| 1. |
- Bentham, James, et al.
(författare)
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A century of trends in adult human height
- 2016
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Ingår i: eLIFE. - : eLife Sciences Publications Ltd. - 2050-084X. ; 5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5–22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3– 19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8– 144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries.
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| 2. |
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| 3. |
- Zhou, Bin, et al.
(författare)
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Worldwide trends in diabetes since 1980: A pooled analysis of 751 population-based studies with 4.4 million participants
- 2016
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Ingår i: The Lancet. - : Elsevier B.V.. - 0140-6736 .- 1474-547X. ; 387:10027, s. 1513-1530
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: One of the global targets for non-communicable diseases is to halt, by 2025, the rise in the age standardised adult prevalence of diabetes at its 2010 levels. We aimed to estimate worldwide trends in diabetes, how likely it is for countries to achieve the global target, and how changes in prevalence, together with population growth and ageing, are aff ecting the number of adults with diabetes.Methods: We pooled data from population-based studies that had collected data on diabetes through measurement of its biomarkers. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends in diabetes prevalence-defined as fasting plasma glucose of 7.0 mmol/L or higher, or history of diagnosis with diabetes, or use of insulin or oral hypoglycaemic drugs-in 200 countries and territories in 21 regions, by sex and from 1980 to 2014. We also calculated the posterior probability of meeting the global diabetes target if post-2000 trends continue.Findings: We used data from 751 studies including 4372000 adults from 146 of the 200 countries we make estimates for. Global age-standardised diabetes prevalence increased from 4.3% (95% credible interval 2.4-17.0) in 1980 to 9.0% (7.2-11.1) in 2014 in men, and from 5.0% (2.9-7.9) to 7.9% (6.4-9.7) in women. The number of adults with diabetes in the world increased from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014 (28.5% due to the rise in prevalence, 39.7% due to population growth and ageing, and 31.8% due to interaction of these two factors). Age-standardised adult diabetes prevalence in 2014 was lowest in northwestern Europe, and highest in Polynesia and Micronesia, at nearly 25%, followed by Melanesia and the Middle East and north Africa. Between 1980 and 2014 there was little change in age-standardised diabetes prevalence in adult women in continental western Europe, although crude prevalence rose because of ageing of the population. By contrast, age-standardised adult prevalence rose by 15 percentage points in men and women in Polynesia and Micronesia. In 2014, American Samoa had the highest national prevalence of diabetes (>30% in both sexes), with age-standardised adult prevalence also higher than 25% in some other islands in Polynesia and Micronesia. If post-2000 trends continue, the probability of meeting the global target of halting the rise in the prevalence of diabetes by 2025 at the 2010 level worldwide is lower than 1% for men and is 1% for women. Only nine countries for men and 29 countries for women, mostly in western Europe, have a 50% or higher probability of meeting the global target.Interpretation: Since 1980, age-standardised diabetes prevalence in adults has increased, or at best remained unchanged, in every country. Together with population growth and ageing, this rise has led to a near quadrupling of the number of adults with diabetes worldwide. The burden of diabetes, both in terms of prevalence and number of adults aff ected, has increased faster in low-income and middle-income countries than in high-income countries.
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| 4. |
- Liu, Jinghong, et al.
(författare)
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Fire Performance of Ultra-Low Density Fiberboard (ULDF) with Complex Fire-Retardants
- 2016
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Ingår i: BioResources. - : BioResources. - 1930-2126 .- 1930-2126. ; 11:4, s. 10261-10272
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- To clarify how the fire performance of ultra-low density fiberboard (ULDF) can be improved by complex fire-retardants, the limiting oxygen index (LOI) and microstructure of ULDFs with different additive amounts of complex fire-retardants was analyzed. The char yield, chemical bonding, and thermostability of ULDFs treated by different temperatures were also tested. Results showed that the LOI values and compactness of ULDFs were increased with increased amounts of fire-retardants. Three steps of char yield curves in control fiberboard (CF) and mixed fiberboard (MF) were apparent. The preliminary degradation in lignin and cellulose of CF occurred at 300 °C. The cellulose had completely decomposed at 400 °C, but in the case of MF, the lignin and cellulose were not completely decomposed at 400 °C. It was shown that there are different ways to improve the fire resistance of ULDF using boron, nitrogen-phosphorus, silica, and halogen-based fire-retardants. The fiberboard with silicium compounds had the lowest mass loss in three stages and total mass loss. Compared with CF, MF had a lower mass loss. Furthermore, the exothermic peak for MF at around 400.0 °C was decreased, indicating that the fire resistance of ULDF was improved by the complex fire-retardants.
