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This article uses 43 Sentinel-1A image datasets covering Beijing to obtain time series surface deformation information in the study area from January 2022 to October 2023. It analyzes the causes of land subsidence by integrating precipitation and urban construction. The main research results are as follows: (1) Three distinct subsidence areas are identified in the eastern part of Chaoyang District in Beijing (Subsidence Area A), the northwestern part of Tongzhou District in Beijing (Subsidence Area B), and Yanjiao Town in Hebei Province (Subsidence Area B), which is adjacent to Beijing. Subsidence Areas A and B exhibit a dispersed pattern, with maximum land subsidence rates exceeding −30 mm/year. In contrast, Subsidence Areas C displays a funnel-shaped subsidence, where the majority of areas experience land subsidence rates exceeding −25 mm/year, with a maximum rate reaching −45 mm/year. (2) Precipitation has a significant impact on surface deformation in the study area, and there is a strong correlation between precipitation and land subsidence, with correlation values of 0.77, 0.77, and 0.74, respectively. (3) Urban construction has a certain impact on land subsidence, but the degree of impact varies in different regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objective: Consensus methods are crucial in developing clinical guidelines. Different methods, such as the Delphi and nominal group techniques, are commonly used, but there is a lack of detailed instructions on how to implement them effectively. The survey aims to explore the opinions and attitudes of the chair, panel and working group on the critical elements of the consensus methods during guideline development. Methods: We used a cross-sectional design to conduct this study and sent a structured questionnaire to stakeholders, including the chair, panel members, and working group participants, through the popular mobile phone application WeChat.We selected participants using a combination of purposive and snowball sampling. The questionnaire gathered information on demographics, experiences, opinions, and concerns regarding consensus methods and guideline development. Results: The sample comprised 290 participants representing 31 provinces or municipalities. Among them, the most significant number of respondents (n = 107, 36.9%) were from Beijing. Most participants, specifically 211 (72.76%), held senior professional titles, while 186 (64.14%) adhered to ongoing guidelines. The Delphi method was the most commonly used consensus method (n = 132, 42.31%), but the respondents had only a preliminary understanding of it (n = 147, 47.12%). The consensus process also revealed the insufficiency of involving pharmacoeconomists, patients, and nurses. Conclusions: Consensus methods have to be standardised and used consistently in the guideline development process. The findings of this study offer insights into diverse roles and more effective ways to apply the consensus process during guideline development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rail transit has many advantages, such as large passenger capacity, convenience, safety, and environmental protection, making it the preferred travel mode for most passengers. Deep learning has become an effective method for short‐term rail passenger flow prediction. A deep learning model which combines a graph convolutional network and a three‐dimensional Convolutional Neural Network improved by a residual module and an attention mechanism (ARConv‐CGN) is proposed. First, historical passenger inflow and outflow data are aggregated into three patterns: recent pattern, daily pattern, and weekly pattern separately. The GCN is applied to capture the spatiotemporal and topological information of passenger flows in each pattern. Second, a three‐dimensional convolutional neural network is used to deeply integrate three patterns of passenger flow information. Additionally, a residual module is used to increase the number of neural network layers and prevent the gradient of the deep neural network from disappearing. Finally, an attention mechanism is also introduced to adjust the importance of passenger flow in different pattern, so that improving the performance of the model. Training with passenger flow data from automatic fare collection on weekdays in Beijing and Xiamen provides a good demonstration of the superiority of ARConv‐CGN in metro passenger flow forecasting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soundscape is an essential component of urban forest landscapes, acoustic indices can be effectively used to monitor biodiversity, but whether they can be used for soundscape perception assessments needs to be further explored. In this study, soundscape recordings were collected in Beijing Eastern Suburban Forest Park, and acoustic indices were used to explore the relationship between the acoustic environment and soundscape perception, as well as the possible effects of temporal changes. To achieve this, audio recordings collected in spring and summer were divided, and a total of 90 audio segments were extracted from three time periods—morning, afternoon, and evening—to calculate the acoustic index and complete a questionnaire survey. The urban forest soundscape was evaluated according to the eight perceptual attribute quality indicators of ISO 12913, and generalized linear models were constructed to quantify the relationships between the acoustic indices and perception. The results showed that the temporal variation of the soundscape influenced the subjective evaluation, with the