Slowdown In Growth Research Articles

A Review of the Sustainability of Helium: An Assessment of Its Past, Present and a Zero-Carbon Future

Helium, as a by-product of the natural gas industry, will be impacted by the decline in consumption of fossil fuels as the world moves towards net-zero carbon emissions. In September 2022, all assets relating to the US government’s previous helium industry were sold. In the US, helium is now only available from private suppliers. In June 2022, Russia banned the export of helium to “unfriendly” countries, highlighting the geopolitical issues surrounding the industry. In the past, helium was popularized, and the industry was supported by its military applications (filling dirigible aircraft, welding fighter jets and purging rocket engines). It also plays an important role in supporting present-day technologies (e.g., MRI machines and spectroscopy) and will also be important for a high-tech future (e.g., in quantum computing, fusion power, and space exploration). Shortages of helium will inevitably cause skyrocketing prices and consequently lead to significant challenges for research and development (as has happened in the past) and technological progress, as well as a slowdown in world economic growth and prosperity. Anticipated declines in natural gas production, associated with moves towards net-zero carbon emissions targets, make helium less accessible. While this is problematic for industry in the short term, it perhaps preserves some low entropy helium within the ground, making it more accessible to future generations. Given anticipated limitations to the future supply of helium, technological developments are currently focused on a few areas: the replacement of helium by other gases in industrial applications, changing technological approaches to not require helium, and reducing the cost of obtaining helium from the atmosphere. This paper explores the past, present and future of helium, focusing on the sustainability of the helium industry.

Coupling of cell growth modulation to asymmetric division and cell cycle regulation in Caulobacter crescentus

In proliferating bacteria, growth rate is often assumed to be similar between daughter cells. However, most of our knowledge of cell growth derives from studies on symmetrically dividing bacteria. In many α-proteobacteria, asymmetric division is a normal part of the life cycle, with each division producing daughter cells with different sizes and fates. Here, we demonstrate that the functionally distinct swarmer and stalked daughter cells produced by the model α-proteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus can have different average growth rates under nutrient-replete conditions despite sharing an identical genome and environment. The discrepancy in growth rate is due to a growth slowdown associated with the cell cycle stage preceding DNA replication (the G1 phase), which initiates in the late predivisional mother cell before daughter cell separation. Both progenies experience a G1-associated growth slowdown, but the effect is more severe in swarmer cells because they have a longer G1 phase. Activity of SpoT, which produces the (p)ppGpp alarmone and extends the G1 phase, accentuates the cell cycle-dependent growth slowdown. Collectively, our data identify a coupling between cell growth, the G1 phase, and asymmetric division that C. crescentus may exploit for environmental adaptation through SpoT activity. This coupling differentially modulates the growth rate of functionally distinct daughter cells, thereby altering the relative abundance of ecologically important G1-specific traits within the population.

Growth and Productivity of Coffea arabica var. Esperanza L4A5 in Different Agroforestry Systems in the Caribbean Region of Costa Rica

This study focused on evaluating the growth and productivity of Coffea arabica var. Esperanza L4A5 in different agroforestry systems in the Caribbean region of Costa Rica, a non-traditional area for coffee cultivation due to its low altitude and challenging climatic conditions. Three tree coverages were investigated, in combination with two types of differentiated fertilization (physical and chemical), comparing the results with full sun coffee plots as a control: (1) Albizia saman, (2) Hymenaea courbaril + Erythrina poeppigiana, and (3) Anacardium excelsum + Erythrina poeppigiana. The results showed that tree associations significantly reduced the mortality of coffee plants and increased both the height and mature cherry production compared to full sun treatments. In particular, the tree coverages associated with chemical and physical fertilization achieved the highest growth and production rates, with A. excelsum + E. poeppigiana and H. courbaril + E. poeppigiana standing out with maximum mature cherry productions of 3.35 t/ha and 3.28 t/ha, respectively. Growth analysis revealed that rapid initial growth, especially under chemical fertilization, is crucial for maximizing productivity, although a rapid slowdown in growth was also observed after reaching the peak. These findings underscore the importance of combining tree coverages with appropriate fertilization strategies to optimize coffee production in agroforestry systems, particularly in low-altitude areas like the Costa Rican Caribbean. This study concludes that agroforestry systems not only improve the resilience of coffee crops to adverse environmental conditions but can also be a viable strategy for increasing productivity in non-conventional regions. This suggests the need for further research to assess the long-term impacts on soil health, biodiversity, and the economic viability of these systems.

