Government fiscal decentralization and haze and carbon reduction: Evidence from the fiscal Province-Managing-County reform.

Government governance reform is not only a vital motivation for high economic quality but also an important factor in stimulating the government's environmental governance responsibility. The article empirically examines the fiscal Province-Managing-County (PMC) pilot reform on the synergic governance of haze and carbon reduction and its mechanism. The results show that the policy helps to realize the synergic governance of haze and carbon reduction, and the reform of fiscal Province-Managing-County promotes regional haze and carbon reduction mainly through structural effect, innovation effect, and fiscal expenditure responsibility effect. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the policy has an asymmetric effect on haze and carbon reduction under different administrative structures, economic structures and levels of government intervention. Further analysis shows a policy linkage effect between this policy and the Green Fiscal Policy. The policy has the situation of blood-sucking in the provincial capital city and leads to an increase in financial funds. The above results prove that the policy can help to realize haze and carbon reduction and provide practical ideas for the further expansion of the policy. At the same time, it provides the direction for the local government to realize the double-carbon goal.

Dilatation Eustachian tuboplasty with a Eustachian tube video endoscope and supporting balloon.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the feasibility and safety of employing a Eustachian tube video endoscope with a supporting balloon as a viable treatment and examination option for patients with Eustachian tube dysfunction. METHODS: A study involving nine fresh human cadaver heads was conducted to investigate the potential of balloon dilatation Eustachian tuboplasty using a Eustachian tube video endoscope and a supporting balloon catheter. The Eustachian tube cavity was examined with the Eustachian tube video endoscope during the procedure, which involved the dilatation of the cartilaginous portion of the Eustachian tube with the supporting balloon catheter. RESULTS: The utilisation of the Eustachian tube video endoscope in conjunction with the supporting balloon catheter demonstrated technical ease during the procedure, with no observed damage to essential structures, particularly the Eustachian tube cavity. CONCLUSION: This newly introduced method of dilatation and examination of the Eustachian tube cavity using a Eustachian tube video endoscope and the supporting balloon is a feasible, safe procedure.

Can regional joint prevention and control of atmospheric reduce border pollution? Evidence from China's 12th Five-Year Plan on air pollution.

Border pollution is usually a difficult problem in environmental governance. Based on the data at the county level in China from 2005 to 2019, this study takes the 12th Five-Year Plan (FYP) for atmospheric pollution as a policy shock, and uses the difference-in-differences (DID) method to explore the impact of regional joint prevention and control (JPC) of atmospheric pollution policy on air pollution of the border regions. Empirical results show that: (1) After implementing the JPC of atmospheric pollution policy, the PM2.5 concentration in the border regions is reduced by 3.5%. (2) The mechanism analysis shows that there is a spillover effect in the governing behaviors of local governments. In the border areas under low economic growth pressure and high environmental protection pressure, the reduction effect of the JPC of atmospheric pollution policy is more significant on the PM2.5 concentration of the border regions. The research conclusions have new insights into the role and effect of macro-regional environmental JPC policy and border pollution control, and provide practical guidance for social green governance.

How does digital technology promote carbon emission reduction? Empirical evidence based on e-commerce pilot city policy in China.

Digital technology is an effective way to realize the carbon neutrality target in China. Therefore, based on panel data at the city level in China from 2006 to 2016, we take the e-commerce pilot policy as a quasi-natural experiment, using the staggered difference-in-differences (DID) method to explore the effect of digital technology development on carbon emissions and its transmission mechanism. The conclusion of this paper shows that (ⅰ) the e-commerce pilot policy has significantly reduced carbon emissions. After a series of robustness tests, this empirical conclusion is still valid. (ⅱ) The inhibitory effect of different waves of e-commerce pilot cities on carbon emissions sequentially decreases. The e-commerce pilot policy has a greater effect on reducing carbon emissions in non-old industrial based cities and non-resource-based cities. (ⅲ) Implementing the e-commerce pilot city policy mainly reduces urban carbon emissions by optimizing resource allocation, reducing energy consumption and upgrading the industrial structure. (ⅳ) In addition, implementing the e-commerce pilot city policy has a significant positive carbon-reducing linkage effect with the carbon trading pilot policy and the low-carbon city pilot policy. The findings of this paper provide empirical evidence for carbon emission reduction, which has implications for upgrading urban construction patterns and promoting green urban development.

Do pilot free trade zones improve the green total factor productivity? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China.

