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A devastating landslide incident occurred on 24 June 2017, causing huge losses for Xinmo Village in western Sichuan. In this paper, we used two interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) methods, permanent scatterer (PS)-InSAR and small baseline subset (SBAS)- InSAR, to analyze deformation signals in the area in the 2 years leading up to the landslide event using Sentinel-1A ascending data. Our experimental findings from PS-InSAR and SBAS-InSAR revealed that the deformation rates in the study region ranged between -50 to 20 mm/year and -30 to 10 mm/year, respectively. Furthermore, the deformation rates of the same points, as determined by these methods, exhibited a significant increase prior to the event. We also investigated the causal relationship between rainfall and landslide events, demonstrating that deformation rates correlate with changes in rainfall, albeit with a time lag. Therefore, using time-series InSAR for landslide monitoring in Xinmo Village is a viable approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of urbanisation and the decline of the countryside, reverse entrepreneurship cannot be separated from integration, referring to a process of mutual trust and cooperation between reverse (returnee or immigrant from urban areas) entrepreneur, host community and external stakeholders for sustainable livelihoods. With a geographic focus on poor areas of China, this paper aims to reveal key factors behind successful initiatives of reverse entrepreneurship to address challenges facing local communities, and pathways for mobilising and effectively using various resources, both internally and externally. These objectives are addressed through multiple cases of tourism development in Ganzi, a Tibetan Minority Prefecture of Sichuan. This paper contributes to the literature on entrepreneurial integration to debates on reverse entrepreneurship in three aspects. Firstly, entrepreneurial integration starts from social embeddedness, interconnecting and interacting between reverse entrepreneur(s) and the host community to understand local challenges and share a new vision for sustainable livelihoods. Secondly, entrepreneurial integration is essentially an innovation platform to develop or enhance social capital (both bonding and bridging) for mobilising and effective use of critical resources. Finally, the study outlines five pathways of tourism entrepreneurship, which reflects variations in livelihood strategy, critical capitals, business models, innovation diffusion and application potential. • Rural development calls for mutual trust and cooperation between reverse entrepreneurs, host communities, external stakeholders. • Successful entrepreneurial integration depends upon a platform building to develop social capital (both bonding and bridging). • Five pathways reflect variation in strategy, critical capitals, business models, innovation diffusion,application potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contributes to the literature on rural gentrification by incorporating empirical evidence from amenity-poor rural areas in the developing world. While current literature on rural gentrification has largely focused on the gentrification process in amenity-rich rural areas, the present study examines rural gentrification process in a historically polluted county in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. The gentrification process features a holistic transformation of farmland into an artificial landscape, thereby segregating gentrifiers from both polluted rural space and unwelcoming urban space. The paper attributes the rise of holistic gentrification to state-initiated farmland concentration, and to the gentrifier developers' practices of redefining rurality as immersive resort experiences. The paper concludes that the holistic gentrification was conducive to job losses in both the recreation and agricultural sectors, consequently reducing peasant households to a state of passivity and dependency, while collective actions against gentrifier developers were ineffective owing to highly skewed power dynamics. • Holistic gentrification transforms large-scale farmland into scenic rural resorts in amenity-poor rural areas in China. • Holistic gentrification is caused by national peasant relocation programs. • Gentrifier developers redefine rurality as immersive resort experience. • Holistic gentrification is conducive to local job losses in recreation and agricultural sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The improvement of protected areas (PAs) is a global challenge for society. In 2017, China implemented the ambitious "Ecological Conservation Redline" (ECR) program, with the aim of increasing its PA estate and improving human welfare. Since its implementation, the ECR has attracted much attention from both researchers and managers. However, the understanding of the ECR by some researchers is still unclear, resulting in debates about its practicality and effectiveness. We therefore provide a clear description of the ECR in this paper. The ECR was proposed as a conservation theory in China in 2011 and was transformed into nationwide practice in 2017. Compared with existing PAs, the ECR expanded the conservation network by considering hotspots of ecological function and fragility beyond biodiversity, which was highlighted by the example of Sichuan Province, China. To balance the demands of conservation and development, a list of "positive" human activities is presented following negotiations between government and stakeholders. In addition, a remote sensing platform and an ecological compensation system have been applied to provide technological and economic support to the ECR. Finally, we make recommendations for improving the redline identification method, evaluating the effects of its implementation, broadening the funding sources for ecological compensation, and strengthening legal safeguarding. The advancement of the ECR provides a new model for environmental planning leading to a sustainable future. • China's Ecological Conservation Redline program aims to improve the protected area network. • The redline concept considers hotspots of ecological function and fragility beyond biodiversity. • This paper clarifies the program and its core principles. • Recommendations are made to enhance the redline identification method and its evaluation. • Ecological compensation funding and strengthening legal safeguarding are also necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Network-based rural development approaches, rooted in neo-endogenous or nexogenous models and aiming to mobilise the development potential of local assets and address local needs by connecting to broader external actor-networks, have been emphasised in rural development policies worldwide. Since the introduction of its National Rural Revitalisation Strategy in 2017, China has adopted more policies, and advanced more programmes, with networked features, which seek to involve local communities and non-governmental extra-local actors in the implementation of rural policy. The 'reaching in' state has a key role to play in the Chinese networked approach, which drives technocratic remedial programmes in response to rural marginalisation, and which seeks to generate new surplus value from supported local economies. This paper introduces the concept of neo-exogenous development (NED), distinguishing this emergent Chinese hybrid development paradigm from its European-Western counterparts. The 'reaching out' of communities in Europe is frequently a response to weakening