Medium and long-term thermal coal contract embedded reparations from the perspective of an evolutionary game

Coal-fired electricity enterprises are caught in the dilemma of relative fixed prices and rising costs under the scenario of decarbonization.Meanwhile,soaring market-oriented coal pricing results in coal enterprises’increasing defaults on thermal coal medium-and long-term contracts(MLC).To investigate the implementation of MLC at the micro-level,this study formalized the contractual behaviors of coal and coal-fired electricity enterprises based on the asymmetric evolutionary game.We formalized the evolving behaviors of both parties using replicator dynamics equations and proved that there were two evolutionary stabilization strategies(ESSs):compliance and coal enterprises’unilateral default.A multi-agent-based simulation was applied to verify the evolving process of ESSs and determine the critical values of MLC design by sensitive analysis.From the simulation results,coal-fired electricity enterprises do not stop generation under the current carbon quota allocation mechanism,even if carbon emission trading increases electricity generation costs.Coal enterprises choose to“default”when the market price of coal is higher than the contracted price by 18%.However,if the original reparation is increased by 5%,the compliance rate of the coal enterprises improves.Dynamic reparations embedded in the MLC improved enforcement during the contracting period.Moreover,the proposed policy implications have practical significance for enhancing the coordinated operation of coal-electricity energy supply chains.

Investigation and Analysis on Current Situation of Coal-Burning Fluorosis Prevalence

Objective: The purpose of the paper is to provide the result from investigation on the current situation of coal-burning fluorosis prevalence in Chongqing City and make an assessment on the prevention and curing measures. Method: The Dean’s Method is applied to investigate on the fluorotic teeth of locally-born children aged between 8 to 12;investigate how modified cooking stoves are utilized by households and how food maize and hot pepper are being dried;and test the urinary fluorine content and pepper fluorine content. Result: The investigations show that, in the 661 villages with illness history from the 100 townships of 13 districts in Chongqing City, 11.28% (7464/ 66,162) of the children aged between 8 and 12 suffer from dental fluorosis;the stoves modified rate, qualified rate of modified stoves, and correct utilization rate of qualified modified stoves are respectively 100%, 98.82%, and 99.45%;and food maize and hot pepper’s drying rates are respectively 99.88% and 99.75%. Conclusion: The result shows that the coal-burning type fluorosis prevalence in the endemic area of Chongqing City has decreased dramatically, the preventive measure is effectively implemented, and a long-term preventive mechanism has preliminarily been established.

m^(6)A modification of plant virus enables host recognition by NMD factors in plants

N^(6)-methyladenosine(m^(6)A)is the most abundant eukaryotic mRNA modification and is involved in various biological processes.Increasing evidence has implicated that m^(6)Amodification is an important anti-viral defense mechanism in mammals and plants,but it is largely unknown how m^(6)Aregulates viral infection in plants.Here we report the dynamic changes and functional anatomy of m^(6)Ain Nicotiana benthamiana and Solanum lycopersicum during Pepino mosaic virus(PepMV)infection.m^(6)Amodification in the PepMV RNA genome is conserved in these two species.Overexpression of the m^(6)Awriters,mRNA adenosine methylase A(MTA),and HAKAI inhibit the PepMV RNA accumulation accompanied by increased viral m^(6)Amodifications,whereas deficiency of these writers decreases the viral RNA m^(6)Alevels but enhances virus infection.Further study reveals that the cytoplasmic YTH-domain family protein NbECT2A/2B/2C as m^(6)Areaders are involved in anti-viral immunity.Protein-protein interactions indicate that NbECT2A/2B/2C interact with nonsense-mediated mRNA decay(NMD)-related proteins,including NbUPF3 and NbSMG7,but not with NbUPF1.m^(6)Amodification-mediated restriction to PepMV infection is dependent on NMD-related factors.These findings provide new insights into the functionality of m^(6)Aanti-viral activity and reveal a distinct immune response that NMD factors recognize the m^(6)Areaders-viral m^(6)ARNA complex for viral RNA degradation to limit virus infection in plants.

Development of a prediction model to identify undiagnosed chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients in primary care settings in China

Background:At present,a large number of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD)patients are undiagnosed in China.Thus,this study aimed to develop a simple prediction model as a screening tool to identify patients at risk for COPD.Methods:The study was based on the data of 22,943 subjects aged 30 to 79 years and enrolled in the second resurvey of China Kadoorie Biobank during 2012 and 2013 in China.We stepwisely selected the predictors using logistic regression model.Then we tested the model validity through P-P graph,area under the receiver operating characteristic curve(AUROC),ten-fold cross validation and an external validation in a sample of 3492 individuals from the Enjoying Breathing Program in China.Results:The final prediction model involved 14 independent variables,including age,sex,location(urban/rural),region,educational background,smoking status,smoking amount(pack-years),years of exposure to air pollution by cooking fuel,family history of COPD,history of tuberculosis,body mass index,shortness of breath,sputum and wheeze.The model showed an area under curve(AUC)of 0.72(95%confidence interval[CI]:0.72-0.73)for detecting undiagnosed COPD patients,with the cutoff of predicted probability of COPD=0.22,presenting a sensitivity of 70.13%and a specificity of 62.25%.The AUROC value for screening undiagnosed patients with clinically significant COPD was 0.68(95%CI:0.66-0.69).Moreover,the ten-fold cross validation reported an AUC of 0.72(95%CI:0.71-0.73),and the external validation presented an AUC of 0.69(95%CI:0.68-0.71).Conclusion:This prediction model can serve as a first-stage screening tool for undiagnosed COPD patients in primary care settings.