Analysis of the circular economy efficiency of China's industrial wastewater and solid waste - based on a comparison before and after the 13th Five-Year Plan

The circular economy has been incorporated into China's Five-Year Plan as an important policy tool for sustainable development with the aim of resolving the conflicts among economic growth, energy shortages, and environmental pollution. This research introduces industrial waste emission and recycling indicators into the window two-stage DDF recycle model, explores industrial circular economy efficiency in 30 provinces of China from 2011 to 2019 in the two stages of production and recycle, and focuses on efficiency improvement and stability during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. The results show the following. (1) During the study period, especially during the 13th Five-Year Plan, the circular economy efficiency in most provinces is positively improved, and its improvement is more significant in the central and western provinces. (2) Production stage efficiency is higher than recycle stage efficiency. Whether measured in the overall process, the production stage, or the recycle stage. In mean efficiency, the east is better than the central, and the west is the worst. (3) In terms of efficiency stability during the policy period, the central is the most stable, the east is the second most stable, and the west is the least stable. Shanghai and Tianjin present high efficiency and high stability; Zhejiang, Anhui, and Qinghai present high efficiency, but low stability; and Ningxia, Yunnan, and Xinjiang perform poorly in terms of efficiency values and stability. (4) Each province could adapt to its own situation, accelerate the adjustment of the industrial structure, optimize the energy consumption structure, and improve the overall resource utilization efficiency and recycling efficiency. The government could tilt the resource layout towards provinces with development difficulties, and meanwhile promote efficient development of recycling policies with dividends that address regional imbalances.

The effectiveness of COVID deaths to COVID policies: A robust conditional approach

This paper examines the effectiveness of four major COVID-19 social distancing policies, (i) shelter-in-place orders (SIPO), (ii) non-essential business closures, (iii) mandatory quarantine for travelers, and (iv) bans on large gatherings, on both COVID cases and COVID deaths. Results indicate that states are highly ineffective in producing the fraction of the population that does not have COVID-19 or the fraction of the population that does not die from COVID-19. We find that having any form of social distancing policies increases the fraction of the population not considered a positive COVID-19 case by 23.5 percentage points. Results also show that having any of the four major social distancing policies reduces the fraction of the population who has died of COVID-19 by 1.3 percentage points between March 1, 2020 and September 1, 2020; during the first 100 days, effectiveness would improve by 2.1 percentage points. Evidence suggests that there is no effective uniform national COVID-19 social distancing policy. Furthermore, conditional efficiency regressions after 100 days suggest that behavioral noncompliance and premature expiration of social distancing policies both negatively impact effectiveness. Partial regression plots suggest that bans on large gatherings and the closure of non-essential businesses were the two most impactful COVID-19 social distancing policies.

Review: Current challenges in poultry nutrition, health, and welfare

The poultry industry has benefited greatly from advances in genetics, nutrition, housing and management strategies. Geneticists have made welfare and health traits important components of selection programs, and in general, modern, high-producing poultry are healthier than 30 years ago. However, increased productivity means that the birds are closer to their physiological limits, and nutrition, environment and management have become increasingly important. The move away from in-feed antibiotic growth promotors has resulted in challenges in maintaining gut health and consequently, bird performance. However, as the industry adapts to production without the use of antibiotic growth promotors, long-term benefits may be realized due to a reduction in antimicrobial resistance. Intensive selection for meat yield and efficiency are associated with an increased risk of muscle myopathies that affect bird health and meat quality. As genetic selection increased broiler production traits, it became necessary to restrict parent stock nutrient intake in order to prevent excessive muscle and fat deposition, reduce metabolic disease, and maintain ovarian control. With continued selection for broiler production traits, the degree of restriction implemented has become a welfare issue. Additionally, recent research suggests that highly efficient broiler lines may have limited fat deposition and therefore energy reserves to support sexual maturation and egg production, especially if typical broiler breeder BW targets are maintained. A re-examination of broiler breeder feeding programs is necessary to maintain productivity and welfare. Modern laying hens are capable of laying cycles in excess of 100 weeks of age. This has reduced the use of stress-inducing forced molting programs and reduces the total number of hens needed to meet the demand for egg production. The important role of the skeletal system in eggshell deposition demands that skeletal development during rearing be carefully managed to avoid shell and skeletal problems at the end of the production cycle. As the production potential of modern poultry continues to increase through genetic and genomic selection, even greater care must be paid in order to maintain bird health and welfare. The poultry industry has successfully faced many challenges in the past and is likely to overcome the existing challenges as well.

