Intermediate Agent Research Articles

Global value chains and carbon emission efficiency: evidence from 30 provinces in China

ABSTRACT The severity of global environmental change is a growing issue, primarily as an obvious result of carbon dioxide emissions. This article aims to recognize the causal relationship between Global Value Chains (GVCs) and Carbon Emission Efficiency (CEE) by using 30 provinces from 2000 to 2014 in China. This study calculates the GVCs level in the provincial level considering general trade, process trade, and intermediate trade agents; Besides, a model for the slacks-based measure of super-efficiency in data envelopment analysis (SBM-DEA) was used to measure the CEE. By applying fixed effect model techniques, our estimates reveal critical findings. First, we confirm the existence of the spatial-temporal evolution pattern of CEE in 30 provinces, showing an increased trend and noticeable east-west difference. Second, the econometric results suggest that the GVCs involvement is beneficiary for the CEE. Third, our results confirm that technological innovation and environmental regulation effects contribute to GVCs’ influence on CEE. These findings contribute to the formulation of appropriate carbon policies by the Chinese government, thereby advancing the objective of achieving carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2050.

Microstructure and properties of a MAO/PA/MoS2 composite coating formed on 6063 aluminum alloy by micro arc oxidation

Different self-sealing and lubricating composite coatings were produced on 6063 Al alloy using micro arc oxidation (MAO) with MoS2 and/or phytic acid (PA) incorporated into the base electrolyte. The tribological properties and electrochemical corrosion behavior of the coatings were detailed investigated in this paper. The results showed that the coefficient of frictional (CoF) of MAO/MoS2 coating decreased 29.6 % compared to that of the pure MAO coating due to the excellent self-lubricating of MoS2. Meanwhile, the CoF of MAO/PA/MoS2 coating reduced 39.5 % attributed to a thicker and more compact coating obtained by the addition of PA as an intermediate chelating agent besides the self-lubricating effect of MoS2 particles. The pores were sealed by MoS2 during MAO process due to the electrodeposition effect which resulted in a positive shifting of the corrosion potential. However, the improvement of corrosion resistance for the MAO/MoS2 coating was limited as the intrinsic defects in MoS2 lattice preferred to form micro galvanic cell. The corrosion current density of the MAO/PA/MoS2 coating was three orders of magnitude lower than that of pure MAO coating. The thin PA layer produced at the substrate/coating interface of the MAO/PA/MoS2 coating can act as a barrier to suppress the galvanic corrosion, inducing the best corrosion resistance of the coating.

CrossU-Net: Dual-modality cross-attention U-Net for segmentation of precancerous lesions in gastric cancer

Gastric precancerous lesions (GPL) significantly elevate the risk of gastric cancer, and precise diagnosis and timely intervention are critical for patient survival. Due to the elusive pathological features of precancerous lesions, the early detection rate is less than 10%, which hinders lesion localization and diagnosis. In this paper, we provide a GPL pathological dataset and propose a novel method for improving the segmentation accuracy on a limited-scale dataset, namely RGB and Hyperspectral dual-modal pathological image Cross-attention U-Net (CrossU-Net). Specifically, we present a self-supervised pre-training model for hyperspectral images to serve downstream segmentation tasks. Secondly, we design a dual-stream U-Net-based network to extract features from different modal images. To promote information exchange between spatial information in RGB images and spectral information in hyperspectral images, we customize the cross-attention mechanism between the two networks. Furthermore, we use an intermediate agent in this mechanism to improve computational efficiency. Finally, we add a distillation loss to align predicted results for both branches, improving network generalization. Experimental results show that our CrossU-Net achieves accuracy and Dice of 96.53% and 91.62%, respectively, for GPL lesion segmentation, providing a promising spectral research approach for the localization and subsequent quantitative analysis of pathological features in early diagnosis.

