Environmental Regulation, Roundabout Production, and Industrial Structure Transformation and Upgrading: Evidence from China
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The work is quite interesting, with current topics.
In China, which is characterized by high production potential and a relatively extensive production method, qualitative research in the environmental field is very important, especially environmental impact studies.
The research specifically deals with the theoretical connotation of production roundaboutness, analyzes and discusses the micro impact mechanisms of environmental regulation on industrial structure through the production roundaboutness.
Based on a panel regression analysis, it examines data from 31 cities and provinces between 2003 and 2017.
It is a well-known and often used method for time series, which is able to assess the dependence of individual variables.
The goals and procedures are relatively well described in the sections Abstract and Introduction.
The basic results of the research are correctly described in the Abstract.
He evaluates part of the literary review, with representative sources, as relatively good.
The methodological part and the theory part are also sufficiently elaborated, the formulas are sufficiently described.
The conclusion of the work logically summarizes the achieved results, which are presented in accordance.
Nevertheless, it is necessary to improve chapter 4.3 Data and better describe the characteristics of individual provinces and the reason for their inclusion in the research.
Furthermore, it is necessary to improve the part of the Discussion, which is processed relatively well, but there is a lack of better comparisons with other works, from the same area, which will subsequently supplement other quality literary sources. The only comparison that is in this section seems to be insufficient for publications of this level.
Overall, however, this is a successful work and after completing the above specified, I recommend accepting the work for publication.
Author Response
Point 1: It is necessary to improve chapter 4.3 Data and better describe the characteristics of individual provinces and the reason for their inclusion in the research.
Response 1: Chapter “4.3 Data” has been improved by adding more descriptive sentences, including the reason for the inclusion of the data. However, after the comprehensive comparisons of relevant literature and careful consideration that the empirical analysis of this paper is of macro, the characteristics of regions rather than individual provinces has been deployed in Chapter “6 Discussion”.
Point 2: Furthermore, it is necessary to improve the part of the Discussion, which is processed relatively well, but there is a lack of better comparisons with other works, from the same area, which will subsequently supplement other quality literary sources. The only comparison that is in this section seems to be insufficient for publications of this level.
Response 2: In order to better respond to this comment, and combining the comments of the other two reviewers, the part of the “5.3. Discussion” has been upgraded as main section “6. Discussion”, in which many a comparison with other works and cross-citing information have been added to highlight any unique findings.
Reviewer 2 Report
In my view, this paper contributes to literature as it represents a group of countries. However, the paper may not be accepted unless the following issues are fully addressed.
- Moreover, I missed more explanations on the methodology part, in particular, regarding the steps they followed in their empirical results section. Authors should elaborate more on that.
- Discussion of results needs more comparison with prior studies. How are results similar or different what has been done before in related papers? This will help highlight any unique findings.
-
Regarding data section, given that they are working with time series, I suggest to include a line graph over time of each series to offer a visualization of the evolution of variables over the period selected.
- The introduction flow is not acceptable. The problem statement has not been well clarified, and the research GAP is not well explained scientifically. Therefore, the authors are advised to revise it and modify it with proper justification and arguments.
Author Response
Point 1: I missed more explanations on the methodology part, in particular, regarding the steps they followed in their empirical results section. Authors should elaborate more on that.
Response 1: More explanations has been supplementd into the “4. Methodology” section, including but not limited to the following contents: 1) explanations of the variables of the models; 2) explanations of threshold model; 3) explanations of control variables; 4) explanations of data selection. In addition, some necessary instructions have been added to the empirical result section to increase the comprehensibility of this section.
Point 2: Discussion of results needs more comparison with prior studies. How are results similar or different, what has been done before in related papers? This will help highlight any unique findings.
Response 2: More comparison and cross-citing information have been supplemented into the revised manuscript, mainly in the “6. Discussion” section.
Point 3: Regarding data section, given that they are working with time series, I suggest to include a line graph over time of each series to offer a visualization of the evolution of variables over the period selected.
Response 3: A line graph to visualize the evolution of variables over the period selected has been offered in the “4.3 Data” section as Figure 3.
Point 4: The introduction flow is not acceptable. The problem statement has not been well clarified, and the research GAP is not well explained scientifically. Therefore, the authors are advised to revise it and modify it with proper justification and arguments.
Response 4: In the “1. Introduction” section, the problem statement has been refined and improved. However, given that the research GAP has been mainly described in the “2. Literature review” section before, some relevant statements are deployed in the “1. Introduction” section of the revised manuscript to increase the readability and attractiveness of the paper to potential readers.
