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The effective implementation of environmental regulations is crucial for mitigating environmental pollution. During the regulatory process, local governments engage in an interactive game. Based on sample data from 275 Chinese cities between 2012 and 2020, our findings demonstrate that local governments adopt imitative strategies, resulting in a "race to the top competition" in environmental regulation. The attention given by local governments to environmental protection, combined with the central government's restrictions on emission reduction targets, enhances the effectiveness of carbon emission reduction through environmental regulation. However, the inhibitory effect of environmental regulation on carbon emissions is diminished when local governments attract low-quality foreign direct investment (FDI). Additionally, both local and neighborhood effects of environmental regulation exhibit significantly positive impacts on carbon emissions in the eastern and central regions. In contrast, the western regions show significantly negative effects. Finally, our study reveals that environmental regulation has positive carbon emission reduction effects in non-pollution and pollution-prevention cities, as well as resource and non-resource cities. This study provides insight for China's "double‑carbon goal" and offers positive implications for the effective implementation of environmental regulations. • Constructs a theoretical model of game theory to clarify the regulation strategic interaction among local governments. • The mechanisms for local government concerns, FDI, and central government emissions targets are deduced. • Integrates micro-level data information and constructs a proper environmental regulation index at the city level. • The spatial effects of local government environmental regulation and urban carbon emission reduction are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Antiangiogenic treatments play an important role in the therapeutic strategy for metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Apatinib is an oral tyrosine kinase inhibitor that targets vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2. We aimed to assess the efficacy and safety of apatinib therapy in metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients.Methods: Between January 2018 and November 2018, we enrolled 53 metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients. Apatinib was administered at an initial dose of 500 mg once daily. The disease control rate, objective response rate, progression-free survival, and adverse events were reviewed and evaluated.Findings: Among the 53 patients, 14 achieved partial response and 31 achieved stable disease. Thus, the disease control rate was 84.9% and the objective response rate was 26.4%. The median progression-free survival was 11.2 months (95% confidence interval: 9.884-12.574). Most of the adverse events (AEs) were at grade 1 or 2, and the main grade 3 AEs were hypertension (5.7%), anemia (3.8%), and thrombocytopenia (3.8%).Interpretation: Apatinib showed promising efficacy and manageable toxicity in metastatic renal cell carcinoma patients, giving potent evidence to conduct further clinical trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sclerotinia rot infected by cosmopolitan fungi Sclerotinia sclerotiorum is a serious and destructive disease in carrot production, especially during their postharvest storage. Natural products with the advantages of environmentally friendly and safety have been widely concerned. This research estimated the impact of hinokitiol against S. sclerotiorum and on the quality of carrots. In vitro and in vivo tests demonstrated that hinokitiol had promising antifungal activities against both carbendazim-susceptible and -resistant isolates of S. sclerotiorum. Importantly, it effectively kept the quality and prolonged the shelf life of carrot by declining the loss of weight, ascorbic acid, carotenoid, and total phenolics content, preventing the formation of malondialdehyde, and enhancing the activities of antioxidant enzymes. Further study found that hinokitiol inhibited the formation of sclerotia by destroying the morphology and the integrality of cell membrane, reduced the pathogenicity by suppressing the synthesis of oxalic acid and exopolysaccharide, declined the activities of enzymes and the gene expression related to sclerotia development in S. sclerotiorum. These information evidenced the great potential of hinokitiol as a natural fresh-keeping agent for the management of postharvest decay infected by S. sclerotiorum. • Hinokitiol had promising antimicrobial activities against S. sclerotiorum. • It maintained the quality and extend the shelf life of carrots. • It inhibited the myceliogenic and carpogenic germination of sclerotia. • Hinokitiol prevented the development of sclerotia might the main action mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing high-performance microwave absorption (MA) materials becomes an urgent concern in the field of electromagnetic protection. Constructing porous framework is an efficient approach to MA owing to the abilities of adjusting impedance matching and providing more reflection and scattering paths for electromagnetic waves. Herein, a cellulose nanofibril (CNF)/honeycomb-like carbon-shell encapsulated FeCoNi@C/carbon nanotube (CNT) composite aerogel was fabricated via a facile freeze-drying method. The super-lightweight composites showed a distinctive gradient structure for reflection and scattering inside aerogel pores, micrometer small pores, and nano-fillers on the pore walls. The composite aerogel showed an ideal minimum reflection loss (RL min) of −43.6 dB and remarkable adjustable effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 12.18 GHz due to good impedance matching, unique gradient porous structure, and synergies of multiple loss mechanisms. Therefore, this work will provide a viable strategy to improve the MA capability of absorbers by taking full advantage of constructing gradient reflection and scattering porous structure. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Atmospheric pesticides were characterized by a year-long 10-site sampling campaign. • Higher concentrations of atmospheric pesticides were observed in spring and summer. • Atmospheric pesticide residues are strongly influenced by cropping systems. • The risk of pesticide inhalation exposure to residents and wildlife is negligible. The intensive use of pesticides in the North China Plain (NCP) has resulted in widespread contamination of pesticides in the local atmosphere, posing risks to air quality and human health. However, the occurrence and distribution of atmospheric pesticides in the NCP as well as their risk assessment have not been well investigated. In this study, 300 monthly samples were collected using passive air samplers with polyurethane foam at ten rural sites with different crop systems in Quzhou county, the NCP, from June 2021 to May 2022. The pesticides were quantified using mass-spectrometric techniques. Our results revealed that chlorpyrifos, carbendazim, and atrazine were the most frequently found pesticides in the air samples, with detection frequencies of ≥ 87 % across the samples. The average concentrations of atmospheric pesticides during spring (7.47 pg m−3) and summer (16.05 pg m−3) were significantly higher than those during autumn (2.04 pg m−3) and winter (1.71 pg m−3), attributable to the intensified application of pesticides during the warmer seasons. Additionally, cash crop sites exhibited higher concentrations (10.26 pg m−3) of atmospheric pesticides compared to grain crop (5.59 pg m−3) and greenhouse sites (3.81 pg m−3), primarily due to more frequent pesticides spraying events in cash crop fields. These findings indicate a distinct spatial–temporal distribution pattern of atmospheric pesticides influenced by both seasons and crop systems. Furthermore, the model-based inhalation risk assessment indicates that inhalation exposure to atmospheric pesticides is unlikely to pose a significant public concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper studies the long-termed displacement of a tunnel boring machine (TBM) resting on soft clay during its unscheduled stoppage for 100 days. It is based on a real case of tunneling in a coastal city of Ningbo in China. The numerical prediction is carried out by using different soil models in the software PLAXIS, and the prediction is compared with on-site measurement of the displacement. Different factors are considered in the prediction, including soil creeping and the disturbance to the soft clay during the tunneling. The study indicates that the consideration of disturbance is essential to the accurate prediction. While advanced soil models including the soft soil model and soft soil creep model are not able to accurately predict the TBM displacement, the consideration of soil disturbance leads to a very good agreement with the measurement. The accurate prediction of ground settlements also justifies consideration of the disturbance in the study of tunneling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]