China's pilot free trade zone (PFTZ) is an important national strategy to achieve high-quality development, so it is necessary to discuss the effect of PFTZ implementation on green total factor productivity (GTFP). Based on the data from 279 cities in China from 2004 to 2018, this study takes the establishment of PFTZ as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the difference-in-differences (DID) method to systematically evaluate the effect of PFTZ on urban GTFP. The empirical results of this paper are shown as follows: Firstly, the construction of PFTZ has a significant effect on urban GTFP, and this effect has increased gradually over time. Secondly, the construction of PFTZ mainly promotes the urban GTFP by increasing the level of science and technology innovation, reducing government intervention and improving the level of human capital. Thirdly, the effect of PFTZ construction on GTFP is more pronounced in regions with earlier waves of PFTZ and in western regions where environmental concerns are higher. In addition, there is a significant positive linkage between the construction of the PFTZ and the Belt and Road Initiative to improve the urban GTFP. The findings of this paper enrich the relevant literature on PFTAs and sustainable development and provide a theoretical basis for further promotion of PFTZ construction.

Can vertical environmental regulation induce enterprise green innovation? A new perspective from automatic air quality monitoring station in China.

Based on panel data of listed companies in China from 2006 to 2020, this study takes the establishment of automatic air quality monitoring stations as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the staggered difference-in-differences method to explore whether the establishment of monitoring stations promotes green innovation of listed companies. The empirical results show that: (1) The green innovation of companies achieves an increase of 3.5% with monitoring stations in their locations, and an increase of 2.3% with the establishment of each additional monitoring station. This conclusion is valid after a series of robustness tests and exclusive tests. (2) The heterogeneity analyses show that monitoring stations have a greater role in promoting green innovation for non-state-owned enterprises, enterprises in heavy polluting industries and enterprises in key cities for environmental protection. (3) The transmission mechanism test results show that the establishment of automatic air monitoring station has crowding-out effect rather than leverage effect on green innovation, substantial innovation rather than strategic innovation. (4) The further analyses manifest the promotion of end-to-end green innovation, independent invention and quality of green patents.

Does the new energy demonstration cities construction reduce CO2 emission? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China.

Based on the panel data of 279 cities in China from 2003 to 2017, this paper regards the new energy demonstration cities (NEDC) construction as a quasi-natural experiment, using the double-fixed effect model and the difference-in-differences (DID) method to test its local carbon emission reduction effect and transmission mechanisms and further explores the impact of NEDC on neighboring carbon emissions. Results show that (1) NEDC reduces carbon emission intensity and per capita carbon emission significantly and shows dynamic sustainability. The policy effect has shown a trend of increasing year by year. Moreover, there is significant heterogeneity in the carbon emission reduction effect of NEDC, which produces more significant policy effect in large-scale and non-resource-based cities. (2) NEDC construction reduces carbon emission through green technology innovation effect, innovative elements agglomeration effect, and total factor productivity improvement effect. In terms of the contribution of reducing carbon emission intensity and per capita carbon emission, total factor productivity accounts for 36.7% and 21.5%, respectively, green technology innovation accounts for 18.6% and 23.9%, respectively, the contribution of R&D personnel agglomeration is 7.5% and 8.3%, respectively, and the contribution of R&D capital agglomeration is 5.9% and 9.5%, respectively. (3) From the perspective of spatial effect, the impact of NEDC on carbon emissions presents a "siphon" effect; that is, although NEDC reduces local carbon emissions, it has produced the phenomenon of transfer to neighboring areas, accelerating the increase in the carbon emission intensity of neighboring areas.

Does regional planning policy of Yangtze River Delta improve green technology innovation? Evidence from a quasi-natural experiment in China.

Green technology innovation is an important way to solve the dilemma of economic growth and environmental protection, while the relevant policies issued by the government have an important impact on the promotion of regional green technology innovation. This paper regards the implementation of the Regional Planning of Yangtze River Delta (RPYRD) as a quasi-natural experiment, using the panel data of 274 cities in China from 2003 to 2016 to explore the green technology innovation effect of regional planning and its transmission mechanisms through the double-fixed effect model and the difference-in-difference (DID) method. The results show that (1) the implementation of the RPYRD promotes regional green technology innovation significantly and the green technology innovation effect of the policy is increasing year by year. (2) There is significant regional heterogeneity in the incentive effect of green technology innovation in regional planning. The policy effect is more obvious in cities with a larger scale, a higher level of human capital and less resource dependence. (3) The regional planning promotes green technological innovation by optimizing industrial structure, reducing FDI and increasing R&D investment.

Insights into compositional changes of dissolved organic matter during a full-scale vermicomposting of cow dung by combined spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques.

