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This study explores the impact of farm households' social capital characteristics and local government policies on the selection of farmland transfer contracts in China's rural industrial revitalization context. Utilizing field research data from 1,979 households in ethnic areas of Hunan Province, this paper constructs an econometric model to assess how farm households' social capital and local governments' involvement in rural industrial revitalization influence farmland transfer contract selections. The findings indicate that, lacking government program support, farmers' social capital significantly affects contract type and duration, but not the rent. Specifically, farmers possessing extensive social capital prefer verbal and short-term contracts (coefficients of 0.525 and 0.643, significant at the 5% level), whereas their influence on rent (coefficient of 2.418, significant at the 5% level) manifests under government program support. These results challenge the conventional theory of farmland transfer contracts and offer substantial empirical support for the development of local government policies in rural industrial revitalization, underlining the critical role of government guidance and social capital in enhancing farmland transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurately determining the timing and mechanism of metallogenesis of ore deposits is essential for developing a robust genetic model for their exploration. In this paper, we analyze the formation conditions of cassiterite in five major deposits of southern Hunan Province, one of the most important tungsten-tin (W-Sn) provinces in South China, using a combination of cathodoluminescence imaging, in situ U-Pb geochronology, and trace-element concentration data. In situ cassiterite U-Pb geochronology constrains the main period of Sn mineralization to between 155.4 and 142.0 Ma, demonstrating a temporal and genetic relationship to silicic intrusive magmatism in the same area. Three stages of magmatic activity and metallogenic evolution are recognized: (1) Early Paleozoic and Triassic: the initial enrichment stage of tungsten and tin; (2) Jurassic: the metasomatic mineralization stage; and (3) Cretaceous: the magmatic-hydrothermal superposition stage. The cassiterite in these deposits takes four forms, i.e., quartz vein-type, greisen-skarn-type, greisen-type, and granite-type, representing a progression characterized by the increasing content and decreasing range of variation of high field strength elements (HFSEs), and reflecting a general increase in the degree of evolution of the associated granites. Rare earth element (REE) concentrations suggest that precipitation of cassiterite was insensitive to the redox state of the fluid and that precipitation of cassiterite in the southern Hunan Sn deposits did not require a high-fO2 environment. These findings provide new insights into tin mineralization processes and exploration strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To achieve the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, China promoted county-wide photovoltaic projects (CWPVs) in 2021. A large number of distributed photovoltaic (DPV) installations have expanded the scale of prosumer. It also brings the inequity problem of prosumer, distribution network system operator (DSO) and consumer--DSO and consumer bear the costs such as access cost and depreciation of stock investment caused by DPV access. Combined with China's current electricity tariff system and the promotion of photovoltaic scale development, this paper proposes a standby fee model based on the principle of "beneficiary apportionment". In this model, the standby fee mechanism for self-owned power plants is applied to DPV to reduce the implementation cost of the mechanism, and the principle of "beneficiary apportionment" is adopted to ensure the profitability of DPV. This paper takes the CWPV in Hunan Province, China as an example, calculates the standby fee under various electricity metering methods, and determines the most appropriate standby fee by considering factors such as output uncertainty of DPV. Finally, the difficulties in the implementation of standby fee are sorted out. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has an exceptional diversity in Begonia, holding the second largest number of described species in this genus at the national level. Many new taxa need to be explored and described. This paper reports two new species, Begonia ruchengensis (B. sect. Reichenheimia) and B. auritalata (B. sect. Platycentrum), from Hunan province and Guizhou province, respectively. Besides the detailed morphology description, color illustrations, and line drawings, the diagnoses of these two species distinguished from their allied taxa are provided. Their conservation statuses are evaluated according to The Guidelines for Using the IUCN Red List Categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digitizing ethnic villages through VR technology is helpful for putting limited resources into the most urgent protection projects at this stage. In this paper, Basha village in western Hunan of China is selected as the carrier, and VR technology is used to simulate