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A brief review of the development of ethnogeography over the past century and geography-oriented theories of minzu over the past 30 years shows that ethnogeography, which is a prominent subdiscipline of geography in the first half of the 20th century, is being eroded to an "important but not conspicuous" field in China. Geography-oriented theories of minzu highlight the significance of "geography" to the development, integration and identification of minzu, whereas the understanding of "geography" is complicated and diverse, and a direction for establishing ethnogeographical theory has not been proposed. Meanwhile, narrow ethnogeography as an independent research field or subdiscipline is devoid of a systematic theoretical system. Considering both modern and contemporary geographical perspectives as well as geography-oriented theories of minzu, three accessible approaches that can strengthen the integrity of ethnogeography and promote the integration of geographical disciplines are proposed. First, the theoretical system of broad ethnogeography could be integrated through a "state-region-place" framework. Second, the multidimensional interpretations of minzu could be bridged with disciplinary traditions of natural science, social science, and humanities to form a threefold "nature-society-humanities" interpretation system. Finally, geographical theories of minzu that emphasizes connection, mobility, and transformation could be developed from the perspective of geography as a discipline rather than a subject. The integrity of ethnogeography will be demonstrated through bridging the gaps among theories, interpretations, and knowledge, and the influence of geography will be extended. More importantly, minzu and nations are understood, not interpreted, geographically.

By extracting information from various original materials and using geography departments, curricula, and faculty as indicators, this paper contributes to the discussion of the development of geography in higher education in China from 1904 to 1949. Four mutual connections are outlined. First, the development of geography in higher education is inextricably linked to social and political changes. Second, geography in higher education during the period concerned progressed in fits and starts, which affected its distribution. Third, geography departments were split into two categories according to the type of higher educational institution, which created differences in the tasks, curricula, and faculty of these departments. Fourth, faculty were trained in both domestic and foreign universities, and Western universities made an obvious contribution to the growth of qualified academic faculty. Simultaneously, universities where qualified academic faculty were trained were centralized both in domestic and foreign aspects. The special role of geographers returning from overseas study, the particularity of geography in higher education in China, and the connection between Chinese and foreign geography are also discussed in terms of geography departments, curricula, and faculty.

The use of non‐solvating, or as‐called sparingly‐solvating, electrolytes (NSEs), is regarded as one of the most promising solutions to the obstacles to the practical applications of Li−S batteries. However, it remains a puzzle that long‐life Li−S batteries have rarely, if not never, been reported with NSEs, despite their good compatibility with Li anode. Here, we find the capacity decay of Li−S batteries in NSEs is mainly due to the accumulation of the dead Li2S at the cathode side, rather than the degradation of the anodes or electrolytes. Based on this understanding, we propose an electrochemical strategy to reactivate the accumulated Li2S and revive the dead Li−S batteries in NSEs. With such a facile approach, Li−S batteries with significantly improved cycling stability and accelerated dynamics are achieved with diglyme‐, acetonitrile‐ and 1,2‐dimethoxyethane‐based NSEs. Our finding may rebuild the confidence in exploiting non‐solvating Li−S batteries with practical competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biometrics recognition takes advantage of feature extraction and pattern recognition to analyze the physical and behavioral characteristics of biological individuals to achieve the purpose of individual identification. As a typical biometric technology, palm print and palm vein have the characteristics of high recognition rate, stable features, easy location and good image quality, which have attracted the attention of researchers. This paper designs and develops a multispectral palm print and palm vein acquisition platform, which can quickly acquire palm spectrum and palm vein multispectral images with seven different wavelengths. We propose a multispectral palm print palmar vein recognition framework, and feature-level image fusion is performed after extracting features of palm print palmar vein images at different wavelengths. Through the multispectral palm print palm vein image fusion experiment, a more feasible multispectral palm print and palm vein image fusion scheme is proposed. Based on the results of image fusion, we further propose an improved convolutional neural network (CNN) for model training to achieve identity recognition based on multispectral palm print palm vein images. Finally, the effects of different CNN network structures and learning rates on the recognition results were analyzed and compared experimentally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through a study of the publication data about translations in the field of geography in China from 1900 to 2017, this paper discusses translation as an inherent factor implying foreign geography's impact on modernising and promoting geography in China. The progress of geographical translation in China has been circuitous and arduous, and can be classified into four distinct yet interconnected phases according to the four‐fold aspects of growth, dominant origin, main field of the translations, and proportion of translations among the selected published works. Although translation has been so ubiquitous in Chinese geography that it seems the impact of foreign geography is inescapable, "impact" cannot be equal to translation. With that in mind, indicators including the number and proportion of translations, the import and absorption of translations, the intertwined variation of translations from various countries in different fields and phases, and the social and political contexts in China are considered. The discussion demonstrates that the role of translation in the growth of geography in China changed situationally, and translation implied not only a "foreign impact" but also a "domestic remodelling" of the discipline. Although the status of geography in China is very different from what it used to be, this conclusion suggests that "importing" quality work is necessary for the further promotion of Chinese geography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aimed to explore the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain protein 2 (NOD2) gene and Parkinson's disease susceptibility, including IVS4 + 10A > C (rs72796353) and a missense mutation at exon 9 (c.2857A > G p.K953E). Methods: Rs72796353 and c.2857A > G p.K953E polymorphisms of NOD2 gene were genotyped via polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism in 125 cases with PD and 120 healthy controls. Genotype and allele frequencies differences of gene polymorphisms between the case and control groups were analyzed by the Chi-square test. Odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95%CI) were used to indicate the relative susceptibility to PD. Furthermore, Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) was evaluated by the χ2 test in controls. Results: Neither genotypes nor allele of rs72796353 was significantly different in cases and control groups (p >.05). Differently, AG/GG genotype of NOD2 2857 A > G polymorphism were associated with the increased risk of PD (OR = 2.486, 95%CI = 1.223–5.056), and G allele carriers were 2.563 times risk to suffer from PD (OR = 2.563, 95%CI = 1.310–5.013). Besides, AG genotype might be also a risk factor for PD. Conclusion:NOD2 c.2857A > G p.K953E polymorphism may be correlated with PD susceptibility in Chinese Han population, but not rs727796353. Further study should be conduct to certify this conclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]