Economic structure, development policy and environmental quality : an empirical analysis of environmental Kuznets curves with Chinese municipal data

In many cases, the relationship between environmental pollution and economic development can be generally depicted by an inverted U-shaped curve, or an environmental Kuznets curve, where pollution increases with income at the beginning and decreases after a certain level of income. However, what determine the shape of an enviornmental Kuznets curve, such as the height and the turning point of the curve, have not been thoroughly studied. A good understanding of the determinants is vitally important to the development community, especially for the developing world, where income growth is a high priority and yet environmental pollution also needs to be carefully controlled. This study analyzes the impacts of economic structure, development strategy and environmental regulation on the shape of the environmental Kuznets curve with a city-level panel dataset obtained from China. The results show that economic structure, development strategy and environmental regulation can all have important implications on the relationship between environmental environmental quality and economic development but the impacts can be different at different development stages.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets,Population Policies,Green Issues

Municipal solid waste management in small towns : an economic analysis conducted in Yunnan, China

Municipal solid waste management continues to be a major challenge for local governments in both urban and rural areas across the world, and one of the key issues is their financial constraints. Recently an economic analysis was conducted in Eryuan, a poor county located in Yunnan Province of China, where willingness to pay for an improved solid waste collection and treatment service was estimated and compared with the project cost. This study finds that the mean willingness to pay is about 1 percent of household income and the total willingness to pay can basically cover the total cost of the project. The analysis also shows that the poorest households in Eryuan are not only willing to pay more than the rich households in terms of income percentage in general, but also are willing to pay no less than the rich in absolute terms where no solid waste services are available; the poorest households have stronger demand for public solid waste management services while the rich have the capability to take private measures when public services are not available.Urban Solid Waste Management,Environmental Economics&Policies,Waste Disposal&Utilization,Energy and Environment,Environment and Energy Efficiency

Tree maps having chain movable fixed points

AbstractIn this paper we discuss some basic properties of chain reachable sets and chain equivalent sets of continuous maps. It is proved that if f:T→T is a tree map which has a chain movable fixed point v, and the chain equivalent set CE(v,f) is not contained in the set P(f) of periodic points of f, then there exists a positive integer p not greater than the number of points in the set End([CE(v,f)])−Pv(f) such that fp is turbulent, and the topological entropy h(f)⩾(log2)/p. This result generalizes the corresponding results given in Block and Coven (1986) [2], Guo et al. (2003) [6], Sun and Liu (2003) [10], Ye (2000) [11], Zhang and Zeng (2004) [12]. In addition, in this paper we also consider metric spaces which may not be trees but have open subsets U such that the closures U¯ are trees. Maps of such metric spaces which have chain movable fixed points are discussed

Protective Effect of FTY720 on Several Markers of Liver Injury Induced by Concanavalin A in Mice

AbstractBackground2-Amino-2-[2-(4-octylphenyl)ethyl] propane-1,3-diol hydrochloride (FTY720) is a novel agent with protective effect on several markers of liver injury. It is a chemical substance derived by modifying myriocin from the ascomycete Isaria sinclairii. It has been reported that FTY720 is able to treat autoimmune encephalomyelitis, renal cancer, asthma, and multiple sclerosis. More potent clinical applications of FTY720 need to be investigated.ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to evaluate the protective effect of FTY720 on several markers of experimental liver injury and to investigate the possible mechanism of action.MethodsConcanavalin A (Con A) at a dose of 15 mg/kg was intravenously. injected in mice, and 10 days before the Con A challenge, 1 mg/kg, 3 mg/kg, and 6 mg/kg of FTY720 were administered to mice. The liver injury was monitored biochemically by measuring serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels. TNF-α and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) in liver tissue were detected by Western blot analysis.ResultsFTY720, when administered intragastrically for 10 days in mice with Con A–induced liver injury, dose-dependently reduced serum ALT and AST and TNF-α levels. The differences were statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05). It was also found that FTY720 decreases TNF-α and NF-κB protein expression in liver tissue.ConclusionsFTY720 is able to improve several markers of Con A–induced liver injury in mice, including serum ALT, serum AST, TNF-α, and NF-κB, which might be at least in part related to its ability to reduce TNF-α/NF-κB cascade activity

Fixed Points of Weakly Contractive Maps and Boundedness of Orbits

We discuss weakly contractive maps on complete metric spaces. Following three methods of generalizing the Banach contraction principle, we obtain some fixed point theorems under some relatively weaker and more general contractive conditions

A Note on Almost Periodic Points and Minimal Sets in T

We show that (1) there exist almost periodic orbits in T2-spaces of which the closures are not minimal sets; (2) there exist minimal sets in locally compact T1-spaces which are not compact; (3) there exist almost periodic orbits in T2-spaces of which the closures contain not only almost periodic points. These give answers to the three problems given by Mai and Sun in (2007)