state intervention, with connections made to non-state actors and networks. However, China's NED approach is characterised by a 'reaching in' active party-state and 'conducted' (or activated) communities , which are inter-connected by 'semi-formal party organisations.' To date, few research studies have explored the specific governance structure of China's NED practices and its dynamics, or sought to situate these in a broader international context of rural development paradigms. This gap in extant research impedes the transfer of knowledge on networked approaches across international rural contexts. This article reports on research investigating the implementation process of a Modern Agriculture Zone (MAZ) programme in Sichuan, a marginalised region of China. That research drew on semi-structured interviews with key actors from county and town governments, the MAZ Management Committee, local community and collective enterprises, and extra-local enterprises. It aims to unveil the distinctive local-state dynamics of NED practice, to show how the active party-state has provoked the reconfiguration of social relations and produced activated communities. • The paper introduces the concept of neo-exogenous development (NED), which is presented as an emergent rural development model. • From the imperial, to the Maoist, and to the modern period, China's rural development has been shaped by the state's desire to effectively integrate and govern an otherwise 'discrete' rural society. • Rooted in a semi-formal and clientelist rural governance tradition, NED combines exogenous 'reaching-in' state interventions with an array of steered endogenous features. • NED connects an active party-state with activated communities via semi-formal rural party networks. • Three drawbacks of NED are underscored: dependency on political recognition and impetus, reliance on public finance, elite capture of benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the influence of COVID-19, the global economic and social development is facing great challenges. With the increase of government financial pressure and the decrease of debt paying ability, the problem of debt risk of local governments in China is attracting wide attention. In order to measure the level of China's local government debt risk under the influence of COVID-19, this paper takes China's Sichuan Province as an example, collects the core indicators data of measuring local government debt risk in 2017-2020 years, and uses AHP-TOPSIS method to make a comprehensive analysis of the local government debt risk situation in different periods before and after COVID-19. It is found that the local government debt risk in Sichuan Province is generally controllable. However, influenced by COVID-19, in 2020, the overall level of local government debt risk in Sichuan province expanded by 22.1% compared with 2019, this is mainly due to the further expansion of debt scale and slower economic growth. This paper suggests that the Chinese government should speed up the construction of comprehensive early warning and supervision system of local government debt risk, and prevent and resolve the debt risk of local government in advance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic monitoring and prediction of ecosystem service value (ESV) under land utilization change is of great significance to maintaining regional ecological security. In order to enrich the study of ESV changes in plateau region by using the improved equivalent factor method of unit area value, the western Sichuan Plateau was taken as the research object. In this paper, given the land use data of the western Sichuan Plateau in 2000, 2010 and 2020, efforts have been made to construct the suitability image collection of the study area and to amend the CA-Markov model as to predict the land use pattern in 2030. In addition, the improved ESV evaluation model was constructed to study the spatial and temporal dynamic variation features of ESV. The results showed that: Woodland and grassland are the main types of land utilization in the study area. There are frequent interchanges between various land utilization types. The overall reduction of ESV, decrease of 3.4917 × 109 yuan/a, mainly due to the conversion of woodland to other land types. The high-value areas of ESV in the study area are closely tied to rivers. Two areas with high ESV value were formed in the study area. The findings of the study enriched the research system of land use and ecosystem service value in the plateau region, provided basic data for the construction of regional ecological security pattern, and enhanced regional sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is facing the challenge of high building energy consumption, especially for rural housing, because of the backward construction technology. This issue could be solved by net-zero energy rural housing. Therefore, the passive energy-saving procedures and energy-efficient building service systems of rural housing are needed to be studied apart from renewable energy adoption. Older people with unique thermal acceptability and adaptability become the primary residents in Chinese rural buildings, which calls for the redefinition of the indoor environment. This paper firstly conducted an overall questionnaire about the indoor environment sensation and expectations of the rural elderly in Sichuan province. Field surveys and measurements were carried out in a typical self-built rural house to investigate the thermal comfort of the local order people and the indoor thermal environment variations. Furthermore, the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process was used to propose a three-layer assessment model for the rural elderly living environment to find retrofit strategies. Results showed that: (1) the thermal environment of rural buildings could not meet the thermal comfort range of older people in summer. (2) The adaptive coefficient (λ) in the adaptive Predicted Mean Vote model was 0.065 for the rural elderly, which was lower than the value of 0.21 in the Chinese standard, indicating their poor thermal adaptability. (3) The summer living environment evaluation was "A little bad", and the most effective optimization method was to decrease the indoor temperature. (4) Based on the thermal comfort of older people, architectural and construction optimizations were proposed, which could achieve an energy-saving of 52.15 %, contributing to net-zero energy rural housing. • Environment improvement and energy saving of rural housing were studied. • The age-based metabolic rate of the elderly was proposed in aPMV. • The adaptive coefficient for the rural elderly was 0.065. • The evaluation model of rural living environment satisfaction was built by FAHP. • Passive retrofit procedures were proposed to achieve NZERH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The earthquake and its secondary geological disasters have some long-term effects on vegetation recovery, and the spatiotemporal differentiation of vegetation coverage in earthquake-stricken areas are often not valued by researchers. Beichuan County in Sichuan Province is the worst-hit area during Wenchuan earthquake, tracking the vegetation coverage in this disaster area can provide feedback for post-earthquake ecological restoration. Based on remote sensing (RS) and Geographic information system (GIS), this paper relies on dimidiate pixel model (DPM) and vegetation coverage transfer matrix to explore the vegetation coverage of the earthquake worst-hit area. The results show that the overall level of vegetation coverage in Beichuan county is high, and