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With rapid urbanisation in China, sustainable urban development faces a major obstacle due to insufficient consideration of land-use efficiency. Currently, despite progress in analysing land-use efficiency, not every land manager has enough knowledge of green land use from a county perspective. Therefore, the objective of this research is to explore the spatiotemporal evolution law focused on county green land-use efficiency (CGLUE), which can support sustainable county development. Based on 10 specific CGLUE factors identified through a content-mining tool, this study explored the temporal and spatial evolution law of 11 counties in Sichuan Province using the ultra-efficient slacks-based measure (SBM), kernel density estimation, and Moran's I statistic. The study found that (1) CGLUE factors cover the administrative area, total investment in fixed assets by region, the number of employed persons in secondary and tertiary industries, gross domestic product in secondary and tertiary industries, the average wage of staff and workers, basic statistics on per capita park green area, carbon emissions of land, the volume of industrial wastewater discharged, the volume of industrial sulphur dioxide emission, and the volume of industrial soot (dust) emission; (2) from a time-evolution perspective, CGLUE shows an increasing trend of time series evolution as a whole, and its dynamic evolution process has obvious differences in time. CGLUE increased, and the difference in CGLUE became larger from 2010 to 2012. CGLUE also increased, and the difference in CGLUE became smaller from 2013 to 2016. CGLUE also increased, and the difference in CGLUE became larger from 2017 to 2020; (3) from a spatial evolution perspective, the global spatial evolution laws of CGLUE show that the spatial agglomeration state has gone from strong to weak. Overall, however, Sichuan Province CGLUE maintains a high spatial agglomeration effect. The local spatial evolution laws show that the CGLUE of the 11 counties is positively correlated. The high–low CGLUE agglomeration areas are mainly distributed in Chengdu, Mianyang, Meishan and Yibin; the low–low CGLUE agglomeration areas are mainly distributed in Deyang, Yaan, and Zigong. The novelty of the research lies in these aspects: (1) the carbon emissions of land should be considered the undesired output of CGLUE; (2) CGLUE in Sichuan Province has various growing stages from a time perspective; (3) CGLUE in Sichuan Province has a high spatial concentration in Chengdu from spatial view, and these counties' resources flow and interact at high speed. These findings offer a solid reference for the sustainable development of these 11 counties in Sichuan Province. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sichuan pickle is one of popular traditional fermented foods in China. However, the contamination of heavy metals in Sichuan pickle, particularly home‐made Sichuan pickle and aged pickle brine, is little known. Therefore, the content of trace (Cr, Cu, and Zn) and toxic elements (As, Pb, and Cd) in Sichuan industrial pickle (SIP), Sichuan home‐made pickle (SHP), and aged pickle brine collected from local markets and families in Sichuan province, respectively, was detected by inductively coupled plasma–tandem mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS/MS) and the health risk was assessed by target hazard quotients including target hazard quotient (THQ) and total target hazard quotient (TTHQ). Consequently, the mean concentrations of Cr, Cu, Zn, As, Pb, and Cd were 0.122, 0.540, 2.516, 0.023, 0.015, and 0.106 mg/kg in SIP and 0.071, 0.364, 2.698, 0.014, 0.015, and 0.289 mg/kg in SHP, respectively, lower than the maximum allowable concentrations set by Chinese regulations, except for Cr and Cd in few samples. Principal component analysis of the heavy metal content could obviously distinguish between SIP and SHP. The content of As, Pb, and Cd in leaf pickles was significantly higher than that in pickles fermented with other types of vegetables. A significant enrichment of heavy metals in aged pickle brine over 10 years was observed, but pickle jars had no significant effect on heavy metal content in aged pickle brine. The intake of heavy metals through daily consumption of SIP and SHP was at a safe level, whereas the TTHQ of leaf pickle was 1.006, indicating a potential health risk. In conclusion, this study provided fundamental data for food safety assurance of Sichuan pickle. Practical Application: Sichuan pickle is one of popular traditional fermented foods in China. In the present study, we investigated the contamination of heavy metals in Sichuan pickles by detecting the content of Cr, Cu, Zn, As, Cd, and Pb in Sichuan industrial pickle, Sichuan home‐made pickle, and aged pickle brine, and estimated the health risk to local residents. This study can provide a reference for the safety risk of Sichuan industrial and home‐made pickle in terms of heavy metal contamination, and enhance the food safety in the processing, production, and consumption of Sichuan pickle in local families and pickle industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • L. plantarum QS7T from Sichuan pickle grew very well on inulin as a carbon source. • L. plantarum QS7T metabolized both short-chain and long-chain inulin components. • A high percentage of genes associated with carbohydrate metabolism were predicted. • The sacPTS1 and fos operons were related to two inulin-consuming strategies. Sichuan pickle is a natural combination of probiotics and dietary fibers, in which a strain Lactiplantibacillus plantarum QS7T was found to be capable of efficiently metabolizing inulin. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of inulin consumption by the strain QS7T is unclear. Therefore, this study firstly investigated the metabolic characteristics of inulin in the strain QS7T, and the results showed it could grow very well on the medium containing inulin as a carbon source (maximum OD 600 nm , 1.891 ± 0.028) and degrade both short-chain oligofructose and long-chain fructan components through thin layer chromatography analysis. Genomic sequencing and analysis revealed a high percentage of functional genes associated with carbohydrate transport and metabolism, particularly glycoside hydrolase (GH) genes responsible for hydrolysing carbohydrates, within the genome of the strain QS7T. Furthermore, comparative transcriptomic analysis of L. plantarum QS7T in response to inulin or glucose indicated that functional genes associated with inulin consumption including several genes encoding PTS sugar transporters and two predicted GH32 family genes encoding beta-fructofuranosidase and beta-fructosidase were significantly up-regulated by inulin compared to the gene expression on glucose. In conclusion, we obtained a mechanistic understanding of interplay between probiotic L. plantarum QS7T derived from Sichuan pickle and natural dietary fiber, inulin; totally two operons including a sacPTS1 operon responsible for metabolizing short-chain oligofructose primarily in the cytoplasm and a fos operon responsible for extracellularly degrading all moderate and long-chain fructan components linked to inulin consumption by L. plantarum QS7T. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]