Seaweed sinking has great potential for climate mitigation in China

With the intensification of the greenhouse effect, the climate-mitigation role of marine carbon sequestration (blue carbon) is gaining more attention. Seaweed aquaculture, as an important nature-based solution that provides various ecosystem services while as a food source, have become the main way of marine biological carbon sequestration. As an emerging carbon dioxide removal strategy, sinking seaweeds to the deep sea for additional CO2 sequestration to contribute to Paris Agreement temperature goal have attracted much attention. Currently, the ecological value assessment of sinking seaweeds is immature, and there is also a conflict between with traditional food values. However, in the long term, the value of carbon sequestration will continuously rise as global emission reduction advance, and rapidly growing seaweed production will be able to fully satisfy food demand in the future. Therefore, sinking surplus seaweeds to convert excess food value into higher ecological value is more compatible with development prospects, and long-term planning for sinking seaweed is particularly important. As the largest seaweed farming country, China accounted for more than half of the world’s production in 2021, possessing a huge potential for carbon sequestration. Incorporating factors such as food requirements, emission reduction demands and population changes, this paper explored the feasibility and planning of sinking seaweeds to serve the achievement of climate goals under five SSP-RCP scenarios in 2020–2050. The results indicate that with the slowdown in population growth and increasing demand for climate mitigation, the ecological value of seaweeds has more development potential than the edible value, and thus the sunken seaweed task should be placed more in the later period (2041–2050 phase) to maximize the ecological benefits of seaweed farming. Sinking seaweed is able to serve the SSP1-2.6 and SSP2-4.5 scenarios relatively well, while the realization of the SSP1-1.9 scenario presents some challenges.

Analysis Of Bankruptcy Prediction Using Springate, Zmijewski, Grover. And Altman Z-Score Models On Retail Companies Listed On The Indonesia Stock Exchange

The retail sector plays a significant role and contributes greatly to the national economy. The slowdown in domestic economic growth and decreased consumer purchasing power have significantly impacted the retail business in Indonesia. This is evident from the high number of retail companies declared bankrupt and many large retail companies closing their stores. The aim of this study is to assess the health level of retail companies, determine the differences in scores among the research models, and evaluate the accuracy of the Springate, Zmijewski, Grover, and Altman models. This research is a quantitative study with a descriptive approach. The research objects are retail companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange during the period 2019-2021. Sampling technique used is purposive sampling. The results of this study indicate that the highest accuracy level is achieved by the Grover model with an accuracy of 77.7%, followed by the Zmijewski model with an accuracy level of 72.2%. Meanwhile, the Springate and Altman models have the same accuracy level of 66.6%.

Impact of Environmental Degradation on Economic Growth: Testing the Environmental

Looking at the contribution of economic activity in the country, it is seen to add robustness to growth and development, but in contrast give birth to greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as CO2 CO2 which is also called carbon dioxid, CH4 which is also called methane, and N2O represent nitrous oxide. The factors influencing Greenhouse gas emissions include rising of population, upward movement of per capita output and consumption, infrastructural development made about infrastructures, human character, and innovation. However, if mitigation efforts are not enough, climate change would most likely lead to a slowdown the upward movement. Thus, the study examined the relationship between economic growth and environmental degradation using the Autoregressive Distributed Lag model and examined the impact of environmental degradation on economic growth in Nigeria from 1990 to 2022 using that lens. Based on the estimated ARDL regression result, environmental degradation as determined by carbon dioxide emissions (kt) and economic growth are negatively correlated. The negative indication indicated that economic growth will decline by roughly -0.455% and -0.893% over the medium and long terms, respectively, as carbon emissions rise. The findings indicated that there is validity to Nigeria’s Environmental Kuznets Curve, which demonstrates how environmental deterioration impedes economic progress. Similarly, a positive indication indicating a one-period lag in carbon emissions showed that, in the short term, economic growth increases by around 0.948% in tandem with rising carbon emissions. Thus, the paper illustrated an inverse U-shaped interaction between environmental degradation and economic growth, with healthy economy initially related with increased emissions. However, the majority of the control variable estimates deviate from theoretical expectations. On the other hand, a positive and statistically significant one-period lagged coefficient of trade openness suggests that trade openness looks to support and encourage economic growth in the short run. Similarly, during the period under consideration in Nigeria, the short-run economic growth is positively and strongly correlated with the one-period lagged coefficient of gross fixed capital formation. The report suggested boosting energy efficiency in the world’s energy mix in order to lower greenhouse gas emissions, which are the main contributors to climate change. Therefore, in order to prevent the development of closed-form relationships that could result in a slowdown in economic growth, Nigerian government agencies that are responsible for implementing national and international environmental rules should proceed with caution.