its virtual village scene. In this paper, ArcGIS is used to show the distribution of villages, through SketchUp software, 3D modeling of the buildings in the village is carried out, which is imported into Lumion platform and optimized, and finally the VR scene of Basha village is established. Through professional analysis tools, accurate reduction scale, and rational analysis and decision-making, it can not only open up a new situation for the protection of national history and culture, but also better promote the construction and renewal of new countryside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic discussion of traditional zinc-smelting technology in China has been hampered by a paucity of physical data recovered from early production sites. In recent years, however, the discovery of former zinc-smelting sites in the municipality of Chongqing in south-western China has provided important evidence from archaeological excavations that contribute to the study of this topic. Taking the smelting furnace found at the Linjiangerdui site in Zhong County as an example, this paper introduces and discusses the form, use and maintenance of the zinc-smelting furnace of the Ming Dynasty (AD 1368–1644), and makes a preliminary comparison with the smelting furnaces dating to the Qing Dynasty (AD 1636–1912) unearthed in Shizhu County and the mountainous Hunan Province in an attempt to elucidate the development and evolution of ancient Chinese zinc-smelting technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the knowledge and attitudes of participants and potential participants in clinical trials toward electronic informed consent. We conducted a survey-based cross-sectional study in Hunan Province, China in March 2021. A total of 547 respondents were included in this study. All questions in an 8-item survey section assessing participants' knowledge of electronic informed consent received correct answers from at least 70% of participants. In terms of attitude scores, most participants (86.3%) believed that electronic informed consent is more convenient than the paper-based version, and more than half (51.2%) believed that electronic informed consent could completely replace the paper-based version. Responses indicated that common concerns about electronic informed consent were its security and confidentiality, legal benefits, and implications for rights protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimal project portfolio planning is a typical nonconvex, multiobjective, highly constrained, multitemporal coupling, and combinatorial optimization problem. This paper proposes a novel multistep iterative ranking learning method (MIRL) to solve this complex combinatorial optimization problem from massive infrastructure projects of smart grid. The optimal project portfolio planning problem of power grid is formulated as the optimization process of massive project priority sorting with an improved knapsack model. The proposed method dynamically optimizes the best infrastructure project combination for each round to maximize the economic, social, and security benefits without exceeding the annual investment limit. A pairwise-based ranking learning algorithm is used to mine the priority sorting law from massive historical combination data of power grid to initialize candidate project portfolio. In order to approach the optimal portfolio planning solution with the constraint satisfactions of project construction duration and electric load supplies, a heuristic greedy strategy is designed to search the solution dynamically for selecting the project having highest construction benefits iteratively. The effectiveness of the proposed method is proved by experiments with real-world project data of Hunan power grid in China, and experimental results show that the proposed MIRL can outperform other methods on investment efficiency, calculation time, and rationality of project construction period schedule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As skilled talent is the core element in optimizing the industrial structure, clarifying the factors that influence the lack of skilled talent in the agricultural industry is essential. The lack of skilled talent in the agricultural industry is a complex problem. The author based this study on the push–pull theory and used the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (FSQCA) research method to explore the "joint effect" of the factors that affect the lack of skilled talents in the agricultural industry in 14 cities of Hunan Province. This paper found that indicators such as the rural industry status, rural medical level, agricultural and forestry financial investment, urbanization construction, regional economic development level, and local government officials were all presented under sufficient conditions. These influencing factors have a "combined effect" on the agricultural industry's lack of skilled talent. The rural industry status indicator was the core condition, appearing in all the configurations. This article's main marginal contribution is that it defined three conditional configurations for the lack of "present" agricultural skilled talents, and dependent configurations are consistent. Among the three conditional