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Spatial differentiation of heritage trees in the rapidly-urbanizing city of Shenzhen, China
No full textIn China, heritage trees are actively surveyed and reported. Over 300 relevant published articles were reviewed to assess the contents, trends and geographical distributions of the investigations. The majority of the heritage trees studies in China were found in the eastern provinces and published within 2010–2014. Most studies reported surveys on all old trees. For studies focused on single species, Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) and Chinese Yew (Taxus chinensis) was most frequently reported. Unlike the champion tree registry in the US and other countries, the tree registry in China emphasized more on the tree age than the size. We then have studied the heritage trees in the rapidly-developed municipality of Shenzhen in South China in details. The species composition, diversity and spatial distribution were investigated using ecological indices and statistical techniques. Most trees were native with domination by Ficus microcarpa. Heritage-tree density was not correlated with land area, population density, green cover, or district development year. The oldest and youngest districts have relatively higher species diversity and tree density. It indicated the preservation of an old town plan and the creation of a new town plan conducive to accommodating pre-urbanization heritage trees. Village and forest habitats with rich tree endowments can be targeted for conservation in new urban areas. The importance of adopting a nature-friendly town plan, and the associated policies that can facilitate it, are instrumental in heritage-tree nurturing and protection. The findings can inform tree preservation and urban green infrastructure provision in fast developing cities in China and beyond
Looking back to look forward: Setting future research agenda for international business in textiles and clothing industry
Get PDF© 2019 Jungseok Research Institute of International Logistics and Trade All rights reserved. Since its development by Tinbergen (1962), the gravity model of international trade has widely been applied to analyse the effect of various factors on trade relationships between countries. Past studies on trade gravity vary not only in the mix of model variables but also in how they have come into the analysis. This study reviews existing literature on bilateral trade with an aim to identify influential predictors such as changes of trade policy and national development strategy and highlight important yet understudied factors such as transport and logistics infrastructure, and sustainable development. To demonstrate the needs to examine these critical factors across industry sectors, the study presents the case of textiles and clothing (T&C) production and trade between China and its trading partners as an illustration. Through the literature review, it shows how the gravity model can be applied to address current issues in international trade arena such as the potential trade war between the US and China, China\u27s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and other important factors shaping global T&C trade. This study offers future research directions for analysis of global trade in the T&C industry and contributes to the wider literature of international business and trade
Inclusive sand-shoeing training program for students with and without intellectual disabilities in Hong Kong
No full textOne of the sports for the Special Olympics is snow-shoeing. In Hong Kong training for this sport occurs in the sand and is called sand-shoeing. The purpose of this study was to evaluate a sandshoeing training program (STP) of the Special Olympics Hong Kong (SOHK). Two hundreds and thirty-two Grade 1 to 12 special school students with intellectual disabilities (ID), and 66 university students without ID participated in the STP. Three different types of survey were designed for students with ID, university students, and special school teachers. Descriptive data from the feedback of these three parties on the STP were analyzed. Results from 134 students with ID showed that 97.8% of them enjoyed taking part in the STP with the university students. Results also indicated that the special school teachers strongly agreed that the STP helped their students to learn the basic skills required for sand-shoeing (68.42%), enhanced students\u27 social ability (73.68%), and building a healthy lifestyle (73.68%). A total of 78.4% of the university students expressed that they learned the skills on better communication with individuals with ID in this program. In conclusion, the STP demonstrated a successful example of inclusive sport program for the HKSO to further promote unified sports
A comprehensive review of anaerobic digestion of organic solid wastes in relation to microbial community and enhancement process
No full text© 2018 Society of Chemical Industry Organic solid wastes (OSWs) should be regarded as valuable resources rather than dead-end landfill waste that causes public health and odor concerns. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is an ideal approach for managing organic solid waste issues and involves using a group of anaerobic microorganisms to transform OSWs into useful products. In this review, over 100 publications related to AD of OSWs have been compiled, discussed, and analyzed. A comprehensive analysis of the environmental and safety impacts of AD, its key environmental factors, co-digestion, and pretreatment, as well as the AD of OSWs by various anaerobic microbes uncovered by high throughput sequencing-based approaches, is presented. The purpose of this review is to provide an outline of the current knowledge of AD processes from a multi-angle perspective. A comprehensive understanding of AD of OSWs and genome-enabled biology development could be helpful for providing up-to-date knowledge of AD, developing it, overcoming its drawbacks and, ultimately, improving global waste control for more efficient environmental management. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry
