Indirect Economic Impact Incurred by Haze Pollution: An Econometric and Input–Output Joint Model

Econometrics and input–output models have been presented to construct a joint model (i.e., an EC + IO model) in the paper, which is characterized by incorporating the uncertainty of the real economy with the detailed departmental classification structure, as well as adding recovery period variables in the joint model to make the model dynamic. By designing and implementing a static model, it is estimated that the indirect economic loss for the transportation sector caused by representative haze pollution of Beijing in 2013 was 23.7 million yuan. The industrial-related indirect losses due to the direct economic losses incurred by haze pollution reached 102 million yuan. With the constructed dynamic model, the cumulative economic losses for the industrial sectors have been calculated for the recovery periods of different durations. The results show that: (1) the longer the period that an industrial department returns to normal output after haze pollution has impacted, the greater the cumulative economic loss will be; (2) when the recovery period is one year, the cumulative economic loss value computed by the dynamic EC + IO model is much smaller than the loss value obtained by the static EC + IO model; (3) the recovery curves of industrial sectors show that the recovery rate at the early stage is fast, while it is slow afterwards. Therefore, the governance work after the occurrence of haze pollution should be launched as soon as possible. This study provides a theoretical basis for evaluating the indirect economic losses of haze pollution and demonstrates the value of popularization and application

An Adaptive Kalman Filtering Approach to Sensing and Predicting Air Quality Index Values

In recent years, Air Quality Index (AQI) have been widely used to describe the severity of haze and other air pollutions yet suffers from inefficiency and compatibility on real-time perception and prediction. In this paper, an Auto-Regressive (AR) prediction model based on sensed AQI values is proposed, where an adaptive Kalman Filtering (KF) approach is fitted to achieve efficient prediction of the AQI values. The AQI values were collected monthly from January 2018 to March 2019 using a WSN-based network, whereas daily AQI values started to be collected from October 1, 2018 to March 31, 2019. These data have been used for creation and evaluation purposes on the prediction model. According to the results, predicted values have shown high accuracy compared with the actual sensed values. In addition, when monthly AQI values were used, it has depicted higher accuracy compared to the daily ones depending on the experimental results. Therefore, the hybrid AR-KF model is accurate and effective in predicting haze weather, which has practical significance and potential value

PM2.5 Pollution: Health and Economic Effect Assessment Based on a Recursive Dynamic Computable General Equilibrium Model

At present particulate matter (PM₂.₅) pollution represents a serious threat to the public health and the national economic system in China. This paper optimizes the whitening coefficient in a grey Markov model by a genetic algorithm, predicts the concentration of fine particulate matter (PM₂.₅), and then quantifies the health effects of PM₂.₅ pollution by utilizing the predicted concentration, computable general equilibrium (CGE), and a carefully designed exposure–response model. Further, the authors establish a social accounting matrix (SAM), calibrate the parameter values in the CGE model, and construct a recursive dynamic CGE model under closed economy conditions to assess the long-term economic losses incurred by PM₂.₅ pollution. Subsequently, an empirical analysis was conducted for the Beijing area: Despite the reduced concentration trend, PM₂.₅ pollution continued to cause serious damage to human health and the economic system from 2013 to 2020, as illustrated by various facts, including: (1) the estimated premature deaths and individuals suffering haze pollution-related diseases are 156,588 (95% confidence intervals (CI): 43,335–248,914)) and six million, respectively; and (2) the accumulated labor loss and the medical expenditure negatively impact the regional gross domestic product, with an estimated loss of 3062.63 (95% CI: 1,168.77–4671.13) million RMB. These findings can provide useful information for governmental agencies to formulate relevant environmental policies and for communities to promote prevention and rescue strategies

PM2.5 Pollution and Inhibitory Effects on Industry Development: A Bidirectional Correlation Effect Mechanism

In this paper, a vector autoregression (VAR) model has been constructed in order to analyze a two-way mechanism between PM2.5 pollution and industry development in Beijing via the combination of an impulse response function and variance decomposition. According to the results, long-term equilibrium interconnection was found between PM2.5 pollution and the development of primary, secondary, and tertiary industries. One-way Granger causalities were found in the three types of industries shown to contribute to PM2.5 pollution, though the three industries showed different scales of influences on the PM2.5 pollution that varied for about 1–2 years. The development of the primary and secondary industries increased the emission of PM2.5, but the tertiary industry had an inhibitory effect. In addition, PM2.5 pollution had a certain inhibitory effect on the development of the primary and secondary industries, but the inhibition of the tertiary industry was not significant. Therefore, the development of the tertiary industry can contribute the most to the reduction of PM2.5 pollution. Based on these findings, policy-making recommendations can be proposed regarding upcoming pollution prevention strategies

Multi-dimensional multiplexing optical secret sharing framework with cascaded liquid crystal holograms

Secret sharing is a promising technology for information encryption by splitting the secret information into different shares. However, the traditional scheme suffers from information leakage in decryption process since the amount of available information channels is limited. Herein, we propose and demonstrate an optical secret sharing framework based on the multi-dimensional multiplexing liquid crystal (LC) holograms. The LC holograms are used as spatially separated shares to carry secret images. The polarization of the incident light and the distance between different shares are served as secret keys, which can significantly improve the information security and capacity. Besides, the decryption condition is also restricted by the applied external voltage due to the variant diffraction efficiency, which further increases the information security. In implementation, an artificial neural network (ANN) model is developed to carefully design the phase distribution of each LC hologram. With the advantage of high security, high capacity and simple configuration, our optical secret sharing framework has great potentials in optical encryption and dynamic holographic display