configurations, the "rural industry + economic construction and financial investment" configuration is the most powerful way to retain skilled agricultural talents. In addition, the causal relationship between the lack of "present" agricultural industry skilled talents and the lack of "absent" agricultural industry skilled talents are asymmetric. The primary task is to develop rural industries to solve the problem of the shortage of skilled talent in the agricultural industry. Additionally, then implement the 'industry+' combination policy. So the government must create related policies in the following areas: the supply of essential public services in rural areas, the economic construction of prefectures, the development of county urbanization, and the financial investment in agriculture, forestry, and water conservancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines long-term settlement expansion in western Hunan region of China and presents a case study of socio-cultural landscape transformation. We extract historical settlements from historical documents in the area's representative counties and outline their spatial distributions during the eighteenth century. Following these distributions, we then examine the influencing factors behind the expansion. We found that when compared with older settlements, new settlements were concentrated primarily on sloping, high-elevation fields rather than more level, lower-elevation fields. Multiple factors affected this settlement expansion. Topography strongly influenced settlement distribution, while policy shifts strongly influenced settlement expansion. Among these was a policy shift from prohibition to encouragement. Other contributing factors to settlement expansion included population growth, immigration, the introduction of new crops, improved farming techniques, and farmland water conservation facilities, which likely benefited from temperature rises. Furthermore, a portion of the indigenous people gradually transitioned into permanent agriculture from slash-and-burn farming, possibly resulting in increased settlement activities. Overall, this study makes important contributions to understanding human impacts on mountainous environments of the past, highlighting patterns of historical-geographical continuity and change over time. Future investigations on historical settlements in a typical region would improve knowledge of these human-nature interactions over the long term. • Maps settlement in western Hunan mountainous areas during the eighteenth century. • Showing a trend of new settlements expanding to higher elevations and steeper slopes. • Describing Anthropogenic land cover change associated with settlement expansions. • Revealing historical landscape changes in conjunction with settlement expansions. • Examining the influencing factors behind the settlement distribution in space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of the promotion of the Olympic effect of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics and the in-depth implementation of the national ice and snow industry's strategy of "expanding from the south to the west and expanding from the east," China's ice and snow industry has ushered in a new period of development. By applying literature and logical analysis, etc., with in-depth analysis of various subjective and objective supplies for the integration of China's ice-snow industry and ecocultural tourism in Hunan Province, it is considered to be driven by the bidding and preparation effect of Beijing Winter Olympic Games in 2022. The supply capacity of ice-snow industry venues, professional facilities, and public services are gradually strengthened, and the soft power of construction of the ice-snow industry needs to be coordinated and improved. The problem of safety is prominent and it is urgent to build a safety prevention and emergency management of ice-snow tourism.The integration of ice-snow sports and ecotourism industry has gradually became a prototype, but the integration point, line, and surface still need to be further strengthened and expanded. Accordingly, this paper puts forward a method to realize the transformation and upgrading of the commercial operation mode of the integration of ice-snow industry and ecological culture tourism, comprehensively to improve the ecological innovation ability of ice-snow tourism public service, to create multi-industry ice-snow industry cluster area, and to construct the basic framework system of risk prevention and control and management with multisubject participation and other relevant strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To ensure the safe construction of bridge pile foundation in karst area, it is necessary to accurately detect the unfavorable geological conditions such as karst cave and soft layer before excavation. In this paper, the transient electromagnetic method is used to probe the geological conditions near the pile Y1 of an interworking main bridge in China's Hunan Province. By arranging 5 measuring lines at the pile Y1, the voltage variation laws of 21 monitoring points on each measuring line are obtained, and the resistivity variation cloud maps at the measuring line positions are inversed. The results