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With the deepening of urbanization in China, the coordinated development of cities in different regions is an important part of the sustainable development of the country, and the reasonable quantification of the unbalanced development of cities in different regions is an important issue facing the society nowadays. Previous studies usually use population data to analyze the power-law distribution law to quantify the imbalance of urban development in different regions, but China's population data span a large number of years and numerous division criteria, and the results obtained from different population data are widely disparate and have obvious limitations. The paper starts from a fractal perspective and utilizes OpenStreetMap (OSM) data to extract national road intersections from 2015 to 2022, calculates critical distance thresholds for eight years using urban expansion curves, generates urban agglomerations in China, and quantifies the imbalance of urban development in different regions by calculating the urban agglomeration power-law index. The results indicate that (1) the critical distance threshold of urban expansion curves exhibits a slight overall increase and stabilizes within the range of 120–130 m, (2) the number of urban agglomerations in China has been increasing significantly year by year, but the power-law index has been decreasing from 1.49 in 2015 to 1.36 in 2022, and (3) the number of urban agglomerations and the power–law index of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Chengdu–Chongqing regions, which is consistent with the national scale trend, indicates that the scale distribution of urban agglomerations in China at this stage does not conform to Zipf's law, and there is a certain Matthew effect among cities in different geographic areas with a large unevenness. The results of the study can provide new ideas for assessing the coordinated development of cities in different regions. It compensates for the instability of population and economic data in traditional studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the era of the urban economy and service economy, the decoupling of service industry land expansion from economic growth has always been a key measure to evaluate sustainable and healthy development. Based on the decoupling model and GIS spatial analysis method, this paper conducted an empirical study of Chinese cities from 2012 to 2019. Results: (1) Increasing spatial heterogeneity, correlation and agglomeration of land expansion were found in China's urban service industry and its economic growth; (2) Most cities were in weak decoupling, with evolved, degraded and unchanged cities accounting for one-third each, and the number of cities in negative decoupling was increasing, leading to increasingly diverse and complex decoupling relationships; (3) From the perspective of changes in the urban service industry land and its decoupling from economic growth, HH cities were clustered in the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei and Chengdu–Chongqing urban agglomerations in a continuous belt pattern, while LL and HL cities were mostly in the north, especially in the northeast, creating many cluster-like agglomerations that have become problematic spaces; (4) A significant synergistic effect was identified between the factors of urban permanent population, value added of the secondary industry, per capita GDP, government financial expenditure, international trade, foreign direct investment, total retail of commodities, and authorized patents, with factor pairs formed showing nonlinear enhancement. The factor value added of the secondary industry had the largest direct impact, while urban permanent population and foreign direct investment led in terms of net synergies; (5) It is recommended to introduce classified and differentiated urban service industry land use policies, plan and build a number of national, provincial and municipal modern service industry clusters, demonstrate changes in land supply and use, build a scientific and efficient land resource allocation and management system, guard against and prevent recoupling and effectively improve the ability of cities to achieve high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing scholarly attention on the role of urban networks for understanding regional dynamics, there has been limited research examining the impact of cities' transportation network connections on regional market integration. This paper analyzes China's four major urban agglomerations: the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, and Chengdu-Chongqing. Applying a spatial Durbin model to cross-sectional datasets for 2019, we provide insight into the role of cities' transportation network connections in promoting regional market integration, considering both the potentially heterogeneous impact of network connections and the interplay between network and agglomeration externalities. Our results indicate that: (1) cities' transportation network connections have an inverted 'U'-shaped effect on regional market integration; (2) transportation network connections have spatial spillover effects; (3) the positive impact of transportation network connections on regional market integration becomes more pronounced as city size decreases; and (4) there are neither complementary nor substitution effects between network and agglomeration externalities. We reflect on the broader implications of our empirical findings for regional development strategies and discuss possible avenues for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early