Great Room Research Articles

Art Conservation and Research Centre

The preservation of cultural heritage is extremely important. Expressions of culture can be passed down in different ways, including artistic expressions, objects, buildings, skills, relics and crafts. It can be difficult to preserve historical artefacts as they can fall into poor condition and finding ways to preserve or restore them is crucial to retaining a culture’s heritage. A team of researchers at the Art Conservation and Research Centre, Cheng Shiu University, Taiwan, is working on projects seeking to restore and preserve cultural relics and artefacts. The team is led by the University’s Vice Chancellor Dr Bo-Wen Huang who is interested in how innovative technologies can be harnessed to meet the Research Centre’s goals. A primary focus for the researchers is on preserving cultural and art assets located in the Asia-Pacific region of the world. Currently, the preservation and development of cultural heritage in this region is limited to the development of humanities and the social sciences but Huang believes it’s important to integrate other domains. He sees great room for improvement in the concept and implementation of cultural assets preservation and restoration in Southeast Asia. The Conservation and Research Centre takes inspiration from Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong as they have shown significant improvement in the field of cultural asset preservation. An important area for the team is on promoting international academic exchanges and cooperation, as well as collaborating with local art transportation companies and checking local imported and exported artworks.

Performance analysis of PPP models in rural tourism projects of Shandong Province based on DEA and super-DEA.

Rural tourism development has made positive contributions to promoting an increase in farmers' income, coordinated urban-rural development, rural civilization, and industrial transformation & upgrading. However, it also faces problems such as immature development and unsound planning. This paper focuses on the development status of the public-private partnership (PPP) models in rural tourism projects of Shandong Province in China, as well as their operations and cooperation models. Then, this paper assesses the impacts of PPP models on the rural tourism industry of Shandong Province, and appraises their performance by combining standard data envelopment analysis (DEA) and super-DEA models. The main findings are (1) The overall efficiency of PPP models in rural tourism projects of Shandong Province is moderate, and resource utilization is disproportionate to output, leaving great room for improvement. (2) PPP models in Larger projects with more complexity, are more easily tending to a lower overall efficiency. (3) The optimal development PPP model for rural tourism projects of Shandong Province is "Stock Project + Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model". In response to these findings, this paper gives some targeted opinions and suggestions, including strengthening government supervision, controlling project scale, incentivizing enterprises to play intermediary roles, and innovating PPP models. In this way, it provides strong academic support and useful policy suggestions for the sustainable development of PPP models in worldwide rural tourism.

Lithium Battery Technologies for Improvement of Energy Efficiency

With the process of economic globalization and the continuous improvement of energy demand, the search for new energy with higher efficiency has become a hot spot of social concern. Lithium-ion battery (LIB), as the current battery system with the best comprehensive performance, has the characteristics of high specific energy, high cycle life, small size and lightweight, and has rapidly developed into a new generation of energy storage power supply for information technology, new energy vehicles, aerospace and other fields of power support. Therefore, improving the energy efficiency of LIB is the most suitable choice in the current energy shortage. The core and key of LIB is the development and application of new lithium storage materials and electrolyte materials. This paper summarizes the research and application status of the main key materials of LIB. By analyzing the development status and existing problems of mainstream energy efficiency improvement technologies, it can be seen that the energy efficiency of LIB still has great room for improvement in the aspects of key materials and manufacturing technologies. At present, the research status of new anode materials and solid electrolytes is very active, and these technologies are expected to improve the energy efficiency, safety and reliability of lithium batteries. In the future, with more research and innovation, we can expect to see these technologies make even greater breakthroughs in the battery field, driving the development of electric mobility and renewable energy storage.

