Catalytic co-combustion of biomass and brown coal in a fluidized bed: Economic and environmental benefits

The work is devoted to the study of combustion of brown coal, pine sawdust, and their mixtures in a fluidized bed of catalyst at 600-750°С. It is shown that an increase in the content of sawdust in a mixture with brown coal leads to an increase in the burnout degree of solid fuel from 94.4% to 99.9%, while the emission of greenhouse gases in the form of CO2 CO and NOx is reduced (CO2 from the biomass is not included in the balance). The high content of alkaline earth metal oxides (CaO and MgO) in the mineral part of brown coal, sawdust, and their mixtures eliminates the emission of sulfur oxides and the slagging of heat-exchange surfaces during the combustion in a fluidized bed of catalyst. The optimal temperature, when the highest burnout degree of the above fuels is achieved in the combustion is 750°С. It is also shown that the increase in temperature and the content of sawdust in the composition of the fuel mixtures has a positive effect on the economic and environmental process indicators.

Optimization of China's provincial carbon emission transfer structure under the dual constraints of economic development and emission reduction goals

The contradiction between China's economic development and the reduction of carbon emission is increasingly deepening along with the complex carbon emission transfer. Optimizing provincial-level carbon emission transfer in China is important for facilitating economic development and carbon emission reduction. Under these dual constraints, this study uses the slacks-based measure, marginal abatement cost, and geographically and temporally weighted regression models to measure the economic and carbon emission reduction effects and the carbon emission reduction baseline. Then, the optimization strategy and path of provincial carbon emission transfer network structure are proposed to provide policy support for achieving the dual goals of economic development and carbon emission reduction in China. This article draws the following important research conclusions. First, under the three economic development scenarios, provinces in the eastern coastal developed regions are capable of completing the expected carbon emission reduction, whereas the underdeveloped provinces in the central and northern regions are not. Second, from the perspective of the economic effect of carbon emission transfer, carbon emission transfer from most provinces promotes economic development, whereas carbon emission transfer from a few economically underdeveloped provinces hinders economic development. Third, from the perspective of the carbon emission reduction impact of carbon emission transfer, carbon emission transfer in the northeast region has a negative impact on carbon emission reduction, and carbon emission transfer in developed regions also has a negative impact on carbon emission reduction. Fourth, the optimization of the carbon emission transfer can be divided into four categories.

Economic effects of command-and-control abatement policies under China's 2030 carbon emission goal

To mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, China has committed to reducing its national carbon emission intensity, which is a measure of carbon dioxide produced per unit of gross domestic product (GDP), by 65% by 2030 compared with the level in 2005. The government is pursuing corresponding abatement initiatives to achieve this goal. Coupling the physical data of sectoral energy inputs and emissions with a mixed exogenous/endogenous input-output model, this study first projected the carbon emissions in 2030 under a business-as-usual baseline and then investigated the potential economic effects of the "command-and-control" approach for reducing carbon emissions by limiting production capacity and strengthening forest carbon sink management. Three carbon abatement scenarios were evaluated from the perspectives of social equity, abatement efficiency, and forest carbon sinks. Our results indicated that, under the 2030 carbon emission goal, the GDP in China would decline by 17.17-41.26 trillion yuan (equivalent to a marginal abatement cost of 2315-5387 yuan per ton of carbon dioxide reduction), depending on different policy initiatives. The policy of carbon reduction for high-emission sectors only is more cost-effective and economically efficient and has resulted in fewer negative economic impacts than the policy of requiring all economic sectors to do so. Asking high-carbon emission industries to undertake carbon abatement can further reduce national carbon emission intensity. Additionally, promoting forest carbon sinks as an abatement initiative also demonstrates substantial economic benefits for society.

Economic effect between surgery and thermal ablation for patients with papillary thyroid microcarcinoma: a systemic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

At present, there are still many controversies regarding the treatment of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC). It is worth noting that thermal ablation has become a viable alternative for patients at high risk of surgery or those who wish to receive more active treatment than active surveillance.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the economic benefits, efficacy, and safety of thermal ablation for patients with PTMC.

