This paper establishes a theoretical connection between China’s Five-Year Plan (FYP) and environmental pollution. We propose a target allocation cycle theory to explain the periodic feature of environmental pollution, which advances political business theory in different institutional contexts. By analysing industrial SO2 and PM2.5 data as well as the political career data of officials in 277 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2019, we reveal a significant influence of China’s political business cycles, as dictated by the FYP, on the periodicity of environmental pollution. Specifically, the emissions of industrial SO2 and PM2.5 exhibit a U-shaped periodic trend, peaking during the initial 2 years of each FYP, followed by a gradual decline in subsequent years, only to peak again in the first year of the succeeding FYP. These findings suggest that local political leaders strategically allocate their efforts in managing environmental pollution. Initially, there is a relaxation of environmental regulation during the early stages of a FYP, which is then followed by a shift towards more stringent environmental governance after the midpoint of the FYP.

This paper proposes a dynamic model to capture the interaction among the environment, human capital accumulation, and economic growth. We emphasize the mechanism that pollution stock depresses human capital accumulation, which has received increasing support from empirical studies. The model predicts that the development of pollution-intensive industries can help an economy gear up a short-run prosperity, but it impairs the capability for long-run economic growth, trapping the economy at a low development level. The cost for a dirty economy to switch is expensive and even infeasible if the environmental degradation is irreversible. Policy interventions, such as tax on pollution and subsidy on human capital, can help alleviate but cannot eradicate the economic stagnation.

Caryophyllideans are intestinal parasites of freshwater fishes, occupying a basal position among the ‘true’ tapeworms. We performed detailed cytogenetic analyses of the well-known caryophyllidean species Caryophyllaeus laticeps. For comparison, we also examined for the first time the chromosomes of Paracaryophyllaeus gotoi, a specific parasite of loaches in China. Both species showed a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 20, n = 10m. Chromomycin A3 (CMA3)/diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) staining performed for the first time in the class Cestoda revealed CMA3+/DAPI− bands in the pericentromeric regions of the short arms of chromosome pair no. 7 in the karyotype of C. laticeps. Fluorescence in situ hybridization with the 18S rDNA probe confirmed the presence of a single cluster of major rDNA near the centromere on a pair of small chromosomes in both species. These findings support the hypothesis that the ancestral state in the family Caryophyllaeidae is a single interstitial cluster of major rDNA genes and thus one nucleolar organizer region per haploid genome. Our results, which we presented together with literature data plotted on a phylogenetic tree, show stability of caryophyllidean karyotypes at the genus level, but showed differences between genera without a clear phylogenetic signal. The data allowed us to at least formulate a hypothesis about the ancestral haploid chromosome number of n = 10 for the family Caryophyllaeidae and possibly for the sister family Capingentidae. In addition, we compared two populations of C. laticeps from water bodies with different levels of polychlorinated biphenyl contamination, showing a slightly increased incidence of chromosomal abnormalities at the contaminated site.

The objective of the research presented in this Research Communication was to access the environmental impact of the Latvian dairy industries. Site visits and interviews at Latvian dairy processing companies were done in order to collect site-specific data. This includes the turnover of the dairy industries, production, quality of water in various industrial processes, the flow and capacity of the sewage including their characteristic, existing practices and measures for wastewater management. The results showed that dairy industries in Latvia generated in total approximately 2263 × 103 m3 wastewater in the year 2019. The Latvian dairy effluents were characterized with high chemical oxygen demand (COD), biological oxygen demand (BOD) and total solids (TS). Few dairy plants had pre-treatment facilities for removal of contaminants, and many lacked onsite treatment technologies. Most facilities discharged dairy wastewater to municipal wastewater treatment plants. The current study gives insight into the Latvian dairy industries, their effluent management and pollution at Gulf of Riga due to wastewater discharge.

Preoccupation about potential deleterious effects of pharmaceuticals in the environment is growing fast. Psychiatric pharmaceuticals have received particular attention because of their increasing use and their potential impacts on many living beings due to their effects on phylogenetically highly conserved neuroendocrine systems. Recent studies that have shown that many pharmaceuticals (including psychotropics) bioaccumulate through the web food have raised this concern into new heights. As professionals working in the field of psychiatry and academia, we believe we are about to enter a new era with regard to pharmacotherapy. We estimate drug pollution will have a major impact on our daily practice in a way we are just starting to imagine. So far, this problem has largely been ignored by healthcare professionals, who are the ones prescribing and dispensing pharmaceuticals. We are convinced that increasing awareness among these professionals will be a key element to effectively fight against drug pollution.

