Green technology innovation and carbon emission efficiency: The moderating role of environmental uncertainty.

Given the significant global warming caused by large-scale carbon emissions, it has become a crucial issue affecting human survival and world development. As a supportive means for relevant policies, the implementation of green technology innovation is essential for effectively achieving dual carbon goals. In order to explore the intrinsic relationship and impact mechanism between green technology innovation and carbon emission efficiency, this study takes data from high-energy-consuming manufacturing companies listed on the A-share market in China from 2010 to 2019 as samples. It uses the Super-SBM model to measure the carbon emission efficiency of sample companies and employs a two-way fixed effects model to verify the impact of green technology innovation on the carbon emission efficiency of high-energy-consuming manufacturing enterprises. Furthermore, this study also explores the external mechanism of green technology innovation related to carbon emission efficiency, focusing on the moderating variable of environmental uncertainty. The study found that both the quantity and quality of green technology innovation can significantly promote the carbon emission efficiency of high-energy-consuming manufacturing enterprises, and the accuracy of the results remains unchanged after conducting robustness tests. Environmental uncertainty plays an important role in moderating the process of green technology innovation, affecting the carbon emission efficiency of high-energy-consuming manufacturing enterprises. Heterogeneity tests show that the impact of green technology innovation on carbon emission efficiency is particularly significant in the central region and in enterprises experiencing decline. The policy implications derived from empirical analysis aim to provide empirical evidence for promoting the high-quality development of China's high-energy-consuming manufacturing enterprises.

Multiplexed representation of others in the hippocampal CA1 subfield of female mice.

Hippocampal place cells represent the position of a rodent within an environment. In addition, recent experiments show that the CA1 subfield of a passive observer also represents the position of a conspecific performing a spatial task. However, whether this representation is allocentric, egocentric or mixed is less clear. In this study we investigated the representation of others during free behavior and in a task where female mice learned to follow a conspecific for a reward. We found that most cells represent the position of others relative to self-position (social-vector cells) rather than to the environment, with a prevalence of purely egocentric coding modulated by context and mouse identity. Learning of a pursuit task improved the tuning of social-vector cells, but their number remained invariant. Collectively, our results suggest that the hippocampus flexibly codes the position of others in multiple coordinate systems, albeit favoring the self as a reference point.

Advances in morphology-controlled alumina and its supported Pd catalysts: synthesis and applications.

Alumina materials, as one of the cornerstones of the modern chemical industry, possess physical and chemical properties that include excellent mechanical strength and structure stability, which also make them highly suitable as catalyst supports. Alumina-supported Pd-based catalysts with the advantages of exceptional catalytic performance, flexible regulated surface metal/acid sites, and good regeneration ability have been widely used in many traditional chemical industry fields and have also shown great application prospects in emerging fields. This review aims to provide an overview of the recent advances in alumina and its supported Pd-based catalysts. Specifically, the synthesis strategies, morphology transformation mechanisms, and structural properties of alumina with various morphologies are comprehensively summarized and discussed in-depth. Then, the preparation approaches of Pd/Al2O3 catalysts (impregnation, precipitation, and other emerging methods), as well as the metal-support interactions (MSIs), are revisited. Moreover, Some promising applications have been chosen as representative reactions in fine chemicals, environmental purification, and sustainable development fields to highlight the universal functionality of the alumina-supported Pd-based catalysts. The role of the Pd species, alumina support, promoters, and metal-support interactions in the enhancement of catalytic performance are also discussed. Finally, some challenges and upcoming opportunities in the academic and industrial application of the alumina and its supported Pd-based are presented and put forward.

Serotype, antibiotic susceptibility and whole-genome characterization of Streptococcus pneumoniae in all age groups living in Southwest China during 2018-2022.