work on China's Two-Child Policy identified cost as a major disincentive to having a second child, but financial constraints may work in tandem with cultural factors to shape childbearing desire. In addition, most research has excluded men from the sample. This paper develops Yan's (2003) concepts of 'new' and 'traditional' fertility cultures to childbearing desire, a key component of fertility decision-making that is poorly understood (Hayford & Agadjanian, 2017). In particular, we focus on how differing conceptions of children's needs relate to perceptions of cost. This paper reports on semi-structured interviews with 29 men and women in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. We found that interviewees who espoused views consistent with a traditional fertility framework were more interested in having a second child, and were less concerned about cost. In addition, men were more likely to espouse views consistent with a traditional fertility cultural framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on linguistic-ethnographic fieldwork in Chengdu, China to consider the utility of broad labels such as Chinese, Western and gay in accounting for the performance of sexual and cultural identity. I problematise work which takes such notions to be stable and self-evidently referential, arguing instead that identity is much more fluid, emergent and discourse-dependent than conventional understandings tend to imply. I focus on visibility of queer sexual identity partly because it is an especially accessible example of the role of language in identity performance, being most often achieved through verbal interaction. More broadly, however, this focus emerged through my ethnographically informed, discursive-sociocultural approach to my life and research in mainland China during the period 2008–2019. Specifically, I use spoken data from the interviews which formed part of this process to argue that social practice within related ethnic and/or social groups is best understood in terms of the situated use of sociolinguistic tools and the entailed negotiation of pertinent ideological systems. From this perspective, the ostensibly insurmountable ideological pressures that "Chinese gays" are typically seen to face, and which tend to be attributed to a taken-for-granted and monolithic "Chinese culture", are better interpreted with reference to the complex relationship between language, culture and identity. Thus, I do not assume the right to make broad claims about what Chinese gays do, or to state that they are categorically different from their presumed homogenous Western counterparts. Instead, I discuss what certain individuals say in certain conversations, noting how their performance of identity is often highly individualised, being shaped according to the interactants present and the interactional aims relevant to specific moments of communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, there is a "psy‐boom," which is understood as the rapid increase in the provision of psychological services and interest in psychological concepts since the initiation of market reforms. This is a heavily gendered phenomenon. This paper seeks to explore why women are drawn into the psy‐boom and what sustains their participation in it. Following a year of fieldwork engaging in various forms of psychotherapy training in the city of Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan province, China, the paper looks in detail at three women who engage in the psy‐boom. The psy‐boom creates a space for these women to try to articulate complex and often competing desires thrown up by the gendered circumstances in which they find themselves. The paper shows how each of these three women draws on their various engagements with the psy‐boom to try to formulate and actualize their visions of the good life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of megacities has greatly impacted land use in the urban–rural fringe area. The Western Protected Area defined by Chengdu's Master Plan (2016–2035) to end the unrestrained urban sprawl, where locates the most superior agricultural and ecological resources, namely Mount Qingcheng and the Dujiangyan Essence Irrigation District, is facing great challenges when implementing protective strategies, related to huge land use competition caused by land multi-functionality. To better assess and understand land-use conflict and its influence, this paper constructs a comprehensive evaluation model with 'multi-functionality and landscape complexity' based on existing research, with a 1 km × 1 km spatial resolution, and analyzes its relationship with land-use and land-cover (LULC) change, based on 30 m land resolution data from 2000, 2010, and 2020, produced by the Institute of Resource and Environmental Science and the Data Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Overall, two kinds of land-use conflict concerning function suitability and landscape pattern co-emerge spatially, but there also exist "high-low" combinations. The result shows that land consolidation or the adjustment of land use might take place more often when both the suitability conflict and the landscape conflict reach a certain threshold. The results provide enlightenment for further expanding the quantitative research on land-use conflict and confirm the potential of applying the land-use conflict index in delineating territorial spatial planning control areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how the government harnesses the development of social enterprises. Drawing on an in-depth qualitative study in Chengdu