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Industrial policy, as one of the most potent weapons employed by governments, is recommended to adhere to the principles of high relatedness and high economic complexity, which can minimize risks and maximize returns. However, this approach may not be optimal in developing countries with poor industrial bases, limited innovative capabilities and weak institutional frameworks. Based on relatedness and economic complexity, this study illustrates the evolution paths of industrial policy in China and identifies underlying influencing factors deciding the patterns of policymaking. Different from developed countries, it takes several steps for developing countries to reach the final target, the smart specialization approach, instead of one‐step jumping. Moreover, industrial policy is not always the panacea, and the effects of industrial policy vary depending on local contexts. In sum, this study extends research towards the complex co‐evolution process of policy and industries in developing countries and provides more insights for policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Exploring the complex relationship between population change and surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect has important practical significance for the ecological transformation development of shrinking cities in the context of the prevalence of urban shrinkage and the global climate change. This paper compares the population change and SUHI effect between population shrinking region (Northeast Region, NR) and population growing region (Yangtze River Delta, YRD) in China, and explores their differences in driving mechanisms, using GIS spatial analysis and Geodetector model. Our results indicated that there are significant differences in population changes and SUHI intensity between these two regions. About 72.22% of the cities in the NR were shrinking, while their SUHI intensities increased by an average of 1.69°C. On the contrary, the urban population in the YRD shows a linear growth trend, while their SUHI intensities decreased by 0.11°C on average. The results of bivariate Moran's I index also indicated that the spatial correlation between the urban population changes and the SUHI intensity changes are not significant in the above regions. Furthermore, there are significant differences in the primary drivers of SUHI variations between these two regions. In the NR, underlying surface changes, including the changes of green coverage and built-up areas, are the most important driving factors. However, atmospheric environment changes, such as carbon dioxide emission and sulfur dioxide emission, are the key drivers in the YRD. Northam's theory of three-stage urbanization and environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis are powerful to explain these differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key Points: Question: Will an immune checkpoint blocker in combination with perioperative chemotherapy improve event-free survival and major pathological response in patients with resectable non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)? Findings: The prespecified interim analysis of event-free survival revealed that the addition of toripalimab to platinum-based chemotherapy showed statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvement in event-free survival compared with chemotherapy alone in patients with stage III NSCLC, while maintaining a manageable safety profile. Meaning: The demonstrated event-free survival benefits support the use of toripalimab in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy as a new treatment option for patients with stage III resectable NSCLC. Importance: Adjuvant and neoadjuvant immunotherapy have improved clinical outcomes for patients with early-stage non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the optimal combination of checkpoint inhibition with chemotherapy remains unknown. Objective: To determine whether toripalimab in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy will improve event-free survival and major pathological response in patients with stage II or III resectable NSCLC compared with chemotherapy alone. Design, Setting, and Participants: This randomized clinical trial enrolled patients with stage II or III resectable NSCLC (without EGFR or ALK alterations for nonsquamous NSCLC) from March 12, 2020, to June 19, 2023, at 50 participating hospitals in China. The data cutoff date for this interim analysis was November 30, 2022. Interventions: Patients were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive 240 mg of toripalimab or placebo once every 3 weeks combined with platinum-based chemotherapy for 3 cycles before surgery and 1 cycle after surgery, followed by toripalimab only (240 mg) or placebo once every 3 weeks for up to 13 cycles. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcomes were event-free survival (assessed by the investigators) and the major pathological response rate (assessed by blinded, independent pathological review). The secondary outcomes included the pathological complete response rate (assessed by blinded, independent pathological review) and adverse events. Results: Of the 501 patients randomized, 404 had stage III NSCLC (202 in the toripalimab + chemotherapy group and 202 in the placebo + chemotherapy group) and 97 had stage II NSCLC and were excluded from this interim analysis. The median age was 62 years (IQR, 56-65 years), 92% of patients were male, and the median follow-up was 18.3 months (IQR, 12.7-22.5 months). For the primary outcome of event-free survival, the median length was not estimable (95% CI, 24.4 months-not estimable) in the toripalimab group compared with 15.1 months (95% CI, 10.6-21.9 months) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.40 [95% CI, 0.28-0.57], P <.001). The major pathological response rate (another primary outcome) was 48.5% (95% CI, 41.4%-55.6%) in the toripalimab group compared with 8.4% (95% CI, 5.0%-13.1%) in the placebo group (between-group difference, 40.2% [95% CI, 32.2%-48.1%], P <.001). The pathological complete response rate (secondary outcome) was 24.8% (95% CI, 19.0%-31.3%) in the toripalimab group compared with 1.0% (95% CI, 0.1%-3.5%) in the placebo group (between-group difference, 23.7% [95% CI, 17.6%-29.8%]). The incidence of immune-related adverse events occurred more frequently in the toripalimab group. No unexpected treatment-related toxic effects were identified. The incidence of grade 3 or higher adverse events, fatal adverse events, and adverse events leading to discontinuation of treatment were comparable between the groups. Conclusions and Relevance: The addition of toripalimab to perioperative chemotherapy led to a significant improvement in event-free survival for patients with resectable stage III NSCLC and this treatment strategy had a manageable safety profile. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04158440 This randomized clinical trial compares the effects of toripalimab in combination with platinum-based chemotherapy vs chemotherapy alone on event-free survival and major pathological response in patients with stage III resectable non–small cell lung cancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study aimed to investigate the trajectory and predictors of family function in caregivers of stroke survivors during the first 6 months after the first episode of stroke. Design: Longitudinal study. Methods: A total of 288 primary caregivers of patients with first‐time stroke were recruited from seven tertiary hospitals in China between July 2020 and March 2021. The following characteristics were assessed by caregivers at hospitalization (T0) and at 1 month (T1), 3 months (T2) and 6 months (T3) after the stroke: family function, general self‐efficacy, social support, coping style, caregiver burden, and sociodemographic and clinical data. Results: Family function scores among caregivers of stroke survivors were highest in the resolve dimension and lowest in the growth and adaptation dimensions within the first 6 months. The percentages of families with low functioning were 34.7%, 33.3%, 24.8% and 17.7% at T0, T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The generalized estimating equation model revealed that family function in caregivers increased over the first 6 months (Exp(B) = 1.415–2.689, p <.05). The following factors were identified as predictors of family functioning: caregiver's age, education, residential district, self‐efficacy, social support utilization and caregiver burden. Conclusions: Family function of caregivers of stroke survivors gradually increased during the first 6 months after stroke. However, some families demonstrated poor functioning. Caregivers' age, education, caregiver burden, self‐efficacy and social support utilization could predict family function over time. Impact: Empirical data on family function in families of stroke survivors are important for developing psychosocial interventions that can help families adapt to stroke. This study found that families of stroke survivors were likely to be dysfunctional in the first 6 months after stroke, particularly in family growth and adaptation. Therefore, reducing caregiver burden and promoting self‐efficacy and social support utilization can help restore family functioning early after stroke. Patient or Public Contribution: Stroke caregivers from seven hospitals in China were involved in this study and had the right to be informed of the main findings. A few patients were informed of the research results, who contributed to the dissemination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Intestinal colonization with carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) has been shown as a significant risk factor for subsequent CRE infections, especially in intensive care units (ICUs). The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of intestinal CRE colonization among ICU patients in a Chinese tertiary hospital. Fecal sample screenings for CRE were performed on ICU patients weekly. Antibiotic-susceptibility profile of CRE strains was determined using the Vitek-2 analysis system and broth microdilution method. The carbapenemases of all isolates were determined by phenotypes and genotypes. Clonal relatedness was analyzed by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Whole-genome sequencing was used to identify the multilocus sequence type (ST), plasmid replicons, and insertion sequences (ISs) of isolates. The overall colonization rate of CRE was 40.4% (82/203). A total of 84 CRE strains were detected, mostly with Klebsiella pneumoniae (92.9%). Antibiotic susceptibility testing profile revealed that 84 CRE strains were resistant to most antibiotics except for tigecycline and colistin. The carbapenemase-encoding genes including blaKPC-2, blaNDM-1, and blaIMP-4 were detected, and blaKPC-2 was the predominant genotype (90.8%). A total of 9 STs were identified among 84 CRE strains, and ST11 was the most common type (83.3%). A variety of mobile genetic elements, including plasmids and ISs, were detected via online