Background: Streptococcus pneumoniae is a common pathogen that colonizes the human upper respiratory tract, causing high morbidity and mortality worldwide. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence status of S. pneumoniae isolated from patients of all ages in Southwest China, including serotype, antibiotic susceptibility and other molecular characteristics, to provide a basis for clinical antibiotic usage and vaccine development. Methods: This study was conducted from January 2018 to March 2022 at West China Hospital, West China Second University Hospital, First People's Hospital of Longquanyi District (West China Longquan Hospital), Meishan Women and Children's Hospital (Alliance Hospital of West China Second University Hospital) and Chengdu Jinjiang Hospital for Women and Children Health. Demographic and clinical characteristics of 263 pneumococcal disease (PD) all-age patients were collected and analyzed. The serotypes, sequence types (STs), and antibiotic resistance of the strains were determined by next-generation sequencing, sequence analysis and the microdilution broth method. Results: The most common pneumococcal serotypes were 19F (17.87%), 19A (11.41%), 3 (8.75%), 23F (6.46%) and 6A (5.70%). Coverage rates for PCV10, PCV13, PCV15, PCV20 and PCV24 were 36.12, 61.98, 61.98, 63.12 and 64.26%, respectively. Prevalent STs were ST271 (12.55%), ST320 (11.79%), ST90 (4.18%), ST876 (4.18%) and ST11972 (3.42%). Penicillin-resistant S. pneumoniae (PRSP) accounted for 82.35 and 1.22% of meningitis and nonmeningitis PD cases, respectively. Resistance genes msrD (32.7%), mefA (32.7%), ermB (95.8%), tetM (97.3%) and catTC (7.6%) were found among 263 isolates. Most isolates showed high resistance to erythromycin (96.96%) and tetracycline (79.85%), with more than half being resistant to SXT (58.94%). A few isolates were resistant to AMX (9.89%), CTX (11.03%), MEN (9.13%), OFX (1.14%), LVX (1.14%) and MXF (0.38%). All isolates were susceptible to vancomycin and linezolid. Conclusion: Our study provides reliable information, including the prevalence, molecular characterization and antimicrobial resistance of S. pneumoniae isolates causing pneumococcal diseases in Southwest China. The findings contribute to informed and clinical policy decisions for prevention and treatment.

Highly Stable Organic Molecular Porous Solid Electrolyte with One-Dimensional Ion Migration Channel for Solid-State Lithium-Oxygen Battery.

Solid-state lithium-oxygen (Li-O2 ) batteries have been widely recognized as one of the candidates for the next-generation of energy storage batteries. However, the development of solid-state Li-O2 batteries has been hindered by the lack of solid-state electrolyte (SSE) with high ionic conductivity at room temperature, high Li+ transference number, and the high stability to air. Herein, the organic molecular porous solid cucurbit[7]uril (CB[7]) with one-dimensional (1D) ion migration channels is developed as the SSE for solid-state Li-O2 batteries. Taking advantage of the 1D ion migration channel for Li+ conduction, CB[7] SSE achieves high ionic conductivity (2.45 × 10-4 S cm-1 at 25 °C). Moreover, the noncovalent interactions facilitated the immobilization of anions, realizing a high Li+ transference number (tLi + = 0.81) and Li+ uniform distribution. The CB[7] SSE also shows a wide electrochemical stability window of 0-4.65 V and high thermal stability and chemical stability, as well as realizes stable Li+ plating/stripping (more than 1000 h at 0.3 mA cm-2 ). As a result, the CB[7] SSE endows solid-state Li-O2 batteries with superior rate capability and long-term discharge/charge stability (up to 500 h). This design strategy of CB[7] SSE paves the way for stable and efficient solid-state Li-O2 batteries toward practical applications.

Vimentin cage - A double-edged sword in host anti-infection defense.

Vimentin, a type III intermediate filament, reorganizes into what is termed the 'vimentin cage' in response to various pathogenic infections. This cage-like structure provides an envelope to key components of the pathogen's life cycle. In viral infections, the vimentin cage primarily serves as a scaffold and organizer for the replication factory, promoting viral replication. However, it also occasionally contributes to antiviral functions. For bacterial infections, the cage mainly supports bacterial proliferation in most observed cases. These consistent structural alterations in vimentin, induced by a range of viruses and bacteria, highlight the vimentin cage's crucial role. Pathogen-specific factors add complexity to this interaction. In this review, we provide a thorough overview of the functions and mechanisms of the vimentin cage and speculate on vimentin's potential as a novel target for anti-pathogen strategies.

Polyoxometalate Li3 PW12 O40 and Li3 PMo12 O40 Electrolytes for High-energy All-solid-state Lithium Batteries.

Solid-state lithium (Li) batteries promise both high energy density and safety while existing solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) fail to satisfy the rigorous requirements of battery operations. Herein, novel polyoxometalate SSEs, Li3 PW12 O40 and Li3 PMo12 O40 , are synthesized, which exhibit excellent interfacial compatibility with electrodes and chemical stability, overcoming the limitations of conventional SSEs. A high ionic conductivity of 0.89 mS cm-1 and a low activation energy of 0.23 eV are obtained due to the optimized three-dimensional Li+ migration network of Li3 PW12 O40 . Li3 PW12 O40 exhibits a wide window of electrochemical stability that can both accommodate the Li anode and high-voltage cathodes. As a result, all-solid-state Li metal batteries fabricated with Li/Li3 PW12 O40 /LiNi0.5 Co0.2 Mn0.3 O2 display a stable cycling up to 100 cycles with a cutoff voltage of 4.35 V and an areal capacity of more than 4 mAh cm-2 , as well as a cost-competitive SSEs price of $5.68 kg-1 . Moreover, Li3 PMo12 O40 homologous to Li3 PW12 O40 was obtained via isomorphous substitution, which formed a low-resistance interface with Li3 PW12 O40 . Applications of Li3 PW12 O40 and Li3 PMo12 O40 in Li-air batteries further demonstrate that long cycle life (650 cycles) can be achieved. This strategy provides a facile, low-cost strategy to construct efficient and scalable solid polyoxometalate electrolytes for high-energy solid-state Li metal batteries.

Immunoinformatics Prediction and Protective Efficacy of Vaccine Candidate PiuA-PlyD4 Against Streptococcus Pneumoniae.

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate the immune protective efficacy of the novel Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) protein vaccine PiuA-PlyD4 through immunoinformatics prediction and in vitro and in vivo experiments. Methods: In this study, we conducted immunoinformatics prediction and protection analysis on the fusion protein PiuA-PlyD4. The epitope composition of the vaccine was analyzed based on the prediction of B-cell and helper T-cell epitopes. Meanwhile, the molecular docking of PiuA and TLR2/4 was simulated. After immunizing C57BL/6 mice with the prepared vaccine, the biological safety, immunogenicity and conservation were evaluated. By constructing different infection models and from the aspects of adhesion inhibition and cytokines, the protective effect of the fusion protein vaccine PiuA-PlyD4 on S. pneumoniae infection was explored. Results: PiuA-PlyD4 has abundant B-cell and helper T-cell epitopes and shows a high antigenicity score and structural stability. Molecular docking analysis suggested the potential interaction between PiuA and TLR2/4. The specific antibody titer of fusion protein antiserum was as high as (7.81±2.32) ×105. The protective effect of the immunized mice on nasal and lung colonization was significantly better than that of the control group, and the survival rate against S. pneumoniae infection of serotype 3 reached 50%. Cytokine detection showed that the humoral immune response, Th1, Th2 and Th17 cellular immune pathways were all involved in the process. Conclusion: The study indicates that PiuA-PlyD4, whether the results are predicted by immunoinformatics or experimentally validated in vivo and in vitro, has good immunogenicity and immunoreactivity and can provide effective protection against S. pneumoniae infection. Therefore, it can be considered a promising prophylactic vaccine candidate for S. pneumoniae.

Pilus of Streptococcus pneumoniae: structure, function and vaccine potential.

