How does the development of the digital economy influence carbon productivity? The moderating effect of environmental regulation.

Improving carbon productivity is of great significance to China's "30 · 60" carbon target, while the development of the digital economy is a driving force for green transformation. However, few studies discuss the relationship between the digital economy and carbon productivity. We investigate the influence of digital economic development on carbon productivity using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces from 2011 to 2020. Spatial econometric and moderating effects are considered. The results show that (i) digital economy has a positive direct and negative spatial spillover effect on carbon productivity, and this conclusion is still valid after the robustness test and endogeneity test; (ii) digital infrastructure has a greater impact on carbon productivity than digital industrialization and industrial digitalization; (iii) the mechanism analysis shows that environmental regulation negatively moderates the relationship between the digital economy and carbon productivity; (iv) heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect of the digital economy on carbon productivity is more obvious in the central region compared to the western region, while it is not significant in the eastern region. Overall, this paper not only provides a new analytical perspective for understanding the improvement of carbon productivity in the digital economy but also provides policy inspiration for promoting carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals.

Comparison of 116 Radiosurgery Treatment Plans for Multi-Leaf and Cone Collimator on a Varian Edge Linac: Are Cones Superior in the Daily Routine?

Delivering focused radiation doses via linear accelerators is a crucial component of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for brain metastases. The Varian Edge linear accelerator provides highly conformal radiation therapy through a high-definition multi-leaf collimator (HD120 MLC) and conical collimator (CC). HD120 MLC adapts to the shape of the target volume using movable tungsten leaves, while CC has a block of conical shape (cones). CC in SRS treatments of small brain metastases is preferred due to its mechanical stability and steeper dose fall-off, potentially sparing organs at risk (OARs) and the brain better than HD120 MLC. This study aims to determine if CC offers significant advantages over HD120 MLC for SRS treatments. For 116 metastatic lesions, CC and HD120 MLC treatment plans were created in Varian Eclipse TPS and compared based on various dose parameters, robustness tests, and QA measurements. The results indicate that CC provides no significant advantages over HD120 MLC, except for slight, clinically insignificant benefits in brain sparing and dose fall-off for the smallest lesions. HD120 MLC outperforms CC in almost every aspect, making it a better choice for irradiating brain metastases with 0.1 cm3 or higher volumes.

The effect of the industrial structure and haze pollution: spatial evidence for China.

Based on provincial data pertaining to China from 2003 to 2018, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of the industrial structure on haze pollution by constructing static and dynamic spatial econometric models. The marginal contribution of this paper lies in the analysis based on two indicators: the upgrading and rationalization of the industrial structure. The results indicate that: at the overall level, haze pollution in China exhibits a significant positive spatial correlation and remains relatively stable, upgrading and rationalization of the industrial structure can significantly reduce haze pollution, the control variables of technological progress and trade openness yield obvious haze reduction effects, and the market-oriented haze reduction effect is better that of the government behavior. In terms of the robustness, the effect of industrial structure upgrading is not obvious in the eastern regions and even aggravates haze pollution in the central and western regions, while industrial structure rationalization can play a role in haze reduction in all regions. Industrial structure upgrading and rationalization achieve better effects in the southern region but can aggravate haze pollution in the northern region. Based on the results of the time period test, the effect is very obvious at the first stage but not that at the second stage because of the diminishing marginal effect. The robustness results of the replacement of the core variables and dynamic spatial Durbin model further validate the empirical results in this paper. Finally, according to the empirical results, we propose corresponding policy implications.

A Novel Secure and Robust Encryption Scheme for Medical Images.

BACKGROUND: Medical imaging encloses different imaging techniques and processes to image the human body for medical diagnostic and treatment purposes. Hence it plays an important role to improve public health. The technological development in biomedical imaging specifically in X-ray, Computed Tomography (CT), nuclear ultrasound including Positron Emission Tomography (PET), optical and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) can provide valuable information unique to a person. OBJECTIVE: In health care applications, the images are needed to be exchanged mostly over a wireless medium. The diagnostic images with confidential information of a patient need to be protected from unauthorized access during transmission. In this paper, a novel encryption method is proposed to improve the security and integrity of medical images. METHODS: Chaotic map along with DNA cryptography is used for encryption. The proposed method describes a two-phase encryption of medical images. RESULTS: The performance of the proposed method is also tested by various analysis metrics. The robustness of the method against different noises and attacks is analyzed. CONCLUSION: The results show that the method is efficient and well suitable for medical images.

Implementation of a generic liquid chromatographic method development workflow: Application to the analysis of phytocannabinoids and Cannabis sativa extracts.

A generic liquid chromatographic method development workflow was developed and successfully applied to the analysis of phytocannabinoids and Cannabis sativa extracts. Our method development procedure consists in four steps: At the end, this method development workflow was performed in less than 4 days and minimizes the costs of the method development in liquid chromatography.

[Application of robustness test for assessment of the measurement uncertainty at the end of development phase of a chromatographic method for quantification of water-soluble vitamins]. / Application du test de robustesse pour l'évaluation de l'incertitude de mesure au terme de phase de développement d'une méthode chromatographique de quantification de cinq vitamines hydrosolubles.

OBJECTIVE: We propose in this work an efficient way to evaluate the measurement of uncertainty at the end of the development step of an analytical method, since this assessment provides an indication of the performance of the optimization process. METHOD: The estimation of the uncertainty is done through a robustness test by applying a Placquett-Burman design, investigating six parameters influencing the simultaneous chromatographic assay of five water-soluble vitamins. The estimated effects of the variation of each parameter are translated into standard uncertainty value at each concentration level. RESULTS: The values obtained of the relative uncertainty do not exceed the acceptance limit of 5%, showing that the procedure development was well done. In addition, a statistical comparison conducted to compare standard uncertainty after the development stage and those of the validation step indicates that the estimated uncertainty are equivalent. CONCLUSION: The results obtained show clearly the performance and capacity of the chromatographic method to simultaneously assay the five vitamins and suitability for use in routine application.

Development and validation according to European Union Decision 2002/657/EC of an HPLC-DAD method for milk multi-residue analysis of penicillins and amphenicols based on dispersive extraction by QuEChERS in MSPD format.

A precise and reliable method for milk residue analysis regarding five penicillins and three amphenicols by HPLC-diode array detection has been developed herein. The chromatographic separation was performed using a mobile phase of CH3 COONH4 (0.05 M) and ACN delivered by gradient program on a Kinetex(™) -C18 core-shell, 2.6 µm column, starting at a volume ratio of 95:5 and ending at 60:40 after 17 min, remaining stable for 3 more min. A modified matrix solid phase dispersion procedure was applied for the extraction and clean-up procedure of antibiotics using a mixture of Strata by Phenomenex and QuEChERS as a sorbent. The method was validated at the respective 0.5× MRL, MRL and 1.5 ×MRL level for each compound. Results were quantitated against the internal standard paracetamol (2 ng/µL) according to the matrix-matched approach. The method was validated in line with the EC guidelines as cited in the Decision 2002/657/EC. The within-laboratory reproducibility, expressed as a RSD, never exceeded 16%. All decision limit (CCα) values lay in the range between 35.2 and 56.3 µg/kg and the corresponding results for detection capability (CCß) were 39.9 and 61.9 µg/kg. Ruggedness was estimated according to the Youden approach.