tool prediction. PFGE analysis of the 78 K. pneumoniae strains showed 8 different pulsotypes, and pulsotype A was highly prevalent. This study found that the prevalence of CRE colonization was alarmingly high in the ICU, and that effective infection control measures are urgently needed to prevent the dissemination of CRE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of long-term monocropping systems combined with climate on soil water aggregate stability (WSA) and soil fertility in the karst region of Southwest China (KRSWC) are unclear. Our research was conducted in the KRSWC, wherein tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) production is characterized by heavy fertilization and continuous monocropping. The tobacco fields in the study area have similar soil types and fertilization and tillage practices and are spread over an area of 11,500 km2. A total of 568 topsoil samples were collected in 2021. Soil fertility was reflected using the soil fertility index (SFI), which was calculated using the minimum data set method with six soil fertility-related factors, namely, soil pH, soil organic matter, cation exchange capacity, available nitrogen, available phosphorus, and available potassium. Results showed that long-term planting generally promoted soil fertility levels and WSA content. WSA and SFI had inconsistent spatial distribution patterns likely due to different climate-driven effects. WSA variability was greatly controlled by precipitation (Spearman correlation coefficient [r] = −0.49, p < 0.01), whereas SFI variability was mostly dominated by temperature (r = −0.36, p < 0.01). The levels of SFI and WSA were optimal under conditions of low temperature and precipitation and poor under conditions of high temperature and precipitation. Moreover, long-term planting could alleviate the negative effects of climate on SFI and WSA in the KRSWC. The results of this study could provide valuable information on fertilization and climate-adapted strategies for tobacco fields in the KRSWC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extreme precipitation events (EPEs) and heatwaves (HWs) can trigger floods, droughts, and other natural disasters, resulting in severe socioeconomic losses in eastern China. However, the accurate links between EPEs and HWs and future changes in these extremes are not fully resolved, which potentially impedes disaster warning and preparedness efforts. This study examines historical and future changes in summer EPEs and HWs in eastern China based on observations and model outputs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6. The results show that EPEs and HWs in eastern China have increased in the past four decades and are projected to rise in the future. According to multi-model projections, the Yangtze River Basin, along with areas to its south, are expected to experience an increase in compound disasters due to HWs and EPEs. High values of the multi-year mean total population exposure to EPEs and HWs are observed in the North China Plain, Yangtze River Delta, Sichuan Basin, and southeast coast. The total population exposure to EPEs shows a decreasing trend under Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) 245 and SSP585 scenarios during 2021–2100, consistent with future population decline. However, the annual total population exposure to HWs will increase, reaching nearly 3.0 billion and 5.0 billion by the end of the century under the SSP245 and SSP585 scenarios, respectively. Within the context of global warming, the relationship between the mean-state of precipitation and maximum temperature as well as the relationship between extreme precipitation and heatwaves shift from negative correlation in the historical period to positive correlation in future projections for eastern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of the raindrop size distribution (DSD) is crucial for disaster prevention and mitigation. The record-breaking rainfall in the summer of 2020 caused some of the worst flooding ever experienced in China. This study uses 96 Parsivel disdrometers and eight-year Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite observations to reveal the microphysical aspects of the disastrous rainfall during its northward migration over East China. The results show that the nearly twice as heavy rainfall in Jiangsu Province compared to Fujian Province can be attributed to the earlier-than-average northward jump of the summer monsoon rainband to the Yangtze-Huaihe River valley. The persistent heavy monsoon rainfall showed similar near-maritime DSD characteristics, with a higher concentration of small raindrops than the surrounding climatic regimes. During the northward movement of the rainband, the DSD variables and composite spectra between the pre-summer rainfall in Fujian and mei-yu rainfall in Jiangsu exhibited inherent similarities with slight regional variations. These are associated with similar statistical vertical precipitation structures for both convective and stratiform rain in these regions/periods. The vertical profiles of radar reflectivity and DSD parameters are typical of monsoonal rainfall features, implying the competition between coalescence, breakup, and accretion of vital warm rain processes. This study attributes the anomalously long duration of the mei-yu season for the record-breaking rainfall and reveals inherent homogeneous rainfall microphysics during the northward movement of the summer monsoon rainband. The conclusion is statistically robust and would be helpful for accurate precipitation estimation and model parameterization of summer monsoon rainfall over East China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades, China has become increasingly influential in Africa, and the US policy pivoting to confront domestic challenges and withdrawing from its role in international fora has raised many concerns. Based on this global context, this paper examines the US-China soft power competition through foreign aid. It takes a relational lens to analyze their aid to the African countries. It first looks at how foreign aid could be transformed into soft power assets, and then innovatively puts the two countries side by side and examines the relational powers of their foreign aid and the impacts on the other's national image. The paper uses ordered (Ordinary Least Squares) OLS, ordered logit, and IV regression to analyze aid data and opinion poll data. The results show that foreign aid can promote the African perceptions of both countries. It also finds that Chinese aid has a negative impact on the image of the US in Africa, while American aid has no significant effect on African perception of China. This conclusion aligns with the competitive nature of the US–China relationship. China's model of aid may be preferred by Africans, while the US may need to revisit its approaches in Africa in order to turn this situation around. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) behaviors are prevalent in adolescents and have adverse effects on physical and mental health. However, little is known about the relationship between NSSI and alexithymia, or the underlying mechanisms that could explain this relationship. This study aimed to elucidate the current status of NSSI in adolescent depression, and analyze the relationship between alexithymia, loneliness, resilience, and adolescent depression with NSSI, so as to provide a theoretical basis for psychotherapeutic interventions. Method: The study sample involved inpatients and outpatients from 12 hospitals across China and adolescents with depression who met the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for depression episode. The following scales were used: The Functional Assessment of Self-Mutilation, Toronto Alexithymia Scale, UCLA Loneliness Scale, and Connor Davidson Resilience Scale. Results: The detection rate of NSSI in adolescents with depression from 2021.01.01-2022.01.01 was 76.06% (1782/2343). Spearman's correlation analysis revealed a significant correlation between alexithymia, loneliness, resilience and NSSI in depressed adolescents, and the results of the non-parametric test showed that the differences between the two groups for each factor were statistically significant. Binary logistic regression results showed that alexithymia (B = 0.023, p = 0.003, OR = 1.023, 95% CI: 1.008–1.038) and depression (B = 0.045, p < 0.001, OR = 1.046, 95% CI: 1.026–1.066) are risk factors for NSSI, resilience (B = − 0.052, p < 0.001, OR = 0.949, 95% CI: 0.935 − 0.964) is a protective factor for NSSI. Alexithymia directly predicted NSSI and also indirectly influenced NSSI through the mediated effect of resilience. Loneliness moderates the first half of the path of this mediated model. Conclusion: The present study confirms a moderated mediation effect: Alexithymia can have an impact on NSSI behaviors in depressed adolescents through the mediating role of resilience. Loneliness, as a moderating variable, moderated the first half of the pathway of the mediating model. We discuss perspectives for future research and interventions based on the findings of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fluocerite has been shown experimentally and by thermodynamic modeling to be an important phase for the evolution of magmatic-hydrothermal REE mineralizing systems, but one that is rarely observed in nature. The reason for the latter is poorly understood. The newly discovered Taipingzhen REE deposit in Henan province, Central China, is unique for containing abundant fluocerite and thus provides a great opportunity to explore the role of fluocerite in REE mineralization. Fluocerite was the earliest REE mineral to crystallize in this deposit and was replaced extensively by bastnäsite. It has a higher La/Nd ratio than the later-depositing REE minerals, e.g., bastnäsite and monazite. This decrease in the La/Nd ratio with time is interpreted to have resulted from the fluocerite-mediated fractionation of REE (fluocerite prefers the lightest REE during its deposition from a high temperature, sulfate-rich hydrothermal fluid, in which the REE were transported as sulfate complexes). This study provides compelling evidence that fluocerite is, indeed, an important, early crystallizing mineral in magmatic-hydrothermal REE systems, which elsewhere was replaced entirely by bastnäsite during subsequent fluid evolution. Moreover, the study shows that the bastnäsite, which replaced fluocerite, inherited its high La/Nd ratio, suggesting that this ratio could be used as a tool with which to identify the former presence of fluocerite. The preservation of fluocerite in the Taipingzhen deposit is interpreted to have been due to the lack of significant cooling until a late stage of mineralization, at which time most of the fluid was lost from the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the characteristics of the gut microbiota in Chinese patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS) and healthy controls in Quanzhou aiming to explore the correlation between microbiome changes and AS activities. Patients and methods: In this study, high-throughput