Productivity drivers and pro-productivity policies: G20 economies, India and South Korea

In this article we look at productivity trends, drivers of productivity growth and pro-productivity policies across the G20 economies since 1970. We distinguish between three sub-groups of G20 economies: a “leading but slowing” group of the most developed economies, a “lagging but growing” group of economies that have shown rapid growth and a “muddling through” group of economies with no sustained improvement in productivity performance. We find distinctly different dynamics between the sub-groups regarding the contributions of capital deepening and total factor productivity (TFP) to labour productivity growth. The slowdown in labour productivity growth since the 2010s has been underpinned by lower TFP growth. India is the only G20 economy which has experienced a significant improvement in TFP growth over the past few decades. We develop a typology distinguishing five domains of pro-productivity policies (accumulation of the factors of production, markets and resource allocation, technological and structural change, internationalisation, and foundational policies) and explore how these have been applied across countries and over time. We also provide a more detailed analysis of productivity and related policies for two G20 countries: India and South Korea. We argue that a revival of productivity growth in the G20 requires a greater focus on policies which balance technological progress with knowledge diffusion; more investment in intangibles and public assets; and improvements in the quality of human capital.

Early-life experience and CEOs’ reactions to COVID-19

This study investigates how CEOs' experience of natural disasters and severe disease outbreaks in their formative years influences their firms' responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. We observe that firms whose CEOs experienced disease outbreaks akin to COVID-19 early in their lives demonstrated more conservative responses to the emergence of the COVID-19 in late February 2020, notably through a substantial slowdown in capital expenditure growth. Moreover, firms led by CEOs with early-life disease experience exhibit a more negative tone in their corporate disclosures and heightened pessimism in their earnings forecasts following the COVID-19 outbreak. These effects are more pronounced for firms in industries that were hit hard by the pandemic. Our findings suggest that severe events early in life leave indelible imprints on memory, thereby impacting CEOs’ decision-making when managing similar crises in their professional careers.

Spillovers from China’s Growth Slowdown to the Singapore Economy

Spillovers from China’s Growth Slowdown to the Singapore Economy

Effects of Prolonged High Salinity Stress on Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) Cultivars and Populations

Background: Alfalfa is a promising crop for improving soil structure and restoring agricultural land, particularly in areas affected by salinity. However, high and continuing salinity in soil and irrigation water can pose a significant challenge to the growth and productivity of alfalfa. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of prolonged high salinity stress on alfalfa cultivars and populations. Methods: The material used in this study included 16 alfalfa populations and four alfalfa cultivars that exhibit salt tolerance during germination and early seedling development. The materials were exposed to 17.52 dS m-1 saline irrigation water stress for three months. As well as the morphology, survival at three months and crude ash, sodium and chloride ions were measured. Result: Salt-tolerant plants showed a slowdown in growth compared to control conditions, although they were still able to maintain growth. Duration and severity of stress affected the salt tolerance of the genotypes. The survival rates of the materials remained relatively unchanged for the first two months, but decreased significantly by the end of the third month. Furthermore, the survival rate of the materials increased as the amount of sodium and chloride ions absorbed by the plant decreased under high salinity conditions. Genetic material demonstrating long-term high salinity tolerance is crucial for resistance breeding and holds promise for the development of tolerant cultivars that can be grown under field conditions in the future. The properties of this material need to be determined and its long-term performance in field conditions needs to be tested.