The Current Achievements and Existing Shortage of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor

Immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) is drug used to treat cancer by blocking immune checkpoint molecules and activating the immune system to attack tumor cells. ICI has limitations, including varying patient immune tolerance, immune-related adverse events, and unclear biomarkers. However, it is currently the most widely used, versatile, and highly effective immunotherapy drug. By comparing the efficacy of ICI with other treatment methods and citing examples of its breakthrough role in different cancers, the superiority of ICI is demonstrated. At the same time, it still has great potential and clinical value in the field of immunotherapy, and there is great room for development in both the design of new targets and the new application of known targets. This article discusses the advantages of ICI, particularly when combined with radio chemotherapy and chemotherapy, in cancer treatment. The summary outlines its mechanism of action, current applications, achievements, and limitations in the field further needed to be addressed.

A Brief Introduction to Infrastructure Planning for Next-Generation Smart Computing Data Centers

Globally, digital technology and the digital economy have propelled technological revolution and industrial change, and it has become one of the main grounds of international industrial competition. It was estimated that the scale of China’s digital economy would reach 50 trillion yuan in 2022, accounting for more than 40% of GDP, presenting great market potential and room for the growth of the digital economy. With the rapid development of the digital economy, the state attaches great importance to the construction of digital infrastructure and has introduced a series of policies to promote the systematic development and large-scale deployment of digital infrastructure. In 2022 the Chinese government planned to build 8 arithmetic hubs and 10 national data center clusters nationwide. To proactively address the future demand for AI across various scenarios, there is a need for a well-structured computing power infrastructure. The data center, serving as the pivotal hub for computing power, has evolved from the conventional cloud center to a more intelligent computing center, allowing for a diversified convergence of computing power supply. Besides, the data center accommodates a diverse array of arithmetic business forms from customers, reflecting the multi-industry developmental trend. The arithmetic service platform is consistently broadening its scope, with ongoing optimization and innovation in the design scheme of machine room processes. The widespread application of submerged phase-change liquid cooling technology and cold plate cooling technology introduces a series of new challenges to the construction of digital infrastructure. This paper delves into the design objectives, industry considerations, layout, and other dimensions of a smart computing center and proposes a new-generation data center solution that is “flexible, resilient, green, and low-carbon.”

Research on the Requirements and Functions of Mobile Applications for Tourism among Disabled Individuals in China

There is a large number of disabled people, and the number of disabled people will continue to grow in the future. With the booming development of the tourism industry, the demand for travel by disabled people is also increasing, but the travel experience of most disabled people is ignored. Developers of tourism mobile applications pay little attention to the travel needs of disabled people. Due to the lack of attention to this group, there is great room for improvement in the travel experience of disabled people. This article focuses on the needs of Chinese disabled people for mobile applications for tourism. Through user interviews and semantic analysis, this groups needs for application functions are studied. Then, through a questionnaire survey based on the Kano model, the priority of application functions is analyzed. This study believes that the psychological needs of disabled people to be respected should be the top priority, followed by the needs for affordability, safe travel, and convenient access to information, and finally, social needs.

Endorsement of reporting guidelines and clinical trial registration across Scopus-indexed rheumatology journals: a cross-sectional analysis.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the instructions for authors of rheumatology journals and analyze their endorsement of reporting guidelines and clinical trial registration. Sixty rheumatology journals were selected by a research librarian and an investigator through the 2021 Scopus CiteScore tool. The instructions for authors' subsection of each journal was assessed to determine endorsement of study design-specific reporting guidelines or clinical trial registration. Descriptive statistics were calculated using R (version 4.2.1) and RStudio. Of the 58 journals analyzed, 34 (34/58; 59%) mentioned the EQUATOR Network: an online compendium of best practice reporting guidelines. The most commonly mentioned reporting guidelines were CONSORT with 44 journals (44/58; 75%), and PRISMA with 35 journals (35/58; 60%). The least mentioned guidelines were QUOROM with 56 journals not mentioning the guideline (56/58; 97%), and SRQR with 53 journals not mentioning the guideline (53/57, 93%). Clinical trial registration was required by 38 journals (38/58; 66%) and recommended by 8 journals (8/58; 14%). Our study found that endorsement of reporting guidelines and clinical trial registration within rheumatology journals was suboptimal with great room for improvement. Endorsement of reporting guidelines have shown to not only mitigate bias, but also improve research methodologies. Therefore, we recommend rheumatology journals broadly expand their endorsement of reporting guidelines and clinical trial registration to improve the quality of evidence they publish.

