Renewable energy in Benin: current situation and future prospects

To provide clean energy at a lower cost to their citizens,all nations of the world are striving to increase their energy production in an environmentally friendly way.Benin has also joined this dynamic by considerably increasing its green energy production efforts in recent years.The country has a huge undeveloped renewable-energy(RE)potential that can contribute considerably to its national energy production capacity.This paper summarizes the current RE situation in Benin and examines its future prospects.The current energy situation of the country is discussed,followed by an examination of its electricity demand-and-supply situation.The country has been found to depend heavily on natural gas and petroleum products from neighbouring countries and has~41%of national electricity access.However,the government is taking considerable steps to implement RE projects in the country.The study analyzes government targets in the energy sector with existing policies and institutional frameworks.Recommendations are made for the benefit of the government,the private sector and other actors in order to developing the RE potential of Benin.

Present Researching Approaches and Future Prospects for Treatment of Cardiac Diseases-Integrative Medicine

The pathogenesis of cardiac diseases is very complex and involved in many gene transcription and protein expression. How to effectively treat the diseases has become the hotspot of modern medicine. Accumulating evidences over the past decades on integrative medicine have shown us hopeful future prospects. With the development of modern biomedicine, such as sketch mapping genomic sequence, functional genomics,proteomics and pharmacogenetics, more advanced techniques could be applied in elucidating the possibly complicated biological networks, or complex pathological and physiological mechanisms underlying cardiac diseases, by which integrative medicine will also bring out some new and more effective strategies in the treatment of cardiac diseases.

The Present Situation and Future Prospect of the World Shipping Industry

Ⅰ. Shipping After entering into the 1990’s, the ship-building industry, badly affected by the long recession of the world shipping market, has been growing very slowly, while the competition has been a fierce one. From the shares enjoyed by the major shipping countries in the world, we can see that the first one is Japan which occupied 38%; South Korea came to the second,obtaining 15％; the third is Germany, being 8%. The shipbuilding industry in America is shrinking, owing to the high cost of production. Up to 1993,Japanese ship yards had still been in difficult situation, and many Japanese ship owners would rather order new ships from South Korea because the rising value of Japanese yen made it expensive to build in domestic yards. Nowadays, Japanese shipbuilding industry is exposed to the problem of scarce of labour force. The Korean shipbuilding industry,

Innovation, practical benefits and prospects for the future development of automatic milking systems

Automatic milking systems(AMS) were designed to replace existing, labor-intensive machine milking and are an area of rapid development in modern dairy farming. The popularity of AMS lies in the convenience of management, decreasing workloads and the consistency of milking compared with non-automated machine milking. Nevertheless, this innovation has not been reviewed comprehensively and the practical benefits of AMS are still unclear. This review gives a brief overview of the historical development of milking machines and the workflow process of state-of-the-art AMS. In addition, a series of comparisons between AMS and current milking machines are made with respect to labor savings, quality parameters, udder health, herd behavior and mastitis detection and are summarized on the basis of relevant studies to show the benefits of the technological changes achieved by AMS. Finally, this review addresses several deficiencies in the technology and procedures of current AMS that need to be improved and also assesses recent advances in milking techniques with a particular focus on their potential for application in AMS.

Goal Self-Concordance Model: What HaveWe Learned and Where are We Going

Goal self-concordance reflects self-generated personal goals aligning with people’s interests and core values in one’s implicit personality as organic components,which is measured by the“perceived locus of causality”PLOC.Pursuing and achieving self-concordant goals both predict diversified outcomes in need-satisfaction,mental and physical well-being,positive attitude and behavior,etc.Based on expounding and sorting out the concept and measurement about goal self-concordance,the author analyzes the differences among a series of goal self-concor-dance theories.This paper focuses on the latest research trends and summarizesfive influencing aspects of goal self-concordance:mental health,cognition,emotion,personal will,and behavioral outcomes.The mediating effects are discussed concerning antecedents and influence effects,the influence effects are shown in three aspects including the characteristics of individual,target,and environment.While the antecedent effects are respectively reflected in self-insight,personality,empowerment,and self-supported environment,content,and context of the goal itself.Finally,the author proposes several potential research interests from a broader perspective based on the current literature.