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| 5. |
- Feng, Kailun, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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A predictive environmental assessment method for construction operations : Application to a Northeast China case study
- 2018
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI. - 2071-1050. ; 10:11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Construction accounts for a considerable number of environmental impacts, especially in countries with rapid urbanization. A predictive environmental assessment method enables a comparison of alternatives in construction operations to mitigate these environmental impacts. Process-based life cycle assessment (pLCA), which is the most widely applied environmental assessment method, requires lots of detailed process information to evaluate. However, a construction project usually operates in uncertain and dynamic project environments, and capturing such process information represents a critical challenge for pLCA. Discrete event simulation (DES) provides an opportunity to include uncertainty and capture the dynamic environments of construction operations. This study proposes a predictive assessment method that integrates DES and pLCA (DES-pLCA) to evaluate the environmental impact of on-site construction operations and supply chains. The DES feeds pLCA with process information that considers the uncertain and dynamic environments of construction, while pLCA guides the comprehensive procedure of environmental assessment. A DES-pLCA prototype was developed and implemented in a case study of an 18-storey building in Northeast China. The results showed that the biggest impact variations on the global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP), eutrophication (EP), photochemical ozone creation potential (POCP), abiotic depletion potential (ADP), and human toxicity potential (HTP) were 5.1%, 4.1%, 4.1%, 4.7%, 0.3%, and 5.9%, respectively, due to uncertain and dynamic factors. Based on the proposed method, an average impact reduction can be achieved for these six indictors of 2.5%, 21.7%, 8.2%, 4.8%, 32.5%, and 0.9%, respectively. The method also revealed that the material wastage rate of formwork installation was the most crucial managing factor that influences global warming performance. The method can support contractors in the development and management of environmentally friendly construction operations that consider the effects of uncertainty and dynamics.
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| 6. |
- Feng, Yan, et al.
(författare)
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Characterization and evaluation of the pozzolanic activity of granulated copper slag modified with CaO
- 2019
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Ingår i: Journal of Cleaner Production. - : Elsevier. - 0959-6526 .- 1879-1786. ; 232, s. 1112-1120
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- GCS, granulated copper slag, is currently utilized in cement and concrete with a low rate, due mainly to its low pozzolanic activity. The present study was thus performed by first mixing the GCS with CaO, and then melting and water-granulating the GCS-CaO mixtures, as to enhance the reactivity of GCS. Blended cements were formulated by replacing 30 wt. % of the cement, PC, with the modified GCS. The addition of CaO in GCS increased the release rates of heat from the early-age hydration of the blended cement pastes. The pastes with CSC20, the GCS of the highest CaO content (19.5%), acquired higher compressive strengths than those for the PC and other PC-GCS pastes at both 28 and 90 days of curing. The GCS richer in CaO consumed more calcium hydroxide for the formation of calcium silicate hydrates, with SEM micrographs showing a microstructure of more gel phases and less pores in PC-GCS paste. These results indicate that the modification by addition of CaO is an effective way to achieve a high reactivity for the GCS. It may then be possible to utilize the modified GCS as a high-quality supplementary cementitious material to enhance the sustainability for both copper and cement industries.
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| 7. |
- Feng, Yan, et al.
