Purpose
As the functions of environmental regulations cannot be quantified while assessing their environmental efficiency, there has been no comprehensive evaluation of environmental efficiency. The ...purpose of this paper is to evaluate environmental regulations based on triangular and trapezoidal fuzzy numbers.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses L-R fuzzy numbers to transform the evaluation language into triangular fuzzy numbers, and adopts an α-level flexible slacks-based measurement model to evaluate the performance of these regulations. Trapezoidal fuzzy numbers are combined with a data envelopment analysis model, and an α-slack-based measurement (SBM) model is used to evaluate the environmental efficiency. The α-SBM model is confirmed to be stable and sustainable.
Findings
Relevant index data from 16,375 enterprises were collected to test the proposed model, and models corresponding to triangular fuzzy numbers and trapezoidal fuzzy numbers were used to evaluate their environmental efficiency. Comparative results showed that the proposed model is feasible and stable.
Originality/value
The main contributions of this study are twofold. First, this paper provides a valuable evaluation method for environmental regulation. Second, our research improves the practical performance of trapezoidal fuzzy data envelopment analysis and enhances its feasibility and stability.
In plants, there is a large overlap between cold and circadian regulated genes and in Arabidopsis, we have shown that cold (4°C) affects the expression of clock oscillator genes. However, a broader ...insight into the significance of diurnal and/or circadian regulation of cold responses, particularly for metabolic pathways, and their physiological relevance is lacking. Here, we performed an integrated analysis of transcripts and primary metabolites using microarrays and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. As expected, expression of diurnally regulated genes was massively affected during cold acclimation. Our data indicate that disruption of clock function at the transcriptional level extends to metabolic regulation. About 80% of metabolites that showed diurnal cycles maintained these during cold treatment. In particular, maltose content showed a massive night-specific increase in the cold. However, under free-running conditions, maltose was the only metabolite that maintained any oscillations in the cold. Furthermore, although starch accumulates during cold acclimation we show it is still degraded at night, indicating significance beyond the previously demonstrated role of maltose and starch breakdown in the initial phase of cold acclimation. Levels of some conventional cold induced metabolites, such as γ-aminobutyric acid, galactinol, raffinose and putrescine, exhibited diurnal and circadian oscillations and transcripts encoding their biosynthetic enzymes often also cycled and preceded their cold-induction, in agreement with transcriptional regulation. However, the accumulation of other cold-responsive metabolites, for instance homoserine, methionine and maltose, did not have consistent transcriptional regulation, implying that metabolic reconfiguration involves complex transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms. These data demonstrate the importance of understanding cold acclimation in the correct day-night context, and are further supported by our demonstration of impaired cold acclimation in a circadian mutant.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Based on the background of China’s “carbon neutral” policy and the booming digitalization, how does environmental regulation affect green economy performance? The existing literature has studied the ...impact of energy consumption on green economic performance. However, the literature has ignored the impact of carbon dioxide emissions on China’s green economy performance. In this regard, this research uses the non-radial distance function (NDDF) to calculate the green economic performance of China’s prefecture-level cities, and uses the dynamic panel threshold model and the systematic GMM method to study the nonlinear impacts and mechanisms of environmental regulation, digital development, technological innovation, and industrial structure upgrade on green economic performance. The panel data set contains 228 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2019. The following findings are established: first, after adding carbon dioxide emissions to China’s green economy performance, the environmental performance was reduced, and the green economy performance was also reduced. Second, the impact of environmental regulations on green economic performance has a double-threshold effect, with threshold values of −0.267 and 3.602, and this double-threshold effect has temporal and regional heterogeneity. Third, environmental regulations of different intensities have a single-threshold effect between digital development, technological innovation, and industrial structure upgrade, with threshold values of 2.955, 3.957, and 2.249, respectively. Fourth, digital development, technological innovation, and industrial structure upgrade promote green economic performance. Fifth, environmental regulation acts on green economic performance through the transmission of digitalization, technological innovation, and industrial structure upgrade. Based on these empirical findings, this research suggests that Chinese local governments should appropriately increase the intensity of environmental regulations, strengthen the digital application and technological innovation, and promote the upgrading of industrial structure to achieve the improvement of urban green economic performance.
Flexible Zn‐ion batteries (ZIBs) emerge as a promising entrant for flexible and safe energy systems in the post‐Li era, while the instability of Zn anode including inferior flexibility, ...uncontrollable plating, and dendrite growth remains a challenge. Naturally inspired, a topology‐optimized biomimetic honeycomb Zn (BH‐Zn) anode through mechanical‐electrochemical processing is demonstrated. Numerical simulations and experimental observations reveal the BH‐Zn engenders smooth current–stress–thermal field distributions, concurrently realizing the multi‐field regulation effect and boosted stability. After in situ alloying, the BH‐Zn enables half‐diminished voltage polarization, superior electrochemical stability of 2000 h cycling, and thermal stability even at 30 mA cm−2. Moreover, the assembled ZIBs manifest over 20 times enhanced capacity retention and are integrated as a self‐powered wearable system for real‐time health monitoring. This strategy can be extended to customizable metal anodes and promises to be applied in stable flexible batteries.
A topology‐optimized biomimetic honeycomb Zn anode with regularly ordered microholes is proposed via the industrially scalable mechanical‐electrochemical processing. The unique structure with in situ alloying interface engenders smooth current–stress–thermal field distributions, realizing the multi‐field regulation and boosted stability. Furthermore, the assembled flexible batteries are integrated with a self‐powered wearable system for real‐time health monitoring, showing promise in flexible electronics.
