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The purpose of this research is to study the changes in the market structure of China's pulp and paper product imports. In particular, the import trade environment and market layout of Chinese pulp and paper products have changed under the international context of the coronavirus pandemic and the Sino-US trade dispute and the domestic policy context of zero imports of Chinese waste paper. This study attempts to fill the gap regarding the influencing factors of market structure, while contributing new ideas on China's trade in pulp and paper products. Based on pulp and paper product import and export trade data from 2005 to 2021, a trade gravity model was used to explore the changes in the share of China's trade partners for pulp and paper product imports and their influencing factors. The results indicated that the outbreak of COVID-19 led to a significant increase in China's imports of packaging paper products, bringing about an increase in Indonesia's status as a partner in China's pulp and paper product trade. The US-China trade dispute had an impact on pulp and paper product trade between the two countries, with China's tax countermeasures causing the US to lose its status as a trading partner in China for pulp and paper product imports. The center of gravity for paper product imports has moved from the US and Japan to Indonesia and Russia. The restrictions on waste paper imports have shifted the focus of China's paper raw material imports, with the US no longer being the main importer of China's paper raw materials. Specifically, the main importers of wood pulp are Brazil and Chile, while the main importers of waste paper pulp are Thailand and Malaysia. In the future, China needs to continuously strengthen dialogue with the United States to resolve trade disputes and create a favorable environment for trade in pulp and paper products. At the same time, China's paper enterprises should strengthen the expansion of the Southeast Asian market and reduce dependence on the US market, and China should continue to improve the waste paper recycling system and improve the utilization rate of domestic waste paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late Qing Dynasty, religious periodicals by Western missionaries were made legal in China, and subsequently became an important manner of their missionary cause. Among them, Child's Paper 小孩月报 (1875–1881) by John Marshall Willoughby Farnham, a Protestant missionary from the United States, endeavoured to convert child readers by carrying children's stories of moral and emotional education. By concentrating on the educational elements of Child's Paper, this article inspects how conversion was achieved via the intertextual interpretation of Christian doctrines within these educational elements. Specifically, how the image of little Christians and urchins, respectively, represents salvation and redemption in Christian morals. This article holds that the missionaries' stress on the authority of Christian discourse in the education of Chinese children makes evident an increasing emphasis on the reformative effects of Christianity on Chinese children. Moreover, the conversion-education efforts by missionaries also construed helping Chinese children gain a cross-cultural perspective on Western religion, and arguably inspired later Chinese intellectuals' to create newspapers for the purpose of the pre-primary education of Chinese children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has been the world's largest producer and consumer of paper products. In the context of the "carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals", China's papermaking industry which is traditionally a high energy-consuming and high-emissions industry, desperately needs a nationally appropriate low-carbon development path. From the consumption-side perspective, this paper calculates the CO2 emissions of China's papermaking industry from 2000 to 2019 by using carbon emission nuclear algorithm, grain-straw ratio, first-order attenuation method, and STIRFDT decomposition model, etc., to further explore the core stages and basic patterns affecting the industry's carbon peaking. The results show that the total CO2 emissions of China's papermaking industry showed an upward trend from 2000–2013, stable from 2013–2017, and a steady but slight decline from 2017–2019. Meanwhile, the total CO2 emissions of the full life cycle of paper products in China have decreased to a certain extent in the raw material acquisition, pulp, and paper making and shipping stages, with only the waste paper disposal stage showing a particular upward trend. We find that from 2000 to 2019, China's CO2 emissions in the pulping and papermaking stage of paper products accounted for 68% of the total emissions in the whole life cycle, of which 59% was caused by coal consumption. Moreover, the scenario prediction shows that improving the energy structure and increasing the waste paper recovery rate can reduce the CO2 emissions of the industry, and it is more significant when both work. Based on this and the four core stages of CO2 emissions of the papermaking industry we proposed ways to promote CO2 emissions peaking of China's paper products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emission issues are becoming increasingly severe, and the carbon emissions in shrinking cities, primarily characterized by population loss, are often overlooked and insufficiently studied. This paper focuses on the carbon emissions from county-level administrative units in China's three northeastern provinces from 2001 to 2017. The study scientifically identified shrinking cities and measured the differences in carbon emission characteristics between growing and shrinking cities using the Theil index. Ultimately, the paper constructs a panel spatial econometric model to analyze the factors influencing them and explore their spatial effects. (1) The total carbon emissions in the Three Northeastern Provinces exhibited an inverted U-shaped trend, increasing from 734.21 million tons in 2001 to 1731.73 million tons in 2017, with the Mann–Kendall trend test showing a significant increase; spatially, this manifests as a significant positive spatial autocorrelation. (2) The region has 138 shrinking cities, accounting for over 50%; regarding carbon emission characteristics, the Theil index has consistently remained above 0.18, indicating significant differences between the carbon emissions of growing and shrinking cities. (3) The panel spatial econometric model results show that the influencing factors of carbon emissions in shrinking cities have unique directions, intensities, and spatial effects. In shrinking cities, aside from localized GDP effects and per-capita GDP acting as a suppressant, the population size has a pronounced inhibitory effect on local and surrounding carbon emissions. The analysis reveals significant differences in the carbon emission patterns and mechanisms between growing and shrinking cities; based on these results, the paper proposes differentiated carbon control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many important cultural relics in China, including many paper relics. Therefore, it is particularly important to find methods of protecting the handwriting in paper relics. This study focuses on the effects acrylic polyurethane materials have on preserving handwriting in paper relics by examining the color change and diffusion of handwriting before and after reinforcement treatments on handwriting materials, including ink, carbon ink, blue-black ink, pure blue ink, red ink, and pencil. The acrylic polyurethane materials have a certain degree of stability and enhance the handwriting of paper relics. We analyzed the acrylic polyurethane reinforcement material in terms of acid resistance, alkali resistance, oxidation resistance, dry heat aging resistance, and durability. The experimental results show that the optimal reinforcement concentration is within 15% for ink, 10% for carbon ink, 20% for blue-black ink, 15% to 20% for pure blue ink, and 3% for red ink and pencil. Finally, the surface of the reinforced paper and handwriting were observed through laser microscopy, SEM, EDS, and infrared spectroscopy and the protective effect of acrylic polyurethane reinforcement material on handwriting was determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In this study, we ask whether the invasive paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) has a competitive advantage over neighbor trees in a native area. We determined the competitive capacity of paper mulberry in three deciduous broad-leaved forests using structural indices including the mixing index, the tree–tree interval index, and the diameter/height differentiation index. It was found that the reference paper mulberry had a slight competitive advantage over neighboring trees in both the horizontal and vertical planes. Such a competitive ability may play a significant role in the ecological invasion of paper mulberry. Our findings not only help to reveal the invasion mechanism of paper mulberry, but also provide an important reference for the management and utilization of paper mulberry in invaded areas. Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) is currently an invasive species on several continents. However, little is known about whether paper mulberry has a competitive advantage over its surrounding trees in its native distribution range, subtropical regions of China. Here, we determined the relative intraspecific and interspecific competitive capacity of paper mulberry in three subtropical deciduous broad-leaved forests using the indices of structural diversity including the mixing index, the tree–tree interval index, and the diameter/height differentiation index. It was found that more than 80% of mingling index values were not greater than 0.25, suggesting a stronger competitiveness of paper mulberry relative to other tree species. The tree–tree interval index values ranged between 1 m and 2 m, suggesting a strong competition between paper mulberry and its neighbors. Moreover, more than 60% of the height differentiation index and diameter differentiation index values were positive, suggesting that the reference paper mulberry had a slight competitive advantage over neighboring trees in both the horizontal and vertical planes. These collectively suggest a competitive advantage over other tree species in the native distribution range, which may play a significant role in the ecological invasion of paper mulberry. Our findings not only help to reveal the invasion mechanism of paper mulberry, but also provide an important reference for the management and utilization of paper mulberry in invaded areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covering the full texts of all papers published in MDPI's Remote Sensing between 2009 and 2021, in-depth scientometric analyses were conducted. Trends in publications show an increase in the overall number of papers. A relative increase in papers using SAR sensors and a relative decrease in papers using optical remote sensing can also be seen. The full-text analyses reveal distinctive styles and writing patterns for papers from different sub-fields of remote sensing and for different countries and even cities. While a slight increase in the readability of abstracts is detected over time, the overall readability of papers is decreasing. Institutional co-authorship analysis reveals the ongoing 'scientific decoupling' between China and the USA in remote sensing. Using scientometric full-text analysis, current trends and developments are revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital transformation and sustainability are both at the forefront of current supply chain developments. However, the specific mechanisms of how digital transformation and green supply chain development interact still need to be clarified, which can help supply chain business operators to enhance supply chain sustainability more effectively. This paper focuses on how the companies' organization structure and the socio-economic environment interact with digital technologies under the process of green supply chain development. Based on the "Technology–Organization–Environment" (TOE) framework, this paper analyze how digital transformation can drive green supply chain development. To test the TOE theoretical analysis framework, this paper calculates the digital transformation and green supply chain development index at the provincial level in China and conducts an empirical study. The main findings and implications of this paper can be summarized in the following aspects: First, according to the TOE theory, the external environment dimensions, such as the market and policy environments, affect the role of digital technology in promoting GSC development. Second, in the organizational dimensions, labor–capital relations, company size, and ownership factors can all affect the contribution of digital transformation to green supply chains. Third, there are differences in the impact of different types of digitization technologies on GSC development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to prompt the appearance of the shrimp color, sodium metabisulfite is frequently added in shrimp processing, which is, however, prohibited in China and many other countries. This study aimed to establish a surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) method for screening sodium metabisulfite residues on shrimp surfaces, in a non-destructive manner. The analysis was carried out using a portable Raman spectrometer jointly with copy paper loaded with silver nanoparticles as the substrate material. The SERS response of sodium metabisulfite gives two fingerprint peaks at 620 (strong) and 927 (medium) cm−1, respectively. This enabled unambiguous confirmation of the targeted chemical. The sensitivity of the SERS detection method was determined to be 0.1 mg/mL, which was equal to residual sodium metabisulfite on the shrimp surface at 0.31 mg/kg. The quantitative relationship between the 620 cm−1 peak intensities and the concentrations of sodium metabisulfite was established. The linear fitting equation was y = 2375x + 8714 with R2 = 0.985. Reaching an ideal balance in simplicity, sensitivity, and selectivity, this study demonstrates that the proposed method is ideally suitable for in-site and non-destructive screening of sodium metabisulfite residues in seafood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, bamboo has been well exploited in the pulp and paper industry. Moso bamboo (Phyllostachys edulis (Carriere) J. Houzeau; hereafter M), originated from China with a long history of cultivation as the most abundant resource with the widest distribution area among bamboo plants in China. In this study, Moso bamboo (M) and nine bamboo varieties were selected in the bamboo germplasm resources storage bank of the Anhui Taiping Experimental Station of ICBR. The characteristics of their cell structures were compared, and the differences were analyzed from a genetic perspective. The results showed that M had the highest fiber cell length, fiber cell width, length, and parenchyma width, while GJ showed the lowest of these measurements [P. edulis 'Kikko-chiku',G.H.Lai]. The fiber wall thickness of Q [P. edulis f. obliquinoda (Z.P.Wang et N.X.Ma) Ohrnberger] was the smallest, while its fiber lumen diameter was the highest in the group. The parenchyma wall thickness and parenchyma lumen diameter of Q were the smallest in the group. The fiber cells of M and Q had better flexibility, which is conducive to improving the tensile strength, break resistance, and folding resistance of paper made from these materials. SY and GJ may be more suitable for ornamental items because of their special appearances. The purpose of this study was to explore the genetic variation patterns of various cell structure indicators among Moso bamboo and its varieties, as well as to develop a strategy of bamboo growing and lumbering based on the local conditions, providing reference data for the utilization of non-woody forest resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) is widely ensiled to feed sheep in southwestern China, as unconventional woody forage. Feeding lambs with paper mulberry silage (PMS) may improve certain feeding characteristics, thereby affecting the growth performance and meat quality. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of four diets of PMS on growth performance, rumen microbial composition, and muscle fatty acids profile in Hu lambs. The results showed that 30% and 40% PMS increased the dry matter intake and average daily gain of Hu lambs compared to the control group. PMS30 and PMS40 increased the content of C24:1, and PMS40 increased the content of C20:5n-3. The content of microbial protein (MCP) was higher in PMS40 than in others, but PMS30 and PMS40 reduced the total volatile fatty acid in rumen. PMS30 significantly increased the ratio of acetic acid to propionic acid. The abundance of ruminal Christensenellaceae_R-7_group and norank_f_Eubacterium_coprostanoligenes_group was significantly higher in PMS30 and PMS40 groups. Moreover, Christensenellaceae_R-7_group had a significant positive correlation with n3-polyunsaturated fatty acid. PMS40 might lead to a relatively high content of unsaturated fatty acids in longissimus dorsi muscle by increasing the relative abundance of Christensenellaceae_R-7_group in rumen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to systematically examine the developmental attributes and trends within China's forestry sector through the lens of a global value chain (GVC) framework. To this end, this research analyzes the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development Inter-Country Input–Output (OECD-ICIO) database, using a cohesive set of GVC methods, including the forward decomposition of industry value-added, an assessment of industry upstream and downstream positions, the decomposition of export values, and analysis of trade competitiveness indicators. The trajectory of China's forestry industry hinges upon the interplay between foreign demand and domestic demand. The results reveal a transition in China's forestry sector development model from export-focused to a domestically driven approach. The proportion of value-added that is devoted to meeting domestic demands within the wood processing and papermaking industries has surged to 76% and 82%, respectively. Among the major economies, China has the highest output upstream index and input downstream index in the forestry industry, playing a vital role in propelling and pulling other industries into the global value chain system. The proportion of domestic added-value in China's forestry industry exports ranks among the top, reflecting strong self-sufficiency in export production. Although China's forestry industry possesses a high world market share, its overall international competitiveness is weak, especially with clear signs of weakening comparative advantages in the wood processing industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera L.) is an unconventional forage with high crude protein content and is widely used in China. In order to evaluate the pattern of fermentation quality and the aerobic stability when inoculated with lactic acid bacteria, laboratory-scale silage was prepared. The experimental groups included a control group (CK), a Lactobacillus plantarum 'LC365283' (selected from paper mulberry silage) treatment (L1), a commercial inoculant Lactobacillus plantarum treatment (GF), a commercial inoculant Lactobacillus buchneri treatment (FR), a 3% molasses treatment (MO), a 150 U/g cellulase treatment (CE), and their combinations (MO + L1, MO + GF, MO + FR, CE + L1, CE + GF, and CE + FR). The changes in bacterial community and composition of the fermentation products were evaluated after being ensiled for 30 days and unsealed for 1, 3, 5, and 7 days. Compared with the CK, MO and CE, the silages treated with L1, MO + L1, and CE + L1 showed higher lactic acid concentrations, lower pH values, and lower ammonia nitrogen concentrations (p < 0.05). During the first 3 days of aerobic exposure, the pH values and organic acid content changed slightly in all treatments. The present study suggests that addition of L1 was better than commercial inoculum, and the paper mulberry silages could be well preserved after being unsealed for 3 days. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the implementation of deep-market-oriented reforms in China, an accurate interpretation of the effect and transmission mechanism of the marketization of industrial land transfer on carbon emission reduction can provide references for further elevating the role of land policy in China's low-carbon economic transition. Based on the balanced panel data of China's provincial level from 2009 to 2020, this paper uses carbon emission intensity to quantify emission reduction targets, and studies the effects of the marketization of industrial land transfer on regional carbon emission intensity, as well as its internal mechanism, by describing the typical characteristics. Moreover, this paper analyzes the moderating role of environmental governance and conducts area heterogeneity analysis. The main results show that (1) the marketization of industrial land transfer can significantly reduce regional carbon emission intensity, and the negative effect is stronger in the mid-west compared with the effect in the east. (2) Environmental governance can play a positive moderating role in the relationship between the marketization of industrial land transfer and the carbon emission intensity. (3) Industry selection is the internal mechanism by which the effect of the marketization of industrial land transfer on regional carbon emission intensity operates, and the mechanism is represented more prominently in the mid-west. The main conclusions provide inspiration for land policy regulation in relation to carbon emission reduction. China's local governments should implement specific strategies to improve the market-based operation mechanism of land, attracting industries with high energy efficiency and low carbon emissions, and strengthening the intensity of environmental governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning (ML) has become increasingly popular in the prediction of debris flow occurrence, but the various ML models utilized as baseline predictors reported in previous studies are typically limited to individual case bases. A comprehensive and systematic evaluation of existing empirical evidence on the utilization of ML as baseline predictors for debris flow occurrence is lacking. To address this gap, we conducted a meta-analysis of ML-based prediction modeling of debris flow occurrence by retrieving papers that were published between 2000 and 2023 from the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The general findings were as follows: (1) A total of 84 papers, distributed across 37 different journals in this time period, reflecting an overall upward trend. (2) Debris flow disasters occur throughout the world, and a total of 13 countries carried out research on the prediction of debris flow occurrence based on ML; China made significant contributions, but more research efforts in African countries should be considered. (3) A total of 36 categories of ML models were utilized as baseline predictors for debris flow occurrence, with logistic regression (LR) and random forest (RF) emerging as the most popular choices. (4) Feature engineering and model comparison were the most commonly utilized strategies in predicting debris flow occurrence based on ML (53 and 46 papers, respectively). (5) Interpretation methods were rarely utilized in predicting debris flow occurrence based on ML, with only 16 papers reporting their utilization. (6) In the prediction of debris flow occurrence based on ML, interpretation methods were rarely utilized, searching by data materials was the most important sample data source, the topographic factors were the most commonly utilized category of candidate variables, and the area under the ROC curve (AUROC) was the most frequently reported evaluation metric. (7) LR's prediction performance for debris flow occurrence was inferior to that of RF, BPNN, and SVM; SVM was comparable to RF, and all superior to BPNN. (8) The application process for the prediction of debris flow occurrence based on ML consisted of three main steps: data preparation, model construction and evaluation, and prediction outcomes. The research gaps in predicting debris flow occurrence based on ML include utilizing new ML techniques and enhancing the interpretability of ML. Consequently, this study contributes both to academic ML research and to practical applications in the prediction of debris flow occurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the main demand side of rural financial services, farmers' cooperatives are an important part of China's rural finance. However, due to the lack of effective collateral, farmers' cooperatives have problems such as difficulty in obtaining loans or expensive loans, which not only hinder the high-quality development of farmers' cooperatives, but also limit the development of regional rural finance. Digital credit as a new financing model can effectively alleviate the problems of difficult and expensive loans and has received wide attention from the government and academia. Based on this, this paper analyzes the digital credit behavior of farmers' cooperatives in detail by applying the "6C" family model to the grounded theory, and constructs a theoretical analysis model of farmers' cooperatives' digital credit behavior. The findings are as follows: The motivation for the digital credit of farmers' cooperatives is that the credit procedures are simple, the loan period is short, and the loan interest rate is low; the condition is the farmers' cooperative reputation advantage and government policy support,; the main form is the participation of cooperatives in short- and long-cycle digital credit; and the consequence is reflected in increasing the income of cooperative members, improving the availability of cooperative loans, promoting cooperative credit building, and achieving sustainable agricultural development. Different participation motivations have different effects on the form of credit. When motivated by simple credit procedures and short loan periods, farmers' cooperatives choose "Huinong e-loan"; when motivated by simple procedures and low loan interest rates, farmers' cooperatives choose "Funong Loan". Different forms of credit will produce different performances. Farmers' cooperatives choosing "Huinong e-loan" will produce economic performance; farmers' cooperatives choosing "Funong Loan" will produce economic performance and social performance. In order to deal with the problem of digital credit of farmers' cooperatives, the government needs to improve the relevant policies and regulations, reduce credit risks, and establish a sound credit system to provide credit guarantees for cooperatives and farmers. Financial institutions need to improve their financial services and innovate financial products and services to meet the multi-level credit needs of cooperatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) plants are served as a local roughage in China, and they are mostly processed as silage for ruminants. This study aimed to explore the effects of different silage additives on the chemical composition, fermentation profile, as well as the in vitro and in situ digestibility of paper mulberry (PM) silage. Four groups consisting of PM silage, three with additives and one without any additives as the control group (CON), were established. The three experimental groups with additives were set up as follows: CON with 5 × 106 CFU per gram of fresh PM weight of lactic acid bacteria (Lactobacillus plantarum) (LAB); CON with 3% fresh PM weight of molasses (MOL) added to the PM silage; and CON with both LAB and MOL added (LM). After 45 days of ensiling at 20 °C, all of the PM treatment groups increased their ash content and decreased their water-soluble carbohydrate content (p < 0.05). Meanwhile, the pH and NH3-N content of the PM silage were lower in the additive treatment groups than in the CON group (p < 0.05). Lactic acid in the LM group was the highest (p < 0.05) among the four groups, and trace amounts of butyric acid was detected only in the CON group. In vitro dry matter digestibility was similar among all groups. Results of the in situ experiment found that the effective digestibility of the PM silage dry matter, as well as the acid detergent fiber digestibility was higher in the LM group than in the CON group (p < 0.05). In conclusion, the addition of LAB, MOL, and their combination can improve PM silage fermentation and improve the in situ digestibility of dry matter and acid detergent fiber; however they do not affect in the vitro digestibility of PM silage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper as a consumer product offers a undisputed benefits to human society, and it has been proven to be critical in driving most sensitive needs of mankind—principally in areas of security, education, sanitation, and communication—and thus has been produced and consumed worldwide. Its sustainable production and usage is one topic that has featured prominently in many discussion fronts and more often than not ends with recommendations for an alternative source of raw material, improvement in production procedures, and ecological concerns. Paper use is an ecological concern that has triggered many paper intervention actions around the world such as the Paper Task Force in USA, Sustainable Paper Alliance in China, and Paper and Beyond in Europe. In Nigeria, however, challenges associated with paper production, consumption, and economic prospects have not been adequately tackled. This is conspicuously evident in the huge volume of paper products imported annually into the country as a result of unsustainable local production. The cumulative impact of these issues reflect negatively on the Nigeria's paper industry and spread indirectly to the entire country's economy in terms of high capital freight spent on importation, volatile product price, and loss of employment opportunities. This work sought to review the challenges and opportunities associated with raw material sources, energy and water consumption, environmental pollution, paper consumption, and disposal of used paper products in Nigeria. The current review also advocated for wastepaper as a variant of raw material with a sustainable potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recovery of the global economy in the aftermath of COVID-19 faces enormous challenges. Ensuring stable income growth of the population has become an important means for developing countries to ensure sustained economic development. Raising the overall income of the population is a public initiative that benefits all citizens; therefore, governments of developing countries should promote the implementation of relevant public policies and the provision of public goods to ensure that existing economic instruments can benefit the entire population. In this regard, public space, as a typical form of public good, may play an important role in promoting the benefits of existing economic policies for all residents. This paper examines how residents' use of public space contributes to their income growth through social capital. Hypotheses are tested based on an econometric analysis of 1565 questionnaires received from Chinese workers. The results show that residents' use of public space can indeed be an important way to increase their income, which is