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The Huayuankou flood event (1938–1947) refers to the prolonged flooding caused by the artificial bursting of the Yellow River embankment at Huayuankou during the Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). It recreated the historical scenes of frequent floods in the lower Yellow River region of China since the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368–1911), with the counties along the Jialu River in the eastern plains of Henan especially becoming the disaster-stricken areas. The flood lasted for nearly nine years until the completion of embankment restoration work in 1947, causing long-term and extensive environmental impacts. This paper discusses this catastrophic historical flood event caused by human factors, the warfare strategies and hydraulic technology that acted as drives, and the location factors and historical context leading to the start of flooding in flood-prone areas of Henan. Based on spatial perspectives and the historical GIS approach, the paper compiles and integrates historical documents and maps with archival material and topographic maps from the 1930s and 1940s to present the extent of the flood, the associated disasters, and the persistent effects of official relief strategies and political situation in the wider context, examining how the Huayuankou flood was used as a military tactic, but with unpredictable disastrous consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretically, agricultural insurance influences farmers' use of pesticides by changing the expected income of agricultural production. Full-cost insurance, with high guarantee and high compensation characteristics, may significantly affect farmers' pesticide use. First, this paper constructs a production function to characterize and compare the marginal incomes of insured and uninsured farmers under risk uncertainty and analyses how insured farmers can increase marginal income by increasing or reducing factor inputs. Considering scale differentiation, it discusses pesticide use strategies different types of farmers may adopt to maximize household utility. Second, using survey data of the pilot counties of full-cost insurance for wheat in Henan Province, China, the simultaneous equation model is used for empirical testing. The results reveal the following: (i) Farmers' insurance participation and pesticide application behaviour are not mutually independent. (ii) For the whole sample, full-cost insurance for wheat has a significant pesticide reduction effect. (iii) However, considering scale differentiation, pesticide application decreases significantly among insured ordinary farmers but does not change significantly among insured large-scale farmers. Third, policy measures are proposed to activate the green development function of agricultural insurance. • Construct a production function and a utility function to conduct mechanism analysis. • Estimate simultaneous equation model based on pilot area household level dataset. • Analyse the effect of full-cost insurance on pesticide input behavior. • Find full-cost insurance significantly reduces the pesticide use of ordinary farmers. • But insignificant effect on the pesticide use of large-scale farmers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence and utilization of gold beads in China were influenced by foreign civilizations and cultures, while the exploration of composite beads in China has been relatively limited compared to single-material beads. Metal foil glass beads represent a distinct type of composite beadwork popular in ancient times. This paper presents findings from a study conducted on a group of beads that were unearthed in Nanyang City, Henan Province. Theoretical calculations and CT imaging suggested that a particular class of gold beads, previously misidentified as single-material beads, actually consisted of gold foil wrapped around an inner layer of glass beads. Elemental analysis techniques such as pXRF, SEM and μ-EDXRF were used to reveal that the purity of the gold foil of the two differently shaped beads is around 95% and 98.5%, while the silver foil of the silver beads is also around 85% due to corrosion. Microscopic observation confirmed that the gold leaf was applied through foil-fusion gilding. Lead isotope analysis indicated that the gold beads originated from different sources, whereas the silver beads likely originated from the Central Plains region. Furthermore, the evidence of beadwork from Southeast Asia and South China supports the view that the gold beads may have been originally exotic but gradually adaptated through indigenous learning, allowing the creation of high-quality imitations. This study emphasizes the importance of scientific analyses for the proper determination of bead types and craftsmanship, and contributes to a better understanding of the ancient bead circulation network. • A special type of beadwork that wraps glass in a gold leaf is recognized. • The purity of the gold foil of two differently shaped beads is around 95% and 98.5%. • These gold beads may have originated in Southeast Asia and then spread to China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Filterless optical networks (FON) are attracting attention because of their low-cost characteristics. However, removing active devices forces the signal to be broadcast on all output ports, wasting a significant amount of spectrum resources. In order to maintain the low-cost advantage and save more spectrum resources, this paper studies the routing, modulation, and spectrum assignment (RMSA) problem in semi-filterless optical networks. For this problem, we propose a spectrum assignment algorithm based on adaptive modulation scheme with minimum link and boundary distance (ML-M-MTBD). The algorithm selects the path that occupies the minimal number of links (ML) for spectrum assignment during the routing process and combines it with a variable adaptive modulation scheme (VAMS) between fiber trees. During the spectrum assignment process, the algorithm divides the frequency spectrum resources into two regions, calculates the distance from the frequency spectrum block to the two boundaries of the spectrum resources to be assigned, and selects the position corresponding to the shorter distance to the boundary for spectrum assignment. We conducted simulations on German-Net and Henan-Net, and compared our algorithm with two existing algorithms, the first-fit algorithm and the best-fit algorithm. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has a lower blocking probability. • Combining two optimization metrics of routing and spectrum assignment: (1) L: Link occupancy; (2) BD: Boundary distance of the spectrum block, we propose an algorithm for minimum link and boundary distance spectrum assignment. • Reduced the request blocking probability in the semi-filterless network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting in 2013, China's key polluting firms have been required to install continuous emissions monitoring systems (CEMS) and to publish the data for real-time oversight and public scrutiny. However, the CEMS data has rarely been used in local environmental law enforcement because its quality is still of great concern. A lack of criteria to evaluate data quality is one of the causes. In this paper, we design a comprehensive analytical framework for evaluating the quality of CEMS data, which includes completeness, accuracy, and authenticity. To demonstrate the applicability of the framework, we build a CEMS dataset for key polluting firms in Henan province from 2017 to 2019 by scraping the CEMS data from a public platform. We then conduct a comprehensive evaluation using our proposed framework. Some data quality issues are identified. About one-third of the firms did not meet official guidelines for data completeness. When comparing the CEMS data with onsite measurement results, we observe statistically significant inconsistencies in about one-fifth of the firms. In addition, we find evidence that some firms might manipulate CEMS data by strategically turning down the CEMS when a pollutant's concentration is expected to exceed the limit. Our framework can be expanded by incorporating more evaluation methods and data. We suggest that government agencies should implement a comprehensive framework to enhance the quality of CEMS data, thereby facilitating its application in law enforcement. [Display omitted] • Data quality evaluation criteria of continuous emissions monitoring systems. • Evaluating completeness, accuracy, and authenticity of the data in China. • Policy recommendations for the data quality improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]