City, China, we find that institution building, financial supporting, incubation developing, systematical cultivating and resource matchmaking are the main strategies employed by the municipal government to promote the development of social enterprises, whereupon we argue that besides the role as referee and sponsor which are the governments' traditional roles in western countries, the government in China also play a role of coach in harnessing the development of social enterprises. This paper contributes to the literature by theorizing how administrative forces affect the growth of hybrid organizations and also contributes to providing empirical evidence of the institutional environment of social enterprises in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural China is experiencing rapid socioeconomic transformations, including suburbanisation and rural gentrification. In this paper, we argue that to understand these processes, we have to take into account the changes in rural land rights. Based on an analysis of a pilot case for China's rural collective commercial construction land (RCCCL) reform policy at the edge of Chengdu City, we demonstrate how state-led rural land reform paves the way for stealthy land dispossession and rural gentrification. Our argument in this paper is threefold. First, given the entrenched collective land use rights of rural villagers in China, state-led land commodification, is a necessary condition for rural gentrification in China. Secondly, the prospect of capital accumulation through rural gentrification motivates entrepreneurial public and private actors to promote such reforms in ways that dispossess rural peasants and peasant collectives of their land (use) rights. Thirdly, the particularities of dispossession through state-led land reform result in particular experiences of displacement and displacement pressure on the side of affected rural communities. Our findings contribute to the decentring of rural gentrification theory, in that they underline the necessity to include the particular histories of land commodification and dispossession in our understanding of rural gentrification in contexts where rural land is partly or wholly shielded from market influences. In the case of China, dynamics of rural gentrification are blurring the rural-urban boundary on three dimensions: political economy (land use governance), material infrastructure (landscape and residential architecture), and socio-cultural practices (rural livelihoods and identity). • Rural land regimes structure peri-urban development in China. • Land commodification is a precondition for rural gentrification in China. • Original villagers are dispossessed and displaced. • Rural gentrification blurs the rural-urban boundary in terms of land use (rights), landscape and social relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

In China, traditional food is a significant element of culture that affects human behaviors. The point of interest (POI) of traditional food restaurants' location and their volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions affect the urban ecology. Rather than examine potential urban development patch (PUDP) based on land use data, the perspective of this paper is to examine the PUDP, air quality, and food culture in urban ecology in Chengdu, China. Methods: First, the research identifies three types of PUDP models (open PUDP, landscape PUDP, and conflict PUDP) with the weighted overlay of land use data, then uses machine learning to examine the relationship between PUDP, POI of traditional food restaurant, and VOCs. Results: The study generates three types of PUDP which are open PUDP, landscape PUDP, and conflict PUDP. VOCs and POI of traditional restaurant have a strong correlation, and both have a significant negative correlation with open PUDP. However, the landscape PUDP and conflict PUDP do not show an obvious relationship with food POI and VOCs. Conclusion: The results indicate that the future urban ecology should consider restaurant location, VOCs from restaurants, and their relationship to urban land use data as they have a strong relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online dating has modernized traditional partner search methods, allowing individuals to seek a partner that aligns with their preferences for attributes such as age, height, location, or education. Yet traditional forms of partner selection still exist, with continued parental involvement in the matching process. In this paper, we exploit different matchmaking methods with varying degrees of youth autonomy versus parental involvement. We use a unique dataset collected in Chengdu, China, where profiles from the blind date market (n = 158) capture parental preferences and profiles from an online dating website (n = 500) capture individual preferences. Regarding gender, we find that men generally display a desire for women younger, shorter, and less educated than themselves, while women desire older and taller men of the same education as themselves. With regards to parental influences, we find parents specify a narrower range of accepted partner attributes. Further, we find an interaction effect between gender and generational influences: the preferences of parents advertising their daughters on the blind date market show a greater discrepancy in attribute preferences to the online daters than parents advertising their sons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Adolescent girls in China have a low HPV vaccination rate. Although vaccination is recommended by the Chinese health authorities, the cost is not covered by