realized through the enhancement of social capital. The research presented in this paper provides a new influence variable of public space to improve residents' income. Further, it improves people's understanding of the three classical concepts—public space, social capital, and income—by establishing the logical connection and theoretical explanation of physical space, emotional space, and value space in human society. The conclusions of this paper highlight the important role of public space in urban and rural development planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to budget and sensor technology constraints, a single sensor cannot simultaneously provide observational images with both a high spatial and temporal resolution. To solve the above problem, the spatiotemporal fusion (STF) method was proposed and proved to be an indispensable tool for monitoring land surface dynamics. There are relatively few systematic reviews of the STF method. Bibliometrics is a valuable method for analyzing the scientific literature, but it has not yet been applied to the comprehensive analysis of the STF method. Therefore, in this paper, we use bibliometrics and scientific mapping to analyze the 2967 citation data from the Web of Science from 1991 to 2023 in a metrological manner, covering the themes of STF, data fusion, multi-temporal analysis, and spatial analysis. The results of the literature analysis reveal that the number of articles displays a slow to rapid increase during the study period, but decreases significantly in 2023. Research institutions in China (1059 papers) and the United States (432 papers) are the top two contributors in the field. The keywords "Sentinel", "deep learning" (DL), and "LSTM" (Long Short-Term Memory) appeared most frequently in the past three years. In the future, remote sensing spatiotemporal fusion research can address more of the limitations of heterogeneous landscapes and climatic conditions to improve fused images' accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invasive species have had substantial impacts on global mangrove forests. Apple snails (Pomacea canaliculata) have invaded mangrove forests in China. To clarify the potential detritivorous diet of P. canaliculata, the growth and feeding indicators of invasive juvenile snails collected from mangroves in Guangzhou, China, were studied using decaying leaf litter from five mangrove species, including Acanthus ilicifolius, Acrostichum aureum, Kandelia candel, Aegiceras corniculatum, and Sonneratia apetala. The growth indicators of the survival ratio and specific growth rate were calculated by measuring the live weight of the snails and the number of dead snails after 30 days. The feeding indicator of the weight-specific daily feeding rate (WDR) was calculated by measuring the snail weight and the amount of leaf litter ingested after 120 h. A multiple-choice experiment was performed on the snails by providing the decaying leaf species together, while a no-choice experiment was performed using a single species of decaying leaf litter. The survival and specific growth ratio of P. canaliculata feeding on decaying leaf litter of A. ilicifolius were higher than those for A. aureum. The WDR values of P. canaliculata feeding on the decaying leaf litter of A. ilicifolius and S. apetala were both significantly higher than those for A. corniculatum, A. aureum, and K. candel. The lowest WDR value of P. canaliculata feeding on decaying leaf litter was observed for A. aureum in the no-choice experiment. P. canaliculata mainly fed on decaying leaf litter of A. ilicifolius and S. apetala. The phosphorous contents and ash of the decaying leaf litter positively affected the WDR values of P. canaliculata obtained in the multiple-choice and no-choice experiments. The contents of lignin, tannin, and flavonoid negatively affected the WDR values of P. canaliculata. The potential diet of invasive P. canaliculata in mangroves was closely tied to the chemical characteristics of the decaying leaf litter. P. canaliculata can invade A. ilicifolius and/or S. apetala mangroves by utilizing the debris on the mangrove ground. Understanding the potential detritivorous diet of P. canaliculata in invaded mangroves can help us to assess this species' dispersal risk and provide support for mangrove management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a bibliometric analysis of battery state estimation in electric vehicles. In this paper, a quick study is performed on the top global research contributors, funding agencies, and affiliate universities or institutes performing research on this topic while also finding the top keyword searches and top authors based on the most citations in the field of electric vehicles. Trend analysis is done by using the SCOPUS and Web of Science (WOS) databases (DB) from the period of 2000 to 2021. Battery state estimation plays a major role in the battery present state based on past experience. Battery available charge and health knowledge is a must for range estimation and helps us acknowledge if a battery is in useful condition or needs maintenance or replacement. A total of 136 documents in SCOPUS and 1311 documents in Web of Science were analyzed. Through this bibliometric analysis, we learn the top authors, country, publication journal, citation, funding agency, leading documents, research gap, and future trends in this research direction. The author Xiong Rui has the most publications, and he is working at the Beijing Institute of Technology, China. The most common institution is the Beijing Institute of Technology, and China is the most highly contributing country in this research. Most of the publications are conference types in SCOPUS DB and article types in WOS DB. The National Natural Science Foundation of China provides the most funding. The journal Energies has the most publications related to this field. The most cited works are by the authors M.A. Hannan and L.G. Lu in SCOPUS and WOS DB, respectively. A statistical analysis of the top ten countries' productivity results is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, data exchange in China's digital mine construction process is still based on paper media or electronic documents. The problems of "information islands," "information versions," "information faults" and "information preservation" are serious. There are many problems associated with across time and space and multidisciplinary collaborations, blocked business processes and unclear job responsibilities. These problems have seriously hindered the construction of China's digital mine, thus restricting the safe, efficient production and sustainable development of China's mining enterprises. Therefore, this paper proposes the concept, connotation, characteristics, architecture and technical requirements of the mining technology collaboration platform and uses it to guide the research and development and implementation of the mining technology collaboration platform of Fujian Makeng Mining Co., Ltd. The results show that the mining technology collaboration platform can solve the information and management problems existing in China's digital mine construction and realize the centralized storage, interoperability and high sharing of all data, the integration of all involved business, business software and its participants, the clarification of responsibilities and its input and output data of each post and standardization and automation of business process. Therefore, it improves the ability to collaborate across time and space and multidisciplinary among participants, departments and professional posts, ensures high-speed flow of business processes and also improves the working efficiency and quality of mining enterprises and significantly reduces the time for business processing and business process flow and reduces production costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising population levels exert significant pressure on available freshwater resources. Scientists and researchers from various countries are diligently seeking a long-lasting solution using solar-powered desalination. This research paper investigates the current advancements in solar desalination research by utilizing the method of "scientometrics". Scientometrics employs traditional methodologies, including bibliometrics, which entails quantifying the number of research papers published, and citation analysis, which involves examining the frequency with which other researchers cite these papers. By integrating these two approaches, scientometrics provides invaluable information about the most influential countries, institutions, and individual researchers in the field. Utilizing the software program VOSviewer, a comprehensive analysis was conducted on 1855 research papers published between 2010 and 2024. These papers were selected based on a predetermined set of ten key search terms. The results of the analysis indicate that China is the leading country in this field, as it boasts the highest number of published papers and the most citations received overall. Notably, Egyptian research institutions have been identified as the most influential in this area. Moreover, a single author has notably amassed 3419 citations for their 54 published works on solar desalination. This analysis unveiled past and contemporary advancements in the field and identified current trends through keyword analysis. It also offers recommendations based on bibliometric findings, including suggestions for addressing the challenges faced by solar-derived systems and addressing research area saturation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing prominence of climate change, geopolitical crises, and global economic slowdown highlights the challenges and structural deficiencies of traditional cross-border agro-food supply chains. As a result, there has been a growing consensus on the need to leverage digital technology to rebuild and innovate a safe, stable, and sustainable global food system. This study assessed the knowledge progress and development trends in the sustainable development of cross-border agro-food supply chains enabled by digital technology. A total of 352 authoritative papers from the core Web of Science database were selected for analysis. The Citespace tool was utilized to visually examine research elements. The findings reveal that research outcomes in this territory experienced a significant period of rapid growth, particularly after 2020. Sustainability and IEEE Access are the journals with the highest and second-highest number of publications. China and the France National Institute are the countries and research institutions with the largest number of publications in this field. The research hotspots are mainly the application of digital technologies, food safety, and supply chain system model innovation. In the past ten years, the research in this territory has gone through three stages: precise timeliness orientation, intelligent strategic decision-making orientation, and model predictability orientation. We further construct the 'antecedent–practice–performance' conceptual framework of the sustainability of the digital technology-enabled cross-border agro-food supply chain. Finally, this paper presents the potential research directions in this territory, focusing on four aspects: research method, research mechanism, research topic, and research frontier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With China's rapid industrialization and urbanization in the process of socio-economic development, the extensive use of energy has resulted in a large amount of CO2 emissions, which puts great pressure on China's carbon emission reduction task. Through multivariate socio-economic data, this paper proposes an extraction and screening method of multivariate variables based on land-use types, and the downscaled spatial decomposition of carbon emissions at different scales was carried out by using the spatial lag model (SLM). This paper makes up for the shortcomings of previous studies, such as an insufficient modeling scale, simple modeling variables, limited spatio-temporal span of spatial decomposition, and no consideration of geographical correlation. Based on the results of the spatial decomposition of carbon emissions, this paper explores the spatial and temporal dynamics of carbon emissions at different scales. The results showed that SLM is capable of downscaling the spatialization of carbon emissions with high precision, and the continuity of the decomposition results at the provincial scale is stronger, while the differences of the decomposition results at the municipal scale are more obvious within the municipal units. In terms of the spatial and temporal dynamics of CO2 emissions, carbon emissions at both scales showed a significant positive correlation. The dominant spatial correlation types are "Low–Low" at the provincial level, and "Low–Low" and "High–High" at the municipal level. The smaller spatial scope is more helpful to show the geographic dependence and geographic differences of China's carbon emissions. The findings of this paper will help deepen the understanding of the spatial and temporal changes of carbon emissions in China. They will provide a scientific basis for the formulation of feasible carbon emission reduction policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Domestic and international risk shocks have greatly increased the demand for systemic risk management in China. This paper estimates China's multi-layer financial network based on multiple financial relationships among banks, assets, and firms, using China's banking system data in 2021. An improved PageRank algorithm is proposed to identify systemically important banks and other economic sectors, and a stress test is conducted. This study finds that China's multi-layer financial network is sparse, and the distribution of transactions across financial markets is uneven. Regulatory authorities should support economic recovery and adjust the money supply, while banks should differentiate competition and manage risks better. Based on the PageRank index, this paper assesses the systemic importance of large commercial banks from the perspective of network structure, emphasizing the role of banks' transaction behavior and market participation. Different industries and asset classes are also assessed, suggesting that increased attention should be paid to industry risks and regulatory oversight of bank investments. Finally, stress tests confirm that the improved PageRank algorithm is applicable within the multi-layer financial network, reinforcing the need for prudential supervision of the banking system and revealing that the degree of transaction concentration will affect the systemic importance of financial institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional villages are important carriers of cultural heritage, and the quantitative study of their spatial characteristics is an important approach to their preservation. However, the rapid extraction, statistics, and estimation of the rich spatial characteristic indicators in these villages have become bottlenecks in traditional village research. This paper employs UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) and handheld laser scanners to acquire three-dimensional point cloud data and construct a spatial feature three-dimensional calculation workflow of "field data collection—data processing—data analysis and application", which enables the rapid acquisition, processing, and analysis of three-dimensional village data. Typical case studies are conducted in Liukeng Village, China, focusing on the quantification of village spatial characteristics at three levels: topography, streets and alleys, and individual buildings, as well as comparative studies of multiple villages across different regions. The quantification of three-dimensional data reveals the regularity of village spatial characteristics and uncovers the spatial wisdom embedded in the site selection and spatial structure of traditional villages. This paper establishes a complete technical route for the quantitative analysis of villages, deepens public understanding of the diverse value of traditional villages, and provides technical support for research and practice in related fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clouds are crucial in regulating the Earth's energy budget. Global cloud top heights have been easily retrieved from satellite measurements, but there are few methods for determining cloud base height (CBH) from satellite measurements. The Cloud Base Altitude Spatial Extrapolator (CBASE) algorithm was proposed to derive the height of the lower-troposphere liquid cloud base by using the Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal polarization cloud aerosol LiDAR (CALIOP) profiles and weather observations at airports from aviation routine and special weather report (METARs and SPECIs, called METAR) observation data in the United States. A modification to the CBASE algorithm over China (CNMETAR-CBASE) is presented in this paper. In this paper, the ability of the CBASE algorithm to calculate CBH in China is evaluated, and METAR observations over China (CNMETAR) were then used to modify the CBASE algorithm. The results including CNMETAR observation data in China can better retrieve CBH over China compared with the results using the original CBASE algorithm, and the accuracy of the global CBH results has been improved. Overestimations of CBH with the original algorithm range from 500 to 800 m in China, which have been reduced to about 300 m with an improved algorithm. The deviations calculated by the algorithm also have a significant reduction, from 480 m (CBASE) to 420 m (CNMETAR-CBASE). In conclusion, the modified CBASE algorithm not only calculates the CBH more accurately in China but also improves the results of the global CBH retrieved from satellites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rurality is an important indicator to reflect the development of villages and reveal internal differences in rural areas. The unbalanced development of transportation infrastructure in the current period of rapid urbanization has become one of the principal elements triggering spatial differences in rurality and changes in rural territorial characteristics. However, there are few studies on the impact of transportation infrastructure accessibility on the multidimensional characteristics of rurality from the perspective of heterogeneity. This paper analyzed the spatio-temporal characteristics of transport accessibility (TA) and the county rurality index (CRI) in Guangdong in 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020 using an accessibility model and the rurality index and explored the clustering characteristics and interactions of TA and the CRI through exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) and geographic weighted regression (GWR) modeling. The findings showed that (1) TA and the CRI in Guangdong were significantly unbalanced in terms of space. The CRI showed a weakening trend in general, forming a distribution pattern of "high in the north and low in the south, high in the west and low in the east", while TA was on the rise, maintaining a stable pattern of "high in the middle and low in the periphery". (2) Both TA and the CRI in Guangdong had a Moran's I value greater than 0.6 during the study period, exhibiting strong spatial agglomeration, while the two showed a significant spatial negative correlation. (3) The influence of TA on the CRI in different dimensions showed dynamic changes in stages, with TA having a higher intensity of effect on society rurality and land rurality in 2005, while on society rurality and industry rurality in 2020. (4) This paper grouped 77 counties in Guangdong into four types of policy zonings—coordination types, lagged types of accessibility, lagged types of rurality and double lagged types—and put forward corresponding development recommendations. The study conducted in this paper contributes to an in-depth understanding of the impact of transportation infrastructure development on the multidimensional characteristics of rurality and provides a basis for policy formulation for coordinated urban–rural development and sustainable rural development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The usage of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) as a dietary protein source for ruminants in China is limited by forage quality and planting scale. Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera L., RY) has emerged as a new and representative high-protein woody forage resource for ruminants. However, information is less available regarding how substituting RY for alfalfa affect the fermentation and protein quality in total mixed ration (TMR) silages. This study evaluated ensiling characteristics, protein quality, and in vitro digestibility in TMR silages by mixing RY with alfalfa at different rations. The TMR were made with alfalfa and RY mixtures (36.0%), maize meal (35.0%), oat grass (10.0%), soybean meal (7.5%), brewers' grain (5.0%), wheat bran (5.0%), premix (1.0%), and salt (0.5%) on a dry matter basis, respectively. The alfalfa and RY mixtures were made in the following ratios of dry matter: 36:0 (RY0), 27:9 (RY9), 18:18 (RY18), 9:27 (RY27), and 0:36 (RY36). The results showed that RY substitution had no adverse effect on fermentation quality and nutritional composition, but inhibited true protein degradation, while decreasing in vitro dry matter and crude protein digestibility. Therefore, RY and alfalfa mixtures at a ratio of 18:18 is suitable for silage-based TMR. To develop an alternative high-protein forage resource to alleviate ruminant feed shortages, we investigated the effects of replacing alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) with different ratios of paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera L., RY) on fermentation quality, protein degradation, and in vitro digestibility of total mixed ration (TMR) silage. The TMR were made with alfalfa and RY mixtures (36.0%), maize meal (35.0%), oat grass (10.0%), soybean meal (7.5%), brewers' grain (5.0%), wheat bran (5.0%), premix (1.0%), and salt (0.5%) on a dry matter basis, respectively. The alfalfa and RY mixtures were made in the following ratios of dry matter: 36:0 (RY0), 27:9 (RY9), 18:18 (RY18), 9:27 (RY27), and 0:36 (RY36). After ensiling for 7, 14, 28, and 56 days, fermentation quality, protein degradation, and microbial counts were examined, and chemical composition and in vitro digestibility were analyzed after 56 days of ensiling. All TMR silages, irrespective of the substitution level of RY, were well preserved with low pH and ammonia nitrogen content, high lactic acid content, and undetectable butyric acid. After ensiling, the condensed tannin content for RY18 silages was higher than the control, but non-protein nitrogen, peptide nitrogen, and free amino acid nitrogen contents was lower, while the fraction B1 (buffer-soluble protein) was not different among all the silages. Dry matter and crude protein digestibility for RY27 and RY36 silages was lower than the control, but there was no difference between control and RY18 silages. This study suggested that ensiling RY with alfalfa inhibited true protein degradation, but decreased in vitro dry matter and crude protein digestibility of TMR silages, and that 18:18 is the optimal ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vegetation indices provide information for various precision-agriculture practices, by providing quantitative data about crop growth and health. To provide a concise and up-to-date review of vegetation indices in precision agriculture, this study focused on the major vegetation indices with the criterion of their frequency in scientific papers indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) since 2000. Based on the scientific papers with the topic of "precision agriculture" combined with "vegetation index", this study found that the United States and China are global leaders in total precision-agriculture research and the application of vegetation indices, while the analysis adjusted for the country area showed much more homogenous global development of vegetation indices in precision agriculture. Among these studies, vegetation indices based on the multispectral sensor are much more frequently adopted in scientific studies than their low-cost alternatives based on the RGB sensor. The normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) was determined as the dominant vegetation index, with a total of 2200 studies since the year 2000. With the existence of vegetation indices that improved the shortcomings of NDVI, such as enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), this study recognized their potential for enabling superior results to those of NDVI in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scroll paintings for ancestor trees have been used to inherit the spirit of ancestor worship as a historical record of family development since the late Ming Dynasty in China. A severely degraded scroll painting of an ancestor tree (made of cotton textiles) needs intervention and conservation treatment to mitigate further deterioration. On the basis of the previously reported characterization results for the painting, in this paper, a suspension that is composed of 0.6% cellulose nanofibril (CNF) and nanosized 0.15% MgO in aqueous solvent (denoted as the CNF-MgO susairpension) was prepared. Conventional characterization methods were used to assess the properties of model samples before and after treatment with the CNF-MgO suspension, as well as before and after degradation under two sets of conditions. The results show that the treated model samples are slightly alkaline, given the deposit of alkaline particles, and demonstrate good mechanical properties before and after degradation due to the increase in fiber-to-fiber bond and mitigation of acid-catalyzed hydrolysis. In spite of the non-transparency of CNF and MgO nanoparticles, they have little impact on the optical properties of textiles, as verified by transmittance data and the determination of color changes. This suspension was then used to reinforce and restore the scroll painting in a practical conservation process. The application of CNF and MgO nanoparticles on textile objects investigated in this study would expand our understanding of the conservation of such objects, especially for those that have already become acidic and degraded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most Penman-Monteith-Leuning (PML) evapotranspiration (ET) modeling studies are dominated by consideration of meteorological, energy, and land use information, etc., but the dynamic coupling of soil moisture content (SM), especially in terms of improving accuracy through assimilation, lacks sufficient attention. This paper proposes a research framework for the dynamic coupling simulation of PML model and SM based on data assimilation, i.e., the remote sensing monitored SM is combined with soil evaporation of PML to obtain high-precision time-continuous SM data through data assimilation; simultaneously, dynamical soil evaporation coefficients are generated based on the assimilated SM to improve the simulation accuracy of the PML model. The new scheme was validated at a typical irrigation zone in north China and showed obvious improvements in both SM and ET simulations. Moreover, the effect of the assimilation of SM on the simulation accuracy of ET for different crop growth periods is further analyzed. This research provides a new idea for the coupling simulation of the SM and PML models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landscape engineering plays a crucial role in urban construction and the development of ecological civilization in China. It actively designs and modifies natural elements, such as water and mountains, acting as the primary living infrastructure. This field continually receives great recognition and praise. Recent academic research has prioritized the use of extended reality (XR) technology to create a real-time interactive visual environment to tackle the issues presented by the dynamic nature of landscape engineering. This paper utilizes the PRISMA method to filter out 68 research documents related to XR in landscape engineering construction and management for bibliometric analysis. A comprehensive review is conducted on the precise and efficient utilization of XR to solve various issues in the field of landscape engineering. Using Cite Space 6.2.R6 (a visual bibliometric software) to visualize knowledge structures and research topics, the analysis includes temporal and spatial examination, application scenario analysis, and technological hierarchy analysis. The paper summarizes the current challenges that XR still faces in the landscape engineering field and envisions extensible application scenarios for XR, providing a reference roadmap for the implementation of XR in landscape engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes changes in sacrifice by burning and the space inhabited by ghosts in ancient China from philological and linguistic perspectives. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, rulers believed that they could convey their offerings and reverence to their ancestors in heaven by burning firewood and sacrifices (尞). From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Han dynasty, the ancient Chinese metaphors for naming the underground space inhabited by ghosts experienced a transformation from a natural space (Yellow Spring (黄泉)) to human settlements (li (里), big cities (都)) and then to government institutions for criminal penalty (government (府), prisons (狱)), which symbolized the gradual establishment of a living order in the space inhabited by ghosts based on the human society. When the new living order of the space inhabited by ghosts was established, the ancient Chinese began to reconstruct sacrifice by burning during the Wei and Jin dynasties, and the objects burnt were represented by joss paper. The use of the term "transforming (化)" to refer to sacrifice by burning suggests that people believed that burning with fire was a way to transfer objects from the real world to the world of ghosts. The act of burning joss paper not only embodied the Chinese concept of ancestor worship to "treat the dead as if they were alive" but also gave "fire (火)" rich religious connotations while greatly simplifying the process and cost of sacrificial rituals, thus gradually becoming popular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gaokao, also known as China's national college entrance exam, is a high-stakes exam for nearly all Chinese students. English has been one of the three most important subjects for a long time, and listening plays an important role in the Gaokao English test. However, relatively little research has been conducted on local versions of Gaokao's English listening tests. This study analyzed the linguistic features and corresponding functional dimensions of the three different text types in the Gaokao's listening test, investigating whether the papers used in three major regions of China were differentiated in terms of the co-occurrence patterns of lexicogrammatical features and dimensions of the transcripts. A corpus consisting of 170 sets of test papers (134,913 words) covering 31 provinces and cities from 2000 to 2022 was analyzed using a multidimensional analysis wherein six exclusive dimensions were extracted. The results showed that there were meaningful differences across short conversations, long conversations, and monologues with regard to the six dimensions' scores, and regions further had significant differences in three dimensions: Syntactic and Clausal Complexity, Oral versus Literate Discourse, and Procedural Discourse, while Time Period was not associated with any differences. Implications for language teaching and assessment are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The point cloud segmentation method plays an important role in practical applications, such as remote sensing, mobile robots, and 3D modeling. However, there are still some limitations to the current point cloud data segmentation method when applied to large-scale scenes. Therefore, this paper proposes an adaptive clustering segmentation method. In this method, the threshold for clustering points within the point cloud is calculated using the characteristic parameters of adjacent points. After completing the preliminary segmentation of the point cloud, the segmentation results are further refined according to the standard deviation of the cluster points. Then, the cluster points whose number does not meet the conditions are further segmented, and, finally, scene point cloud data segmentation is realized. To test the superiority of this method, this study was based on point cloud data from a park in Guilin, Guangxi, China. The experimental results showed that this method is more practical and efficient than other methods, and it can effectively segment all ground objects and ground point cloud data in a scene. Compared with other segmentation methods that are easily affected by parameters, this method has strong robustness. In order to verify the universality of the method proposed in this paper, we test a public data set provided by ISPRS. The method achieves good segmentation results for multiple sample data, and it can distinguish noise points in a scene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital transformation is seen as an "elixir" for companies to improve their economic performance and expand their market power in the digital economy. Therefore, how does digital transformation affect enterprises' market power? This paper used machine learning to construct a digital transformation index and used panel data of listed enterprises from 2008 to 2020 to study the impact of digital transformation on market power and its mechanism of action. The findings showed that digital transformation significantly increases market power, and this conclusion still holds after considering potential endogeneity issues and conducting robustness tests. The results of mechanism analysis revealed that digital transformation facilitates endogenous scale expansion and promotes merger and acquisition (M&A), which reshapes firm boundaries and, thus, enhances market power. This paper revealed new changes in the micro-organization of enterprises in the context of digital transformation and provided micro-evidence for the industrial organization effect of digital transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heavy metal pollution in rivers and lakes arising due to rapid economic development has been extensively studied by various countries due to its direct impact on ecological health and human well-being. However, there is a lack of comprehensive and systematic reviews addressing the current research status of this subject. In this study, we conducted a visual metrological analysis of the literature from 2001 to 2021 using the Web of Science (WoS) and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) citation databases. The results show that studies conducted in other countries initially outnumbered those in China; after 2010, China emerged as the foremost contributor. Furthermore, both the WoS and CNKI databases indicate active engagement of Chinese researchers through a significant proportion of published papers on metal research, with prominent contributions coming from institutions such as the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and University CAS. Nevertheless, Chinese research institutions still have relatively low total paper citation numbers and have yet to establish themselves as key players in international scientific research efforts. Additionally, core authors from different countries share substantial similarities in their research directions and focuses. Consistent research hotspots regarding heavy metals in rivers and lakes were identified across both databases, including heavy metal pollution, adsorption, human activities, water quality, and sediment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comprehensive understanding of the impact of land fragmentation on collective action is essential for rural governance in developing countries. Prior publications have argued that land fragmentation impedes the sustainable development of agricultural economies and rural societies, while the connection between humans and nature has not been considered comprehensively. Therefore, the conclusion that the impact of land fragmentation on collective action is purely negative may be one-sided. To examine this conclusion, this paper re-evaluates the relationship between land fragmentation and rural collective action from a multidisciplinary perspective. Based on a rural field survey using stratified random sampling, Oprobit regression was employed to conduct an econometric analysis on data from 798 rural households across 14 cities in the border region of Guangxi, China. The following research findings were obtained: (1) When the human–nature connection is considered, the relationship between land fragmentation and collective action follows an inverted U-shaped curve. Specifically, moderate initial increases in land fragmentation can lead to improvements in collective action; however, when the degree of land fragmentation exceeds a certain threshold, further increases in land fragmentation will decrease the collective action capacity. (2) This nonlinear relationship between land fragmentation and collective action may be realized through three pathways: agricultural production, land use patterns, and the ecological environment. Under the context of collective action, this study shows that a moderate level of land fragmentation objectively exists in reality. This insight provides a new impetus for developing countries to shift policy perspectives to increase their land use efficiency. Additionally, this paper integrates relevant findings from both social sciences and natural sciences. Thereby, it not only expands the existing understanding of key factors influencing rural household collective action but also emphasizes the potential for cross-disciplinary integration between social sciences and natural sciences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the field of risk assessment, the traditional econometric models are generally used to assess credit risk. And with the introduction of the "dual-carbon" goals to promote the development of a low-carbon economy, the scale of green credit in China has rapidly expanded. But with the advent of the big data era, due to the poor interpretability of a traditional single machine learning model, it is difficult to capture nonlinear relationships, and there are shortcomings in prediction accuracy and robustness. This paper selects the adjusted ensemble learning model based on the homogeneous and heterogeneous factors for user default prediction, which can efficiently process large quantities of high-dimensional data. This article adjusts each model to adapt to the task and innovatively compares various models. In this paper, the missing value filling method, feature selection, and ensemble model are studied and discussed, and the optimal ensemble model is obtained. When comparing the predictions of single models and ensemble models, the accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, F1-Score, Kappa, and MCC of Categorical Features Gradient Boosting (CatBoost) and Random undersampling Boosting (RUSBoost) all reach 100%. The experimental results prove that the algorithm based on adjusted homogeneous and heterogeneous ensemble learning can predict the user default efficiently and accurately. This paper also provides some references for establishing a risk assessment index system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The power sector is one of the major CO2-emitting industries in China. It is also the first key emissions control industry included in China's national carbon trading market established in 2021. Therefore, based on the data of 30 provinces and cities in China from 2015 to 2022, this study analyzes the impact of the national carbon market policy on the carbon emissions of the power industry based on the generalized Difference-in-Difference (DID) model. Based on the method of text analysis, this paper constructs the carbon market policy intensity index of each region and incorporates it into the DID model. Empirical analysis finds that the national carbon market policy can significantly inhibit the carbon emissions of the power industry. However, the heterogeneity analysis of 30 provinces and cities shows that the national carbon market policy has a significant impact on the regions that already have a carbon pilot, but not on the non-pilot regions. Therefore, this paper demonstrates the effectiveness of the national carbon market policy in the power industry emissions control, and also exposes the heterogeneity between regions, providing an important empirical basis for the inclusion of other energy-intensive industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the double pressures of economic growth and ecological environment protection, sea green transformation and the sustainable development of mariculture are critical. This paper constructs an evolutionary game model with the government as the main body and mariculture farmers (enterprises) as the main body and puts forward the research hypothesis. Based on 2006–2019 longitudinal data of nine provinces along China's coast, using multi-period Difference-in-Difference (DID) and dual robust estimation, we empirically investigate the national oceanic ranch demonstration zones for the influence of the green sea aquaculture and their mechanism of action. The results showed that (1) the efficiency of green level of mariculture industry in China is not high, and the establishment of national marine pasture demonstration zone has not effectively promoted the improvement of green level of mariculture industry; (2) the institutional environment, unreasonable industrial structure, and lack of scientific and technological innovation have an effect on the national oceanic ranch demonstration area as the main causes of failure to effectively promote marine green farming; (3) the