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Prior to this study, no species of Pseudophanias Raffray had been reported from Nanling, a vast biodiversity conservation area that spans five provinces in southern China. In this paper, three new species of the genus are described: Pseudophanias furcilobus sp. nov. (Guizhou, Guangxi), P. leigong sp. nov. (Guizhou), and P. mulun sp. nov. (Guangxi), suggesting that additional study on the diversity of this group in the area is required. These species are characterized, keyed, and compared to similar congeners, supplemented with illustrations of the habitus and other morphological characters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environmental problems caused by the development and utilization of mineral resources have become important factors affecting ecological security. Guizhou is a Chinese province with relatively developed paleoweathered sedimentary bauxite deposits, abundant resource reserves, and a long history of mining. And, the demand for bauxite in Guizhou is expected to continue to grow. However, long-term or unreasonable resource development has produced a series of prominent environmental problems, such as the occupation and destruction of land resources and heavy metal pollution in soil and water bodies. Based on the existing research results in China and abroad, this paper analyzes the current situation, distribution characteristics, and development and utilization of bauxite resources in Guizhou to explain the corresponding environmental impacts. The results show that because of the many types and high concentrations of associated elements in bauxite and the high alkalinity, heavy metal components, and radioactive elements in red mud, the development and utilization of bauxite resources are associated with higher environmental risk. And more impact of bauxite mining on regional biodiversity, soil, air, surface water, and groundwater need to be evaluated. This paper also proposes coping strategies or countermeasures of environmental governance and control to achieve the green, sustainable and high-quality development of bauxite-related industries for meeting future environmental requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do provincial governments change policy, even when those policies have proven successful? This paper explores a debate regarding the determinants of provincial policy choice and the degree of discretion provinces are permitted in this area. It does so by scrutinizing the shift in Guizhou's development policy from a poverty reduction orientation to a wholehearted pursuit of economic growth, urbanization and industrialization. In contrast to those who argue that central experience, prospects for promotion or local conditions are key factors explaining policy choice, the paper concludes that Guizhou's shift in policy had more to do with the backgrounds and experiences of top provincial leaders. The result has implications for our understanding of central–local relations and local government decision making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, due to adverse geological conditions, intense human engineering activities, and extreme weather conditions, catastrophic landslides have frequently occurred in southwest China, causing severe loss of life and property. Identifying the kinematic features of potential landslides can effectively support landslide hazard prevention. This study proposes a remote sensing identification method for rotational, planar traction, and planar thrust slides based on geomorphic features as well as vertical and slope-oriented deformation rates. Rotational landslides are characterized by similar vertical and horizontal deformation rates, with vertical deformation mainly occurring at the head and gradually decreasing along the slope, while horizontal deformation mainly occurs at the foot and gradually increases along the slope. As for the planar slide, the dominant deformation is in the horizontal direction. It is further classified into the planar traction and planar thrust types according to the driving position. The vertical deformation of planar traction slides is concentrated at the foot, while the vertical deformation of planar thrust slides is concentrated at the head of the landslide. We identified 1 rotational landslide, 10 planar traction landslides and 10 planar thrust landslides in the basalt weathering crust area of Guizhou. Field investigations of three landslides verified the method's accuracy. Combining two-dimensional rainfall and time-series deformations, we found that there is a significant positive correlation between landslide deformation acceleration and precipitation. The landslide kinematic identification method proposed in this paper overcomes the shortcomings of the inability to accurately characterize landslide motion by line-of-sight displacement and realizes the non-contact identification of active landslide motion patterns, which is an essential reference value for geological disaster prevention and control in the study area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The area of karst terrain in China covers 3.63×106 km2, with more than 40% in the southwestern region over the Guizhou Plateau. Karst comprises exposed carbonate bedrock over approximately 1.30×106 km2 of this area, which suffers