Effect of Support on Oxidative Esterification of 2,5-Furandiformaldehyde to Dimethyl Furan-2,5-dicarboxylate

One-step oxidative esterification of 2,5-furandiformaldehyde (DFF) derived from biomass to prepare Dimethyl Furan-2,5-dicarboxylate (FDMC) not only simplifies the catalytic process and increases the purity of the product, but also avoids the polymerization of 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) at high-temperature conditions. Gold supported on a series of acidic oxide, alkaline oxide, and hydrotalcite was prepared using colloidal deposition to explore the effect of support on the catalytic activities. The Au/Mg3Al-HT exhibited the best catalytic activity, with 97.8% selectivity of FDMC at 99.9% conversion of DFF. This catalyst is also suitable for oxidative esterification of benzaldehyde and furfural. X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and CO2 temperature programmed desorption (CO2-TPD) were performed to characterize the catalysts. The results indicated that the medium and strong basic sites in the catalysts benefited for the absorption of intermediate agents and facilitated the oxidative esterification of aldehyde groups, while neutral or acidic supports tended to produce an acetal reaction. It is worth noting that basicity on the support surface reduced the electronic state of the Au nanoparticle (Auδ−) and, thus, enhanced the catalytic selectivity of oxidative esterification. This finding demonstrated that the support plays a crucial role in oxidative esterification.

The 10‐ to 30‐Day Intraseasonal Weather Process Associated With Wintertime PM2.5 Pollution in Eastern China

AbstractSevere PM2.5 pollution strikes winter eastern China, while its physical process associated with the atmospheric evolution from several days to weeks is not clear. This study uses weather types as intermediate agents between large‐scale atmospheric circulation and regional air pollution, to explore the whole circulation evolutionary chain related to wintertime PM2.5 pollution in eastern China. We extract objectively 6 weather types (WTs) for wintertime surface synoptic patterns in eastern China and analyze quantitatively the impacts of WTs on PM2.5 pollution. Then the preferred transitions between WTs are explored to explain potential weather process. We find a most frequently recurring circulation evolution corresponding to Mongolia high pressure that stretches southward to eastern China, referred as the WTs transition of YSH− > BLH− > MH, with PM2.5 increased in North China and dissipated as the high pressure moves southward. Further to establish intraseasonal connections between large‐scale circulation and regional synoptic patterns, several leading evolutionary chains are discovered among tropical Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO), extratropical teleconnections, and WTs of eastern China at an extended period. The positive or negative phase of teleconnections can indicate the WTs change 4–10 days in advance, while MJO further extends that indicative effect to 10–15 days. The intraseasonal oscillations of teleconnections such as conventional Eurasia, Scandinavia, Arctic Oscillation, Polar/Eurasia, Western Pacific and East Atlantic are associated with the transition of YSH− > BLH− > MH, and MJO may act as a precursor of teleconnection phases to extend effectively the prediction time for surface weather conditions and air pollution in eastern China.

Secure Land Registration

Land Registration is very long and troublesome process in many parts of the world. There are various intermediate agents or agencies involved in this process. This paper takes a good look to the possibilities and the problems that will be solved using Block-chain based solution. The system is aEthereum based Blockchain system that stores all the transactions made during this Land- Ownership Transfer . We will use the concept of Contracts in Blockchain . In this Development various events such as User Registration , Uploading documents and fund transfer from buyer to seller will occur . The Proposed system solves the problem faced by all the three parties i.e. Buyer , seller and Government Officers. The system will also reduce the Frauds and the transactions will be Immutable due to blockchain. Keywords—component, formatting, style, styling, insert.

Microcavity phonoritons – a coherent optical-to-microwave interface

Optomechanical systems provide a pathway for the bidirectional optical-to-microwave interconversion in (quantum) networks. These systems can be implemented using hybrid platforms, which efficiently couple optical photons and microwaves via intermediate agents, e.g. phonons. Semiconductor exciton-polariton microcavities operating in the strong light-matter coupling regime offer enhanced coupling of near-infrared photons to GHz phonons via excitons. Furthermore, a new coherent phonon-exciton-photon quasiparticle termed phonoriton, has been theoretically predicted to emerge in microcavities, but so far has eluded observation. Here, we experimentally demonstrate phonoritons, when two exciton-polariton condensates confined in a μm-sized trap within a phonon-photon microcavity are strongly coupled to a confined phonon which is resonant with the energy separation between the condensates. We realize control of phonoritons by piezoelectrically generated phonons and resonant photons. Our findings are corroborated by quantitative models. Thus, we establish zero-dimensional phonoritons as a coherent microwave-to-optical interface.