earthquakes are dominant in the areas with high vegetation coverage. Besides, earthquake can do most severe damages to the areas with high vegetation coverage, followed by medium damage impacting to the areas with medium vegetation coverage, but the damage of other areas are relatively small. From 2007 to 2020, the average vegetation coverage in Beichuan County decreased from 0.835 in 2007 to 0.755 in 2008, then gradually recovered to 0.826 in 2020, experiencing a sharp decline and then a steady increase. The recovery of vegetation coverage is improved over time, but the spatiotemporal differences of the recovery process are obvious. Elevation has the largest driving force on vegetation coverage (q = 0.569, p less than 0.001), followed by temperature and rainfall; the interaction between factors has a significant increasement in the spatial differentiation of vegetation coverage, indicating that vegetation coverage is a combination result of multiple factors. The research findings can help construct the scientific management of the eco-environment in the disaster area, it can also help builda medium to long-term ecological restoration plan according to the variation in vegetation coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on argument indexation properties, this paper offers a model of four verb classes for Geshiza and Stau, two closely related and endangered Horpa lects spoken in Sichuan. Despite increased awareness and interest in Horpa, no exhaustive classification of verbs from the viewpoint of argument indexation has been offered. Even though argument indexation itself has been discussed in previous scholarship, the striking diversity of argument indexation patterns has not been addressed. It is shown that both Geshiza and Stau, the two lects chosen as the sample for this study, share the same verb classes, even though the class assignment of individual cognate verbs occasionally varies. The paper also describes how semantic and animacy features inherent in verbs, most prominently compatibility with human S and P arguments resulting in compatibility with speech act participants, play a crucial role in verb class assignment. Establishing a framework for Horpa verb classes helps in the ongoing descriptive work of these languages. In addition, it offers new material for typological studies of argument indexation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Morels (Morchella spp.) are commercially important edible mushrooms with high nutritional and medicinal value. There are more than twenty provinces in China that cultivate Morel mushrooms. As of 2023, white mold disease on cultivated Morchella sextelata has become a disease of concern in Sichuan Province, China, with a disease incidence of 12.13%. The ascocarp infected with white mold disease appears covered with a dense white mycelia of a foreign fungus and disintegrates soon after. However, the causal agent is not yet known. Therefore, this study aims to confirm both the causal pathogen by using Koch's postulates and to further establish, at the species level, the identity of this organism via morphological and molecular methods. The pathogens were later identified as Hypomyces rosellus and Hypomyces aurantius. Healthy ascocarps were inoculated with H. rosellus and H. aurantius , which produced the initial disease symptoms with white mold appearing at the inoculation sites, and H. aurantius showed stronger pathogenicity than H. rosellus ; the same pathogens were then isolated again from diseased ascocarp. To our knowledge, this is the first report of the ascocarp cobweb disease of cultivated M. sextelata caused by H. rosellus in China. Our work may be beneficial, especially for designing control measures for ascocarp cobweb disease in the commercial cultivation of M. sextelata. • In this paper, we checked the pathogenicity of Hypomyces rosellus and Hypomyces aurantius in same time. And found that Hypomyces rosellus exhibits stronger pathogenicity towards Morchella sextelata compared to Hypomyces aurantius. • We illustrated some more clearer photographs to describe the morphological characterization of Hypomyces rosellus and Hypomyces aurantius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The academia has paid much attention to the ecological protection and poverty alleviation functions of carbon sink afforestation project (CSAP), an important means to realize forestry carbon sink. However, whether CSAP can promote county industrial structural upgrading (ISU) and propel high-quality economic development remains unanswered. Based on the panel data of counties in Sichuan Province, China in 2000–2016, this paper estimates the impacts of CSAP on ISU through difference-in-differences with variation in treatment timing (VTT-DID) and synthetic control method. The results show that: CSAP can improve the advanced level of county industrial structure. This finding remains valid after a series of robustness tests. Government guidance dominates the impacts of CSAP on ISU, while market regulation plays a limited role in the impact mechanism due to the presence of elite capture. Government guidance and market regulation have a positive synergistic effect. The ISU impacts of CSAP are affected by resource endowment, level of economic development, and culture difference of ethnic monitories at the county level. Mechanism analysis shows that CSAP mainly acts on county ISU by increasing capital accumulation. The research results provide a reference path for China to transform its concept of economic development, and the key evidence for the fact that CSAP is an important way to realize high-quality economic development and environment protection at the county level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the requirement for landscaping has become increasingly stringent as large-scale bridge construction continues in China, and a conventional bridge scheme creation process has the disadvantage of having too many factors to consider and being difficult to coordinate and inefficient to collaborate. Faced by the current situation of short scheme creating period, bridge engineers should strengthen their role as designers and be able to perform scheme creation and design independently and efficiently. Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology can provide bridge engineers with advanced technical means and design process. This paper mainly studies how to apply BIM technology to improve the efficiency, cost control and quality of bridge scheme creation, using the Minjiang Bridge in Meishan City, Sichuan Province as an example. From the discussion it can be seen that: (1) the efficiency of scheme creation, presentation and scheme selection can be improved with the aid of the new process and approach together with the Parameterized Scheme Library; (2) the all-in-one process of scheme creation and design led by the bridge designer effectively simplifies communication and iteration; (3) compared with the conventional approach, the new method greatly improves the efficiency and quality of scheme creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College students majoring in sports form the talent base for sports science. Their scientific research and innovation (SRI) ability directly bears on the level of sports science in future. In this paper, a questionnaire survey on the status quo of SRI ability cultivation for sports majors is carried out among postgraduate students and some teachers of sports department in five colleges of southwestern China's Sichuan Province. The survey paints a grim picture on the SRI ability of sports majors: the students are relatively