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A good understanding of the processes of land surface temperature (LST) change is important for assessing regional climate change. In the present study, we obtained the MODIS MOD11A2 LST products over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from 2001 to 2020. In order to comprehensively assess the spatial and temporal variability of LST in the YRD region over the past two decades, the Theil–Sen Median trend analysis and Mann–Kendall test, BFAST01 trend decomposition, and landscape pattern analysis were used in this study. We show that the rate of linear change in LST in the YRD ranges from −0.019 °C/month to 0.046 °C/month. The BFAST01 trend decomposition identifies more details of LST change and monotonic increases, reversal increase, and interruption increase are the main warming trends. The distribution of the different trend types shows strong aggregation with high spatial heterogeneity. The LST breakpoints are mainly located in the northern and southern YRD, which frequently occurred during 2010–2013. Of the various land types, breakpoints occur most frequently in cropland and high NDVI (0.5–0.7) areas, and the intensity of most of them is within 2 °C. In addition, much stronger warming occurs in urban areas than in other land types. Our study provides a better understanding of the dynamics of LST in the YRD region over the past 20 years and highlights that breakpoints cannot be circumvented in regional temperature assessment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Driving forces are the factors that lead to the observed changes in the quantity and quality of ecosystem services (ESs). The relationship between driving forces and ESs involves considerable scale-related information. Place-based ecological management requires this information to support local sustainable development. Despite the importance of scale in ES research, most studies have only examined the association between ESs and their drivers at a single level, and few studies have examined this relationship at various scales or analyzed spatial heterogeneity. The purpose of this paper is to explore the significance of the scale-dependent effects of drivers on ESs for localized ecological management. The biophysical values of ESs were calculated using several ecological simulation models. The effects of driving forces on ESs were explored using the geographically weighted regression (GWR) model. Variations in the effects of driving forces on ESs were examined at three scales: provincial, ecoregional, and subecoregional scales. Finally, canonical correlation analysis was used to identify the major environmental factors associated with these variations in each ecoregion. Our results show that (1) the distribution of soil conservation and water yield is highly heterogeneous; (2) four driving forces have significant positive and negative impacts on soil conservation and water yield, and their effects on the two services vary spatially (p < 0.05); (3) the impacts of drivers on ESs vary across different spatial scales, with a corresponding shift in the related environmental factors; and (4) in the study area, at the provincial scale, physical, topographical, and biophysical factors were key factors associated with the variations in the relationship between ESs and drivers, and at the ecoregional and subecoregional scales, physical, socioeconomic, topographical, and biophysical factors all contributed to these changes. Our results suggest that significant differences in topographical conditions (e.g., altitude, slope) can be incorporated for exploring the relationship between drivers and ESs and optimizing ecological management at the provincial scale, whereas significant differences in physical and socioeconomic conditions (e.g., urbanization levels, human activity, vegetation coverage) are more meaningful for localized ecological management at the ecoregional and subecological scales. These findings provide a basis for understanding the relationship between drivers and ESs at multiple scales as well as guidelines for improving localized ecological management and achieving sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A variety of climatological indices have been established to illustrate the impact of climate change on air pollution in China, but major facts for causing variations of air pollution attributed to climate change are still unclear. Here, using in‐situ PM2.5 (particles with the aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm) measurement, atmospheric reanalysis data and a chemical transport model, we show that meridional distribution of PM2.5 loadings is strongly modulated by the intensity of East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM). The EAWM drives the heavily polluted zone in eastern China to migrate southward, i.e., under stronger EAWM, more southward migration of air pollution occurs. We expect that the migration will likely re‐distribute carbon sources‐ and sinks‐related ecosystem, posing a new challenge for the Chinese government, who needs to implement region‐different emission reduction plans in the future, to mitigate air pollution and to go carbon neutral. Plain Language Summary: The relationship between the severe air pollution in China and climate has drawn much attention from scientific community, which still remains unclear. In this study, we present that air pollution with high PM2.5 loadings in winter, China is significantly modulated by East Asian winter monsoon (EAWM) based on ambient PM2.5 measurements, atmospheric reanalysis data and the GEOS‐Chem model. We find that the change in EAWM intensity dominates the location of heavily polluted zone and its meridional distribution. Stronger EAWM generally drives the zone to migrate more southward in eastern China, highlighting the predominant role of EAWM in redistributing air pollution of China during wintertime. Under climate change, the inter‐annual variability and decadal oscillation of EAWM projected by CMIP5 and CMIP6 models indicate a southward migration of the heavily polluted zone in next decades, probably approaching the Yangtze River Delta. This result may pose new challenges in air pollution control for local governments in different regions regarding climatic influence. Key Points: East Asian winter monsoon strongly modulates PM2.5 