Design Study of Characteristic Scuba Diving Tourism in Sanya, Hainan Province

In recent years, with the development of diving tourism, the diving tourism industry in Sanya, Hainan Province, China has rapidly emerged. The tourism management department has been promoting and advertising this unique tourism feature, making diving tourism one of the major attractions that bring in more and more domestic and foreign tourists. We have noticed that there is great potential and room for the development of diving tourism in Sanya, Hainan Province, but there are also problems with tourist safety, marketing strategies, and poor management. To promote the development of diving tourism in Sanya, Hainan Province, we suggest the following: First, strengthen the measures to ensure the safety of tourists, including improving the quality of diving tourism services, strengthening the construction of management systems, and enhancing tourist safety measures to improve their sense of security. Secondly, optimize the marketing strategies to increase the awareness and competitiveness of diving tourism products. Thirdly, strengthen management and regulatory measures, perfect management systems, and standardize market order. Fourthly, establish a comprehensive diving tourism plan, design diving routes, and enhance the quality of diving facilities and services. Based on these suggestions, we can enhance the development of diving tourism in Sanya, Hainan Province, increase its economic and social benefits, and raise its level of development significantly.

Comparative study of two cost assessment approaches to models for offshore oil and gas platform decommissioning

Offshore oil and gas facilities have been developed for over a century. The current exploration, development, and mining technologies are already perfect. However, the offshore oil and gas facilities in the world's major offshore oil-producing countries face serious aging challenges and many are overdue for service. Moreover, many oil and gas platforms are in urgent need of decommissioning. The cost of decommissioning is one of the most concerning issues for energy companies and governments. This study compared two different approaches to cost assessment models built by using United Kingdom Continental Shelf (UKCS) decommissioned platforms: a model constructed using a popular top-down approach, and one created by a novel bottom-up approach. Both models use the completed decommissioning projects in the UKCS area as research and verification resources. According to the results, although the cost assessment model constructed using the bottom-up method is challenging, it has higher accuracy and more robust versatility. The top-down approach model is more suitable for governments and energy companies to make rough assessments of the market and projects. The bottom-up approach model is more suitable for a more detailed cost assessment of the decommissioning of individual facilities and can be integrated with results from other assessment models (such as risk and impact assessment models) to obtain more accurate cost assessment results. Both approaches have great room for improvement at present, and further integration of disciplines may be the key to breakthroughs in this field.

Can China reach the win-win goals for food security and pollution control from the perspective of nitrogen flow analysis？

Producing enough food to simultaneously address food shortage and agro-environmental pollution problems attracts attention globally. To quantify the risks of nutrition crisis to food security and the agro-environment under current agricultural policies in China, this study evaluates and predict the spatiotemporal patterns of nitrogen (N) flows during 1949–2050 through material flow analysis (MFA) and spatial analysis methods. The results show that (1) the crop harvest (including grains, fruits and vegetables) in China increased by a factor of 8.12 from 1949 to 2019, accompanied by a large amount of N loss to the environment. Compared to 1949, N runoff increased 1.23 times in 1979 and 3.43 times in 1999 after which time agricultural pollution control policy achieved initial results, and the crop harvest increased steadily. (2) At the national average level, crop production will increase by 58.60% in 2050, which is higher than the food security threshold while N loss to the environment will be lower than the agro-environmental risk threshold. Under the current agricultural policy, the win-win goals of crop production increase and pollution control can be realized in China. (3) China has obvious temporal and spatial differences in N flows, for which four regions has been divided. Region II, mainly located in Yangtze River Economic Belt, is a high-risk area for N loss. By 2050, environmental pollution can be controlled under the current agricultural policies. However, crop production will only increase by 10% compared with its historical high value, lower than food security threshold. It is necessary to implement more targeted management of high-risk areas by adopting methods such as fallowing or construction of pollution buffer zones while improving N fertilizer use efficiency. For region III, the impact of N loss on the environment has always been at a low level, so there is still great room for increasing future crop production in this region. On average, China will be able to achieve green and sustainable development for agriculture nationally, but there are remaining food security risks in high N loss areas. More targeted N management strategies should be applied to achieve better goals in the future.