weak in SRI ability; the teachers have an average SRI ability, and pay insufficient efforts in instructing or cultivating the students' SRI ability; the schools fail to pay enough attention to SRI ability cultivation of sports majors, not to mention creating favorable SRI conditions or environment for them. To solve these problems, the cultivation strategies for SRI ability of sports majors were designed in six aspects, namely, interest development, faculty building, and infrastructure construction. The research results provide new theoretical evidence to SRI ability cultivation of sports majors, and an important reference for promoting their SRI ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep and ultradeep oil and gas have been the prominent direction of international exploration in recent years. The deep oil and gas resources are predominantly distributed in the three domains of carbonate, clastic, and igneous rocks. The carbonate rock reservoirs contain about 40% of global oil and gas reserves owing to their superior reservoir properties. In recent years, a number of large oil and gas fi elds have been discovered in the deep marine carbonate rocks in China, especially in the Sichuan and Tarim Basins, thus showing a vast oil and gas exploration potential in these rocks. In this paper, the genesis and source of deep natural gas in the Tarim and Sichuan Basins were systematically studied. The results show that the natural gas in the deep marine carbonate rock reservoirs is generated not only from the later deep-source rocks. Also, the substantial cracking of crude oil and pyrobitumen in the reservoir under conditions of great burial depth and high geotemperature can provide abundant natural gas sources for the deep reservoir. So, the contribution of gas from oil cracking should be considered in evaluation of deep natural gas resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The research results closely follow China's latest national standards for the natural gas industry. • Providing a detailed comparison of two main kinds of tail gas treatment processes used in China's natural gas industry for the first time. • The calculation data comes from the actual data of the natural gas treatment plant in the Sichuan basin. • Multiple built project data are used for analysis and validation. China's newest SO 2 emission policy for the natural gas industry forced natural gas treatment plant to add sulfur recovery tail gas treatment unit. In this context, the oxidation absorption process has been applied for the first time in Sichuan Basin. However, the advantages and disadvantages of this process compared with the traditional reduction absorption process have not been reported. The two processes were compared from the technical angle in this paper. The data of one plant in Sichuan Basin was selected as the simulation condition. The calculation results showed good agreement with plants data. The solution circulation amount of oxidation absorption process were 19 and 18.52 m3/h, which were just 20 %∼25 % of that for reduction absorption process. Meanwhile the acid gas returned amount was only about 14 % of reduction absorption process. However, the main process gas flow was 1.5 times of reduction absorption process. Regarding the utility consumptions, the oxidation absorption process had more advantages in electricity consumption, but it was inferior in fuel gas and circulating water consumption. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The forest productivity of mixed plantations was 18–39.5% greater than that of pure plantations. • Understory vegetation diversity in MCC was significantly higher than in PCL and PCF, by 15.8–20% and 13.2–35.7%, respectively. • The water conservation capacity of MCC is significantly higher (by 19.4–42.9%) than that of PCL and PCF. • Performance against the soil fauna diversity index was similar in all three stands. Many studies of biodiversity-ecosystem functioning (BEF) relationships indicate that mixed plantations can enhance ecological benefits by enabling ecological niche differentiation between species. However, few studies explore multi-dimensional evidence to fully evaluate the integrated ecological benefits of mixed plantations. This paper aims to assess the stand characteristics and ecological benefits of different forest types, drawing on multiple lines of evidence (trees, shrubs, herbs, soil fauna, and soils) to understand the effects of mixed plantations on integrated ecological benefits. Our study focused on pure Cunninghamia lanceolata (Chinese Fir) plantations (PCL), pure Cryptomeria fortunei (Chinese Cedar) plantations (PCF), and mixed C. lanceolata - C. fortunei plantations (MCC), which are common in the mountainous areas of the Sichuan Basin in southwestern China. We analysed the growth status, spatial structure, understory vegetation diversity, soil fauna characteristics, and physical and chemical soil properties found in plots representing these three forest types. The results showed that productivity was significantly higher in the MCC than in PCL or PCF, by 39.5% and 18%, respectively. Mixed plantations showed higher stand growth rates, but this effect was limited by interspecific competition. The results further showed that mixed plantations promote forest growth by allocating spatial locations between different tree species. In addition, the spatial stand structure in the mixed plantations was more stable than that in the two pure plantations, and the management potential of the mixed plantations was greater. Understory vegetation in MCC was significantly more diverse than in PCL and PCF, by 15.8–20% and 13.2–35.7%, respectively. Moreover, mixed plantations performed better in terms of soil water and soil fertility. Interestingly, we found no difference in soil fauna diversity between mixed and pure plantations. We conclude that, overall, planting mixed plantations can enhance the integrated ecological benefits of afforestation and may be an essential strategy for ensuring that plantations can cope with climate extremes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the Guideline of Strengthen Preservation and Development of Traditional Village enacted, the traditional villages gradually gain academic concern and many achievements are acquired. But the study about outdoor wind environment is still insufficient. In this paper, the outdoor wind environment of Liyuanba Village in Bazhong City of Sichuan Province – a typical traditional village in the northeastern Sichuan Basin, is simulated by CFD methods. According to the simulation result, the outdoor wind environment in winter is comfortable for people in general, but there are still eddies and corner flows in some areas. To improve the outdoor wind environment, the suggestions such as changing the direction of courtyard and building are put forward. Furthermore, the optimization is also simulated and these two simulation results are compared in the end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Rural renewable energy construction is entry point and foothold for implementing the rural revitalization strategy. • While promoting rural energy development, we should solve the problem of rural dirty and messy. • Build a comprehensive rural space integrating leisure agriculture. At present, rural areas in China have problems such as poor living environment, shortage of facilities, and industrial disappointment. They still use the concept and strategy of urban planning and design to manage the rural areas, which leads to the rural planning results become empty shells, which is time-consuming and laborious, but does