the national immunisation programme. Vaccination delay, among other reasons such as supply shortage and poor affordability, may contribute to low uptake. This sequential mixed methods study aimed to identify potential factors of delayed HPV vaccination among Chinese adolescent girls. Methods: Quantitative data about the attitudes and perceptions of HPV vaccination were collected from 100 caregivers of 14–18-year-old girls using an online survey in Chengdu, China. The survey data informed a subsequent qualitative study using four focus group discussions. We conducted a descriptive analysis of the survey data and a thematic analysis of the qualitative data. The findings were interpreted using a health behaviour model adapted from the Health Belief Model and the Andersen's Behavioural Model for Health Services Use. Results: A total of 100 caregivers – 85 were mothers and 15 were fathers – participated in the survey; 21 caregivers joined focus group discussions. When asked about their intended course of action if the 9vHPV vaccine was out-of-stock, 74% chose to delay until the 9vHPV vaccine is available while 26% would consider 2vHPV or 4vHPV vaccines or seek alternative ways to procure the vaccine. Qualitative results confirmed that caregivers preferred delaying HPV vaccination for adolescent girls. The intent to delay was influenced by systemic barriers such as supply shortage and individual-level factors such as a preference for the 9vHPV vaccine, safety concerns, inadequate health communication, and the belief that adolescents were unlikely to be sexually active. Conclusion: In urban areas, Chinese caregivers' intent to delay vaccination in favour of 9vHPV vaccine over receiving the more accessible options was influenced by a mix of individual and contextual factors. Focussed health communication strategies are needed to accelerate HPV vaccination among adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to examine whether motivation, support, basic-needs satisfaction, and social skills in physical education lessons differed among Chinese secondary students from rural areas depending on their sociodemographic profiles. Two hundred and seven students enrolled in a camp organized by a non-profit organization in Chengdu province (15.8  ±  0.8  years, 74% female and 26% male) completed validated Chinese versions of the pertinent questionnaires. Appropriate social skills were perceived higher by women that by men (z  =  2.2; p  =  0.014; r  =  0.16). Inappropriate social skills (z  =  2.9; p  =  0.021; r  =  0.22) were perceived higher among those students with lower annual home income (50,000 yuan or less). Perceived autonomy support (z  =  2.9; p  =  0.002; r  =  0.20), basic-needs satisfaction (z  =  2.9; p  =  0.002; r  =  0.20), and physical-education motivation (z  =  4.2; p  <  0.001; r  =  0.30) were higher among students who practiced physical activity or sport outside school. Students who practiced during their physical-education team-sports lessons reported higher motivation for physical education (z  =  2.9; p  =  0.002; r  =  0.20) than those who practiced individual sports. The findings from this study are relevant to practitioners who work with students from these underprivileged rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Black carbon (BC), an important component of atmospheric aerosol, plays a significant role in regional climate, hydrological cycle, variation of monsoon rainfall, and human health. The 40-year detailed atmospheric BC over China from 1981 to 2020 is systematically investigated through the MERRA-2 reanalysis dataset. MERRA-2 BC generally showed a good correlation (R = 0.68) compared with 673 monthly samples from ground-based observation at 35 stations around China. The overall annual average of MERRA-2 BC concentration over China is 1.15 μg/m3, with a fast growth rate during 1981–2007 and a relatively slow decrease after that. The winter season has the highest mean concentration of BC, followed by autumn and spring, whereas summer shows relatively weaker values. The order of annual average BC concentrations during 1981–2020 is Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region (BTH, 4.02 μg/m3) > Sichuan Basin (SB, 3.94 μg/m3) > Yangtze River Delta (YRD, 2.68 μg/m3) > Pearl River Delta (PRD, 1.47 μg/m3). The monthly mean BC concentrations over the BTH, YRD, PRD and SB are estimated to be smallest 3.18 μg/m3 in May, 1.94 μg/m3 in August, 0.82 μg/m3 in July, 3.04 μg/m3 in June, respectively, whilst largest consistently in December with 5.09 μg/m3, 3.83 μg/m3, 2.12 μg/m3, and 5.41 μg/m3, respectively. Our study indicates the primary potential source areas for BC are concentrated in the research city and its surroundings. Beijing and Chengdu are more BC-polluted areas than Shanghai and Guangzhou. Long-distance, regional transfer from south BTH contributes importantly to BC pollution in Beijing under the influence of prevailing southerly winds. The geographical location of Chengdu causes the transport and accumulation of BC inside the SB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China becomes an aging society, the impacts of the aging population on the social meso domain, namely, the community level, have received increasing attention in recent years. However, relevant studies are limited. With the assumption that regular community participation positively influences wellbeing, this study investigated the mediating role of community participation between the sense of community and the general well-being of Chinese older adults and the moderating role of social support. A questionnaire survey was conducted