glucocorticoid or immunosuppressive therapy and other conditions or treatments that result in severe immunosuppression).Results: The clinical data of 255 cryptococcosis patients were collected. In total, 66.3% of patients (169) were IC, 16.9% (43) had MID, and 16.9% (43) had SID. 10.1% of the patients (17) with IC were EPC, 18.6% of the patients (8) with MID were EPC, and 74.4% of patients (32) were EPC (IC/MID vs. SID, p < 0.001). Fever was more common in the SID group than in the IC and MID groups (69.8% vs. 14.8% vs. 37.2%, p < 0.001). Of chest CT scan, most lesions were distributed under the pleura (72.7%), presenting as nodules/lumps (90.3%) or consolidations (10.7%). Pleural effusion was more common in SID group compared to IC group (33.3% vs. 2.4%, p < 0.001). Positivity rate on the serum capsular polysaccharide antigen detection (CrAg) test was higher in the SID group than in the other two groups [100.0% vs. 84.4% (MID) vs. 78.2% (IC), p = 0.013]. Positivity rate on the serum CrAg test was also higher in cryptococcal meningitis patients than in PC patients (100.0% vs. 79.5%, p = 0.015).Conclusions: The clinical presentation of MID patients is intermediate between SID and IC patients and is similar to that of IC patients. The serum CrAg test is more sensitive for the identification of SID or EPC patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pleistocene cave deposits usually provide ideal materials for the study of mammals. Karst caves in Chongzuo, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region of south China are famous for numerous studies on their abundant mammalian fossils and most importantly, Homo sapiens. Unfortunately, the environmental backgrounds, e.g. vegetation and climate, that governed these faunas, are usually lacking because there is no appropriate proxy. In this work, we analysed the palynological assemblages from seven well-dated karst caves in Chongzuo. The ages of these seven caves (2.0–0.11 Ma) cover almost the entire Pleistocene. Though the number of pollen and spores is comparatively low, as expected, we managed to reconstruct the principle vegetation types. The results show that the individual vegetations were mainly warm temperate to subtropical evergreen and deciduous broad-leaved mixed forests. The present study provides important background environmental information on the Pleistocene faunas and Homo sapiens in Guangxi, south China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, in order to lower the discharge, environment pollution and improve the added value of apricot kernels processing, the debitterizing wastewater was consecutively filtrated by the ceramic membrane and organic membrane, and divided into three parts. The part of ultrafiltration water was taken as the main material to develop a flavor beverage, for which the formula was optimized and the properties were analyzed using the electronic nose, electronic tongue, gas chromatography mass spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatography, respectively. The results indicate that the hygienic parameters of the ultrafiltration water meet the requirements of the environment standards and could be developed for a flavor beverage of apricot kernel with the optimal formula of 6% sugar, 0.056% citric acid and 3:1 ratio of liquid to liquid (mL:mL). The flavor beverage mainly contained the typical aroma components like benzaldehyde (a food preservative) and benzyl alcohol, which can extend the beverage's shelf life and exert the healthy function, since this kind of water has been regarded as an important ingredient of the cough syrup in China. In summary, this research would provide a novel approach to maximize the full utilization and promote the added value of the apricot kernels in processing. • DW could be filtrated by the ceramic and organic membrane. • The concentrate part can be used to recycle the amygdalin. • The UFW part could be applied to develop the flavor beverage of apricot kernels. • The research provided a novel approach to re-utilize DW of apricot kernels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rock extracts and oil samples has been detected high abundance of 18α(H)-neohopane fromYanchang Formation in Ordos Basin. The results showed that the black mudstone was deposited in anoxic condition of semi-deep or deep lacustrine facie has low abundance of 18α(H)-neohopane in Chang 7 member. The dark mudstones with high abundance of 18α(H)-neohopane in Chang 9 member that they were deposited in suboxic condition of shallow lacustrine facies. The origin of high concentration of 18α(H)-neohopane have relationship with the sedimentary environment and organic matter type. The geochemical significance of 18α(H)-neohopane can effectively solve the oil-source correlation of the research area. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study examined the effects of 24 weeks of Tai Chi Quan on the postural control of elderly women. A total of 43 women aged 55–68 years participated in the study. A Tai Chi group (n = 22) underwent an organized Tai Chi exercise, whereas the control group (n = 21) maintained a habitual, no-regular-exercise lifestyle. A Good Balance tester (Metitur, Finland) was used to measure the time, paths and velocity of the center of pressure (COP) of subjects during stance while shifting COP to targeted positions shown on a monitor. After 24 weeks, the Tai Chi group showed significantly shorter total (18.6%,p= 0.005), mediolateral (21.9%,p= 0.002) and anteroposterior (18.3%,p= 0.002) COP sway paths than the control group. The results indicate that 24 weeks of the Tai Chi exercise improved the efficiency of postural control for elderly women. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Megacrystalline uraninite (up to one centimeter in size) represents one of the most important discoveries in uranium mineralogy in the western margin of the Yangtze Block and even in China in recent years. However, the genesis of megacrystalline uraninite remains controversial. In this study, the megacrystalline uraninite found in the felsic and quartz veins in the Haita area is examined for the first time. The study examined the geochemical characteristics of uraninite in the two veins and resulted in two primary findings. (1) The genesis of the uraninite was likely intrusive and was closely related to partial melting. (2) The quartz vein and feldspar vein are cogenetic and have a simple differentiation evolution relationship. Therefore, the partial melting of felsic materials during migmatization may be the most important mechanism of uranium mineralization in the study area. Furthermore, further simple fractional crystallization may be another important mechanism for the formation of megacrystalline uraninite. This study enriches the REE database of uraninite in uranium deposits worldwide, which is meaningful for studying the genesis of megacrystalline uraninite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]