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In the built heritage studies, the intricate web of social and selective processes that define heritage is evident. These processes are, in many cases, intertwined with the notion of scale, examplified through the production of heritage sites at the local, national, and transnational scales. While heritage and geography scholars have articulated the role played by scale in heritage-making and argue against a rigid, fixed, and hierarchical understanding of scale, they highlight the constant reproduction of scale. There is, so far, limited explanation of how the perception of scale gets reproduced and how crucial actors manipulate scalar power and resources for heritage making and the reproduction of scale. To fill this gap, this paper delves into mainland China's heritage-making, using the southern Anhui historical villages as an example. Based on intensive 5-month field research, this paper has three findings: 1) The nomination process for a World Heritage Site is notably influenced by politics and selectivity; 2) Diverse stakeholders are pivotal in shaping heritage narratives; 3) Individual contributions to heritage creation directly interact with, and subsequently reshape, 'scale', an entity that is simultaneously discursive and tangible. By integrating the notion of 'scale' into heritage discussions, we illuminate two concurrent processes: creating hierarchies through rule assimilation by interpreting the UNESCO standard internally and evolving socio-spatial dynamics via the manifestation of individual agency with resource manipulation, scale jumping, and reproduction of scale. This approach aligns with the material orientation in human geography and repositions 'scale'. Here, it's not just an epistemological framework but also a tangible force that steers individual perceptions and actions and yields measurable material impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper used the micro panel data from 2016 to 2019 of 2031 registered poor households in B Town, W County, Lu'an City of Anhui Province in China to analyze the diversified patterns and poverty alleviation effect of paired assistance based on the PSM-DID model. The empirical results show that paired assistance provided by social forces can significantly contribute to the poverty alleviation of poor households, promoting the poverty alleviation rate by 7.8%, which can be concluded through sample matching and control of relevant variables. Furthermore, based on the subsample of poor households with social assistance, we found that external social assistance subject to paired assistance can significantly improve the poverty alleviation rate of poor households by 14.26%, mainly hung on their economic base and strength of poverty alleviation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to reveal the relationship between new urbanization and carbon emission to provide reference opinions for the construction of low-carbon urbanization, an evaluation system between new urbanization and carbon emission was constructed. Then their matching degree relationship was analyzed by coupling coordination degree model based on the data from 2012 to 2021 in Anhui Province, and their development trend from 2023 to 2032 was predicted by gray prediction model. The results show that: (1) New urbanization and carbon emission have the co-trend effect, and the consistency of core impact factors is relatively significant. Among them, the level of new urbanization increases from 0.058 in 2012 to 0.699 in 2021 and carbon emission development increases from 0.023 in 2012 to 0.165 in 2021, which both showing an upward trend. Meanwhile, social urbanization and population carbon emission are the core influencing factors. (2) The coupling coordination degree between new urbanization and carbon emission is low, but the synergy trend is optimistic and there is a large room for improvement. Among them, the coupling coordination coefficient of the coupling system rises from 0.136 in 2012 to 1.412 in 2021 (antagonistic phase), and then reaches 0.820 by 2032 (highly coordinated phase) by forecast. It shows that their current development is unbalanced, but the development trend is good, and there is a chance for improvement. This paper deepens the understanding of the logical correlation between new urbanization and carbon emission, and the following views are formed: (1) Low-carbon development is still the mainstream of new urbanization; (2) The coordination development of new urbanization and carbon emission reduction should be strengthened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Permian–Triassic boundary (PTB) volcanic tuffs are widely distributed in the East Palaeo‐Tethys region, but their age and origin have been controversial. The Permian–Triassic deep‐water sediments in the northeastern margin of South China are favourable research objects, and we report new results from the PTB deep basin sediments in the Susong area, Anhui Province, in this paper. Two volcanic tuffs are found in the Zuoshan PTB in the Zuoshan section, and Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA‐ICP‐MS) U–Pb zircon dating indicates that the upper and lower tuffs are 251.3 ± 1.7 Ma and 252.3 ± 2.1 Ma, respectively. The PTB age is 251.6 Ma according to a numerical interpolation method of the average deposition rate of the PTB. Fusulinids and non‐fusulinid foraminifers in the limestone overlying the lower tuff define the rock as end‐Permian. Zircon trace elements show that both tuffs are sourced from felsic volcanism in continental arc background, and their source magmas were derived from the continental crust. Zircons of PTB age from the upper tuff on the bottom of the Triassic have negative εHf(t) value from −8.02 to −3.75, and the Palaeo‐Mesoproterozoic two‐stage model ages of 1502–1780 Ma, showing that their source rocks were only derived from the remelting of the Palaeo‐Mesoproterozoic continental crust. The zircons from the lower tuff on the top of the Permian show two types, including negative εHf(t) values from −6.48 to −1.25 and Palaeo‐Mesoproterozoic two‐stage model ages of 1350–1679 Ma, and positive εHf(t) values from +3.98 to +10.15, and Neoproterozoic two‐stage model ages of 629–1023 Ma, indicating that their sources were derived from the reworking of the Palaeo‐Mesoproterozoic continental crust and early Neoproterozoic depleted mantle joined in juvenile crust growth in the northern margin of the South China Block at the beginning of the collision between the South China and North China blocks. The initial collision started no later than 252.3 Ma and developed significantly from east to west. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ordovician limestone in North China coalfield has the characteristics of karst fissure development and strong water yield. Coal mines in North China have been threatened by Ordovician limestone water for a long time. Taking the mining of 32 coal seam in the first eastern mining area of Qianyingzi coal mine in Anhui Province in China as the engineering geological prototype, this paper uses the self-developed fluid solid coupling similarity model test device to carry out the similarity model test of overburden stress and pore water pressure response of coal mining under Ordovician limestone nappe aquifer. Based on the variation law of pore water pressure and overburden stress in a stope, it can be seen that the variation law of pore water pressure in confined aquifer is jointly affected by two factors: the vertical distance between the monitoring point and coal seam and the horizontal distance between the monitoring point and DF200 fault. According to the analysis of experimental results, the maximum height of a water flowing fracture zone in the stope is fifteen times the mining thickness. Compared with the theoretical calculation results of empirical formula, the coupling effect of seepage field and stress field and the geological structure characteristics of the stope promote the development of a water flowing fracture zone. The research results of this paper have important theoretical and practical significance not only for the safe mining of Qianyingzi coal mine but also for the safe mining of the coal mine facing the double threat of roof Ordovician limestone confined aquifer and reverse fault. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rice is a major staple food grain for more than half of the world's population, and China is the largest rice producer and consumer in the world. In a climate-warming context, the frequency, duration and intensity of heat waves tend to increase, and rice production will be exposed to higher heat damage risks. Understanding the negative impacts of climate change on the rice supply is a critical issue. In this study, a new perspective on agricultural weather index insurance is proposed to investigate the impact of extreme high-temperature events on rice production in South China in the context of climate change. Based on data from meteorological stations in Anhui Province in China from 1961 to 2018 and the projected data from five Global Climate Models under three representative concentration pathway (RCP) scenarios from 2021 to 2099, the spatial–temporal characteristics of heat stress and its influence on rice production were analyzed by employing a weather index insurance model. The interdecadal breakpoints in the trends of the heat stress weather insurance index (HSWI) and the payout from 1961 to 2018 in 1987 were both determined, which are consistent with the more significant global warming since the 1980s. The largest increase after 1987 was found in the southeastern part of the study area. The projected HSWI and the payout increased significantly from 2021 to 2099, and their growth was faster with higher radiative forcing levels. The HSWI values were on average 1.4 times, 3.3 times and 6.1 times higher and the payouts were on average 3.9 times, 9.8 times and 15.0 times higher than the reference values for the near future, mid-future and far future, respectively. The results suggest that a more severe influence of heat damage on rice production will probably happen in the future, and it is vital to develop relevant adaptation strategies for the effects of a warmer climate and heat stress on rice production. This paper provides an alternative way to transform the evaluation of the extreme climate event index into the quantitative estimation of disaster impacts on crop production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anhui flower drum lantern, as a folk dance in the Huaihe River Basin, exudes the local cultural atmosphere and expresses the cultural color of song and dance drama incisively and vividly. At the same time, it is a sacrificial activity with social belief. As a typical example of the development of folk activities in Anhui, it is an important intangible cultural heritage. With the accelerating construction of economic globalization and social innovation, the pursuit of "cultural confidence" has gradually become the belief of a country, a nation, and even everyone. More and more attention is being paid to the protection and dissemination of national intangible cultural heritage. The paper takes Anhui flower drum lamp as the research object, combined with the characteristics of the regional nature, performance form, content, and cultural connotation of Huagu Lantern, by reading the social activities of the people on both sides of the Huaihe River Basin and using literature data, field visits, interviews, logical analysis, and other research methods. The origin, living environment, development historical context, cultural value, existing confusion, and development countermeasures of Huaihe River are analyzed and discussed. This article helps to spread to the people the understanding of the evolution law of the traditional projects with the characteristics of generational attack. At the same time, it is also helpful to grasp the understanding of Hua Gu Deng and the social life, social beliefs, social relations, and other factors on both sides of the Huaihe River. This also make people further understand the social status and value function of the flower drum lantern along the Huai River and it is of great practical significance to the dissemination of the same type of intangible cultural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the scale of international trade is expanding at a great pace, leading to the development of the economy of different countries. Global industrialization and urbanization are developing with each passing day, and this fast economic expansion is putting a tremendous impact on the environment. Like the other countries, the scale of Chinese export trade is also increasing with time, resulting in the stable economy of our country. With the improvement of living standards, people are continuously demanding high environmental facilities. Further, the impact of trade (enterprises, companies, industries, etc.) on the ecological environment has become a worldwide problem because economic progress brought forth by trade expansion may directly affect the environment by causing pollution to rise or the degradation of natural resources. This indeed is a serious issue; therefore, various countries have started focusing on the impact of export trade on the ecological environment. In recent years, the issue of economic benefits and the environmental impact of export trade has become a hot topic of research. Therefore, this study focuses on the relationship between trade, economy, and environmental quality in China. For the accomplishment of our research study, we selected Anhui free trade zone (FTZ) as an example to analyze the interaction between the economic benefits of Anhui export trade and the local environment. It is among the top trading provinces in China having a faster economic development. In order to accurately study the economic benefits and environmental impact of export trade in the Anhui FTZ, this paper selects industrial waste gas, wastewater, and solid waste to establish an export trade environmental impact indicating system. After comparative analysis, three factors that include industrial soot (dust) emissions for export trade, chemical oxygen demand for trade, and general industrial solid waste dumping and discards are selected to evaluate the impact on the environment of the free trade zone. Based on this, the export trade environment vector autoregressive (VAR) model is established, and the variance decomposition method is used to analyze the dynamic impact of various factors on the environmental impact index. Further, we established an economic benefit VAR model based on the export economic benefit index (EI), export value (EV), and export product concentration (EPC) index and judged the economic benefit of the Anhui free trade zone based on the contribution rate of the obtained three factors. The experimental results show that the export volume and product concentration directly affect the economic benefits of the region, and at the same time, the expansion of export trade promotes the growth of economic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural revitalization strategies are an important task in China. Currently, it is in the transition from poverty alleviation to rural revitalization. This paper proposes an evaluation index of rural revitalization and development potential based on a summary of previous studies. Together with the TOPSIS method, the corresponding coefficients of each index layer and the weight coefficient of the criterion layer were analyzed. This shows that during the process, the work direction of rural revitalization varies based on different revitalization types. In this study, diagnostic tools are utilized to conduct a potential development analysis of rural human settlements by identifying the main influencing factors for rural revitalization. In addition, an index system for improving rural human settlement strategies is established. Overall, it helps in defining the interventions of reducing and managing the risk of rural vitalization and evaluating the potential