Can agricultural digital transformation help farmers increase income? An empirical study based on thousands of farmers in Hubei Province

With the deep integration of the digital economy and agricultural development, agricultural digital transformation promotes agricultural production, and industrial upgrading and broadens sales channels to achieve the strategic goal of rural revitalization in China. To explore whether agricultural digitization can help farmers increase their income and what path can be achieved, this study is based on the theoretical framework of rural revitalization theory and digitization. Through a questionnaire survey of 1500 farmers in Hubei Province, the impact mechanism of agricultural digitization transformation on farmers' income is empirically studied. The empirical results show that the digital transformation of agriculture can promote the increase in farmers' income, and promote the increase in farmers' income by improving production efficiency, broadening sales channels, and promoting the upgrading of agricultural structure. At the same time, both production efficiency and sales channels form a chain double intermediary path with the upgrading of agricultural structure. Under the background of rural revitalization, this study provides theoretical references and guidance for further promoting agricultural digital transformation to increase farmers' income. The marginal contribution of this study is to construct a theoretical model of agricultural digitization to promote farmers' income increase, which has important theoretical reference and guiding significance for guiding the development direction of agricultural digitization and promoting farmers' income increase.

Production efficiency and cost reduction potential of biodiesel fuel plants using waste cooking oil in Japan

Biodiesel fuel (BDF) is a potentially carbon-neutral fuel that could play a potentially important role in preventing global warming. However, its high production cost poses a challenge for many BDF producers. To establish an efficient method for BDF production and increase its cost competitiveness, the production efficiencies of 35 BDF plants in Japan, which produce BDF from waste cooking oil, were evaluated. Moreover, the cost reduction potential associated with improved efficiency was estimated. The empirical analysis revealed that (1) approximately 92% of the BDF plants have inefficient production; (2) they exhibit two predominant types of inefficiencies, technical and scale inefficiencies, and (3) improvement of production inefficiency can lead to an average production cost reduction of 3.52 yen per liter of BDF. To increase the production efficiency, it is important to improve the quality of the waste cooking oil used and increase the production scale. It is recommended that operators of inefficient BDF plants learn the production activities of the most efficient plants identified in this study. Furthermore, government policies focused on efficient BDF plants are essential to increase BDF production with limited resources.

Assessing key factors for sporting industry sustainable development through multilayer artificial perceptron neural network approach

Sustainable development (SD) has recently emerged as a critical axis in industrial strategic management and debate. Apart from the scarcity of resources, the influence of economic difficulties on human life and society has increased the relevance of SD. However, estimating and analyzing the SD of any business are still in its infancy. Thus, the SD of the sports goods industry is assessed using a multilayer artificial perceptron neural network (MLP) technique employing eight distinct characteristics connected to production efficiency, international and internal environment, export, and domestic development by using Statistica software. To discover an ideal model for SD in the sports goods business, stepwise models with varied input parameters were built. The identity activation function was used to create and train an error propagation algorithm-based network. The results of various eight network models revealed that, among other models, the accuracy of our fifth model, which incorporates production efficiency, international and internal environment, strategic management, and domestic distribution organization, gives the best answer. This model has the lowest root-mean-square error (RMSE) = 0.002 and the greatest R square = 0.922, demonstrating its efficacy and effectiveness in terms of SD. Based on these findings, it is possible to conclude that using artificial neural networks is beneficial in determining an optimal solution for SD and other similar problems since this tool is important and would be utilized for forecasting and decision-making in any business.

