A dynamic game modeling on air pollution mitigation with regional cooperation and noncooperation.

Mitigating regional air pollution involves multifaceted trade-offs, including long-term versus short-term development versus emission-reduction among different regions. Considering the heterogeneity of levels of regional economic development and capacity for environmental governance as well as the spatial spillover effect of pollution, the game theory method can explore each region's dynamic emission-reduction path. In this article, the dynamic game mechanism (Regional Environment Economy Game Modeling model) is incorporated into the environment economy system to solve the Nash equilibrium under dynamic conditions and explore the game strategies of each region. Taking air pollution mitigation in North China as an example, this article compares the emission-reduction effect and social welfare under regional cooperative and noncooperative game scenarios and clarifies the abatement-sharing mechanism between provinces. The results show that a noncooperative policy is strictly inferior to a cooperative policy for achieving given emission-reduction goals and maximizing social welfare. Our findings offer evidence for strengthening regional cooperation in reducing carbon emissions and provide policy recommendations for synergistic pollution abatement and joint regional pollution mitigation. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2023;19:1555-1569. © 2023 SETAC.

Functionalized MoS2: circular economy SERS substrate for label-free detection of bilirubin in clinical diagnosis.

A one-pot hydrothermal synthesis of Fe-doped MoS2 nanoflowers (Fe-MoS2 NFs) has been developed as a surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) substrate. The Fe-MoS2 NFs display high reproducibility, stability, and recyclability, which is beneficial for the development of the sustainable ecological environment. The SERS substrate provides a high enhancement factor of 105, which can be ascribed to the inducing defects by doping Fe that can improve the charge transfer between probe molecules and MoS2. The Fe-MoS2 NFs have been used to detect bilirubin in serum. The Fe-MoS2 NF SERS substrate exhibits a linear detection range from 10-3 to 10-9 M with a low limit of detection (LOD) of 10-8 M. The substrate displays an excellent selectivity to bilirubin in the presence of other potentially interfering molecules (dextrose and phosphate). These results provide a novel concept to synthesize ultra-sensitive SERS substrates and open up a wide range of possibilities for new applications of MoS2 in clinical diagnosis.

Local government competition on setting emission reduction goals.

The incentive of environmental protection for local authorities is important for large and unitary states. Local authorities may be competed for both of environmental and economic performance. However, there is possibly trade-offs between the two performances in the short term. This paper focus on the incentives among China's local governments. Our empirical research finds that local governments compete for setting ambitious goals of pollution emission reduction according to their goals release date, and the increase in emission reduction goal leads to a decline in real economic growth. One of the transmit channels is that high goals result in more efforts on emission reduction and then crowding out the economic growth. Local governments are inclined to set more ambitious emission reduction goals, even when doing so comes at some cost of reduced economic growth. The results are robust to regression methods, emission types, and the variable choices of economic growth in different years. It implicates that if the superior governments strengthen the local authorities' competition for environment protection and reduce that for economic growth, it would improve the environment performance effectively. Such competition mechanism may include but not be limited to official promotion based on environment performance.

Health Effects of Energy Intensive Sectors and the Potential Health Co-Benefits of a Low Carbon Industrial Transition in China.

Background: The issues of environmental pollution and its effects on health have become increasingly serious in China. Energy intensive sectors are not only the main energy consumers, but also the main sources of air pollution. Analyzing the health effects of energy intensive sectors and the potential health co-benefits of a low carbon industrial transition is of great importance for promoting China's air pollution control. Methods: This study used the exposure-response (ER) relationship model and inhalation factor methods to quantitatively analyze the health effects of air pollution and forecast the potential health co-benefits in the power and steel sectors. Results: The results showed that in 2016 SO2 and PM2.5 emissions caused about 850,000 premature deaths, and 10 million cases of respiratory diseases and chest discomfort, resulting in health-related economic losses of 1.2 trillion Yuan, accounting for 1.6% of the GDP. Meanwhile, demand control in consumption could significantly reduce SO2 emissions in the power and steel sectors, thus offering significant health co-benefits. However, there was still some uncertainty regarding the reduction of PM2.5 emissions in the steel sector. Conclusions: There is a need to take advantage of the health co-benefits of emission reduction in energy intensive sectors and to adopt flexible means to stimulate their green transformation.

Magnetic Zn (II) ion-imprinted polymer prepared by the surface imprinting technique and its adsorption properties.

A novel magnetic Zn (II) ion-imprinted polymer was prepared by the surface ion-imprinted technique by using magnetic Fe3O4@SiO2 microspheres as supporter, methacrylic acid and salicylaldoxime as monomers, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as the crosslinker. The products were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, X-ray photoelectron spectrometer, vibrating sample magnetometer and scanning electron microscope. The adsorption experiments showed that the imprinted polymer was employed successfully in comparison with non-imprinted polymer. When the temperature was in a range of 291-297 K, the maximum adsorption was about 52.69 mg g(-1) with an optimal pH 6.0 for an equilibrium time of 40 min. The imprinted polymer possessed high selectivity and specific recognition towards Zn (II). The Langmuir adsorption model was more favourable than the Freundlich or the Temkin adsorption model. Thermodynamic experiment showed that the adsorption was a spontaneous and endothermic process for Zn (II). The mechanism for Zn (II) adsorption on the imprinted polymer was investigated.