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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the policy instruments used by the China's Government on prefabricated construction (PC) development, with the aim to clarify the pattern and discover the focus of the policy instruments using the methods of bibliometric analysis and content analysis.Design/methodology/approachThrough a thorough screening by all researchers, 25 policies were identified from 1995 to 2021 were selected and analysed. The external attribute analysis clarified the issuing year, organisation, and the format of each policy. The content analysis was adopted firstly to analyse the policy instrument. An analysis framework including environmental instruments, supply instruments and demand instruments was applied in categorising and counting of each policy instrument. The bibliometric analysis was then carried out to extract keywords of the policy instruments, construct a co-word network and complete the cluster analysis.FindingsThe results indicate that the policies lack consistency and had relatively low authority. The results of content analysis show that the policy system relies heavily on environmental and supply instruments, whilst the use of demand instruments seems to be grossly inadequate. The results of the bibliometric analysis identify the core ideas of each policy instrument category, discuss the existing problems and then put forward the corresponding countermeasures.Research limitations/implicationsThis study comprehensively and systematically analysed the policy instruments on facilitating the development of PC in China which broaden the research perspectives of the PC development by introducing the methods of political science. The research findings afford helpful information for future policy adjustments and elucidate the effective delivery of policies to facilitate PC development for developing countries.Originality/valueThis study provides an in-depth understanding of policy instruments used by China's Government on PC development. By integrating the policy instrument analysis framework into the mixed methods of content analysis and bibliometric analysis, this study provides an innovative way to conduct policy instrument analysis.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the interactions of factors impacting the widespread adoption of prefabricated building technologies and the intervention strategies to facilitate the development of prefabrication based on fuzzy cognitive maps (FCMs). Design/methodology/approach Through in-depth interviews with six stakeholder groups, namely, the government, developers, designers, contractors, manufacturers and researchers, 13 critical factors were identified and used to construct stakeholder-grouped FCMs, which were further aggregated into a collective FCM. The complexity and density of the collective FCM and the centrality of factors in the FCM were examined. Subsequently, a series of “what-if” simulations of the collective FCM were conducted to analyze the effectiveness of different interventions in promoting prefabrication. Findings The results show that three factors including market demand, cost, and policies and regulations have been mentioned by all stakeholder groups. However, these factors were ranked differently by stakeholder groups, implying that different stakeholder groups perceive the barriers to prefabricated building technologies differently. FCM simulations show that strengthening policies and regulations yield the strongest overall effect stimulating prefabrication, alleviating the organizational and environmental barriers more than the technological barriers, while improving the knowledge and expertise alleviate the technological barriers more. These measures need to be accompanied by other approaches, such as reducing cost and improving quality. Research limitations/implications It is a tough task to promote prefabrication as it is affected by numerous barriers with complex interactions, which have been overlooked by previous studies. This study clearly shows which strategy could tackle which barriers to prefabrication through the FCM simulations. This provides valuable references for the enterprises’ decision making and the governments’ policy making to facilitate the diffusion of prefabricated building technologies. Originality/value Few studies aim to analyze the interactions among the barriers to prefabrication, while this study specifically investigates this issue by illustrating the complex interactions using FCMs. Few studies also aim to identify the intervention strategies promoting prefabrication based on a quantitative approach, while this study employs FCM simulations to directly simulate the effectiveness of different strategies to facilitate prefabrication in a quantitative manner.

Tryptophan (TRP) metabolism could occur both peripherally and centrally, which plays an essential role in brain and gastrointestinal disorders. The participation of TRP metabolism in the bidirectional brain-gut interactions is of value to better understand the mechanism of the pathophysiology of depression. To compare the difference between peripheral and cerebral TRP metabolism in depression, the chronic unpredicted mild stress (CUMS) was used to induce depressive-like syndrome in rats. After the rats were subjected to CUMS for five weeks, TRP and its metabolites were determined by prominence ultrafast liquid chromatography (UFLC) coupled with a QTRAP 5500 mass spectrometer (UFLC-QTRAP-5500/MS), and the expression of TRP metabolic enzymes were examined by Real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR). CUMS induced TRP metabolism abnormalities in the colon, cortex and hippocampus of rats. There were regional metabolism differences, but the common points were the upregulation of indoleamine-2,3-dioxygenase 1 (IDO1) and the increased contents of Kynurenine (KYN), which suggested that KYN pathway (KP) was more favored than the serotonin (5-HT) pathway in the TRP metabolism under CUMS in the three regions studied. More importantly, KYN was preferentially metabolized into neurotoxic 3-hydroxycaninuric acid (3-HK) branch in the cortex and hippocampus while Kynurenic acid (KA) branch in the colon under CUMS. Interestingly, according to the Pearson's correlation coefficients, there may be correlations between the colonic KYN and cerebral 3-HK and KA. It advances our understanding of the role of TRP metabolism in gut-brain communication and provides new research ideas and methods for depression.