Eco-efficiency assessment under natural and managerial disposability: an empirical application for Chilean water companies

Getting a good understanding regarding the economic and environmental performance of water utilities is of great importance to achieve the goal of an efficient and sustainable industry. In this study, we apply the range adjusted measure (RAM) data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to evaluate the integrated (production and environmental) efficiency of several water utilities located in Chile. Integrated efficiency is evaluated using the concepts of natural and managerial disposability. This approach further allows us to quantify the contribution of each input and undesirable product on efficiency scores. The results highlighted that the Chilean water industry showed high levels of production and environmental efficiency over time. Under natural disposability, water utilities could control production costs to reduce water leakage and unplanned water supply interruptions by 3.3% on average. Under managerial disposability, water utilities could further cut down undesirable outputs by 1.4% on average by adopting best managerial practices. On average, potential savings in operating costs, employment, water leakage, and unplanned water supply interruptions were higher for concessionary utilities as they showed slightly lower efficiency scores than full private utilities.

Genome-wide association studies uncover genes associated with litter traits in the pig

Litter traits are critical economic variables in the pig industry as they represent a production indicator that can serve to determine sow fertility. In this study, a genome-wide association study on litter traits, including total number born (TNB), number born alive (NBA), litter birth weight (LBW), average birth weight (ABW), and piglet uniformity (PU), was carried out on two pig breeds (Yorkshire and Landrace). A total of 3 637 pigs of both breeds were genotyped using the GeneSeek GGP Porcine 50K SNP BeadChip. A mixed linear model (MLM) and fixed and random model circulating probability unification (FarmCPU) were employed in the genome-wide association studies for litter traits using combined data from the two pig breeds and data from each breed separately. Additionally, the heritability of traits was estimated using three methods-pedigree-based best linear unbiased prediction (PBLUP), genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP), and single-step best linear unbiased prediction (ssGBLUP)-and was found to lie between 0.065 and 0.1289, 0.0478 and 0.0938, 0.0793 and 0.0935, 0.1862 and 0.2163, and 0.0327 and 0.0419 for TNB, NBA, LBW, ABW, and PU, respectively. We also compared the genomic prediction accuracies and unbiasedness for litter traits of the three BLUP models. Our results indicated that the ssGBLUP method provided higher predictive accuracies and more rational unbiasedness compared with the PBLUP and GBLUP methodologies. Furthermore, based on their possible roles, eight candidate genes (INHBA, LEPR, HDHD2, CTNND2, RNF216, HMX1, PAPPA2, and NTN1) were identified as being linked with litter traits. In the middle of the test, these genes were found to be connected with pig metabolism and ovulation rate. Our results provide the insights into the genetic architecture of litter traits in pigs, and the potential single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and candidate genes identified may benefit economic profits in pig-breeding industry and contribute to improve litter traits.

Production efficiency of animal feed obtained from food waste in Japan

Converting food waste into animal feed is highly useful for tackling the problem of food waste, which is particularly severe in developed countries. This study quantified the inefficiencies in converting food waste into animal feed and identified the sources of inefficiencies through a data envelopment analysis (DEA) of the monthly input-output data of two food waste-based animal feed producers in Japan. Our empirical analysis revealed that the producers of animal feed obtained from food waste (especially those treating food waste from retail and service industries) demonstrated inefficiencies in production technology and scale; moreover, expanding the production scale and improving the quality of food waste could enhance production efficiency. Based on the empirical results, specific policy implications were provided for the widespread use of animal feed obtained from food waste in Japan and elsewhere, globally. Furthermore, it was suggested that the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a severe reduction in the production efficiency of animal feed producers treating food waste obtained from retail and service industries.

