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Confronting the dilemma of resource shortage and environmental pollution, the idea of circular economy (CE) has attracted widespread attentions. To address these problems, several industrial companies have incorporated the CE in their operation or design. In this sense, the phosphorus chemical firms (PCFs) are promoting CE to achieve sustainable development goals since phosphorus is a non-renewable resource and one of the nutrient elements essential for crop growth. Thus, this paper aims to find a suitable way to assess the performance of CE for PCFs. Firstly, the evaluation index system of CE is designed according to the characteristics of CE for PCFs. Then, a new framework based on the qualitative flexible (QUALIFLEX) and Vlsekriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) methods is established to pick out the best enterprise. The linguistic neutrosophic number (LNN) is advised to describe decision making information with linguistic true, hesitant and false membership degree. Moreover, an entropy-based approach is used to determine the index weights, and the VIKOR method is presented to determine the concordance index. After that, all possible permutations are itemized, and the ranking result is obtained according to the general concordance index values of each permutation. Finally, an example of assessing the performance of CE for PCFs in China is given to illustrate the proposed method, and its feasibility is demonstrated. The robustness and advantage of this approach are also indicated with sensitivity and comparison analysis. The results show that the proposed VIKOR-QUALIFLEX method is reliable and stable for assessing the performance of CE for PCFs, and provides references for the construction and management of CE for PCFs.

This study aimed to investigate the role of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) in erectile dysfunction (ED) in two-kidney one-clip (2K-1C) hypertensive rats treated with the b-blocking agent propranolol. Adult male Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups: a normal control group, a hypertensive control group and a propranolol treatment group (n59). After 4 weeks of propranolol treatment, intracavernous pressure (ICP) responses to electrical stimulation of the cavernous nerves were evaluated. The expression of IGFBP-3 and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) mRNA and protein in the rat cavernous tissue were detected by quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot, respectively. The concentration of cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) in the cavernous tissue was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Cavernosal pressure in response to cavernous nerve stimulation was decreased 4 weeks after propranolol treatment (P,0.01, compared to the hypertensive control group). IGFBP-3 mRNA and protein expression was increased in the propranolol treatment group compared to the hypertensive control group (P,0.01), whereas IGF-1 expression was decreased in the propranolol treatment group compared to the hypertensive control group (P,0.01). In addition, cavernous cGMP concentration was decreased in the propranolol treatment group compared to the hypertensive control group (P,0.01). Taken together, these results suggest that the upregulation of IGFBP-3 may play a role in the development of ED in hypertensive rats.