(författare)
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Mechanical Activation of Granulated Copper Slag and Its Influence on Hydration Heat and Compressive Strength of Blended Cement
- 2019
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Ingår i: Materials. - Basel, Switzerland : MDPI. - 1996-1944 .- 1996-1944. ; 12:5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mechanical activation of granulated copper slag (GCS) is carried out in the present study for the purposes of enhancing pozzolanic activity for the GCS. A vibration mill mills the GCS for 1, 2, and 3 h to produce samples with specific surface area of 0.67, 1.03 and 1.37 m²/g, respectively. The samples are used to replace 30% cement (PC) to get 3 PC-GCS binders. The hydration heat and compressive strength are measured for the binders and derivative thermogravimetric /thermogravimetric analysis (DTG/TGA), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) are used to characterize the paste samples. It is shown that cumulative heat and compressive strength at different ages of hydration and curing, respectively, are higher for the binders blending the GCS milled for a longer time. The compressive strength after 90 d of curing for the binder with the longest milling time reaches 35.7 MPa, which is higher than the strength of other binders and close to the strength value of 39.3 MPa obtained by the PC pastes. The percentage of fixed lime by the binder pastes at 28 days is correlated with the degree of pozzolanic reaction and strength development. The percentage is higher for the binder blending the GCS with longer milling time and higher specific surface area. The pastes with binders blending the GCS of specific surface area of 0.67 and 1.37 m²/g fix lime of 15.20 and 21.15%, respectively. These results together with results from X-ray diffraction (XRD), FTIR, and SEM investigations demonstrate that the mechanical activation via vibratory milling is an effective method to enhance the pozzolanic activity and the extent for cement substitution by the GCS as a suitable supplementary cementitious material (SCM).
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| 8. |
- Wang, Ning, et al.
(författare)
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Boride-derived oxygen-evolution catalysts
- 2021
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Nature. - 2041-1723. ; 12
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Metal borides/borates have been considered promising as oxygen evolution reaction catalysts; however, to date, there is a dearth of evidence of long-term stability at practical current densities. Here we report a phase composition modulation approach to fabricate effective borides/borates-based catalysts. We find that metal borides in-situ formed metal borates are responsible for their high activity. This knowledge prompts us to synthesize NiFe-Boride, and to use it as a templating precursor to form an active NiFe-Borate catalyst. This boride-derived oxide catalyzes oxygen evolution with an overpotential of 167 mV at 10 mA/cm2 in 1 M KOH electrolyte and requires a record-low overpotential of 460 mV to maintain water splitting performance for over 400 h at current density of 1 A/cm2. We couple the catalyst with CO reduction in an alkaline membrane electrode assembly electrolyser, reporting stable C2H4 electrosynthesis at current density 200 mA/cm2 for over 80 h.
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| 9. |
- Wei, Juntao, et al.
(författare)
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A mechanism investigation of synergy behaviour variations during blended char co-gasification of biomass and different rank coals
- 2018
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Ingår i: Renewable energy. - : Elsevier. - 0960-1481 .- 1879-0682. ; 131, s. 597-605
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Co-gasification reactivity of rice straw and bituminous coal/anthracite blended chars under CO2 atmosphere was evaluated using thermogravimetric analysis, and the influences of coal type and gasification temperature on synergy behaviour variations on co-gasification reactivity as carbon conversions increased were quantitatively studied. Furthermore, the chemical forms and concentrations of AAEM species at different co-gasification conversions were quantitatively analyzed for revealing co-gasification synergy mechanism. The results demonstrate that as conversions increased, synergy behaviour on co-gasification reactivity of rice straw-bituminous coal blends was shown as the weakened inhibition effect firstly and then the enhanced synergistic effect. Moreover, the inhibition effect on co-gasification reactivity of rice straw-bituminous coal blends was sustained up to higher conversion with the increment of gasification temperature. Differing from rice straw-bituminous coal blends, synergistic effect on co-gasification reactivity of rice straw-anthracite blends was obviously enhanced at early stage of co-gasification and started to slowly weaken after reaching the most significant synergistic effect at middle stage of co-gasification. Additionally, it was revealed that synergy behaviour variations on co-gasification reactivity of rice straw-bituminous coal blends were mainly attributed to the combination effects of active K and Ca transformation during co-gasification, while those of rice straw-anthracite blends indicated a good correlation with active K transformation during co-gasification.
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| 10. |
- Yan, Jeffrey, et al.
(författare)
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Adaptable Software Components : Towards Digital Ecosystems and Software Evolution in the Industrial Automation Domain
- 2015
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Ingår i: IECON 2014. - Piscataway, NJ : IEEE Communications Society. ; , s. 2512-2518
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper proposes new type of software components for distributed automation systems that are capable of adapting to the computational load conditions by migrating to other devices. The migration is seen as a basic mechanism of bio-inspired heuristic search for more optimal overall load across distributed network of devices. The adaptable components can form digital ecologies self-configuring themselves after changes in the environment. The proposed architecture is prototyped using extended IEC 61499 distributed reference architecture. A simple use case of a baggage handling system is used for illustration.
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