The paper analyses the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) relationship between greenhouse gases and main aspects of economic development based on the panel data of 20 countries of the EU, including the data of three Baltic States, in the period 1995-2011. The fixed effect panel model was used as a framework for the analysis. The commonly used models confirmed the presence of the inverse U-shaped relationship. The novel contribution of this paper is that the factor referring to the global financial crisis was tested in expanded EKC model. Higher energy taxes, primary production of nuclear heat and R&D decrease the level of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). The size of agriculture, industry and construction, as well as the primary production of solid fuels have a positive sign, which means that a higher value of these indicators is associated with a higher level of GHG. This implies that the analysed set of factors can be applied to adjust the EKC trend in the region and might be useful for the climate change policy adjustment.

Bothreal totalandaqua regiacontents of trace elements in soils are often denominated by the same word “total” though the results are not identical. The formulas would be helpful for recalculation ofaqua regiacontents toreal totals. Data for primary formulas were taken from the International Soil-Analytical Exchange Program of Wageningen Evaluating Programs for Analytical Laboratories. The degree of extractability DE of element in a sample was calculated by weighting the ratios of median contents inaqua regiato medianreal total contentsin different periods with weights proportional to the respective number of determinations. According to descending median values of DE (%) in ISE European soil samples the elements are arranged as follows: Hg(98), Cd(94), Cu(91), Zn(90), Mn(89), Ni(88), Co(86), As(82), Mo(82), Pb(79), V(61), Sn(57), Cr(56), Sb(53), Be(51), B(46), U(35), and Ba(21). These values can be used for approximate recalculation ofaqua regiacontents toreal totalsand adjustment of contamination assessment. An attempt to obtain more explicit prediction by fitting regression models and problems related to high leverage and possibly influencial points are discussed and their possible relation to the specificity of soil composition is pointed out.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract