Command-and-control environmental regulation is a traditional environmental policy that is still widely used in developing countries. This study examined a rarely discussed but significant issue for ...environmental sustainability and economic development—the impact of command-and-control environmental regulation on enterprise total factor productivity growth—based on a large enterprise-level sample. Employing China’s “Two Control Zone” policy as a quasi-natural experiment, we used a Chinese industrial enterprise panel dataset from 1998 to 2007 to estimate the effects of command-and-control environmental regulation in a difference-in-difference framework. It is found that command-and-control environmental regulation hassignificantly hindered the growth of enterprise total factor productivity, and this negative effect was lagging and continuous. In addition, we leaned that this negative effect mainly came from the increase in costs of enterprises and the negative impact on the enterprise resource allocation efficiency. When considering enterprise heterogeneity in terms of pollution intensity, size, and ownership, the study further found that the negative effects are exacerbated for enterprises in more heavily polluting industries, those of smaller size, and those owned by foreign companies, respectively. Our research is a reexamination of the Porter hypothesis in China, and fills the gap in the literature on the micro effects of command-and-control policy on enterprise total factor productivity for developing countries. Based on a rigorous empirical analysis, we conclude that it is difficult to achieve a win–win scenario with sustainable environmental development and enterprise total factor productivity growth under command-and-control environmental regulation. Environmental regulations should have clear objectives and take a flexible approach, and it is necessary to adopt diversified environmental regulation policies based on market instruments.
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•Command-and-control environmental regulation hindered the enterprise TFP growth.•Increasing cost and lower resource allocation efficiency are main influence channels.•TFP of heavily polluted enterprise is more hindered than lightly polluted enterprise.•TFP of small enterprise is more inhibited by TCZ policy than large enterprise.•TFP of foreign enterprises is more hindered by TCZ policy than domestic enterprise.
Developing reliable and user-friendly electroencephalography (EEG) electrodes remains a challenge for emerging real-world EEG applications. Classic wet electrodes are the gold standard for recording ...EEG; however, they are difficult to implement and make users uncomfortable, thus severely restricting their widespread application in real-life scenarios. An alternative is dry electrodes, which do not require conductive gels or skin preparation. Despite their quick setup and improved user-friendliness, dry electrodes still have some inherent problems (invasive, relatively poor signal quality, or sensitivity to motion artifacts), which limit their practical utilization. In recent years, semi-dry electrodes, which require only a small amount of electrolyte fluid, have been successfully developed, combining the advantages of both wet and dry electrodes while addressing their respective drawbacks. Semi-dry electrodes can collect reliable EEG signals comparable to wet electrodes. Moreover, their setup is as fast and convenient similar to that of dry electrodes. Hence, semi-dry electrodes have shown tremendous application prospects for real-world EEG acquisition. Herein, we systematically summarize the development, evaluation methods, and practical design considerations of semi-dry electrodes. Some feasible suggestions and new ideas for the development of semi-dry electrodes have been presented. This review provides valuable technical support for the development of semi-dry electrodes toward emerging practical applications.
Emission trading system is a significant market-based environmental regulation tool worldwide. This study fills existing knowledge gap on whether ETSs have “weak” and “strong” version of Porter ...hypothesis effects in China, by examining the effects of the Chinese SO
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emission trading on corporate innovation and productivity. Using the micro-data of domestic-listed manufacturing companies from 2004 to 2015, this study regarded China’s SO
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emission trading system as a quasi-natural experiment by applying a difference-in-difference framework to eliminate endogenous problems. It was found that the SO
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emission trading system significantly promoted corporate innovation but did not have a significant effect on corporate productivity. The cause analysis showed that suboptimal institutional context and lack of corporate dynamic response led to the failure of strong Porter hypothesis effect. In addition, small- and medium-sized enterprises and non-state-owned enterprises gained greater innovation compensation effects of the emission trading system. This research believed that, the design, institutional context, and market incentives of emission trading systems need to be improved from the top down, to achieve the dual goal of environmental sustainability and economic growth.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play crucial roles in regulating plant development and stress responses. However, the functions and mechanism of intronic miRNAs in plants are poorly understood. This study reports ...a stress-responsive RNA splicing mechanism for intronic miR400 production, whereby miR400 modulates reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and improves plant tolerance by downregulating its target expression. To monitor the intron splicing events, we used an intronic miR400 splicing-dependent luciferase transgenic line. Luciferase activity was observed to decrease after high cadmium concentration treatment due to the retention of the miR400-containing intron, which inhibited the production of mature miR400. Furthermore, we demonstrated that under Cd treatments, Pentatricopeptide Repeat Protein 1 (PPR1), the target of miR400, acts as a positive regulator by inducing ROS accumulation. Ppr1 mutation affected the Complex III activity in the electron transport chain and RNA editing of the mitochondrial gene ccmB. This study illustrates intron splicing as a key step in intronic miR400 production and highlights the function of intronic miRNAs as a 'signal transducer' in enhancing plant stress tolerance.
