Based on the large scale provincial panel data on in China from 2006 to 2015, this paper uses the directed acyclic graph (DAG) and structure vector autoregrression (SVAR) to study the internal ...dynamic relationship among the environmental regulation, technological innovation and energy efficiency. The results of the DAG analysis confirm the existence of three conduct paths among environmental regulation, technological innovation and energy efficiency. First, the market incentive environmental regulation contributes directly to energy efficiency. Second, the market incentive environmental regulation drives the energy efficiency through technological innovation. Third, the command control environmental regulation contributes directly to energy efficiency. The results of forecast error variance decomposition based on SVAR model corroborate the view that the impacts of the command control environmental regulation and market incentive environmental regulation on energy efficiency have no obvious difference in the short term. In addition, with the extension of the forecast period, the promotion effect of the command control environmental regulation on energy efficiency gradually decreases, whereas the promotion effect of the market incentive environmental regulation on energy efficiency gradually increases. Technological innovation has a significant role in promoting energy efficiency both in the short and the long term. The changes in technological innovation are affected not only by itself, but also by the market incentive environmental regulation, whereas the command control environmental regulation has no obvious impact on technological innovation.
•Directed acyclic graph is used to find the conduct paths of the variables.•SVAR model is used to study the Dynamic Relationship of the variables.•The different effects of Market incentive and command control environmental regulation are studied.•Large-dimensional panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2015 is used.
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the impact of mandatory reporting and auditing of firms’ financial statements on industry‐wide resource allocation. Using threshold‐induced variation in the share of ...mandated firms in a given industry, I document that reporting mandates facilitate ownership dispersion in capital markets and spur competition in product markets. I, however, do not find that reporting mandates unambiguously improve the efficiency of industry‐wide resource allocation. With respect to auditing mandates, I find only that they impose a fixed cost on firms, deterring smaller entrants.
Although environmental regulations have been considered as important forces of conducting green innovation, how and under what conditions they affect green innovation are still unclear. Drawing from ...institutional theory, this study used survey data from 237 manufacturing firms in China to investigate how two dimensions of environmental regulations (i.e., command and control regulation and market‐based regulation) affect green product innovation and green process innovation. Further, this article examined the mediating role of external knowledge adoption and the moderating role of green absorptive capacity. Our results indicate that both command and control regulation and market‐based regulation have positive influences on external knowledge adoption. External knowledge adoption fully mediates these positive relationships. In addition, green absorptive capacity only strengthens the positive impact of market‐based regulation on external knowledge adoption. Our study contributes to institutional theory and green innovation literature.
•This study proposed a complex eco-efficiency system for an economic region, Yangtze river economic Belt, in China.•A notable pattern was identified for each of the two periods: 2008–2012 and ...2013–2016.•The “race to top” occurs more in developed areas, while the “race to bottom” occurs more in the western urban clusters.•Moderate environmental regulation can reduce the harmful influence of green technological innovation.
The contradiction between economic development and environmental protection has become a major concern in many developing countries. To resolve environmental issues, political and technical measures must be considered. However, because of geographical, climatic, and economic differences, ecological issues need to be resolved at the regional level. This study proposes a complex eco-efficiency (EE) system composed of multidimensional components with entropy flows for an economic region, the Yangtze River Economic Belt, in China. There were distinct disparities of eco-efficiency in urban cluster, with the higher efficiency in the central cities and the lower efficiency in the satellite cities. Based on the periodic characteristics of eco-efficiency, two distinct periods, 2008–2012 and 2013–2016, were found. The relationships among environmental regulation (ER), green technological innovation (GTI), and EE varied in different regions and periods because of the “innovative compensation”, “compliance cost”, and “energy rebound” effects. When GTI efficiently improved the EE, inappropriate ER weakened the marginal benefits of GTI. When an “energy rebound effect” occurred, moderate ER was found to assist in reducing the harmful influence of GTI. A “race to the top” phenomenon was found to be more likely in developed areas, while a “race to the bottom” effect was found in the western urban clusters. Differentiated sustainable environmental policies of integrating institutional and free-market approaches are provided.
