The nexus between eco-friendly technology and environmental degradation in India: Does the N or inverted N-shape load capacity curve(LCC) hypothesis hold?

This study aims to investigate the impact of eco-friendly technology on environmental degradation indicated using the load capacity factor (LCF) with the framework of the Load Capacity Curve (LCC) hypothesis. In this regard, an environmental degradation function is formed and analyzed using the Augmented Autoregressive Distributed Lag (AARDL) approach during the period spanning from 1975 to 2021 for India. The outcome indicates that eco-friendly technology reduces the LCF, thereby fostering environmental degradation in the long run, but the relationship is not significant in the short run. Further, an N-shaped LCC hypothesis has been observed in both long and short runs. Besides, energy consumption exhibits a LCF reducing or environmental degradation boosting role in the short run and long run. These findings are consistent with other models that are used to check the robustness of AARDL-based results. Thus, the study recommends policies for promoting eco-friendly technology, judicious economic growth, and cautious energy consumption to attain sustainable development by increasing the LCF in India.     

Acceleration of Exotic Plant Invasion in a Forested Ecosystem by a Generalist Herbivore

Abstract: The successful invasion of exotic plants is often attributed to the absence of coevolved enemies in the introduced range (i.e., the enemy release hypothesis). Nevertheless, several components of this hypothesis, including the role of generalist herbivores, remain relatively unexplored. We used repeated censuses of exclosures and paired controls to investigate the role of a generalist herbivore, white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), in the invasion of 3 exotic plant species (Microstegium vimineum, Alliaria petiolata, and Berberis thunbergii) in eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) forests in New Jersey and Pennsylvania (U.S.A.). This work was conducted in 10 eastern hemlock (T. canadensis) forests that spanned gradients in deer density and in the severity of canopy disturbance caused by an introduced insect pest, the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae). We used maximum likelihood estimation and information theoretics to quantify the strength of evidence for alternative models of the influence of deer density and its interaction with the severity of canopy disturbance on exotic plant abundance. Our results were consistent with the enemy release hypothesis in that exotic plants gained a competitive advantage in the presence of generalist herbivores in the introduced range. The abundance of all 3 exotic plants increased significantly more in the control plots than in the paired exclosures. For all species, the inclusion of canopy disturbance parameters resulted in models with substantially greater support than the deer density only models. Our results suggest that white‐tailed deer herbivory can accelerate the invasion of exotic plants and that canopy disturbance can interact with herbivory to magnify the impact. In addition, our results provide compelling evidence of nonlinear relationships between deer density and the impact of herbivory on exotic species abundance. These findings highlight the important role of herbivore density in determining impacts on plant abundance and provide evidence of the operation of multiple mechanisms in exotic plant invasion.     

On the Performance and Applicability of Nonlinear Two-Equation Turbulence Models for Urban Air Quality Modelling

It is well known that the commonly used k- turbulence models yield inaccurate predictions for complex flow fields. One reason for this inaccuracy is the misrepresentation of Reynolds stress differences. Nonlinear turbulence models are capable to overcome this weakness while being not considerably more complex. However no comprehensive studies are known which analyze the performance of nonlinear turbulence models for three-dimensional flows around building-shaped structures. In the present study the predictions of the flow around a surface-mounted cube using three nonlinear two-equation turbulence models are discussed. The results are compared with predictions of the standard k- turbulence model and wind tunnel measurements. It is shown that the use of nonlinear turbulence models can be beneficial in predicting wind flows around buildings.     

环境规制和农业科技进步的关系分析——基于波特假说的研究

波特假说主要从动态的角度论证了环境规制和农业科技进步之间的正向变亿关系.而在安徽省1990 -2008年的农业生产数据的基础上,选择合适的环境规制和农业科技进步的指标变量,运用Johansen协整分析方法验证了安徽省农业生产中的环境规制和农业科技进步的关系也符合这一假说,Granger因果关系检验说明了安徽省环境规制是农业科技进步产生的原因,脉冲响应分析和方差分析则更深入地从定量的角度分析了环境规制对农业科技进步影响滞后的趋势和影响程度.由实证分析可以看出,只是从静态角度来分析,环境规制是不利于农业的科技进步的;但从长期效益来看,环境规制有利于农业的科技进步.因此,在农业生态环境恶化的形势下,严格对农业废弃物的排放限制,制定较严格的农产品生产标准和产品质量标准,提高农民的环境意识和科技意识,通过强化环境规制来促使农业生产者提高农业生产技术,提高农产品品质和产品的市场竞争力就显得尤为重要.     