Molecular size of surfactants affects their degree of enrichment in the sea spray aerosol formation

Sea spray aerosol (SSA), the largest source of natural primary aerosol, plays an important role in atmospheric chemical processes and the earth radiation balance. Its formation process is controlled by many factors. In this study, ethylene glycol (EG) and polyethylene glycol (PEG) with three different molecular weights (200, 400, 600) were used to investigate the influence of molecular size on the properties of submicron SSA produced by plunging jet from an adjustable home-built SSA generator. Different parameters were tested to obtain the optimum experimental conditions. The addition of EG and PEG inhibited the production of SSA and increased the geometric mean diameter (GMD) between 10 and 35 nm. However, PEG with a molecular weight of 600 could promote the production of SSA at higher concentrations, which means that the molecular weight and concentration of the polymer would affect the production efficiency of SSA. Combining with the measurement of surface tension, we found no clear relationship between surface tension and the yield of SSA, due to the properties of the substances themselves. Transmission electron microscopy images show that the addition of EG and PEG could significantly change the structure of salt nuclei in SSA. PEG was significantly enriched in SSA (with enrichment factors within the range 92.9-133.4), and the enrichment was independent of the sampling time, while increasing with the increase of molecular weight. Our results highlight the influence of polymer molecular weight on the properties of SSA, and their importance to improve the accuracy of aerosol emission model parameters.

The efficiency of COVID cases to COVID policies: a robust conditional approach

This paper examines the efficiency of four major COVID-19 social distancing policies: (i) shelter-in-place orders (SIPO), (ii) non-essential business closures, (iii) mandatory quarantine for travelers, and (iv) bans on large gatherings. Results suggest that the average US state is highly inefficient in producing the fraction of the population that does not have COVID-19 without social distancing policies put in place. We find that having any of the four major social distancing policies increases conditional efficiency by 9.7 (9.5) percentage points in the first 100 days (full sample). This corresponds to 57 (172) fewer total COVID-19 cases per 100,000 population in the first 100 days (full sample). We also find that population density accounts for a majority of unconditional state inefficiency. Evidence suggests considerable heterogeneity in conditional efficiency improvement, indicating that no uniform national social distancing policy would have been more effective; more effective strategies would have been to target more densely populated areas. Conditional efficiency regressions suggest that bans on large gatherings were the most effective policies, with SIPOs and non-essential business closures having smaller impacts. States that implemented social distancing policies except mandatory quarantine for traveler policies were highly effective for the first 100 days, but had less effectiveness over the full sample. There is also preliminary evidence that premature revocations of social distancing policies reduced conditional efficiency, leading to COVID-19 case spikes.

Superheated steam as carrier gas and the sole heat source to enhance biomass torrefaction

Superheated steam (SHS) has been used as a carrier gas for pressurized steam torrefaction, steam explosion or pyrolysis, but is barely used as a heat source. However, SHS is superior in thermal capacity and heat transfer coefficient resulting in even heating and fast heating rates. Therefore, this work applied SHS as the sole heat source for torrefaction at ambient pressure. A setup was specially designed and capable of heating wood shavings at a rate >120 °C•min^-1. Solid products were analyzed in many aspects and demonstrated the enhanced organics conversion owing to SHS torrefaction. Torrefied biomass was comparable to slow pyrolysis char in fuel quality and superior to that of conventional torrefactions. Moreover, SHS torrefaction was super-timesaving. A coal-like product (HHV of 27.84 MJ•kg^-1) was achieved in only 15 min at 350 °C. Overall, SHS torrefaction boosted biomass densification and gaveriseto greater production efficiency.

The link between production efficiency and opportunity cost of protecting environment in TR83 region, Turkey

