Search

Construction and demolition waste (C&DW) is currently a worldwide issue, and the situation is the worst in China due to a rapid increase in the construction industry and the short life span of China's buildings. To create an opportunity out of this problem, comprehensive prevention measures and effective management strategies are urgently needed. One major gap in the literature of waste management is a lack of estimations on future C&DW generation. Therefore, this paper presents a forecasting procedure for C&DW in China that can forecast the quantity of each component in such waste. The proposed approach is based on a GM-SVR model that improves the forecasting effectiveness of the gray model (GM), which is achieved by adjusting the residual series by a support vector regression (SVR) method and a transition matrix that aims to estimate the discharge of each component in the C&DW. Through the proposed method, future C&DW volume are listed and analyzed containing their potential components and distribution in different provinces in China. Besides, model testing process provides mathematical evidence to validate the proposed model is an effective way to give future information of C&DW for policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In traditional industrialization, manufacturing industries are clustering with a large amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions which has been polluting the environment heavily and directly caused global climate change. Industry CO2 emissions reduction is the key point for global climate change mitigation. The authors in this paper introduce a new concept of industry CO2 emissions efficiency and relatively design an industry CO2 emissions coefficient to measure it. With a sample analysis of Chongqing China, the authors find that 11 of 18 sectors of Chongqing industry have their great potentials of industry CO2 emissions reduction comparing to those of China''s national level in sample year of 2007. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

To achieve energy security in an environmentally benign way, China has to convert a significant fraction of its abundant coal resource to clean fuels (liquid fuels or synthetic natural gas, SNG) to meet the fast increasing demand on transportation fuel and municipal gas. Following the successful operation of the 4000 bbl/d Yitai and Luan coal-to-liquids plants using the medium temperature Fischer Tropsch synthesis (MTFT) process technology from Synfuels China, tremendous progresses have been made in upscaling the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) process in China. Past experiences gained from the efforts in this field have shown that further exploration in the coal conversion field requires significant technological improvement on gasification, synthesis, and utilities related to integrating more efficient and environmentally friendly processes on the basis of current status of applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Recently, the emergence of multidrug-resistant organisms such as extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL)-producing Enterobacteriaceae has raised considerable concern regarding the appropriate treatment of intra-abdominal infections (IAIs). In this study, we investigated the molecular characteristics of ESBL among clinical isolates of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae causing IAIs and their pattern of antimicrobial resistance, which can provide useful information about the epidemiology and risk factors associated with these infections. Materials and methods: One hundred sixty-seven E.coli and 47 K. pneumoniae ESBL-producing strains causing IAIs were collected from 9 hospitals in China, during 2012 and 2013. The antimicrobial susceptibility profile of these strains was determined. Polymerase chain reaction and sequencing were performed to identify genes for β-lactamase (blaTEM, blaSHV, blaOXA-1-like, and blaCTX-M). The isolates were also analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Results: In 167 ESBL-producing E. coli strains, 104 strains (62.3%) were positive for CTX-M, and 9 strains (5.39%) were positive for SHV. Among the 47 K. pneumoniae strains, 35 strains (74.5%) were positive for SHV-2a, 12 strains (25.5%) were positive for CTX-M. No TEM-type and OXA-1-like strain was detected among all the ESBL-producing strains. Regarding the CTX-M-positive E. coli and K. pneumoniae strains, CTX-M-15 was the most common genotype in E. coli and K. pneumoniae strains, accounting for 28.7% and 17.0%, respectively, followed by CTX-M-55 accounting for 16.2% and 2.13%, respectively; the remaining genotypes included CTX-M-123 and CTX-M-82. PFGE showed that E.coli and K. pneumoniae ESBL-producing strains causing IAIs were diverse and that emerging resistance may not be due to the dissemination of national clones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequent somatic mutations of BRAF (v-raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B) exon T1799A, which are implicated in the initial events of promutagenic cellular proliferation, are detected in both malignant melanomas (MM) and melanocytic nevi (MN). Most of the data regarding BRAF exon T1799A mutation have been from Caucasian cohorts, and a comprehensive screening of a homogeneous population is lacking. A total of 379 cases of MN and 195 cases of MM were collected from Chinese Han living in three geographical regions in China, i.e., northeast, southwest, and northwest China. BRAF exon T1799A mutation was detected by PCR and sequencing from microdissected tumors. In all, 59.8% cases of MN harbored BRAF exon T1799A mutation. Samples from regions with high UV exposure had higher detection rates than regions with lower UV exposure (73.5, 67.0, and 38.9%, respectively; χ2=31.674, P=1.59E-7). There were no differences in mutation rates between congenital and acquired MN; however, acquired MN with advanced age of onset had a higher mutation rate than those with younger age of onset (χ2=13.23, P=0.02). In all, 15.0% cases of MM harbored the BRAF mutation. The mutation rate in MM was not affected by region, histological type, gender, pattern of UV exposure, and age. The study suggests that the mutation is not necessarily associated with malignant transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]