Withania somnifera produces pharmacologically important triterpenoid withanolides that are derived via phytosterol pathway; however, their biosynthesis and regulation remain to be elucidated.
A ...jasmonate- and salicin-inducible WRKY transcription factor from W. somnifera (WsWRKY1) exhibiting correlation with withaferin A accumulation was functionally characterized employing virus-induced gene silencing and overexpression studies combined with transcript and metabolite analyses, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay.
WsWRKY1 silencing resulted in stunted plant growth, reduced transcripts of phytosterol pathway genes with corresponding reduction in phytosterols and withanolides in W. somnifera. Its overexpression elevated the biosynthesis of triterpenoids in W. somnifera (phytosterols and withanolides), as well as tobacco and tomato (phytosterols). Moreover, WsWRKY1 binds to W-box sequences in promoters of W. somnifera genes encoding squalene synthase and squalene epoxidase, indicating its direct regulation of triterpenoid pathway. Furthermore, while WsWRKY1 silencing in W. somnifera compromised the tolerance to bacterial growth, fungal infection, and insect feeding, its overexpression in tobacco led to improved biotic stress tolerance.
Together these findings demonstrate that WsWRKY1 has a positive regulatory role on phytosterol and withanolides biosynthesis, and defense against biotic stress, highlighting its importance as a metabolic engineering tool for simultaneous improvement of triterpenoid biosynthesis and plant defense.
Golden holocaust Proctor, Robert N
2012., 20120129, 2012, c2011., 2012-02-28, 20110101
eBook
The cigarette is the deadliest artifact in the history of human civilization. It is also one of the most beguiling, thanks to more than a century of manipulation at the hands of tobacco industry ...chemists. In Golden Holocaust, Robert N. Proctor draws on reams of formerly-secret industry documents to explore how the cigarette came to be the most widely-used drug on the planet, with six trillion sticks sold per year. He paints a harrowing picture of tobacco manufacturers conspiring to block the recognition of tobacco-cancer hazards, even as they ensnare legions of scientists and politicians in a web of denial. Proctor tells heretofore untold stories of fraud and subterfuge, and he makes the strongest case to date for a simple yet ambitious remedy: a ban on the manufacture and sale of cigarettes.
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control makes a number of recommendations aimed at restricting the marketing of tobacco products. Tobacco industry political activity has been identified as an ...obstacle to Parties' development and implementation of these provisions. This study systematically reviews the existing literature on tobacco industry efforts to influence marketing regulations and develops taxonomies of 1) industry strategies and tactics and 2) industry frames and arguments.
Searches were conducted between April-July 2011, and updated in March 2013. Articles were included if they made reference to tobacco industry efforts to influence marketing regulations; supported claims with verifiable evidence; were written in English; and concerned the period 1990-2013. 48 articles met the review criteria. Narrative synthesis was used to combine the evidence.
56% of articles focused on activity in North America, Europe or Australasia, the rest focusing on Asia (17%), South America, Africa or transnational activity. Six main political strategies and four main frames were identified. The tobacco industry frequently claims that the proposed policy will have negative unintended consequences, that there are legal barriers to regulation, and that the regulation is unnecessary because, for example, industry does not market to youth or adheres to a voluntary code. The industry primarily conveys these arguments through direct and indirect lobbying, the promotion of voluntary codes and alternative policies, and the formation of alliances with other industrial sectors. The majority of tactics and arguments were used in multiple jurisdictions.
Tobacco industry political activity is far more diverse than suggested by existing taxonomies of corporate political activity. Tactics and arguments are repeated across jurisdictions, suggesting that the taxonomies of industry tactics and arguments developed in this paper are generalisable to multiple jurisdictions and can be used to predict industry activity.