What Will It Take to Make Healthcare Safer?

Patients are harmed too often by the care they receive today. The authors discuss a recent large study of harm, its results in terms of harm incidence, and distribution, and compare these with prior studies of harm in hospitals. The authors suggest what these results imply in terms of improving the safety of care, and how to accelerate it. They go over the roles of boards, and leadership including the c-suite. They discuss metrics and achieving sustainable results. They also evaluate the role of culture, and the future potential of artificial intelligence to improve safety. Overall, there is great room for improvement, but achieving it will require addressing all these areas.

Regional Differences, Distribution Dynamics, and Convergence of the Green Total Factor Productivity of China’s Cities under the Dual Carbon Targets

Economic development in China has been severely restricted by environmental problems such as carbon emissions. Improving green total factor productivity (GTFP) is an extremely important pathway to realizing carbon peak and carbon neutrality. Nevertheless, existing studies on China’s urban GTFP under the carbon emissions constraint are still insufficient. In this context, this study adopts the directional distance function (DDF), includes carbon emissions in the undesirable output, combines the global Malmquist–Luenberger (GML) productivity index, and calculates the GTFP of China’s cities. On this basis, the Dagum Gini coefficient, kernel density estimation, and convergence model are employed to explore the regional differences, distribution dynamics, and convergence in China and in three subdivision regions of east, center, and west. The core conclusions are as follows: (1) the average annual growth rate of GTFP in China’s cities is about 0.7064%, which is relatively low, but there is great room for improvement. The growth trend of GTFP in the three subdivision regions of east, center and west is obvious, presenting a spatial distribution characteristic of “high in the east and low in the west”; (2) the regional differences in GTFP of these cities are enlarging, with the largest gap in the eastern region and the smallest in the western region. Intraregional difference is the primary source of regional differences; (3) the imbalance in urban GTFP in China is prominent, with noticeable gradient differences, making it difficult to achieve hierarchical crossing. The central and western regions even have multilevel differentiation problems; (4) there is an absolute β convergence and conditional β convergence of China’s GTFP, but no σ convergence. As a result, it is necessary to comprehensively consider and actively implement the concept of shared development, enhance technological progress, focus on narrowing the differences in GTFP, and facilitate coordinated green development within the regions.

Facile Borylation of Alkenes, Alkynes, Imines, Arenes and Heteroarenes with N-Heterocyclic Carbene-Boranes and a Heterogeneous Semiconductor Photocatalyst.

Although the development of radical chain and photocatalytic borylation reactions using N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC)-borane as boron source is remarkable, the persistent problems, including the use of hazardous and high-energy radical initiators or the recyclability and photostability issues of soluble homogeneous photocatalysts, still leave great room for further development in a sustainable manner. Herein, we report a conceptually different approach toward highly functionalized organoborane synthesis by using recoverable ultrathin cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanosheets as a heterogeneous photocatalyst, and a general and mild borylation platform that enables regioselective borylation of a wide variety of alkenes (arylethenes, trifluoromethylalkenes, α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds and nitriles), alkynes, imines and electron-poor aromatic rings with NHC-borane as boryl radical precursor. Mechanistic studies and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that both photogenerated electrons and holes on the CdS fully perform their own roles, thereby resulting in enhancement of photocatalytic activity and stability of CdS.

