Global Research Progress on Municipal Waste and Future Prospect Based on the Cross-national Comparisons

Due to the acceleration of urbanization,the municipal waste(MW)problem has transformed into a global challenge for urb-an sustainability.To elucidate historical trends,current focal points,and future directions in MW research,we conducted a bibliometric analysis and employed knowledge graph visualization to scrutinize a total of 34212 articles,which were published between 1991 and 2021 in the Web of Science(WoS)core database.The results indicated that current major research themes encompass waste classifica-tion and recycling,waste management and public behavior,waste disposal methods and technologies,as well as environmental impact and evaluation.There has been a shift in the research focus from the environmental impacts of waste incineration to sustainable manage-ment related issues.A comparison of research from six typical countries revealed the differences in research priorities and techniques advantages.Scholars from the USA and Britain initiated MW research earlier than other countries and investigated management issues in depth,such as public behavior and willingness to pay.Meanwhile,Japanese,German,and Swedish scholars conducted extensive studies on advanced waste treatment technologies,such as disposal and recycling,risk assessment,and waste-to-energy techniques.Chinese scholars placed particular emphasis on end-of-pipe treatments and their associated environmental impacts.Hotspots and poten-tial future frontiers were identified by burst detection analysis.Keywords with high value of burst index(BI)worldwide are food waste and circular economy.Chinese scholars have put great efforts on waste environmental impact and its recycling technologies,while we’re expecting to further investigating vulnerable population.Furthermore,this study contributes to bridging the regional gap of scientific research among different countries and fostering international collaboration.

Cross-national Perspectives on Using Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) Indicators for Monitoring Sustainable Development: A Database and Analysis

Sustainable development is the theme of the 21st century. To monitor the progress of sustainable development, the United Nations launched Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs) in 2015. Subsequently, nations of the world have drawn up a list of localized indicators regarding the United Nations SDGs as a paradigm. We established a database including SDGs indicator systems of 11 economies by collecting and determining a large number of materials. Based on this database, we analyzed SDGs indicators by designing a conceptual framework of comparative analysis that included three views. We found that the SDGs indicator systems of 11 economies are different between the number of indicators, the proportion of different categories, and the connotation of indicators. Although the SDGs indicator systems among economies regarded the United Nations SDGs as a framework and included the major social problems related to sustainability, the inconsistency between SDGs indicator systems is large. It is a major reason why scholars lack the systematic method for developing indicators. There are challenges faced in data accessibility. The framework for comparative analysis could be applied to different economies.

The Left-liberal Skew of Western Media

We gathered survey data on journalists’political views in 17 Western countries.We then matched these data to outcomes from national elections,and constructed metrics of journalists’relative preference for different political parties.Compared to the general population of voters,journalists prefer parties that have more left-wing positions overall(r’s-.47 to-.53,depending on the metric used),and that are associated with certain ideologies,namely environmentalism,feminism,social liberalism,socialism,and support for the European Union.We used Bayesian model averaging to assess the validity of the predictors in multivariate models.We found that,of the ideology tags in our dataset,‘conservative’(negative),‘nationalist’(negative)and‘green’(positive)were the most consistent predictors with nontrivial effect sizes.We also computed estimates of the skew of journalists'political views in different countries.Overall,our results indicate that the Western media has a left-liberal skew.

Gender Differences in Hope and Its Relevance to Depression Symptoms among Norwegian Adolescents

Introduction: Several studies indicate that the number of individuals experiencing depression symptoms is growing. There is a prevailing consensus in the literature that while depression is represented among both genders, it is consistently reported that females are more exposed to depression compared to males both in frequency and severity. Studies suggest that as many as 15 - 20 percent of adolescents in Norway exhibit depression or depression like symptoms. Furthermore, several studies indicate that the number of individuals experiencing depression symptoms is growing. There is a prevailing consensus in the literature that while depression is represented among both genders, it is consistently reported that females are more exposed to depression compared to males both in frequency and severity. Methods: All data utilized in this study were extracted from the Norwegian Ungdata survey conducted in 2014 among adolescents in Norway. The sample consists of 46,374 observations. Conclusions: The finding of significant differences in prevalence of self-diagnosed depression symptoms among Norwegian adolescents, showed females are more exposed. Furthermore, as hypothesized, there is a strong and significant relation between hope and depression, where hope is proxied through expectations regarding the individuals’ future education, happiness and wealth. Based on these findings, we apply hope as an instrument for addressing depression symptoms. Results from this analysis indicate that males are significantly less optimistic for the future.

Gender Differences in Usage of Over-the-Counter Analgesics among Norwegian Adolescents

Introduction: Usage of over-the-counter (OTC) analgesic has increased among Norwegian adolescents since 2001. It has been noted that females tend to have a higher usage compared to males. In this paper we explore this gender difference. Data: Our dataset consists of 284,674 from Norwegian adolescents attending junior high school and high school between 2014 and 2017. Methods: The econometric approach consists of applying ordered logistic regressions with usage of OTC analgesics as the dependent variable and a dichotomous gender variable as the independent variable. Control variables include variables such as frequency of physical and mental health problems and other sociodemographic variables. Results: Gender, physical and mental health problems and various sociodemographic variables are found to have a significant effect on usage of OTC analgesics. Females are predicted to use significantly more analgesics. A large proportion of the gender difference evaporates when controlling for various other determinants. Conclusion: A considerable part of the observed gender difference in OTC analgesic usage can be traced back to differences in frequency and severity of physical and mental health problems. Part of the gender difference in usage, however remains unexplained.