The frequent oil spills in recent years have posed serious threats to the balance of ecosystems, global water security, and the efficient use of resources. Among them, the low mobility of high-viscosity crude oil makes it particularly difficult to handle. The introduction of heating function in...

Globally, cities are the source of over 70 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions. Cities are also the engines of the global economy, concentrating more than half the world’s population, and they are where the middle class is rapidly expanding. Indeed, by the year 2050, two-thirds of...

Small businesses and the restaurant industry have been among the most severely impacted by the global pandemic and government-mandated restrictions. In this paper, we explore the impact of online food delivery platforms (e.g., via DoorDash, UberEats, Grubhub, Postmates) in mitigating revenue...

Since the emergence of information technology, the integrated circuit industry has been a major contributor to sustained economic expansion. This paper proposes a theoretical model premised on the pertinent theories of technological progress in late-mover countries and concludes that it is...

The paper examines the diverse prospects of innovative sectors in Beijing and Shanghai using available indicators and data collected for this study through surveys. Beijing is the first choice for companies locating in China but foreign employees prefer Shanghai for living convenience and...

Selecting skilled mutual funds through the multiple testing framework has received increasing attention from finance researchers and statisticians. The intercept $\alpha$ of Carhart four-factor model is commonly used to measure the true performance of mutual funds, and positive $\alpha$'s are...

Reverse osmosis membranes have been producing high quality reclaimed water for portable and industrial use, but face inevitable fouling problems. In the constant flux RO membrane operation, fouling is manifested as increase in operational pressure. However, the pressure-time curves have no...

In this study, an integrated hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC) and chemical precipitation process was developed for the simultaneous recovery of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) from diluted human urine. The effect of operating parameters including solution pH as well as...

This paper investigates the link between crisis risk estimation and crisis prevention policy in the context of sudden stops with growth impacts. We propose a two-stage framework that embeds an early-warning problem into a policy-making problem, and conduct a welfare analysis of crisis risk...