With the increasing pressure on China to reduce carbon dioxide (CO
2
) emissions, it is crucial to clarify the effect of implementing environmental regulations and their impact on the region. Many ...studies have focused on the linear, rather than nonlinear, relationship between environmental regulation and CO
2
emissions. The exploration of nonlinear relations is conducive to the in-depth study of policy effects and regional differences of environmental regulations in China. To ensure effective CO
2
emission reductions, regional differences in CO
2
emissions in China should also be considered. In this study 30 provinces of China were divided into three different regions according to their level of economic development from 2004 to 2015. Taking the energy intensity and foreign direct investment (FDI) as threshold variables, a threshold model was used to examine the relationship between environmental regulation and CO
2
emissions. It was found that environmental regulation has a threshold effect on CO
2
emissions, with significant differences among the eastern, central, and western regions. Environmental regulations in the eastern region were ineffective for curbing CO
2
emissions, while the energy intensity was in the middle and low threshold range. However, FDI had a promotional effect on CO
2
emissions. In the central region, environmental regulations reduced CO
2
emissions under the influence of energy intensity and FDI. In the western region, environmental regulations could not mitigate CO
2
emissions when the energy intensity and FDI were used as the threshold variables. It was concluded that a diverse range of measures for CO
2
reduction should be adopted according to the local economic situation.
Graphical abstract
Assigning functions to the vast array of proteins present in eukaryotic cells remains challenging. To identify relationships between proteins, and thereby enable functional annotation of proteins, we ...determined changes in abundance of 10,323 human proteins in response to 294 biological perturbations using isotope-labeling mass spectrometry. We applied the machine learning algorithm treeClust to reveal functional associations between co-regulated human proteins from ProteomeHD, a compilation of our own data and datasets from the Proteomics Identifications database. This produced a co-regulation map of the human proteome. Co-regulation was able to capture relationships between proteins that do not physically interact or colocalize. For example, co-regulation of the peroxisomal membrane protein PEX11β with mitochondrial respiration factors led us to discover an organelle interface between peroxisomes and mitochondria in mammalian cells. We also predicted the functions of microproteins that are difficult to study with traditional methods. The co-regulation map can be explored at www.proteomeHD.net .
Regulation in the water sector emerged as a formula to protect customers from the natural monopoly that conforms water and wastewater services. As there is little information about regulatory ...practices in the sector around the world, information has been collected though a survey sent to water regulators. The results of the survey provided enough information to understand how the different utilities’ behaviours are regulated and the methodologies used. Among all the behaviours to be regulated, economic and quality of service regulation emerge as key aspects from a technical point of view. The first one supervises utilities’ costs and tariffs while the second, the standards the service is provided. However, it has been detected that these aspects are regulated separately and the quality of service does not have an impact on economic regulation. This work quantifies the impact that the quality of services has on costs and the consequences derived from not considering it in the economic regulation. In addition, this study also lists all the different aspect of the quality of service with an impact on costs.
Reducing carbon emissions is an efficient strategy to cope with global warming, which continues to be a frightening element for environmental protection. However, the energy industry is responsible ...for a lot of pollution in the atmosphere. To promote a low-carbon growth model, it is essential to endorse financial inclusion and environmental regulations. This research uses panel data from 70 nations, covering 1995 to 2021, to examine the interplay between economic growth, human capital, urbanization, trade openness, and environmental regulation as the primary defining element of efficient energy. Several tests have been used to ensure that the data are typically distributed; these include the cross-sectional dependence test, the KMO test, and the Bartlett test. The generalized linear model and Driscoll-Kraay standard errors have also been implemented for interim and final analysis. Results show that low-carbon energy sources are guaranteed for certain economies when financial inclusion and environmental regulation are implemented. Economic development, urbanization, trade openness, and human capital significantly impact green economic recovery. In light of these findings, policymakers are working to increase energy efficiency and boost their citizens’ living standards by promoting financial inclusion and environmental regulation like imposing environmental taxes and governmental laws for industries.
This study seeks to examine whether internal corporate governance (CG) mechanisms affect corporate environmental disclosure (CED) in emerging economies. Using a sample of 500 firm‐year observations, ...this study distinctively applies a linear panel quantile regression (PQR) model to examine the CG–CED nexus in Jordan. This technique is supplemented with conducting a two‐step dynamic generalised method of moment (GMM) model to overcome any potential occurrence of endogeneity problems. This study reports an increasing trend in CED practice among the sampled companies over the period of analysis, yet it is still at an early stage as compared with their developed counterparts. Furthermore, this study suggests that board size, board independence, CEO duality and foreign ownership have positive associations with CED. In contrast, managerial ownership, institutional ownership and ownership concentration are negatively associated with the disclosed amount of environmental information in the Jordanian context. Theoretically, board structures appeared to be more efficient than ownership structures in reducing agency conflicts by addressing the asymmetric gap of information and promoting the disclosure of environmental information. These findings add to the debate about whether ownership structures detrimental to CED in developing economies. Specifically, when it comes to spending money on CED, owners seemed to be more concerned about any reductions in their share of the pie and may, therefore, be less motivated to disclose their companies' environmental information. This paper provides managers, owners and policymakers with a set of context‐specific recommendations related to the crucial need for a more concerted effort to integrate governance and environmental regulations in order to ensure sustainability in emerging markets.
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