The role of environmental tax on the environmental quality in EU counties: evidence from panel vector autoregression approach.

This study intends to analyze the influence of environmental taxes on pollution in EU-27 nations. Furthermore, energy from renewable sources consumption and urbanization are employed to clarify CO2 emissions in this study that tests the EKC hypothesis. According to the findings, an increase in environmental taxes reduces CO2 emissions by 0.14%. Also, the data supported the validity of the EKC concept. The findings of the causality test demonstrated that there is a bidirectional causal link between CO2 emissions and environmental taxes. These results reflect that environmental tax revenues contribute to sustainability as an effective policy tool in EU countries. Policies regarding environmental tax enforcement come to the fore in terms of both keeping the balance in economic activities and serving sustainability.

The impact of technological innovations on the environmental Kuznets curve: evidence from EU-27.

The EKC hypothesis expresses the inverted U-shaped relationship between per capita income and environmental quality. In the literature, the role of technological innovations and income inequality on pollution is a relatively recent discussion in the studies testing the EKC hypothesis. The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of technological innovations, income inequality, exports, urbanization, and growth on CO2 emissions in EU-27. In addition, while investigating this relationship, exports and urbanization are also considered and panel vector autoregression (PVAR) analysis is applied for the 2005-2019 period. According to the coefficient estimation results, while income inequality, exports, and urbanization increase pollution, technological innovations contribute to environmental quality. Also, the results demonstrated that the EKC hypothesis is invalid in these countries and there is a U-shaped relationship between growth and emissions. The causality test results revealed the presence of unidirectional causality running from all explanatory variables to CO2 emissions. Moreover, impulse-response graphs demonstrated that the reply of emissions to the shocks in the explanatory variables is similar to the long-run coefficient results. In conclusion, all available empirical evidence for this relationship highlights that income inequality and technological innovations should be considered in policy-making processes to ensure environmental quality in EU-27 countries.

Is energy poverty of Eastern European countries a threat or opportunity in the European Union's fight against climate change?

Energy poverty is a critical global issue that affects millions of people worldwide. The lack of access to reliable and affordable energy services has significant economic and social impacts, including limited opportunities for education, personal development, and economic growth. This paper examines the relationship between energy poverty and economic development in selected countries using the panel quantile methodology. The findings emphasize the importance of addressing energy poverty in order to foster economic growth in the selected country group. In addition, CO2 emissions have a positive effect on economic growth, but policies to reduce fossil fuel consumption can both boost economic growth and mitigate negative environmental impacts. Inflation has a negative effect on economic growth, so policymakers should prioritize measures to control it. Employment has a positive effect on economic growth, so job creation policies should be promoted. The study found that improving access to clean energy can increase economic growth and improve the well-being of citizens in Eastern European countries. Therefore, efforts to reduce energy poverty should be a priority to promote economic development and improve the quality of life.

Is electronic finance sustainable or not in the European Union? New insights from the panel vector autoregression approach.

Today, as a result of the developments and widespread use of information and communication technologies, the weight of online shopping in the economy has increased. The environmental impacts of this new order, which is an important part of electronic finance, are discussed. In this study, the effect of electronic finance, economic growth, renewable energy consumption, and urbanization on emissions in EU member countries is examined using the panel vector autoregression (PVAR) approach for the period from 2005 to 2018. The main results suggest that e-finance has a positive and statistically significant effect on CO2 emissions. However, the renewable energy consumption-increasing effect of e-finance is greater than its emission-reducing effect. Moreover, renewable energy consumption has a statistically insignificant effect on emissions. Therefore, the contribution of e-finance on environmental quality weakens. The requirement for EU member countries to prioritize the use of environmentally friendly energy to benefit from the environmental contribution of e-finance in the most optimal way is stated as the main policy implication of this study.

Analysis of the dynamics of environmental degradation for 18 upper middle-income countries: the role of financial development.

