Carbon footprint and emission reduction potential of the artwork auction market

Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities have become the leading cause of climate problems. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from human economic activities and realizing carbon neutralization are the main means of sustainable economic development. Among them, carbon emission reduction of large-scale activities including auctions bears the brunt. Through the emission factor method, this paper estimates the carbon footprint of a typical artwork auction and divides the auction market into different sizes, according to the average round-trip distance of the number of participants. The results show that a typical 3-day medium-sized artwork auction with 500 people’s carbon footprint is about 270 tons of carbon dioxide. The traffic carbon emission of participants accounts for a large proportion of the total carbon footprint, particularly composed of the traffic carbon emissions of a small proportion of long-distance participants. Therefore, the transition from offline to virtual artwork auctions can significantly reduce the carbon footprint by 90%–95%. We put forward suggestions on improving the auction carbon footprint accounting process and industry carbon neutralization system, and promoting the development of relevant technologies for the virtual artwork auction market

Urban public transport and air quality: Empirical study of China cities

Abstract(#br)To analyze the impact of the increase of public transport on the urban air quality will contribute to the sustainable development of urbanization. But many existing studies have not paid attention to the potential endogeneity of estimation, which comes from the fact that the deterioration of air quality would in turn affect the policies of public transport investment. This paper attempts to control this endogeneity by introducing an instrument variable of the urban built-up area into the empirical models. Using city-level data from China, our study adopts 2SLS method and conducts a series of robustness tests to ensure the estimation results more convincing and robust. The results show that the urban air quality could be improved if the city provides more buses for public transport. Moreover, after controlling the endogeneity, the marginal improving effect of increasing the public transport on urban air quality could be larger from 0.082 to 0.678. This finding indicates that the endogeneity bias is likely to cause the underestimation of the improving effect, and may result in some errors of the policy decisions of urban investment

Physiological functions of a methuselah-like G protein coupled receptor in Lymantria dispar Linnaeus

Insect G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) have been identified as a highly attractive target for new generation insecticides discovery due to their critical physiological functions. However, few insect GPCRs have been functionally characterized. Here, we cloned the full length of a methuselah-like GPCR gene (Ldmthl1) from the Asian gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar. We then characterized the secondary and tertiary structures of Ldmthl1. We also predicted the global structure of this insect GPCR protein which is composed of three major domains. RNA interference of Ldmthl1 resulted in a reduction of gypsy moths\u27 resistance to deltamethrin and suppressed expression of downstream stress-associated genes, such as P450s, glutathione S transferases, and heat shock proteins. The function of Ldmthl1 was further investigated using transgenic lines of Drosophila melanogaster. Drosophila with overexpression of Ldmthl1 showed significantly longer lifespan than control flies. Taken together, our studies revealed that the physiological functions of Ldmthl1 in L. dispar are associated with longevity and resistance to insecticide stresses. Potentially, Ldmthl1 can be used as a target for new insecticide discovery in order to manage this notorious forest pest

Location Planning Problem of Service Centers for Sustainable Home Healthcare: Evidence from the Empirical Analysis of Shanghai

It is of theoretical and practical significance to understand what factors influence the sustainable development of home healthcare services in China. Based on a face-to-face survey, we find that the location planning, which is decisive for the improvement of patient satisfaction, can effectively reduce the risks, as well as the costs of redundant construction and re-construction of service centers for home healthcare and, thus, helps ensure the sustainability of health and the environment. The purposes of this paper are to investigate the existing problem of home healthcare in Shanghai and to find the optimum location planning scheme under several realistic constraints. By considering differentiated services provided by the medical staff at different levels and the degrees of patient satisfaction, a mixed integer programming model is built to minimize the total medical cost. The IBM ILOGCPLEX is used to solve the above model. Finally, a case study of Putuo district in Shanghai is conducted to validate the proposed model and methodology. Results indicate that the model used in this paper can effectively reduce the total medical cost and enhance the medical sustainability, and therefore, the results of the model can be used as a reference for decision makers on the location planning problem of home healthcare services in China

Determinants of Electricity Demand in Nonmetallic Mineral Products Industry: Evidence from a Comparative Study of Japan and China