with a valid sample size of 566 participants aged 60 and above in the urban communities of Chongqing, Chengdu, and Zunyi in southwest China. Moderated mediation models were constructed to explore factors related to the well-being of older adults, finding that encouraging community participation can improve the general well-being of older adults and build a better society in Chinese cities. The main findings of this study are as follows: (1) a sense of community significantly and positively relates to community participation and general well-being; (2) community participation partially mediates the relationship between sense of community and general wellbeing; and (3) each pathway through which sense of community influences older adults' general well-being is moderated by social support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how capital/industrial relocation interacts with work regime dynamics through a case study of geographical relocation of four electronics multinationals from China's coastal regions to its interior. Based on fieldwork conducted in Chongqing and Chengdu between 2012 and 2017, I find that a migrant labor regime in coastal regions has shifted to a local-labor based development strategy in western regions when capital moves inland. This shift, I argue, has increased labor agency and given rise to capital's labor control problems and work regime dynamics that are unique to the relocation process and western China. Specifically, rather than a race-to-the-bottom in labor conditions, three distinct work regimes have emerged in the new sites of production, depending on firms' positions in the global production networks (GPNs) and workers' responses/agency embedded in the GPNs and local labor institutions. They are: (1) advanced quality production and negotiated commitment between workers and management; (2) lean-and-dual and fragmented worker discontent; and (3) flexible Taylorism and high-level worker resistance. The evidence highlights the important role of local state in building location-sensitive labor institutions and workers' constrained, varied agency in influencing work regime dynamics, which challenge many assumptions of the race-to-the-bottom argument associated with capital relocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the recent green turn in China by investigating a large-scale urban greenway project. Using the perspective of the socio-ecological fix, we demonstrate that multi-scalar states strive to upgrade environmental quality. Specifically, the local state seizes the opportunity for 'ecological civilisation' envisioned by the central state to carry out green infrastructure development. We reveal complex motivations to incorporate ecological changes into entrepreneurial urban governance instead of encroaching greenspace for economic growth. Our state-centred analysis reveals that such an environmental strategy, the making of Chinese green urbanism, is promoted like a political mission, despite its operation by the development corporation. We argue that, while the socio-ecological fix facilitates capital accumulation, its deployment must be understood through state politics and actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The number of patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) has exceeded 500 million worldwide due to the unstable curative effect that can easily produce mental and psychological disorders. However, most of the relevant existing literature is one-on-one retrospective analyses or targeted meta-analyses of AR with psychological disorders like irritability, depression, and anxiety, while "multi-hospital + interdisciplinary" multiple regression analyses are scarce. Objective: This study aims to precisely identify the psychological disorders of patients with AR who were diagnosed and treated in the five most renowned hospitals in Chengdu, China over the past 5 years using 10 classification methods so as to attract attention and care from otolaryngologists. Methods: The Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) was used to group and score the mental state of 827 strictly screened patients with AR according to 9 classification criteria. The scores were then compared within groups. Intergroup comparisons were made between the study group and the Chinese norm, and the positive factors for psychological disorders were extracted. Four symptoms in the study group, that is, nasal itching, sneezing, clear discharge, and nasal congestion, were scored on a visual analog scale. Partial correlation analysis was performed between the extracted positive factors for psychological disorders and the symptom scores by the multiple regression statistical method. Results: Among 827 patients, 124 (15%) had no mental health impairments, 176 (21.3%) had mild impairments, 474 (57.3%) had mild to moderate impairments, 41 (5%) had moderate to severe impairments, and 12 (1.4%) had severe impairments. The average score of the SCL-90 for all 827 patients was 2.64 (SD 0.25), which corresponded to mild to moderate mental health impairments. The 827 patients scored significantly higher for the 4 positive factors: depression, anxiety, psychosis, and other (sleep, diet). Depression was positively correlated with sneezing and clear discharge, anxiety was positively correlated with nasal itching and congestion, psychosis was positively correlated with nasal itching and sneezing, and other (sleep, diet) was positively correlated with clear discharge and nasal congestion. Conclusions: Patients with AR have mild to moderate mental health impairments, with women and those with abnormal BMI, aged =45 years, with a monthly salary <¥5110 (US $700), with a disease duration <13 years, residing in urban areas, with a high school or above education, or who are indoor laborers being at high risk and requiring more care, follow-up, and comprehensive therapy from otolaryngologists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last 20 years, amid extensive social and economic reforms, China's social structure and community life have changed considerably. A large number of social workers are needed to provide many more social services to community residents. The central government has issued many policies to rapidly develop human service organizations and increase the number of social workers. Thus, by the end of 2019, the number of social workers has reached more than 1.5 million in China. At the same time, local governments have issued many policies to promote an increase in the number of social workers. According to statistics from the Chengdu Civil Affairs Bureau, from 2010 to 2021, the number of social workers in Chengdu City increased, remarkably, from 553 to 17,622. Although the number of social workers has increased rapidly, some problems still exist. According to a survey by the Chengdu Social Workers Association, the turnover rate of social workers has reached approximately 20% in Chengdu City in 2018. Therefore, we aim to determine what influences social workers' job burnout. Through regression analysis and mediation effect tests, we found the following: First, when controlling for gender, age, education, and workday, social support of social workers had a significant negative impact on job burnout (β = − 0.376). Second, the mindfulness of social workers had a significant negative impact on job burnout (β = − 0.320). Third, the mindfulness of social workers played a mediating role between social support and job burnout. The mediating effect was −0.116 (p < 0.001). Fourth, among the three dimensions of social support, mindfulness played a partially mediating role in family support and other support. The mediating effect between other support, which is the support from leaders and colleagues, and job burnout was the strongest, with a mediating effect of −0.109 (p < 0.001). In other words, the support provided by agency leaders and colleagues can maximize the level of mindfulness of social workers, thereby reducing social workers' job burnout most effectively. We can thus reduce social workers' job burnout by improving their level of mindfulness and the social support for them in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The red panda has been classified as an endangered species due to the decreased number in the world and disease is considered as a great threat to the health and survival of the cubs in captivity. Results: This study analyzed 32 red panda cub mortalities (15 females and 17 males, age less than two months) through gross necropsy, microbiological examination, and histopathological observation at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, China, during 2014–2020. The results showed that screenings for canine distemper virus, canine parvovirus, rotavirus and parasite infection were all negative, however bacteria such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas were isolated from the tissue samples of some cubs. The major causes of death were respiratory (43.75%) and digestive system disease (28.13%), followed by cardiovascular disease (12.5%) and neonatal stillbirths (9.38%). Renal system diseases and trauma were also detected, at lower incidence (one case for each). The mortality rate within 15 days of birth was 68.75% and gradually decreased with age, there was no significant difference in gender. Conclusion: This study can provide a scientific basis for the analysis of the cause of death among red panda cubs in captivity, so as to improve the survival rate, help build the captive population and further the ex-situ conservation management of this endangered species. Additionally, our research may also provide insights into the in-situ conservation of wild red pandas by identifying emerging disease threats within the wild population and potential treatment for rescued individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, human service professionals, like social workers, experience significant job demands (JD) which can lead to outcomes like psychological distress, burnout, and high turnover rates. This is especially true in China, where the social work profession has grown substantially in recent decades. Because social workers play a crucial role in supporting vulnerable communities, there is a need to understand how their work conditions affect outcomes like psychological distress. This study applies the job demands and resources (JD-R) model to study this relation, along with the mediational effects of positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA), in social workers from Chengdu, China (n = 897). The results of structural equation modeling indicate that JD-R differentially affect psychological distress. PA and NA partially mediate these relations. Job resources (JR) reduced psychological distress by reducing NA and increasing PA. JD did not have any effect on PA but significantly increased NA, which was associated with higher psychological distress. The magnitudes of each estimate suggest that JR has a greater effect on PA and NA, relative to the effects of JD on PA and NA. Interventions that seek to promote PA and reduce NA may be able to work with existing JR to buffer against the effects of JD in social workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social work is a