This study aims at investigating the dynamics of environmental degradation by focusing on the financial development-CO2 emissions link. In this purpose, economic growth, renewable energy consumption, trade openness and urbanization are integrated into the CO2 emissions model as other explanatory variables. In this study, 18 upper-middle-income countries with the highest growth rate in the world are examined for the period 1990-2018 by AMG method, which considers the cross-sectional dependence and slope heterogeneity. In addition, the causal linkages between variables are explored by Dumitrescu-Hurlin panel bootstrap causality technique. As a result of the study, it is found that financial development and renewable energy consumption reduce CO2 emissions. In addition, it is determined that economic growth, urbanization, and trade openness deteriorate the environmental quality. As a result of causality analysis, while one-way is found from renewable energy consumption to CO2 emissions, a bidirectional causality is observed between financial development and CO2 emissions. Empirical findings provide several policy suggestions that decrease CO2 emissions in these countries.

Testing the EKC hypothesis for the USA by avoiding aggregation bias: a microstudy by subsectors.

The aim of this study is to examine the impact of foreign direct investments, economic growth, and energy consumption on carbon dioxide subcomponents in the case of the USA. Dynamic ARDL (DARDL) econometric method is used covering the period 1972-2020. In addition to the total CO2 emission, the subcomponents of CO2 emission are examined separately within the framework of the EKC hypothesis in the USA by avoiding aggregation bias for the first time. The CO2 emission subcomponents used in the study are as follows; CO2 emissions from liquid fuel consumption, residential buildings, and commercial and public services; electricity and heat production; and other sectors, excluding residential buildings and commercial and public services, and CO2 emissions from transportation. Each CO2 emission component is used as a dependent variable and 6 different models were created. Foreign direct investments, trade, and energy consumption are used as control variables. No results supporting the EKC hypothesis are determined in any model, except for model 1, where total CO2 emission is the dependent variable. In addition, the trade variable has been determined as an important factor in reducing CO2 emissions in the short and long term. Trade and GDP per capita increasing and energy consumption reducing will show positive results in order to increase the environmental quality in the USA. Moreover, the study in which this EKC hypothesis is tested with CO2 emission and its subcomponents is an important study in terms of providing the opportunity to analyze the environmental quality from different angles at the same time and to take various measures together in the US economy.

Academicians' awareness, attitude, and use of open access during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The aim of this research is to reveal academics' awareness, attitude, and use of open access. In line with the research purpose, the survey research design is adopted. This research consists 151 academics from 12 basic research areas; eight of them being Professor Dr, 17 being Associate Professor Dr, 49 being Doctor Lecturer, and 77 being Research Assistant or Lecturer. A questionnaire consisting of 19 open access and five demographic information questions was used for the data collection tool. The research results show that 75% of the academics have open access awareness and that their awareness is generally created by information that they obtain through the Internet and their friends. In addition, most of the academics indicate that their awareness of open access has increased during the pandemic period. When considering the level of academics' use of open access, it is found that 75% of the academics use articles in open access journals for their own research and 51% of the academics do not publish any articles in open access journals.

The nonlinear links between urbanization and CO2 in 15 emerging countries: Evidence from unconditional quantile and threshold regression.

The extant literature has provided empirical evidence about the relationship between urbanization and the environment; however, little attention has been paid to the non-linear relationship among them. This study aims to measure the effects of urbanization on carbon dioxide emission using quantile and threshold regression methods. To this end, the study employed threshold analysis and quantile regression methods in a sample of 15 emerging economies from 1995 to 2015 and analyzed the variation of such non-linearity at different levels of carbon dioxide. The results illustrate that a single threshold and two regimes exist and the threshold for urbanization is 29.56%. Among the two regimes, the elasticity estimates form an inverted U-shape impact of urbanization on carbon dioxide emission. The increase in the marginal effect of urbanization on carbon dioxide emissions up to the median level and a declining trend after this level implies that environmental quality is likely to improve in the emerging countries.