Construction industries have significant impacts on the economy, society and environment. To transform construction industry towards sustainability, construction enterprises' perceptions and performance on sustainability needs to be understood and evaluated, which has not be fully explored by existing studies. This paper holistically examines the Chinese construction enterprises’ attitude towards and performance on various aspects of sustainability (e.g. the economic, social and environmental aspects) in order to identify those aspects the firms perceive to be the most and least important and those aspects the firms perform best and worst on. The associations among the sustainability attitude, sustainability performance, and firm size are also explored. The findings show that quality management and customer service are perceived as the most important as well as the best-performed aspects by the firms while supporting community development is the least important and worst-performed aspect. Sustainability attitude is positively correlated with performance, and larger firms tend to have better sustainability performance than that of small ones. However, larger construction firms do not necessarily perceive sustainability more important. This study provides a useful reference for policy makers and researchers to understand how sustainability is perceived and implemented by the Chinese construction firms.

Sustainability has become a critical perspective in managing firms via a holistic approach by considering economic, environmental and social dimensions of firms. With the rising significance of sustainable development, the theories of sustainability in firms have evolved during the past six decades. This article offers a critical review of the evolving theories linking sustainability to firms, and discusses their implications for future renewable energy research. The relationships among different theories are critically analysed, and the directions for future research are discussed. The paper shows that, the main theories linking sustainability to firms, in a chronological order, are: 1) Corporate Social Responsibility, 2) Stakeholder Theory, 3) Corporate Sustainability, and 4) Green Economics. Currently various innovative approaches and new theories emerged, such as Co-evolution Theory and Multi-level Perspective, reflecting three directions of theory development, namely 1) shifting from “what” to “how”, 2) growing use of interdisciplinary approach, and 3) towards broader systems. Renewable energy studies associated with firms and future research opportunities in this area are also critically analysed. The comprehensive review offered in this paper provides a useful reference for policy makers, corporate managers and researchers interested in corporate sustainability and renewable energy related studies.

With the aim of facilitating the long-term transformation towards a sustainable future, the research field of sustainability transition has gained growing attention. A number of approaches have been proposed to understand or even manage the complex societal transition processes towards sustainable development. There are four popular approaches for sustainability transitions, i.e. the multi-phase concept, multi-level perspective, strategic niche management and transition management. However, there is a lack of studies to systematically review and critically reflect on these various approaches in this emerging field. This paper presents a holistic review of the four most common approaches, and more importantly identifies four critical challenges for the future studies on transition approaches. Consequently, the associated future research agenda is presented. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment

This study assessed the effects of Pb (0, 200, 500, 1000 mg kg

Chronic stressors represented risk factors for the etiology or exacerbation of several gastrointestinal diseases. The goal of the present study was to examine whether chronic restraint stress (CRS) could initiate and aggravate colonic inflammation, integrity damage and metabolic disturbance of rats. Firstly, increased inflammatory cytokines (interferon-γ (IFN-γ), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) and interleukin-10(IL-10)) and decreased tight junction (TJ) proteins (occludin and zonula occludins-1 (ZO-1)) in rat colon were observed. Secondly, untargeted metabolomics based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight mass (UPLC-Q-TOF/MS) revealed that TRP metabolism was the most prominently affected. Thirdly, quantification of TRP and its metabolites via prominence ultrafast liquid chromatography coupled with a QTRAP 5500 mass (UFLC-QTRAP-5500/MS) showed that TRP, kynurenine (KYN), kynurenic acid (KA) and 3-hydroxykynurenine (3-HK) were significantly increased. At the same time, 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) was unchanged and 5-hydroxyindolacetic acid (5-HIAA) was significantly decreased in the colon of CRS rats. Besides, TRP metabolic enzyme changes were with the same trends as the corresponding metabolites. Thus, our data showed that CRS could initiate colonic inflammation, integrity damage and colonic metabolism disturbance, especially TRP-KYN metabolism pathway of rats, which may provide an experimental background for future research on stress-related gastrointestinal dysfunction. SIGNIFICANCE: Chronic exposure to psychological stress could induce metabolic imbalance of the body, and stressful life events were intimately correlated with frequent relapses in patients with intestinal disorders. The present study showed that chronic restraint stress (CRS) could initiate and aggravate colonic inflammation, integrity damage and metabolic disturbance, especially tryptophan-kynurenine metabolism of rats. Tryptophan-kynurenine pathway may be involved in the initiation and development of diseases induced by chronic stress. This research may shed light on future research on stress-related gastrointestinal dysfunction.

There has been growing awareness and demand for construction enterprises’ transition toward sustainability with an aim to maximize the economic, social, and environmental values of construc...

Electric arc furnace slag (EAFS) is a solid waste from steel making industrial. Previously, EAFS was deposited, recycled or used as fertilizer. In present study, EAFS is used as one of the raw materials in ceramic tile production. EAFS added tiles samples have been prepared by mixing of EAFS with ball clay, quartz and feldspar. The feldspar content was varied at various weight percentages (0, 10 and 20 %) to observe their effect on the produced samples. The raw materials mixture was pressed and then sintered at temperature range 1100°C-1175°C for 1 hour. In general, results shows that, sample with higher content of feldspar require shorter vitrification range and having relatively higher density and good strength properties. In addition, MOR value was increasing as the sintering temperature was increasing. However when the temperature reached 1175°C, the MOR was dropped which may be due to the early vitrification of the compositions, resulting in over firing, grain growth and recrystallization. Whereas the density values are relatively higher than the conventional vitreous ceramic tiles due to the presence of high amount of iron oxide from the EAFS.