Multidimensional heterogeneity and matching in a frictional labor market — An application to polarization

This paper examines the role that changes in production technology, namely computerization, have played on labor market inequality in the US from the late 1980s to the 2010s. It also demonstrates that such technological change is consistent with the timing of labor market polarization in the US, including the end of the decline in 50/10 wage percentile ratio and the slowdown of employment growth in high-wage jobs from the 2000s. The paper does so using a model with two key ingredients: 1) directed search and 2) two-sided multidimensional heterogeneity. Calibration results show that the complementarity between a workers’ cognitive skills and the cognitive task intensity of jobs increased while that between manual skill and tasks did not. The full model can fully account for the rise and fall of the 90/50 and 50/10 wage percentile ratios respectively. It also generates 72.6 percent of the rise in employment share of high-paying jobs relative to middling jobs and 69 percent of the fall in employment share of middling jobs relative to low-paying jobs. The paper suggests that the end of the decline in the 50/10 wage ratio may be due to rank-switching between workers across the wage distribution from the 2000s, while the slowdown of employment growth in high-wage jobs may result from the trade-off between the returns to applying for high-wage jobs and the likelihood of being hired.

Antibacterial Size Effect of ZnO Nanoparticles and Their Role as Additives in Emulsion Waterborne Paint.

Nosocomial infections, a prevalent issue in intensive care units due to antibiotic overuse, could potentially be addressed by metal oxide nanoparticles (NPs). However, there is still no comprehensive understanding of the impact of NPs' size on their antibacterial efficacy. Therefore, this study provides a novel investigation into the impact of ZnO NPs' size on bacterial growth kinetics. NPs were synthesized using a sol-gel process with monoethanolamine (MEA) and water. X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and Raman spectroscopy confirmed their crystallization and size variations. ZnO NPs of 22, 35, and 66 nm were tested against the most common nosocomial bacteria: Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Gram-negative), and Staphylococcus aureus (Gram-positive). Evaluation of minimum inhibitory and bactericidal concentrations (MIC and MBC) revealed superior antibacterial activity in small NPs. Bacterial growth kinetics were monitored using optical absorbance, showing a reduced specific growth rate, a prolonged latency period, and an increased inhibition percentage with small NPs, indicating a slowdown in bacterial growth. Pseudomonas aeruginosa showed the lowest sensitivity to ZnO NPs, attributed to its resistance to environmental stress. Moreover, the antibacterial efficacy of paint containing 1 wt% of 22 nm ZnO NPs was evaluated, and showed activity against E. coli and S. aureus.

Response of Elymus sibiricus (Siberian Wildryegrass) to Combined Application of Nitrogen and Phosphorus during Aging on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Elymus sibiricus plays a crucial role in ecological protection and animal husbandry. However, after many years of growth, the biomass of E. sibiricus decreases, and the plants degrade. Moreover, there is no good solution to the problem of degradation of Elymus sibiricus; the addition of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) fertilizers is the primary measure of cultivation management to improve yield, so it is crucial to find the appropriate level of fertilization. This study performed a two-factor split-plot experiment, including four levels of N (0, 45, 60, and 75 kg·hm−2) and four levels of P (0, 60, 75, and 90 kg·hm−2), to investigate the effect of N and P fertilizers on yield, yield components, and photosynthesis characteristics of E. sibiricus. The results showed that the forage yield in 2017 was higher than in 2018. The forage yield in 2017 was highest at N75P0 with a value of 29,926 kg·hm−2, and in 2018 it was highest at N45P0 and N75P0 with a value of 12,266 kg·hm−2 and 12,233 kg·hm−2, respectively, which demonstrates the large impact of year effects on the forage yield. All traits increased with the increase in N and P fertilizer application, but with excess fertilizer application, the photosynthesis was limited, leading to a slowdown in growth and a decrease in yield. In addition, under adequate N fertilization, the role of P fertilization was not significant (p > 0.05). N, P, and N × P can significantly (p < 0.05) affect the yield traits and forage yield of E. sibiricus. According to the PCA, it is clear that N fertilizer has the largest effect, and the growth capacity of degraded E. sibiricus grassland can be restored by adding 75 kg·hm−2 of nitrogen fertilizer.