The pilus is an extracellular structural part that can be detected in some Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) isolates (type I pili are found in approximately 30% of strains, while type II pili are found in approximately 20%). It is anchored to the cell wall by LPXTG-like motifs on the peptidoglycan. Two kinds of pili have been discovered, namely, pilus-1 and pilus-2. The former is encoded by pilus islet 1 (PI-1) and is a polymer formed by the protein subunits RrgA, RrgB and RrgC. The latter is encoded by pilus islet 2 (PI-2) and is a polymer composed mainly of the structural protein PitB. Although pili are not necessary for the survival of S. pneumoniae, they serve as the structural basis and as virulence factors that mediate the adhesion of bacteria to host cells and play a direct role in promoting the adhesion, colonization and pathogenesis of S. pneumoniae. In addition, as candidate antigens for protein vaccines, pili have promising potential for use in vaccines with combined immunization strategies. Given the current understanding of the pili of S. pneumoniae regarding the genes, proteins, structure, biological function and epidemiological relationship with serotypes, combined with the immunoprotective efficacy of pilins as protein candidates for vaccines, we here systematically describe the research status and prospects of S. pneumoniae pili and provide new ideas for subsequent vaccine research and development.

A Case Report of a Novel Isovaleryl-CoA Dehydrogenase Gene Mutation in a Chinese Family with Isovaleric Acidemia.

BACKGROUND: Isovaleric acidemia (IVA) is a rare autosomal-recessive metabolic disorder caused by a genetic deficiency of isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase (IVD). Deficiency of IVD leads to the accumulation of organic acids; however, the genotype-phenotype relationship has not been well established. METHODS: Two brothers with acute neonatal IVA in a Chinese family were reported, and their clinical manifestations and examination were described. MS/MS and GCMS were used to perform organic acid analysis of blood samples and urine samples, and the patient's blood was sequenced by NGS and Sanger sequencing of the ivd gene. RESULTS: Sequence analysis of the ivd gene identified compound heterozygous mutations in the patient, the c.250T>C (p.W84R) missense mutation (novel) and the c.466-3_466-2 delCAinsGG splicing mutation, which were inherited from their parents. Various bioinformatics prediction algorithms suggest that the p.W84R missense mutation may destabilize the IVD monomer and reduce its ability to bind to substrates. CONCLUSIONS: Both the clinical and genetic features of this family will help us to further expand the knowledge of IVA.

The Organic Ligand Etching Method for Constructing In Situ Terraced Protective Layer Toward Stable Aqueous Zn Anode.

The stability of aqueous Zn-ion batteries (AZIBs) is highly dependent on the reversibility of stripping/plating Zn anode. In this work, an organic ligand etching method is proposed to develop a series of in situ multifunctional protective layers on Zn anode. Particularly, the 0.02 m [Fe(CN) 6]3- etching solutions can spontaneously etch the Zn anode, creating an in situ protective layer with unique terraced structure, which blocks the direct contact between the electrode and electrolyte and increases the area for Zn2+ ions deposition. Interestingly, all elements in the organic ligands (i.e., C, N, Zn, and Fe) exhibit strong zincophilic, significantly promoting zinc deposition kinetics and enhancing 3D nucleation behavior to inhibit zinc dendrite growth. As a result, the etched Zn anode can provide as high a Coulombic efficiency of 99.6% over 1000 cycles and sustain over 400 h long-term stability at a high current density of 10 mA cm-2 . As general validation, the small amount of metal cations additives (e.g., Ni2+ , Mn2+ , and Cu2+ ) can accelerate the synthesis of artificial interface layers with 3D structures and also regulate zinc deposition behavior. This work provides a new idea from the perspective of etching solution selection for surface modification of Zn metal anode.

Polymers with Intrinsic Microporosity as Solid Ion Conductors for Solid-State Lithium Batteries.

Solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) with high ionic conductivity and superior stability are considered to be a key technology for the safe operation of solid-state lithium batteries. However, current SSEs are incapable of meeting the requirements for practical solid-state lithium batteries. Here we report a general strategy for achieving high-performance SSEs by engineering polymers of intrinsic microporosity (PIMs). Taking advantage of the interconnected ion pathways generated from the ionizable groups, high ionic conductivity (1.06×10-3  S cm-1 at 25 °C) is achieved for the PIMs-based SSEs. The mechanically strong (50.0 MPa) and non-flammable SSEs combine the two superiorities of outstanding Li+ conductivity and electrochemical stability, which can restrain the dendrite growth and prevent Li symmetric batteries from short-circuiting even after more than 2200 h cycling. Benefiting from the rational design of SSEs, PIMs-based SSEs Li-metal batteries can achieve good cycling performance and superior feasibility in a series of withstand abuse tests including bending, cutting, and penetration. Moreover, the PIMs-based SSEs endow high specific capacity (11307 mAh g-1 ) and long-term discharge/charge stability (247 cycles) for solid-state Li-O2 batteries. The PIMs-based SSEs present a powerful strategy for enabling safe operation of high-energy solid-state batteries.

Physiological and transcriptomic analysis of OsLHCB3 knockdown lines in rice.

The photosystem II (PSII) outer antenna LHCB3 protein plays critical roles in distributing the excitation energy and modulating the rate of state transition for photosynthesis. Here, OsLHCB3 knockdown mutants were produced using the RNAi system. Phenotypic analyses showed that OsLHCB3 knockdown led to pale green leaves and lower chlorophyll contents at both tillering and heading stages. In addition, mutant lines exhibited decreased non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) capacity and net photosynthetic rate (Pn) by downregulating the expression of PSII-related genes. Moreover, RNA-seq experiments were performed at both tillering and heading stages. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) mainly involved in chlorophyll binding response to abscisic acid, photosystem II, response to chitin, and DNA-binding transcription factor. Besides, our transcriptomic and physiological data indicated that OsLHCB3 was essential for binding chlorophyll, but not for the metabolism of chlorophyll in rice. OsLHCB3 RNAi knockdown plants affected the expression of PS II-related genes, but not PS I-related genes. Overall, these results suggest that OsLHCB3 also plays vital roles in regulating photosynthesis and antenna proteins in rice as well as responses to environment stresses. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11032-023-01387-z.

Metal-Organic Framework-Based Mixed Conductors Achieve Highly Stable Photo-assisted Solid-State Lithium-Oxygen Batteries.

The demand for high-energy sustainable rechargeable batteries has motivated the development of lithium-oxygen (Li-O2) batteries. However, the inherent safety issues of liquid electrolytes and the sluggish reaction kinetics of existing cathodes remain fundamental challenges. Herein, we demonstrate a promising photo-assisted solid-state Li-O2 battery based on metal-organic framework-derived mixed ionic/electronic conductors, which simultaneously serve as the solid-state electrolytes (SSEs) and the cathode. The mixed conductors could effectively harvest ultraviolet-visible light to generate numerous photoelectrons and holes, which is favorable to participate in the electrochemical reaction, contributing to greatly improved reaction kinetics. According to the study on conduction behavior, we discover that the mixed conductors as SSEs possess outstanding Li+ conductivity (1.52 × 10-4 S cm-1 at 25 °C) and superior chemical/electrochemical stability (especially toward H2O, O2-, etc.). Application of mixed ionic electronic conductors in photo-assisted solid-state Li-O2 batteries further reveals that a high energy efficiency (94.2%) and a long life (320 cycles) can be achieved with a simultaneous design of SSEs and cathodes. The achievements present the widespread universality in accelerating the development of safe and high-performance solid-state batteries.

The diverse actions of cytoskeletal vimentin in bacterial infection and host defense.