The anthropogenic accidents in the world (including the underground emergency nuclear explosion at the site “Kraton-3” (Yakutiya) and also the recent Fukushima accident) resulted in significant environmental pollution by radionuclides, mainly long-lived 90Sr and 137Cs. One of the ways to solve this problem is the creation of “permeable reactive barriers” (PRBs). High selectivity of clinoptilolite-containing tuffs (CLT) towards Sr2+ and Cs+ radionuclides, together with their availability and reasonable cost, make possible their use as PRBs. The scales of the ion-exchange processes taking place on PRBs indicate the necessity of mathematical modelling. In this connection, Sr2+ and Cs+ ion-exchange sorption on Khonguruu CLT (Yakutiya) from solutions of various mineralizations was studied under equilibrium and non-equilibrium conditions. The physicochemical and mathematical models of the dynamic ion-exchange process and also the computer program considering both structural features of CLT (two-stage particle diffusion kinetics) and possible periodic interruptions of the process were developed. The breakthrough time of CLT as a geochemical barrier was calculated by such mathematical modelling.

We analyzed variations in the Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca, REE/Ca (REE: rare earth element), Zn/Ca, and Pb/Ca ratios preserved in an annually layered stalagmite, XL21, from central China. The stalagmite record spans the 95 year period AD 1914–2008. The Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca ratios have a significant positive correlation with the stalagmite's growth rate, suggesting that they were primarily controlled by growth-rate variations. Variations in REE/Ca ratios are consistent with local temperature changes, suggesting temperature influenced REE concentrations in the stalagmite over decadal to annual timescales. Higher temperature in this humid area can increase vegetation cover, microbial activity, and organic decomposition in the soil, resulting in enhanced pCO2, organic matter concentration and reduced pH, and consequently increased REE mobilization from the overlying soil layer and host rock. Higher temperatures may also increase the natural Zn mobilization from the overlying soil mediated by organic matter and consequently may have led to increased Zn retention in XL21. An increasing trend is seen in the Pb/Ca ratios from XL21 since 1985, which is consistent with increased lead production in this area, and indicates an increase in mine-derived lead pollution in the local environment over the past 30 years.

This paper compares the economic efficiency of firm-agency governance structures for pollution reduction using transaction costs economics. Two governance structures are analyzed with the transaction costs approach: command and control regulation (CCR) and negotiated agreements (NAs). We propose that the choice of governance structure depends on the strategies firms pursue given the attributes of their transactions and their market opportunities. The application of transaction cost economics analysis leads to different choices of regulatory instruments. Firms in more mature, stable industries are likely to choose command and control, while firms in new, dynamic sectors are more likely to opt for negotiated agreements. Frequency of transactions is a key factor in firm choice.

The intensification of livestock have increased the emission of pollutants to the environment, leading to a growing interest in seeking strategies that minimise these emissions. Studies have shown that it is possible to manipulate diets by reducing CP levels and thus reducing nitrogen (N) excretion, without compromising performance. However, there is no knowledge of any study that has focused on reducing N excretion and relating this reduction to individual amino acids. This study investigated the effect of dietary methionine+cysteine (MC) and threonine (THR), the two most limiting amino acids for broiler production, on nitrogen excretion (NE) and nitrogen deposition (ND) and determined the efficiency of utilisation of both amino acids for protein deposition. Six trials were conducted to measure the NE and ND in broiler chickens during three rearing phases in response to dietary amino acid. The efficiency of utilisation of the amino acids was calculated by linear regression of body protein deposition and the amino acid intake. Despite the differences between sexes and phases, the efficiency of utilisation was the same, being 0.60 and 0.59 for MC and THR, respectively. The rate of NE behaved exponentially, increasing with amino acid intake, and can exceed 50% of N intake, being higher than ND. On average, for a reduction in intake of each unit of MC or THR (mg) there is a reduction of 0.5% of NE. Although this reduction seems low, considering that it corresponds to changes in one amino acid only, the impact on a large scale would be significant. Knowledge of how animals respond to NE and ND/protein deposition according to amino acid dietary content may represent new efforts towards reducing the impact on environment.