levels meridionally in eastern ChinaUnder climate change, the heavily polluted zone will likely move southward to Yangtze River Delta in the next decadesChina needs to implement regional‐different emission reduction measures regarding to the influence of climate change [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The swamp eel (Monopterus albus) is one economically important fish in China and South-Eastern Asia and a good model species to study sex inversion. There are different genetic lineages and multiple local strains of swamp eel in China, and one local strain of M. albus with deep yellow and big spots has been selected for consecutive selective breeding due to superiority in growth rate and fecundity. A high-quality reference genome of the swamp eel would be a very useful resource for future selective breeding program. In the present study, we applied PacBio single-molecule sequencing technique (SMRT) and the high-throughput chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) technologies to assemble the M. albus genome. A 799 Mb genome was obtained with the contig N50 length of 2.4 Mb and scaffold N50 length of 67.24 Mb, indicating 110-fold and ∼31.87-fold improvement compared to the earlier released assembly (∼22.24 Kb and 2.11 Mb, respectively). Aided with Hi‐C data, a total of 750 contigs were reliably assembled into 12 chromosomes. Using 22,373 protein-coding genes annotated here, the phylogenetic relationships of the swamp eel with other teleosts showed that swamp eel separated from the common ancestor of Zig-zag eel ∼49.9 million years ago, and 769 gene families were found expanded, which are mainly enriched in the immune system, sensory system, and transport and catabolism. This highly accurate, chromosome-level reference genome of M. albus obtained in this work will be used for the development of genome-scale selective breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to fulfill the goals of sustainable development and emission reduction, as the main contributor to emissions, optimizing the electric structure is imperative for Chinese electric power industry. In the "thirteenth five-year" period, China has implemented tradable green certificates (TGC) and carbon emissions trading (CET) in the electricity market to accelerate the development of renewable energy. In this study, we analyze and simulate the dual effects of TGC and CET on the electricity market based on the theories and models of equilibrium and system dynamics. The obtained results show that: (1) The increase of renewable portfolio standards and carbon price is advantageous to the expansion of green electricity. The higher the portfolio standard and the carbon price are, the better the electric structure optimization could be. (2) The proportion of renewable energy power generation is expected to achieve the goal of ‘renewable energy thirteenth five-year development planning’ by 2020 (Goal: 680 million kW, 1.9 trillion kW h, 27% of all electricity generated). (3) The CO 2 emission in the electric power industry will be controlled, meanwhile effectively promoting the realization of national CO 2 emission-reduction target by 2020 (Target: below 1.6298 ton CO 2 emission/10,000 yuan). (4) TGC system and CET system are incentive compatible in China. Finally, we propose some policy recommendations on the mechanism design and implementation for these two systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent studies on fossil fuel CO 2 simulation associated with Δ 14 CO 2 measurements is quite limited, particularly in China. In this study, the fossil fuel CO 2 recently added to the atmosphere (δCO 2 ff) over the Guanzhong basin, central China, during summer 2012 is simulated using a modified WRF-CHEM model constrained by measured CO 2 mixing ratio and Δ 14 CO 2 . The model well captures the temporal variation of observed CO 2 mixing ratio and Δ 14 CO 2 , and reasonably reproduces the distribution of observed Δ 14 CO 2 . The simulation shows a significant variation of δCO 2 ff during summertime, ranging from < 5 ppmv to ~ 100 ppmv and no remarkable trend of δCO 2 ff is found for June, July, and August. The δCO 2 ff level is closely associated with atmospheric diffusion conditions. The diurnal cycle of δCO 2 ff presents a double-peak pattern, a nocturnal one and a rush-hour one, related to the development of planetary boundary layer and CO 2 emission from vehicles. The spatial distributions of summertime δCO 2 ff within the basin is clearly higher than the outside, reaching up to 40 ppmv in urban Xi'an and 15 ppmv in its surrounding areas, indicative of large local fossil fuel emissions. Furthermore, we find that neglecting the influence of summer heterotrophic respiration in terrestrial biosphere would slightly underestimate the calculated δCO 2 ff by about 0.38 ppmv in the basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For China, greenhouse gas emissions increased by 0.075 gigatons (Gt) in the period of 1995–2000 and increased by 4.23 Gt from 2000 to 2009, then reached the amount of 8.61 Gt in 2009. Different from the traditional analysis focused on accounting sectors’ greenhouse gas emissions under the production-based responsibility, this paper investigates sectoral GHG emissions in China in the period of 1995–2009 from the perspective of consumption-based and income-based responsibility. We found that different metrics yield very different GHG emission responsibilities. The sector of electricity, gas and water supply has the highest GHG emissions responsibility based on the production and income metrics, while the sector of construction is the largest emitter under the consumption metric. In the light of the key driver analysis of GHG emissions from 1995 to 2009, based on the consumption metric, the change in the final demand volume is the largest driver of increase in China's consumption-based GHG emissions (+17.18 Gt). The changes in the production structure and the final demand structure are other contributors (+0.53 Gt, +1.46 Gt). The improvement to the intensity of GHG emissions is the main force for GHG emissions mitigation (−14.86 Gt). According to the income metric, the contributions of input volume changes, input structure changes and GHG intensity changes are similar to the effects of consumption-based responsibility (+19.11 Gt, +1.13 Gt, −14.95 Gt). The difference is that the change in the production structure is another force that offset GHG increase (−0.98 Gt). Results in this paper can give some recommendation on mitigating GHG emissions in China for policy-makers from production-side, demand-side and supply-side. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon trading is an important market instrument and policy tool to promote China's practice of low-carbon energy conservation and strive to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. To improve market flow and respond to the national strategy to support the development of carbon trading in China, a smart carbon trading process optimization framework based on blockchain technology is developed in this article. First, the paper analyzes the current state of carbon trading in China's power sector and identifies the future development trend and barriers to carbon trading in China. Second, a framework for a smart carbon trading system based on the structure and traits of blockchain technology is created to optimize the carbon trading process. Third, the smart contract for the smart carbon trading system is built (including execution logic, transaction matching, contract fulfillment, and other elements). This mechanism measures the reputation of trading users. Finally, policy suggestions are provided to solve the current issues and challenges. According to the research conducted for this paper on "blockchain + carbon trading in China," carbon trading supported by blockchain technology can guarantee transaction security and efficiency, accurately preserve transaction records, and offer a high level of automated settlement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzed the coupling relationship between the carbon market and power market and constructed a threshold regression model of carbon cost pass-through to electricity prices. Furthermore, a system dynamics model was built based on "electricity-carbon" market. The results show that first, the carbon market and power market operate independently but are interrelated. The two markets will work when Chinese emission allowances and carbon prices are effectively connected with carbon emissions and electricity prices. Second, because the electricity price formation mechanism is mainly regulated by China's government, the carbon price has a significant negative effect on the electricity price since the operation of the national carbon trading system. There is no obvious linkage effect between the CO 2 cost and electricity price. Third, under the current policies and market mechanism, the carbon price will experience the process of "remain low-rapid rise-remain high". The carbon price will drive the on-grid price and sales price up. The allowance auction mechanism and carbon cost direct pass-through can effectively reflect CO 2 cost in the electricity price. In the long term, introducing auctioning in the carbon market and reforming electricity price formation in the power sector will tap the emission reduction potential. [Display omitted] • Design of coupling relationship between China's electricity market and national ETS. • Measure the carbon cost pass-through rates in electricity market. • Build the system dynamics model of national ETS and electricity market. • Explore the factors that affect the effectiveness of CO 2 cost pass-through. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how trade between regions or countries drives the transfer of air pollution has attracted considerable interest recently, but few studies have explored the various transfer pathways or evaluated economic losses due to the health impact of such air pollution. Here, we assess the air pollutant emissions and related health impacts and economic losses in China caused by export trade due to US demand by combining the linked multi-regional input-output (MRIO) model, GEOS-Chem model, integrated exposure-response model, and the willingness to pay method. We show that the air pollutant emissions embedded in China's export due to the US demand reached 5792.38 Kt in 2012 (2.48% of the total), which includes direct exports of intermediate (40.27%) and final (33.61%) products and indirect exports of intermediate products via domestic provinces (16.43%, domestic spillover) and other countries (9.69%, foreign spillover). The resulting increase in PM 2.5 (<2.8 μg m−3) leads to additional 27,963 deaths in 30 provinces, with a higher death toll in coastal areas and the corresponding economic loss was higher in more developed regions and reached USD 2.08 billion. This study highlights the region-different air pollution and health impacts in China embedded in the US-demand trade, and provides a framework for the analysis of health and economic losses hidden in global trade, particularly between developing and developed countries. [Display omitted] • Air pollution and health impacts in China driven by US-demand exports were assessed. • The PM 2.5 increase led to 27,963 deaths in China, with more deaths in coastal areas. • The related economic losses were higher in more developed regions of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introgression lines (ILs) are useful tools for precise mapping of quantitative trait loci (QTLs) and the evaluation of gene action or interaction in theoretical studies. A set of 159 ILs carrying variant introgressed segments from Chinese common wild rice ( Oryza rufipogon Griff.), collected from Dongxiang county, Jiangxi Province, in the background of Indica cultivar ( Oryza sativa L.), Guichao 2, was developed using 126 polymorphic simple sequence repeats (SSR) loci. The 159 ILs represented 67.5% of the genome of O. rufipogon. All the ILs have the proportions of the recurrent parent ranging from 92.4 to 99.9%, with an average of 97.4%. The average proportion of the donor genome for the BC4F4 population was about 2.2%. The mean numbers of homozygous and heterozygous donor segments were 2 (ranging 0–8) and 1 (ranging 0–7), respectively, and the majority of these segments had sizes less than 10 cM. QTL analysis was conducted based on evaluation of yield-related traits of the 159 ILs at two sites, in Beijing and Hainan. For 6 out of 17 QTLs identified at two sites corresponding to three traits (panicles per plant, grains per panicle and filled grains per plant, respectively), the QTLs derived from O. rufipogon were usually associated with an