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Abstract Although the “resource curse” hypothesis has been supported by many empirical studies focusing on the transnational and regional levels, there has always been a point of contention about the proper method of estimating and selecting natural resource indicators in literature. This paper proposes a mixed estimation method for panel data of 10 typical oil and gas resource-based cities in China from 1998 to 2015. The results show that resource industry agglomeration can mirror the distribution and dependence on the resource industry by location rather than by merely measuring the influence of the relative scale of resource extraction on economic growth. Using resource industry agglomeration as the main explanatory variable for regional economic growth verifies the resource curse hypothesis and shows the nonlinear characteristics of the negative correlation between resources and economic growth. Despite mostly similar indicator parameter estimates, marked differences exist in measured effects for material capital investments and technological innovation investments. The result of using resource industry agglomeration as the main explanatory variable is basically consistent with the economic theory and is more in line with observed reality than the alternative indicator. The research conclusions can provide evidence and data for index selection in the studies on the mediating effect of resource curse transmission and international comparison.

Abstract Biomass, as a renewable and sustainable energy resource, can be converted into environmentally friendly and practically valuable biofuels and chemical materials via pyrolysis. However, the process optimization and pyrolysis efficiency are restricted by the limited perception of the complicated mechanisms and kinetics for biomass pyrolysis. Here, to establish an in-depth mechanism model for biomass pyrolysis, we presented a novel investigation for the thermal evolutions and pyrolysis kinetics of the functional groups in peanut shell matrix by using in-situ Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (in-situ FTIR) and thermogravimetric analysis-Fourier transform infrared spectrometry-mass spectrometry (TG-FTIR-MS). The in-situ FTIR spectrum deconvolution for the solid matrix was innovatively introduced to identify and quantify the real-time evolution and thermal dynamics of the functional groups during peanut shell pyrolysis. The result for the first time proposed that the pyrolysis mechanisms of total OH at 20–380 °C, aliphatic C-Hn groups at 20–500 °C, C O groups at 260–500 °C, and C–O groups at 300–500 °C were dominant by diffusion and order-based chemical reactions. The TG-FTIR-MS analysis was conducted for the online monitoring of the released volatiles and gases, the amounts of which were in the sequence of C O > CO2 > aliphatic C–O-(H) > C–O-(C) in esters > aromatics > H2O > phenolic hydroxyl > aliphatic hydrocarbons > CO. The study established a novel methodology to evaluate the biomass pyrolysis mechanisms at the molecular level, which provided valuable information for developing advanced pyrolysis techniques on a large scale for sustainable ecosystem.

Abstract Fabricating flexible vanadium dioxide (VO2) films is a serious challenge towards commercial applications. In this work, we proposed a new strategy to directly deposit VO2 thermochromic films on flexible substrates by using Cr2O3 structural template layer, which can serve as growth template for low temperature (~300 °C) deposition of VO2 films. The obtained crystalline VO2 films on flexible substrates show significant phase transition properties with narrow hysteresis loops. Optical and electrical characterizations have indicated phase transition features of the flexible VO2 films, with an excellent solar modulation ability (~60% at 2500 nm) and a resistivity change over 2 orders of magnitude. Meanwhile, the flexible VO2 film exhibits narrow hysteresis loops during the phase transition process, and the hysteresis loop widths are less than 1 °C. Flexibility and stability of VO2 film in this work has been demonstrated by a designed bending test, which can maintain stable thermochromic performance after over 5000 bending cycles. This work provided a facile strategy to fabricate VO2 films on flexible substrates as flexible electronic devices.

A multi-channel scan measurement instrument designed for characterizing the infrared obscuring performance of smoke screen at the wavelength of 10.6 µm is developed. It offers 1 to 5 sensors for multi points real time measurements of infrared transmissivity in the field. Data transmission is accomplished by wireless communication. The maximum detection range of the instrument is 500 meters with measurement accuracy better than ± 5%.

