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Abstract Global environmental change is driven by food production. Biogas from food waste is a better source of clean energy. Ghana’s energy strategy targets a 10% increase in renewable energy and modern biomass in the national electricity generation mix. Studies on the assessment of electricity generation potential and economic feasibility of biogas to electricity projects in Ghana’s major cities are scarcely available. This study assesses the electricity generation potential of biogas from food waste through anaerobic digestion technology. The municipal solid waste generation potential of Accra and Kumasi was estimated from 2020 to 2039. The potential theoretical methane yield from food waste was calculated using Buswell’s equation. The study analyzed anaerobic digestion projects’ economic feasibility using the total life cycle cost, net present value, investment payback period, levelized cost of energy, and internal rate of return methods. A sensitivity analysis based on two scenarios (optimistic and pessimistic) was performed to analyze the influence of changes in the composition of food waste, per capita waste generation rate, population growth rate, per capita GDP growth rate, discount rate, capacity factor, electricity generation efficiency, waste collection efficiency, and methane production potential on the economic feasibility of the projects. The main findings indicate that the amount of waste generation in Accra during the project life cycle is 899,000 t/y to 3,359,000 t/y, while that of Kumasi is 915,000 t/y to 3,159,000 t/y. The power generation potential of the project in Accra ranges from 80.43 to 300.49 GWh/y, and in Kumasi ranges from 60.63 to 209.31 GWh/y. Economically, the project is feasible in Accra and Kumasi. The net present value of the project in Accra and Kumasi is $217,800,000 and $156,100,000. The sensitivity analysis shows that the project is infeasible in all the cities with a discount rate exceeding 20%. When the discount rate exceeds 20%, the project becomes highly infeasible in Accra compared to Kumasi. This study will offer itself as scientific guidance for investment in biogas to electricity projects in Ghana’s cities.

Abstract In order to achieve a perfect bottom-up electroplated Cu filling with a minimal surface thickness, 2-mercaptopyridine (2-MP) was investigated as a new leveler for replacing Janus Green B (JGB) for bottom-up copper filling. Electrochemical impedence results indicate that 2-MP has a stronger suppression for Cu deposition than JGB. With the addition of 2-MP, the filling capability of the electroplating solution is improved significantly with the Cu thickness on surface decreasing from ∼16 μm to ∼10 μm. The interaction mechanisms of 2-MP, bis(3-sulfopropyl) disulfide (SPS), Cl − and tri-block copolymer of PEG and PPG with ethylene oxide terminal blocks (EPE) in the plating solution are studied by galvanostatic measurements (GMs). The acceleration effect of SPS and the inhibition effect of 2-MP on copper deposition occur in the presence of EPE, and the convection-dependent adsorption (CDA) behavior of additives usually occurs with the injection of four additives at optional concentrations. Further, it was found that when 1.0 ppm 2-MP, 1.0 ppm SPS and 200 ppm EPE were injected into the basic electrolyte, the potential difference ( Δ h) value of the electrolyte became positive, and the bottom-up electroplated copper filling was obtained in the electrolyte in absence of Cl − . The interaction mechanisms of three additives for bottom-up filling have been investigated by GMs.

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) presents one of the leading causes of cirrhosis worldwide. We have demonstrated that inulin alleviates ALD in mice. However, the exact role of hepatic macrophages in effects of inulin on ALD remains largely unclear.In vivo, mice were divided into 4 groups: pair-fed (PF) group (PF/CON), alcohol-fed (AF) group (AF/CON), PF with inulin (INU) group (PF/INU) and AF with INU group (AF/INU). Each group was fed modified Lieber-DeCarli liquid diet with or without alcohol. In vitro, RAW264.7 cell lines were polarized to M1 macrophage (Mψ) or M2 Mψ subsets with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or interleukin-4 (IL-4) stimulation, respectively. The effects of propionate, butyrate and valeric on macrophage M1/M2 were investigated.The contents of propionate, butyrate and valeric were significantly increased in AF/INU group compared with that in the AF/CON group. M1 Mψ, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) in AF/INU group were significantly lower than those in AF/CON group. In contrast, M2 Mψ, arginase-1 (Arg-1), and interleukin-10 (IL-10) were notably increased in AF/INU group. In vitro, sodium propionate, sodium butyrate and sodium valerate can suppress M1 Mψ and increase M2 Mψ polarization.In ALD, inulin ameliorates the inflammation via SCFAs-inducing suppression of M1 and facilitation of M2 Mψ, which may potentially contribute to the control of the disease.

Abstract Recently, the oxygen potential dependence of the signal of a potentiometric CO 2 sensor, based on a cation conductor with carbonate as gas sensitive layer, has been interpreted as caused by electronic transference through the electrolyte. Though this interpretation is quite correct, the relationships on the basis of which the effect of electronic conductivity has been discussed are wrong and so are the conclusions on the electronic conduction parameter of the electrolyte material under consideration, i.e. of the lithium ion conductor Li 3 PO 4 + SiO 2 (5 mol%). In what follows, the questionable points will be corrected and the role of the electronic conductivity for the understanding of the behaviour of a CO 2 sensor will be re-examined.