Design, Synthesis and Structural Characterization of Novel Thioanthraquinone Analogues from 1,5-Dichloroanthraquinone

Anthraquinone and its derivatives are considered intermediate agents with superior properties due to their activities in chemical and biological reaction. A new, economical, practical and one-step synthesis method was developed by our research team for the synthesis of amino and thioanthraquinones in previous studies (1). With this synthesis method, thioanthraquinone analogs 2(a-d) were obtained from 1,5-Dichloroanthraquinone (1) and bioactive thiols. The synthesized organic molecules were purified by column chromatography and their structures were identified with spectroscopic methods. Fluorescence analyzes of synthesized thioanthraquinone analogues were performed. It was determined that all thioanthraquinone analogues synthesized and characterized in the study showed fluorescence activity. These new analogues with fluorescence are expected to find application in drug delivery systems and sensor studies.

How the Soul Uses Its Tools: Flexible Agency in Aristotle’s Account of Animal Generation

Abstract Aristotle claims that just as a builder uses ‘tools’ to build a house, so too the soul ‘use[s] heat and coldness as tools’ to build an animal (Generation of Animals 740b25–34). I consider two questions about this claim: (1) what sorts of things does the soul use, and what is it for things like them to be organized? and (2) what philosophical work does this sort of organization do in Aristotle’s account of animal generation? I argue that the soul needs flexible intermediate agents, that it organizes them in a way that exploits their flexibility, and that this is due to the demands of a complex, multi-stage process directed at a single end.

A Decentralized Market Model for a Microgrid With Carbon Emission Rights

Carbon emission rights (CER) are a market mechanism adopted to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. In this paper, a decentralized market model integrating electricity and CER trading is established for a microgrid. The proposed trading model not only satisfies the demand for transactions but also ensures the constraint of total carbon emissions for the microgrid. Energy storage (ES) is introduced to balance loads more economically, and the constraint specifying that the ES cannot be simultaneously charged and discharged is proven to be satisfied automatically, ensuring the convexity of the model. Furthermore, by inserting local trackers to global constraints for each node, a scalable fully distributed algorithm is designed to solve the model locally for both global equality and inequality constraints. The proposed algorithm decomposes the arithmetic demand to each user without intermediate agents, which can effectively reduce the cost and ensure the transparency of trading. The algorithm is also proven to be convergent. Numerical results verify the effectiveness of the proposed market model.

Blockchain Companies in Marketing Communication: The Study on 4C Framework of Strategic Marketing Analysis

This paper aim to introduce 4C framework of strategic marketing to analyze how blockchain companies are working in marketing communication and advertising. The 4C framework of strategic marketing includes: customer, cost to the customer, convenience and communication. Based on our study, we would be able to have the conclusion that using the blockchain technology in business marketing would be able to build and maintain good relations with customers through customer loyalty plans and reward plans. Blockchain technology could also lower the cost of the product and service, hence lower the cost to the customer eventually. Using blockchain technology is more convenient since the blockchain technology could build more connection between different brands and companies. Both internal and external communication will be increased since blockchain technology does not need support from intermediate agents. Blockchain technology also could make communication more effective and efficient.