Environmental quality and renewable energy consumption with different quality indicators: evidence from robust result with panel quantile approach.

The purpose of this paper is to research the relation among environmental quality and renewable energy in the RECAI country group. The study used per capita CO2 emission, energy intensity, and Aggregate National Savings as a measure of environmental quality. Other variables used in the study are renewable energy consumption, fossil fuel consumption, GDP per capita, and foreign direct investments. In the study, three different models to see different environmental quality indicators by panel quantile method for 19202090-. According to the results obtained, unlike other models, renewable energy consumption in model 1 positively affects energy intensity in all quantiles. In other words, renewable energy consumption negatively affects environmental quality. In model 1 and model 3, the coefficients of fossil fuel consumption were positive and negative, respectively. Unlike model 2, the coefficient estimates of fossil fuel consumption in model 3 were predominantly negative. Fossil fuel consumption shows a positive effect on environmental quality, which is similar to model 1. Economic growth negatively affects environmental quality in all models. There is a one-way causal relationship from renewable energy consumption to energy intensity and energy intensity to growth.

Teachers' views related the middle school curriculum for distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This qualitative study aims to examine teachers' opinions concerning the middle school curricula that have been in use for years, in order to determine its suitability for distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The participants consisted of eighteen middle school teachers from different subject areas in Turkey. A maximum variation sampling method was employed for participant selection. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Due to the pandemic, the interviews were conducted using video conferencing applications. The data was analyzed through content analysis. According to the findings, the teachers report that while they are effective in achieving cognitive objectives, they have difficulties in achieving affective and psychomotor objectives. In addition, the teachers do not prefer to design their own materials, rather they mainly benefit from ready-to-use materials during emergency distance education. The teachers also reveal that direct instruction and questioning were the teaching methods and techniques they preferred in online courses and that they were unable to adapt other methods and techniques to distance education, which resulted in students experiencing teacher-centered activities. Moreover, the teachers complain about students not attending the online courses on time or even at all, their disinterest, a lack of instant feedback, limited communication with students, and insufficient course lengths. Another critical finding was that the teachers only use homework, end-of-unit quizzes, and participation to online courses as measurement and evaluation tools and agree that they are unable to administer reliable and valid evaluation tools. The limitations of the study and implications for future research are later discussed.

The effects of energy poverty on economic growth: a panel data analysis for BRICS countries.

Energy consumption is an indispensable element for the purpose of achieving economic growth. Clean energy sources must be put into use to achieve a sustainable environment. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship among growth, energy consumption, employment, education, and inflation with PVAR, FMOLS, and DOLS analysis in BRICS countries. The study that covers the 2001-2018 observation period included growth as the dependent variable in the equation. The only common result of the three coefficient estimates is that there is no significant relationship between education and growth. However, the increase in income has a decreasing effect on the level of education. The direction of causality between the two variables is from growth to education. Contrary to the PVAR estimate, according to FMOLS and DOLS, energy consumption and employment have a positive contribution towards growth. However, according to PVAR regression results, income growth has a positive effect on employment. Moreover, a unidirectional causal relation from energy consumption to growth and a bidirectional relation between growth and employment have been determined. This one-way relationship between energy consumption and GDP depicts that the growth hypothesis is valid. Furthermore, an energy poverty problem does not exist in BRICS countries. According to FMOLS, DOLS, and PVAR forecasts, the relationship between inflation and growth is complex. In accordance with PVAR estimates, the increase in growth reduces inflation, and the causality from growth to inflation also supports the PVAR results. According to the outcome of the research, energy poverty is not observed in the panel countries. It would be wise for BRICS countries to increase their energy consumption and employment levels in order to increase growth. However, considering the air pollution caused by fossil fuel consumption, it is key that they employ renewable energy sources.

The link between urbanization and air pollution in Turkey: evidence from dynamic autoregressive distributed lag simulations.