METHODS

We searched PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Embase for articles published from the database establishment to August 2021. All of the studies included were retrospective cohort analyses. In addition, meta-analysis was performed using the Stata15.1 versions and Review Manager5.3. Data were extracted according to the PRISMA guidelines by two professional doctors.

RESULTS

A total of 7 articles (1582 patients) were included in our systematic review and meta-analysis. We discovered that thermal ablation could shorten the hospitalization time (SMD, -3.82[95%CI, -5.25 to -2.40]), operation time (SMD, -5.67[95%CI, -6.65 to -4.68]), cost (SMD, -3.40 [95%CI, -5.06 to -1.75]) and reduce postoperative complications (OR, 0.07 [95%CI, 0.01 to 0.44]) than surgical treatment. In addition, our study also found that compared with surgery, there was no significant difference in the recurrence rate (OR, 1.53 [95% CI, 0.63 to 3.73]) and metastasis rate (OR, 0.47 [95% CI, 0.12 to 1.86]).

CONCLUSION

On the premise of being safe and effective, thermal ablation has better economic benefits than surgical treatment for patients with PTMC.

Economic and intensity effects of coal consumption in China

The increase in coal consumption and its impact on the environment has become a bottleneck that hinders sustainable development. This paper discusses the effect of economic growth and coal intensity on China's coal consumption during 2005-2017 using the Laspeyres index decomposition method. The decoupling of coal consumption from economic growth was examined in conjunction with the Tapio elasticity index, and the decoupling contributions of economic growth and coal intensity are further determined. The results indicated that economic growth drives an increase in coal consumption; however, the contribution rate declines gradually with decrease in economic growth rate in each province. Further research showed that the secondary industry is the main contributor to the increment, and the rapid development of tertiary industry increases indirect coal consumption. Coal intensity has a positive impact on curbing coal consumption, but it is not sufficient to offset the increment generated by the economic effect. Moreover, in each province, the curbing effect gradually decreased as the decline in coal intensity weakened in the secondary industry. Furthermore, coal consumption is weakly decoupled from economic growth over the long term, and the secondary industry will determine the future trend of decoupling.

How does air quality affect residents' life satisfaction? Evidence based on multiperiod follow-up survey data of 122 cities in China

Since entering the new era, China's socialist contradiction has been transformed into the contradiction between the people's growing need for a better life and the unbalanced and inadequate development. How to improve the quality of people's life through the improvement of air quality has become an important content restricting social development and a key problem to be solved. Based on the life satisfaction (LS) method, this study takes air quality into the individual utility function, and through matching China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), two phases of microindividual tracking data with 122 urban environmental quality data innovatively investigate the impact of air quality on residents' LS and its income substitution effect. The results show that air quality significantly reduces residents' LS, among which, different air pollutants and comprehensive air quality AQI have significant negative effects. And PM10 has the highest marginal effect on different LS evaluation, SO2 has the smallest marginal effect, and AQI marginal effect is close to PM10. In terms of group heterogeneity, NO2 and SO2 have group influence differences in age group, regional economic group, gender group, and family per capita income group. But PM10 and AQI do not show group influence heterogeneity, and air quality has significant negative effect on LS of different groups. In addition, the interaction between air quality and income level shows that air quality strengthens the difference of residents' LS caused by income level difference. According to the equilibrium condition of residents' individual utility function, the improvement of air quality by 1% is equivalent to the improvement of residents' LS by 23.4402% of income. Firstly, air quality has an important impact on residents' LS, and different air pollutants have different effects. Secondly, the impact of air quality on LS of different groups is heterogeneous and mainly diversified in age group, regional economic group, gender group, and family per capital income group. Finally, there is substitution effect between air quality and regional GDP growth and household income, which affects residents' LS. Thirdly, the conclusion shows that the improvement of air quality is difficult to be replaced by other ways. Good air quality can not only directly improve residents' LS, but also has economic effect.