Divalent metal ion removal from simulated water using sustainable starch aerogels: Effect of crosslinking agent concentration and sorption conditions

This paper evaluates corn starch aerogels, studying different crosslinking agent (trisodium citrate) concentrations (1:1, 1:1.5, and 1:2) and sorption conditions (contact time, adsorbent weight, and initial concentration) regarding the potentially toxic elements (PTEs) [Cd(II) or Zn(II)] adsorption of the aqueous systems. Besides, other properties of aerogels, such as structural properties, specific surface area, and mechanical performance, were evaluated. For adsorption results, better values were observed in adsorption capacity and efficiency for the initial concentration of 100 ppm. In addition, an adsorption time of 12 h and an adsorbent weight of 3.0 g obtained better results due to the possible balance in this time and the high specific surface area available for Cd(II) adsorption. As for the type of adsorbent, the Aero 1:1.5 sample (intermediate crosslinking agent concentration) obtained better results, possibly due to the high porosity, smaller pore sizes, high pore density, and high specific surface area (198 m2·g−1). In addition, hydroxyl groups in the starch aerogel removed Cd(II) ions with 30 % adsorption efficiency. Lastly, Aero 1:1.5 obtained a high mechanical strength at compression and a satisfactory compressive modulus. In contrast, starch aerogels did not absorb the Zn(II) ion.

The inactivation efficacy of plasma-activated acetic acid against Salmonella Typhimurium cells and biofilm.

This study aimed to examine the inactivation efficacy of plasma-activated acetic acid (PAAA) against Salmonella Typhimurium cells and biofilm and elucidate underlying chemical inactivation pathway. PAAA was prepared by discharging plasma to 20 ml of 0.2% (v/v) acetic acid (AA) for 20 min (2.2kHz and 8.4kVpp). The count of cells and biofilms decreased by 5.71 log CFU ml-1 and 4 log CFU/cm2 after 10min of treatment with 0.2% PAAA and 0.4% PAAA compared with control group (without any treatment), respectively. In 0.2% PAAA, the concentrations of hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) and nitrate anions were directly proportional to the plasma discharge time, whilst nitrite anion (NO2 - ) was not detected. However, the pH values of both 0.2% PAAA and plasma-activated water were inversely proportional to the plasma discharge time. Treatment with catalase, L-histidine, D-mannitol and sodium azide inhibited the antibacterial activity of PAAA. H2 O2 , singlet oxygen, hydroxyl radical and NO2 - are involved in the generation and decomposition of peroxynitrous acid generated from PAAA functioned as intermediate agent, which could diffuse through cell membranes of bacteria and induce cell injury. This study provides the understanding of efficacy and selectivity of PAAA which could be a novel decontamination agent.

Agrarian contracts, relations between agents, and perception on energy crops in the sugarcane supply chain: The Peruvian case

Abstract Peruvian regions for sugarcane planting produce sugarcanes throughout the year with a high average productivity. The objective of this article is to analyze the role of agents in the sugarcane supply chain to Peruvian mills and their relationship with the practice of agrarian contracts to sugarcane production. The perception of landowners and farmers about bioenergy and their predisposition to plant energy crops is also investigated. Field interviews are conducted with the main agents of the sugarcane production chain in the major producing regions. Statistical analysis of data from field interviews indicates that the relationship between owners and sugarcane producers is of land leasing. Intermediate agents act as a fundamental part of the sugarcane supply chain. The sharecropping or sugarcane purchase contract is an instrument that is established between middlemen and small independent producers, whether they are owners or tenants. The middlemen participation in commercialization can reach 30–40% of the sugarcane production. Most mills prefer to produce sugarcane in own lands. A relatively high degree of inequity in favor of the middlemen appears in the intermediation process because, in general, the mills prefer this intermediation in their commercial practice. A large number of landowners and tenants are familiar with notions of energy crops, particularly in relation to sugarcane and have a positive vision about them for the environmental sustainability. However, their interest in planting bioenergy crops is less. Friendly and equitable relations between agents will provide more economic and social stability to the Peruvian sugarcane agroindustry.

Simulating two-sided mobility platforms with MaaSSim.

