Environmental Kuznets Curves in the People’s Republic of China: turning points and regional differences

This paper examines the relationship between economic growth and environmental sustainability in the People’s Republic of China by empirically estimating environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) models using provincial-level panel data from 1985 to 2005. The results show that there exists an inverted-U shaped relationship as hypothesized by the EKC model between per capita income and per capita emissions (or discharges) in the cases of waste gas from fuel burning and waste water, with a turning point at per capita gross domestic product of $12,903 and$3,226, respectively, in 2005 purchasing power parity terms. This relationship does not hold in the case of waste gas from production or solid waste. The estimation results from the model allowing region-specific slope coefficients show that the EKCs of the more developed coastal region have a flatter rising portion with turning points occurring at a higher income level than those of the less developed central and western regions. The paper argues that this may reflect technology diffusion and leapfrogging and institution imitation across regions at different stages of development. Policy implications of these findings are discussed.environmental kuznets curve; EKC; China; economic growth; environmental sustainability

Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Camera: Image Analysis, Optimization and Enhancement

Fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM) is an imaging technique for producing an image based on differences in fluorescence lifetimes. The present thesis is devoted to analyzing a novel Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Camera (FLI-Cam) system. The principle of the applied camera system is based on the Time-of-Flight (ToF) technique, which was originally designed for 3D depth scene imaging. Such a camera provides a high frame rate and realizes direct nanosecond-range fluorescence lifetime sensing. The main scope of this thesis is to deliver an optimized solution and rapid sophisticated algorithm for the FLI-Cam system with high accuracy. New time-gated schemes and heterodyne modulation scheme for FLIM using the pulse-based and continuous-wave-based (phase-based) ToF camera, respectively, are presented. In order to optimize the performance of the FLI-Cam system, a thorough statistical analysis is implemented and the photon economy of our FLIM techniques is investigated. Various operation modes and experimental parameters for the measurement have been studied and optimized. The presented theoretical result is validated by numerical simulations using the Monte Carlo method and real experiments. For the enhancement of the FLIM images from our system, the vector-valued total variation technique is applied to improve the quality of FLIM images for the first time. It shows better performance than other existing approaches