sequencing of the gene of 16S ribosomal RNA (16S rRNA) in fecal samples from 40 AS patients and 40 healthy controls, for a total of 80 participants (70 males, 10 females; mean age 33.7±10.7 years; range, 15 to 58 years), was conducted between January 2018 and January 2019. Alpha and beta diversity were analyzed using the QIIME (Quantitative Insights Into Microbial Ecology) software, and differences were analyzed using Student's t-test, linear discriminant analysis coupled with effect size and Metastats. Finally, a correlation network was constructed using Pearson's analysis. Results: The alpha index values of the AS group were not significantly different from those of the control group. At the genus level, eight genera, Ruminiclostridium_9, Fusicatenibacter, Adlercreutzia, CAG-56, Intestinimonas, Lachnospira, Bacteroides, and Pseudoflavonifractor, were significantly enriched in patients with AS, whereas the abundance of uncultured_bacterium_f_Saccharimonadaceae, Prevotella_7, uncultured_bacterium_f_ Enterobacteriaceae, Cronobacter, Prevotellaceae_NK3B31_group, and Weissella were significantly decreased in patients with AS. In addition, diseaserelated gut microbial communities were detected in patients with AS. Conclusion: We found differences in the gut microbiome between the patients with AS and controls and identified potential disease activity-related bacterial communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neurosurgical patients represent a high-risk population for postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs). A lower intraoperative driving pressure (DP) is related to a reduction in postoperative pulmonary complications. We hypothesized that driving pressure-guided ventilation during supratentorial craniotomy might lead to a more homogeneous gas distribution in the lung postoperatively. Methods: This was a randomized trial conducted between June 2020 and July 2021 at Beijing Tiantan Hospital. Fifty-three patients undergoing supratentorial craniotomy were randomly divided into the titration group or control group at a ratio of 1 to 1. The control group received 5 cmH2O PEEP, and the titration group received individualized PEEP targeting the lowest DP. The primary outcome was the global inhomogeneity index (GI) immediately after extubation obtained by electrical impedance tomography (EIT). The secondary outcomes were lung ultrasonography scores (LUSs), respiratory system compliance, the ratio of the partial pressure of arterial oxygen to the fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) and PPCs within 3 days postoperatively. Results: Fifty-one patients were included in the analysis. The median (IQR [range]) DP in the titration group versus the control group was 10 (9–12 [7–13]) cmH2O vs. 11 (10–12 [7–13]) cmH2O, respectively (P = 0.040). The GI tract did not differ between groups immediately after extubation (P = 0.080). The LUSS was significantly lower in the titration group than in the control group immediately after tracheal extubation (1 [0–3] vs. 3 [1–6], P = 0.045). The compliance in the titration group was higher than that in the control group at 1 h after intubation (48 [42–54] vs. 41 [37–46] ml·cmH2O-1, P = 0.011) and at the end of surgery (46 [42–51] vs. 41 [37–44] ml·cmH2O-1, P = 0.029). The PaO2/FiO2 ratio was not significantly different between groups in terms of the ventilation protocol (P = 0.117). At the 3-day follow-up, no postoperative pulmonary complications occurred in either group. Conclusions: Driving pressure-guided ventilation during supratentorial craniotomy did not contribute to postoperative homogeneous aeration, but it may lead to improved respiratory compliance and lower lung ultrasonography scores. Clinical trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04421976. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neurosurgical patients represent a high-risk population for postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs). A lower intraoperative driving pressure (DP) is related to a reduction in postoperative pulmonary complications. We hypothesized that driving pressure-guided ventilation during supratentorial craniotomy might lead to a more homogeneous gas distribution in the lung postoperatively. Methods: This was a randomized trial conducted between June 2020 and July 2021 at Beijing Tiantan Hospital. Fifty-three patients undergoing supratentorial craniotomy were randomly divided into the titration group or control group at a ratio of 1 to 1. The control group received 5 cmH2O PEEP, and the titration group received individualized PEEP targeting the lowest DP. The primary outcome was the global inhomogeneity index (GI) immediately after extubation obtained by electrical impedance tomography (EIT). The secondary outcomes were lung ultrasonography scores (LUSs), respiratory system compliance, the ratio of the partial pressure of arterial oxygen to the fraction of inspired oxygen (PaO2/FiO2) and PPCs within 3 days postoperatively. Results: Fifty-one patients were included in the analysis. The median (IQR [range]) DP in the titration group versus the control group was 10 (9–12 [7–13]) cmH2O vs. 11 (10–12 [7–13]) cmH2O, respectively (P = 0.040). The GI tract did not differ between groups immediately after extubation (P = 0.080). The LUSS was significantly lower in the titration group than in the control group immediately after tracheal extubation (1 [0–3] vs. 3 [1–6], P = 0.045). The compliance in the titration group was higher than that in the control group at 1 h after intubation (48 [42–54] vs. 41 [37–46] ml·cmH2O-1, P = 0.011) and at the end of surgery (46 [42–51] vs. 41 [37–44] ml·cmH2O-1, P = 0.029). The PaO2/FiO2 ratio was not significantly different between groups in terms of the ventilation protocol (P = 0.117). At the 3-day follow-up, no postoperative pulmonary complications occurred in either group. Conclusions: Driving pressure-guided ventilation during supratentorial craniotomy did not contribute to postoperative homogeneous aeration, but it may lead to improved respiratory compliance and lower lung ultrasonography scores. Clinical trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04421976. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Selenium (Se) is a beneficial microelement for humans, and its varying abundances and shortages have attracted widespread concern. The accumulation process of soil Se is quite complicated, being controlled by multiple factors. However, the influence mechanism of soil properties, climate, and topographic conditions on Se distribution is still unclear in Se-deficient areas. For this study, we collected 2804 samples from cropland soil to assess the levels of Se and the factors that influence those levels in Se-deficient areas of southwestern China. The Se content in this area (0.17 mg/kg) was less than the mean value of China as a whole (0.29 mg/kg). Moran's I index and a random forest (RF) model showed that higher Se levels were mostly observed in the southern and northern sections of the area we studied. The RF model had excellent performance in predicting soil Se content, with an accuracy of 64%. The use of Shapley additive explanations indicated that soil organic matter (SOM) and mean annual precipitation (MAP) were the critical factors determining Se distribution. The areas with high SOM and MAP showed high Se levels. The information obtained from this work can provide guidance for agricultural planning in Se-deficient areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In pre-modern China, the space for women was rarely a subject of architectural theory studies. It is along with the development of feminism in the field of sociology that more attention was gradually paid to it and its morphological characteristics. When women began to participate in production activities in society, their life structure was greatly changed. Focusing on female dormitories as main living space for women in universities, this paper conducts a comparative study on the living space for men and women in China’s early modern universities from the perspective of planning and architecture. It analyzes the transformation of the space for women under the background of lifestyle diversification, elaborating its progressive and limitative meanings and identifying its reasons, so as to encourage more studies on the unique characteristics of the space for women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does social class matter in understanding health inequalities in early 21st century China, when the country experienced unprecedented social stratification? Using nationally representative data from the latest waves of China Household Income Project surveys, we examine to what extent an individual's health is structured by social class and how that structure evolved. We draw on a neo-Marxist measure of social class to tap into the hidden mechanism that engenders and sustains inequalities. Four classes are defined based primarily on their relationships to productive resources: owners/managers, professionals/skilled workers, less-skilled workers, and farmers. Such a measure has not been considered in the health gradient literature in the Chinese context. Our results show that, despite remedial policies that helped mitigate economic inequalities, inequalities in health have mostly widened during the early years of the current century between the 'haves', who own productive assets and/or managerial authority, and the 'have-nots'. In 2002, self-rated health (SRH) was not clearly associated with class rank; in 2007, when China's economic inequality reached a historical zenith, a gradational pattern between SRH and class emerged, and the largest health gap was found between the class of owners/managers and farmers; in 2013, when China's income inequality reached a plateau, the health gap between owners/managers and less-skilled workers grew larger. Further, we identify job security as a mediator that links class and health among the lower social strata. In addition to improving the health of the disadvantaged, policies designed to narrow health inequalities should be orientated towards addressing social stratification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The aim of this study was to perform whole-genome resequencing on Wanbei pigs and combine its data with Asian wild boar sequencing data to assess their population structure and selection signatures. A total of 176 genes were identified as selected genes that are associated with lipid metabolism, backfat thickness, muscle, and reproduction. Genomic information may play a vital role in improving conservation strategies. Wanbei pig (WBP) is one of the indigenous pig resources in China and has many germplasm characteristics. However, research on its genome is lacking. To assess the genomic variation, population structure, and selection signatures, we resequenced 18 WBP for the first time and performed a comprehensive analysis with resequenced data of 10 Asian wild boars. In total, 590.03 Gb of data and approximately 41 million variants were obtained. Polymorphism level (θπ) ratio and genetic differentiation (fixation