improvement of the target trait, although the overall phenotypic characters of O. rufipogon were inferior to that of the recurrent parent. Of the 17 QTLs, 5 specific QTLs strongly associated with more than one trait were observed. Further analysis of the high-yielding and low-yielding ILs revealed that the high-yielding ILs contained relatively less introgressed segments than the low-yielding ILs, and that the yield increase or decrease was mainly due to the number of grain. On the other hand, low-yielding ILs contained more negative QTLs or disharmonious interactions between QTLs which masked trait-enchancing QTLs. These ILs will be useful in identifying the traits of yield, tolerance to low temperature and drought stress, and detecting favorable genes of common wild rice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on chemical components of roots of Ophiopogon japonicus. Topics discussed include collection of specimen from SiChuang Province, China, in May 2011, isolation of various substances from rhizome includes flavonoids, sesquiterpenes and lignans, and extraction of dried fibrous roots of O. japonicus and chemical formula of components derived from O. Japonicus.

Tunnel failure caused due to geologic heterogeneity and variability in both mining processes and tunnel arrangement in deep metal mines is very complex. In this paper, a quantitative risk assessment for deep tunnel failure was conducted using clustering and logistic regression. The study was performed by considering various representative evaluation indexes of geological conditions, mining disturbance, and microseismic (MS) data. Comprehensive Seismic Event Clustering (CSEC) methodology was used to analyse the MS data to filter noise data and identify seismic sources. Additionally, peak particle velocity (PPV) was used to quantitatively evaluate the influence of MS activities on the response of tunnel which would aid in determining the PPV distribution characteristics of a large regional tunnel. Furthermore, Excavation Vulnerability Potential (EVP) index was used to quantitatively evaluate the effect of site conditions on response of the tunnel. Thus, based on logistic regression, PPV and EVP were used to establish a risk assessment model to determine the tunnel damage levels and probability of damage occurrence. The successful application of the proposed method at the Ashele copper mine demonstrates that it is capable of conducting a risk assessment for tunnel failure in deep metal mines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban air pollution is an important issue facing China in the midst of rapid urbanization and economic development. To investigate the regional air quality characteristics and its drivers in Northeast China, this paper compares the spatial and temporal characteristics of air quality between cities and analyzes the influence of socioeconomic variables by using statistical analysis methods and geographic model. The results show that the air quality index (AQI) showed a downward trend in time and decreased from southwest to northeast in space. The duration of heavy pollution condition was not only controlled by the distribution of pollutant concentrations, but also influenced by the topography. Based on the mean concentrations of the 6 pollutants, 37 cities were divided into 4 categories by cluster analysis, reflecting the levels and characteristics of pollution. The level of industrialization was the most important cause for air quality, followed by the size of the city and the degree of economic development. The AQI predicted by geographic weighted regression model (GWR) showed a lower goodness of fit in developed cities, indicating that the factors controlling air quality are more complex in these regions. The influence of different socioeconomic metrics on AQI showed large spatial differences. AQI was more sensitive to variations in socioeconomic metrics in less developed small and medium-sized cities. This study provides a theoretical basis for revealing the causes of urban air pollution and formulating pollution control measures in Northeast China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In earlier studies, objective techniques have been used to determine the contribution of tropical cyclones to precipitation (TCP) in a region, where the Tropical cyclone Precipitation Event (TPE) and the Regional Heavy Precipitation Events (RHPEs) are defined and investigated. In this study, TPE and RHPEs are combined to determine the Typhoon Regional Heavy Precipitation Events (TRHPEs), which is employed to evaluate the contribution of tropical cyclones to regional extreme precipitation events. Based on the Objective Identification Technique for Regional Extreme Events (OITREE) and the Objective Synoptic Analysis Technique (OSAT) to define TPE, temporal and spatial overlap indices are developed to identify the combined events as TRHPE. With daily precipitation data and TC best-track data over the western North Pacific from 1960 to 2018, 86 TRHPEs have been identified. TRHPEs contribute as much as 20% of the RHPEs, but 100% of events with extreme individual precipitation intensities. The major TRHPEs continued for approximately a week after tropical cyclone landfall, indicating a role of post landfall precipitation. The frequency and extreme intensity of TRHPEs display increasing trends, consistent with an observed positive trend in the mean intensity of TPEs as measured by the number of daily station precipitation observations exceeding 100 mm and 250 mm. More frequent landfalling Southeast and South China TCs induced more serious impacts in coastal areas in the Southeast and the South during 1990–2018 than 1960–89. The roles of cyclone translation speed and "shifts" in cyclone tracks are examined as possible explanations for the temporal trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The past decades have witnessed the rapid growth of foreign participation in the renewable energy development in China. This is a result of massive energy demand and the Government’s strategy to shadow the role of traditional fossil fuel in the energy mix. This paper critically reviewed the international cooperation in the field of renewable energy with various partners in the new century. The cooperation pattern varies from partner to partner. The results showed that China has benefited from the international cooperation on renewable energy such as accessing to finance and advanced technologies, developing human resources related to renewable energy, and enhancing related policy framework. Major issues associated with the international cooperation are discussed as well. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this study, the Dynamical‐Statistical‐Analog Ensemble Forecast model for landfall typhoon precipitation (the DSAEF_LTP model), which has been developed by Ren et al., in 2020, is applied to precipitation simulations for super‐typhoon Lekima (2019), a tropical cyclone (TC) that produced heavy rainfall over eastern China. A new variable, TC intensity, is introduced into the generalized initial value (GIV) of the DSAEF_LTP model. Two different groups of simulation experiments, one group including the new TC intensity variable in the GIV and the other group excluding it, have been conducted. Results show that, with TC intensity, the ability of the DSAEF_LTP model to forecast heavy rainfall (i.e. accumulated precipitation exceeding thresholds of 250 and 100 mm) for Lekima is improved. Its threat score (TS) ranks the second compared with that of three numerical weather prediction models (i.e. ECMWF, GRAPES and GFS). Further study shows that three factors prevent the DSAEF_LTP model from achieving more satisfactory results for Lekima: the historically rare occurrence of extreme precipitation in northern China during Lekima, the increase of forecast track error when Lekima moved northwards, and the calculation of similarity between tracks of Lekima and historical TCs within an improper region (i.e. similarity region). To solve the third problem, new similarity region schemes are adopted that produce higher TS, in which case TS of precipitation greater than 100 mm (TS100) ranks first and TS of precipitation greater than 250 mm (TS250) gets closer to the first place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study conducts the mid-long term predictions and assesses the multi-year average offshore wind energy in the China seas for the next five years based on CMIP5 wind data, in hope of providing reference for the long term prediction of wind energy. Results show that (1) large areas with multi-year average wind power densities (WPD) greater than 350 W/m² are mainly found throughout the Ryukyu Islands and the Taiwan and Luzon Straits in the southeastern area of the Indo-China Peninsula. (2) From 2015-2019, the WPD in the Bohai Sea, Taiwan Strait and Beibu Gulf will be lower than the multi-year average level and thus will be similar to the multi-year average in the Yellow Sea and Gulf of Thailand but greater than the multi-year average in the East China Sea and South China Sea. (3) The predicted occurrences of exploitable wind speeds of the East China Sea and South China Sea are promising for the next five years, exceeding 60%. A value above 40% is predicted for the Yellow Sea, and a lower value is anticipated for the Bohai Sea. (4) The predicted occurrences of WPD > 50 W/m² are more promising for the next five years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, a track-similarity-based Dynamical-Statistical Ensemble Forecast (LTP_DSEF) model has been developed in an attempt to predict heavy rainfall from Landfalling Tropical cyclones (LTCs). In this study, the LTP_DSEF model is applied to predicting heavy precipitation associated with 10 LTCs occurring over China in 2018. The best forecast scheme of the model with optimized parameters is obtained after testing 3452 different schemes for the 10 LTCs. Then, its performance is compared to that of three operational dynamical models. Results show that the LTP_DSEF model has advantages over the three dynamical models in predicting heavy precipitation accumulated after landfall, especially for rainfall amounts greater than 250 mm. The model also provides superior or slightly inferior heavy rainfall forecast performance for individual LTCs compared to the three dynamical models. In particular, the LTP_DSEF model can predict heavy rainfall with valuable threat scores associated with certain LTCs, which is not possible with the three dynamical models. Moreover, the model can reasonably capture the distribution of heavier accumulated rainfall, albeit with widespread coverage compared to observations. The preliminary results suggest that the LTP_DSEF model can provide useful forecast guidance for heavy accumulated rainfall of LTCs despite its limited variables included in the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is global health concern that the mass movement of pilgrims to and from Mecca annually could contribute to the international spread of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV). In China, about 11,000 Muslim pilgrims participate in the Hajj gathering in Mecca annually. This is the first report of MERS-CoV and respiratory virus molecular screening of returning pilgrims at points of entry in China from 2013 to 2015.Methods and Results: A total of 847 returning Hajj pilgrims participated in this study. The test results indicated that of the travelers, 34 tested positive for influenza A virus, 14 for influenza B virus, 4 for metapneumo virus, 2 for respiratory syncytial virus, and 3 for human coronavirus. There was a significant difference in the rates of positive and negative influenza virus tests between Hajj pilgrims with symptoms and those without. The detection rates of influenza virus were not significantly different among the three years studied, at 5.3, 6.0 and 6.3% for 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The MERS-CoV and respiratory viruses detection results at points of entry in China from 2013 to 2015 indicated that there were no MERS-CoV infection but a 5.7% positive influenza viruses in returning Chinese pilgrims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization and industrialization in the recent 30 years have caused frequent heavy haze pollution in the Guanzhong basin, China during wintertime. Based on the categorized large-scale synoptic situations, the local circulation and its impact on the air pollution in the basin have been investigated using observational data analyses and model simulations with the WRF-CHEM model. The simulated mountain-valley breeze circulations are well established under most of the large-scale synoptic situations in the