show that the voltage signals at line 1 and line 5 are obviously abnormal, and the resistivity varies greatly within 50 m underground depth, which indicates that there may be adverse geological conditions such as karst cave and carbonaceous limestone interlayer. Further, through on-site hole digging and sampling, it is found that the slag sample in the area above 50 m of the stratum of pile Y1 is wet, and the slag sample below 50 m is dry without argillaceous interlayer, which verifies the effectiveness of transient electromagnetic detection method. Because the transient electromagnetic detection technology does not need drilling and the detection process is convenient, it may provide a new means for quickly detecting the integrity of the bearing layer of bored cast-in-place pile in bridge construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family farms are an important part of rural revitalization in China. Strengthening credit support for family farms is of great significance for increasing family farm income. This paper takes 1895 demonstrative family farms in Hunan Province as an example and proposes research hypotheses based on the theoretical analysis of the income growth effect of family farm credit. Based on the Cobb–Douglas theory, the Tobit model is used to make an empirical analysis of the income-increasing effect of family farms. And, we can add explanatory variables and QTE quantile effect model for testing. The results show that strengthening family farm credit support is conducive to increasing family farm income, and the coef. is 0.428. Family farm credit support is positively correlated with its total operating income. The more credit support for a family farm receives, the higher its total operating income. When the credit support of a family farm reaches a certain scale of 300,000 RMB, its income-increasing effect begins to diminish gradually. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a list of the species, the host plants and distribution of eriophyoid mites on bamboo in the world. Seventy-two eriophyoid species from 32 genera, associated with bamboo species from 13 genera, are listed. Twelve of the reported species belong to Diptilomiopidae and 60 to Eriophyidae. Two new species of eriophyoid mites on bamboo from Yunnan and Hunan Provinces of China are described and illustrated: Calacarus bambusissp. nov. on Bambusa sp. (Poaceae) and Tetra tessellasp. nov. on Indocalamus tessellatus (Munro) Keng f. (Poaceae). Both species are vagrants on leaf surfaces, causing no apparent damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically engages with dynamics of the Chinese food safety governance infrastructure following the melamine crisis. It presents a qualitative analysis of 16 in-depth stakeholder interviews in Hunan, Hubei, and Henan. We reveal tensions between a segmented model of governance and a centralized model, between a centralized top-down model and stakeholder participation, and between a public model and a private, decentral market where corporate reputation must result in transparency and trust. Stakeholders also see gaps between ideals of inclusive, transparent, and participatory governance, and effective problem-solving. Governance of food safety in China, even when targeting inclusion and public accountability, remains heavily dependent on the central state as a pivotal actor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Phlebiopsis xuefengensis J. Zou, sp. nov. the first record of Phlebiopsis Jülich fungi from plant endophytes. • The first novel fungal species isolated from Gastrodia elata Blume. Phlebiopsis is a genus of poroid crust fungi belong to the family Phanerochaetaceae. The genus contains 19 species, which show a widespread distribution. In this paper, a strain of Phlebiopsis sp., named WS01, was isolated from tubers of Gastrodia elata collected in southern China. The endophytic fungus WS01 bearing fruiting-body was cultivated successfully in the fruiting body media. The characterized strain, in hyphae of the hymenium with colorless walls and cystidia lacking revealed that it morphologically differs from other Phlebiopsis species. A combined dataset of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS), the large subunit regions of nuclear ribosomal RNA gene (LSU) and RNA polymerase II largest subunit gene (rpb 1) was used to confirm the phylogenetic placement of this species, and phylogenetic analyses were carried out with maximum likelihood and bayesian inference methods. The results provide evidence that the species represents a new member of the Phlebiopsis clade in the family Phanerochaetaceae, in which the new species formed a monophyletic lineage with a strong support (100% ML, 1.00 BPP) and then grouped with P. pilatii. According to a signature sequence for a new species, the strain is, therefore, proposed as Phlebiopsis xuefengensis sp. nov. It is the first record of Phlebiopsis fungi from the plant endophytes and the first novel fungal species isolated from Gastrodia elata. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Centralized vs. decentralized sewage treatment is one of the key issues in the planning of rural sewage treatment (RST) in China due to the country's diverse regional characteristics. There are very limited comprehensive evaluation models for selecting regionally suitable schemes and facilities, particularly for national or provisional scale planning. As a scenario-based multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) issue, this paper develops a novel RST suitability evaluation model by integrating the multi-attribute analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS). The suitability evaluation model sets up 3 small-centralized and 4 decentralized RST facilities as candidates and includes 12 evaluation indicators that cover economic cost, life cycle environmental impacts, technical features and operations management. Eight generic scenarios are classified for Chinese rural areas based on differences in three major characteristic factors, i.e., population density (PD), the economic development level (EDL), and topographic slope (TS). The universal evaluation results show that a centralized sewage treatment scheme is more suitable for areas with a high PD/high EDL/low TS, while a decentralized scheme is more suitable for areas with a low PD/low EDL/high TS. Sensitivity analysis shows that in regions with a high PD/low EDL, the indicator weight of the construction investment cost in the model has a great influence on the facility suitability ranking. However, in regions with a high PD/high EDL, the ranking is the most sensitive to the indicator weights of the global warming potential and sewage treatment effect. Furthermore, as a spatial decision issue, an RST suitability map of Hunan Province in China is produced at the county level of resolution, and the map is generally consistent with our field knowledge of several counties in Hunan Province. The presented evaluation framework can be integrated into environmental decision support systems in the future to help local and central governments, water utilities, design institutes and other stakeholders scientifically plan RST projects. [Display omitted] • A new suitability evaluation framework of rural sewage treatment (RST) facilities. • Considering life-cycle environmental impacts and regional differences on a large scale. • Optimal RST facilities for each 8 types of regions in China were selected. • A suitability zoning map of optimal RST facility was produced for Hunan Province. • It can help to develop an environmental decision support system for RST planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Permian-Triassic transitional interval exposed well at Kangjiaping section, northwestern Hunan, South China, contains microbialites, oolitic and oncolitic limestones intercalated with vermiculate micritic limestones in the Lower Triassic overlying the uppermost Permian bioclastic limestones, which provides an excellent opportunity to study the environmental changes after the end-Permian mass extinction (EPME) and the origins and environmental significance of these various anomalous sediments. In this paper, we describe in detail the petrographic and geochemical characteristics of these anomalous sediments, together with the reconstruction of the marine environment after the EPME. The continental margin weathering was significantly enhanced after the EPME, indicated by the higher concentrations of terrigenous minerals, Th, Sc, Sr, and rare earth elements in the Lower Triassic carbonates than in the uppermost Permian bioclastic limestones. Indicators such as V/(V + Ni) and Ni/Co ratios suggest that the oxygen content of shallow seawater significantly decreased after the EPME. While, most samples from the Kangjiaping section preserve a negative cerium anomaly, indicating the shallow seawater was still oxygenated both before and after the EPME. In addition, the abnormally rapid carbonate precipitation rate indicates a supersaturation state with respect to calcium carbonate in the shallow seawater after the EPME, but the depth and salinity of seawater and climate indicated by different microfacies are still different. Under the setting of a rapid transgression after the EPME, the microbialites first deposited on the platform with the exclusion of grazers at the beginning of the Early Triassic, followed by the oncolites formed when the climate turned humid with a relative sea-level rise. The oolites were primarily deposited in an arid climate with a relative sea-level fall, and the salinity and hydrodynamics of seawater controlled the ooids' grain sizes. In contrast, the (vermiculate) micritic limestones were mainly formed in a humid climate with a relative sea-level rising and more terrigenous inputs. Therefore, the periodic relative sea-level fluctuation and arid-humid climate alternations play a vital role in the evolution and repeat stacking of various microfacies in the Kangjiaping section. • First integrated study of the PTB interval at Kangjiaping section that focuses on petrography and geochemistry and their implication for environmental change. • Marine environment following the end-Permian mass extinction was assessed. • Depositional environment of various anomalous sediments and the controlling factors for their evolution were clarified. • The sedimentary process and depositional model of the Permian-Triassic boundary interval at the Kangjiaping section were re-established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Huang, X.; Suwal, N.; Fan, J.; Pandey, K., and Jia, Y., 2019. Hydrological alteration assessment by histogram comparison approach: A case study of Erdu River Basin, China. In: Guido-Aldana, P.A. and Mulahasan, S. (eds.), Advances in Water Resources and Exploration. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 93, pp. 139–145. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The Erdu River is a small river in Hunan Province. This paper studies the quantitative assessment of the hydrological alterations in the hydrological regimes of the Erdu River caused by the Liujiaping hydropower station. Diurnal streamflow data between the time intervals from 1967-2013 were obtained from the Hengbanqiao station. The histogram comparison approach (HCA) and improved overall degree of hydrological alteration with new classification were used for the assessment. The hydrologic regime alteration was computed by the IHA (indicator of hydrological alteration) indices. As per the improved classification, three indices were altered at low degrees, seven -indices were altered at moderate degrees, eleven indices were altered at high degree and ten indices were altered at severe degree. The overall and improved overall degree of hydrological alteration for the Hengbanqiao station is 72% and 80.49% respectively, suggesting a high and severe degree of alteration respectively. The alteration degree of every IHA indices ranged from 32.29% to 100%. This shows that the current operation mode of Liujiaping hydropower station has severely deteriorated eco-hydrological regimes of the downstream area. Hence, there is an immediate need to operate the reservoir taking into consideration the ecological needs of the downstream areas, in order to preserve the river-ecology of the Erdu River. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Grain assemblages in shale establish a key starting condition for diagenetic pathway. • There are four origins of quartz and two origins of organic matter in marine shale. • Cementation and mechanical compaction make a significant reduction of porosity. • Shale with different lithfacies has differences in pore types. • Authigenic quartz cementation made porosity reduction but enhanced the brittleness. This paper considers possible impacts of mineralogy and organic matter contents and assemblages on the diagenetic history, pore structure, and brittleness of the Ordovician-Silurian Wufeng Formation and Longmaxi Formation (Northwestern Hunan, upper Yangtze Platform) of South China. Multiple analytical approaches, including X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, cathodoluminescence, and X-ray mapping, were utilized to identify favorable shale gas intervals. Analyzed shale samples of the Wufeng-Longmaxi succession are dominated by such extrabasinal components as quartz, K-feldspar, albite, lithic fragments, and K-rich and Mg-rich clay minerals. Subordinate components include siliceous tests and organic particles. Authigenic minerals present as grain replacements and pore-fillings include quartz, illite, pyrite, and carbonate minerals. Depositional and diagenetic organic matter, which are discriminated petrographically, are present in the studied deposits. Wufeng Formation samples are enriched in organic matter (mainly of diagenetic origin) and authigenic quartz. The dominant types of porosity of the Wufeng samples include pores hosted by organic particles and interparticle pores between authigenic quartz crystals. The precipitation of authigenic quartz appears to have been the principal means of porosity reduction and enhanced the brittleness of the shale. Analyzed samples of the Longmaxi Formation are dominated by extrabasinal grains and lesser authigenic minerals. Reduction of depositional porosity of these deposits appears to have been largely the result of physical compaction. Thus, extensive authigenic quartz cementation and thermal maturation of organic matter of the Wufeng Formation likely enhanced the reservoir capacity and fracturing ability of these deposits relative to the overlying Longmaxi Formation. This understanding is especially relevant to shale gas exploration and production considerations of organic-rich fine-grained sediments of similar sedimentological background. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of natural ventilation in buildings to reduce the energy consumption and CO 2 emission has been widely investigated and practiced, but few existing studies have considered the exploration and assessment of natural ventilation in different location patterns of rural residential buildings in the mountainous terrain of China. In this paper, the representative rural residential buildings are firstly selected in Huarong, Pingjiang and Liuyang regions of northern Hunan Province to carry out on-site survey works to determine building types, physical parameters and layout forms. Then, the wind tunnel experiments are carried out to investigate the effectiveness of natural ventilation under different location patterns, and the monitored results are compared with simulated data. The results show that the experiments and simulations are in satisfactory agreement. The experimental data also