index)-based cross approaches were applied, and 539 regions, which harbored 176 genes, were selected. Functional analysis of the selected genes revealed that they were associated with lipid metabolism (SCP2, APOA1, APOA4, APOC3, CD36, BCL6, ADCY8), backfat thickness (PLAG1, CACNA2D1), muscle (MYOG), and reproduction (CABS1). Overall, our results provide a valuable resource for characterizing the uniqueness of WBP and a basis for future breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dark brick tea, a unique kind of dark tea has a history of more than 100 years in China. In this paper, 1 and 10 years old dark brick tea were used to regulate blood lipid. The results showed that dark brick tea could significantly reduce the total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) levels in serum and liver homogenate. It also significantly increased the level of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). In addition, dark brick tea can enhance the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in rats, reduce the content of malondialdehyde (MDA), promote the activities of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and liver lipase (HL) in rats, and effectively reduce blood lipid levels. In conclusion, the experimental results of this study will provide a scientific basis for the lipid-lowering effects of black brick tea with a theoretical basis for its further development and utilization in the form different products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sub-seasonal high temperature forecasting is significant for early warning of extreme heat weather. Currently, deep learning methods, especially Transformer, have been successfully applied to the meteorological field. Relying on the excellent global feature extraction capability in natural language processing, Transformer may be useful to improve the ability in extended periods. To explore this, we introduce the Transformer and propose a Transformer-based model, called Transformer to High Temperature (T2T). In the details of the model, we successively discuss the use of the Transformer and the position encoding in T2T to continuously optimize the model structure experimentally. In the dataset, the multi-version data fusion method is proposed to further improve the prediction of the model with the reasonable expansion of the dataset. The performance of the well- designed model (T2T) is verified against the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) and multi-layer perceptron (MLP) at each grid of the 100.5°E to 138°E, 21°N to 54°N domain for the April to October of 2016–2019. For the case study initiated from 2 June 2018, the results indicated that T2T is significantly better than ECMWF and MLP, with smaller absolute error and more reliable probabilistic forecast for the extreme high event that happened during the third week. Overall, the deterministic forecast of T2T is superior to MLP and ECMWF due to the ability of utilizing spatial information of grids. T2T also provided a better-calibrated probability of high temperature and a sharper prediction probability density function than MLP and ECMWF. All in all, T2T can meet the operational requirements for extended period forecasting of extreme high temperature. Furthermore, our research can provide experience in the development of deep learning in this field and achieve the continuous progress of seamless forecasting systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have received increasing attention in recent years as a promising means to address poverty challenges in rural China. This paper uses a unique three-wave panel data set of household surveys, collected from seven officially recognized poor counties in rural China during 2012–2018, to examine the effect of ICT adoption on poverty. The results show that ICTs contributed positively to poverty reduction in the sampled counties, which may have been primarily achieved through increased migration and off-farm income, instead of through improved agricultural production and farm income. This suggests that ICT development facilitated households escaping poverty by helping them diversify their livelihood strategies away from agriculture in remote mountainous areas. The findings highlight the importance of creating incentives to complement the opportunities brought by ICTs for local development. It is important to strike a balance between poverty reduction and food security objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Perineural invasion (PNI) is present in 17–75% of prostate cancer patients and is an important mechanism for cancer progression, leading to poor prognoses. An optimized preoperative technique is needed to detect PNI in prostate cancer patients and administer the best treatment. The aim of our retrospective study was to develop a model based on high-throughput radiomic features of bi-parametric MRI combined with clinical factors that can predict PNI status in high-grade prostate cancers. In total, 183 high-grade PCa patients were included in this retrospective study, and the radiomics model based on 13 selected features of bi-parametric MRI showed better discrimination than did the conventional model in the test cohort (area under the curve (AUC): 0.908). Discrimination efficiency improved when the radiomics and clinical models were combined (AUC: 0.947). This improved model may help predict PNI in prostate cancer patients and allow more personalized clinical decision-making. Purpose: To explore the role of bi-parametric MRI radiomics features in identifying PNI in high-grade PCa and to further develop a combined nomogram with clinical information. Methods: 183 high-grade PCa patients were included in this retrospective study. Tumor regions of interest (ROIs) were manually delineated on T2WI and DWI images. Radiomics features were extracted from lesion area segmented images obtained. Univariate logistic regression analysis and the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method were used for feature selection. A clinical model, a radiomics model, and a combined model were developed to predict PNI positive. Predictive performance was estimated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, calibration curves, and decision curves. Results: The differential diagnostic efficiency of the clinical model had no statistical difference compared with the radiomics model (area under the curve (AUC) values were 0.766 and 0.823 in the train and test group, respectively). The radiomics model showed better discrimination in both the train cohort and test cohort (train AUC: 0.879 and test AUC: 0.908) than each subcategory image (T2WI train AUC: 0.813 and test AUC: 0.827; DWI train AUC: 0.749 and test AUC: 0.734). The discrimination efficiency improved when combining the radiomics and clinical models (train AUC: 0.906 and test AUC: 0.947). Conclusion: The model including radiomics signatures and clinical factors can accurately predict PNI positive in high-grade PCa patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Carbon neutrality" refers to the total amount of carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emissions directly or indirectly produced by a country, business, product, activity or individual over a period of time. Through afforestation, energy saving and emission reduction, etc., to offset the carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emissions generated by itself, to achieve positive and negative offset, to achieve relative "zero emissions", which belongs to the same term as "carbon peaking" in energy saving and emission reduction. "Carbon" means carbon dioxide, and "neutralization" means a positive and negative balance. The carbon dioxide or greenhouse gas emitted is offset by afforestation, energy saving and emission reduction, which is called "carbon neutrality". Goal decomposition is the process of gradually completing the overall goal according to multiple fields to form a goal system. Target decomposition should be carried out according to the principle of integration and integration. That is, the overall goal is decomposed into sub-goals of different levels and departments, and the synthesis of each sub-goal reflects the overall goal and ensures the realization of the overall goal. This paper aims to study the decomposition of building carbon neutrality goals to sustainable energy development strategies, combining energy conservation and emission reduction with the building industry to reduce environmental pollution and energy waste. Based on the theory of sustainable development, combined with the development characteristics of China's new energy industry, this paper makes a theoretical analysis of the sustainable development of the new energy industry from the three systems of economy, society and ecology. Using the new growth theory and the dissipative structure theory, the restricting effect of the depletion of basic energy on economic development and the influence on the alternation of industrial structure are discussed. The experimental results of this paper show that the building energy consumption intensity will reach 1.43tC/10,000 yuan, 1.25tC/10,000 yuan in the ideal scenario, and 1.1tC/10,000 yuan in the low-carbon scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New urbanization is a long-acting solution to the issues relating to agriculture, countryside and farmers, as well as a certain path to develop China into a great modern socialist country. It plays a key role in resolving the principal challenges faced by China in the new era and becomes a powerful driving force to the economic development of high quality. Taking the journal papers as samples on the theme of new urbanization included in the CNKI database from 2008 to 2018, this study uses the bibliometric method to analyze the state of the art, evolution, and hotspots of new urbanization research in China during the 11 years and to visualize the dynamic development process. It reveals that the quantitative distribution of the research literatures on new urbanization shows an inverted U-shaped curve, the evolution process of the research includes three stages of exploration, development, and stabilization, and the research hotspots include the five aspects of the connotation, development mode and path, development quality, financial administration, and industrial structure of new urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A very common and early named mayfly species from China, Heptagenia ngi Hsu, 1936, has no exact descriptions of its imago nor nymph, so its generic status is not clear. Based on detailed re-descriptions and pictures of all its stages from fresh materials, it is transferred into a new genus Maculogenia Zhou, gen. nov. Its nymph has conspicuous pale-dark colored body, slightly concave posterior margin of head, scattered simple setae on ventral maxillae, spines and very fine hair-like setae on caudal filaments. Similarly, its imago also has remarkable dark stripes and dots on the pale body, small median titillators and short first segment of foretarsi, apically expanded penes without any spines. It is