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Background: Paper mulberry has been regarded as a potential protein resource for relieving the forage supply crisis, and ensiling has become the most important method for preserving it. An in-depth analysis of the fermentation characteristics of paper mulberry silage could provide a theoretical basis for producing high-quality silage. In this study, we aimed to investigate the dynamic fermentation quality and bacterial community of paper mulberry silages harvested from different regions in China. Results: The results showed an increased trend in ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) concentration, despite a decrease in pH with prolonged ensiling days. Furthermore, fermentation patterns varied among paper mulberry silages from three regions. Paper mulberry from Zhuozhou, Hebei (HZ) showed the highest dry matter (DM) content and a slight decrease in pH during ensiling. While the lowest DM content was observed in Hechi, Guangxi (GH), which exhibited abnormal fermentation in the silage. In particular, silage from Lankao, Henan (HL) exhibited the best fermentation quality, with lower pH and NH3-N concentration, and higher lactic acid concentration than others (P < 0.05). The bacterial richness and evenness also declined with prolonged ensiling. Among all samples, Enterobacter was the most abundant in all silages, with a trend of increasing and then decreasing during the fermentation process. Pseudocitrobacter dominated in GH silage with abnormal fermentation. Although the bacteria community during ensiling varied widely among silages from different regions, Enterobacter cloacae and Lactobacillus plantarum were the main differential bacteria in silage quality of paper mulberry. Conclusion: Ensiling days and regions had significant effects on the fermentation patterns and bacterial community of paper mulberry silage which might be due to the differences in DM content. Notably, silage quality showed a close relationship with Enterobacter cloacae and Lactobacillus plantarum. Inhibiting the proliferation of Enterobacter and Pseudocitrobacter could be critical for improving the fermentation quality of paper mulberry silage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the intersection of spirituality and martial arts through an in-depth examination of Shaolin Kung Fu as practiced within the Shaolin Monastery in Henan Province, China. Conducting fieldwork from April 2018 to August 2020, the study employs theories of practice and embodiment to understand how religious teachings are interwoven into physical movements and martial practices. This phenomenological analysis of bodily movement integrates the physical body with the sense of self, highlighting the relationship between individual habitus and the agency of the moving body, referred to as the "lived body." It argues that Shaolin martial artists engage in a form of dynamic embodiment, where Chan Buddhist doctrines are embedded within the "lived body," influencing both movement and perception. This process allows practitioners to interpret and interact with their socio-cultural environment through a religious lens, highlighting the deep connection between spiritual beliefs and bodily actions. The paper presents a comprehensive approach, combining intensive participant observation, historical analysis, and a close look at both the communal and individual aspects of monastic life and learning. By examining narratives, daily routines, and pedagogical methods, the study reveals how the socio-cultural setting of the monastery fosters collective habitus and transforms the individual habitus of practitioners. It shows how this transformation contributes to the development of a spiritual dimension in their martial performance. By highlighting the link between the habitus, the lived body, and the dynamic embodiment, the paper extends the current discourse on embodiment, offering a novel perspective on the relationship between spirituality, culture, and physical practice in the context of Shaolin Kung Fu. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Henan Province is the birthplace of Chinese civilization and one of the earliest human settlements, which means that the area has an important national cultural heritage. Traditional villages are an important facet of this cultural heritage, and studying their spatiotemporal characteristics in different periods has important theoretical and practical significance for the sustainable development and protection of cultural heritage in the region. This paper takes the traditional villages of the Yellow River basin in Henan Province that were formed before 1919 as the research object. Information on the ancient river was obtained through a literature search as well as via field research, and the important tributaries of the Yellow River in different periods were mapped using ArcGIS 10.0 software. The nearest neighbor index, kernel density estimation, standard deviation ellipse and other methods were adopted to analyze the spatiotemporal characteristics of the traditional villages. The factors that influenced the evolution of traditional villages were explored in depth by combining changes in the course of the river and water conservancy projects. The results show that the formation of traditional villages along the Yellow River in Henan Province has experienced a historical track of growth, contraction, growth and prosperity and stability. The traditional villages along the Yellow River in Henan Province generally show a clustered pattern, forming a dense concentration of traditional villages in the middle reaches of the Yellow River. The center of gravity shows a migration trend from southeast to northwest. In