Two-sided mobility platforms, such as Uber and Lyft, widely emerged in the urban mobility landscape. Distributed supply of individual drivers, matched with travellers via intermediate platform yields a new class of phenomena not present in urban mobility before. Such disruptive changes to transportation systems call for a simulation framework where researchers from various and across disciplines may introduce models aimed at representing the complex dynamics of platform-driven urban mobility. In this work, we present MaaSSim, a lightweight agent-based simulator reproducing the transport system used by two kinds of agents: (i) travellers, requesting to travel from their origin to destination at a given time, and (ii) drivers supplying their travel needs by offering them rides. An intermediate agent, the platform, matches demand with supply. Agents are individual decision-makers. Specifically, travellers may decide which mode they use or reject an incoming offer; drivers may opt-out from the system or reject incoming requests. All of the above behaviours are modelled through user-defined modules, allowing to represent agents’ taste variations (heterogeneity), their previous experiences (learning) and available information (system control). MaaSSim is a flexible open-source python library capable of realistically reproducing complex interactions between agents of a two-sided mobility platform. MaaSSim is available from a public repository, along with a set of tutorials and reproducible use-case scenarios, as demonstrated with a series of illustrative examples and a comprehensive case study.

Exposure of Toluene Diisocyanate Induces DUSP6 and p53 through Activation of TRPA1 Receptor.

Toluene diisocyanate (TDI), a major intermediate agent used in the manufacturing industry, causes respiratory symptoms when exposed to the human body. In this study, we aimed to determine the molecular mechanism of TDI toxicity. To investigate the impact of TDI exposure on global gene expression, we performed transcriptomic analysis of human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) after TDI treatment. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were sorted and used for clustering and network analysis. Among DEGs, dual-specificity phosphatase 6 (DUSP6) was one of the genes significantly changed by TDI exposure. To verify the expression level of DUSP6 and its effect on lung cells, the mRNA and protein levels of DUSP6 were analyzed. Our results showed that DUSP6 was dose-dependently upregulated by TDI treatment. Thereby, the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, one of the direct inhibitory targets of DUSP6, was decreased. TDI exposure also increased the mRNA level of p53 along with its protein and activity which trans-activates DUSP6. Since TRPA1 is known as a signal integrator activated by TDI, we analyzed the relevance of TRPA1 receptor in DUSP6 regulation. Our data revealed that up-regulation of DUSP6 mediated by TDI was blocked by a specific antagonist against TRPA1. TDI exposure attenuated the apoptotic response, which suggests that it promotes the survival of cancerous cells. In conclusion, our results suggest that TDI induces DUSP6 and p53, but attenuates ERK1/2 activity through TRPA1 receptor activation, leading to cytotoxicity.

Closed-Loop Aggregated Baseline Load Estimation Using Contextual Bandit With Policy Gradient

Demand response (DR) is an important technique to explore the demand-side flexibility. The wide deployment of smart meters makes it possible to quantify the baseline load. As an intermediate agent, demand response aggregator needs to obtain the aggregated baseline load (ABL) for the DR event. Previous studies about the household level estimation focus on the estimation method. However, for ABL estimation, customer division is an important issue. A major limitation is the mismatch between the objectives of segmentation and estimation. Therefore, this paper proposes a new closed-loop method for estimating the ABL, which utilizes the contextual bandit with policy gradient to link the segmentation with the estimation. As such, the ABL estimation accuracy can guide the segmentation to divide the customers. The segmentation and estimation optimize collaboratively to improve the ABL estimation accuracy. An ensemble method for combining network’s weights during the training process is proposed. Moreover, a pre- and post-event adjustment method is developed to further improve the estimation accuracy. Comprehensive comparisons demonstrate the proposed method can achieve the best estimation performance with regard to the MAPE and RMSE. It improves the estimation accuracy by 7% in terms of MAPE, and 11% in terms of RMSE.