The single-mode Dicke model is well known to undergo a quantum phase transition from the so-called normal phase to the superradiant phase (hereinafter called the 'superradiant quantum phase ...transition'). Normally, quantum phase transitions can be identified by the critical behavior of quantities such as entanglement, quantum fluctuations, and fidelity. In this paper, we study the role of the quantum Fisher information (QFI) of both the field mode and the atoms in the ground state of the Dicke Hamiltonian. For a finite but large number of atoms, our numerical results show that near the critical atom-field coupling, the QFI of the atomic and the field subsystems can surpass their classical limits, due to the appearance of nonclassical quadrature squeezing. As the coupling increases far beyond the critical point, each subsystem becomes a highly mixed state, which degrades the QFI and hence the ultimate phase sensitivity. In the thermodynamic limit, we present the analytical results of the QFI and their relationship with the reduced variances of the field mode and the atoms. For each subsystem, we find that there is a singularity in the derivative of the QFI at the critical point, a clear signature of the quantum criticality in the Dicke model.
Glycogen metabolism commonly altered in cancer is just beginning to be understood. Phosphoglucomutase 1 (PGM1), the first enzyme in glycogenesis that catalyzes the reversible conversion between ...glucose 1-phosphate (G-1-P) and glucose 6-phosphate (G-6-P), participates in both the breakdown and synthesis of glycogen. Here, we show that PGM1 is down-regulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which is associated with the malignancy and poor prognosis of HCC. Decreased PGM1 expression obstructed glycogenesis pathway, which leads to the increased flow of glucose into glycolysis, thereby promoting tumor cell proliferation and HCC development. The loss of forkhead box protein J2 (FOXJ2), at least partly due to low genomic copy number in HCC, releases cellular nucleic acid-binding protein (CNBP), a nucleic acid chaperon, to bind to and promote G-quadruplex formation in PGM1 promoter and therefore decreases PGM1 expression. In addition, integrated analyses of PGM1 and FOXJ2 expression provide a better prediction for the malignance and prognosis of HCC. This study establishes a tumor-suppressive role of PGM1 by regulating glucose trafficking and uncovers a novel regulatory mechanism of PGM1 expression.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as a class of regulators of gene expression through posttranscriptional degradation or translational repression in living cells. Increasing evidence points to the ...important relationship between miRNAs and environmental stress responses, but the regulatory mechanisms in plants are poorly understood. Here, we found that Arabidopsis thaliana intronic miR400 was cotranscribed with its host gene (At1g32583) and downregulated by heat treatment. Intriguingly, an alternative splicing (AS) event that occurred in the intron (306 bp) where MIR400 was located was specifically induced by heat stress. A 100 bp fragment was excised, and the remaining 206 bp intron containing MIR400 transcripts was retained in the host gene. The stress-induced AS event thus resulted in greater accumulation of miR400 primary transcripts and a low level of mature miR400. Together, these results provide the direct evidence that AS acts as a regulatory mechanism linking miRNAs and environmental stress in plants.