similar to the genera Electrogena, Thamnodontus, and Parafronurus but they can be differentiated easily by above selected key structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. To evaluate the associations between long-term oral Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) and recurrence and metastasis (R&M) in patients with stage II and III colorectal cancer (CRC). Furthermore, we aimed to determine the correlation between different syndrome patterns and prognosis and summarized the regularities among CHMs prescriptions, providing reference for clinical practice. Methods. An ambispective cohort study was conducted. All CRC patients who sought evaluation and treatment at Xiyuan Hospital and Beijing Cancer Hospital from August 2014 to August 2016 were included. In this study, "whether patients voluntarily take CHMs" was taken as the exposure factor, and the exposure degree was "the duration of CHM use." Stratification was performed according to the duration of TCM use to determine the relationship with R&M of CRC. The primary outcome was disease-free survival. Patients who had R&M of CRC after taking CHMs for ≥6 months were defined as "worst patients." R software was used for statistical analysis. The Kaplan–Meier method and Cox regression analysis were used to determine the prognosis. IBM SPSS was used to model a priori association rules; drug use rules were analyzed on this basis. Results. A total of 186 patients with stage II and III CRC after radical resection were enrolled. All patients reached the study endpoint by August 2021. The difference in disease-free survival between the two groups was most significant when the cutoff value for CHMs was 18 months (P = 0.0012). Multivariate analysis showed that 18 CHMs were independent protective factors for R&M of CRC (P = 0.001 , HR = 0.20, 95% CI = 0.08–0.53). The ratio of Pi (spleen) and Shen (kidney) deficiency in the worst cases was higher than patients without R&M (P = 0.018). Sijunzi and Liuwei Dihuang decoctions were the most frequently used prescriptions in the anti-R&M phase. Conclusion. CHMs complying with the "Jianpi Bushen" principle may attenuate the risk of R&M in patients with stage II and III CRC. Pi (spleen) and Shen (kidney) deficiency in patients receiving TCM intervention for the first time within 6 months of radical resection may be associated with a higher CRC R&M rate. Further research is warranted to validate these findings and elucidate underlying biological mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Taoxi dome stands out as a rotated-circular structure on maps of the Wuyi terrane, south China. The origin and tectonic activity analysis of the Taoxi dome is a window to understand the tectonic framework and aggregation process of the Wuyi terranes in the Cathaysia block. Our field observations demonstrated that two major phases of deformation, counterclockwise rotation and dome uplift, were recorded in the Taoxi dome. Geochronological data indicated that the counterclockwise rotation was initiated at about 422 Ma as a result of a sinistral slide collision between the North Wuyi terrane and the South Wuyi terrane along the Nanping–Ninghua tectonic belt during the Caledonian. Zircon dating ages of the intrusions developed in the Taoxi dome suggested that the Taoxi dome had undergone at least two strong upheavals and the uplift of the Taoxi dome was active during the periods 229–222 Ma and 158–100 Ma. Geochemical data indicated that the intrusions developed in the Taoxi dome had characteristics of high silica (SiO2 > 70 wt.%) and belonged to the A2-type granites, which suggest that the Taoxi dome was long governed by a tectonic setting of post-collisional or anorogenic magmatism since the Caledonian. The strong movement of the Caledonian rotation and coeval strike-slip movement in the Wuyi terranes suggests that a slide rotation may have been a major characteristic in response to the rifting process of micro-terranes during the late Paleozoic in the Cathaysia block. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the new development pattern, the penetration and integration between industries is becoming increasingly active, constantly promoting the rationalisation and heightening of the entire industrial structure and structuring new convergent industrial bodies. To explore the degree of integration between the digital economy and the logistics industry, this paper uses input-output models and social network analysis to empirically analyse the level of industrial integration between the core industries of China's digital economy and the logistics industry during the period 2007–2017. The level of integration between the core industries of China's digital economy and the logistics industry is measured, and its spatial and temporal characteristics are also measured and analysed. The analysis showed that (1) the degree of integration between the two industries is low, but with changes over time, the degree of integration will follow an upwards trend; the overall level of integration is increasing with the development of the core industries of the digital economy; the growth rate is significant, and developed regions have a clear advantage because of the intensity of integration. (2) The direction of industrial integration linkages is basically stable, with the pointing characteristics of adjacent provinces, and the spatial distribution shows a pattern of diffusion from the central region to the eastern and western regions. Overall, the integration shows an economic radiation effect, but there are large differences between the north and south. (3) It is easier for adjacent provinces to form the same cohesive subgroup in a network and develop together. At the same time, the integration network shows a clear pattern of marginal-semimmarginalization. The study enriches and improves the research status of China's digital economy industry convergence, and provides theoretical support for the formulation of policies related to the synergistic development of China's digital economy and logistics industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using daily minimum temperature data at 2481 stations provided by the National Meteorological Information Center (China) and the daily reanalysis data from NCEP/NCAR during the period from 1980 to 2019, the effects of atmospheric low frequency oscillations (LFOs) on the regional strong cooling events (RSCEs) in the winter of northern China are investigated, and the extended range forecast signals of the RSCEs are extracted. The results show that: (1) The frequency of RSCEs is higher before the year 2000 and then decreases, but its interannual variability increases. There are 10–20, 20–30 and 30–60 d significant low frequency periods in the regional average minimum temperature in northern China, and the low frequency oscillation with a period of 10–20 d is the most significant. (2) The low frequency key systems affecting RSCEs in the west, middle, and east of northern China are the Ural blocking high and the trough of Lake Balkhash-Baikal (Lake Ba-Bei), the blocking high in the northwest and the low trough in the southeast of Lake Ba-Bei, the Lake Ba-Bei blocking high and the East Asian trough, respectively, and the Siberian High (SH) that expands and moves with the blocking high all the time. The low frequency jets at the upper level are weaker in the north and stronger in the south. (3) The low frequency high potential vorticity (PV) center in the lower stratosphere moves eastward and southward along the 315 K isentropic surface via the north of Lake Ba-Bei, southern Lake Baikal and Northeast China to the Sea of Japan, causing the 2 PVU line to move southward and then the above-mentioned high PV center in the mid-high troposphere to extend vertically. Meanwhile, under the influence of gradually increasing upper level jets and vertical meridional circulation, the high PV column continues to propagate downward to the mid-low troposphere at lower latitudes along the 300–315 K isentropic surfaces, which enhances the low frequency positive vorticity and deepens the key trough. In addition, the convergence in the upper troposphere, the divergence in the lower layer, and the development of descending motion behind the trough lead to the development and southward movement of the SH. (4) At −10 d, the positive and negative low frequency anomalies at 500 hPa geopotential height appearing in the East European Plain and Western Siberian Plain are the extended range forecast signals for RSCEs in the winter of northern China, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to measure the operating efficiency of 22 Chinese domestic and foreign-funded life insurance companies from 2013 to 2017 and outline the path to achieve high-quality development. The DEA-Malmquist was used to evaluate the total factor productivity on the sample of 22 Chinese domestic and foreign-funded life insurance companies. A fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) was also used to analyze the configuration of determinants affecting technical efficiency. The results show that the overall operating efficiency of life insurance companies in China is relatively satisfying. The changes in total factor productivity are mainly caused by changes in technical efficiency and changes in efficiency. However, changes in scale efficiency have little effect on Chinese domestic and foreign-funded life insurance companies. There is a significant difference in the operating efficiency between Chinese domestic and foreign-funded life insurance companies. In contrast, the operating efficiency is slightly higher than that of foreign-funded life insurance companies, which is mainly reflected in the difference in pure technical efficiency. The realization path of a life insurance company's operating efficiency is primarily composed of high employee education and low overclosing ratio, high employee education and low reinsurance ratio, and all-factor positive investment. The weak employee quality and excessive overclosing are the main reasons for the low operating efficiency of some enterprises. This paper systematically analyzes the impact of the organization's internal structure on the operating efficiency of life insurance companies. Finally, based on the configuration perspective, we explain the internal logic and path of achieving better operating efficiency. In the end, we also provide decision-making references for further improving the efficient operation of life insurance companies in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, an extremely intense fault-slip rockburst case, with a local magnitude of 2.3, observed in a deep tunnel in southwestern China was introduced as a case study. The rockburst caused a large economic loss and delayed the construction schedule for nearly 2 months. In-situ failure analysis, geological surveys, and microseismic (MS) monitoring were carried out to study the development and occurrence mechanisms of fault-slip rockburst. The fault-slip rockburst occurred in the hanging wall of a structure plane with dark green filling material and the rock mass slipped