from soil degradation and poor crop yield. This paper aims to gain a better understanding of the environmental controls on crop yield in order to enable more sustainable use of natural resources for food production and development. More precisely, four kinds of artificial neural network were used to analyse and simulate the spatial patterns of crop yield for seven crop species grown in Guizhou Province, exploring the relationships with meteorological, soil, irrigation and fertilization factors. The results of spatial classification showed that most regions of high-level crop yield per area and total crop yield are located in the central-north area of Guizhou. Moreover, the three artificial neural networks used to simulate the spatial patterns of crop yield all demonstrated a good correlation coefficient between simulated and true yield. However, the Back Propagation network had the best performance based on both accuracy and runtime. Among the 13 influencing factors investigated, temperature (16.4%), radiation (15.3%), soil moisture (13.5%), fertilization of N (13.5%) and P (12.4%) had the largest contribution to crop yield spatial distribution. These results suggest that neural networks have potential application in identifying environmental controls on crop yield and in modelling spatial patterns of crop yield, which could enable local stakeholders to realize sustainable development and crop production goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paraphlomis kuankuoshuiensis (Lamiaceae), a new species found in the limestone areas of northern Guizhou, China, is described and illustrated in this paper. Based on its tubular-campanulate calyx, this taxon should be a member of sect. Paraphlomis Prain. The new species resembles P. patentisetulosa C.Y. Wu & H. W. Li, P. hispida C.Y. Wu, and P. hirsutissima C.Y. Wu & H.W. Li, but differs from these three taxa in the following aspects: the stems are very short (<7 cm), with one or two short internodes, giving the impression of having a tuft of basal leaves; it has sparsely setose hairs on the outer surface of the calyces and short fruiting calyces. The florescence, fruit period, habitat, and the geographical distribution of P. kuankuoshuiensis are also quite different from the three closely related species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cultivation of the economic crop flue-cured tobacco is greatly impacted by natural climates, making it a risk industry. In recent years, flue-cured tobacco production is influenced by extreme weather such as typhoon, low temperature, hail, frost, drought, plant diseases and insect pests. It is imperative to establish a sound insurance system for tobacco planting. In this paper, the practice and functions of tobacco planting insurance in Qianxinan Prefecture were summarized, the experience and existing problems in the practice process were analyzed, and finally the countermeasures and suggestions were proposed to further improve the tobacco planting insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Strong laboratory capacity is essential for detecting and responding to emerging and re-emerging global health threats. We conducted a quantitative laboratory assessment during 2014-2015 in two resource-limited provinces in southern China, Guangxi and Guizhou in order to guide strategies for strengthening core capacities as required by the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005).Methods: We selected 28 public health and clinical laboratories from the provincial, prefecture and county levels through a quasi-random sampling approach. The 11-module World Health Organization (WHO) laboratory assessment tool was adapted to the local context in China. At each laboratory, modules were scored 0-100% through a combination of paper surveys, in-person interviews, and visual inspections. We defined module scores as strong (> = 85%), good (70-84%), weak (50-69%), and very weak (< 50%). We estimated overall capacity and compared module scores across the provincial, prefecture, and county levels.Results: Overall, laboratories in both provinces received strong or good scores for 10 of the 11 modules. These findings were primarily driven by strong and good scores from the two provincial level laboratories; prefecture and county laboratories were strong or good for only 8 and 6 modules, respectively. County laboratories received weak scores in 4 modules. The module, 'Public Health Functions' (e.g., surveillance and reporting practices) lagged far behind all other modules (mean score = 46%) across all three administrative levels. Findings across the two provinces were similar.Conclusions: Laboratories in Guangxi and Guizhou are generally performing well in laboratory capacity as required by IHR. However, we recommend targeted interventions particularly for county-level laboratories, where we identified a number of gaps. Given the importance of surveillance and reporting, addressing gaps in public health functions is likely to have the greatest positive impact for IHR requirements. The quantitative WHO laboratory assessment tool was useful in identifying both comparative strengths and weaknesses. However, prior to future assessments, the tool may need to be aligned with the new WHO IHR monitoring and evaluation framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]