Many nations have tended to transform their traditional growth paradigm to green growth policy paradigm to ensure environmentally sustainable development. Governments, therefore, have developed and implemented environmental protection programs to ensure environmentally sustainable development. For accelerating the transformation to green production techniques and technologies, the study aims (i) to calculate the opportunity cost of protecting environment, (ii) to estimate the production efficiency of farms, and (iii) to determine the impact of opportunity cost of protecting environment on the production efficiency in TR83 region in Turkey. Farm-level research data have been collected from totally 361 farms (334 farms participated in the environmental protection programs (EFALP) and 27 conventional farms) by using a well-structured questionnaire during the production year of 2016-2017. Minimization of total absolute deviation (MOTAD) programming model as a linearized version of QP was used to elicit the farm plans under both condition of protecting environmental and conventional farming condition. When estimating the technical, allocative, and economic efficiencies, the net farm revenue under prevailing conditions, potential net farm revenue, and optimum farm revenue were used. The net revenue difference between EFALP farm and conventional farm was attributed to the opportunity cost of protecting the environment. The impact of the opportunity cost of protecting the environment on production efficiency was explored by using two-limit Tobit model. Research results show that the opportunity cost of environmental protection is 3060 TRY per hectare and varied spatially in the research area. Government environmental support has not compensated the farmers' revenue sacrifice completely. The technical efficiency scores of EFALP farms and conventional farms are 0.77 and 0.75, while that of allocative efficiency are 0.83 and 0.86, respectively. The economic efficiency scores of the EFALP farms and conventional farms are 0.62 and 0.63, respectively. Research results further indicate that the opportunity cost of protecting the environment can be said to have a negative impact on the economic efficiency. The variables of labor and farmland have been negatively affected the economic efficiency, while the effects of operating capital, age of operators, and family size seem positive. The study suggests creating regulatory framework providing opportunity to adjust government environmental support spatially based on the farm-level opportunity cost of protecting environment. Government practices should be developed by policymakers to supervise and control the farms participated in the environmental protection programs. Eliminating the conventional decision-making approach and replacing with environmental trade-off analysis-based decision-making techniques, involving stakeholders during the designing environmental policy, and sharing outputs of environmental trade-off analysis may increase the success of the environmental policy and programs. In addition, bringing away the goal mismatch of scientist and users by establishing bridge in between knowledge and action may increase the effectiveness of environmental protection programs.

What factors influence PM2.5 emissions in China? An analysis of regional differences using a combined method of data envelopment analysis and logarithmic mean Divisia index

This study uses a combined data envelopment analysis and logarithmic mean Divisia index (DEA-LMDI) method to decompose affecting factors for PM2.5 emissions into effects related to the potential emission intensity (PEI), environmental efficiency and technology, production efficiency and technology, regional economic structure, and national economic growth, and investigates differences in the effects on PM2.5 emissions, considering the diversity among different areas and periods in China. This study provides a new insight in the decomposition method, which can decompose the emissions into new effects compared with the exiting studies. This study reveals that the regional environmental-based technology (EBT) effect is the key curbing factor for PM2.5 emissions, followed by the regional PEI effect. The curbing effect of regional EBT on PM2.5 emissions is strong in East China and weak in Northeast China. The environment-oriented scale efficiency (ESE), environment-oriented management efficiency (EME), production-oriented scale efficiency (PSE), production-oriented management efficiency (PME), and production-based technology (PBT) had relatively small effects on PM2.5 emissions on the whole. The effects differ among different areas and periods in China. The emission reduction potential of these efficiency effects has not been realized. The national economic growth greatly promotes PM2.5 emissions. The regional economic structure effect slightly increases PM2.5 emissions because of the unbalanced development of regional economy. The relative policy suggestions are put forward based on the findings of this study.

Waste generation in Spain. Do Spanish regions exhibit a similar behavior?

We analyze waste generation differences across Spanish regions by studying the evolution of two complementary indicators: municipal solid waste per unit of GDP as well as in per capita terms. To that end, we apply the recent statistic developed by Phillips and Sul (2007) which allows us to test for the null hypothesis of convergence. In the present case, this hypothesis is equivalent to admitting that the waste generation follows a similar path across the Spanish regions. Our results lead us to reject this hypothesis, which implies that Spanish regional waste generation is quite heterogenous and exhibits several patterns of behavior. We observe that the northern regions exhibit the lowest waste ratios while the insular and Mediterranean coast regions have the highest waste generation. This different behavior is also explained by some socioeconomic factors. Per capita income, environmental spending and education level are helpful in this regard. The population dispersion and the number of years that a region has been governed by a left-wing party are also associated with lower levels of waste generation. Finally, we can also observe that the regions with the highest levels of waste generation are greatly dependent on the tourism industry. Then, strategies targeting the transit towards a more sustainable economy in Spain should take into account this fact. In particular, the adoption of methods for the reduction of the waste levels generated by tourism activities in these areas can be very useful.