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript deals with an interesting research topic, having a sound methodology and revealing insightful remarks of wider socio-environmental impact on the Chinese economy and society. In this respect the following review comments can be considered, prior to the publication of the manuscript at the “Sustainability” journal.
1) The theoretical coverage of environmental regulations and the national (no necessarily the China's) economic growthcan be solidified and updated manner in the main section 1. Therefore, indicative literature enhancement is indicatively proposed at the end of my review comments.
2) In case Figures 1 and 2 have been inspired and conceptualized by other published papers on “Simple method and Roundabout method”, “The mechanism of ER on ISTU”, then these source citations can be recalled in the relevant Figures’ 1 and 2 legends.
3) From the second paragraph of subsection 3.3 through sections 4 and 5 there are almost missing cross-citing information. In this respect authors are recommended to better validate the adopted methodology and verify the hypotheses’ results and discussion, having a sound and more systematic cross-citing enrichment. Towards this end the following (at the end of the review comments) international-related citations can be added in the revised manuscript.
4) Indicative numerical data or conceptual briefing of all literature production at sections 1, 2, 3, they can be somehow collectively reiterated in the forms of one or more Table(s) at the end of section 3.
5) The section “5.3 Discussion” has to be upgraded as main section 6. Discussion. In this section authors are recommended to go beyond their findings and provide a succinct and coherent argumentation of how a) environmental regulation, b) roundabout production and c)) industrial structure transformation, they should be jointly approached at the Chinese economy and society. In this respect it should be better if authors develop three subsections within this main section 6. Discussion, respectively. Another, the 4th, subsection of the main Discussion section can be devoted to an interpretation of the hypotheses tested, themselves.
Yu, X., Ma, S., Cheng, K., Kyriakopoulos, G.L.
53865793000;57218326388;57218326647;6603382498;
An evaluation system for sustainable urban space development based in green urbanism principles-a case study based on the Qin-Ba mountain area in China
(2020) Sustainability (Switzerland), 12 (14), art. no. 5703, . Cited 20 times.
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85088828018&doi=10.3390%2fsu12145703&partnerID=40&md5=f4c407b3b707d7b77b1350577b4e98e5
DOI: 10.3390/su12145703
AFFILIATIONS: School of Architecture, Chang'an University, Xi'an, 710061, China;
Electric Power Division, Photometry Laboratory, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, 15780, Greece
ABSTRACT: Since the 20th century, the deterioration of the ecological environment around the world has challenged urban space construction. With the development of urbanization, the consumption of resources and energy has increased, the level of biodiversity has decreased, environmental pollution is approaching the critical level, and the contradiction between human habitat activity and ecological environment has become increasingly prominent. The sustainable development of urban space along with its economic and social benefits, taking into account the quality of life and ecological environment, has become a new and important subject that needs to be explored. In this study, the indices of the evaluation system for sustainable urban spatial development in regions with underdeveloped economies but rich in ecological resources are arranged in sequence through the systematic coupling analysis of collaborative evaluation information and a quantitative analysis. The influences of urban space elements on sustainable urban development are disclosed. On the basis of the generated data, an evaluation system for sustainable urban spatial development with a complete set of information is proposed. The proposed system is applicable to urban spatial development evaluation in regions in China with underdeveloped economies but rich in ecological capital. First, the basic concept of system coupling is introduced, and a coupling relationship between urban sustainable development and urban space is proposed. Second, the elements of urban space and the sustainable development in the Qin-Ba mountain area are extracted, and the precedence diagram method is used to construct a sustainable evaluation system for urban space development in the Qin-Ba mountain area. Third, the sustainable evaluation process of urban spatial development is proposed. Finally, the sustainable evaluation system for urban spatial development in the Qin-Ba mountain area is applied to evaluate the urban spatial development in Shangluo, Qin-Ling Mountains, China. The results show that, among the investigated 14 indicators, the proportion of industrial land use mainly influences sustainable urban spatial development. As for the rest of the index factors, per capita green land area and green coverage ratio of built-up areas, per capita urban construction land area, proportion of forestry area, greening rate of built-up areas, total industrial dust emission density, proportion of cultivated area, and average volume fraction of residential areas are the secondary influencing factors of sustainable urban spatial development. The evaluation system in this research is constructed with the three aspects of "green coordination", "green development", and "green sustainability" of sustainable urban spatial development, and it complements the evaluation contents of urban-rural ecological space coordination, land resource protection, and green development community, and so on. The conclusion of this study not only can provide a useful reference for urban spatial development planning for underdeveloped ecological capital areas of China but also can provide a theoretical basis for the management and control policy of sustainable urban spatial development. © 2020 by the authors.