terms of influencing factors, the spatiotemporal evolution of the relationship between villages and their distance to water is closely related to climatic fluctuations, changes in channel, water conservancy projects and social and cultural factors. This paper deepens our understanding of the relationship between traditional village evolution and watersheds by improving the consistency between village spatial distribution and historical geography and provides a useful theoretical reference for the sustainable development of China's traditional villages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing the excessive input and inefficient use of agrochemicals are crucial for global food security, environmental protection, and human health. This paper offers a new idea from the perspective of outsourcing agricultural production. The impact of outsourcing on the frequency and intensity of agrochemical inputs were theoretically analyzed and empirically tested using a field survey of 1211 farmers in Heilongjiang, Henan, and Hunan, the major food-producing areas in China. A Logit regression framework was used to analyze the effect, a conditional mixture process (CMP) method was used to address potential endogeneity concerns, and a mediation effect model was used to dissect the mechanism. The results show that the effect of outsourcing on both input frequency and input intensity of agrochemicals was positive at the 1% significance level. The positive effect conclusion still holds even after addressing the potential endogeneity concerns, and in the sub-sample estimates for maize, wheat, and rice. We conclude that outsourcing can improve the utilization efficiency of agrochemicals by increasing the frequency of agrochemical inputs, but fail to solve the excessive agrochemical inputs and even leads to a further increase in the intensity of agrochemical inputs. Moreover, the mechanism for an increase in agrochemical input intensity due to outsourcing was explored, and it is more likely to be caused by inhibiting farmers' investment in soil improvement measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on urban flood hydrology processes and hydrodynamic principles, the stormwater management model (SWMM) was improved upon. The coupling and implementation methods of the SWMM and two-dimensional hydrodynamic model are proposed. The improved SWMM was coupled with the hydrodynamic model both from the vertical and horizontal directions. The hydrology and hydrodynamic coupling model (HHDCM) was constructed and verified by using extreme rainstorm data. Taking July.20 extreme rainstorms (from July 17 to July 20, 2021, i.e., July.20 extreme rainstorm) in Zhengzhou city, Henan Province, China, as an example and using the HHDCM model, the flood disaster caused by July.20 extreme rainstorm was simulated. Based on the simulation results, an inundation distribution map was drawn for the urban area. A comparison between the simulated and measured results reveals that the maximum relative error in the simulated results is 12.5%. Therefore, the HHDCM model proposed in this paper has desirable accuracy and reliability for simulating extreme urban rainstorms and flood disasters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the survival and development of traditional villages in China have been serious challenges. Rural tourism is regarded as an important way to solve rural problems, and the combination of rural culture and tourism has become a new power point for rural development. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the spatial distribution structure between traditional villages and rural tourism. In this paper, rural tourism was represented by the rural tourism characteristic village (RTCV), and Henan Province, China, was taken as a study area to analyze the distribution pattern and spatial correlation of rural tourism and traditional village (TV) and discuss the relationship between the spatial correlation and regional natural environment and socioeconomic factors. The results show that the coupling of the spatial correlation between RTCVs and TVs in Henan was clear. They could be divided into 5 regions based on geographical factors. In addition, the research summarized 4 typical spatial structures between TVs and RTCVs in Henan based on the regional symbiosis theory, and the spatial pattern formation mechanism of TVs and RTCVs was discussed based on three driving mechanisms. The spatial structure of the two can provide reference value for other developing countries and regions to achieve sustainable rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the domestic interprovincial migrants, Uygur traders have been engaged in the Hetian jade trade from Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to the city of Nanyang in Henan Province. Having lived in the private rented houses around the market in the early days, they moved into the government-built public rental housing in 2017, an independently managed community. They have maintained their past residential pattern of living around the market, and gradually develop the community into an inter-embedded multi-ethnic community together with other ethnic groups. Through the history of the formation of the Uygur community in Nanyang Stone Town, this paper presents the process of interaction between the ethnic minority migrants and the local community, examines the responses and influence of the market, society, government, and individuals in this process, aiming to understand how the minority community was formed, to deepen understanding of the "inter-embedded multi-ethnic community", and, in turn, to promote research and reflection on the development of the ethnic community during urbanization in China. This