fast-growing profession in China, with the workforce numbering approximately 1.2 million in 2018. Studies have shown, however, that social workers in China experience high burnout rates and significant psychological distress. Analyzing data collected from 897 social workers in Chengdu, China, we applied the job demands and resources (JD-R) theory to examine the effects of JD-R on burnout and psychological distress in social workers, as well as whether these relations are moderated by gender and age. Results supported a dual process by which JD-R affected both social workers' burnout and psychological distress through health impairment and motivation processes. Job demands (JD) were associated with high burnout and psychological distress. Meanwhile, job resources (JR) were associated with reduced burnout and psychological distress. Results indicated that JR had greater effects on burnout and distress than did JD. Women and younger professionals appeared to be affected most by JD and psychological distress. The findings support a need for interventions that buffer the effects of JD-R on burnout and psychological distress in social workers in China, focusing on women and younger professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young women account for almost half the rural-to-urban migrant work force among youth aged 16 to 20 in mainland China. But training of the work force remains insufficient and gender-insensitive. There is a rising demand for young women migrant workers to enhance life skills in accordance with vocational skills. Taking a pioneer vocational training program in Chengdu as an example, this single case study aimed to explore female participants' experiences and perceptions of the program, as well as to identify key empowerment factors. Data were gathered from five in-depth interviews with service providers, a focus group interview with seven service users, and participant observation. Findings show that life skills education creates an environment conducive to experiential learning and reflective learning, promotes participants' understanding of selfhood, and raises their awareness to effect change. This research argues that life skills education should be incorporated so as to empower young women migrant workers at intrapersonal, interactional, and behavioral levels, and to promote their whole-person development. Implications of future services and research are discussed. This study necessitates models of policy and program planning that would enhance young women migrant workers' life skills and thereby help them negotiate the rural-urban transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring of air quality is demanding, especially in poor air quality regions. China has been suffering from PM2.5 pollution associated with the fast urbanization and economic productivity. The purpose of this work is to analyze PM2.5 with regard to air quality for five populated cities (Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Shenyang) of China. In this study, hourly concentration of PM2.5 is decomposed into annual and seasonal concentrations and is evaluated. The results show the downward trend of PM2.5 for Beijing and Chengdu from 2013 to 2016 and for Guangzhou from 2012 to 2016, but no clear trend is observed for Shanghai and Shenyang. Although trend is decreasing for three cities (Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou), but overall annual average is found higher than the annual U.S. national ambient air quality standards for PM2.5. Among all five cities, highest annual PM2.5 concentration is found to be 104.1 µgm−3for Beijing in 2010 and lowest (32.6 µgm−3) is found for Guangzhou in 2016. The diurnal variation is high during night for Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai and it is high after morning rush hours for Chengdu and Shenyang (during April 2008–June 2017), respectively. In all studied sites, the seasonal variability is found highest in winter and lowest in the summer. Due to more contribution from biomass burning and dust, high PM2.5 variation is also found in the autumn and spring, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study for Guangzhou, Chengdu and Shenyang that explores PM2.5 concentration for 5 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a southwestern province of China, Sichuan is confronted with geographical disparities in access to healthcare professionals because of its complex terrain, uneven population distribution and huge economic gaps between regions. With 10-year data, this study aims to explore the county-level spatial disparities in access to different types of healthcare professionals (licensed doctors, registered nurses, pharmacists, technologists and interns) in Sichuan using temporal and spatial analysis methods. The time-series results showed that the quantity of all types of healthcare professionals increased, especially the registered nurses, while huge spatial disparities exist in the distribution of healthcare professionals in Sichuan. The local Moran's I calculations showed that high–high clusters (significantly high healthcare professional quantity in a group of counties) were detected in Chengdu (capital of Sichuan) and relatively rich areas, while low–low clusters (significantly low healthcare professional quantity in a group of counties) were usually found near the mountain areas, namely, Tsinling Mountains and Hengduan Mountains. The findings may deserve considerations in making region-oriented policies in educating and attracting more healthcare professionals to the disadvantaged areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]