Research on the Motivation and Effect of Longfor Group's Transformation to Asset-light Operation Mode

Since the real estate marketization reform in 1998, China's real estate industry has continued to focus on asset operation mode, at that time in the golden period of the industry, real estate enterprises only need to hoard a lot of land, wait for the appreciation of the land and then resell, you can get considerable returns. However, in the context of the current slowdown in the economic growth of China's real estate industry, it is difficult for commercial real estate enterprises to continue to operate with heavy assets, so such enterprises begin to seek transformation, and want to change a profit model to match the current market. As a new way for enterprises to accumulate core competence and maximize value, "asset-light operation" model has been highly valued by the academic and business circles. This paper takes Longfor Group, a representative real estate enterprise, as the research object, and makes an in-depth analysis of the company's finance from the perspective of its financial characteristics and financial performance, in order to provide certain theoretical references for the successful application of the transformation and development of similar companies.

Demographic Origins of the Start-up Deficit

We propose a simple explanation for the long-run decline in the US start-up rate. It originates from a slowdown in labor supply growth since the late 1970s, largely predetermined by demographics. This channel can explain roughly half of the decline and why incumbent firm survival and average growth over the life cycle have changed little. We show these results in a standard model of firm dynamics and test the mechanism using cross-state variation in labor supply growth. Finally, we show that a longer entry rate series imputed using historical establishment tabulations rises over the 1960s–1970s period of accelerating labor force growth. (JEL D22, D25, E24, J11, J22, J23, M11)

Recent trends in firm‐level total factor productivity in the UK: new measures, new puzzles

AbstractUnderstanding the poor productivity performance of the UK economy since the financial crisis is complicated by the well‐known challenges in estimating total factor productivity (TFP) using only revenue data. We develop a structural framework to infer quality‐adjusted TFP from an estimated firm‐level revenue function. We use microdata for two sectors previously identified as being significant contributors to the UK's productivity growth slowdown—manufacturing and ICT—from 2008 to 2019. The revenue function is estimated using the Blundell–Bond System GMM estimator. We also use an alternative cost‐shares approach to identifying and measuring TFP. For both methods, we find an overall fall in TFP levels in manufacturing and a rise in ICT. We find a striking decline of between 13% and 18% in the level of within‐firm manufacturing TFP, and of between 11% and 16% in ICT, although with reallocation effects differing between the two sectors. The finding of declining within‐firm TFP is robust, although the magnitude varies between methods. We discuss a possible explanation for this extended UK productivity puzzle based on the relative underperformance of UK firms in international markets.

Демография и развитие: исторический опыт и актуальные проблемы Кабардино-Балкарской Республики

The demographic characteristics of society act at any given moment as factors determining the possibilities and limitations of socio-economic development, but over long historical stages, they themselves change under the influence of socio-economic changes. This relationship should be considered when setting goals and objectives for both economic and demographic policies at the national and regional levels. This paper provides a review of the leading trends and results of the economic and socio-demographic evolution of Kabardino-Balkaria during the Soviet era and the main features of the current demographic situation in the context of the region’s transition to an innovative path of socio-economic development. The socio-economic modernization of the Soviet period was accompanied by demographic modernization. The population of Kabardino-Balkaria grew rapidly and acquired a new sociocultural appearance, becoming more diverse in ethnic com-position, urban in settlement structure and way of life. By the end of the Soviet era, the demo-graphic transition was completed, the level of education of the population of the republic was comparable to all-Russian parameters, its socio-professional structure acquired a diversified and generally modern character. However, the transition from the Soviet to the post-Soviet social and state system was accompanied not just by a deep economic recession, but by the phenomena of structural deindustrialization and demodernization. A reflection of these socio-economic condi-tions is the ambivalence of the demographic situation – a significant slowdown in natural growth, the aging of the population, a shift in the age distribution of marriage and birth rate towards older ages, a change in the vector of migration processes from inflow to outflow, a decrease in the share of the urban population, a reduction in industrial employment, a decline in the Russian population, reaching a plateau in dynamics and a deterioration in comparative indicators of the level of educa-tion. Meanwhile, qualitatively new tasks have appeared on the agenda, placing increased demands on the quality of human potential of modern development.