south-north direction. The downward mountain-breeze not only causes the convergence zone in the basin but also tends to bring the pollutants back from the mountain areas to the basin and enhance pollutants concentrations in the evening. The intensity of the mountain-valley breeze circulations may be different under different synoptic situations, but in general, aside emissions, every pollution event is the synthetic result of the synoptic situation at the large scale and the local circulation at the small scale in the Guanzhong basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil classification plays a significant role in reutilization of excavated soils, which is produced greatly every year in China. In this work, an efficient system for identifying excavated soil type was developed at the start, transfer or end points of transportation. Firstly, soil image color patterns, cone index (CI), dielectric constant (DC), and electrical conductivity (EC) were identified as indexes for prompt characterization. Accordingly, an excavated soil information collecting system (ESICS) based on time domain reflectometry (TDR) cone penetrometer and digital camera was established at Xiecun Wharf, the largest wharf for transferring excavated soils in East China. After collection of soil information for 2 months, a multi-source soil database with 25,152 groups of soil image, CI, DC, and EC was generated. Then, based on ResNet18 convolutional neural networks, a novel classification framework with four screens (soil images, CI, DC, and EC) was proposed. Through deep learning of the database, all the excavated soils were finely classified into 12 types, which was calibrated by laboratory tests in Unified Soil Classification System and soil mineralogy. The system can realize classification with 88.7 %-accuracy within 50 s (even 97 % for the soils with simple color patterns), which leads to cost-effective management of excavated soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Beijing, the capital of China, is a mega city with a population of > 20 million. In recent years, the city has experienced heavy air pollution, with particulate matter (PM) being one of its top pollutants. In the last decade, extensive efforts have been made to characterize the sources, properties, and processes of PM in Beijing. Despite progress made by previous studies, there are still some important questions to be answered and addressed. The focus of this research is to study the impact of the heterogeneous hydrolysis of N 2 O 5 on the formation of nitrate (NO 3 − ) and ammonium (NH 4 + ) in Beijing. The results show that during heavy pollution days (e.g., during 14–17 September 2015, with PM 2.5 concentration over 100 μg/m 3 ), the concentrations of NO 2 and O 3 were high, with maxima of 90 and 240 μg/m 3 , respectively, providing high precursors for the formation of N 2 O 5 . In addition, the aerosol and sulfate concentrations were also high, with maxima of 201 μg/m 3 and 23 μg/m 3 respectively, providing reacting surface for the heterogeneous reaction. As a result, the hydrolysis of N 2 O 5 led to 21.0% enhancement of nitrate (NO 3 − ) and 7.5% enhancement of ammonium (NH 4 + ). It is worth to note that this important effect only occurred in high pollution days (PM 2.5 concentration over 100 μg/m 3 ). During low-pollution periods (PM 2.5 concentration < 100 μg/m 3 ), the effect of hydrolysis of N 2 O 5 on the formation of nitrate and ammonium was insignificant (variation rate < 5%). This study suggests that during heavy pollution periods, the hydrolysis of N 2 O 5 enhances the level of aerosol pollution in Beijing, and needs to be further studied in order to perform efficient air pollution control and mitigation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genetic variations in cytochrome P450 2C9 are known to contribute to interindividual and interethnic variability in response to clinical drugs, but little is known about the genetic variation of CYP2C9 in the Uyghur population.We directly sequenced the whole CYP2C9 gene in 96 unrelated, healthy Uyghur from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region of China and screened for genetic variants in the promoter, exons, introns and 3′-UTR.Thirty five previously reported alleles and six genotypes were detected in this study. The allele frequencies of CYP2C9*1, *2, *11, *12, *29 and *33 were 89.58, 7.81, 0.52, 0.52, 1.04 and 0.52%, respectively. We detected one non-synonymous novel variant at position 329 from Arg to Cys and this mutation is predicted to be intolerant by SIFT.Our results provide basic information about CYP2C9 alleles in Uyghur, which may help to optimize pharmacotherapy effectiveness by providing personalized medicine to this ethnic group. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Quantifying fossil fuel CO 2 (CO 2 ff) in the atmosphere provides a benchmark method to monitor anthropogenic carbon emissions. Radiocarbon (14C) in atmospheric CO 2 ff has been widely studied using the 14C in plants to document regional CO 2 ff patterns. However, annual CO 2 ff variations, reflecting spatial distributions based on plant samples, are still scarce. In this paper, the spatial distribution and temporal CO 2 ff changes in the Guanzhong Basin is established using Δ14C measurements from maize leaves collected in 2011 and 2012. With regard to spatial distribution, samples collected around Xi'an City showed lower Δ14C values (more CO 2 ff), while sites located near the perimeter of the basin showed higher Δ14C values (less CO 2 ff). This is likely due to the concentration of anthropogenic activities in the center of the Guanzhong Basin. The observed CO 2 ff mole fractions generally matched with PKU CO 2 inventory and the ODIAC CO 2 inventory data in the spatial distribution trend. However, it seems that thermal power plants were not well captured by the PKU CO 2 inventory. Our results provide useful information for the improvement of the inventory and verification of regional carbon cycle models. • The Δ14C in maize leaves for 2011 and 2012 were analyzed in Guanzhong Basin. • Spatial distribution of CO 2 ff mole fractions in Guanzhong Basin were studied. • The spatial pattern of observed CO 2 ff matches with the CO 2 inventory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, the critical role of the meteorological condition in a persistent extreme