Advancements on metal oxide semiconductor photocatalysts in photo-electrochemical conversion of carbon dioxide into fuels and other useful products

Due to its fascinating and tunable optoelectronic properties,semiconductor nanomaterials are the best choices for multidisciplinary applications.Particularly,the use of semiconductor photocatalysts is one of the promising ways to harness solar energy for useful applications in the field of energy and environment.In recent years,metal oxide-based tailored semiconductor photocatalysts have extensively been used for photocatalytic conversion of carbon dioxide(CO_(2))into fuels and other useful products utilizing solar energy.This is very significant not only from renewable energy consumption but also from reducing global warming point of view.Such current research activities are promising for a better future of society.The present mini-review is focused on recent developments(2–3 years)in metal oxide semiconductor hybrid photocatalysts-based photo-electrochemical conversion of CO_(2)into fuels and other useful products.First,general mechanism of photo-electrochemical conversion of CO_(2)into fuels or other useful products has been discussed.Then,various metal oxide-based emerging hybrid photocatalysts including tailoring of their morphological,compositional,and optoelectronic properties have been discussed with emphasis on their role in enhancing photoelectrochemical efficienty.Afterwards,mechanism of their photo-electrochemical reactions and applications in CO_(2)conversion into fuels/other useful products have been discussed.Finally,challenges and future prospects have been discussed followed by a summary.

Innovative developments in lunar and planetary science promoted by China's lunar exploration

As the only natural satellite of the earth, the Moon has always been the first choice for human exploration of the solar system. China's lunar exploration project(Chang'e project) was launched in 2004. At present, it has created a perfect end to the three phases of “orbiting, landing and returning”. A series of remarkable research achievements have been made on the basic issues of current lunar scientific research, such as the Earth-Moon space environment, lunar surface material, morphology,geological structure, lunar subsurface and internal structure, and the origin and evolution of the Moon, further deepening the human understanding of the Moon. This paper briefly reviews the development process of China's lunar exploration project,summarizes the main research results and scientific understanding, and finally prospects to the future development of China's lunar and planetary exploration.

Four decades of studies on population aging in China

The last 4 decades of reform and opening up have not only witnessed the rapid development of China’s social economy,but have also marked the crucial transition of China’s demographic structure from one that is mature to one that is old.As China’s population has aged rapidly in recent years,studies of aging have made worthwhile achievements documenting the process.This article mainly summarizes the development of studies on aging in China during the past 40 years and finds that research into the topic of aging during these years can be divided into three phases.The phases are characterized by particular kinds of research.Phase one,the study of aging trends and causes;phase two,the study of aging characteristics and policy responses;and phase three,the study of top-level design of aging policies and programs,and the development of integrated interdisciplinary research efforts.The five main characteristics of China’s studies on aging during the past 4 decades and five future prospects for studies on aging are discussed at the end of this paper.

Critical climate issues toward carbon neutrality targets

In 2020,China announced the"emission peak,carbon neutrality"policy,that is,China aims to have CO2 emissions peak before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060.The scenario of carbon neutrality will be significantly distinguished from the scenario we experienced since the industrial revolution.However,instrumental data are unavailable in the future carbon-neutral scenario.Earth system models and climate dynamics theory are needed to comprehend and project the climate change.In this paper,we illustrate our perspective of the issues related to"emission peak,carbon neutrality",including climate dynamics,climate-carbon feedback,interaction between China and global climate and carbon emissions and solutions,etc.We highlight that climate change has profoundly affected human production and life.The frequent occurrence of extreme weather disasters in recent years,together with the impact of epidemics,make the future"carbon peak&carbon-neutral"scenario more complex.There is whopping uncertainty but also a massive challenge to the scientific community.Thus,carbon neutrality is closely related to domestic production and lives,and there is little time left for planning.We believe that we will make a breakthrough in climate dynamics in the context of carbon neutrality with our joint efforts,which will serve our country’s carbon emission policy at different stages.