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As an energy-intensive industry in China, it is critical to promote energy conservation and carbon emission reduction in the nonferrous metal industry (NMI). This study first applies the Tapio decoupling model to explore the relationships between the industrial output and CO2 emission in China's NMI. Then, the Generalized Divisia Index Model (GDIM) is adopted to uncover the factors driving the changes in CO2 emission from 2000 to 2019, and based on the decomposition results, scenario analysis is used to predict potential CO2 emission during 2021–2035. The results show that (1) the CO2 emission in China's NMI increases by 397.93 million tons (Mt) during 2000–2019, and the decoupling state between the industrial output and CO2 emission is characterized by the weak decoupling status; (2) overall, the output scale is the dominant factor promoting the CO2 emissions increase, followed by the investment scale and energy consumption scale, while the carbon intensity of output and the carbon intensity of investment are the two most important abatement factors; (3) the scenario analysis indicates that the CO2 emission from NMI will peak around 2030 under the low-carbon scenario while 2026 under the enhanced low-carbon scenario. Policy suggestions are further put forward for carbon emission reduction in China's NMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy consumption and environmental treatment have always been hot issues. This paper focuses on these two issues in China and attempts to investigate them based on the energy-to-environment (E2E) double-process. To achieve this aim, this paper first develops two E2E double-process models. Moreover, an empirical study is conducted to evaluate the E2E double-process efficiencies based on the data of 30 provinces in China. The results show that: 1)The E2E double-process efficiency in China is stable. However, this efficiency is low with large differences among individual provinces. 2)The values of the E2E double-process efficiency and the E2E energy consumption efficiency of China are similar, and both values are lower than that of the E2E environmental treatment. 3)The E2E environmental treatment efficiency has a potential driving effect in each province of China. 4)The intermediate output is used as a complete or partial input could significantly affect the E2E double-process efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To examine post-operative progression and risk impact of insufficient radiofrequency ablation (RFA) following transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) for the prognosis of large hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC)., Materials and Methods: From January 2014 to January 2021 were analyzed. A total of 343 patients with large HCC (diameter >5 cm) who received TACE combined with RFA were enrolled and were divided into two groups: complete ablation (CA, n = 172) and insufficient ablation (IA, n = 171). Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were determined by the Kaplan-Meier curve and compared with the log-rank test. To find parameters influencing OS and PFS, clinicopathological variables underwent univariate and multivariate analysis., Results: The cumulative 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS and PFS rates of the CA group were significantly higher than that of the IA group (P < 0.001). 25 (41%) patients in local tumor progression (LTP), 36 (59%) in intrahepatic distant recurrence (IDR), and 0 (0%) in extrahepatic distant recurrence (EDR) in the CA group. 51 (32.1%) patients in LTP, 96 (60.4%) patients in IDR, and 12 (7.5%) cases in EDR in the IA group. The recurrence patterns of the two groups were statistically significant difference (P = 0.039). In multivariate analysis, inadequate ablation and conjunction with TKIs were both significant risk factors for OS and PFS. Apart from these, older age and >7 cm of tumor size were indicators of poor OS and multiple tumors were indicators of poor PFS., Conclusion: Insufficient ablation causes a poor survival outcome of TACE combined with RFA for large HCC, particularly, which can promote IDR., Competing Interests: None