Associations of the Triglyceride and Glucose Index With Hypertension Stages, Phenotypes, and Their Progressions Among Middle-Aged and Older Chinese

Objectives: To assess the associations of the triglyceride and glucose (TyG) index with hypertension stages, phenotypes, and their progressions.Methods: The data originated from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Multinomial logistic regression investigated the associations of the TyG index with hypertension stages (stage 1, stage 2), phenotypes (isolated systolic hypertension [ISH], isolated diastolic hypertension [IDH], systolic diastolic hypertension [SDH]), their progressions.Results: Compared with the lowest quartile of TyG index, the highest quartile was associated with increased risks of stage 1 hypertension (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.38–2.13), stage 2 (1.74, 1.27–2.38), ISH (1.66, 1.31–2.11), IDH (2.52, 1.26–5.05), and SDH (1.65, 1.23–2.23). Similar results were found when TyG index was a continuous variable. From 2011 to 2015, a higher baseline TyG index was associated with normotension to stage 1 (per-unit: 1.39, 1.16–1.65), normotension to ISH (per-unit: 1.28, 1.04–1.56), and normotension to IDH (per-unit: 1.94, 1.27–2.97).Conclusion: The TyG index was associated with different hypertension stages, phenotypes, their progressions, and could be served as a surrogate indicator for early hypertension management

Influence of depositional mobility (downwashing) on the accumulation of atmospherically supplied elements in peat cores: an experimental approach

The potential influence of downwashing on atmospherically deposited elements is of rare focus compared with other geochemical processes related to peat. Downwashing may cause a rapid downward movement of atmospherically supplied elements before they bond to the peat organic substrate and thus reduce the reliability of age-depth models that rely on atmospherically supplied radioisotopes (e.g. 210Pb, 241Am, 137Cs). However, the existence of downwashing has not been directly tested, and to which depth the deposited element can be washed down is not fully understood. To address the question of downwashing, an experiment was set up to mimic wet deposition by applying a CuBr2 solution during a three-week period in peat cores collected from Rödmossamyran. Through this, the experimental results clearly supported the existence of downward mobility. Added Cu2+ could be measured to a depth of 10 cm, similar to previous studies based on Be and Pb. As a similar metal to Cu, the age-depth model based on 210Pb dating could underestimate the ages to some extent without consideration of downwashing

A Facile Strategy for Achieving Polymeric Afterglow Materials with Wide Color-Tunability and Persistent Near-infrared Luminescence

Polymeric afterglow materials with wide color-tunability, efficient near-infrared (NIR) luminescence, and good water solubility are highly desired in various applications but are rarely reported. Herein, a facile but efficient approach is presented to achieve tunable multicolor afterglow and persistent NIR luminescence based on the direct phosphorescence resonance energy transfer (PRET) or sequential resonance energy transfer from the energy donor with ultralong room-temperature phosphorescence to the energy acceptors with red to NIR fluorescence. By simply regulating the doping compositions and concentrations of energy donor/acceptor pairs doped into the poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) matrix, the resulting PVA films exhibit persistent multicolor afterglow covering from visible to NIR regions. Notably, compared to the single-step PRET, the two-step sequential resonance energy transfer has the unique advantages of higher transfer efficiency of triplet excitons from the initial donor, a wider range of color-tunability mediated by the intermediary acceptor, and enhanced delayed fluorescence efficiency of the final acceptor. By preparing water-soluble PVA films with different doping compositions and concentrations, we demonstrate their great potential applications in advanced anti-counterfeiting and information encryption. This work provides a facile strategy for the exploration of polymeric afterglow materials with excellent color-tunability and efficient NIR delayed fluorescence, which can further help to expand the practical applications of organic afterglow materials

Achieving Tunable Organic Afterglow and UV Irradiation-Responsive Ultralong Room-Temperature Phosphorescence from Pyridine-Substituted Triphenylamine Derivatives

Amorphous polymers with ultralong room-temperature phosphorescence (RTP) have received considerable attention due to their potential applications in anti-counterfeiting, bioimaging, and sensing. However, multifunctional polymer-based RTP materials endowed with color-tunability or stimulus-responsiveness are highly desirable but rarely reported. Herein, we have designed three pyridine-substituted triphenylamine derivatives and achieved ultralong RTP properties with both color-tunability and UV irradiation-responsiveness by embedding them into poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) matrices, respectively. Notably, introducing the pyridine groups with the capabilities of promoting intersystem crossing (ISC) and forming hydrogen-bonding networks is essential for triggering efficient and ultralong RTP from doping PVA systems. Consequently, doping film TPA-2Py@PVA exhibits excellent RTP property with an ultralong lifetime of 798.4 ms and a high quantum yield of 15.2%. Moreover, by co-doping with the fluorescent dye rhodamine B, color-tunable persistent luminescence has been realized via phosphorescence energy transfer. More importantly, doping PMMA systems exhibit reversible UV irradiation-responsive ultralong RTP properties. Finally, various patterns are devised to demonstrate the potential applications of these doping PVA and PMMA systems in advanced anti-counterfeiting and information encryption. We believe this feasible and facile strategy to achieve multifunctional organic RTP materials with color-tunability and stimulus-responsiveness will provide new opportunities for high-tech applications