In China, energy efficiency retrofit of residential buildings is entering a new stage in which homeowners are the main subject. In order to investigate homeowners’ willingness to invest and to analyze its influencing factors, interviews and a questionnaire survey were conducted in central Tianjin, China. The results show that homeowners have a certain willingness to invest in energy efficiency retrofit but that their willingness to pay (WTP) is far from enough to cover the total cost. Among the influencing factors, the homeowner’s age, education level, and retrofit experience as well as the age and floor area of their home are significantly related to their WTP. The reasons for the impact of these factors are further discussed, including the influences of China’s previous housing policies and retrofit policies. Policy recommendations to promote investment by homeowners are suggested based on the findings.

Thermal expansion and stress of solid materials can significantly affect structural safety and instrument accuracy in many engineering fields. An alternative way to overcome these drawbacks is to use materials with controllable coefficients of thermal expansion (CTEs). This work presents a new three-dimensional (3D) material with controllable CTEs that is composed of chiral honeycomb layers connected by a set of inclined struts. Although each single chiral layer has positive CTEs, by carefully designing geometric parameters and material constituents, the negative thermal expansion (NTE) can be established. Analytical solutions of the equivalent CTEs are proposed using the classical beam theory, which were verified by finite element simulations. The results show that the proposed material can achieve a large range of CTEs (from positive to negative), and has negative Poisson's ratios in the chiral honeycomb planes. In addition, isotropic negative and zero thermal expansion can be obtained with appropriate design parameters.

Using Taiwan as an example, this paper conducts a historical analysis of the relationship between economic development in the new international division of labor and environmental pollution and industrial workers' health. Three industries-asbestos, plastic, and dye-were chosen for case studies. We trace the emergence of each industry in Taiwan and study each industry's protection of workers' health and environmental quality. Under the new international division of labor, the state's prioritization of economic development leads to lenient regulation. Under such state policies, employers have few incentives to invest in the protection of their workers' health and in the control of environmental pollution. Workers and the public are constrained in their efforts to protect their own health and prevent environmental pollution. This situation is exemplified by the deplorable working conditions and inadequate environmental pollution controls in the asbestos, plastic, and dye industries. Workers' health and the public's health are greatly compromised by economic development in the new international division of labor.

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