ability of rural revitalization. It also suggests that Anhui Province should focus on carrying out the comprehensive revitalization of rural areas according to the different functional positions of the countryside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large-scale sports stadiums are an important part of China's sports stadium system and an important material basis and prerequisite for China's basic public sports service system. This paper aims to establish the evaluation index system by exploring the utilization of large stadiums and gymnasiums under the background of sustainable development and to provide important reference for the construction and utilization of stadiums and gymnasiums in the future. Using literature methods, quantitative statistics, analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and other methods, focusing on sustainable use, this study develops a postgame utilization evaluation system for large stadiums, considering the design, construction, operation, and management of the stadium. This paper identifies 5 first-level indicators, 13 second-level indicators, and 38 third-level indicators, which mainly included five aspects of comprehensive performance, service level, environmental performance, economic performance, and venue maintenance. The AHP method was used to determine the index weight coefficient, thus forming a sustainable use evaluation index system for the large stadiums. Finally, taking Bengbu Sports Center in Anhui province as an example, this paper makes an empirical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strong disturbance of upward mining of the short-distance multiseam results in frequent fractures in the coal seam to be mined, jeopardizing the operation safety due to the instability of the surrounding rock of the overlying stope and risks of coal and gas outburst. A lucrative alternative is the downward mining of multiseam, which wide implementation is limited by the lack of reliable data on stress evolution characteristics. In this paper, the evolution, nonlinear interaction, and superposition characteristics of mining-induced stress after multiple pressure relief in the short-distance multi-seam were investigated by the numerical simulation and physical simulation, taking the endowment and mining technology characteristics of group B short-distance multiseam in Pan'er Coal Mine in Anhui Province of China as an example. The numerical and physical models of multiple (2—5 times) mining activities in pressure relief multiseam (with five main coal layers) under downward mining are constructed and implemented with the FLAC3D software and 1 : 100 scaling, respectively. The results showed that a pressure relief arch, which bears and transfers stresses, is formed on the coal seam's roof and floor. In downward mining, the local arch expands to the long arch, which bearing capacity within the influence range of multiple mining disturbances is weak, and the arch structure is prone to instability. If a coal pillar is left in the upper coal seam after its mining, the lower coal seam mining will switch from the large-scale low-stress area under the goaf to the small-scale high-stress area of nonlinear interaction of the multiple mining stresses with the stress under the coal pillar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Avian nephritis virus infections of chicken flocks cause enteric and kidney disease, uneven growth, and runting stunting syndrome, leading to economic losses in the poultry industry. In this study, one ANV strain, designated as AH202017, was isolated from a diseased broiler flock in Anhui province, China, in 2020. Virus production in LMH cell culture was confirmed by real-time RT–PCR and immunofluorescence assay. The complete genome sequencing analysis indicated that AH202017 shares 77.5–85.5% identity with 12 reference strains in GenBank. Phylogenetic analysis of the capsid protein revealed that AH202017 is more closely related to VIC-6a/Australia/2014 belonging to ANV genotype 2. However, the phylogenetic tree, based on the ORF1a protein and ORF1b protein, indicated that AH202017 manifests a close relationship with GXJL815/China/2017 belonging to genotype 8. In infection experiments, four infected chickens showed depression and one chicken died at 6 days post-infection, corresponding to 5% mortality. The virus was shed daily in the faeces of infected chickens, and was found distributed in multiple organs. Macroscopic and microscopic lesions in the kidneys were observed. This is the first paper that describes the genomic characteristics and pathogenicity of a novel ANV strain in China. A novel ANV strain was isolated for the first time from diseased broilers in China. The ANV strain caused nephritis and 5% mortality rate in 1-day-old SPF chickens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid waste backfill mining can effectively deal with gangue and other mining wastes, as well as control the movement and damage of rock strata. In this paper, the RFPA2D rock failure process analysis software is used to study the fracture evolution and seepage response mechanism of the key aquiclude strata (KAS) under the conditions of different structural characteristics, interlayer rock thickness, and backfilling ratios in backfill mining. The simulation results show that, in backfill mining, soft rock plays a crucial role in the fracture repair of KAS with different structural characteristics. An increase in the KAS thickness from 15 to 35 m is shown to results in a continuously improved repair of KAS fractures. At the advancing distance of the working face of 50~100 m and the KAS thickness of 35 m, the minimum vertical seepage velocity of 0.06 ‐ 0.78 × 10 − 2 m / s is reached. An increase in the backfilling ratio from 45 to 80% improves the control effect on the overlying strata. A case study of backfill mining in the Wugou Coal Mine located in the Anhui Province of China was conducted. At the goaf backfilling ratio of 80%, the composite KAS's good control effect was achieved, which minimized seepage and avoided the water in rush phenomena. The above engineering application ensured the safe backfill mining of coal resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization in Central and Western China has attracted increasing attention in the advent of new-type urbanization in China and the age of 'Global Urbanism'. Although land urbanization is at the epicenter of Chinese urbanization, its process and driving forces in counties beyond the Eastern coastal areas are less known. This paper therefore seeks to investigate the spatial expansion and driving forces of land urbanization in Feixi county, a relatively advanced county neighboring Hefei city proper in Anhui province in Central China. Based on the land-use change survey data, remote sensing interpretation data, and statistical yearbook data of Feixi county from 2002 to 2016, it is revealed that the overall scale of urban land in Feixi county increased remarkably, though with obvious temporal and geographical variants. The year 2009 appears to be the cutting line between quantity-based land urbanization and quality-based land urbanization. Land urbanization rate is sensitive to both geographical distance and traffic accessibility to Hefei city proper. Driving forces of land urbanization in Feixi county are summarized as: (1) central city expansion, (2) government-led industrial park construction, and (3) large industrial projects along traffic corridors. A better understanding of urbanization in Feixi county cannot be fulfilled without taking into account the wider spatial process in Hefei city and the Yangtze River Delta city-region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A large-area digital soil mapping method based on environmental-similarity is proposed. • The distance-decay relationship is adaptively determined by spatial distribution of samples. • Adaptively considering spatial distance to samples improves soil prediction accuracy. Digital soil mapping (DSM) based on environmental similarity may be used to predict the