Ecological Accounting: A Research Review and Conceptual Framework

Where sustainable development is concerned, there is an urgent need to establish new information systems that integrate economic, social and ecological factors. The emergence of demand for this information makes the development of ecological accounting possible. Yet, most current research on ecological accounting focuses on two aspects: (1) the theoretical aspect, including background, concepts and models and (2) specific research on ecological accounting. Some scholars have proposed a conceptual framework, but this is not systematic or thorough enough. Seizing the opportunity of sustainable development in a key strategic location of the world, this paper begins by analyzing the logical evolution of ecological accounting, summarizes the existing ecological accounting theory, and combines the mature theoretical study of resources accounting with environmental accounting. All of these efforts result in this paper forwarding a framework of ecological accounting that aims to provide a guideline for future development.

Supramolecular complex glycoconjugate vaccine generates self-enhancement effects for carbohydrate antigen delivery

Targeting delivery of tumor-associated carbohydrate antigen(TACA)-based vaccine to antigen-presenting cells(APCs)mediated by endogenous antibodies can improve the immunogenicity of TACA.However,an essential requirement of this approach is to generate high titers of endogenous antibodies in vivo through pre-immunization,which complicates the immunization procedure and may cause side effects.Herein,we report a new generation of APC-targeting TACA-based supramolecular complex vaccine,assembled by sialyl Thomsen-nouveau-bovine serum albumin-adamantine(sTn-BSA-Ada)and heptavalent rhamnose(Rha)-modifiedβ-cyclodextrin(β-CD)via host-guest interaction.The complex vaccine retained anti-Rha antibodies recruiting capability and facilitated the APCs uptake of the vaccine via the interaction of the Fc-domain with the Fc receptors on APCs.We demonstrate that direct immunization of complex vaccine elicited anti-Rha and anti-sTn specific immune response synchronously,generating a novel self-enhancement effect that can improve the antigen delivery to APCs in high efficacy.The structure-activity relationship(SAR)study proved that complex vaccine 4 with polyethylene glycol 6(PEG 6)linker in host molecule provoked a robust and specific sTn immune response comparable to the pre-immunization approach.The antisera induced by complex vaccine,either through direct immunization or pre-immunization,exhibited equal potency of cytotoxicity against the sTn expression cancer cells.This study provides a general platform for TACA-based vaccines with self-enhancement effects without the need for pre-immunization.

Local symmetry distortion induced anomalous thermal conduction in thermoelectric layered oxyselenides

Polyhedral distortion,associated closely with the atomic arrangement and interatomic interactions,drives many unique behaviors in solids,such as phase transition and negative thermal expansion.In thermoelectric heteroanionic oxides,the anionic polyhedra are widely present,but their effect on thermal transport is rarely investigated.Here,we report an anomalous thermal conduction induced by local symmetry distortion in layered oxyselenides via solving the Boltzmann transport equation based on first-principles calculations.We found interestingly that lighter BiCuSeO exhibits lower thermal conductivity than heavier BiAgSeO.Due to the different distorted degrees of CuSe4 and AgSe4 tetrahedrons,Cu prefers the in-plane vibration,while Ag has more tendency of out-of-plane vibration.Thus,the heat-carrying phonons dominated by the rattling-like vibration of Cu are significantly suppressed,resulting in lower thermal conductivity of BiCuSeO.This study highlights the importance of polyhedral distortion in regulating thermal conduction in layered heteroanionic materials.

Thermoelectric thin films:Promising strategies and related mechanism on boosting energy conversion performance

Thermoelectrics can be capable of direct and reversible conversion between heat and electricity.Low dimensional thermoelectric materials,especially two dimensional(2D)thin films,have been considered as a breakthrough to decouple the correlations between electronic and thermal transport,contributing to the optimization of thermoelectric performance.During the past few decades,some effective strategies combined with physical concepts like quantum confinement effect,energy filtering effect,band structure tuning and interface engineering are introduced to design high performance thermoelectrics.Having a thorough understanding the underlyingmechanisms is essential to develop thermoelectric materials.Here,our review summarizes the major strategies that can be utilized in thermoelectric thin films,including fabrication of superlattice structure,formation of two-dimensional electron gas(2DEG)system,orientation regulation,strain engineering and magnetic manipulation,from the aspects of deep mechanisms analyses,recent progress and prospects,inspiring significant improvement of thermoelectric properties.