Superparamagnetic SiO2@Fe3O4 core/shell fabrication via low-temperature electroless deposition

Magnetite (Fe3O4) coated nanoparticles combine magnetic properties of magnetite with low density of core particles. This category of magnetic responsive core/shell particles takes advantage of the physical and chemical properties of particle core and can be used in numerous suspension-based applications such as biosensors, cargo particles and in magnetorheological (MR) fluids. A facile, controllable, and scalable particle surface modification methodology is required to synthesize magnetite-coated nanoparticles. In this study, we fabricated a monodisperse magnetic particle using low-temperature electroless deposition technique to deposit a magnetite layer on the surface of silica (SiO2) particle. Silica particle was synthesized, functionalized with amine as the intermediate agent and catalyst, and subsequently dispersed in a solution of iron (III) salt and a reducing agent. This technique implemented at low temperatures in a simple experimental setup can be applied to generate magnetite layer on wide varieties of particles made of inorganic materials or polymers and is scalable for mass manufacture. The fabricated SiO2@Fe3O4 core/shell particle was responsive to the magnetic field, forming persistent structures that make it a good candidate for magnetorheological fluid application.

Reliable Data Acquisition System for a Low-Cost Accelerograph Applied to Structural Health Monitoring

This paper presents and evaluates a continuous recording system designed for a low-cost seismic station. The architecture has three main blocks. An accelerometer sensor based on MEMS technology (Microelectromechanical Systems), an SBC platform (Single Board Computer) with embedded Linux and a microcontroller device. In particular, the microcontroller represents the central component which operates as an intermediate agent to manage the communication between the accelerometer and the SBC block. This strategy allows the system for data acquisition in real time. On the other hand, the SBC platform is used for storing and processing data as well as in order to configure the remote communication with the station. This proposal is intended as a robust solution for structural health monitoring (i.e. in order to characterize the response of an infrastructure before, during and after a seismic event). The paper details the communication scheme between the system components, which has been minutely designed to ensure the samples are collected without information loss. Furthermore, for the experimental evaluation the station was located in the facilities on a relevant infrastructure, specifically a hydroelectric dam. The system operation was compared and verified with respect to a certified accelerograph station. Results prove that the continuous recording system operates successfully and allows for detecting seismic events according to requirements of structural health applications (i.e. detects events with a frequency of vibration less than 100 Hz). Specifically, through the system implemented it was possible to characterize the effect of a seismic event of 4 MD reported by the regional seismology network and with epicenter located about 30 Km of the hydroelectric dam. Particularly, the vibration frequencies detected on the infrastructure are in the range of 13 Hz and 29 Hz. Regarding the station performance, results from experiments reveals an average CPU load of 51%, consequently the processes configured on the SBC platform do not involve an overload. Finally, the average energy consumption of the station is close to 2.4 W, therefore autonomy provided by the backup system is aroud of 10 hours.

Study of Heat Transfer Rate in Electric Evaporators of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Using Electrothermal Modeling

In modern domestic and foreign experience of gas power supply to houses and industrial facilities located remotely from the main power station, decentralized gas power supply systems fed with propane-butane mixtures of liquefied petroleum gases from tanks are increasingly used. When using liquefied petroleum gases as the main energy carrier in gas tank systems, they are evaporated artificially in evaporators with an intermediate solid-state or liquid heat transfer agent, under conditions of its natural convection. The main operational characteristic of industrial tube evaporators of propane-butane mixtures of liquefied petroleum gases used for gas power supply from tank installations of housing and communal, industrial and industrial facilities that are remote from the main power supply stations is evaporation capacity. The evaporation capacity of industrial tube evaporators of propane-butane mixtures with a solid-state intermediate heat transfer medium is determined by the heat input from the tubular electric heaters through the aluminum casting layer. Therefore, the study of heat transfer in the solid–state intermediate heat transfer medium-evaporation coil system is the most important prerequisite for the effective operation of industrial tube evaporators of propane-butane mixtures and requires detailed research. To solve the problem of determining the heat transfer resistance between the layers of aluminum casting in contact with the surface of the tubular electric heaters group and the outer evaporation coil surface studies were performed on an electrical model. The average value of the total error of the results of experimental studies on electrothermal modeling is 3.7 %, with a confidence probability of 95 %. Recommendations are given for reducing the thickness of the layers in clear from the lower coil of the evaporative tube coil to the lower generatrix of the solid-state aluminum mass and the upper coil of the evaporative tube coil to the upper generatrix of the solid-state aluminum mass.