indicate that when the modelled distance of 120 mm (i.e. 12 m between the building and hilly terrain in practical application) is the best option for building natural ventilation. Based on the investigation and statistical data, the natural ventilation effectiveness under different location patterns and operational conditions is simulated using CFD methods, and it is obtained the most favourable location pattern for natural ventilation. The results show that the winter ventilation of buildings in the existing location pattern is significantly obstructed in the hilly terrain, which is favourable to the indoor thermal environment, however, the natural ventilation is compromised to a certain extent in summer. Furthermore, the findings also show that, regardless of the hilly terrain's height at 50 m or 150 m, the buildings are able to avoid natural ventilation in winter to the maximum extent when the distance between the buildings and the frontier of the hilly terrain is double that of the building height (i.e. 12 m). This study could contribute to theoretical instructions for optimum design of natural ventilation of rural residential buildings in the mountainous terrain of central China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, air pollution has received serious concerns from researchers, media, and the public sectors, but air pollution from agricultural production activities has not received enough attention. This paper focuses on agricultural air pollution in central China, which is aggravated by the ongoing rural labor migration trend. With a set of panel data released from Hubei and Hunan provinces in China, we adopt the mediating effect model to explore the relationship between rural labor migration and air pollution caused by agricultural activity in China. First, we use the inventory analysis method and principal component analysis method to calculate the comprehensive index of the air pollution of agriculture in 152 counties and districts from Hubei and Hunan provinces, and we empirically test the impact of labor migration on air pollution with a mediating effect model as well as carry out regional heterogeneity analysis on the pollution effect of these two provinces mentioned above. The analysis above indicates that the increase of labor migration has intensified the comprehensive index of air pollution caused by agricultural activity by changing the supply of labor force in the agricultural sector, the budget line of rural residents, and the scale of agricultural production and crop planting structure, but there is a difference in the indirect total effect between the two provinces mentioned above according to our regional heterogeneity analysis. This study is a necessary extension to studies on alleviating and controlling air pollution in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotional intelligence is a main area in educational psychology and a key factor in the academic life of students. It deals with deviant behavior through self-awareness and self-motivation, regulates emotional and social skills, and converts emotional energy into positive energy. This study examined direct and indirect relationships between emotional intelligence and study habits in blended learning environments. Blended learning is conceptualized as a hybrid learning approach that combines online learning opportunities and the traditional classroom approach. Furthermore, the study explored the mediating role of cognitive engagement in the relationship between emotional intelligence and study habits. We used 26 items in a paper-based questionnaire in a quantitative study to collect data on emotional intelligence, cognitive engagement and study habits from health sciences students (N = 338) enrolled in blended learning courses in universities in the Hunan province of China. Emotional intelligence included self-awareness, self-motivation, and the regulation of emotion; social skills were also examined. A partial least squares structural-equation modeling approach was applied through SmartPLS software to explore the relationships. The results indicate that self-awareness and self-motivation have direct, significant, and positive connections with study habits. Similarly, the results indicate that all four dimensions of emotional intelligence (self-awareness, self-motivation, emotion regulation and social skills) had indirect, significant, and positive relationships with study habits using cognitive engagement as a mediator variable. It was concluded that students face higher-than-usual challenges in building study habits in blended learning environments during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that emotional intelligence helps them to develop their study habits to greater effect. Similarly, it was concluded that cognitive engagement strengthens the connection between emotional intelligence and study habits. Therefore, it is recommended that universities take specific measures to enhance students' emotional intelligence and cognitive engagement, which will ultimately improve their study habits. Moreover, valuable and practical implications for teachers, practitioners, and university management were also discussed in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]