study suggests that such communities surrounding the market are socially extended based on inter-embedded livelihood. The open national market is the core of the social structure of inter-embedded ethnic groups, and market exchange is one of the main relations generated in the current interactions between the ethnic groups. The government's efforts to build inter-embedded communities are conducive to transforming the relationships among ethnic groups from limited interaction to comprehensive and balanced development. Moreover, the improvement of common living environments and increase in exchanges are conducive to upgrading interactions between individuals to extensive and in-depth exchanges among different ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial water consumption is a major component of the total regional water consumption. Accurate and scientific prediction of industrial water consumption is an essential guide to the rational use of natural resources. In this paper, we proposed a combined model of CEEMD (collective empirical modal decomposition) and ARIMA (autoregressive integrated moving average) for forecasting industrial water consumption to establish an accurate and efficient forecasting model, because of the poor generalization ability of most current industrial water consumption forecasting models. The influencing factors of industrial water consumption are complex, and the data are non-stationary. "Decomposition-prediction-reconstruction" is one of the significant methods for forecasting time series data, and the data decomposition has a suppressive influence on the modal mixing problem in the EMD decomposition procedure. Based on the smoothing ability of CEEMD for non-smooth signals and the better adaptation of the autoregressive moving average prediction model (ARIMA), a combined CEEMD-ARIMA model was established for industrial water consumption forecasting. This study was conducted for industrial water consumption in Henan Province in central China. The results suggest the combined CEEMD-ARIMA model has a favorable forecasting effect, with an average relative percentage error of 1.96%, and mean square error (MSE) of 0.35, a Nash efficiency coefficient (NSE) of 0.95, a prediction pass rate of 100%, and a better prediction accuracy than the ARIMA model and the combined EEMD-ARIMA model. It provides an effective prediction method for the prediction of industrial water consumption and has good application prospects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The water resource carrying capacity (WRCC) is a carrying capacity of natural resources. It affects the application and expansion of the carrying capacity of water resources. This subject involves various elements, such as water resources, the ecological environment system, humans and their economic and social systems, and a wider range of biological groups and their survival needs. Based on the objective recognition of the complex relationship between the water resource system, ecological environment system, and economic and social system, the support scale of water resources and the ecological environment for economic and social development is studied. Current research on the carrying capacity of water resources has mostly shifted from the previously limited support capacity of water resources to include factors such as the population, economy, and ecology, establishing the internal relationships between the economics, water resources, and ecological environment. This reflects the comprehensive carrying capacity of the entire region (or river basin) of water resources and the ecological environment system on an overall economic and social scale. Based on the conceptual connotation of the WRCC and the actual problems facing water resources in Henan Province, the paper uses a system dynamics method to develop information feedback between the four subsystems of Henan Province: economic, population, water resource, and water environment subsystems. The index system of the WRCC in Henan Province is also determined. The weight of each index is comprehensively determined by a combination weighting method of the analytic hierarchy process and an entropy weight method, and then a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is used to evaluate the WRCC of Henan Province under four different development models. The validation period of the model is 2010–2020, and the forecast period is 2021–2030. The results indicate that during the period 2021–2030, the WRCC of Henan Province showed a slight upward trend overall under the four models, but the increase rates were different under the different models. Among the four models, the comprehensive model's benefit was the best, which not only maintained the healthy and stable development of the economy and society but also improved the pressure on the water resources and the quality of the water environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combined weight method (CWM) for comprehensive water resources carrying capacity evaluation is proposed in this paper to evaluate the regional water resources carrying capacity. Firstly, the accelerating genetic algorithm based on analytic hierarchy process (AGA-AHP) method is improved to optimize the expert evaluation matrix and determine the subjective weight, in which entropy weight method is used to determine objective weight, and the combined weight formula is put forward to get the combined weight of evaluation index. Secondly, the certainty degree is calculated by using the multi-dimensional normal cloud model. The obstacle factors of evaluation index are diagnosed. Finally, taking Henan Province as an example, the regional water resources carrying capacity is evaluated by using CWM