Facile Borylation of Alkenes, Alkynes, Imines, Arenes and Heteroarenes with N‐Heterocyclic Carbene‐Boranes and a Heterogeneous Semiconductor Photocatalyst

AbstractAlthough the development of radical chain and photocatalytic borylation reactions using N‐heterocyclic carbene (NHC)‐borane as boron source is remarkable, the persistent problems, including the use of hazardous and high‐energy radical initiators or the recyclability and photostability issues of soluble homogeneous photocatalysts, still leave great room for further development in a sustainable manner. Herein, we report a conceptually different approach toward highly functionalized organoborane synthesis by using recoverable ultrathin cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanosheets as a heterogeneous photocatalyst, and a general and mild borylation platform that enables regioselective borylation of a wide variety of alkenes (arylethenes, trifluoromethylalkenes, α,β‐unsaturated carbonyl compounds and nitriles), alkynes, imines and electron‐poor aromatic rings with NHC‐borane as boryl radical precursor. Mechanistic studies and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that both photogenerated electrons and holes on the CdS fully perform their own roles, thereby resulting in enhancement of photocatalytic activity and stability of CdS.

Chinese University Students' English Reading Strategies: An Analysis of the Current Situation and A Proposal for Enhancement

English reading strategies and awareness of reading strategies are of great significance for English learners to master and possess high English reading abilities, but in reality, learners' ability to apply English reading strategies is still unsatisfactory. Moreover, this issue seems to be a common and urgent issue for all learners of English as a second language. This study taking a Chinese university (Hunan University of Science and Engineering, HUSE) as an example, using the Survey of Reading Strategies (SORS) to measure three broad categories of reading strategies, 527 respondents involved, through comparing data mean values of English majors with non-English majors and the composite mean value of these respondents, found that: (a) English major students have higher reading strategy awareness than non-English major students; (b) English major and non-English major students are at different levels in terms of reading strategy awareness and generally have a moderate level of reading strategies; (c) There is great room for improvement in university students’ reading strategy. Centering on how to make good use of the teaching resources of reading courses and how to use innovative ways and methods to enhance the awareness and ability of college students' reading strategies, this study puts forward four measures, namely, attaching importance to reading strategy education in reading course teaching, attaching importance to the leading role of reading course teachers in improving students' reading strategy level in curriculum teaching, attaching importance to students' main role, and strengthening students' reading strategy training.

Research on the Optimal Energy Saving and Emission Reduction Path for Promoting High-Quality Industrial Development in Hubei Province

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus broke out in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, and, as the center of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic, the economy and production throughout Hubei Province suffered huge temporary impacts. Based on the input–output and industrial pollution emissions data of 33 industrial industries in Hubei from 2010 to 2019, this article uses the non-parametric frontier analysis method to calculate the potential production losses and compliance costs caused by environmental regulations in Hubei’s industrial sector by year and industry. Research has found that the environmental technology efficiency of the industrial sector in Hubei is showing a trend of increasing year-on-year, but the overall efficiency level is still not high, and there is great room for improvement. The calculation results with and without environmental regulatory constraints indicate that, generally, production losses and compliance costs may be encountered in the industrial sector in Hubei, and there are significant differences by industry. The potential production losses and compliance costs in pollution-intensive industries are higher than those in clean production industries. On this basis, we propose relevant policy recommendations to improve the technological efficiency of Hubei’s industrial environment, in order to promote the high-quality development of Hubei’s industry in the post-epidemic era.

Chemiluminescence-assisted study on a peracetic acid-based advanced oxidation process activated with cobalt phosphide.