AUTHOR KEYWORDS: City spatial development; Green coordination; Green development; Green sustainability; Sustainable evaluation system
DOCUMENT TYPE: Article
PUBLICATION STAGE: Final
SOURCE: Scopus
Anagnostopoulos, T., Kyriakopoulos, G.L., Ntanos, S., Gkika, E., Asonitou, S.
14031080700;6603382498;57076831500;56590031100;56845624900;
Intelligent predictive analytics for sustainable business investment in renewable energy sources
(2020) Sustainability (Switzerland), 12 (7), art. no. 2817, . Cited 6 times.
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85085770245&doi=10.3390%2fsu12072817&partnerID=40&md5=aa80b8546532132c272cea83851914f1
DOI: 10.3390/su12072817
AFFILIATIONS: Department of Business Administration, University of West Attica, Athens, 12241, Greece;
Department of Infocommunication Technologies, ITMO University, St. Petersburg, 197101, Russian Federation;
Electric Power Division, Photometry Laboratory, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, 15780, Greece
ABSTRACT: Willingness to invest in renewable energy sources (RES) is predictable under data mining classification methods. Data was collected from the area of Evia in Greece via a questionnaire survey by using a sample of 360 respondents. The questions focused on the respondents' perceptions and offered benefits for wind energy, solar photovoltaics (PVs), small hydro parks and biomass investments. The classification algorithms of Bayesian Network classifier, Logistic Regression, Support Vector Machine (SVM), C4.5, k-Nearest Neighbors (k-NN) and Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) were used. The Bayesian Network classifier was the best method, with a prediction accuracy of 0.7942. The most important variables for the prediction of willingness to invest were the level of information, the level of acceptance and the contribution to sustainable development. Future studies should include data on state incentives and their impact on willingness to invest. © 2020 by the authors.
AUTHOR KEYWORDS: Business investment; Data mining; Intelligent predictive analytics; Renewable energy sources; Sustainable management
DOCUMENT TYPE: Article
PUBLICATION STAGE: Final
SOURCE: Scopus
Aravossis, K.G., Kapsalis, V.C., Kyriakopoulos, G.L., Xouleis, T.G.
6603320854;56124408200;6603382498;57210737455;
Development of a holistic assessment framework for industrial organizations
(2019) Sustainability (Switzerland), 11 (14), art. no. 3946, . Cited 38 times.
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85071345908&doi=10.3390%2fsu11143946&partnerID=40&md5=3501b754c240eb4e508e2d93c2fbbee7
DOI: 10.3390/su11143946
AFFILIATIONS: Environmental Economics and Sustainability Unit, Sector of Industrial Management and Operations Research, School of Mechanical Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, Athens, GR 157 80, Greece;
GREENiT Environmental, Athens, GR 104 33, Greece
ABSTRACT: The evaluation and selection among the best production practices beyond the conventional linear models is, nowadays, concerned with those holistic approaches drawn toward environmental assessment in industry. Therefore, researchers need to develop an analysis that can evaluate the performance of industrial organization in the light of their environmental viewpoint. This study implemented a pilot co-integrated scheme based on an innovative in-house Holistic Assessment Performance Index for Environment (HAPI-E) industry tool while assimilating the principles of circular economy through the Eco-innovation Development and Implementation Tool (EDIT). For the latter, nine qualitative indicators were motivated and enriched the weighting criteria of the questionnaire. The decomposition of the complexity and preferences mapping was accompanied by a multi-criteria holistic hierarchical analysis methodology in order to synthesize a single index upon a need-driven scoring. This multi-criteria decision approach in industry can quantify the material and process flows, thus enhancing the existing knowledge of manipulating internal resources. The key-criteria were based on administrative, energy, water, emissions, and waste strategies. Subsequently, the HAPI-E industry tool was modeled on the food industry, being particularly focused on pasta-based industrial production. Then, the parameters of this tool were modeled, measured, and evaluated in terms of the environmental impact awareness. The magnitude of necessary improvements was unveiled, while future research orientations were discussed. The HAPI-E industry tool can be utilized as a precautionary methodology on sustainable assessment while incorporating multifaceted and quantification advantages. © 2019 by the authors.