Various spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques combined was used to investigate the compositional changes of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and the difference in humification degree during full-scale cow dung vermicomposting. This study also investigated that whether the two techniques could be used as humification indices. The physicochemical characteristics of vermicompost were superior to those of the control, indicating that vermicomposting significantly accelerated the humification process, which was confirmed by spectroscopic and electrochemical analyses. Meanwhile, the changes of three components identified and electron transfer capacities in vermicomposting further revealed that vermicomposting resulted in significant compositional changes of DOM and higher humification degree. Partial least squares path modeling and redundancy analysis revealed that the two techniques could be used as humification indices for vermicomposting. These results of this study demonstrated that the combination of spectroscopy and electrochemistry was applicable to characterize the compositional changes of DOM and the humification degree of vermicomposting.

Extracellular electron transfer of Enterobacter cloacae SgZ-5T via bi-mediators for the biorecovery of palladium as nanorods.

In nature, microbes use extracellular electron transfer (EET) to recover noble metals. Most attention has been paid to the biorecovery process occurring intracellularly and on the cell surface. In this work, we report that Pd nanorods could be biosynthesized by Enterobacter cloacae SgZ-5T in the extracellular space. This bacterium possesses both a direct EET pathway through membrane redox systems and an indirect EET pathway via the self-secreted electron carrier hydroquinone (HQ). When exposed to Pd(II), the bacteria adjusted their metabolic pathway and membrane-bound proteins to secrete riboflavin (RF). However, no HQ was detected in the supernatant in presence of Pd(II). No significant change was observed through metabolomic analysis regarding the abundance of HQ in presence of Pd(II) compared to Pd(II)-free supernatant. Similar results were also obtained through transcriptomic analysis of YqjG gene encoding glutathionyl-HQ reductase synthase. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic evidence indicated that HQ may adsorb to the surface of Pd nanorods. Moreover, the gene encoding RF synthase (ribE) was up-regulated in the present of Pd(II), suggesting that this bioreduction process induced RF synthase, which had been shown in previous results. The UV-vis spectroscopy data demonstrated that the Pd(II) reduction rate was enhanced by 5%, 5.5% and 30% by the addition of 3.33 µM HQ, 3.33 µM RF and the both, respectively. All these results revealed that the bi-mediators secreted by bacteria were beneficial for biorecovery of Pd. This work is of significance for understanding metal biorecovery processes and natural biogeochemical processes.

Response of enhanced sludge methanogenesis by red mud to temperature: Spectroscopic and electrochemical elucidation of endogenous redox mediators.

Adding conductive materials can promote methanogenesis via facilitating electron exchange between syntrophic bacteria and methanogenic archaea. However, little is known about how temperature would interact with such an addition and thus affect the compositions and characteristics of endogenous redox mediators (ERMs). In particular, it is of strong interest to understand how the temperature variation would affect the improvement on methanogenesis induced by ERMs with conductive materials. Herein, we have investigated the response of sludge methanogenesis to temperature variation (from 15 to 35 °C) and spectroscopically detected the ERMs induced by conductive red mud. It was demonstrated that the increasing temperature enhanced the stimulating effect of conductive red mud on methane accumulation, and the methane production potential showed a linear relationship with redox parameters such as areal capacitance (Ca), free charges (R2) and electron exchange capacity (EEC). 2DCOS spectra further indicated that ν(C-O) and δ(O-H) in humic acids, ß-turn type III amide I νs(C=O) in Cytochrome c, and δ(C-H) in amines and lipids became the main redox groups in ERMs at 35 °C with the addition of red mud. The model revealed that the contribution of ERMs to the CO2 reduction to CH4 increased from 35.2 ±â€¯1.4% to 58.6 ±â€¯1.5% when the temperature increased from 15 to 35 °C. Our finding that conductive materials stimulated the formation and electroactivity of ERMs with the increasing temperature during anaerobic digestion can have important implications for the improvement of engineered methanogenic processes.

Effects of forgiveness therapy on anger, mood, and vulnerability to substance use among inpatient substance-dependent clients.

Anger and related emotions have been identified as triggers in substance use. Forgiveness therapy (FT) targets anger, anxiety, and depression as foci of treatment. Fourteen patients with substance dependence from a local residential treatment facility were randomly assigned to and completed either 12 approximately twice-weekly sessions of individual FT or 12 approximately twice-weekly sessions of an alternative individual treatment based on routine drug and alcohol therapy topics. Participants who completed FT had significantly more improvement in total and trait anger, depression, total and trait anxiety, self-esteem, forgiveness, and vulnerability to drug use than did the alternative treatment group. Most benefits of FT remained significant at 4-month follow-up. These results support FT as an efficacious newly developed model for residential drug rehabilitation.