In recent years, the elimination of organic pollutants using advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) based on peracetic acid (PAA) has drawn increasing attention due to the high oxidative potential and low byproducts. However, to explore more efficient and stable PAA-based AOPs, there is still great room for study on the activation of PAA and degradation mechanism in the reaction process. In this study, a new PAA-based AOP activated by metal-organic framework-derived cobalt phosphide (CoP) and accompanied by chemiluminescence (CL) behaviour was explored. The CoP/PAA system could efficiently degrade 99.98% of RhB (20 mg L-1 ) within 5min at pH7 compared with the conventional Co3 O4 /PAA system (merely 17.29%), and the degradation process was matched well with the pseudo-first-order kinetic, and the kinetic constants was ~23.7 times higher than that of Co3 O4 (0.546 min-1 for CoP vs. 0.023 min-1 for Co3 O4 ). In the CoP/PAA/RhB process, the CL intensity was related to the concentration of 1 O2 , O2 •- and acetyl peroxyl radicals [CH3 C(O)OO• and CH3 C(O)O•]. Therefore, CL analysis, combined with quenching tests and electron paramagnetic resonance analysis, was used to study the degradation mechanism in detail, and 1 O2 was confirmed as the dominant contributor for the dye degradation.

The Current Status and Future Development of the HPV Vaccine

The introduction of the HPV vaccine in 2006 significantly decreased the prevalence of cervi-cal cancer in the populace. Preventive HPV vaccinations have produced impressive outcomes based on the HPV mechanism. However, there is still great room for development in thera-peutic vaccinations. In addition, there are still many issues and skepticisms surrounding the safety, efficacy, and sexuality of the HPV vaccine. In a nutshell, the human papillomavirus is a widespread human infection that poses a major risk to human health by increasing the risk of malignant tumors like cervical cancer. The WHO is developing a global strategy to eradi-cate cervical cancer, and the HPV vaccine is successful in reducing HPV infection and the ill-nesses it causes. Future commercial manufacture of the 14-valent HPV vaccination will greatly contribute to the implementation of this strategy.

Research on the comprehensive evaluation of collaborative governance effect of environmental pollution in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration based on low-carbon constraints

<p>This paper selects a total of 24 evaluation indicators, including the low carbon constraint, the driving force, the pressure and the status of collaborative governance, to build an evaluation index system. On the basis of low carbon constraints, a spatial niche fitness model was constructed by using the weighted average method of absolute niche fitness and relative niche fitness, and applied research was conducted on 27 cities in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration. The study found that the effect of collaborative governance of environmental pollution in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration were "Level II" between 2013 and 2017, and its evaluation results were "good"; The period from 2018 to 2021 is " Level I", and the evaluation result is "Excellent". According to the comparative analysis of different niche suitability evaluation methods and their evaluation results，the efficiency of its collaborative governance still has great room for improvement.</p>

A novel GSH-activable theranostic probe containing kinase inhibitor for synergistic treatment and selective imaging of tumor cells

Theranostic probe is becoming a powerful tool for diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Although some theranostic probes have been successfully developed, there is still a great room for improvement in sensitive diagnosis and efficient treatment. Herein, we developed a novel GSH-activable theranostic probe NC-G, which uses 1,8-naphthalimide-4-sulfonamide as a fluorescence imaging group and crizotinib as a highly toxic kinase inhibitor to tumor cells. The probe not only has high sensitivity (DL = 74 nM) and specificity, but also can detect GSH sensitively in cells and zebrafish. In addition, probe NC-G can not only show more obvious fluorescence in tumor cells to achieve sensitive diagnosis of tumor cells, but also release the inhibitor crizotinib to achieve high toxicity to tumor cells. It is worth noting that the consumption of GSH can cause oxidative stress response of cells and the release of SO2 can induce cell apoptosis during the recognition process of the probe and GSH. Thus, the synergistic effect of crizotinib, GSH depletion, and SO2 release provides a highly effective therapeutic feature for tumor cells. Therefore, probe NC-G can serve as an excellent theranostic probe for sensitive imaging and highly effective treatment of tumor cells.