The shajiang river bridge on the appearance test, concrete rebound detection, concrete cover depth detection, concrete carbonation depth detection, concrete chlorine ion content detection, and the detection results in statistics and analysis. Based on the bridge of the service the atmospheric environment parameters and testing data, the paper calculates and analyzes the main stress components the carbonation bridge reliability index and remaining life of carbide, assessing the bridge for the service life and reinforcement maintenance and offer the scientific basis.

Because of various economic, social, and environmental challenges, the Chinese construction industry is under tremendous pressure to transition to a sustainability orientation. Existing studies have extensively explored the technological innovations of environmental sustainability within the Chinese construction industry. In contrast, very little attention has been paid to a holistic exploration of the economic and social dimensions related to sustainability, or to the sustainability strategies and behaviors of construction firms in China. From the perspective of sustainability transition, this paper analyzes the sustainability practices and strategic sustainability behaviors of three leading construction firms in China based on three case study firms. Twenty-nine aspects of sustainability practice implemented by the studied firms are identified. The evolution of the strategic sustainability behaviors exhibited by the three firms and the strengths and weaknesses of their sustainability practices a...

Project stakeholders play an important role in the implementation process of sustainable construction. Due to different attributes of each stakeholder in the project, their importance level is different. This paper firstly identifies 13 project stakeholders based on Chinese construction project management mechanism and then a questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate their importance. This finding indicates that client and government play extremely important role in the sustainable construction; all the project stakeholders are important in the three aspects and the importance level order of project stakeholders in the three aspects is different.

A new method for the determination of platelet-derived growth factor BB (PDGF-BB) was developed using an electrochemical immunosensor with an aptamer-primed, long-strand circular detection probe. Rabbit anti-human PDGF-B polyclonal antibody was immobilized on the electrode to serve as the capture antibody. The detection probe was synthesized via polymerase extension along a single-stranded circular plasmid DNA template with a primer headed by the anti-PDGF-B aptamer. In the presence of the analyte, the aptamer-primed circular probe was captured on the electrode via the formation of an antibody/PDGF-BB/aptamer sandwiched complex. The electroactivity indicator methylene blue was adsorbed on the electrode surface via the analyte-sandwiched complex with long-strand circular DNA, thus yielding a strong electrochemical signal for the quantification of PDGF-BB. This strategy allowed electrochemical detection with enormous signal amplification arising from the long-strand localized circular probe. The oxidation peak current of methylene blue in square wave voltammetric measurements showed a linear dependence on the concentration of PDGF-BB in the range from 50 to 500 ng mL(-1), with a detection limit as low as 18 pg mL(-1).

In order to improve the security and controllability of the wireless communication systems, free space optical (FSO) technology is adopted on some special occasions. FSO system generally uses visible light or infrared light as carrier. The paper gave a new solution to use FSO technology to establish Ethernet connections. The research first focused on the LED source, in which the visible LED array was used. Then the principle of optical receiver with diversity technology was analyzed, including two different links in the theory. Finally the IP113A_LF chip was used to design the circuit of Ethernet media converter. The performance of the system is tested in the end.

The various components Sophisticated behavior can be displayed by systems composed of a large number of agents, each of which has limited intelligence and exhibits simple behaviors. How to control and coordinate this kind of agents to accomplish a prescribed task is of great interest. Aiming at exploring the self-organized behaviors of agents, this paper takes the “circle-forming” problem, one of the most important coordination problems, as the specific task assigned to a group of agents and proposes to use coordination fields as the agents’ coordination law. The simulation results show that the proposed method is simple and efficient for agents to successfully achieve their circle-forming task in a coordinated way and yield emergent and interesting behaviors among agents.

Fingerprint recognition is one of the research hotspots of biometrics techniques. And fingerprint classification and matching are key parts in an automated fingerprint recognition system. The traditional fingerprint recognition systems have such disadvantages as high computation complexity, low speed, low recognition rate to uncompleted or defiled fingerprints, and not robust. In this paper, we propose a novel fingerprint classification and matching method based on synergetic pattern recognition, which emphasizes global features of fingerprint. With lots of artificial fingerprint samples, the results show that the proposed method is effective, fast and robust. In the end, experimental results are analyzed and a synergetic fingerprint recognition system is introduced.

Aiming at the existing questions in the preprocessing step of fingerprint image, an improved edge detection algorithm is presented based on the concept of fractal Brownian motion model in this paper. Due to the fact that the structure of fingerprint is typically self-similar, which satisfies the model of fractional Brownian random field except edges, so it can be used as the principle of detection. By selecting those pixels that fractal parameters are in a certain range, the fingerprint edges can be detected. The results of experiment have shown that this improved algorithm obtain much more edge details than most traditional methods do and reflect the edge information of original image much better. At the same time, this algorithm reduces the computation complexity greatly and enhances the speed of edge detection.