Carbon footprint of household meat consumption in China: A life-cycle-based perspective

The food industry accounts for 25% of global carbon emissions, of which animal food accounts for 57%. Therefore, the reduction of carbon emissions from meat products consumption is one of the important issues of global climate governance. This study calculates and compares the carbon footprints of major meat products in China at various stages of production and consumption and the trends of their development based on life cycle assessment and questionnaires, which will help to understand the emission characteristics and reduction potential of the food sector in China. The results show that the main stages of the life cycle and the size of the total carbon footprint of the meat category for the same unit standard exhibit the following order: beef > mutton > pork > poultry (chicken and duck) > seafood (fish and shrimp); the farming factor has a greater impact on carbon emissions, followed by transportation and a smaller impact at the meal-making stage; from 2010 to 2021, China's total meat products consumption and carbon emissions continue to increase, but the structure of meat consumption is gradually diversified and balanced, and the trend of carbon emissions shows a slowdown in growth with structural changes. Finally, based on the results of the study, this paper proposes countermeasures for meat production and consumption.

Slowdown in China's methane emission growth.

The unprecedented surge in global methane levels has raised global concerns in recent years, casting a spotlight on China as a pivotal emitter. China has taken several actions to curb the methane emissions, but their effects remain unclear. Here, we developed the Global ObservatioN-based system for monitoring Greenhouse GAses for methane (GONGGA-CH4) and assimilate GOSAT XCH4 observations to assess changes in China's methane emissions. We find the average rate of increase in China's methane emissions (0.1±0.3 Tg CH4 yr-2) during 2016-2021 slowed down compared to the preceding years (2011-2015) (0.9±0.5 Tg CH4 yr-2), in contrast to the concurrent acceleration of global methane emissions. As a result, the contribution of China to global methane emissions dropped significantly. Notably, the slowdown of China's methane emission is mainly attributable to a reduction in biogenic emissions from wetlands and agriculture, associated with the drying trend in South China and the transition from double-season to single-season rice cropping, while fossil fuel emissions are still increasing. Our results suggest that GONGGA-CH4 provides the opportunity for independent assessment of China's methane emissions from an atmospheric perspective, providing insights into the implementation of methane-related policies that align with its ambitious climate objectives.

Iron Boosts Antitumor Type 1 T-cell Responses and Anti-PD1 Immunotherapy.

Cancers only develop if they escape immunosurveillance, and the success of cancer immunotherapies relies in most cases on their ability to restore effector T-cell functions, particularly IFNγ production. Revolutionizing the treatment of many cancers, immunotherapies targeting immune checkpoints such as PD1 can increase survival and cure patients. Unfortunately, although immunotherapy has greatly improved the prognosis of patients, not all respond to anti-PD1 immunotherapy, making it crucial to identify alternative treatments that could be combined with current immunotherapies to improve their effectiveness. Here, we show that iron supplementation significantly boosts T-cell responses in vivo and in vitro. The boost was associated with a metabolic reprogramming of T cells in favor of lipid oxidation. We also found that the "adjuvant" effect of iron led to a marked slowdown of tumor cell growth after tumor cell line transplantation in mice. Specifically, our results suggest that iron supplementation promotes antitumor responses by increasing IFNγ production by T cells. In addition, iron supplementation improved the efficacy of anti-PD1 cancer immunotherapy in mice. Finally, our study suggests that, in patients with cancer, the quality and efficacy of the antitumor response following anti-PD1 immunotherapy may be modulated by plasma ferritin levels. In summary, our results suggest the benefits of iron supplementation on the reactivation of antitumor responses and support the relevance of a fruitful association between immunotherapy and iron supplementation.