Closer to or further from the new normal? business approach through social media analysis

The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to radical change in all social and economic spheres and, even today, the scope of the pandemic cannot be detailed. This unprecedent situation is challenging the global world but particularly for business. The packages of measures internationally imposed as restrictions on commercial activity, isolation and social distancing mean that business should face a transformation in order to survive in each stage of the crisis. For this purpose, a content analysis with an initial dataset with 2,610 tweets of the most representative Spanish entrepreneurial organizations was carried out in key periods of the pandemic. The findings highlight that there are collective concerns with emotional burden in the business sector that encourage action despite confusion and uncertainty. Generalized distrust of policies led business organizations to insist on innovation and adaptation as the best tools to overcome the economic effect of the crisis.

A review: Epidemiology, pathogenesis and prospect in developing vaccines for novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

In December 2019, a large number of coronavirus cases were emerged in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and rapidly spread to different countries and territories around the world within four months. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared this outbreak as a global health emergency. The spread of COVID-19 over globe is highly contagious; they transmitted from person-to-person through small droplets of infected person. Many diagnosis and treatment methods have been implemented to reduce and control the outbreak. Efforts have been made to develop coronavirus vaccine against S protein or spike glycoprotein of coronavirus. COVID-19 outbreak will affect the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the world. At the time of preparing manuscript, total number of active cases reaches to more than 8.9 million and confirmed death reaches to approx. 4.6 lakh. This article highlights the ongoing research and advances in designing vaccine and therapeutics against COVID-19 and also focusing on the epidemiology, transmission, future direction and control the spread of infectious diseases.

In vitro and in vivo studies of deglycosylated chimeric porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus as a vaccine candidate and its realistic revenue impact at commercial pig production level

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) causes major economic losses in the swine industry worldwide. Vaccination is the most effective method to control the disease. In a previous study, a chimeric PRRSV named as K418 which had a genome composed of ORF 1 from the FL12 strain and ORF 2-7 from the Korean representative LMY strain was created. We constructed K418DM, K418 with deglycosylated glycoprotein 5 (GP5), to improve its humoral immunity. In the follow-up on in vivo and in vitro virological and serological tests, no back mutation in amino acids of GP5 associated with deglycosylation was shown after 9 passages on MARC-145 cells, whereas only one case of back mutation was detected after single passage in pig. In serological study, K418DM induced higher serum neutralization (SN) antibody and more limited viremia compared with those of K418 virus. In clinical trial and economic analysis, the K418DM elicited SN antibody titers and PRRSV-specific IgG over protection limit. From the economic viewpoint, there was statistically significant reduction in percentage of weak pigs. These results indicated that vaccination with the K418DM may provide enhanced protection for pigs in PRRS endemic situation and increase growth performance in commercial pig farms.

Tourism and its hypersensitivity to oil spills

The sinking of the Don Pedro merchant ship in 2007 near the island of Ibiza is a good example of the extreme sensitivity of the tourism sector to oil spills. Despite the limited scale of the spill (only some 20 tonnes), its minimal ecological impact, and the rapid deployment of personnel and equipment to contain it, the accident nonetheless caused significant economic damage to the island's tourism sector. This particular case demonstrates the importance of the beach as a factor of production in the holiday tourism sector, and the capacity of even small amounts of oil to render it unusable and cause heavy losses to holiday firms.

Estimation of lost tourism revenue in Geoje Island from the 2011 marine debris pollution event in South Korea

Following a period of heavy rainfall in July 2011, a large amount of marine debris was washed up on the beaches of Geoje Island, South Korea, affecting the island's tourism industry. The tourism revenue decreased due to this pollution event and was estimated by multiplying the decreased number of visitors by the average expenditure of visitors to the beaches. Due to the fact that the visitor count at the Island's beaches decreased from 890,435 in 2010 to 330,207 in 2011 (i.e., a reduction of 560,228 persons, 63%), the tourism revenue loss of the island was estimated to be US$29-37 million. This study is one of the few to consider the economic effects of marine debris.