环境库兹涅茨曲线研究进展

环境库兹涅茨曲线（EKC）假说认为环境压力和经济增长之间呈倒U形关系,即在经济发展早期环境质量逐渐恶化．经济发展到一定水平之后．环境质量会逐渐改善。暗示着经济发展最终可以弥补早期造成的环境恶化。实证研究表明环境压力和经济增长之间的关系还会出现其他情况：同步关系、U形关系和N形关系。研究发现环境压力和经济增长不会长期分离,经济发展到一定阶段它们会重新组合,环境压力和经济增长之间呈N形关系,这就是重组假说。最后总结了EKC存在的问题：计量模型问题,经济分析方法问题。数据和指标问题．贸易问题和其他问题。本文从历史背景与理论基础、实证研究和研究中存在的问题三个方面总结了EKC的研究现状和进晨。这对弄清环境压力和经济增长的关系．对采用可持续的环境政策来说都具有重要的理论和现实意义。     

Cooperatively breeding superb fairy-wrens show no facultative manipulation of offspring sex ratio despite plausible benefits

We report a long-term study of offspring sex ratios in the cooperatively breeding superb fairy-wren Malurus cyaneus. Detailed study of this species had revealed a suite of potentially strong selection pressures on the sex ratio. First, females gain substantial fitness benefits from the presence of helpers; so females without male helpers would benefit from any strategy that increased the probability of recruiting help, such as overproduction of sons (local resource enhancement hypothesis), but large numbers of helper males compete among themselves, favouring the production of daughters (local resource competition). Second, daughters fledged early in the season have far greater chances of recruitment to the breeding population than late-fledged daughters, so mothers would benefit from production of daughters early in the breeding season (early bird hypothesis). Third, extra-group mate choice imposes strong sexual selection on males, suggesting that females mating with attractive sires could benefit from investing in sons (sexual selection hypothesis). However, the predictions from these and other sex ratio hypotheses were rejected. The only convincing evidence for manipulation of the sex ratio was a slight bias towards sons (11 sons to 10 daughters) that occurred regardless of context. This result does not support current theory.     

Secondary sexual characters and female quality in primates

Honest advertisement models of sexual selection propose that exaggerated secondary sexual ornaments are condition-dependent, and that only individuals with superior disease resistance will be able to express costly ornamentation. Studies of secondary sexual ornamentation and their maintenance by sexual selection tend to focus on males. However, females may also possess showy ornaments. We investigated whether female ornaments, in the form of sexual swellings, reliably signal female fitness in a semifree-ranging colony of mandrills (Mandrillus sphinx) at the Centre International de Recherches Médicales, Franceville (CIRMF), Gabon. We measured swelling height and width using photographs of periovulatory females over three mating seasons and compared swelling size with parasitism (using fecal analysis over one annual cycle), immune status (ratio of lymphocytes to neutrophils in blood smears made during captures), and genetic diversity (microsatellite heterozygosity). Swelling size varied by up to 10% between cycles in individual females, giving some support to the hypothesis that size differences may indicate the quality of individual swelling cycles. However, there was no significant difference in swelling size between conceptive and nonconceptive cycles. Measures of swelling size varied more between females than within females across swelling cycles, implying that swelling size was a relatively consistent characteristic of individual females. Swelling size was not significantly related to either general measures of parasitism and immune status, or to the closest available measures to each swelling cycle. Nor was swelling size significantly related to genetic diversity. The healthy, provisioned nature of the colony and problems associated with observational, correlational studies restrict interpretation of our data. However, in combination with previous findings that females of higher reproductive success do not show larger swellings, and that males do not allocate mating effort as a function of swelling size, these results imply that sexual swelling size does not indicate female quality in these semifree-ranging mandrills.     

成都及其周边地区轻型载客汽车行驶里程调查与分析

研究目的是通过实地调查和统计分析及检验确定成都及其周边地区轻型载客汽车的活动水平(用行驶里程表征)及规律,并比较不同地区间的差异。统计表明,成都及周边城市轻型载客汽车的年均行驶里程为1.5~2.0万km/年。其中绵阳和其他城市间的差异比较显著,而其他城市间的差异在绝对值上较小。成都及其周边地区轻型载客汽车年均行驶里程随车龄呈递减趋势,以成都市最为明显,而周边其他地区稍差。结果表明,为提高机动车尾气排放清单的准确度,对城市差异较大的不同地区的轻型载客汽车的行驶里程进行分别调查是必要的。     

驾驶行为模型的研究进展

驾驶员行为模型的研究对于预测和干预驾驶员的风险行为、设计相关的道路安全设施与车内设备,以及制定交通法律法规等具有重要的意义。为了解和掌握学术界关于驾驶行为模型的研究进展,搜集、筛选和归纳了1960—2010年被SCI数据库索引的相关文章,将驾驶行为模型分类为描述性模型、信息处理模型、动机模型、计划行为理论(TPB)和躯体标识假设,并对每种模型进行评述和总结,理清这些模型间的内在联系。研究发现,现有各模型只是从某个角度研究驾驶员行为的部分特征,而不能解释驾驶员的全部行为。今后应不断完善和整合各类模型,并借鉴心理学、生理学和行为科学等相关领域的理论、知识,使驾驶行为模型变得更为实用、有效。