highest overall evaluation relating to the morning soundscape. The combination of acoustic indices explained the soundscape pleasantness (R2 = 0.58) better than the soundscape eventfulness (R2 = 0.54), demonstrating the utility of these indices in soundscape assessment. Linking acoustic indices to human perception generates innovative ideas and theoretical support for soundscape enhancement, contributing to a more pleasant acoustic environment and maximizing the social value of urban forests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to assess the early and mid-term results of the modified Doty's technique compared with the traditional Doty's technique in patients with congenital supravalvular aortic stenosis (SVAS). We retrospectively included 73 consecutive SVAS patients in Beijing and Yunnan Fuwai Hospitals between 2014 and 2021. Patients were divided into the modified technique (n = 9) and the traditional technique group (n = 64). The modified technique involves altering the right head of the symmetrical inverted pantaloon-shaped patch into an asymmetrical triangular form to prevent compression of the right coronary artery ostium. The primary safety outcome was in-hospital surgery-related complications and the primary effectiveness outcome was re-operation at follow-up. The Mann–Whitney U test and Fisher's exact test were used to test the group difference. The median age at operation was 50 months (IQR 27.0–96.0). Twenty-two (30.1%) of the patients were female. The median follow-up was 23.5 months (IQR 3.0–46.0). No in-hospital surgery-related complications and follow-up re-operation occurred in the modified technique group, but the traditional technique group had 14 (21.8%) surgery-related complications and 5 (7.9%) re-operation. Patients with the modified technique had a well-developed aortic root and no aortic regurgitation occurred. A modified technique could be considered for patients with poor aortic root development to reduce postoperative surgery-related complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing traffic congestion is a major obstacle to the development of cities. The prediction of traffic flow is very important to city planning and dredging. A good model of flow is able to accurately predict future flow by learning historical flow data. Traffic flow is usually affected by macro and micro factors. At the macro level, the whole city can be divided into different subregions according to the similarity in the traffic flow patterns. At the micro-level, there is a temporal and spatial correlation between the traffic flow of different road sections at di fferent times. In this paper, we propose a multi-mode traffic flow prediction method with Clustering based Attention Convolution LSTM (CACLSTM) to model spatial-temporal data of traffic flow. The framework includes three modules: a convolution LSTM encoding-decoding layer which is used to predict the traffic flow of the next time slice by encoding the historical traffic information, a clustering based attention layer which is able to extract different temporal features by clustering based attention, and an additional factors layer which can integrate weather, wind speed, holidays and other factors to improve the prediction accuracy. The experimental results on Beijing taxis data show that the CACLSTM method performs more effective than the six well-known compared methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Iris lactea is a wide ground cover plant of importance throughout courtyards, trees and roads. From May to September in 2020 and 2021, I. lactea planted in Beijing showed white to yellow spots with black conidiomata and could lead blight expanded down from the tip of leaves. In this study, ninety‐six diseased leaves were collected from nineteen regions in Beijing, and a total of fifty‐nine Colletotrichum isolates were obtained from the leaf spots. All isolates were identified as Colletotrichum truncatum by polyphasic analyses, combing morphology and phylogeny of combined the internal transcribed spacer of rDNA region (ITS), actin (act), chalcone synthetase (chs), the genes of glyceraldehyde‐3‐phosphate dehydrogenase (gapdh) and β‐tubulin (tub2). Koch's postulates were confirmed by a pathogenicity test using conidial suspensions (1 × 106 conidia/ml) on fresh leaves of the host, re‐isolation and identification. Until now, this is the first confirmed report of a new anthracnose disease of I. lactea caused by C. truncatum in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and its determinants among pregnant women in the Tongzhou district of Beijing, China.Methods: This study was performed on data collected in the routine work of the prenatal health care system from 27,119 pregnant women in the Tongzhou district of Beijing during 2013-2018. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to assess the factors associated with GDM.Results: The overall prevalence of GDM was 24.24%, and it showed an increasing trend over the 6 years. A univariate analysis showed that the prevalence of GDM increased with age (p < .001). In multivariate analysis, it was found that women with a non-local household registration, as well as those without a local household registration but whose husbands had one, had a lower risk for GDM than both spouses who had local registration. Women who were overweight/obese had a higher risk for GDM than women with a normal pre-pregnancy body mass index. Multipara women had a lower likelihood of developing GDM.Conclusions: We found a slightly higher prevalence of GDM in the Tongzhou district of Beijing than has been found in other studies, and the prevalence rose over the 6 years of the study. Advanced age, pre-pregnancy overweight or obesity, and local household registration were important risk factors for GDM. Multiparity may be a protective factor against developing GDM. Intensive health education on related determinants should be strengthened for the prevention and control of GDM, especially in high-risk women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radiotherapy requires the target area and the organs at risk to be contoured on the CT image of the patient. During the process of organs-at-Risk (OAR) of the chest and abdomen, the doctor needs to contour at each CT image. The delineations of large and varied shapes are time-consuming and laborious. This study aims to evaluate the results of two automatic contouring softwares on OARs definition of CT images of lung cancer and rectal cancer patients. The CT images of 15 patients with rectal cancer and 15 patients with lung cancer were selected separately, and the organs at risk were manually contoured by experienced physicians as reference structures. And then the same datasets were automatically contoured based on AiContour (version 3.1.8.0, Manufactured by Linking MED, Beijing, China) and Raystation (version 4.7.5.4, Manufactured by Raysearch, Stockholm, Sweden) respectively. Deep learning auto-segmentations and Atlas were respectively performed with AiContour and Raystation. Overlap index (OI), Dice similarity index (DSC) and Volume difference (Dv) were evaluated based on the auto-contours, and independent-sample t-test analysis is applied to the results. The results of deep learning auto-segmentations on OI and DSC were better than that of Atlas with statistical difference. There was no significant difference in Dv between the results of two software. With deep learning auto-segmentations, auto-contouring results of most organs in the chest and abdomen are good, and with slight modification, it can meet the clinical requirements for planning. With Atlas, auto-contouring results in most OAR is not as good as deep learning auto-segmentations, and only the auto-contouring results of some organs can be used clinically after modification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The diagnostic grading system for heat press injury has remained the same for decades and depends solely on surgical observation. This study described the demographic and clinical characteristics of such patients and investigated potential predictive factors for amputation.Methods: 129 patients diagnosed with heat press injury were admitted at Beijing Jishuitan Hospital from 2010 to 2019. Their demographic and clinical characteristics were described and 64 patients were included in a retrospective cohort to assess the risk factors of amputation with univariable and multivariable logistic regression.Result: The annual partial incidence rate of heat press injury was at least 1-4 cases per 10,000,000 people in Beijing. Of our 129 patients, 85 were men and the mean age was 32 years, 126 caused by machines, 70 with full-thickness burns but no open wounds, and the median total body surface area (TBSA) was 1%. After logistic regression, only insufficient perfusion of the extremities (odds ratio = 156.48; 95% confidence interval = 11.24-2177.92) was associated with the risk of amputation, where 12 of 20 patients lost more than 1 phalanx.Conclusion: Industrial machines, working age, small TBSA, digit or hand injuries, and full-thickness skin injuries were common in our patients. Insufficient perfusion of extremities was an independent risk factor for amputation, while other indicators, including TBSA, D-dimer level, and white blood cell count, did not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to rapid urbanization, waterlogging induced by torrential rainfall has become a global concern and a potential risk affecting urban habitant's safety. Widespread waterlogging disasters have occurred almost annually in the urban area of Beijing, the capital of China. Based on a self-organizing map (SOM) artificial neural network (ANN), a graded waterlogging risk assessment was conducted on 56 low-lying points in Beijing, China. Social risk factors, such as Gross domestic product (GDP), population density, and traffic congestion, were utilized as input datasets in this study. The results indicate that SOM-ANN is suitable for automatically and quantitatively assessing risks associated with waterlogging. The greatest advantage of SOM-ANN in the assessment of waterlogging risk is that a priori knowledge about classification categories and assessment indicator weights is not needed. As a result, SOM-ANN can effectively overcome interference from subjective factors, producing classification results that are more objective and accurate. In this paper, the risk level of waterlogging in Beijing was divided into five grades. The points that were assigned risk grades of IV or V were located mainly in the districts of Chaoyang, Haidian, Xicheng, and Dongcheng. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban forests play a vital role in building soil organic carbon pools in urban areas. In many cases, urban forests are constructed on land previously used for agriculture, parks, or buildings. However, it is still being determined whether historical land use affects soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in these forests. In this study, we asked: 1) How are SOC and its labile fractions (LOC) in urban forests affected by historical land use? and 2) How do SOC and LOC vary with time and vegetation type in urban forests built on land with different histories? We collected soil samples at three soil depths, 0–10, 10–20, and 20–30 cm, in 48 evergreen and 77 deciduous forest plots in 77 parks in Beijing, all built within the last 30 years. Plots represent two historical land use types, vegetated or non-vegetated, and three planting time classes, young (5–10 years), intermediate (11–20 years), and old (21–30 years). Our findings showed that there were significant differences between historical land use types in SOC and microbial organic carbon (MBC), this may be due to backfill soil before greening on non-vegetated land. Urban forests that were built on vegetated land accumulated SOC over time, while those on historically non-vegetated land did not. Evergreen forests had greater SOC and LOC than deciduous forests only on historically non-vegetated land. In addition, SOC and LOC were found to be negatively affected by increased soil bulk density. However, soil bulk density was not significantly different between both historical land use types and urban forest types. Overall, our study indicates that if SOC sequestration is a high priority in urban forests, cities could concentrate on more efficient management to increase SOC, such as soil rehabilitation and the use of evergreen tree species. • Urban forests established on historically built vs vegetated land had different SOC. • The effects of urban forests on SOC dynamics differed by historical land use. • On vegetated land use, SOC increased greatly with the time after planting. • On non-vegetated land use, SOC of evergreen urban forest was higher than deciduous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objective: In China, fireworks are an integral part of the celebration of the annual Spring Festival, but the number of injuries associated with their private use seen in emergency rooms increases dramatically. To raise awareness and help guide future prevention practices in this city, we investigated the epidemiology of firework-related injuries presented at our trauma and burn center in Beijing during the Spring Festivals of 2007–2011. Methods: Patients were interviewed using a pre-coded questionnaire to elicit information regarding age, gender, causes, injured body part, type of injury, diagnosis, and disposition. Result: From 2007 to 2011, during the Spring Festivals 734 patients with fire-work related injuries were seen at our trauma and burn center in Beijing, the median patients of the five year were 140(136–150). The mean age of the patients was 26±15.3 years (range, 1–95 years). Of the 734 patients, the highest proportion of injuries were the 5–14 year-old age group The majority of the patients were male (87.9%), the overall male:female ratio was 7.41:1, and males were predominant in all age groups. For all 5 years, the incidence of firework-related injuries during the Spring Festival Holidays peaked specifically on the first, fifth, and last days, respectively. Injuries were mainly due to improper handling (415/610, 68.0%) or setting off illegal fireworks (195/610, 32.0%). The most frequently injured body parts were the hands and fingers (32.0%), head or face except eyes (28.3%), and trunk (22.4%). Burns were the most common type of injury (65.7%), most of the burned patients (437/453) were between 1% and 10%, and the most common region burned were hands and fingers (218/754). Contusions or lacerations were the second common type of injury (34.3%). Most of the patients (642, 87.5%) were treated and released, while 37 (5%) were treated and transferred, and 55 (7.5%) were admitted for advanced treatment. Conclusion: The private use of fireworks during the Spring Festival Holidays is associated with a considerable number of injuries to various parts of the body. We can minimize the number and severity of accidents by raising awareness of safety practices, encouraging professional displays only and motivating manufacturers to adhere to strict quality control. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Urban parks comprise diverse microhabitats, such as vegetation units of lawn and arbour forests, with differing biodiversity potentials. However, the influences of microhabitats on butterfly diversity and the mechanisms involved remain unclear. This study used butterfly survey data from 112 plots in 27 urban parks in the central metropolitan area of Beijing, China, from June to September 2020. Based on the growth form of larval host plants, recorded butterfly species were classified into three functional groups: woody plant-feeding taxa (WF), herb-feeding taxa (HF), and feeding on multiple plant growth forms taxa (MF). We analysed the effects of 11 variables among three facets, namely, vegetation composition, vegetation structure, and human activity, on the butterfly diversity (species richness and abundance) of the whole community, three functional groups using generalised linear mixed models. Twenty-five butterfly species observed mainly feed on herbs rather than on woody plants. Our results demonstrated that vegetation community characteristics explain up to 24% and 43% variation in butterfly species richness and abundance, respectively. Of this, vegetation structure facets crucially affected butterfly species richness, and vegetation composition facets had the most significant influence on the abundance of the whole butterfly community. However, the impact of human activity factors was minimal. Light availability and herb height belonging to vegetation structure factors and nectar plant species richness and nectar abundance which belonged to vegetation composition factors showed the most important and positive effects on butterfly