This study investigates the relationship between urbanization and air pollution in Turkey. Dynamic ARDL method was used for the period 1960-2015. According to the findings, there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between long-term urbanization and CO2. If urbanization increased by 1%, carbon emissions increased by 0.02%. There is a similar relationship between the shocks that will occur in population growth and CO2 emission in the long term. However, there is a negative and statistically insignificant relationship between the two variables. In the relationship between GDP and CO2, there is a positive relationship in the long term. GDP increase of 1% increases CO2 emissions by 0.11%. There is a similar relationship between long-term GDP shocks and CO2 emissions. According to short-term analysis results, energy consumption increases CO2 emissions by the same rate as GDP. However, the astonishing result of the study emerges here. Empirical results show that a long-term positive shock in energy consumption reduces CO2 emissions and a negative shock increases pollution. According to these results, Turkey has not reached the point of sustainable growth. For this reason, this developing country needs to make regulatory implementations and determine future policies for these impacts affecting air pollution.

The impact of natural resources and gross capital formation on economic growth in the context of globalization: evidence from developing countries on the continent of Europe, Asia, Africa, and America.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the nexus between natural resources, gross capital formation, globalization, and economic growth in the developing countries from European, Asian, African, and American continents. It adopted the panel vector autoregression (PVAR) approach to test this relationship for the period from 1980 to 2018. Results suggest that natural resources and globalization have a positive impact on economic growth in European, Asian, and American countries, while capital formation negatively affects growth. In African countries, the effect of globalization and gross capital formation is positive, but natural resources have a negative impact on GDP. Evidence from all continents illustrate that there is bidirectional causality between globalization and economic growth. Also, there is bidirectional causality detected between capital formation and growth in Europe and Asia and between natural resources and growth in Asia and America, while there is unidirectional causality from GDP to natural resources in Europe, from capital formation to GDP in Africa and America, from GDP to natural resources in Europe, and from natural resources to GDP in America. Based on these results, it can be said that new growth models can no longer be independent of natural resource rents and globalization.

Which renewable energy consumption is more efficient by fuzzy EDAS method based on PESTLE dimensions?

The facilities that energy delivers to social life and economic activities render it indispensable. Hence, it is equally critical that the energy cycle must have a sustainable structure. Therefore, it is an indisputable fact that developing and performing correct and consistent energy policies is vitally necessary. Energy consumption planning includes a continuous process to reassess existing and potential alternative energy approaches and strategies. The public and private decision-makers in charge of planning and managing energy consumption policies must adapt their strategies to novel and superior alternative resources according to sustainability and efficiency criteria. In this paper, the fuzzy EDAS method is used to address the best renewable energy consumption by taking political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental (PESTLE) dimensions into account. The analysis of the paper indicates the most efficient renewable energy consumption is sourced by geothermal, solar, wind, hydroelectricity, and biomass, respectively. By further investigation, it is concluded that the most optimum renewable energy consumption alternatives based on PESTLE dimensions are geothermal and solar energies.

The nexus between economic growth, tourism development, energy consumption, and CO2 emissions in Mediterranean countries.

This study aims to analyze the relationship among international tourism, energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions, and economic growth in Mediterranean countries for the 1995-2014 data period. According to the results of panel quantile regression model for 17 countries, the tourism-led growth hypothesis is valid in low growth levels, but deviations from this hypothesis are determined after the middle growth level. Also, the CO2 coefficient at low growth levels indicated that sustainable growth is achieved, but no significant results are obtained at subsequent growth levels. Finally, energy consumption supports economic growth at low and medium growth levels. Short-run causality test results illustrated that there is bidirectional causality between GDP and all explanatory variables.

Bootstrap rolling window estimation approach to analysis of the Environment Kuznets Curve hypothesis: evidence from the USA.

This study aims to examine the validity of inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve by investigating the relationship between economic growth and environmental pollution for the period from 1966 to 2013 in the USA. Previous studies based on the assumption of parameter stability and obtained parameters do not change over the full sample. This study uses bootstrap rolling window estimation method to detect the possible changes in causal relations and also obtain the parameters for sub-sample periods. The results show that the parameter of economic growth has increasing trend in 1982-1996 sub-sample periods, and it has decreasing trend in 1996-2013 sub-sample periods. Therefore, the existence of inverted U-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve is confirmed in the USA.

Cardiovascular responses, perceived exertion and technical actions during small-sided recreational soccer: effects of pitch size and number of players.

The aim of this study was to determine the cardiovascular, perceived exertion and technical effects of altering pitch size and number of players in recreational soccer match-play. The further aim was to evaluate to what extent exercise intensity during various game formats corresponds to the recommended intensity level for cardiovascular fitness improvement. Ten male recreational players aged 31.7±7.6 years (mean ± SD) completed four variations of small-sided games (except for goalkeepers, 5-a-side and 7-a-side on small and large pitches) during which heart rate, perceived exertion and technical actions were evaluated. Two-way analysis of variance on repeated measures was applied to collected data. The results indicated that an average workload expressed as heart rate and percentage of heart rate reserve during 5-a-side games was higher than for 7-a-side games. The rate of perceived exertion values were moderate and similar for all formats of games. The players performed more dribbling and successful passes, but fewer unsuccessful passes during 5-a-side games. Furthermore, the number of ball possessions and unsuccessful passes was higher on a small pitch than on a large one. Consequently, the current findings suggest that, independent of pitch size, the cardiovascular demands imposed on participants increase when the game is played with fewer players. However, all formats of recreational soccer can be used as an effective activity to promote cardiovascular fitness. Finally, participants may have more chance to perform basic technical actions during 5-a-side games on small and large pitches.

Objectively measured activity in 8-10-year-old Turkish children: relationship to health-related fitness.

BACKGROUND: No objective data regarding the physical activity (PA) levels of young Turkish children currently exist. Furthermore, whether habitual PA is associated with the components of health-related fitness among children is unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the patterns and levels of objectively measured PA in prepubertal Turkish children and its relationship with body fatness, aerobic and anaerobic fitness. METHODS: Eighty-nine 8-10-year-old children (47 boys and 42 girls) participated in this study. The intensity, duration and frequency of PA were assessed from 4 days of heart rate monitoring with 15 s sampling intervals. Body fatness was determined by measuring skinfold thickness. Anaerobic fitness was evaluated using the Wingate test. All the children performed the shuttle run test to assess aerobic fitness. RESULTS: The PA of boys was significantly higher than that of girls (P < 0.05). Gender difference is more marked for vigorous PA. Instead of sustained PA, short bouts of PA, lasting up to 1 min, were characteristic of PA patterns of children. The duration and frequency of PA were positively related to aerobic fitness and negatively related to fatness for both gender groups (P < 0.05). These relationships were more prominent for accumulated PA than for other measures of PA. No relationship was obtained between PA and anaerobic fitness in either gender group (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Intermittent, accumulated moderate intensity PA may be more important than sustained vigorous intensity PA in influencing children's fitness and fatness levels. Detailed studies are needed to clarify which dimension of PA is more beneficial for health-related fitness in children.

Metabolic demands of match performance in young soccer players.