The first decade of the new millennium saw a boom in rubber prices. This led to rapid and widespread land conversion to monoculture rubber plantations in continental SE Asia, where natural rubber production has increased >50% since 2000. Here, we analyze the subsequent spread of rubber between 2005 and 2010 in combination with environmental data and reports on rubber plantation performance. We show that rubber has been planted into increasingly sub-optimal environments. Currently, 72% of plantation area is in environmentally marginal zones where reduced yields are likely. An estimated 57% of the area is susceptible to insufficient water availability, erosion, frost, or wind damage, all of which may make long-term rubber production unsustainable. In 2013 typhoons destroyed plantations worth US$ >250 million in Vietnam alone, and future climate change is likely to lead to a net exacerbation of environmental marginality for both current and predicted future rubber plantation area. New rubber plantations are also frequently placed on lands that are important for biodiversity conservation and ecological functions. For example, between 2005 and 2010 >2500 km(2) of natural tree cover and 610 km(2) of protected areas were converted to plantations. Overall, expansion into marginal areas creates potential for loss-loss scenarios: clearing of high-biodiversity value land for economically unsustainable plantations that are poorly adapted to local conditions and alter landscape functions (e.g. hydrology, erosion) - ultimately compromising livelihoods, particularly when rubber prices fall. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abstract The transition of energy structure to renewable energy is a social and systematic engineering that requires complex regional power interconnection as a support. Thus, an assessment of the economic viability of infrastructure investments for supporting such transmission expansion is crucial. This study presents a multi-regional power system optimization model to evaluate the potential economic benefits of infrastructure investments for the national inter-regional electricity network in China under various scenarios in the context of low-carbon transformation. Key factors influencing economic benefits are analyzed specifically and regulation barriers associated with inter-regional electricity trade are given particular attention. The results show that approximately 140 Giga Watt (GW) of infrastructure construction for the inter-regional electricity trade network is economically viable during the planning horizon. These new interconnections would lead to 250–440 billion RMB of economic benefits. Regional electricity trade barriers caused by imperfect market mechanisms have a negative impact on the economic benefits of transmission infrastructure investments, although they promote scale and utilization efficiency in the power sector of electricity-importing regions. Improving the national grid coordination mechanism to break the grid isolation between the State Grid Corporation of China and the China Southern Power Grid is crucial, because a large number of transmission lines connecting these two national-level power grids are economically viable.

Two mesophilic anaerobic bacterial strains (Z7T and Z1) were isolated from waste water sludge of the Xinanzhang paper mill, Beijing, China. The strains were Gram-positive, non-spore-forming and motile. Cells were thin rods (0·2–0·4×4·0–8·0 μm). Growth of the strains was observed at 20–42 °C and pH 5·0–7·5. Both strains hydrolysed gelatin and aesculin and fermented several kinds of mono-, di- and oligosaccharides. The fermentation end products formed from glucose were acetate, ethanol, hydrogen and carbon dioxide. The predominant cellular fatty acids were the branched-chain fatty acids isoC15 : 0 (42·83 %) and isoC14 : 0 (32·11 %). The DNA G+C contents of strains Z7T and Z1 were 50·4 and 48·6 mol%, respectively. Phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences revealed that the isolates represent a new phyletic sublineage within the Clostridium leptum rRNA cluster, with <91 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity to currently described species. On the basis of polyphasic evidence from this study, Acetanaerobacterium elongatum gen. nov., sp. nov., a novel genus and species, is proposed, with strain Z7T (=JCM 12359T=AS 1.5012T) as the type strain.

Elements are important functional traits reflecting plant response to climate change. Multiple elements work jointly in plant physiology. Although a large number of studies have focused on the variation and allocation of multiple elements in plants, it remains unclear how these elements co-vary to adapt to environmental change. We proposed a novel concept of the multi-element network including the mutual effects between element concentrations to more effectively explore the alterations in response to long-term nitrogen (N) deposition. Leaf multi-element networks were constructed with 18 elements (i.e., six macronutrients, six micronutrients, and six trace elements) in this study. Multi-element networks were species-specific, being effectively discriminated irrespective of N deposition level. Different sensitive elements and interactions to N addition were found in different species, mainly concentrating on N, Ca, Mg, Mn, Li, Sr, Ba, and their related stoichiometry. Interestingly, high plasticity of multi-element network increased or maintained relative aboveground biomass (species dominance) in community under simulated N deposition, which developed the multi-element network hypothesis. In summary, multi-element networks provide a novel approach for exploring the adaptation strategies of plants and to better predict the change of species dominance under altering nutrient availability or environmental stress associated with future global climate change.