diversity. The positive impact of the above significant factors was found especially on herb-feeding butterfly diversity. In contrast, the diversity of butterflies feeding on woody plants was most positively influenced by herb height. We thus suggest that it is necessary to guarantee the presence of a well-developed herb layer, which provides abundant nectar sources and maintain specific open spaces to ensure light availability. In conclusion, our findings imply that the critical role of the spatial structure of vegetation community is conspicuous in the formation of suitable microhabitats for butterflies, and managers could combine vegetation management practices with the needs of specific functional groups. • Butterfly species richness in microhabitats most affected by vegetation structure. • Vegetation composition was decisive on herb-feeding butterfly abundance. • Light availability, herb height, nectar plant richness and abundance mainly positively influenced butterfly diversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

GLA14, one of the products of the spaceborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS), provides six Gaussian decomposition waveforms that represent different vertical layers of the ground target in a laser spot. In this article, we have extracted the relative height of ground targets from peak positions of the GLAS waveform, carried out the field validations, analysed the trend of building height in Beijing and then multiplied the building height and the percentage of building area within a pixel of the land-use/land-cover classification map to get the annual change of total floor space of buildings in Beijing. Based on the total floor space of buildings (TFSB) released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China (NBSC), we have established a linear regression model between the GLAS-estimated total floor space in Beijing and the data provided by NBSC. The results show that the building height and (TFSB) in Beijing increased from 2003 to 2008. The method proposed in this article expands research on urban change from a two-dimensional plane to a three-dimensional space to improve research accuracy, and is complementary to current remote-sensing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of rapid urbanization, urban foresters are actively seeking management monitoring programs that address the challenges of urban biodiversity loss. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) has attracted attention because it allows for the collection of data passively, objectively, and continuously across large areas and for extended periods. However, it continues to be a difficult subject due to the massive amount of information that audio recordings contain. Most existing automated analysis methods have limitations in their application in urban areas, with unclear ecological relevance and efficacy. To better support urban forest biodiversity monitoring, we present a novel methodology for automatically extracting bird vocalizations from spectrograms of field audio recordings, integrating object-based classification. We applied this approach to acoustic data from an urban forest in Beijing and achieved an accuracy of 93.55% (±4.78%) in vocalization recognition while requiring less than ⅛ of the time needed for traditional inspection. The difference in efficiency would become more significant as the data size increases because object-based classification allows for batch processing of spectrograms. Using the extracted vocalizations, a series of acoustic and morphological features of bird-vocalization syllables (syllable feature metrics, SFMs) could be calculated to better quantify acoustic events and describe the soundscape. A significant correlation between the SFMs and biodiversity indices was found, with 57% of the variance in species richness, 41% in Shannon's diversity index and 38% in Simpson's diversity index being explained by SFMs. Therefore, our proposed method provides an effective complementary tool to existing automated methods for long-term urban forest biodiversity monitoring and conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the COVID-19 epidemic period, people showed a stronger connection to the environment within their communities. Although tree canopy in residential areas has been shown to positively affect psychological distress, it is not clear whether the COVID-19 epidemic played a role in this process. Elucidation of the relationship between tree canopy and the impact on psychological distress during the COVID-19 epidemic could provide valuable information as to the best methods to help individuals cope with urban mental stress events. A total of 15 randomly selected residential areas of Beijing were enrolled in this repeated cross-sectional study. A total of 900 residents were included in the two-waves of the investigation (450 residents per wave) before and during the COVID-19 epidemic (i.e., May 2019 and May 2020). Psychological distress was estimated using the 12-question General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12). Tree canopy coverage (TCC) was measured through visual interpretation based on the 2013 data sources (World View 2 satellite imagery of Beijing urban areas with a resolution of 0.5 m). The demographic characteristics, distance to the nearest surrounding green or blue space, residential area house price, household density, and construction year were also collected in this study. A multivariate logistic regression, relative risk due to interaction (RERI), and synergy index (SI) were used to explore the relationships among tree canopy, COVID-19, and