An evaluation of the tourism-induced environmental Kuznets curve (T-EKC) hypothesis: Evidence from G7 countries

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This paper analyzes the legitimacy of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis for a group of seven (G7) countries over the period 1995–2015. In addition to testing the EKC speculation, the authors also would like to understand the ways in which increases in renewable energy consumption and the international tourism receipt affect the CO2 emissions in G7 countries, because the energy and tourism sectors may have considerable direct impacts on CO2 emissions. In this investigation, a panel bootstrap cointegration test and an augmented mean group (AMG) estimator were applied. The empirical findings indicate that the tourism-induced EKC hypothesis is valid only for France. Additionally, it was detected that a rise in renewable energy consumption has a negative (reduction) impact on CO2 emissions in France, Italy, the UK, and the US. However, an increase in the receipt of international touristm has a positive (additional) impact on Italy’s CO2 emissions. Hence, this country’s decision-makers should re-review their tourism policy to adopt a renewable-inclusive one for sustainable tourism and the environment

An extended multisensory temporal binding window in autism spectrum disorders

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) form a continuum of neurodevelopmental disorders, characterized by deficits in communication and reciprocal social interaction, as well as by repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. Sensory disturbances are also frequently reported in clinical and autobiographical accounts. However, surprisingly few empirical studies have characterized the fundamental features of sensory and multisensory processing in ASD. The current study is structured to test for potential differences in multisensory temporal function in ASD by making use of a temporally dependent, low-level multisensory illusion. In this illusion, the presentation of a single flash of light accompanied by multiple sounds often results in the illusory perception of multiple flashes. By systematically varying the temporal structure of the audiovisual stimuli, a “temporal window” within which these stimuli are likely to be bound into a single perceptual entity can be defined. The results of this study revealed that children with ASD report the flash-beep illusion over an extended range of stimulus onset asynchronies relative to children with typical development, suggesting that children with ASD have altered multisensory temporal function. These findings provide valuable new insights into our understanding of sensory processing in ASD and may hold promise for the development of more sensitive diagnostic measures and improved remediation strategies

Cognitive development

We begin this Chapter by stating a few principles on what early childhood professionals and developmental psychologists believe on how babies and young children develop cognitively: 1. Young children construct their knowledge through their interactions with objects and people, and are not passive recipients of knowledge. They are motivated to achieve new means for new ends. 2. Young children are primed to explore and discover their environment, and deduce the regularities or principles of how things operate and relate to one another, with qualitative changes in different stages of development. 3. Social interactions and rich, warm relations with caregivers are the indispensable crucible in which all domains of development occur. In a nutshell, we think children are able and competent, curious and resourceful, and possess the neural mechanisms to relate to their physical and social environment from day one; but they must have caring, interactive adults to propel and scaffold their development. In this Chapter, we begin our review with motor and perceptual development in infancy and the early years, as perceptual motor integration forms the earliest building blocks of cognitive development. We will also examine Piaget's constructivist theory, and Vygotsky with his emphases on social structures as necessary prerequisites to cognitive growth and development. We then consider social cognition, theory of mind and moral development in early childhood

Stratigraphy of the sediment infill in Bosphorus Strait: water exchange between the Black and Mediterranean Seas during the last glacial Holocene

The sediment infill over the Paleozoic bedrock in the Bosphorus Strait consists of four sedimentary units which were deposited in the last 26,000 (14)C years B.P. The stratigraphy of these units suggests that this Dart of the Bosphorus was a freshwater lake between 26,000 and 5,300 (14)C years B.P., depositing sands with a freshwater mollusc fauna of Black Sea neo-euxinian affinity (Dreissena rostriformis, Dreissena polymorpha, and Monodaena pontica). The first appearance of euryhaline Mediterranean molluscs (e.g., Ostrea edulis, Mytilus edulis) was observed at 5,300 (14)C years B.P. in this part of the Bosphorus. Deposition of coarse Mytilus-bank and Ostrea-bank units suggests that the establishment of the present dual-flow regime in the Bosphorus took place at about 4,400 (14)C years B.P

The bilateral USA-Mexico trade balances under decomposed export data

This study re-formulates and re-examines the traditional bilateral trade balance (TB) concept (ratio) in the USA-Mexico case using a different methodology. This re-examination is constructed on newly formulated decomposed-export-based TBs—namely, domestic-export-based TB and re-export-based TB. Since the undecomposed traditional total-export-based TB is expressed as a total export/import ratio, it may misrepresent the actual nature of bilateral trade of this country with Mexico because the USA also considerably re-exports to Mexico. The main empirical finding confirms the need for using decomposed-export-based TBs in trade models for the USA since the impacts of exchange rate and income on undecomposed and decomposed export-based TBs of the USA are entirely different. For example, while depreciation in the USD improves the re-export-based TB for only 13 commodities, the same change in the USD improves the domestic-export-based TB for 18. Some empirical inferences from findings are as follows: (i) Mexican consumers (MC) with a stronger Peso purchase US domestically produced commodities more than re-exported ones; (ii) MC with a weaker Peso stop purchasing US re-exported commodities more than the US domestically produced ones; (iii) MC are appreciated/depreciated-Peso-sensitive to US domestically produced commodities more than re-exported ones

Late Glacial-Holocene palaeoceanography of the Sea of Marmara: timing of connections with the Mediterranean and the Black Seas

Stratigraphic analysis of Late Quaternary sediments of the Sea of Marmara Basin (SMB) indicates that it was a freshwater lake during the late glacial to ca 12,000 yr BP, depositing sediments with a Neoeuxinian fauna characteristic of the Black Sea Basin. At ca 12,000 yr BP, it was inundated by the Mediterranean waters and gradually converted into a marine realm as indicated by the presence above the Neoeuxinian sediments of a mixed layer, containing both marine and freshwater fauna. A sapropelic sediment layer was deposited between 10,600 and 6400 yr BP under suboxic bottom water conditions. This layer roughly corresponds in time to S1 sapropel unit of the eastern Mediterranean, suggesting a common origin. Its presence in the SMB, therefore, supports the hypothesis that a large influx of freshwaters from the Black Sea was an important factor in sapropel formation in the eastern Mediterranean. A second sapropelic layer formed in the SMB during 4750 to 3200 yr BP

Best practice in diagnosis and treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: research and guidelines

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