The aim of the present study was to determine metabolic responses, movement patterns and distance covered at running speeds corresponding to fixed blood lactate concentrations (FBLs) in young soccer players during a match play. A further aim of the study was to evaluate the relationships between FBLs, maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) and distance covered during a game. A multistage field test was administered to 32 players to determine FBLs and VO2max. Blood lactate (LA), heart rate (HR) and rate of perceived exertion (RPE) responses were obtained from 36 players during tournament matches filmed using six fixed cameras. Images were transferred to a computer, for calibration and synchronization. In all players, values for LA and HR were higher and RPE lower during the 1(st) half compared to the 2(nd) half of the matches (p < 0.01). Players in forward positions had higher LA levels than defenders, but HR and RPE values were similar between playing positions. Total distance and distance covered in jogging, low-moderate-high intensity running and low intensity sprint were higher during the 1(st) half (p < 0.01). In the 1(st) half, players also ran longer distances at FBLs [p<0.01; average running speed at 2mmol·L(-1) (FBL2): 3.32 ± 0.31m·s(-1) and average running speed at 4mmol·L(-1) (FBL4): 3.91 ± 0.25m·s(-1)]. There was a significant difference between playing positions in distance covered at different running speeds (p < 0.05). However, when distance covered was expressed as FBLs, the players ran similar distances. In addition, relationships between FBLs and total distance covered were significant (r = 0.482 to 0.570; p < 0.01). In conclusion, these findings demonstrated that young soccer players experienced higher internal load during the 1(st) half of a game compared to the 2(nd) half. Furthermore, although movement patterns of players differed between playing positions, all players experienced a similar physiological stress throughout the game. Finally, total distance covered was associated to fixed blood lactate concentrations during play. Key pointsBased on LA, HR and RPE responses, young top soccer players experienced a higher physiological stress during the 1(st) half of the matches compared to the 2(nd) half.Movement patterns differed in accordance with the players' positions but that all players experienced a similar physiological stress during match play.Approximately one quarter of total distance was covered at speeds that exceeded the 4 mmol·L(-1) fixed LA threshold.Total distance covered was influenced by running speeds at fixed lactate concentrations in young soccer players during match play.

Daily Physical Activity and Physical Fitness in 11-to 15-year-old Trained and Untrained Turkish Boys.

The aims of this study were to assess levels and patterns of physical activity (PA) in relation to age and regular sport activity, and to examine its relationship to physical fitness in trained and untrained boys. One hundred forty-seven 11-to 15- year-old boys (73 trained and 74 untrained) participated in this study. Trained boys, comprised of 26 soccer, 25 handball and 22 volleyball players, had been training regularly for at least one year. The intensity, duration and frequency of PA were assessed from four complete days of heart rate monitoring with 15-seconds sampling intervals. Aerobic fitness was assessed by determining peakVO2 with a portable breath-by-breath gas analyzer (Cosmed K4b(2)) and the running speeds at fixed lactate concentrations during an incremental running test. Anaerobic fitness was evalu-ated with the Wingate Anaerobic Test. Skinfold thicknesses from eight sites and Tanner stages of pubic hair were also obtained. Based on 15-s heart rate data, instead of continuous activity, multiple short bouts of moderate and vigorous PA, lasting up to one minute, were characteristic of daily PA patterns of both trained and untrained boys. PA levels of trained boys were higher than untrained boys (p < 0.01) and the levels of PA decreased with age and maturation in both groups (p < 0.05). Daily PA variables were related to body fatness in both groups (p < 0.05), but the relationships were not consistent in the trained group. Daily PA variables were also related to aerobic fitness in the untrained group (p < 0.05) and these relationships were somewhat better with vigorous PA, whereas in the trained group, none of the PA variables were related to any of the aerobic fitness indices (p > 0.05). No relationship was observed between PA variables and anaerobic fitness in either group (p> 0.05). It seems that such relationships may somewhat depend on the fitness level of the subjects. Key pointsPA levels of trained boys were higher than untrained boys and the levels of PA decreased with age and maturation in both groups.Based on the 15-s HR data, instead of continuous activity, multiple short bouts of moderate and vigorous PA, lasting up to one minute, were characteristic of daily PA patterns of both trained and untrained boys.Daily PA variables were related to aerobic fitness in the untrained group and these relationships were somewhat better with vigorous PA (>70% HRR), whereas in the trained group, none of the PA variables were related to any of the aerobic fitness indices.Neither peak nor mean power values were related to any of the daily PA variables in both trained and untrained groups.