soil properties at unvisited locations based on the soil–environment relationship at each sample locations, which is more suitable for large-area (or regional scale) predictive mapping with comparatively limited soil samples than (geo-)statistical DSM methods with high requirements for the quantity and spatial distribution of samples. Recently, the DSM method based on environmental similarity but with inadequate consideration of the First Law of Geography was improved by considering the spatial distance to samples by means of the inverse distance weight (IDW), following the assumption that the more similar the environmental conditions and the shorter the spatial distance between the locations of interest and a sample are, the more similar the soil properties of the two locations. However, the current consideration of spatial distance by a constant distance-decay parameter should be improper across a whole large area under mapping due to the spatial variation of both sample distribution and the environmental conditions over a large area. In this paper, we propose a new large-area DSM method based on environmental similarity with adaptive consideration of spatial distance to samples by using adaptive distance-decay parameter values across a large area. An evaluation experiment to predict the soil organic matter at a depth of 0–20 cm at a 90-m resolution with a total of 659 soil samples in Anhui Province (approximately 134000 km2), China, was carried out. Evaluation results show that the proposed method (named iPSM-AdaIDW) achieved higher accuracy (with a root mean square error, or RMSE, of 8.273 g/kg) than two representative environmental-similarity-based DSM methods, i.e., individual Predictive Soil Mapping (iPSM) (without considering the spatial distance to samples) (RMSE = 8.878 g/kg) and iPSM considering spatial distance with a constant distance-decay parameter across the study area (RMSE = 8.310 g/kg), and a representative of large-area DSM not based on environmental similarity, i.e., the random forest kriging method (RMSE = 9.647 g/kg). For large areas with quantitively limited and unevenly distributed samples, the proposed method can achieve more applicable and accurate predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A main purpose of the present study was to examine and compare attitudes toward inclusive education between parents of children with ASD, parents of typically developing children, and classroom teachers in China. The investigators also sought to explore factors influencing different stakeholders' perspectives. An attitude survey was distributed to 14 institutions in Shanghai and Anhui Province in China, including four kindergartens, two elementary schools, four special schools, and four private training agencies. Seven hundred and twelve responses were received, including 170 from parents of children with ASD, 337 from parents of typically developing children, and 197 from classroom teachers. Both multivariate and univariate analyses were conducted to compare differences in attitudes between groups. The results indicate that parents of children with ASD held the most positive attitudes toward inclusion, whereas classroom teachers held the least positive attitudes toward the inclusion of children with ASD. Further analyses revealed that not only were adults' attitudes influenced by their identities as parents or teachers, but their background may also influence how they perceive inclusive education. The findings of the study provided a comprehensive view on how different parties perceive inclusive education of ASD. It also provided empirical evidence that inclusion generally has a positive impact on people's attitudes toward ASD. Implications and suggestions for future research and practices were further discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overloading of road freight vehicles accelerates road damage, creates unfair competition in the transport market, and increases safety risk. There is a dearth of research on the mining of data of highway Freight Weight (FW), and this paper therefore aims to discover factors affecting road freight overloading based on highway FW data, with a view of developing strategies to mitigate such occurrences. A comprehensive sampling survey of road freight transportation was conducted in Anhui Province (China). Vehicle Characteristics (VC), Operation Mode (OM), and transportation information from a total of 3248 trucks were collected. In order to take advantage of the strengths associated with both statistical modelling techniques and non-parametric methods, a Classification And Regression Tree (CART) technique was integrated with Binary Logistic Regression (BLR) to reveal the factors affecting road freight overloading. The classification efficacy test shows that the BLR-CART method outperformed the BLR method in term of accuracy. It is also revealed that the factors affecting overloading of freight vehicles are the Type of Transportation (ToT), Rated Load (RL), OM, FW during the investigation period, interaction between RL and FW, and interaction among RL, FW, and Average Haul Distance (AHD). Road transport authorities should pay greater attention to these factors in order to improve efficiency and effectiveness of overloading inspection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a systematic method with high accuracy and efficiency to scientifically analyse the long-term stability and deformation behaviour of an anhydrite mine-out located in Anhui, South China and evaluate the feasibility of this mine-out as an underground crude oil storage space. Applying the particle swarm optimization algorithm, the parameters of Burgers creep model of anhydrite rock were obtained based on the uniaxial compressive creep test. Considering the results of numerical simulation, element safety factor (Esf) based on the Mohr's strength theory was introduced and modified to quantificationally evaluate the long-term stability of cavern group. Combining field monitoring, the long-term deformation behaviour of the mine-out was analysed. The results show that the mine-out has good long-term stability and non-deformability. After 100 years of natural deformation, the vertical convergence deformation of the cavern is less than 500 mm, while lateral convergence deformation is less than 450 mm. The ground settlement is not more than 234 mm. The maximum loss rate of the space volume is no more than 5.38%, which is 4.75% under the condition of crude oil storage with 1.0 MPa internal pressure. Therefore, the mine-out has the potential to serve as an underground crude oil storage space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge of vertical distribution of air pollutants is important for understanding the mechanisms underlying haze pollution. In this paper, we characterize the vertical structure of air pollutants based on ground-based Multi-Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) measurements in the wintertime in Hefei, East China. Both NO 2 and aerosol show exponentially decreasing profile with high concentrations concentrated close to the surface, suggesting the major emissions are at ground level. SO 2 profiles extend to slightly higher altitudes than NO 2 , which might be due to the SO 2 emissions from elevated point sources (e.g., power plants). Elevated HCHO was observed in the middle layer during noon time, probably indicating that the larger effect of the photochemical formation of atmospheric HCHO rather than direct HCHO emissions. Potential source contribution function (PSCF) and concentration-weighted trajectory (CWT) models were used to evaluate the potential sources of Hefei's air pollution in the lower, middle and upper boundary layer. The results revealed that the major regional source of NO 2 and aerosol were located in the northern and eastern part of Anhui and the transport mainly occured in the lower layer. Transported SO 2 from the northwestern regions in the middle layer made great contribution to SO 2 in Hefei. HCHO was mostly produced locally while the transport of HCHO from