Developing countries have witnessed a rise in infrastructure spending over the past decades; however, infrastructure spending in most developed countries, particularly the US, continues to decline. As a result, in 2021, the US Congress passed a Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, which invests $1 trillion in the country’s infrastructure every year. Using the principal component analysis and VAR estimation, we analyzed the impact of infrastructure (transportation and water, railway networks, aviation, energy, and fixed telephone lines) on economic growth in the US. Our findings show that infrastructure spending positively and significantly impacted economic growth. Additionally, the impulse response analysis shows that shocks to infrastructure spending had positive and persistent effects on economic growth. Our results suggest that infrastructure investment spurs economic growth. Based on our findings, sustained public spending on transport and water, railway networks, aviation, energy, and fixed telephone lines infrastructure by the US government will positively impact economic growth in the country. The study also suggests that policies that promote infrastructure spending, such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act) passed by the US Congress, should be enhanced to boost economic growth in the US. 

The regulation of compressor extraction and energy storage can improve the performance of gas turbine energy system. In order to make the gas turbine system match the external load more flexibly and efficiently, a gas turbine cogeneration system with solar energy coupling compressor outlet extraction and energy storage is proposed. By establishing the variable condition mathematical model of air turbine, waste heat boiler and solar collector, we use Thermoflex software to establish the variable condition model of gas turbine compressor outlet extraction, and analyze the variable condition of the coupling system to study the changes of thermal parameters of the system in the energy storage, energy release and operation cycle. Taking the hourly load of a hotel in South China as an example, this paper analyzes the case of the cogeneration system of solar energy coupling compressor outlet extraction and energy storage, and compares it with the benchmark cogeneration system. The results show that taking a typical day as a cycle, the primary energy utilization rate of the system designed in this paper is 3.2% higher than that of the traditional cogeneration system, and the efficiency is 2.4% higher.

The objective of this study was to develop a model based on fuzzy rules to evaluate the effects caused by varying the dosages of two soil fertilizers (mineral and organic) on root diameter. Fuzzy logic is a method that presents a language, more appropriate to day-to-day life, as the sky is a bit cloudy. For the input variables of this system the mineral and an organic fertilizer were used, for the output the root diameter, in cm. After optimization of the input rules, it can be seen that for the application of the fertilizers (mineral and organic) the best dosages were from 15 to 60 and 20 to 60 g·m^-2, respectively. With this application of fuzzy rules in real data, it is possible to take these benefits to those involved in the production chain of radish, resulting in a reduction in the dosages of products and improving its final profitability.

In this study, robust and defect-free thin film composite (TFC) forward osmosis (FO) membranes have been successfully fabricated using ceramic hollow fibers as the substrate. Polydopamine (PDA) coating under controlled conditions is effective in reducing the surface pores of the substrate and making the substrate smooth enough for interfacial polymerization. The pure water permeability (A), solute permeability (B), and structural parameter (S) of the resultant FO membrane are 0.854 L·m^–2·h⁻¹·bar⁻¹ (LMH/Bar), 0.186 L·m^–2·h⁻¹ (LMH), and 1720 µm, respectively. The water flux and reverse draw solute flux are measured using NaCl and proprietary ferric sodium citrate (FeNaCA) draw solutions at low and high osmotic pressure ranges. As the osmotic pressure increases, a higher water flux is obtained, but its increase is not directly proportional to the increase in the osmotic pressure. At the membrane surface, the effect of dilutive concentration polarization is much less serious for FeNaCA-draw solutions. At an osmotic pressure of 89.6 bar, the developed TFC membrane generates water fluxes of 11.5 and 30.0 LMH using NaCl and synthesized FeNaCA draw solutions. The corresponding reverse draw solute flux is 7.0 g·m^–2·h⁻¹ (gMH) for NaCl draw solution, but it is not detectable for FeNaCA draw solution. This means that the developed TFC FO membranes are defect-free and their surface pores are at the molecular level. The performance of the developed TFC FO membranes is also demonstrated for the enrichment of BSA protein.

The ultimate objective of the study was to investigate the effects of being landlocked on the living standards in Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries from 1991 to 2019. Adopting the two-step estimation technique of System GMM (generalized method of moments), the study found that being landlocked has a negative and significant effect on the living standards in SSA countries when using GDP per capita as the living standard measure. Moreover, the historical living standard experiences of SSA countries have a positive and significant influence on the current living standard level. In addition, the population growth rate has a positive and significant effect on the living standards in SSA countries. On the other hand, the official exchange rate, broad money as a percentage of GDP, and inflation have a negative and significant effect on the living standards in SSA countries. Generally, the estimated result reveals the existence of a significant variation in the living standards in landlocked and coastal SSA countries. This study suggests that regional integration between landlocked and transit countries should be improved to minimize entry costs and increase access to global markets for landlocked countries. We argue that this study is of interest to landlocked and coastal countries to increase trade integration and promote the development of both groups, and it will contribute to the scarce empirical evidence.

Forest ecological benefit compensation plays a promoting role in improving the enthusiasm of forest ecological builders and maintainers, maintaining the legitimate economic interests of forest owners, and coordinating the fairness between the “clear water and green mountains” protectors and the “gold and silver mountains” beneficiaries. Comprehensive combed the domestic forest ecological benefit compensation mechanism, including the compensation scope, compensation subject, compensation object, the research progress of compensation standard, summarized the forest ecosystem benefits measurement, including physical appraisal method, the value evaluation method, energy analysis method and the characteristics and application research progress of ecological model method. This paper discusses the research status and existing problems of the calculation basis of compensation standard, the origin, research emphasis and progress of forest ecological service payment abroad in recent years, and the mechanism of forest ecological service payment in many countries. Finally, some suggestions are put forward to improve the compensation mechanism of forest ecological benefits in China. On the one hand, it is necessary to broaden the source of funds through various ways of marketization and scientifically evaluate the forest ecological benefits. On the other hand, the compensation standard should be established scientifically and reasonably to achieve different compensation levels or compensation intervals.