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► Stress-related AS could act as a mechanism regulating miRNA expression ► Recognition of the splicing signals plays a key role in intronic miRNA cropping ► Phased processing of intronic miRNA in plants may differ from that in animals
Cerium (IV)‐based metal‐organic frameworks (MOFs) are highly desirable due to their unique potential in fields such as redox catalysis and photocatalysis. However, due to the high reduction potential ...of CeIV species in solution, it is still a great challenge to synthesize CeIV‐MOFs with novel structures, which are extremely dominated by the hexanuclear Ce−O cluster inorganic building units (IBUs). Herein, a Ce−O IBU chain containing CeIV‐MOF, CSUST‐3 (CSUST: Changsha University of Science and Technology), was successfully prepared using the kinetic stabilization study of UiO‐66(Ce)‐NDC (H2NDC=2,6‐naphthalenedicarboxylic acid). Furthermore, owing to the superior redox activity, Lewis acidity and semiconductor‐like behavior owing to Ce4+, activated CSUST‐3 was demonstrated to be an excellent catalyst for CO2 chemical fixation. One‐pot synthesis of styrene carbonate from styrene and CO2 was achieved under mild conditions (1 atm CO2, 80 °C, and solvent free). Moreover, activated CSUST‐3 was shown to be a remarkable co‐catalyst‐free photocatalyst for overall water splitting (OWS), rendering 59 μmol g−1 h−1 of H2 and 22 μmol g−1 h−1 of O2 under simulated sunlight irradiation (Na2S‐Na2SO3 as sacrificial agent).
I Ce Now: A CeIV‐MOF with Ce−O chains as inorganic building units was successfully synthesized guided by the kinetic stabilization study of UiO‐66(Ce)‐NDC (H2NDC=2,6‐naphthalenedicarboxylic acid). Due to the superior redox activity, Lewis acidity and semiconductor‐like behavior owing to Ce4+, activated CSUST‐3 (3 (CSUST: Changsha University of Science and Technology) was shown as an excellent catalyst for CO2 chemical fixation as well as a remarkable co‐catalyst‐free photocatalyst for overall water splitting.
Hyperuricemia is common in China and the relevance of hyperuricemia and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk has been highlighted, but to date there has been rarely nation-wide study in China. Here, we ...aim to estimate the current prevalence of hyperuricemia and evaluate the associations between hyperuricemia and cardiovascular risk factors (CRFs) clustering in a large sample of China adults including a plurality of ethnic minorities. Generally, a nationally representative sample of 22983 adults aged ≥18 years was recruited from 2007 to 2011. Questionnaire data and information on anthropometric characteristics, and laboratory measurements were collected. We define hyperuricemia as SUA ≥416 mmol/L for men and SUA ≥357 mmol/L for women. We found that the prevalence of hyperuricemia was 13.0% (18.5% in men and 8.0% in women). To our estimation, hyperuricemic subjects had higher prevalence rates of CRFs clustering than non-hyperuricemic subjects. Furthermore, there was a dose-response association between the number of CVD risk factors clustering and hyperuricemia. Our study revealed a high prevalence of hyperuricemia and CVD risk factors clustering among Chinese adults, and hyperuricemia was significantly associated with coexistence of more CVD risk factors. Therefore, guidance and effective lifestyle intervention are required to prevent hyperuricemia and CVD risk factors in China.
Increasing evidence points to the tight relationship between alternative splicing (AS) and the salt stress response in plants. However, the mechanisms linking these two phenomena remain unclear. In ...this study, we have found that Salt-Responsive Alternatively Spliced gene 1 (SRAS1), encoding a RING-Type E3 ligase, generates two splicing variants: SRAS1.1 and SRAS1.2, which exhibit opposing responses to salt stress. The salt stress-responsive AS event resulted in greater accumulation of SRAS1.1 and a lower level of SRAS1.2. Comprehensive phenotype analysis showed that overexpression of SRAS1.1 made the plants more tolerant to salt stress, whereas overexpression of SRAS1.2 made them more sensitive. In addition, we successfully identified the COP9 signalosome 5A (CSN5A) as the target of SRAS1. CSN5A is an essential player in the regulation of plant development and stress. The full-length SRAS1.1 promoted degradation of CSN5A by the 26S proteasome. By contrast, SRAS1.2 protected CSN5A by competing with SRAS1.1 on the same binding site. Thus, the salt stress-triggered AS controls the ratio of SRAS1.1/SRAS1.2 and switches on and off the degradation of CSN5A to balance the plant development and salt tolerance. Together, these results provide insights that salt-responsive AS acts as post-transcriptional regulation in mediating the function of E3 ligase.
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