along the structure plane. It shows characteristic of intermittent occurrence, which results in great psychological pressure on workers. The dominant frequency of the rockburst MS event during the fault-slip rockburst is 13 Hz, which shows that the fault slip rockburst can be captured by the MS monitoring system. Extremely intense MS activity was recorded during the rockburst. The development and occurrence processes of the fault-slip rockburst were studied using this MS information. The stress evolution during the rockburst was studied by analyzing the dynamic stress drop. For the evolution mechanism of the fault-slip rockburst, many tensile fracture events occurred during the development stage, and a few shear fractures, corresponding to structure plane dislocation, occurred before the occurrence of the fault-slip rockburst. The presence of a large natural structure plane resulted in a higher stress and crack extension, and reduced the length of the penetration path, resulting in a stronger destructiveness. The results can be used for the further research on fault-slip rockbursts and planning appropriate warning and mitigation measures. Highlights: An extremely intense fault-slip rockburst with local magnitude of 2.3 in a deep tunnel was introduced. Occurrence characteristics of fault-slip rockburst were analyzed. The development and occurrence mechanisms of the fault-slip rockburst including the fracture type and evolution mechanism, were studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction and operation of China's rail transit system have entered a high-speed development stage, and the rapid increase of train speed and mileage has brought greater challenges to the safety and reliability of the rail transit system. Network planning evaluation is the key to the early decision-making of urban rail transit project, which directly determines the success or failure of the whole project. How to scientifically and reasonably evaluate the urban rail transit information resource network planning has become a difficult problem for many urban planners to solve. Therefore, this paper studies the optimization of the communication resource allocation algorithm and the comprehensive evaluation of its application for urban rail transit planning. In this paper, based on CVNN structure, the network prototype is an extension of RVNN structure. In the abstract, its processing unit is composed of a pair of real-number processors that can realize certain operations. HNN is a fully connected recurrent neural network based on the idea of the energy function, which is helpful to understand the calculation mode of HNN, and the research shows that HNN can solve many combinatorial optimization problems. In addition, the combination of neural network and genetic algorithm with simulated annealing mechanism can also bring new directions for research. On the basis of experimental analysis, it can be concluded that in general, the error reduction rate of the optimization scheme designed in this paper can reach 58.6% on average. In practical application, the accuracy of the optimal bit error rate is 52.4%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to improve the quality of College Chinese teaching, innovate the teaching mode, enrich the teaching content, and fundamentally improve the application and practice ability of college students so as to promote the reform of College Chinese teaching, this article briefly describes the research background of this subject, introduces the special teaching mode under the network environment, and briefly describes the basic content and practice of the special teaching method. This article mainly explores the construction of a network environment based on blockchain technology, including the construction of a blockchain framework and the application of the blockchain system. This article briefly analyzes the functional requirements of the network environment, explores the application practice of the mental health teaching method and the special subject teaching method based on the network environment, and finally studies the creation and implementation of the network environment conditions of the special subject teaching method. By creating a high-quality network environment, it provides a technical guarantee for the application and realization of special teaching method, effectively meets the needs of College Chinese teaching, and cultivates students' interest. Under the joint action of the above algorithms, the BTP congestion control system is verified by the laboratory simulation environment: it has more than 40% random packet loss resistance, the bandwidth is still available as low as 300 kbps, and the network jitter is 1200 ms. It has been proved that the mental health teaching method, the special subject teaching method, and the network environment have remarkable application effects in College Chinese teaching and are worthy of wide application and promotion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Users' continuance intention to use plays a key role in realising disruptive technology innovation. Drawing from expectation – confirmation theory, this study integrates perceived value, trust, and habit to investigate how they affect users' continuance intention to use disruptive technology innovation by using a questionnaire survey of 247 e-business microcredit users in China. The results indicate that perceived value and trust have an independent positive effect on users' satisfaction and continuance intention to use, satisfaction has a positive effect on users' continuance intention to use, and habit moderates negatively the relationship between perceived value and users' continuance intention to use. The findings contribute to the literature of disruptive technology innovation, innovation adoption, and post adoption behaviour, and shed light on continuers' behaviour of disruptive technology innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Disequilibrium compaction caused by burial or tectonic compression and unloading are the common overpressure mechanisms in foreland basins. However, accurately identifying multiple overpressure origins in such basins is challenging, since it requires distinguishing impact of vertical and horizontal stresses on compaction and overpressure as well as identifying overpressure caused by unloading. This paper proposed a dual compaction factor method (DCFM) to address these issues. A basic DCFM schematic diagram was established through analyzing compaction behaviors before and after tectonic compression to distinguish overpressure derived from two types of disequilibrium compaction and overpressure induced by unloading. In DCFM, a compaction model for mudstone in the foreland basin, which was only controlled by burial, was established based on the relationship between mean deposition rate and compaction factor in weak tectonic compression zone (WTCZ). It was used to determine compaction factor, normal compaction trend (NCT), acoustic transit time, bulk density, and overburden pressure under this compaction condition, as well as to distinguish the impact of burial and tectonic compression on porosity and overpressure at strong tectonic compression zone (STCZ). The DCFM employs mean stress to revise the equivalent depth method (EDM). Pore pressures associated with compaction only derived from burial and derived from both burial and tectonic compression were estimated using conventional EDM and revised EDM, respectively. The total pore pressures were estimated using the Eaton method and were calibrated based on measured ones. Overpressure associated with unloading was determined by comparing total pore pressure with estimated pore pressure generated with disequilibrium compaction. This mode was further applied at two wells from the Sikeshu Sag in the southern Junggar Foreland Basin to reconstruct accurate overpressure profiles with multiple origins, which were consistent with measured pressures and matched well with geological characteristics. Disequilibrium compaction induced by tectonic compression and burial is responsible for overpressure at the Sikeshu Sag. Overpressure transfer is also one of the primary contributors to the excess pressure in the Jurassic and Cretaceous in the Gaoquan anticline at the Sikeshu Sag, with a maximum contribution of 38 %. Plays, consisting of sandstone reservoirs with both transferred overpressure and tectonic-induced overpressure as well as mudstone caprocks with overpressure due to disequilibrium compaction, are favorable for hydrocarbon accumulation. This study can quantify the impact of overpressures with multiple origins on hydrocarbon migration and sealing capacity of caprocks, as well as provide ideas for researching fluid evolution in sedimentary basins. • A compaction model controlled by burial is proposed to distinguish burial and tectonic disequilibrium compaction. • The estimated pore pressure based on mean stress-porosity relationship is consistent with the measurements. • Disequilibrium compaction induced by tectonic compression and burial is primary contributor to overpressure. • The maximum contribution of transferred overpressure in the Jurassic and Cretaceous is 38%. • The impacts of overpressures on hydrocarbon migration and accumulation vary depending on their origins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high spatial variability of the rock-soil interface (RSI) in complex geological conditions introduces strong uncertainties in both subsurface stratigraphy and geotechnical properties. Inaccurate interpretation of such uncertainties during engineering geology investigations increases the geohazard risk of excessive surface settlement or even severe catastrophic ground collapse when shield machines are excavating in RSI mixed ground. Prediction and early warning of excessive surface settlement are necessary measures to address such a risk; however, unavoidable drawbacks such as overfitting, insufficient accuracy, and ineffectiveness remain in existing prediction models and early warning algorithms and have posed significant challenges. In this study, a novel framework using both a multivariate data fusion prediction model and a dynamic early warning algorithm was developed for forecasting and early warning of ground collapse during shield tunnelling in RSI mixed ground. The prediction model is the Differential Evolutionary Optimized Quadratic Taylor Series Extended Kalman Filter (DEQT-EKF); the early warning algorithm is based on Catastrophe Theory and uses the Gradient Ratio (GR) criterion to identify catastrophic singularities. The practicality and accuracy of the framework are well verified by a subway shield tunnelling-induced ground collapse incident in East China with complex RSI mixed ground conditions. The prediction results are compared with the surface settlement measurements and good agreement is obtained, indicating that the DEQT-EKF model can achieve satisfactory accuracy in predicting excessive settlement. The use of the GR criterion can trigger the early warning one time step before the ground collapse event, indicating that it is a competent