psychological distress. The negative impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on mental health was significant, with the prevalence of psychological distress increased 7.84 times (aOR = 7.84, 95% CI = 4.67–13.95) during the COVID-19 epidemic period. Tree canopy coverage in the group without psychological distress was significantly higher than that of the psychologically distressed group (31.07 ± 11.38% vs. 27.87 ± 12.97%, P = 0.005). An increase in 1% of TCC, was related to a 5% decrease in the prevalence of psychological distress (aOR = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.93–0.98). An antagonism joint action between tree canopy and the COVID-19 epidemic existed (RERI = 1.09, 95% CI = 0.72–1.47; SI = 0.16, 95% CI = 0.05–0.52), and persisted enhancing only in medium (26.45%–33.21%) and above TCC level. Correlation of GHQ items and TCC significantly differed between the COVID-19 non-epidemic and epidemic periods, with the effects of tree canopy on GHQ-12 items covering topics, such as social function and depression, presumably absent because of epidemic limitations. This study indicates that the COVID-19 epidemic harmed mental health and verified the positive effects of residential tree canopy on psychological distress in Beijing. We suggest paying more attention to residents in areas of low TCC and dealing with psychological distress caused by public health stress events based on tree canopy strategies. • More tree canopy in residential areas was associated with better mental health. • The prevalence of psychological distress increased 7.84 times during the COVID-19 epidemic period. • The antagonism joint action between tree canopy and the COVID-19 epidemic persisted enhancing only in medium (26.45%–33.21%) and above tree canopy coverage level. • The COVID-19 epidemic limitation changed the effects of tree canopy on different GHQ-12 items. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forests can affect soil organic carbon (SOC) quality and distribution through forest types and traits. However, much less is known about the influence of urban forests on SOC, especially in the effects of different forest types, such as coniferous and broadleaved forests. Our objectives were to assess the effects of urban forest types on the variability of SOC content (SOC concentration (SOCC) and SOC density (SOCD)) and determine the key forest traits influencing SOC. Data from 168 urban forest plots of coniferous or broadleaved forests located in the Beijing urban area were used to predict the effects of forest types and traits on SOC in three different soil layers, 0–10 cm, 10–20 cm, and 20–30 cm. The analysis of variance and multiple comparisons were used to test the differences in SOC between forest types or layers. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to explain the influence of forest traits on SOC and select the significant predictors. Our results showed that in urban forests, the SOCC and SOCD values of the coniferous forest group were both significantly higher than those of the broadleaved group. The SOCC of the surface soil was significantly higher than those of the following two deep layers. In PLSR models, 42.07% of the SOCC variance and 35.83% of the SOCD variance were explained by forest traits. Diameter at breast height was selected as the best predictor variable by comparing variable importance in projection (VIP) scores in the models. The results suggest that forest types and traits could be used as an optional approach to assess the organic carbon stock in urban forest soils. This study found substantial effects of urban forest types and traits on soil organic carbon sequestration, which provides important data support for urban forest planning and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: As urbanisation is a significant global trend, there is a profound need for biodiversity protection in urban ecosystems. Moreover, the potential of urban green space to support urban biodiversity should be appreciated. Butterflies are environmental indicators that are sensitive to urbanisation. Therefore, it is important to identify butterfly distribution patterns and the factors influencing butterfly diversity and species composition in urban parks within cities. Research Highlights: To our knowledge, ours is the first study evaluating the effects of both land cover and local habitat features on butterfly species composition in urban parks of Beijing, China. Materials and Methods: In this study, we surveyed butterfly richness and abundance in 28 urban parks in Beijing, China. The parks differed in age and location in the urban area. Meanwhile, we investigated the green space in the surroundings of the parks at multi-spatial scales at the landscape level. We also investigated local park characteristics including the age of the park (Age), perimeter/area ratio of the park (SQPRA), area of the park (ha) (Area), green space cover within the park (Greenp), nectar plant species richness (Necpl), abundance of flowering nectar plants (Necabu) and overall plant species richness (Pl). Generalised linear models (GLMs) and redundancy discriminant analysis (RDA) were applied to relate butterfly diversity and butterfly species composition to environmental variables, respectively. Results: We recorded 3617 individuals belonging to 26 species from July to September in 2019. Parks on the city fringe had significantly higher butterfly diversity. Butterfly species richness was mostly related to total plant richness. The abundance of flowering nectar plants was closely linked to butterfly abundance. Land cover had