haze episode that occurred in Guanzhong basin of China on December 16 to 25, 2013 has been investigated. Analyses of the large-scale meteorological conditions on 850 hPa during the episode have been performed using the NCEP FNL data set, indicating that synoptic situations generally facilitate the accumulation of pollutants either in horizontal or vertical directions in the basin. The FLEXPART model has been utilized to illustrate the pollutant transport patterns during the episode, further showing the dominant role of synoptic conditions in accumulation of pollutants in the basin. Detailed meteorological conditions, such as temperature inversion, and low-level horizontal wind speed also contribute to the extreme haze episode. In addition, the WRF-CHEM model has been used to evaluate the responses of the surface PM 2.5 level to the emission mitigation. Generally, the predicted PM 2.5 spatial patterns and temporal variations agree well with the observations at the ambient monitoring sites. Sensitivity studies show that the emissions in the basin need to be mitigated by more than 91% to meet the excellent level of the China National Air Quality Standard under the extremely unfavorable meteorological conditions, demonstrating that it is imperative to implement stringent controls on emissions to improve the air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban dust pollution has been becoming an outstanding environmental problem due to rapid urbanization in China. However, it is very difficult to construct an urban dust inventory, owing to its small horizontal scale and strong temporal/spatial variability. With the analysis of visual interpretation, maximum likelihood classification, extrapolation and spatial overlaying, we quantified dust source distributions of urban constructions, barrens and croplands in the Guanzhong Basin using various satellite data, including VHR (0.5 m), Lansat-8 OLI (30 m) and MCD12Q1 (500 m). The croplands were the dominant dust sources, accounting for 40% (17,913 km 2 ) of the study area in summer and 36% (17,913 km 2 ) in winter, followed by barrens, accounting for 5% in summer and 10% in winter. Moreover, the total constructions were 126 km 2 , including 84% of active and 16% inactive. In addition, 59% of the constructions aggregated on the only megacity of the study area, Xi'an. With high accuracy exceeding 88%, the proposed satellite-data based method is feasible and valuable to quantify distributions of dust sources. This study provides a new perspective to evaluate regional urban dust, which is seldom quantified and reported. In a companied paper (Part-2 of the study), the detailed distribution of the urban dust sources is applied in a dynamical/aerosol model (WRF-Dust) to assess the effect of dust sources on aerosol pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We developed a regional dust dynamical model (WRF-Dust) to simulate surface dust concentrations in the Guanzhong (GZ) basin of China during two typical dust cases (19th Aug. and 26th Nov., 2013), and compared model results with the surface measurements at 17 urban and rural sites. The important improvement of the model is to employ multiple high-resolution (0.5–500 m) remote sensing data to construct dust sources. The new data include the geographic information of constructions, croplands, and barrens over the GZ basin in summer and winter of 2013. For the first time, detailed construction dust emissions have been introduced in a regional dust model in large cities of China. Our results show that by including the detailed dust sources, model performance at simulating dust pollutions in the GZ basin is significantly improved. For example, the simulated dust concentration average for the 17 sites increases from 28 μg m − 3 to 59 μg m − 3 , closing to the measured concentration of 66 μg m − 3 . In addition, the correlation coefficient (r) between the calculated and measured dust concentrations is also improved from 0.17 to 0.57, suggesting that our model better presents the spatial variation. Further analysis shows that urban construction activities are the crucial source in controlling urban dust pollutions. It should be considered by policy makers for mitigating particulate air pollution in many Chinese cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2006, Tahyna virus was isolated from Culex spp. mosquitoes collected in Xinjiang, People's Republic of China. In 2007, to determine whether this virus was infecting humans, we tested serum from febrile patients. We found immunoglobulin (Ig) M and IgG against the virus, which suggests human infection in this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-kilometre-thick Jurassic–Cretaceous-age sedimentary successions exposed in the southern, northwestern, and northeastern regions of the Junggar Basin display a consistent and correlative stratigraphy comprising four, stacked second-order megasequences: Badaowan, Sangonghe, Shishugou, and Kalaza. Each consists of a basal erosional unconformity or discontinuity surface and lower, middle, and upper units that are interpreted as forestepping, backstepping, and aggradational systems tracts, respectively. Each megasequence is interpreted as recording an upsection shift from active tectonism and uplift to tectonic quiescence with associated changes in crustal response and sediment supply. Basin-wide analysis of megasequences indicates that tectonism was intermittent and regionally variable. A maximum phase of subsidence and sediment accommodation is recorded in the middle unit of each megasequence and correlates with a notable abundance of fossil vertebrates suggesting a primary tectonic and basin-response control on fossil preservation. Seasonally dry climatic conditions were developed first in the northeastern region of the basin during the Pliensbachian, followed by basin-wide seasonal dryness during the Bajocian. Seasonally dry climatic conditions were permanently established across the basin by the Oxfordian and intensified during the Early Cretaceous. A seasonally dry climate from Oxfordian through the Early Cretaceous correlates positively with the widespread presence of fossil vertebrates and suggests an additional climatic control on fossil preservation.Des séquences sédimentaires (datant du Jurassique au Crétacé) de plusieurs kilomètres d'épaisseur affleurent dans les régions