establishment of the national multi-period demonstration area in the north significantly hindered the growth of the green level of mariculture and fell into the "policy trap", while the establishment of the national multi-period demonstration area in the south significantly promoted the growth of the green level of mariculture. The conclusions of this paper provide an empirical basis and reference for the improvement of the national marine pasture demonstration zone policy and the green transformation of mariculture to a certain extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, frequent flood disasters in China have seriously threatened economic development and public safety. This paper addresses the need for a dynamic urban flood emergency knowledge management system in emergency management departments and the lack of systematic knowledge among emergency managers regarding urban flood control. A multimodal knowledge graph-based urban flood emergency knowledge management model was constructed to enhance the decision-making capabilities of emergency management departments, improve the efficiency of public emergency evacuation, and reduce losses from urban flood disasters by analyzing the shortcomings of the existing emergency management system. An intelligent and dynamic flood emergency knowledge management model was built. This paper integrates multimodal knowledge graph technology to establish a multimodal emergency knowledge management framework for urban flood control. It develops and simulates the proposed model's application scenarios for urban flood emergency evacuation using the Flocking algorithm on the NetLogo platform. Through simulation experiments, the practicality and effectiveness of the model in real flood disaster situations were examined, particularly in simulating crowd evacuation behavior. The study found that the model significantly improves the accuracy of information and decision-making speed during emergency responses and supports emergency management departments in conducting targeted and personalized emergency decisions. This research provides a scientific basis for emergency management departments to optimize their emergency response strategies to flood disasters and serves as a reference and example for the application of multimodal knowledge graph technology in emergency management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relieving the emotions of the public through government response is an important part of government emergency management. How governments respond in different situations can avoid stimulating negative emotions during emergencies? This paper analyzes the problem from the perspective of configuration; that is, this paper explores the combined effects of multiple factors on emotions. We construct the theoretical framework "Situation-Responder-Content" from situation, responder and response content, and use the government microblogs (n= 1517) from 23 major production accidents in China for the discussion with the use of fuzzy set qualitative comparison analysis (fsQCA). According to the results, the effective response types of different agencies in emergencies are summarized. Local authorities can respond in ways that include "Measures type" and "Measures-Emotion type". Functional agencies can respond through "Measures type", "Measures-Emotion type" and "Government feature-Driven" type. This study emphasizes that government response in emergencies is a systematic process. Responsive agencies need to release effective information on the basis of fully considering the situation and other factors. Configuration analysis should also be an important direction in government response research, which is helpful to the practice of government response in emergencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the critical period of strengthening the construction of ecological civilization, the construction of forest cities has become an important measure to promote urban ecosystem restoration and achieve sustainable development. Based on the mechanism of forest city promoting green development, the construction of a national forest city is regarded as a "quasi-natural experiment". Using China's urban panel data from 2005 to 2019, the impact of national forest city construction on urban green total factor productivity was evaluated using Multistage asymptotic double difference. The results show that National Forest Cities with environmental regulation can significantly promote regional green total factor productivity, which is still valid after a series of Robustness tests. Mechanism analysis shows that forest city construction not only affects territorial spatial planning but also forms a linkage with green technology innovation, mutual promotion and mutual promotion to jointly promote the sustainable development goals. This paper argues that building a national forest city is an important measure to achieve China's sustainable development goals in the new era, but in the process of policy implementation, it is necessary to implement the national forest city selection system according to local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pine wilt disease (PWD) is a forest disease characterized by rapid spread and extremely high lethality, posing a serious threat to the ecological security of China's forests and causing significant economic losses in forestry. Given the extensive forestry area, limited personnel for inspection and monitoring, and high costs, utilizing UAV-based remote sensing monitoring for diseased trees represents an effective approach for controlling the spread of PWD. However, due to the small target size and uneven scale of pine wilt disease, as well as the limitations of real-time detection by drones, traditional disease tree detection algorithms based on RGB remote sensing images do not achieve an optimal balance among accuracy, detection speed, and model complexity due to real-time detection limitations. Consequently, this paper proposes Light-ViTeYOLO, a lightweight pine wilt disease detection method based on Vision Transformer-enhanced YOLO (You Only Look Once). A novel lightweight multi-scale attention module is introduced to construct an EfficientViT feature extraction network for global receptive field and multi-scale learning. A novel neck network, CACSNet(Content-Aware Cross-Scale bidirectional fusion neck network), is designed to enhance the detection of diseased trees at single granularity, and the loss function is optimized to improve localization accuracy. The algorithm effectively reduces the number of parameters and giga floating-point operations per second (GFLOPs) of the detection model while enhancing overall detection performance. Experimental results demonstrate that compared with other baseline algorithms, Light-ViTeYOLO proposed in this paper has the least parameter and computational complexity among related algorithms, with 3.89 MFLOPs and 7.4 GFLOPs, respectively. The FPS rate is 57.9 (frames/s), which is better than the original YOLOv5. Meanwhile, its mAP@0.5:0.95 is the best among the baseline algorithms, and the recall and mAP@0.5 slightly decrease. Our Light-ViTeYOLO is the first lightweight method specifically designed for detecting pine wilt disease. It not only meets the requirements for real-time detection of pine wilt disease outbreaks but also provides strong technical support for automated forestry work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is currently focusing on the cooperative control of air pollution and CO2 emissions, as well as the mitigation of economic policy uncertainty (EPU). By using panel data from 282 cities spanning from 2003 to 2017 and a newly constructed city-level EPU index, a spatial Durbin, two-way fixed-effects model is employed, with the aim of estimating the impact of EPU on the synergistic emissions intensity (SEI) of air pollutants and CO2. Additionally, this paper investigates the potential channels through which EPU influences SEI. It also explores how pressures related to environmental protection and economic development affect the impact of EPU on SEI. The results indicate that a unit increase in EPU will result in a rise in the SEI of local cities, adjacent cities, and total cities by 930.9%, 69,162.7%, and 70,093.6%, respectively. Moreover, the channel analysis suggests that EPU exacerbates SEI by undermining the upgrading of the industrial structure, augmenting industrial structure distortion, and escalating labor market distortion. Furthermore, the effect of EPU on SEI may be lessened by an increase in environmental protection pressure, while an increase in economic development pressure may exert a positive influence. Finally, this paper concludes by recommending that policymakers should prioritize the maintenance and stability of economic policies, facilitate the advancement of the industrial structure, enhance the efficiency of labor resource allocation, and underscore the significance of managing urban air pollution and CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the effective ways to crack the "Three Rural Issues" and promote rural revitalization is to improve agricultural labor productivity (ALP). However, at this stage, improving China's ALP is still facing many obstacles and bottlenecks. Promoting migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship is an important breakthrough point for solving this problem. This paper regards the pilot policy of migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship as a quasi-natural experiment and empirically investigates the influence of migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship on ALP and explores its potential mechanism and heterogeneity using county area panel data from 2011–2019. It found the following: Firstly, the policy of migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship significantly increases ALP. Secondly, migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship indirectly leads to a rise in ALP through the promotion of agricultural mechanization production. Thirdly, the heterogeneity test demonstrates that migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship purposes have a significant influence in enhancing ALP in the eastern areas, plains areas and non-agricultural strong areas. The findings of this paper not only provide an important real-world basis for the government to further support migrant workers returning home for entrepreneurship but also provide useful policy insights for the modernization and development of agriculture and rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]