Bacterial infection is a major threat to human health, with infections resulting in considerable mortality, urging the need for a more profound understanding of bacteria-host interactions. During infection of cells, host cytoskeletal networks constantly interact with bacteria and are integral to their uptake. Vimentin, an intermediate filament protein, is one such cytoskeletal component that interacts with bacteria during infection. Although vimentin is predominantly present in the cytoplasm, it also appears in a secreted form or at the surface of multiple cell types, including epithelial cells, endothelial cells, macrophages and fibroblasts. As a cytoplasmic protein, vimentin participates in bacterial transportation and the consequential immune-inflammatory responses. When expressed on the cell surface, vimentin can be both pro- and anti-bacterial, favoring bacterial invasion in some contexts, but also limiting bacterial survival in others. Vimentin is also secreted and located extracellularly, where it is primarily involved in bacterial-induced inflammation regulation. Reciprocally, bacteria can also manipulate the fate of vimentin in host cells. Given that vimentin is not only involved in bacterial infection, but also the associated life-threatening inflammation, the use of vimentin-targeted drugs might offer a synergistic advantage. In this Review, we recapitulate the abundant evidence on vimentin and its dynamic changes in bacterial infection and speculate on its potential as an anti-bacterial therapeutic target.

Construction and protective efficacy of a novel Streptococcus pneumoniae fusion protein vaccine NanAT1-TufT1-PlyD4.

During the past decades, with the implementation of pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV) and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs), a dramatic reduction in vaccine type diseases and transmissions has occurred. However, it is necessary to develop a less expensive, serotype-independent pneumococcal vaccine due to the emergence of nonvaccine-type pneumococcal diseases and the limited effect of vaccines on colonization. As next-generation vaccines, conserved proteins, such as neuraminidase A (NanA), elongation factor Tu (Tuf), and pneumolysin (Ply), are promising targets against pneumococcal infections. Here, we designed and constructed a novel fusion protein, NanAT1-TufT1-PlyD4, using the structural and functional domains of full-length NanA, Tuf and Ply proteins with suitable linkers based on bioinformatics analysis and molecular cloning technology. Then, we tested whether the protein protected against focal and lethal pneumococcal infections and examined its potential protective mechanisms. The fusion protein NanAT1-TufT1-PlyD4 consists of 627 amino acids, which exhibits a relatively high level of thermostability, high stability, solubility and a high antigenic index without allergenicity. The purified fusion protein was used to subcutaneously immunize C57BL/6 mice, and NanAT1-TufT1-PlyD4 induced a strong and significant humoral immune response. The anti-NanAT1-TufT1-PlyD4 specific IgG antibody assays increased after the first immunization and reached the highest value at the 35th day. The results from in vitro experiments showed that anti-NanAT1-TufT1-PlyD4 antisera could inhibit the adhesion of Streptococcus pneumoniae (S. pneumoniae) to A549 cells. In addition, immunization with NanAT1-TufT1-PlyD4 significantly reduced S. pneumoniae colonization in the lung and decreased the damage to the lung tissues induced by S. pneumoniae infection. After challenge with a lethal dose of serotype 3 (NC_WCSUH32403), a better protection effect was observed with NanAT1-TufT1-PlyD4-immunized mice than with the separate full-length proteins and the adjuvant control; the survival rate was 50%, which met the standard of the marketed vaccine. Moreover, we showed that the humoral immune response and the Th1, Th2 and Th17-cellular immune pathways are involved in the immune protection of NanAT1-TufT1-PlyD4 to the host. Collectively, our results support that the novel fusion protein NanAT1-TufT1-PlyD4 exhibits extensive immune stimulation and is effective against pneumococcal challenges, and these properties are partially attributed to humoral and cellular-mediated immune responses.

Traffic-Data Recovery Using Geometric-Algebra-Based Generative Adversarial Network.