Electricity intensity is an important indicator for measuring production efficiency. A comparative study could offer a new perspective on investigating determinants of electricity demand. The Japanese non-metallic mineral products industry is chosen as the object for comparison considering its representative position in production efficiency. By adopting the cointegration model, this paper examines influencing factors of electricity demand in Japanese and Chinese non-metallic mineral products industries under the same framework. Results indicate that although economic growth and industrial development stages are different between the two countries, major factors that affect the sectoral energy consumption are the same. Specifically, economic growth and industrial activity contribute to the growth of sectoral electricity consumption, while R&D intensity, per capita productivity and electricity price are contributors to the decline of sectoral electricity consumption. Finally, in order to further investigate the development trend of sectoral electricity demand, future electricity consumption and conservation potential are predicted under different scenarios. Electricity demand of the Chinese non-metallic mineral products industry is predicted to be 680.53 TWh (terawatt-hours) in 2020 and the sectoral electricity conservation potentials are estimated to be 118.26 TWh and 216.25 TWh under the moderate and advanced electricity-saving scenarios, respectively

Evaluating carbon dioxide emissions in international trade of China

China is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioxide (CO2). As exports account for about one-third of China's GDP, the CO2 emissions are related to not only China's own consumption but also external demand. Using the input-output analysis (IOA), we analyze the embodied CO2 emissions of China's import and export. Our results show that about 3357 million tons CO2 emissions were embodied in the exports and the emissions avoided by imports (EAI) were 2333 million tons in 2005. The average contribution to embodied emission factors by electricity generation was over 35%. And that by cement production was about 20%. It implies that the production-based emissions of China are more than the consumption-based emissions, which is evidence that carbon leakage occurs under the current climate policies and international trade rules. In addition to the call for a new global framework to allocate emission responsibilities, China should make great efforts to improve its energy efficiency, carry out electricity pricing reforms and increase renewable energy. In particular, to use advanced technology in cement production will be helpful to China's CO2 abatement.CO2 emissions Input-output analysis International trade

Scheduling Optimization of Home Health Care Service Considering Patients’ Priorities and Time Windows

As a new service model, home health care can provide effective health care by adopting door-to-door service. The reasonable arrangements for nurses and their routes not only can reduce medical expenses, but also can enhance patient satisfaction. This research focuses on the home health care scheduling optimization problem with known demands and service capabilities. Aimed at minimizing the total cost, an integer programming model was built in this study, which took both the priorities of patients and constraints of time windows into consideration. The genetic algorithm with local search was used to solve the proposed model. Finally, a case study of Shanghai, China, was conducted for the empirical analysis. The comparison results verify the effectiveness of the proposed model and methodology, which can provide the decision support for medical administrators of home health care

Haze, health, and income: An integrated model for willingness to pay for haze mitigation in Shanghai, China

Abstract(#br)Most existing studies indicate that residentsö willingness to pay (WTP) for environmental protection mainly depends on income and the degree of environmental pollution. However, owing to lack of suitable data, less research has focused on why people have higher or lower WTP for environmental protection, and many questions about their reasons remain unanswered. Based on contingent valuation questionnaires in 16 districts of Shanghai, this study investigates the influencing factors of residentsö WTP for haze mitigation. To avoid a multicollinearity problem, we integrate principal component analysis and the probit model to examine the determinants of WTP. Results show that residentsö WTP for haze mitigation ranges from 343.31 to 359.48 USD. The major influencing factors of residentsö WTP include subjective knowledge of haze impacts, understanding of the frequency and severity of haze, and social trust in haze data published by the government. In particular, we find that owing to anti-haze household expenditure on mitigating the effects of haze pollution on health, residents who considered that the areas they lived in were more influenced by haze pollution do not always have higher WTP for haze mitigation. Results of this study have policy implications for haze mitigation regarding the effect of anti-haze household expenditure

Chinese Public Willingness to Pay to Avoid Having Nuclear Power Plants in the Neighborhood

In spite of the decreasing share of nuclear power all over the world, China resumed the approval of large-scale construction of nuclear power plants in 2012. However, influenced by the worldwide spreading anti-nuclear attitudes, people who live near nuclear power plants showed increasing concerns about nuclear risks. Consequently, the Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) syndrome of nuclear power plants should be evaluated prudently to support the healthy development of nuclear power in China. Based on the face-to-face survey data, this study estimates Chinese public willingness to pay (WTP) to avoid having nuclear power plants in the neighborhood. The respondents include both residents who currently live near and those who would live near nuclear power plants in the future. Considering the possible presence of the sample selection bias caused by protest responses, this paper constructs a two-step sample selection model with the protest responses and the double bounded dichotomous choice (DBDC) questions. Using the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), we measure the effects of influencing factors of public WTP and study the decay of WTP with longer distances from nuclear power plants. The results suggest that most people are willing to pay higher electricity prices to avoid having nuclear power plants in the neighborhood. Comparing the WTP to avoid having nuclear power plants nearby with the current electricity price, we find that there is an increase of 56.7% and 69.1% of respondents’ WTP for a nuclear power plant located 80 km and 30 km, respectively