method. The comparison between single cloud model, AHP-TOPSIS and CWM is made. It is proved that CWM method takes the fuzziness and randomness into account in the evaluation process, and the efficient and intuitive results can be obtained through evaluation. The obstacle degree and the time changing pattern of the index can be clearly diagnosed, which can provide a new idea for the evaluation method of water resources carrying capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silo-cave is a unique human habitation form on the Loess Plateau in northern China, which consists of an excavated 6–7 m deep pit as the courtyard and cave dwellings in the surrounding four walls. This architecture has had a history of more than 7000 years, and yet such "living fossils for the history of dwellings" are now facing great crises and challenges during rapid social and economic development. In this paper, remote sensing and GIS techniques are used to comprehensively and systematically investigate the spatial distributions and morphological characteristics of silo-caves at both the macro and micro scales. The research shows that silo-cave villages are mainly distributed in economically underdeveloped areas, such as West Henan (Yuxi), South Shanxi (Jinnan), Central Shaanxi (Guanzhong), and East Gansu (Longdong). The morphological evolution patterns of typical silo-cave villages are identified, including: (1) retaining the periphery and rebuilding the inner parts of the villages, (2) retaining the inner parts and expanding the periphery of the villages, and (3) rebuilding the inner parts and expanding the periphery of the villages. These patterns are demonstrated to be influenced by many factors, including landforms, traffic conditions, economic development, population growth, and administrative division adjustment. Sustainable development of these traditional silo-cave villages relies on administrative policy and planning, people's awareness of cultural heritage protection, culture inheritance, industrial transformation, and public services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution is the result of comprehensive evolution of a dynamic and complex system composed of emission sources, topography, meteorology and other environmental factors. The establishment of spatiotemporal evolution model is of great significance for the study of air pollution mechanism, trend prediction, identification of pollution sources and pollution control. In this paper, the air pollution system is described based on cellular automata and restricted agents, and a Swarm Intelligence based Air Pollution SpatioTemporal Evolution (SI-APSTE) model is constructed. Then the spatiotemporal evolution analysis method of air pollution is studied. Taking Henan Province before and after COVID-19 pandemic as an example, the NO2 products of TROPOMI and OMI were analysed based on SI-APSTE model. The tropospheric NO2 Vertical Column Densities (VCDs) distribution characteristics of spatiotemporal variation of Henan province before COVID-19 pandemic were studied. Then the tropospheric NO2 VCDs of TROPOMI was used to study the pandemic period, month-on-month and year-on-year in 18 urban areas of Henan Province. The results show that SI-APSTE model can effectively analyse the spatiotemporal evolution of air pollution by using environmental big data and swarm intelligence, and also can establish a theoretical basis for pollution source identification and trend prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's natural gas market is focusing on price reform and aims to reconstruct vertically integrated industrial chains in the future. Based on the mixed complementarity problem model of gas markets with nodes in Henan Province, China, as an example, this paper applies numerical modeling to simulate the effects of social welfare and equilibrium prices on nodes in two scenarios: pipeline integration and pipeline separation. The findings reveal the following: (1) Pipeline separation yields greater overall social welfare than pipeline integration, with the welfare shifting from gas producers to consumption markets. (2) Pipeline separation lowers the equilibrium consumption prices by driving competition among gas supply sources. (3) Pipeline separation will increase the contribution of natural gas to primary energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A thorough understanding of groundwater recharge source, particularly its rate, is usually a prerequisite for effective water resources management. In this paper, we report the impact of Yellow River water seepage from the North Henan Plain, using both hydrogeochemical and stable isotopic analysis data. Seven Yellow River water samples, 10 groundwater samples from a river-parallel transect, and 36 groundwater samples from four different perpendicular transects to the Yellow River in the western, middle, and eastern plain were collected and analyzed. It inferred that cation exchange of Ca and/or Mg for Na occurred in groundwaters because of the dissolution of carbonate rocks. The hydrogeochemical results indicate that western piedmont lateral groundwater and the Yellow River are both important sources of groundwater recharge for the western transect of the North Henan Plain, while the former is a greater recharge source for the middle transect, and the latter is a greater recharge source for the eastern transect. Stable isotope data support Yellow River water incursion into the groundwater. The approximate distance (based on chloride concentration) from the Yellow River to border of the impact zone is17.43-23.40 km in the western plain, 52.46 km in the middle plain, and 49.82 km in the eastern plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]