Carbon performance evaluation model from the perspective of circular economy~The case of Chinese thermal power enterprise

Carbon emission reduction is the only way to alleviate environmental problems,such as global warming.Effective evaluation of carbon performance can help enterprises to carry out energy saving and emission reduction activities to a certain extent and promote sustainable development.This paper constructs a carbon performance evaluation index system that includes the four dimensions of carbon resource(energy)input,cycle,output,and carbon management by incorporating the principles of circular economy and the theory of resource value circulation from the perspective of the flow trajectory of carbon-containing resources in the circulation of enterprises combined with the production characteristics of thermoelectric enterprises.Subsequently,combined with the case study,this paper discusses the scientific and practical nature of the system and provides another way of thinking for carbon performance evaluation of micro-enterprises in other industries.This paper expands the application boundary of matter-element model and supplements the literature of carbon performance,which has certain theoretical and practical significance.

Recent progress of fully synthetic carbohydrate-based vaccine using TLR agonist as build-in adjuvant

Fully synthetic vaccine, in which one or multi-molecular antigens are conjugated to a synthetic carrier with well-defined chemical structure, is a new direction to develop carbohydrate-based vaccine against cancer and pathogens. Toll like receptor （TLR） agonists with the ability to stimulate immune response have been widely investigated and been applied as build-in adjuvants to construct fully synthetic vaccines. In particular, remarkable progress has been achieved in recent years in the development of vaccines constructed with the agonists of TLRI]2, TLR2/6 and TLR4 and tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens （TACAs）. These di-, tri- or multi-component vaccine candidates showed attractive immunologi- cal properties. This review highlights recent advances in developing full synthetic carbohydrate antigen based vaccines, with an emphasis on the structure-activity relationships that provide a primary basis for future vaccine design and immunotherapy developing.

MUC1 vaccines usingβ-cyclodextrin grafted chitosan(CS-g-CD)as carrier via host-guest interaction elicit robust immune responses

We construct MUC1 vaccines usingβ-cyclodextrin grafted chitosan(CS-g-CD)as carrier via host-guest interaction.These vaccines based on non-covalent assembling can provoke robust immune responses,including high level of specific antibodies and cytokines.The induced antibodies can specifically recognize tumor cells and mediate cytotoxicity against tumor cells.These results indicate that CS-g-CD with strong immunostimulatory activities can be a straightforward platform for peptide-based vaccine construction.

Synthesis of DNP-modified GM3-based anticancer vaccine and evaluation of its immunological activities for cancer immunotherapy

Tumor-associated carbohydrate antigens(TACAs) are attractive targets for vaccine development. In this context, we described a strategy combining artificial TACA and glycoengineering for cancer vaccine development. A 2,4-ditrophenyl(DNP)-modified GM3 intermediate was synthesized chemoenzymatically and conjugated to keyhole limpet hemocyanin(KLH), and the resulting bioconjugate was tested for its potential as a vaccine candidate. Mice immunological studies revealed that the DNP-modified GM3(GM3-NHDNP) analog elicited strong and rapid immune responses by recruiting anti-DNP antibodies to facilitate the targeted delivery of the vaccine construct to antigen processing cells(APCs). Moreover, the endogenously produced anti-DNP antibodies, together with the elicited antibodies against GM3-NHDNP, may synergistically promote tumor binding and cancer cell death when the cancer cell surfaces are glycoengineered to express the GM3-NHDNP antigen.

An evaluation model of water-saving reconstruction projects based on resource value flows

Due to uncertainties in water supply,there is growing demand for water resource management in enterprises.In this study,we evaluated the effects of companies’water-saving reconstruction projects.We used Hina Advanced Materials Company as a case to construct an investment decision model to(1)calculate the internal and external costs of water resources based on circular economic value analysis theory,and(2)locate the level of water resources circulation.We adopted gray situation decision analysis to identify the typical problems that occur in water resource utilization.Moreover,we demonstrated optimization plans for different potential improvements,thereby providing guidance and references for water resource cost management and the comprehensive optimization of environmental benefits.We concluded that the circulation economic value analysis model can effectively display the flow and amount of value derived from water resource flows,thereby providing guidance and suggestions for optimizing water resource flows.