Summary
The gaseous plant hormone ethylene is produced by a fairly simple two‐step biosynthesis route. Despite this pathway’s simplicity, recent molecular and genetic studies have revealed that the ...regulation of ethylene biosynthesis is far more complex and occurs at different layers. Ethylene production is intimately linked with the homeostasis of its general precursor S‐adenosyl‐l‐methionine (SAM), which experiences transcriptional and posttranslational control of its synthesising enzymes (SAM synthetase), as well as the metabolic flux through the adjacent Yang cycle. Ethylene biosynthesis continues from SAM by two dedicated enzymes: 1‐aminocyclopropane‐1‐carboxylic (ACC) synthase (ACS) and ACC oxidase (ACO). Although the transcriptional dynamics of ACS and ACO have been well documented, the first transcription factors that control ACS and ACO expression have only recently been discovered. Both ACS and ACO display a type‐specific posttranslational regulation that controls protein stability and activity. The nonproteinogenic amino acid ACC also shows a tight level of control through conjugation and translocation. Different players in ACC conjugation and transport have been identified over the years, however their molecular regulation and biological significance is unclear, yet relevant, as ACC can also signal independently of ethylene. In this review, we bring together historical reports and the latest findings on the complex regulation of the ethylene biosynthesis pathway in plants.
Fruit set is a key process for crop production in tomato which occurs after successful pollination and fertilization naturally. However, parthenocarpic fruit development can be uncoupled from ...fertilization triggered by exogenous auxin or gibberellins (GAs). Global transcriptome knowledge during fruit initiation would help to characterize the molecular mechanisms by which these two hormones regulate pollination-dependent and -independent fruit set.
In this work, digital gene expression tag profiling (DGE) technology was applied to compare the transcriptomes from pollinated and 2, 4-D/GA3-treated ovaries. Activation of carbohydrate metabolism, cell division and expansion as well as the down-regulation of MADS-box is a comprehensive regulatory pathway during pollination-dependent and parthenocarpic fruit set. The signaling cascades of auxin and GA are significantly modulated. The feedback regulations of Aux/IAAs and DELLA genes which functioned to fine-tune auxin and GA response respectively play fundamental roles in triggering fruit initiation. In addition, auxin regulates GA synthesis via up-regulation of GA20ox1 and down-regulation of KNOX. Accordingly, the effect of auxin on fruit set is mediated by GA via ARF2 and IAA9 down-regulation, suggesting that both pollination-dependent and parthenocarpic fruit set depend on the crosstalk between auxin and GA.
This study characterizes the transcriptomic features of ovary development and more importantly unravels the integral roles of auxin and GA on pollination-dependent and parthenocarpic fruit set.
•South American countries have stepped up deforestation regulations and enforcement.•We study potential spillover effects of these regulations for soy and beef.•We find little change in soy or ...pasture expansion patterns due to increased regulations.•We find a decrease in beef imports from more regulated biomes.•Substitution between markets and actors diminish the effectiveness of regulations.
In response to the extensive loss of forests caused by soy and cattle expansion in South America, several countries have increased their legal restrictions on deforestation, and stepped up their enforcement. In addition, in the Brazilian Amazon, new private agreements were initiated in 2006 and 2009 to limit the purchase of soy and cattle linked with deforestation. One concern is that such policies, because they are spatially heterogeneous or focus on a subset of relevant actors, might generate negative spillovers in the form of leakage of agricultural activities and deforestation to less-regulated areas, and/or a redistribution of non-compliant product sales to non-participants. In this study, we use panel data on soy and beef production and trade in agricultural frontiers of South America to examine how changes in deforestation regulations in South America have altered soy and cattle expansion and exports in this region, and to understand how these changes, if they have occurred, influence the overall effectiveness of deforestation regulations. We find no evidence of a change in soy or pasture area expansion patterns due to changes in regulations, except within the Amazon biome where pasture expansion slowed in response to more stringent regulations and coincided with pasture intensification. We do find, however, a decrease in beef imports from biomes with more stringent deforestation regulations. While this decrease may indicate the existence of leakage to countries outside the study area, it is likely offset by pasture intensification, continued opportunities for deforestation, and increasing domestic consumption from these biomes. These results point to the potential role of substitution effects between local and international consumer markets, and between different actors, in diminishing the overall effectiveness of deforestation regulations.
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