AUTHOR KEYWORDS: Circular economy; Environmental indicators; Holistic assessment framework; Proactiveness; Sustainable development; Sustainable production schemes
DOCUMENT TYPE: Article
PUBLICATION STAGE: Final
SOURCE: Scopus
Author Response
Point 1: The theoretical coverage of environmental regulations and the national (no necessarily the China's) economic growth can be solidified and updated manner in the main section 1. Therefore, indicative literature enhancement is indicatively proposed at the end of my review comments.
Response 1: This paper is not intended to cover the broad topic between ER (environmental regulation) and economic growth, whether it is China’s economy or the national economy. The attention of this study has always been on ER and ISTU (industrial structure transformation and upgrading), and will never change. However, considering the indicative literatures propesed at the end of the review comments are all published in “Sustainability” journal, we added them to the section 1, hoping to be helpful. Please see the references 9-11 for detail.
Point 2: In case Figures 1 and 2 have been inspired and conceptualized by other published papers on “Simple method and Roundabout method”, “The mechanism of ER on ISTU”, then these source citations can be recalled in the relevant Figures’ 1 and 2 legends.
Response 2: After careful database retrieval and full discussion, we ascertained that the substantive contents and manifestations in Figures 1 and 2 are original, and the inspiration of the figures comes directly from the Böhm-Bawerk’s books (1981, 1921), which are at least 100 years old, so we suppose that there is no need for source citations in the relevant legends. Through academic search engines, anyone can easily find and confirm that the relationship between ER and PR (production roundaboutness) has not aroused the interest of scholars yet, let alone the posibility of the inspiration by other published papers. However, if this modification is insisted, the legends citations could be implemented in next revision.
Point 3: From the second paragraph of subsection 3.3 through sections 4 and 5 there are almost missing cross-citing information. In this respect authors are recommended to better validate the adopted methodology and verify the hypotheses’ results and discussion, having a sound and more systematic cross-citing enrichment. Towards this end the following (at the end of the review comments) international-related citations can be added in the revised manuscript.
Response 3: Due to the lack of relevant literature on our topic, in particular, the literature on the relationship between ER and PR based on roundabout production theory, cross-citing information are rare in the first manuscript. However, in the revised manuscript, many a literature associated with the ER and ISTU has been supplemented to enrich the cross-citing. Especially, with the progress of the manuscript revision, the citations at the end of the review comments had been well intergrated into the relervant sections.
Point 4: Indicative numerical data or conceptual briefing of all literature production at sections 1, 2, 3, they can be somehow collectively reiterated in the forms of one or more Table(s) at the end of section 3.
Response 4: From this point of comments, a professional modification opinion and revision paradigm for Management majors could be sensed. However, in the academic papers in Economics, it is rare to see the Tables in which indicative numerical data or conceptual briefing of literature produciton is reiterated. Moreover, this paper, which is in Economics rather than Management, focuses more on the relationship between ER and ISTU based on roundabout production theory, and this logical mainline does not involve too many concepts. After cautious consultation and circumspect consideration, and combining the comments of the other two reviewers, we decided not to implement this revise, and the valuable advice is appreciated.
Point 5: The section “5.3 Discussion” has to be upgraded as main section 6. Discussion. In this section authors are recommended to go beyond their findings and provide a succinct and coherent argumentation of how a) environmental regulation, b) roundabout production and c) industrial structure transformation should be jointly approached at the Chinese economy and society. In this respect it should be better if authors develop three subsections within this main section 6. Discussion, respectively. Another, the 4th subsection of the main Discussion section can be devoted to an interpretation of the hypotheses tested.
Response 5: The section “5.3 Discussion” has been upgraded as section “6. Discussion”, in which more comparison and cross-citing information have been supplemented, as well as the interpretation of the hypotheses tested. As for the argumentation of how ER, PR, and ISTU should be jointly approached at the Chinese economy and society, we tried our best to integrate it into the previous part to save place and layout of the paper, and the other relevant contents are originally deployed in section “7.2. Policy implications”. For the same reason, subsections were not established.
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
At the revised manuscript authors proceeded in an interesting and meticulous revision of their initial manuscript, while considering the reviewers’ comments and solidifying the research structure, accordingly. The narrative flow is smooth and the analysis components are fully developed, focusing on the impacts of environmental regulation, the synergies of environmental regulation and roundabout production on the transformation and upgrading of industrial structures. Subsequently, authors provided a coherent argumentation and revealed insightful remarks and scientific proposals of speeding up the transformation and upgrading of industrial structures under the constraints of resources and environment, especially among the Chinese context. In this respect the revised manuscript can be accepted for publication at the Sustainability journal as is.