little impact on butterfly diversity and community structure in urban parks. Conclusions: Once a park has sufficient plants and nectar resources, it becomes a useful haven for urban butterflies, regardless of the surrounding land cover. Well-planned urban parks focused on local habitat quality support butterfly conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-temperature freezing stress of wheat seedlings adversely influences growth and the final yield of wheat. Imaging spectrometry and image integration were used to study the extent of freezing injury on wheat seedlings on three dates in 2010. Thirty wheat cultivars with limited freezing resistance that are usually grown in Southern China were grown in pots located outdoors in Beijing. Imaging spectra of potted wheat samples were acquired in the spectral range of 450–900 nm, and a polyphenol tester was used to determine the nitrogen balance index of wheat samples. Increased freezing injury was related to increased spectral reflectance in the 450–650 nm wave band and decreased spectral reflectance in the 700–900 nm wave band. Average spectral reflectance of wheat seedling canopies was negatively correlated (−0.7) with nitrogen balance index in the red edge area between 650 nm and 700 nm. Absolute values of correlation coefficients under freezing stress at three measuring dates reached a maximum at 680 nm, and this wavelength was used as the characteristic wavelength for freezing-injury diagnosis of the wheat seedlings. From spectral images at this characteristic wavelength, it was feasible to intuitively observe the area and extent of freezing-injured wheat seedlings. Our results show that it is feasible to monitor freezing stress of wheat seedlings by use of hyperspectral imaging which could accurately reflect freezing-injured parts of wheat seedlings. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract Trichomonas gallinae is a globally distributed protozoan parasite, mainly affect the upper avian digestive tract and can bring huge economic losses to pigeon industry. The objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence and genotypes of T. gallinae in Beijing, China. A total of 569 samples of throat swabs of pigeon were collected from pigeon farms in Shunyi District, Fangshan District, Daxing District and Miyun District of Beijing. The overall prevalence was 28.30%. The significant difference in infection rates was not observed between regions, but was found between age groups. The highest prevalence was nestling pigeons (33.16%), followed by adolescent pigeons (30.05%) and breeding pigeons (20.59%). Moreover, genotype A and B of T. gallinae were identified by sequencing the ITS1/5.8S/ITS2 regions and phylogenetic analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first report to display the prevalence and genotype of T. gallinae from Beijing, China. Highlights • First survey of the prevalence and genotyping of T. gallinae in domestic pigeons in Beijing, China. • The average infection rate is 28.30% and the highest prevalence was discovered in nestling pigeons. • Both genotype A and genotype B were identified in the present study. • The results of the present study will enrich the epidemiological data of T. gallinae infection in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, to understand the variation trend of soil moisture in Beijing, surface soil moisture retrieval, deep soil moisture estimation and spatiotemporal distribution characteristics from 2013 to 2014 were analyzed. The results showed that the Temperature Vegetation Quantitative Index (TVQI), which was modified from the TVDI by the quantitative dry edge and wet edge, is effective for predicting surface soil moisture. The coefficient of determination (R2), root man squared error (RMSE), and Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE) of the TVQI increased by 0.2, 0.3%, and 4.6, respectively, compared to those of the TVDI. Moreover, the TVQI is closely related to cumulative precipitation within 1 month, as the correlation is the highest in this time interval. The accuracy of surface soil moisture retrieval was good, with relative error (RE), R2, and NSE values of 6%, 0.9 and 0.7, respectively. The deep soil moisture estimations performed well at both 20 cm and 40 cm, with an average R2 above 0.9, an average RE below 0.1 and an average NSE above 0.7. However, the prediction accuracy decreased as the soil depth increased. T opt , the best characteristic time length of the exponential filter, was significantly related to the soil bulk density, while the precipitation meteorological condition had little effect. Moreover, the average T opt of all stations can be used instead of the T opt of each station. Beijing, the study area, is dry throughout the year, with soil moisture reaching a minimum in May and a maximum in July. The changes in soil moisture at 10 cm, 20 cm and 40 cm were consistent, and soil moisture increased with soil depth. Furthermore, the variation trends of soil moisture were high in the east and low in the west. Not only is this study important for understanding soil moisture variation trends; it also provides a preliminary reference for water management in Beijing. [Display omitted] • A model-based simulation framework that can determine the variation trend in soil moisture of ungauged region. • The TVQI, the modified TVDI, is effective for the prediction of surface soil moisture • The TVQI is closely related to cumulative precipitation within 1 month. • Soil moisture in Beijing essentially shows a trend of 'east high and west low'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]