potential source areas was negligible. To further explore the potential source contributions affecting haze pollution, PSCF and CWT analysis for heavy haze episodes suggested that the potential source areas for aerosol were almost located in the northern region, the northwestern region, and the YRD region. Our findings provide a more comprehensive understanding for regional transport through the study on potential sources at different altitudes, which are useful for designing collaborative air pollution control strategies on a regional scale. • Vertical distribution of air pollutants is investigated to identify potential sources at different altitudes during winter. • Both NO 2 and aerosol show exponentially decreasing profile with high concentrations concentrated close to the surface. • SO 2 and HCHO profile typically extended to higher altitudes than NO 2 and aerosol did during winter. • The main potential sources for aerosol were located in the northern region, the northwestern region, and the YRD region. • This study is useful for designing collaborative air pollution control strategies on a regional scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a large number of reviews have studied different scales of forest ecosystem services, few have concentrated on accounting the spatiotemporal dynamic changes of forest ecosystem services in a region. To make a more accurate accounting, this paper selects intense data sets that assess the physical quantity and value of forest ecosystem services in Anhui provinces from 2009 to 2014. Regulating and supporting services such as water conservation, carbon sequestration and oxygen release, soil conservation and air purification are included in the paper as variables. Optimize analysis was further conducted in order to identify the spatial and temporal heterogeneity during the study period. We establish a dynamic ecosystem services assessment model with the coefficient of spatial heterogeneity and coefficients of scarce resources and social development to analyze the trend of the value in Anhui province. This model is designed for comparisons of forest services in different scales in Anhui province. The results demonstrate that the total value of forest ecosystem services is beyond the previous estimation while using spatiotemporal visualization. The implications are that the evaluation of forest ecosystem services should be measured more accurately with the help of big data in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green Mining Construction (GMC) is the Chinese national strategy of the environmental regulation of the mining industry to motivate mining enterprises to improve their resource utilization efficiency, protect the environment and harmonize the relationship between enterprises and communities. This paper uses system dynamics (SD) and the Malmquist-Luenberger (ML) Index to model the sustainable effect of the policy instruments of Green Mining Construction, namely, environmental taxes and subsidies. A case study of typical coal mining enterprises in Anhui, China, is provided to demonstrate the application of the proposed model in which the corporate performances of three optional strategies in response to the Green Mining Construction policies are examined. The responsive strategies are categorized as scale expansion, technical innovation and environmental protection. The simulation results show the following: (i) The environmental taxes and subsidies with disparate rates can help enterprises that focus on technical innovation and environmental protection perform better, albeit with a certain degree of lag. (ii) The synergy impact of subsidies and taxes is not significantly more than the separate ones. (iii) Environmental regulations reduce the productivity of mining enterprises, but to varying extents. This negative effect of environmental regulation should be compensated by other measures. This study offers insights to help enterprises select optimal strategies in response to the Green Mining Construction policies and to inform the government of possible sustainable policy designs to promote the Green Mining Construction. The limitations of the model are discussed for further improvements in simulating the effect of environmental regulation. • The hybrid model is used to test the effect of mining environmental policy in China. • Environmental taxes and subsidies are effective, but there are delays. • The effect of policy combination is not better than that of the single policy. • The model negates the Porter hypothesis, but there are differences among enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In the late 1990s, China initiated the Conversion of Croplands to Forest Program (CCFP) and the Ecological Welfare Forest Program (EWFP) based on the Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) principle. Positive socioeconomic outcomes of the programs are essential for the long-term success of eco-environment conservation. However, there is lack of understanding of their longer-term (over 10 years) impacts on rural livelihoods. In this paper, we examine income distribution and inequality of rural households under CCFP and EWFP in rural Anhui, China after 12 years of program implementation. Results show that CCFP-participating households have higher income inequality than non-participants, while the EWFP does not have a significant effect. Local off-farm work and out-migration with remittances are the two principal income sources and both add to inequality. A regression-based decomposition of inequality shows that the CCFP indirectly alters livelihoods by increasing out-migration with remittances, but it also adds to inequality from shifting livelihoods to non-agricultural activities. Meanwhile, EWFP payments positively affect agricultural incomes and contribute 16% to agricultural income inequality. Finally, human capital, natural capital and physical capital all play important roles in generating income and inequality, but the factors affecting inequality from agricultural and non-agricultural activities are different. Highlights • We examine rural household income distribution under two concurrent PES programs. • CCFP positively affects non-farm income via out-migration followed by remittances. • EWFP positively affects agricultural income and adds slightly to inequality. • Factors affecting agricultural and non-agricultural income distributions differ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The combination and placement of sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) devices is important for system design, but differing site characteristics and device properties can make this a challenging task. Opinion-based and optimization-based approaches have the disadvantages of subjectivity and excessive computational burden respectively. This paper presents a new framework for SuDS device combination and placement in system design. It integrates zero-one integer programming, random sampling, scheme filtering and cost-effectiveness analysis. The effectiveness of the framework is tested with a SuDS device placement design case in Chizhou city, Anhui province, China. The proposed framework will help to objectively choose the best SuDS device combination and placement scheme for cost-effective implementation. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Framework for determining for SuDS device placement schemes is presented. • Zero-one integer programming, scheme sampling and filtering are integrated. • A cost-effectiveness analysis method using a cost-effectiveness ratio is proposed. • Framework will aid objective selection of an appropriate SuDS placement scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper selected colleges and universities in northwestern Anhui for research to analyze the current situation of human landscape construction on campus in northwestern Anhui and discuss the deficiency in the human landscape construction on campus in northwestern Anhui.. It also proposed principles that should be followed in the human landscape construction on campus as well as optimization measures to create a harmonious campus full of humanity, with a view to providing a reference for the human landscape construction on campus in northwestern Anhui. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Theoretical model was proposed to analyze the time-dependent behavior of RRU; • The model was used to analyze the convergences of roadway in a mining project; • Good agreements were achieved from analytical solutions and field monitored data; • Stress in rock decayed over time when sudden stress was imposed on the RRU. The energy-absorbing bolt is an advanced reinforcing element in rock mass to absorb the deformation energy. In this paper, the time-dependent reinforcement provided by the energy-absorbing bolt was analyzed based on assumptions of the reinforced rock unit (RRU) model for systematic bolting. The energy-absorbing bolt was simulated with an ideal elastic–plastic material law. The rheological behavior of the energy-absorbing bolt was represented by the connection of a Hookean elastic element and a Saint Venant element in series. The constitute model and creep behavior of the RRU under a sudden stress change were obtained by assuming the rock was a general Kelvin material. It showed the RRU exhibited an instantaneous jump in the strain, transient creep, and steady-state creep under a sudden change of external stress. The resulting stress in the rock decreased progressively as that in the energy-absorbing bolt could sustain the loading as large as its designed yielded stress. The constitutive models of RRU were applied to predict the convergences of surrounding rock mass in a mining roadway, in Anhui province, China. Good agreements were achieved between the analytical solutions and the field-monitored data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Researches revealed that there has been existed a relatively stable and positive relationship between economic growth and electricity consumption. However, the inconsistency between them appeared in 2008. Therefore, it is urgent to analyze whether the GDP in China is cheated and to seek the underlying reasons contributed to the deviation. Anhui province is selected to act our study area. In order to explore the underlying reasons of the deviation between economic growth and electricity consumption, a multivariable regression models is established in this paper. Empirical results are as follows: (1) real GDP, industrial structure (IS), heating degrees days (HDD), cooling degree days (CDD), investment in fixed assets (IF) are all positive factors for the consumption of electricity; (2) IS is the major contributor to raising the consumption of electricity, followed by IF, CDD, HDD, and GDP; (3) energy intensity (EI) and financial development (FD) are negative factors, when the value of EI increase 1.0%, the consumption of electricity will decrease 7.4%; (4) if the electricity consumption caused by other factors except GDP is eliminated, the deviation would almost shrink; (5) the real growth rate of GDP of Anhui province is authentic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Presents a data-driven measurement, evaluation, and identification method. • Uses a coupling coordination degree model for three regional agriculture subsystems. • Suggests ways to reduce costs, increase social support, and enhance competitiveness. This study aims to evaluate the relationship between the agriculture economy environment, and society from the perspective of system theory and then put forward targeted suggestions for sustainable development of Anhui's agriculture in China. Based on the collection of relevant data and the objective weighting of indicators, the entropy weight method is used to measure the comprehensive development level of regional agriculture. The coupling coordination degree model is employed to evaluate the coupling coordination level among the three subsystems of regional agriculture. The obstacle degree model is used to identify the key obstacle factors. The case study results show that the main obstacles of the coordination system are the use of pesticides, the number of agricultural scientific and technological achievements, the application of agricultural plastic film, the number of farmers' technical training schools, and the proportion of animal husbandry. Accordingly, the paper posits suggestions, such as reducing the input of pesticides and agricultural plastic films in agricultural production, improving the social support level of agricultural science, technology, and education, and enhancing the competitiveness of animal husbandry in the Anhui Province. This study provides theoretical and methodological support for the coupled and coordinated development of regional agricultural economy, ecology and society(EES). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of the new urbanization, this paper performs an empirical analysis of requisition-compensation balance indicators in Chuzhou City, and points out the problems in the land transaction. At the national level, it is necessary to intoduce the measures to regulate the market transactions of requisi/on-compensation balance indicators as soon as possible, put safeguarding the interests of the majority of farmer in the frst place during market transactions, and establish the a unified market pla/orm for the transaction of land-related indicator, so as to boost te urban construction, promote the integration of urban and rural areas, and speed up the new urbanization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summaized the experience in high yield of wheat and com in Jieshou City ad made a further study on the supporting measures for the high yield of wheat ad corn on this basis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using stakeholder survey, documentation and policy analysis, through the survey of stakeholders, this paper aims to explore the problems in the collectively owned land requisition compensation system and their causes, and put forth the reform ideas and measures to provide a reference for the development of new urbanization. The results show that there are some problems in the current land requisition compensation system, such as improper land requisition compensation standard and calculation method, low compensation standard, unsound social security system, irrational compensation and placement methods and low satisfaction of farmers whose land is requisitioned. Therefore, it is necessary to accelerate the reform of land requisition compensation system and smooth progress of new urbanization construction in accordance with the requirements of 3rd Plenum of the 18th Communist Party of China (CPC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surplus rural workers seek employment through inter-provincial migration, which was once a path to urbanization in labor export regions, and contributed a lot to the economic and social development of both the labor export regions and labor import regions. But in recent years the labor shortage in eastern regions indicates new changes of the Chinese population structure and migration. Based on the macro statistical analysis and field survey, this paper analyzes Huaiyuan County in northern Anhui Province by using the push-and-pull model as the analytical framework. Then it explores the mechanism of population migration and the tendency of urbanization from the aspects of the pull from labor import regions and the push from labor export regions. The study shows that both the pull from labor import regions and the push from labor export regions are decreasing, and reverse population migration may occur. Therefore, to accommodate such changes, labor export regions should transfer from "Laborers Migrating for Employment" to "Industry Transfer for Laborers" to promote healthy urbanization. Finally, it proposes further discussions in combination with the National New Urbanization Plan (2014 - 2020). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrological variable frequency analysis is a fundamental task for water resource management and water conservancy project design. Given the deficiencies of higher distribution features for the upper tail section of hydrological variable frequency curves and the corresponding safer resulting design of water conservancy projects utilizing the empirical frequency formula and Pearson type III function-based curve fitting method, the normal cloud transform algorithm-based model for hydrological variable frequency analysis was proposed through estimation of the sample empirical frequency by the normal cloud transform algorithm, and determining the cumulative probability distribution curve by overlapping calculation of multiple conceptual cloud distribution patterns, which is also the primary innovation of the paper. Its application result in northern Anhui province, China indicated that the varying trend of the cumulative probability distribution curve of annual precipitation derived from the proposed approach was basically consistent with the result obtained through the traditional empirical frequency formula. Furthermore, the upper tail section of the annual precipitation frequency curve derived from the cloud transform algorithm varied below the calculation result utilizing the traditional empirical frequency formula, which indicated that the annual precipitation frequency calculation result utilizing the cloud transform algorithm was more optimal compared to the results obtained by the traditional empirical frequency formula. Therefore, the proposed cloud transform algorithm-based model was reliable and effective for hydrological variable frequency analysis, which can be further applied in the related research field of hydrological process analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since remote sensing images are difficult to obtain and need to go through a complicated administrative procedure for use in China, it cannot meet the requirement of huge training samples for Waterside Change Detection based on deep learning. Recently, data augmentation has become an effective method to address the issue of an absence of training samples. Therefore, an improved Generative Adversarial Network (GAN), i.e., BTD-sGAN (Text-based Deeply-supervised GAN), is proposed to generate training samples for remote sensing images of Anhui Province, China. The principal structure of our model is based on Deeply-supervised GAN(D-sGAN), and D-sGAN is improved from the point of the diversity of the generated samples. First, the network takes Perlin Noise, image segmentation graph, and encoded text vector as input, in which the size of image segmentation graph is adjusted to 128 × 128 to facilitate fusion with the text vector. Then, to improve the diversity of the generated images, the text vector is used to modify the semantic loss of the downsampled text. Finally, to balance the time and quality of image generation, only a two-layer Unet++ structure is used to generate the image. Herein, "Inception Score", "Human Rank", and "Inference Time" are used to evaluate the performance of BTD-sGAN, StackGAN++, and GAN-INT-CLS. At the same time, to verify the diversity of the remote sensing images generated by BTD-sGAN, this paper compares the results when the generated images are sent to the remote sensing interpretation network and when the generated images are not added; the results show that the generated image can improve the precision of soil-moving detection by 5%, which proves the effectiveness of the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the actual situation of tobacco production in South Anhui tobacco-growing area, the paper analyzes several major constraints, and discusses several aspects such as tobacco production human resources, production of large-scale cultivation, science and technology serice providers, the standardized production management and production security system. The countermeasures and suggestions for sustainable development are also put forward to provide a reference for the sustainable development of tobacco-growing area in South Anhui. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a research paper discussing the formation of the banded iron formation (BIF) in Huoqiu iron ore field in Western Anhui Province, China. It offers information on several metamorphic rocks in the region including dolomitic marble, schist and amphibolite. It also discusses iron mineralization and ore genesis of BIF in Huoqiu.

A newly discovered tungsten ore district containing more than 300,000 tons of WO3 in southern Anhui Province has attracted great attention. The Zhuxiling W (Mo) deposit in the district is dominated by skarn tungsten mineralization. This paper conducted in suit EPMA and LA-ICPMS spot and mapping analysis of the skarn mineral garnet to reveal the evolution of fluids, metasomatic dynamics, and formation conditions of skarn. Two generations of garnet have been identified for Zhuxiling W (Mo) skarn: 1) Gt-I generation garnet is isotropic, Al-rich grossular without zoning. As a further subdivision, Gt-IB garnet (Adr19-46Grs49-77 (Sps+Pyr+Alm)4-5) contains significantly high content of Ti and Mn compared with Gt-IA garnet (Adr3-42Grs53-96 (Sps+Pyr+Alm)1-5). 2) Gt-II generation garnet is anisotropic, Fe-rich andradite with oscillatory zoning. Gt-II garnet displays compositional changes with a decrease of Fe and an increase of Mn from proximal skarn (Gt-IIA) to distal skarn (Gt-IIB) with the presence of subcalcic garnet for Gt-IIB type (Sps+Pyr+Alm = 56–68). The presence of pyrrhotite associated with subcalcic garnet indicates a relatively reduced skarn system. Gt-I grossular is overall enriched in Cr, Zr, Y, Nb, and Ta compared with the Gt-II andradite, and both W and Sn strongly favor Fe-rich garnet compared with Al-rich garnet. Gt-IA grossular garnet presents a REE trend with an upward-facing parabola peaking at Pr and Nd in contrast to low and flat HREE, and Gt-IB grossular garnet has a distinct REE pattern with enriched HREE. Gt-IIA andradite garnet displays a right-dipping REE pattern (enriched LREE and depleted HREE) with a prominent positive Eu anomaly (Eu/Eu* = 3.6–15.3). In contrast, Gt-IIB andradite garnet shows depleted LREE and enriched HREE with a weak positive Eu anomaly (Eu/Eu* = 0–6.0). The incorporation and fractionation of REE in garnet are collectively controlled by crystal chemistry and extrinsic factors, such as P–T–X conditions of fluids, fluid/rock ratios, and mineral growth kinetics. Major and trace elements of two generations of garnet combined with optical and textural characteristics suggest that Gt-I Al-rich grossular garnets grow slowly through diffusive metasomatism under a closed system, whereas Gt-II Fe-rich andradite represent rapid growth garnet formed by the infiltration metasomatism of magmatic fluids in an open system. The Mn-rich garnet implies active fluid–rock interaction with Mn-rich dolomitic limestone of the Lantian Group in the district. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The reliability of soil-environment relationships at sample points was evaluated. • The prediction trustworthiness results at unvisited locations was evaluated. • The estimated prediction trustworthiness is indicative of prediction accuracy. • The method is robust regardless of the processing orders of sample points. Observations of soil at georeferenced sample points are the indispensable input to digital soil mapping (DSM) models that relate soil properties and types to the soil-forming environment. Many existing DSM methods require soil samples to be collected following a pre-defined sampling pattern. This requirement is often not met due to various operational reasons. The individual sample-based predictive soil mapping (iPSM) method has been developed to avoid this requirement. However, the prediction accuracy of iPSM depends heavily on the reliability of the known sample points used in prediction. Unreliable sample points are those with unreliable soil-environment relationship: the target soil property value and environmental covariate data are not correctly paired at the sample point location. Such unreliable sample points will lead to poorly constructed models and low prediction accuracy. This paper presents a new method to estimate the reliability of soil-environment relationship at each sample location and to evaluate the trustworthiness of prediction at each unvisited location. Under the assumption that sample points with similar environmental conditions have similar soil property values, the method first identifies the sample points that are environmentally similar to the sample point to be evaluated, then uses their agreement on the targeted soil property to evaluate the reliability of soil-environment relationship at the sample point. The effectiveness of the method was assessed in a case study located in Anhui Province in China to map soil organic matter content (SOM, %) in the topsoil. When the reliability threshold increased from 0.5 to 0.8, more unreliable sample points are excluded from prediction: 41% of total sample points were excluded when the threshold was set to 0.5, and 88% were excluded when the threshold was set to 0.8. As a result, less unknown area could be predicted – only nine validation points were predictable with the 0.8 reliability threshold. However, the prediction accuracy was improved: the root mean squared error, RMSE, decreased from 1.37% to 0.63%, and R2 increased from 0.21 to 0.98. Prediction trustworthiness at each unvisited location was also produced along with prediction accuracy, which was negatively related to the absolute prediction residuals. This study shows that the reliability of individual sample points is an important determinant of the prediction accuracy of the iPSM method. When applying iPSM method, an optimal trade-off between prediction accuracy and completeness of the predicted map needs to be found by adjusting the reliability threshold on the sample points used in prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a case study of the Fanshan lithocap developing in the Luzong intracontinental volcanic basin to indicate the direction of mineralization because lithocaps are generally related to the porphyry-epithermal system. The Fanshan lithocap formed in the magmatic-hydrothermal environment and then superimposed by supergene environment. We predicted the direction of mineralization of Fanshan lithocap using the formation environment, alunite at 1480 nm peak positions, whole-rock geochemistry, magmatic-hydrothermal alunite geochemistry, and alteration zones. Precious metals mineralization may occur in the depth of Dafanshan alunite mining area (star position in figure), copper mineralization potential may be in the Huangtun area, which is located in the northeast of the Dafanshan alunite mining area. • Short-wave infrared spectroscopy was used to distinguish and recognize mineral species. • Fanshan lithocap was formed in a magmatic hydrothermal environment superimposed by a supergene environment. • Spatial variation of alteration zones indicate the mineralization direction. • Copper and gold mineralization nearby is explored in the Luzong basin. Lithocaps in island-arc settings are genetically related to porphyry-epithermal systems and can be used to guide exploration for porphyry deposits. The Fanshan area of the Luzong basin in the eastern China, hosts a large lithocap but no porphyry or epithermal deposits have been found. The Fanshan lithocap in the Luzong basin is centred on the Dafanshan alunite mining district with vuggy quartz–alunite–pyrite, quartz–dickite–kaolinite ± alunite, quartz–kaolinite and kaolinite–illite ± smectite from northeast to southeast. The alteration zoning reflects the gradual decrease in the temperatures and acidities of the fluids. Four types of alunite including bladed alunite, needle alunite, granular alunite, and powdery alunite suggest that the Fanshan lithocap formed in the magmatic-hydrothermal and supergene environment. From the southwest to the northeast of the Dafanshan district, Pb and 106Pb/(Na + K) in the alunite samples gradually decrease, Au content gradually increases, but the Cu content does not change significantly. The peak positions at 1480 nm and the Na content of the magmatic-hydrothermal alunite gradually increase, whereas Pb and 106Pb/(Na + K) in the alunite minerals gradually decrease. This suggests that the source of the hydrothermal fluids and a potential zone of precious metal mineralization area may be in the northeast of the Dafanshan district, and the potential area of copper mineralization may be in the Huangtun area northeast of the Luzong basin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here we present our workflow and the final results of the 3D prospectivity modeling around the Zhuchong deposit undertaken during this study shown in terms of degree of connection values. The workflow is the core guiding ideology of our work. During the ore formation prediction, we tried to use weights of evidence method and artificial neural networks method to deal with the 3D cells data. And the results indicate these two methods can well predict the location of the known ore bodies. The reason may be that the copper deposits in Zhuchong Fe-Cu deposit are not concentrated but scattered, which makes making a certain influence to training samples in the neural network method. Which cause the defective result of neural network the result of neural network method is defective. What's more, the weight of evidence is also faster than the neural network method in speed. The results of the two prediction methods are roughly consistent. The similarity between these two prediction results indirectly reflects that two methods are feasible in Zhuchong Fe-Cu deposit. In the meanwhile, the prediction results are proved reliable and useful. The final prediction zone of metallogentic can be used as a target area for further exploration in Zhuchong mining area. • We use 3D ore formation prospectivity modeling and weights of evidence method and artificial neural networks method on the Zhuchong Fe-Cu deposit. • Result indicates that areas of known mineralization can be used to train 3D datasets to identify areas that are highly prospective for future exploration. • Compared the prediction results of the weight of evidence and the neural network, synthetically considering, for Zhuchong skarn Fe-Cu-Au deposit, the weight of evidence is more appropriate for the metallogenic prediction work. Our work has guiding significance for future deep prospecting and exploitation for other similar Fe-Cu skarn deposits. Three-dimensional (3D) metallogenic prospectivity modeling has become increasingly important in deep Fe-Cu skarn mineralization prospecting. The selection of prediction models and their comparison are of great significance. In this paper, we integrated the geological and geophysical data from the Zhuchong Fe-Cu deposit in the Yueshan orefield (Anhui, eastern China) to establish the local 3D geological framework. We extracted the 3D ore-controlling factors quantitatively by means of 3D spatial analysis methods, and compared the 3D mineralization locations predicted by the weight of evidence method and the artificial neural network method. The results show that both methods can locate most of the known orebodies, suggesting that both are relatively reliable. In addition, the weight of evidence method performed distinctly better than the artificial neural network method in terms of both prediction effectiveness and efficiency. Therefore, the weight of evidence method may be more applicable in 3D prospectivity modelling for Fe-Cu skarn deposits in the region. Finally, the composite area predicted by the two methods is taken as the final prediction result of the mineralization area of the deposit. And it is suggested that in the quantitative 3D prediction, multiple selection of different methods with good adaptability should be involved in the prediction at the same time, and compound prediction method should be used to delineate the target area. Our work has guiding significance for future deep prospecting and exploitation for other similar Fe-Cu skarn deposits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]