not bring practical use to the improvement of rural life. The purpose of this paper is to better implement the rural revitalization strategy, more scientifically guide the beautiful rural construction, and more effectively restore the rural vitality. Based on the strategy of beautiful village planning under the background of rural revitalization strategy, this paper takes Shuanglongqiao Village, Fengming Town, Xichong County, Sichuan Province as the empirical research object, and comprehensively applies research methods such as literature inquiry, on-site investigation and comparative analysis. Firstly, the paper puts forward the background of rural revitalization strategy and the concept of beautiful rural planning. Based on the theory and practice of beautiful rural planning at home and abroad, it analyzes the guiding significance and enlightenment of these theories and practices on beautiful rural planning. And further reflect on the concept and strategy of planning and construction of beautiful villages; then, in combination with national policies, profoundly analyze the scientific connotation of rural revitalization strategy, on this basis, comprehensively analyze the requirements of rural revitalization strategy for beautiful rural construction, and then combine with rural planning The characteristics of the compilation system of urban planning, and the basic strategies of beautiful rural planning under the background of rural revitalization strategy. Finally, combined with the characteristics of the village and the construction needs, the paper summarizes the planning strategies suitable for the development needs and village characteristics of Shuanglongqiao Village under the background of rural revitalization strategy. On the basis of previous studies, this paper comprehensively interprets the scientific connotation of rural revitalization strategy, and conducts summative research on beautiful rural planning. It hopes to refine some beautiful rural planning concepts and strategies, and other similar Shuanglongqiao villages under the background of rural revitalization strategy. The beautiful village planning provides a new perspective and also provides some experience in building practices in other villages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the core shale samples from the Lower Longmaxi Formation (LF) in the southwest of the Sichuan Basin of China are carried out laboratory experiments to investigate the wettability and adsorption characteristics. The influences of the wettability on the development of the shale gas reservoirs were discussed. And the influences of the kerogen and the pure mineral on the methane adsorption capacity were discussed. The differences between the methane adsorption capacity of the pure mineral and the mixed minerals were also discussed. The results show that the spontaneous imbibition rate of the LF shale samples tended to rise firstly and then become stable with the increasing of the time; The spontaneous imbibition rate of water was higher than the spontaneous imbibition rate of oil; The methane adsorption capacity on the kerogen and the pure minerals first increased rapidly and then increased slowly and tended to be stable with the increasing of the pressure; The methane adsorption capacity on the kerogen was much larger than the different pure minerals; And among the different pure minerals, the order of the methane adsorption capacity is that: illite > chlorite > quartz; The water molecules would reduce the methane adsorption capacity on the Kerogen; The methane adsorption capacity of the mixed minerals can be approximately equal to the sum of the methane adsorption capacity of the pure minerals calculated by the mass ratios. The water blocking damage in the shale formation can’t be assessed according to the water blocking damage evaluation system of the conventional oil and gas reservoirs. The mixed wettability, the influence of the water on the methane adsorption capacity and water-induced cracks should be considered in the water blocking damage evaluation system of the shale reservoir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Villagers exhibit endowment effects of varying intensity through withdrawal from rural homesteads (WRH). • As the degree of villagers' non-agricultural activities increase the endowment effect is more intense. • Emotional attachment to rural homesteads, property right status, and substitutability of rural homesteads affect villagers' endowment effects. • The endowment effect accompanying WRH should become an important factor for WRH policymakers. The withdrawal from rural homesteads (WRH) refers to a mechanism to encourage villagers to withdraw from their vacant homesteads or give up their occupied homesteads (including the houses built on them) voluntarily and move into high-rise buildings with compensation. WRH aims to address inefficient utilization of rural land in China. However, the endowment effect, a behavioral tendency for villagers to value rural homesteads more highly when they own them relative to when they do not, may affect the process of implementing WRH policy. Based on survey data from 878 villagers in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, this paper estimates endowment effects for different types of villagers whose rights to their rural homesteads could be withdrawn. It then makes an empirical analysis on the differences and influencing factors of villagers' endowment effects related to WRH via a binary logistic model querying emotional attachment , property right status , and substitutability of rural homesteads. The results show 70.62 % of sampled villagers exhibit an intensive endowment effect after WRH. Meanwhile, as non-agricultural economic activities increase, villagers' endowment effects intensify. In terms of influencing factors, emotional attachment and cognition of inheritance rights strengthen the degree of pain experienced by villagers when they withdraw from their rural homesteads, thereby enhancing endowment effects. Property certificates and cognition of disposal rights negatively affect villagers' endowment effects. From the perspective of villagers' differentiation, cognition of mortgage rights intensifies the feelings of security within rural homesteads for full-time agricultural households, thereby intensifying endowment effects. Substitutability of villagers' livelihood positively affects endowment effects in full-time agricultural households and negatively affects endowment effects in non-agricultural households. This paper concludes by discussing the land use policy implications of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emissions in air travel have attracted widespread attention with the fast development of the aviation sector. Currently, biofuel usage has the potential to curb these emissions due to the bottleneck of other aircraft emission reduction technologies. This paper studies carbon tax policy-induced air travel carbon emission reduction and biofuel usage in China considering the interactive relationship between an authority and multiple airlines by a bi-level model and an interactive solution approach. Then a case study based on airlines from southern China's Sichuan Province is conducted to explore useful insights, with scenario analyses being performed. The computational results indicate that the policy could be useful for air travel carbon emission reduction and biofuel usage improvement in China. These results and analyses provide insights to the authority for the tradeoffs between policy equity and carbon emissions reduction effectiveness, and airlines for