MicroRNA profiling associated with muscle growth in modern broilers compared to an unselected chicken breed

Background

Genetically selected modern broiler chickens have acquired outstanding production efficiency through rapid growth and improved feed efficiency compared to unselected chicken breeds. Recently, we analyzed the transcriptome of breast muscle tissues obtained from modern pedigree male (PeM) broilers (rapid growth and higher efficiency) and foundational Barred Plymouth Rock (BPR) chickens (slow growth and poorer efficiency). This study was designed to investigate microRNAs that play role in rapid growth of the breast muscles in modern broiler chickens.

Results

In this study, differential abundance of microRNA (miRNA) was analyzed in breast muscle of PeM and BPR chickens and the results were integrated with differentially expressed (DE) mRNA in the same tissues. A total of 994 miRNA were identified in PeM and BPR chicken lines from the initial analysis of small RNA sequencing data. After filtering and statistical analyses, the results showed miR-2131-5p, miR-221-5p, miR-126-3p, miR-146b-5p, miR-10a-5p, let-7b, miR-125b-5p, and miR-146c-5p up-regulated whereas miR-206 down-regulated in PeM compared to BPR breast muscle. Based on inhibitory regulations of miRNAs on the mRNA abundance, our computational analysis using miRDB, an online software, predicated that 118 down-regulated mRNAs may be targeted by the up-regulated miRNAs, while 35 up-regulated mRNAs appear to be due to a down-regulated miRNA (i.e., miR-206). Functional network analyses of target genes of DE miRNAs showed their involvement in calcium signaling, axonal guidance signaling, and NRF2-mediated oxidative stress response pathways suggesting their involvement in breast muscle growth in chickens.

Conclusion

From the integrated analyses of differentially expressed miRNA-mRNA data, we were able to identify breast muscle specific miRNAs and their target genes whose concerted actions can contribute to rapid growth and higher feed efficiency in modern broiler chickens. This study provides foundation data for elucidating molecular mechanisms that govern muscle growth in chickens.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12864-018-5061-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

No theory: an explanation of the lack of consistency in cross-country health care comparisons using non-parametric estimators

Since 2000 several papers have examined the efficiency of healthcare delivery systems worldwide. These papers have extended the literature using drastically different input and output combinations from one another, with little theoretical or empirical support backing these specifications. Issues arise that many of these inputs and outputs are available for a subset of OECD countries each year. Using a common estimator and the different specifications proposed leads to the result that efficiency rankings across papers can diverge quite significantly, with several countries being highly efficient in one specification and highly inefficient in another. Broad input-output measures that are collected annually provide consistent efficiency rankings across specifications, compared to specifications that utilize specific measures collected infrequently. This paper also finds that broad output measures that are not quality-adjusted, such as life expectancy, seem to be a suitable alternative for infrequently collected quality-adjusted output measures, such as disability adjusted life years.

Rootstock and fruit canopy position affect peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch] (cv. Rich May) plant productivity and fruit sensorial and nutritional quality

The right combination of rootstock and training system is important for increased yield and fruit sensorial and nutritional homogeneity and quality with peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch]. We investigated the effects of rootstock and training system on these parameters, testing the effect of vigorous GF677 and weaker Penta rootstock on 'Rich May' peach cultivar. Fruit position effects regarding photosynthetically active radiation availability, along the canopy profile using the Y training system, were investigated. The positive relationships between total polyphenols content and antioxidant capacity according to canopy vigour and architecture were determined for the two scion/stock combinations. Changes in fruit epicarp colour and content of bioactive compounds were also determined. Lower-vigour trees from Penta rootstock grafting yielded larger fruit with improved skin overcolour, and greater total polyphenols content and antioxidant capacity. GF677 rootstock produced more vigorous trees with fruit with lower sensorial and nutritional parameters. Canopy position strongly affects fruit sensorial and nutritional qualities. These data define potential for improvements to peach production efficiency and fruit quality, particularly for southern Europe peach cultivation conditions.