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The objectives of this paper were to develop, evaluate and apply the remote sensing based on models of ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) and total phosphorus (TP) for the Yi and Shu River in Linyi Economic Development Zone, Shandong Province, China. The scenes of Landsat-8 OLI satellite data were used to establish the relationship between the planetary reflectance and the measured data for five years (i.e., 2014-2017). The five spectral bands (i.e., Coastal, Blue, Green, Red, NIR) were used to obtain the most suitable modeling factor from the different band combinations. The liner regression analysis showed that red band both had highest correlation with NH3-N and TP in Yi and Shu River. For the Yi River, the co-efficient of determination (R2) of red band was 0.541 for the NH3-N model and 0.498 for the TP model. For the Shu River, the co-efficient of determination (R2) of red band was 0.643 for the NH3-N model and 0.565 for the TP model. The best-fit Models were validated with measured data and found that the errors of the NH3-N and TP models of the Yi River were 34.93% and 29.33%, respectively, and while 33.66% and 32.48% for the Shu River. With the models, the distribution diagrams of NH3-N and TP were generated, which can be assisted analysis of spatial and temporal for Yi and Shu River. The results showed that the established models could indicate the trend of NH3-N and TP in rivers that was validated by field visit. The proposed approach in this paper has satisfactory validity and practicability, thus could be reference for study on NH3-N and TP in water based on remote sensing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complexity modelling of economic efficiency and growth potential is increasingly essential for countries and provinces. Evaluating the monetary flows, kinetic energy (efficiency) and potential capacity (resilience) provides crucial information for economic development. In the paper, the authors analyze growth opportunities for the Chinese economy from a system science point of view, using the perspective of information entropy, based on the input-output tables. Over the past four decades of reform and opening-up, China has made remarkable progress in its economic development. In 2007, China's GDP was at its fastest pace in history at 14.2% growth. However, after the financial crisis in 2008, the global economy experienced a downward trend and China's economic development also settled on a medium-low level of development. The traditional perspective is to rank regional development only based on GDP growth, whereas here, the authors advocate another evaluation method based on efficiency and potential growth. Unbalanced regional economic development has become problematic and has become a barrier for sustainability of China's economy. The results of the research indicate firstly that China's regional development in 2007 and 2012 has been unequal between the provinces. Secondly, the authors found that Shandong province had significantly higher indicators for efficiency and potential growth than others in the same circumstances. Authors observe that provinces tend to carry out industrial policies and adjust the structure of industry on a local level. This analysis demonstrates that the spatial imbalance of efficiency and potential of economic development under the perspective of provincial-level regions. From the perspective of industry, it indicates that the supply chain is too short, mainly focusing on the mining and processing of resources and minerals in the original upstream industry chain, while the downstream is not fully utilized. These represent some unique insights yielded through this type of analysis that authors advocate applying more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of Cleaner Production (CP) is a strategy for achieving a corporate's sustainable development and therefore is an important instrument for improving environmental performance. Due to the rapid economic development and urbanization in China, the stone processing industry is developing fast, resulting in several environmental problems. The stone processing sector has begun to implement the CP technologies and practices to tackle with environmental problems caused by the production process. However, the evaluation methodologies of the effectiveness of CP implementation in this sector have rarely been examined in the literature. This paper proposed a CP evaluation system that enables decision-makers to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of CP in the stone processing industry. A three-level framework was structured with 6 first-grade indicators and 24 sub-indicators according to the context and characteristics of the stone processing production. And the evaluation criteria were closely related to the laws, rules, regulations and discharge standards in China as well as the current CP technology level. Using analytical hierarchy process and fuzzy membership degree analysis, the weights of each indicators were determined, and evaluation results were achieved. Moreover, the evaluation methodology was verified to be reasonable and practical in the case study of a stone processing firm in Shandong Province. The entire and detailed assessment results demonstrate that the evaluation methodology is helpful in providing guidelines for the implementation of CP strategy in the industry of stone processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of urbanization and economic growth, urban agglomerations have become an effective way to realize resource sharing and reduce environmental dependence. This paper focuses on the cities within an urban agglomeration and analyzes the spatial characteristics of green development and its influencing factors. Considering the spatial correlation and dependence of green development, this paper proposes a methodology for the spatial analysis of area green efficiency (AGE) and total factor productivity change (TFPC) using a two-level hierarchical framework including diversity and correlation. This approach was tested using an urban agglomeration in China, and the results reveal that AGE varies greatly among cities and that the changing trend is related to the government's regional planning. TFPC presents a significant negative spatial correlation, indicating that the heterogeneity between cities is obvious. The serious problems in the green development of the Shandong Peninsula are due to the improper structure of export products and the insufficient contribution of tertiary industry. Proper policy instruments could improve area green development within an urban agglomeration, including policies promoting closed networks among cities, measures readjusting the industrial structure, and strategies for optimizing the development of tertiary industry according to the characteristics and advantages of each city. • A methodology is put forward for the spatial analysis of area green development. • Area green development in urban agglomeration shows significant spatial correlation. • The importance of influencing factors varies in different regions and time periods. • Optimizing spatial structure and factor input could improve area green development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]