profitability. • Carbon tax policy-induced air travel carbon emission reduction in China is studied. • A bi-level model considering interaction of an authority and airlines is developed. • Trade-off between the effectiveness and equity of the carbon tax policy is analyzed. • A case study based on airlines in China is provided to explore useful insights. • The policy plays a vital role in carbon emission reduction and biofuel usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of exploration and exploitation technologies, deep shale gas systems are gradually becoming an important target for the future petroleum industry. However, there is still a lack of systematic geological studies for deep shale gas systems, which restricts further exploration. In this paper, the deeply buried shales (more than 4000 m in depth) of the first member of Silurian Longmaxi (S 1 l1) at the southeastern margin of the Sichuan Basin are selected as the research object, and thin sections, scanning electron microscope (SEM) observations, total organic carbon (TOC) testing, nitrogen adsorption (NA), and major and trace element analyses are used to systemically identify the different lithofacies and delineate geological and geochemical features. Moreover, we reconstruct the paleoenvironment, summarize the controlling factors and mechanisms of organic matter accumulation and pore formation, and finally reveal the favorable exploration lithofacies. Our results show that there are four lithofacies that can be identified in deep S 1 l1 shale, namely, laminated organic-rich siliceous shale (S), laminated organic-rich mixed shale (RM), banded organic-lean mixed shale (LM), and banded organic-lean argillaceous shale (CM). Organic matter-hosted pores are the primary type in their pore system. The S and RM shales were mainly deposited under dysoxic to anoxic conditions with moderate watermass restriction, low terrestrial detrital influx, and high paleoproductivity, and the silica mainly originated from the diagenesis process (biogenic quartz); the LM and CM shales were sedimented under oxic conditions with high terrestrial detrital influx and low paleoproductivity, and the silica mainly originated from terrestrial detrital influx. Redox conditions, paleoproductivity, and terrestrial detrital influx together controlled the organic matter enrichment in the deep S 1 l1 shale, and the TOC content further influences the physical properties of the shale, thus determining the exploration potential of different lithofacies. Moreover, the significant impacts of lithofacies on the geological and geochemical features of the deep shale gas system are demonstrated. Compared with the middle-shallow shale gas system in the study area, due to less tectonically uplifted and tectonically active shale, the deep shale has more extraordinary preservation conditions, overpressure inheritance development, and higher gas amounts. The S and RM in S l l1 in the study area have better resource potential and should be given more attention in the future. • Geological and geochemical features of different lithofacies in deep shale gas systems are systematically characterized. • Paleoenvironment, organic matter accumulation, and pore formation mechanisms of different lithofacies are revealed. • Lithofacies has a considerable influence on the deep shale gas system, which is consistent with the system in shallow-middle depths. • Compared with shallow-middle shale gas systems, deep shale gas accumulations are generally characterized by overpressure, which leads to a high gas amount. • Overpressure may be due to variations in tectonic activity and preservation conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Opening windows is an important factor when creating a comfortable indoor environment. However, research on window opening behavior in the Chinese region of hot summers and cold winters is limited. In addition, almost all previous research in this area has focused on the average characteristics of the sample mostly by building models of averageness, which largely erases individual behavioral attributes. To fill the gap, an empirical measurement and modeling study of window opening behavior was conducted in seven households in Zigong, Sichuan Province. The following was found: (1) The window opening behavior of residents in different cities in hot summer and cold winter regions significantly differed. The average daily duration of window opening by the test subjects in this paper is 1122 min/day, which is 2–5.5 times higher than previously published literature on this climate zone suggests. (2) Among the test subjects, three typical window opening behaviors were noticed based on the average daily window-opening probability (R), i.e., positive (R>95%), negative (R ≤ 5%), and high-intensity window opening (65% < R ≤ 95%). The first two categories refer to personal habits of residents independent of environmental and temporal factors. (3) High-intensity window opening behavior provided imbalanced data which is more accurately modeled by the random forest model (98.9% prediction accuracy) than the binary logistic regression and decision tree models, i.e., 14.5% more accurate than the former and 12.5% more accurate than the latter. Moreover, it was found that the relative humidity indoors is the factor that contributed the most to the accuracy of the model. • Significant differences in occupants' window-opening behaviors in the same climate zone. • Data samples regarding window-opening behavior should be individually analyzed. • Three types of behavior were identified based on "average daily window-opening probability". • Random forest algorithm had better prediction compared to logistic regression and decision tree. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stimulation of oil and gas volcanic reservoirs is quite topical, while particular stimulation mechanisms of various fracturing technologies applied to volcanic rocks need to be clarified. This paper explores volcanic rock sample fracture surfaces' morphology, the acid etching depth, and/or proppant embedment depth under propped, acid etching, and propped-etching. The conductivity is an important evaluation index for the effect of stimulation treatment such as fracturing and acid fracturing, therefore, fracture conductivity under different conditions, such as proppant size and concentration, acid concentration and activity, the separate or joint application of acids and proppant, was evaluated with the samples from Permian igneous in the Sichuan Basin, China. The results indicate that the reaction between acid and rocks is hindered by the complexity and heterogeneity of mineral distribution, forming discrete dissolution holes in local areas instead of flow channels. The maximum embedding depth was 67 μm without acid etching, while those obtained after gelling and cross-linking acid etching were increased by 2.3–3.2 times, reaching 178 and 227 μm, respectively. The etching depth of the samples with the acid can reach 1000 μm. By the effect on conductivity, the increasing order was as follows: acid etching fracture, propped-etching fracture, and propped fracture, while there was a slight difference in conductivities of propped and propped-etching fractures. Therefore, hydraulic fracturing with proppant provides the volcanic reservoir's most effective stimulation. Acid-carrying-proppant fracturing would also be a lucrative stimulation technology if natural fractures are developed and contain acid-dissolved minerals. Acid fracturing failed to form the main fracture with high conductivity, and therefore is not recommended. This study is considered instrumental in clarifying the mechanism of different stimulation methods and substantiating the most efficient development of volcanic reservoirs. The research results can provide a reference for the optimization of stimulation method and the design of treatment parameters of volcanic reservoir. • The morphology, etching, and embedment depth of volcanic rocks were tested. • Fracture conductivity under different experimental conditions was evaluated. • The stimulation mechanism of different stimulation methods is clarified based on the experiment results. • Hydraulic fracturing is considered the most effective technique for the volcanic reservoir. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formation damage has become a major obstacle to the efficient drilling and economic development for tight carbonate reservoirs with multiscale pore system and plenty of sensitive minerals. This paper critically reviews the potential formation damage mechanisms associated with mineralogy and pore structure, and discusses the common formation damage of tight carbonate reservoirs. Reservoir mineralogy is closely related to fluid/stress-sensitivity damage, formation damage mechanisms of which including mineral dissolution and precipitation, swelling and dispersion, fine detachment and migration, deformation and creep are summarized, and linked to mineral compositions of carbonate reservoirs in Qaidam Basin and Sichuan Basin. Pore system of tight carbonate reservoirs consists of nano-intercrystal, micro-intergranular and oomoldic, and nm-to mm-scale dissolution pores and microfractures, resulting in the diversity of formation damage. Formation damage dependent on pore structure of carbonate reservoirs dominantly refers to fluid sensitivity, phase trapping, solid invasion and stress sensitivity. The commonly-known formation damage including fluid sensitivity, phase trapping and stress sensitivity of tight carbonate reservoirs is discussed in Qaidam Basin and Sichuan Basin. This review provides significant sights into the relationship between formation damage mechanisms and mineralogy and pore structure of tight carbonate reservoirs, and addresses the future work direction for formation damage control of tight carbonate reservoirs. • Formation damage mechanisms induced by reservoir mineralogy are critically reviewed. • Multiscale reservoir pore structures result in the diversity of formation damage. • Conventional formation damage occurred in tight carbonate reservoirs is evaluated. • Future work for formation damage control of tight carbonate reservoirs is indicated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shale gas development in the Sichuan-Chongqing region in China has experienced a high level of casing deformation or failure during hydraulic fracturing treatment, which has resulted in significant productivity decline and economic losses. This problem has motivated many studies in the literature but focusing on the shearing deformation using the finite element method. This paper categorizes the casing failure modes and mechanisms in the region and presents casing collapse laboratory results. The designed laboratory tests rendered us critical data points in casing deformation under different loading scenarios. For multiple stage hydraulic wells in the region, we propose to use a strain-based protocol for casing design instead of the current design based on maximum stress. • Present laboratory experiments on casing deformation due to shearing stress. • Propose a model to predict the maximum allowable stress for a casing tubular. • Update statistics on casing deformations and failures in the Changning-Weiyuan region. • Introduce one of a kind laboratory experiment setup for full size tubular testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unconventional oil and gas reservoirs are mostly characterized by unconnected pores and abnormal pore pressures. These conventional effective stress theories, such as Biot's theory, cannot display the quantitative relationship between unconnected pores' micro characteristics and the macro stress applied to the solid structure. These parameters related to the unconnected pores should be quantitatively incorporated in the effective stress formula. In this paper, two modified models were proposed to evaluate the solid framework's real effective stress and deformation. The effects of the unconnected pore pressure, unconnected porosity, and unconnected pore fluid's compressibility on effective stress and volumetric strain were theoretically investigated. It was found that the increase of unconnected pore pressure can decrease the effective stress and volumetric strain. For an abnormal high pore pressure formation, the growth of unconnected porosity can reduce the effective stress but increase the volumetric strain. The decrease of the unconnected pore fluid's compressibility can increase and decrease the effective stress and volumetric strain for abnormal low and high pore pressure reservoirs, respectively. Two case studies on the abnormal pore pressures induced by under-compaction and hydrocarbon generation were conducted. The results showed that the pore pressure exhibits significant increases when the unconnected pores and unconnected pore fluids are proactively compressed in the processes of under-compaction and hydrocarbon generation, respectively. The abnormal high pore pressures in these tight sandstone reservoirs in the Sichuan Basin, Tarim Basin, and Bohai Bay Basin can be theoretically generated when the pore space is compressed to 95%–84% of the initial pore space. The model can evaluate the effective stress and deformation for reservoirs with considerable unconnected porosities. In turn, it can also interpret the abnormal pressure generation induced by the changes of unconnected porosity and pore fluid's compressibility. • Two modified models are proposed to evaluate the real effective stress of the solid structure. • Effects of unconnected pores on the effective stress and volumetric strain are investigated. • Abnormal pressures under under-compaction and hydrocarbon generation are evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• There were 315 shrinking cities from 2000 to 2015in China. • The PCR can effectively identify shrinking cities. • The number of shrinking cities in China will increase from 2015 to 2025. • The greatest negative impact of shrinking cities is the number of employees. Urban shrinkage became increasingly obvious during the process of rapid urbanization. It is important to understand the mechanism behind the formation and evolution of shrinking cities to realize urban transformation and sustainable development. This paper establishes a shrinking cities index to measure generalized urban shrinkage by using the population change rate at the county scale in China. First, on the spatial scale, the shrinking intensity and pattern distribution are analyzed. Second, on the temporal scale, the shrinking trajectories of shrinking cities are analyzed, and a trend is predicted for shrinking cities for 2020 and 2025 based on the gray model (GM (1,1)). Finally, economic, institutional, and social factors are selected to identify the major influences on the different shrinking trajectories using a spatial panel data model. The results show the following. (1) Between 2000 and 2015, shrinking cities in China were mainly distributed in four regions: the three northeastern provinces, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region, the Sichuan-Chongqing region, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. They thus appear to have connecting piece and axis distribution