Traffic-data recovery plays an important role in traffic prediction, congestion judgment, road network planning and other fields. Complete and accurate traffic data help to find the laws contained in the data more efficiently and effectively. However, existing methods still have problems to cope with the case when large amounts of traffic data are missed. As a generalization of vector algebra, geometric algebra has more powerful representation and processing capability for high-dimensional data. In this article, we are thus inspired to propose the geometric-algebra-based generative adversarial network to repair the missing traffic data by learning the correlation of multidimensional traffic parameters. The generator of the proposed model consists of a geometric algebra convolution module, an attention module and a deconvolution module. Global and local data mean squared errors are simultaneously applied to form the loss function of the generator. The discriminator is composed of a multichannel convolutional neural network which can continuously optimize the adversarial training process. Real traffic data from two elevated highways are used for experimental verification. Experimental results demonstrate that our method can effectively repair missing traffic data in a robust way and has better performance when compared with the state-of-the-art methods.

Insights into the Role of Dual-Interfacial Sites in Cu/ZrO2 Catalysts in 5-HMF Hydrogenolysis with Isopropanol.

In this work, we synthesized a series of Cu/ZrO2 catalysts with tunable Vo-Cu0 (oxygen vacancy adjacent to Cu metal) and VZr-Cuδ+ (zirconium vacancy adjacent to electron-deficient Cu species) dual-interface sites and investigated the role of the dual-interface sites in the 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (5-HMF) hydrogenolysis reaction with isopropanol as the hydrogen source. By combining a series of in situ infrared characterization and catalytic performance analysis, it is identified that Vo-Cu0 interface sites were responsible for activating isopropanol dehydrogenation and C═O dissociation of 5-HMF, while the VZr-Cuδ+ interface sites were responsible for the dehydroxylation of an intermediate product 5-methyl-2-furfuryl alcohol (5-MFA). Specifically, C-OH was first deprotonated on the VZr at the VZr-Cuδ+ interface site to reduce the activation energy of 5-MFA dehydroxylation and then adjacent Cuδ+ promoted the dissociation of the C-O bond by enhancing the adsorption energy while elongating the C-O bond, as confirmed by the density functional theory calculations. Because the dual-interface sites provided separate sites for activating intermediate products and reactants, the coupling reaction caused by competitive adsorption is thus well avoided. Therefore, the optimized Cu/ZrO2 catalyst with the most VZr-Cuδ+ and moderate Vo-Cu0 sites exhibited 98.4% of 2,5-dimethylfuran yield under the conditions of 180 °C and self-vapor pressure.

Energy consumption, environmental pollution, and technological innovation efficiency: taking industrial enterprises in China as empirical analysis object.

Facing increasingly serious environmental problems, technological innovation has become the key for industrial enterprises to coordinate energy conservation and emission reduction constraints and achieve steady growth of the industrial economy. Considering the impact of energy consumption and environmental pollution on the technological innovation efficiency of industrial enterprises, this paper incorporates industrial energy consumption, pollution control, and wastewater and exhaust emissions into the technical inefficiency equation. Based on the panel data of industrial enterprises in 30 provinces and autonomous regions in China from 2009 to 2016, the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) model is used to study the effect of energy consumption and environmental pollution on technological innovation efficiency of industrial enterprises. The research results show that reducing energy consumption and increasing pollution treatment investment both have a significant driving effect on the improvement of industrial enterprises' technological innovation efficiency. Industrial wastewater and exhaust emissions have the opposite effect; unreasonable input mode of pollution control and personnel allocation have hindered the improvement of industrial enterprises' technological innovation efficiency. The average annual trend of technological innovation efficiency in industrial enterprises shows a curve of first rising, then falling, and rising again. The average values of Chongqing, Zhejiang, and Hunan rank in the top three, and the average values of Qinghai, Heilongjiang, and Inner Mongolia rank the bottom three. The average values of other provinces are higher than 0.9, and the difference is small. A suitable incentive mechanism should be established for industrial enterprises to save energy and reduce emissions and strengthen pollution control, improve the training program for environmental protection technical personnel, and provide important support for improving the green competitiveness of industrial enterprises.