sud, nord-ouest et nord-est du bassin Junggar; elles présentent une stratigraphie régulière et corrélative qui comprend un empilement de quatre mégaséquences de 2[sup e] ordre : Badaowan, Sangonghe, Shishugou et Kalaza. Chacune comporte une discordance érosionnelle à la base ou une surface de discordance et des unités inférieures, médianes et supérieures que l'on interprète respectivement comme des prismes de progradation, de rétrogradation et d'aggradation. On interprète chaque mégaséquence comme la consignation d'un passage de tectonique active et de soulèvement à une quiescence tectonique avec les changements associés dans la réponse crustale et l'approvisionnement en sédiments. Une analyse des mégaséquences à la grandeur du bassin indique que la tectonique était intermittente et variait selon les régions. Une phase maximum de subsidence et d'accumulation de sédiments est consignée dans l'unité médiane de chaque mégaséquence et peut être mise en corrélation avec une abondance remarquable de vertébrés fossiles, suggérant ainsi une tectonique primaire et que la réponse du bassin contrôlait la préservation des fossiles. Des conditions climatiques saisonnières sèches se sont tout d'abord développées dans la région nord-est du bassin durant le Pliensbachien, suivies d'une sécheresse saisonnière dans tout le bassin au Bajocien. À l'Oxfordien, des conditions climatiques saisonnières sèches s'étaient établies en permanence à travers tout le bassin; ces conditions se sont intensifiées au Crétacé précoce. Un climat saisonnier sec de l'Oxfordien au Crétacé précoce peut être corrélé de façon positive avec la présence d'une grande étendue de vertébrés fossiles et suggère un contrôle climatique additionnel sur la préservation des fossiles.[Traduit par la Rédaction] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main cucumber (Cucumis sativus) diseases in China is Fusarium wilt caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cucumerinum (FOC). The aims of this study were to evaluate the suppressive capacity of different spent mushroom substrate (SMS) amendments against Fusarium wilt and to analyse their effects on soil microbiological properties. A greenhouse experiment was carried out with four treatments: (1) CK: unamended control, (2) FV: application of spent Flammulina velutipes substrate, (3) LE: application of spent Lentinus edodes substrate, and (3) PO: application of spent Pleurotus ostreatus substrate. Cucumber disease incidence, the abundance of FOC, Bacillus , Pseudomonas and Lysobacter (using real-time PCR), and the microbial community (using Biolog EcoPlate and phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analyses) in rhizosphere were studied 15, 30, 45 and 60 days after transplantation. At the end of the 60-day pot experiment, the FV, LE and PO treatments significantly (p < 0.05) reduced disease incidence by 53.3%, 25.7% and 37.9%, respectively, compared to the CK treatment. All three SMS amendments significantly (p < 0.05) increased the growth of cucumber seedlings and suppressed the FOC population compared to the control. The three SMS amendments, in particular spent F. velutipes substrate, increased the abundance of beneficial microbes (Bacillus spp., Pseudomonas spp. and Lysobacter spp.). Biolog and PLFA data showed that average well colour development (AWCD), total PLFAs, bacterial, and Gram (+) and Gram (−) bacterial PLFAs were increased in the FV, LE and PO treatments. Overall, the results of this study suggest that the application of three SMS amendments, especially FV, could effectively suppress cucumber Fusarium wilt and reducing the population of FOC. • The spent mushroom substrate (SMS) amendments suppressed Fusarium wilt and promoted the growth of cucumber. • SMS application significantly reduced the abundance of Fusarium oxysporum in the rhizosphere.. • An increase in the number of potential beneficial microbes is correlated with disease suppression.. • Total PLFAs, bacterial, and Gram (+) and Gram (−) bacterial PLFAs were increased in SMS-amended soil.. • SMS suppressed disease by changing the microbial community composition.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water vapor has been proposed to amplify the severe haze pollution in China by enhancing the aerosol-radiation feedback (ARF). Observations have revealed that the near-surface PM2.5 concentrations ([PM2.5]) generally exhibits an increasing trend with the relative humidity (RH) in North China Plain (NCP) during 2015 wintertime, indicating that the aerosol liquid water (ALW) caused by hygroscopic growth might play an important role in the PM2.5 formation and accumulation. Simulations during a persistent and heavy haze pollution episode from 05 December 2015 to 04 January 2016 in NCP have been performed using the WRF-CHEM model to comprehensively quantify contributions of the ALW effect to near-surface [PM2.5]. The WRF-CHEM model generally performs reasonably in simulating the temporal variations of RH against measurements in NCP. The factor separation approach (FSA) is used to evaluate the contribution of the ALW effect on the ARF, photochemistry, and heterogeneous reactions to [PM2.5]. The ALW not only augments particle sizes to enhance aerosol backward scattering, but also increases effective radius to favor aerosol forward scattering. Therefore, the contribution of the ALW effect on the ARF and photochemistry to near [PM2.5] is not significant, generally within 1.0 μg m-3 on average in NCP during the episode. Serving as an excellent substrate for heterogeneous reactions, the ALW substantially enhances the secondary aerosol (SA) formation, with an average contribution of 71%, 10%, 26%, and 48% to near-surface sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, and secondary organic aerosol concentrations. Nevertheless, the SA enhancement due to the ALW decreases the aerosol optical depth and increases effective radius to weaken the ARF, reducing near-surface primary aerosols. The contribution of the ALW total effect to near-surface [PM2.5] is 17.5% on average, which is overwhelmingly dominated by enhanced SA. Model sensitivities also show that when the RH is less than 80%, the ALW progressively increases near-surface [PM2.5], but commences to decrease with the RH exceeding 80% due to the high occurrence frequencies of precipitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]