characteristics. (2) The dominant shrinking city types are slight and moderate shrinking, which together account for 80 %–90 % of all shrinking cities. These types have less severe or extreme shrinkage. Considering the different trajectories, temporary shrinking cities represent 75.26 % of all shrinking cities and predominantly occurred in 2010−2015. Episodic shrinking cities represent 19.74 % of all shrinking cities. Continuous shrinking cities represent 5.00 % of all shrinking cities and occurred in 2005−2015. (3) From 2015 to 2025, the number of shrinking cities is projected to be 272, with slight shrinkage accounting for 43.38 % of the total shrinking cities, and extreme shrinkage accounting for 4.78 %. Examining the spatial distribution of shrinking cities shows that they are mainly distributed in the three northeastern provinces, the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia region, Xinjiang and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the future. (4)Total GDP, GDP per capita, fiscal expenditures, employment, and built-up area have a significant impact on the population of shrinking cities. Among them, the total GDP has the largest impact, and the built-up area has the smallest impact. In addition, the total GDP, GDP per capita, fiscal revenue, and employment have a significant spatial spillover effect in temporary shrinking cities. This study provides empirical evidence to support Chinese policy makers in implementing urban sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• How fertilizer use responds to off-farm employment was quantitatively examined. • The differences between mountainous and plain areas were explored. • An inverted "U" shaped relationship was demonstrated in mountainous area. • Fertilizer use is positively correlated with off-farm employment in plain area. • Policy recommendations for sustainable farmland management were proposed. There is a rising concern that the ongoing wave of off-farm employment will have profound effects on agriculture-based environment problems-measured by the intensity of chemical fertilizer (CF) usage. Yet, our understanding of the regional heterogeneities of this effect remains scant. This research gap is addressed by using panel data of selected cities in Sichuan and Henan provinces in China, which are representative mountainous and plain regions respectively, to empirically examine the impact of off-farm employment on CF use. Our findings indicated that there exists an inverted "U" shaped relationship between off-farm employment and CF use in the mountainous region, whereas CF use is positively correlated with off-farm employment in the plain area. The increased CF inputs, which resulted from the substitution effect and remittance effect, can compensate for the negative effect of labor loss, while land marginalization is the main reason for the decrease in CF consumption at the later stage of urbanization in the mountainous region. Meanwhile, the deagriculturalization of farmers' employment patterns decreases the intensity of CF usage, which resulted from the scale effect produced by land transfer and large-scale management in the plain region. Besides, the evolution pattern of this effect may present a similar trend in these provinces, but the turning point of plain regions would appear later than that of mountainous areas due to the inherently unique physical conditions and socio-ecological contexts. Based on the empirical results of this paper, some policy recommendations are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing research on the features of shale pore structures has deepened the understanding of shale oil and gas storage capacity. Nevertheless, few studies have focused on the differences of the specific parameters that are characteristic of the nanopore structure in shales with different lithofacies. Such parameters include the full-scale ranges of the pore specific surface area and pore volume distribution, porosity and fractal dimension. In this paper, a dozen Longmaxi Formation shale samples from the southern Sichuan Basin were studied to determine the differences in these parameters. A set of laboratory experiments were performed, such as geochemical experiments, X-ray diffraction, N 2 and CO 2 isothermal adsorption, mercury injection capillary pressure tests and scanning electron microscopy experiments. The results of this study indicate that shale samples can be classified into 5 types of lithofacies based on their mineral composition. The surface porosity of organic matter particles is 8–16 times greater than that of mineral particles. The major contributors to the pore volume and surface area of shale samples are mesopores and micropores, respectively. The full-scale pore size distribution is mainly from 0.4 to 0.6 nm, 2–7 nm, and 10–20 nm for the pore volume and from 0.3 to 1.0 nm and 1.5–7 nm for the pore surface area. The average values of the porosity, fractal dimension, pore volume and pore surface area of the M-2 shales are almost equal to those of the S group shales. This result indicates that the M-2 shale has a large gas storage capacity similar to that of shales with siliceous lithofacies. The development of organic matter pores that contribute to more than 50% of the porosity leads to the high porosity and fractal dimension of the M-2 shales and S group shales. In addition to organic matter, illite minerals also play an important role in the constitution of the majority of the storage space in the CM-1 shale. • Full-scale pore structure of shales with different lithofacies were contrasted. • The smaller the pore size, the stronger the heterogeneity of shales. • Porosity minerals and OM accounted for in different shales were quantified. • Except for OM, illite is another important factor to pore development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Frequent geological disasters based on a range of precipitating factors occur in areas with fragile geological environments, and the traditional artificial geological disaster survey method is often too dangerous to be carried out effectively. In order to achieve more efficient influence factors and refine the evaluation of micro-scale geological disaster susceptibility, this paper used UAV tilt photography and image processing technology to construct a 3D model of the geological environment. Geological disaster influence factors were extracted from a typical geological disaster area within Qingchuan County, Sichuan Province. A weighted certainty factor method and information model method were used to evaluate geological disaster susceptibility. The geological disaster susceptibility index of different characteristic variables was calculated using a certainty factors method, while factor weight was determined using an information model. The geological environment "potentiality parameter" for each grid unit, taken as the basis of geological disaster susceptibility zoning in the area, was calculated by coupling factor weight and CF value. Finally, the ROC test method was used to verify evaluation results of geological hazard susceptibility. This study found that: (1) UAV tilt photogrammetry data can be an effective method for geological disaster susceptibility evaluation. (2) The areas under the ROC curve calculated using the two methods were 66.20% and 81.71%, respectively, showing that accuracy of the weighted certainty factor method was higher than that of the information method. Image 1 • High-resolution images were got by UAV. • A 3D model was used to select factors. • Disaster susceptibility was evaluated finely. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]