and practical early warning strategy for shield tunnelling-induced ground collapse. The framework has the potential to significantly reduce the risk of ground collapse caused by geological uncertainties when constructing shield tunnels through complex ground conditions. • Geological uncertainty induced geohazards in rock-soil interface mixed ground is investigated. • A highly accurate prediction model for excessive surface settlement is proposed and validated. • An early warning algorithm based on catastrophe theory for ground collapse is innovatively applied. • The Gaussian distribution assumption is confirmed and an extended Kalman filter is used for fusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the efficiency of high-standard farmland construction (HSFC), this study utilized data spanning from 1998 to 2020 obtained from 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in China. This assessment was conducted using a three-stage super-efficient slack-based measure data envelopment analysis(SBM-DEA)model. Furthermore, we investigated the spatial and temporal variances and convergence of HSFC efficiency using the Dagum Gini coefficient and convergence analysis. The results firstly show that from 2007 to 2020, China's HSFC efficiency displayed fluctuations and declines, significantly influenced by environmental and stochastic factors. Secondly, it showed that the gap in China's HSFC efficiency has widened, with super-variable density being demonstrated as the primary source of spatial imbalance in HSFC efficiency. Thirdly, it showed that the deviation in the efficiency of HSFC in the central region of China from the average level has shown a gradually declining trend, while the deviation in the efficiency of HSFC in the national, western, eastern, and northeastern regions has not presented a downward trend. Fourthly, it demonstrated that over time, the efficiency of building high-standard agriculture throughout the nation and its four main areas will converge to the same level. • The three-stage super efficiency model is used to measure the efficiency. • The efficiency of high-standard farmland construction is affected by external environmental factors. • The gap of construction efficiency in various parts of our country expands unceasingly. • Hypervariable density is the main source of spatial imbalance in the efficiency. • There was β absolute convergence and β conditional convergence across the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Immunotherapy represented by PD-1 blockades had become the standard of care for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) gradually. Unfortunately, several PD-1 inhibitor-related studies excluded elderly patients with NSCLC over 75 years of age, resulting in relatively limited evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of PD-1 in elderly patients with NSCLC clinically. Objective. This study aimed to identify the effectiveness and safety of PD-1 blockade monotherapy among elderly patients with advanced NSCLC. Methods. Elderly patients with advanced NSCLC (≥65 years) who received PD-1 blockade monotherapy from September 2018 to December 2021 were screened retrospectively, and a total of 68 elderly patients with NSCLC were eligible for inclusion ultimately. The PD-1 blockades in the study were the available PD-1 monoclonal antibodies that had been approved for marketing in China, including camrelizumab, sintilimab, pembrolizumab, and nivolumab. The effectiveness and safety of the patients was collected retrospectively. Additionally, the correlation between prognosis and baseline characteristic subgroups was analyzed to identify the potential risk factors for progression-free survival (PFS). Results. The median age of the 68 elderly patients with advanced NSCLC was 73 years (range: 65–82 years). Best overall response during PD-1 blockade administration suggested that no patients were found with complete response, partial response was found in 14 patients, stable disease was noted in 29 patients, and 25 patients had progressive disease, yielding an objective response rate (ORR) of 20.6% (95%CI: 11.7%–32.1%) and a disease control rate (DCR) of 63.2% (95%CI: 50.7%–74.6%). Furthermore, prognostic analysis exhibited that the median progression-free survival (PFS) of the 68 patients with advanced NSCLC was 3.5 months (95%CI: 2.4–4.6) and the median overall survival (OS) was 10.5 months (95%CI: 6.3–14.7). Additionally, a total of 48 patients were observed with the treatment-related adverse reaction (70.6%) of the 68 elderly patients with NSCLC, and the incidence of grade 3 or above adverse reactions was 16.2%. Specifically, the most common adverse reactions were fatigue, diarrhea, rash, and abnormal liver function with the incidence of 25.0%, 22.1%, 16.2%, and 14.7%, respectively. Exploratory analysis between PFS and baseline characteristic subgroups suggested that ECOG performance status and number of metastatic lesions might be independent factors for PFS. Conclusion. PD-1 blockade monotherapy exhibited potential effectiveness and acceptable toxicity for elderly patients with NSCLC. ECOG performance status and number of metastatic lesions might be potential risk factors to predict the PFS of elderly patients with advanced NSCLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Built-up areas (BAs) information acquisition is essential to urban planning and sustainable development in the Greater Bay Area in China. In this paper, a pseudo-Siamese dense convolutional network, namely PSDNet, is proposed to automatically extract BAs from the spaceborne synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data in the Greater Bay Area, which considers the spatial statistical features and speckle features in SAR images. The local indicators of spatial association, including Moran's, Geary's, and Getis' together with the speckle divergence feature, are calculated for the SAR data, which can indicate the potential BAs. The amplitude SAR images and the corresponding features are then regarded as the inputs for PSDNet. In this framework, a pseudo-Siamese network can independently learn the BAs discrimination ability from the SAR original amplitude image and the features. The DenseNet is adopted as the backbone network of each channel, which can improve the efficiency while extracting the deep features of the BAs. Moreover, it also has the ability to extract the BAs with multi-scale sizes by using a multi-scale decoder. The Sentinel-1 (S1) SAR data for the Greater Bay Area in China are used for the experimental validation. Our method of BA extraction can achieve above 90% accuracy, which is similar to the current urban extraction product, demonstrating that our method can achieve BA mapping for spaceborne SAR data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil salinization is closely related to land degradation, and it is supposed to exert a significant negative effect on soil organic carbon (SOC) stock dynamics. This effect and its mechanism have been examined at site and transect scales in previous studies while over a large spatial extent, the salinity-induced changes in SOC stock over space and time have been less quantified, especially by machine learning and remote sensing techniques. The main focus of this study is to answer the following question: to what extent can soil salinity exert an additional effect on SOC stock over time at a larger spatial scale? Thus, we employed the extreme gradient boosting models (XGBoost) combined with field site-level measurements from 433 sites and 41 static and time-varying environmental covariates to construct methods capable of quantifying the salinity-induced SOC changes in a typical inland river basin of China between the 1990s and 2020s. Results showed that the XGBoost models performed well in predicting the soil electrical conductivity (EC) and SOC stock at 0–20 cm, with the R2 value reaching 0.85 and 0.81, respectively. SOC stock was found to vary significantly with increasing soil salinity following an exponential decay function (R2 = 0.27), and salinity sensitivity analysis showed that soils in oasis were expected to experience the largest carbon loss (−137.78 g m−2), which was about 4.84, 14.37, and 25.95 times higher than that in the saline, bare, and sandy land, respectively, if the soil salinity increased by 100%. In addition, the decrease in the soil salinity (−0.32 dS m−1) from the 1990s to the 2020s was estimated to enhance the SOC stock by 0.015 kg m−2, which contributed an additional 10% increase to the total SOC stock enhancement. Overall, the proposed methods can be applied for quantification of the direction and size of the salinity effect on SOC stock changes in other salt-affected regions. Our results also suggest that the role of soil salinization should not be neglected in SOC changes projection, and soil salinization control measures should be further taken into practice to enhance soil carbon sequestration in arid inland river basins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roof-breaking characteristics and ground pressure behavior of the coalface are instrumental in guiding deep Jurassic coal seam mining, in particular in the Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia regions of China. A thick-plate mechanical model (TPMM) of the main roof was developed and applied to the case study of 21102 first-mined coalface (FMC) of the Hulusu Coal Mine (HCM) in the Hujirt Mining Area (HMA), China. A theoretical analysis performed via the developed model revealed that the first and periodic breaking intervals of the main roof were 40.6 and 25.0 m, respectively. The roof failure occurred in the tensile mode, was controlled by the internal stress σ x in the rock strata, and started from the center of the long side with the fixed support in the goaf. The field measurement of roof weighting was also performed for the coalface advance from zero to 400 m. The measurement results showed that the first weighting average interval was 41.4 m, and the average interval of periodic weighting was 22.0 m, which agreed with the theoretical calculation and proved the proposed model's feasibility. Finally, the frequency distribution features of the hydraulic support working resistance in the FMC were analyzed statistically. The results showed that the ZY10000-16/32D supports could adapt to the mining geological conditions of the FMC. However, the margin of the rated working resistance of supports was still small. Thus, roof management enhancement during the mining process was strongly recommended. These research findings could offer theoretical guidance for safe and high-efficiency production in the coal mines under similar geological conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formaldehyde (HCHO) is a widespread air pollutant in the indoor environment. Previous studies have shown that some bacteria have potential application to remove indoor HCHO. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Methylobacterium sp. strain R1 (S-R1) in removing formaldehyde (HCHO) from indoor air using biofilters. Three experiments confirmed S-R1's ability to degrade HCHO in the air, with 13C-NMR analysis revealing its involvement in the metabolic process. Optimal biofilter parameters, including 35 sponge layers, 30% humidity, and 9.50 m3/min air flow, resulted in a removal efficiency of up to 90% and an elimination capability of 24111-27000 μg/(m3 ∗ h) during a 60-minute test period. Long-term (31-day) operation of the biofilter with the optimal parameters effectively reduced HCHO levels from 1.60 mg/m3 to 0.02-0.03 mg/m3, below China's national standard, and maintained this level. Fluorescence microscope observation and downstream gas detection revealed stable S-R1 cell numbers and no bacterial leakage, respectively. Two conclusions can be drawn: (1) S-R1 is effective in removing HCHO in polluted air and (2) with optimum parameters, the S-R1 biofilter is engineering effective in purifying the indoor air environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Desmodium triflorum is an important gramineous forage grown in tropical regions of China. In August 2022, a new leaf spot disease was observed on D. triflorum during a field survey at the base of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, Hainan, China. The pathogen was isolated and identified using morphological examination and phylogeny based on multi‐gene sequences analysis of the nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer, the second largest RNA polymerase subunit (RPB2), and beta‐tubulin genes. The isolates were identified as Epicoccum sorghinum. The pathogenicity of E. sorghinum on D. triflorum was validated fulfilling Koch's postulates, causing leaf spot disease. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf spot disease on D. triflorum caused by E. sorghinum in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the greater prevalence of chronic hepatitis B infection, liver tumor is especially popular in China. In China, it is the 4th most prevalent tumor and the 3rd main reason for cancer fatalities. Hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) account for more than 91% of every liver tumor case, and chemotherapy and immunotherapy are the better therapy choices. It is a serious threat to the lives and health of Chinese citizens. Patients diagnosed with liver tumors have a bad prognosis. Surgical resection, liver transplantation, chemotherapeutic embolization, and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) are all choices for patients who are detected early. More effective therapies can result in a better prognosis. This paper analyzes the clinical efficiency of interventional transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) integrated with monopolar radiofrequency ablation (RFA) on patients with a liver tumor. Initially, the dataset is collected and the patients are treated with combined TACE and RFA. The computed tomography (CT) images are obtained using three-phase CT imaging. The images are segmented using adaptive U-Net-based segmentation. The clinical efficiency of the patients is evaluated using Robust Residual Convolutional Neural Network (RR-CNN) which is optimized using Firefly Particle Swarm Optimization (FPSO) algorithm. The performance of the system is analyzed using the MATLAB simulation tool. In performance analysis, the proposed method of RR-CNN is high when compared to the existing method of CNN, logistic regression using genetic algorithm and KNN in overall parameters are accuracy, sensitivity, F 1 -score, and specificity. These integrated treatments have a suggested greater response frequency, indicating a synergistic impact by combination treatment in the initial stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal fractures are crucial in affecting the production of methane from coal. Multiscale fracturing and its implications on coalbed methane production have still not been fully understood. Herein, we present a case study, combining underground coal mine surveying and specimen, thin section, and scanning electron microscope observations for illustrating the ~m-, ~cm-, ~mm-, and ~μm-scale fractures present in the Baode area, eastern Ordos Basin, China. Then, the fracture connectivity is evaluated by helium permeability and mercury porosimetry measurement. The coals are mainly of semibright, semidull, and dull macrolithotypes. And main maceral composition is vitrinite, accounting for 73%~95%, with around 26% inertinite. The coals are ultralow-ash and low-ash content, belonging to high-volatile bituminous coal. The ~m scale fractures can penetrate the whole coal seams, dominant by S-N and following E-W direction, which were generated during the Yanshanian and Himalayan movements. The ~cm fractures are generally parallel to the lamina, influenced by the bright and dull coal band extension caused by the depositional differences. The ~mm fractures are mainly shown as endogenous fractures perpendicular to the lamina restricted within bright macrolithotypes. There are also ~mm fractures that are perpendicular to the lamina while penetrating dull components and fractures parallel to the lamina. The ~μm fractures are widely distributed and connect each other. Some of the fractures are filled with carbonate and clay minerals and are beneficial for methane migration, caused by hydraulic fracturing. The average mercury withdrawal efficiency of the coals was 75%. The helium permeability of the coals was between 10 × 10 − 3 and 50 × 10 − 3 μm2, indicating good fracture connectivity. The study findings, which indicated the presence of fractures of different scales in the coals studied, can be used for fully understanding the coalbed methane performance of medium- and low-rank coals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an experimental study to assess the behaviour of coal samples under tensile loadings to better understand the failure mechanisms and the interactions with the coal characteristics. A set of Brazilian splitting tests were carried out using disk specimens obtained from Tashan Coal Mine in China. The digital speckle correlation method and acoustic emission (AE) were used to capture the deformation localisation and AE characteristics of each specimen during the loading process. The precursor characteristics of AE and the failure mechanism are discussed. It was found that the entire loading process mainly consists of compaction, elastic and post-peak dropping stage without an obvious yielding stage. Two kinds of deformation localisation were observed: central symmetry and axis symmetry. The corresponding AE evolution patterns have different phases, including gradual rise, step rise, transient rise and steady rise. During the subcritical failure stage, AE counts demonstrate a "rapidly increasing + flatten" intermittent feature. The results provide a reference for a better understanding of the damage process of the brittle coal material and its application in ground control design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to explore the experiences of nurses in Wuhan Hospital as front‐line workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic. A descriptive qualitative study of such nurses was conducted from a tertiary hospital in Wuhan. Semi‐structured individual interviews were undertaken with 8 registered nurses who were front‐line health workers in one of the COVID‐19 wards and 3 nursing managers from the response team. Five discrete themes were identified from the narratives of nurses' experiences during the COVID‐19 outbreak in Wuhan: "content of fundamental care," "teamwork," "reciprocity," "nurses' own worries," and "lifelong learning and insights." Nurses in the front line of care during the COVID‐19 pandemic can contribute important information from their hands‐on experience for providing a holistic response to an infectious outbreak like COVID‐19. The concerns nurses raised at both personal and professional levels have implications for nursing education and clinical practice settings, particularly in the time of a pandemic when nurses' well‐being requires attention, and at the same time for considering organizational factors that enable nurses to provide care to patients with confidence. Hospital policies and nursing management need to be ready and adhere to flexible work planning systems and approaches during a pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the historical evolution of China's gender relations through the lens of housework time allocation. In particular, we highlight the role played by social class and income. Drawing upon data from the Chinese Health and Nutrition Survey, we find that during the period 1991–2011, being a peasant or earning less than the spouse was increasingly associated with a higher share of housework. The market process appears to have indirectly improved the social status of women (most likely rural women) married to peasant husbands as measured by the former's declining housework share. Such changes, however, have not challenged traditional patriarchal norms in the countryside and have even facilitated the rise of a new market-based patriarchy. Policy makers should empower women by tackling the different faces of patriarchy as a whole. JEL Classification: B51, J16, P16 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retrieving thunderstorm activity through specific thermodynamic and kinematic parameters is paramount for predicting deep convective weather and investigating long‐term climatology of storm. However, the reliability of the relationship between parameters and convective events is restricted by the modelling methods and sampling of thunderstorm activity. There is no objective definition of a thunderstorm, so the clustering method is applied to the cloud‐to‐ground (CG) lightning stroke data in Central China to identify lightning clusters. These clusters are then gridded and associated with environmental variables derived from ERA5 reanalysis. Finally, machine learning (ML) technologies are applied to model the occurrence of thunderstorms. In addition, ERA5 is also evaluated. The parameters related to moisture and lapse rate calculated by ERA5 are close to sounding measurements, such as Td850, PW, LR700_400 and KI, whose correlation coefficients exceed 0.90. ERA5 has a good estimation of some parameters that are susceptible to the influence of the boundary layer. Compared with the lightning strike‐based scheme, our scheme obtains the best performance index values. An agreement between observations and predictions based on lightning clusters is also evident from the diurnal cycle of thunderstorm probabilities. Although thunderstorm activity on complex terrain is underestimated, the created ML model can explain 61.4% of the variance in the observed frequency. The results of the significance test reveal that there are statistically significant differences between the soundings corresponding to some isolated CG strikes and the thunderstorm class, but the distribution is the same as that of the non‐thunderstorm class. Solar radiation, topographic features and lake distribution play a major role in promoting the occurrence and development of thunderstorms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]