Improving the Energy Efficiency of Petrochemical Plant Operations: A Measurement and Verification Case Study Using a Balanced Wave Optimizer
Get PDFThe Chinese petrochemical industry is facing pressure to meet strict targets of energy consumption and carbon emission reductions. Water pumps are the primary equipment used in most chemical and agrochemical industries sectors since water is commonly used for cooling and heating purposes, but these pumps also consume a large amount of energy. Other uses of water pumps in these industries include producing steam for heating, preparing reaction media or absorptive reagents, rinsing products, and distilling. As for the electrical components of the water pump systems, current technologies of variable frequency drives and superconducting transmission lines are unable to increase the energy efficiency of these systems with a fixed load. However, the Balanced Wave Technology (BWT) is offered as a solution to overcome these limitations. In this report, a case study using a BWT optimizer is conducted on a closed loop water circulation system. Two BWTs are added to the individual motor-controlled section of each pump that is being used on the switchboard. For the first time, a detailed example was provided on how to implement option B of the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP) in China by evaluating the performance of BWT as an energy conservation measure. The evaluated periods included those of the baseline, post-installation, and actual performance of the optimizers. An average saving of energy of about 10.46% is recorded in a 5-week reporting period. On this basis, that annual electricity saved is estimated to be 66,447.18 kWh, which is equivalent to the emission of 68.94 metric tons of CO2e. This case study demonstrates in detail how option B of IPMVP can be implemented for BWTs applied on pumping systems. In addition to petrochemical production plants, other industries like textile and clothing sections, which are heavy users of water and electrical energy with fixed loads in the production processes of raw materials, fiber, yarn, and fabric, as well as textile-dyeing and final treatment, could benefit from applying this new technology
Metabolomics study on the effect of combination treatment between pioglitazone and piceatannol on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease in rats
No full textNon-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is one of the most common liver disorders worldwide. Under the current obesity epidemic, NAFLD prevalence increases and imposes a huge social and economic burden to our society. Given the importance of insulin resistance in the pathogenesis of NAFLD, insulin sensitizers have been broadly investigated in the treatment of NAFLD. Unfortunately, clinical studies have not demonstrated a consistent benefit in NAFLD patients treated with insulin sensitizers. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that the consumption of foods high in phenolic compounds is associated with lower risks of many chronic diseases. Piceatannol (PIC) (Figure 1A) is a natural analog of resveratrol (Figure 1B) , a well-known dietary supplement. Although resveratrol has shown pre-clinically to have beneficial effects on various chronic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, poor bioavailability and rapid metabolism have limited the use of resveratrol in dietary intervention to improve health and prevent chronic diseases. It has been showed that combination drug therapy utilizes more than one medication but each agent is given at a dose much lower than the normal therapeutic dose (i.e., minimal side effects are anticipated) resulting in synergistic therapeutic outcomes. In this study, we used metabolomics approaches to investigate a novel drug therapy using pioglitazone (PG, a commonly used insulin sensitizer) in combination with piceatannol, a natural analog of resveratrol, to treat NAFLD in rat fed with high fat diet (HFD)
Self-cleaning BiOBr/Ag photocatalytic membrane for membrane regeneration under visible light in membrane distillation
No full textIn this study, an innovative electrospun photocatalyst self-cleaning BiOBr/Ag membrane is introduced for the MD treatment of dyeing wastewater coupled with post-MD UV and visible light exposure for fouled membrane regeneration. The E-BiOBr/Ag membrane was fabricated by successfully coating an electrospun membrane with BiOBr/Ag catalyst particles using electrospray technology, with the goal to achieve higher hydrophobicity and the reproducible property. Along with the E-BiOBr/Ag membrane, two commercial polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membranes were tested for comparison. The fouling processes on all three membranes were monitored in real-time using optical coherence tomography (OCT). The coating of BiOBr/Ag particles on the E-BiOBr/Ag membrane\u27s surface accelerated dye foulant degradation through the electron-holes’ strong oxidization capacity when exposed to UV. Meanwhile, after Ag nanoparticles were coated on the BiOBr photocatalyst by UV deposition method, not only improved the efficiency of electron separation and transfer but also lessened the electron recombination phenomenon effectively. Correspondingly, compared to the two commercial membranes, the BiOBr/Ag photocatalyst membrane achieved significant improvements in the recovery efficiencies of the water contact angle (95.6%) and water flux (92.2%) under UV illumination, pointing to its potential for fouled membrane regeneration. In addition, the deposition of Ag on BiOBr as cocatalyst enhanced the visible light harvesting. Finally, the BiOBr/Ag photocatalyst membrane maintained good flux recovery and dye rejection (99.9%) over a 5-cycle MD test coupled with visible light exposure, suggesting the application of the novel self-cleaning photocatalyst membrane as a potential alternative for upscaling MD technology to the industrial level