Abstract The Pythagorean fuzzy set (PFS) which is an extension of intuitionistic fuzzy set, is more capable of expressing and handling the uncertainty under uncertain environments, so that it was broadly applied in a variety of fields. Whereas, how to measure PFSs’ distance appropriately is still an open issue. It is well known that the square root of Jensen–Shannon divergence is a true metric in the probability distribution space which is a useful measure of distance. On account of this point, a novel divergence measure between PFSs is proposed by taking advantage of the Jensen–Shannon divergence in this paper, called as PFSJS distance. This is the first work to consider the divergence of PFSs for measuring the discrepancy of data from the perspective of the relative entropy. The new PFSJS distance measure has some desirable merits, in which it meets the distance measurement axiom and can better indicate the discrimination degree of PFSs. Then, numerical examples demonstrate that the PFSJS distance can avoid generating counter-intuitive results which is more feasible, reasonable and superior than existing distance measures. Additionally, a new algorithm based on the PFSJS distance measure is designed to solve the problems of medical diagnosis. By comparing the different methods in the medical diagnosis application, it is found that the new algorithm is as efficient as the other methods. These results prove that the proposed method is practical in dealing with the medical diagnosis problems.

Abstract The vast output of household waste has become a terrible environmental problem with the rapid growth of social development and population in China. Several pilot cities have introduced related policies to regulate urban residents in sorting household waste. Although existing research has concentrated on sorting waste intentions and behaviours amongst urban residents, especially in pilot cities or other large cities, waste produced in non-city areas should not be neglected. Accordingly, this study identified the determinants influencing waste sorting intentions and behaviours of residents in rural or urban–rural integration areas by incorporating the theory of planned behaviour and norm-activation model. A total of 241 residents completed valid questionnaires, and the collected data were empirically analysed through covariance-based structural equation modelling. Results implied that behavioural attitude and perceived behavioural control were the most significant predictors of sorting waste intention and behaviour. Meanwhile, personal moral norms and subjective norms also presented positive effects on behavioural intention. Awareness of consequence had a significant influence on personal moral norm rather than behavioural intention. After empirical analysis, this study proposed several managerial implications regarding waste problems in rural and urban–rural integration areas in China.

In this study, we investigate whether outbound foreign direct investment (OFDI) either augments or impedes domestic public and private investment, incorporating the role of institutional quality into the context of developed and emerging countries. To this end, we apply a cross-sectional-autoregressive-distributed lag (CS-ARDL) approach to analyze panel data from the period 1996–2017. Our empirical findings suggest that OFDI augments private capital formation for developed countries. Institutional quality (IQ) is found to be a driving factor that promotes private capital formation in the established economies of developed countries. However, OFDI has a negative association with the public capital formation in the established economies of developed countries, while IQ has a positive association with it. In the context of emerging economies, OFDI is found to be too insignificant to have an effect on private and public capital formation. Interestingly, IQ has a detrimental effect on both private and public capital formation in emerging economies. Our findings are robust. The empirical findings of this study imply that institutional quality should continue to be improved in developed countries, while it should surpass a certain threshold for emerging economies to promote domestic capital formation.

Dietary change presents an opportunity to meet the dual challenges of non-communicable diseases and the effects of climate change in China. Based on a food survey and reviewed data sets, we linked nutrient composition and carbon footprint data by aggregating 1950 types of foods into 28 groups. Nine dietary scenarios for both men and women were modeled based on the current diet and latest National Program for Food and Nutrition. Linear uncertainty optimization was used to produce diets meeting the Chinese Dietary Reference Intakes for adults aged 18-50years while minimizing carbon footprints. The theoretical optimal diet reduced daily footprints by 46%, but this diet was unrealistic due to limited food diversity. Constrained by acceptability, the optimal diet reduced the daily carbon footprints by 7-28%, from 3495 to 2517-3252g CO2e, for men and by 5-26%, from 3075 to 2280-2917g CO2e, for women. Dietary changes for adults are capable of benefiting China in terms of the considerable footprint reduction of 53-222Mt.CO2eyear-1, when magnified based on the Chinese population, which is the largest worldwide. Seven of eight scenarios showed that reductions in meat consumption resulted in greater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. However, dramatic reductions in meat consumption may produce smaller reductions in emissions, as the consumption of other ingredients increases to compensate for the nutrients in meat. A trade-off between poultry and other meats (beef, pork, and lamb) is usually observed, and rice, which is a popular food in China, was the largest contributor to carbon footprint reductions. Our findings suggest that changing diets for climate change mitigation and human health is possible in China, though the per capital mitigation potential is slight lower than that in developed economies of France, Spain, Sweden, and New Zealand.