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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]

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]

In areas with serious pollution problems, the government designates a special emission limit (SEL) for pollution control and environmental protection in China. This paper examines the effects of chemical oxygen demand (COD) SEL on firms' production activity and market performance in the pulp and paper industry in the Lake Tai area in China. Using firm-level data, we employ a difference-in-differences strategy and find that SEL has a negative impact on the production scale, profitability, and market size of the regulated firms, while showing no significant impact on firm exports. The heterogeneity tests suggest that the impact of SEL on production and market performance varies with firm ownership, firm size, and target market. The reallocation effect of production shifts extra production from exited firms to existing firms, which explains the expansion of production scale and market size for SOEs and large-sized regulated firms. Compared with the decline of production scale, the inventory alleviation effect reduces the negative impact of stricter environmental regulation on firm performance.

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]

While participation in the international division of labor has led to rapid economic development, it has also resulted in pressing environmental issues in China. In the context of "building a resource-saving and environment-friendly society" and the current sustainability requirements, research on the environmental impact of Chinese paper companies from the perspective of Environmental Information Disclosure (EID) policy and trade has not yet reached a consensus. This study constructs an analytical framework for the EID policy impact mechanism and trade on the environmental effects of the paper industry and enterprises. It explores the direct and indirect effects of EID policy and import-and-export trade on the paper industry environmental effects using the Propensity Score Matching and Difference-in-Differences (PSM-DID) model. EID positively impacts the pollution reduction of enterprises mainly through the technical effect. Export trade positively impacts the reduction of enterprises' emissions through the technology effect. However, the demand of the international market increases the pollution from the paper industries, which has a negative impact. Importing will enable enterprises to obtain greater price advantages which can alleviate and transfer the costs brought by EID. This study analyzes the impact of trade on the environmental effects of Chinese paper enterprises and identifies the impact of China's EID policy and trade on enterprises' pollution emissions. It provides a theoretical and practical foundation for the Chinese government to formulate environmental and trade policies.

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]

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]

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]

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) 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]

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]

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]

Highly cited papers in the Essential Science Indicators database refer to papers with citations in the top 1% of all papers in a research field, and they are considered to be symbols of scientific excellence and top performance of the past ten years. This study provided an informetric analysis of 7791 highly cited papers in the environmental sciences category during 2009-2019. Informetric indicators and visualization tools were applied to evaluate and present the performances of journals, countries/territories, institutions, top cited papers, and research hotspots. The results showed that the cumulative number of publications has increased exponentially, suggesting strong development of the environmental sciences category. There were 211 journals publishing highly cited papers, with Energy & Environmental Science as the leading journal. The USA ranked first with the highest number of publications and occupied the core position in the collaboration network, while Mainland China took the first place in independent research output. Review articles have an obvious advantage in terms of achieving high citations. "Adsorption", "climate change", and "heavy metal" were the most frequent keywords, with "microplastic" rising rapidly as a new research frontier in recent years. Five research hotspots were visualized from highly cited papers via cluster analysis., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Soil hydraulic properties significantly affect the occurrence and development of collapsing gully walls. The effect of temperature on the hydraulic properties of soil in collapsing gully walls remains unclear. In this study, the hydraulic properties of the red soil layer, the sandy soil layer and the detritus layer in a collapsing gully wall were investigated using the filter paper method, and the soil water retention curves of the different soil layers at 25 and 40 °C were determined. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of temperature on the soil hydraulic properties of different soil layers in collapsing gully walls. The study found that when the water content in the red soil layer and sandy soil layer exceeded 20% and in the detritus layer exceeded 10%, the soil's matric suction significantly decreased as the temperature increased from 25 to 40 °C. Additionally, the parameters of θ s , α , n and m all exhibited a decreasing trend, and the soil water content in the detritus layer was primarily influenced by the temperature change, which resulted in a decrease of 38.10%. The unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of the detritus layer exhibited higher values than that of the sandy layer and red soil layer under identical temperature conditions. Moreover, the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of the red soil layer, sandy soil layer and detritus layer increased with increasing temperature. It was observed that the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of the detritus layer increased by 0.18 cm h−1 at a soil water content of 44%. This increase in conductivity was more pronounced than the corresponding changes in the red soil layer and sandy soil layer. An elevated temperature caused the water-holding capacity of the different soil layers of the collapsing gully wall to decrease and the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity to increase. However, the influence of the clay particle content within the soil of the collapsing gully wall rendered the temperature effect more distinct. Therefore, the destabilizing deformation of the soil in the collapsing gully wall during the summer under high temperatures and precipitation may have played a key role in its collapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Handwriting is a biometric behavioral characteristic with evident individual distinctiveness. With the rise of the deep learning trend and demands for forensic identification, handwriting identification has become one of the focal points of research in the field of pattern recognition. Research in handwriting identification for major global languages has matured. However, in China, there is limited attention in the field of writer identification for minority languages such as Mongolian, making it challenging to resolve criminal cases involving handwriting issues. This paper initiates an initial exploration of Mongolian handwriting identification by constructing a structurally simple convolutional neural network. This convolutional neural network, consisting of 12 convolution operations and designed for Mongolian handwriting identification, is referred to as MWInet-12. In this paper, the model evaluation experiments were conducted using a dataset comprising 156,372 samples contributed by 125 writers from the MOLHW dataset. The dataset was divided into training, validation, and test sets in an 8:1:1 ratio. The final results of the experiments reveal impressive accuracy on the test set, achieving a top-1 accuracy of 89.60% and a top-5 accuracy of 97.53%. Furthermore, through comparative experiments involving Resnet50, Fragnet, GRRNN, VGG16, and VGG19 models, this paper establishes that the proposed model yields the most favorable results for Mongolian handwriting identification. The exploratory research on Mongolian handwriting identification in this paper contributes to increasing awareness of information processing for minority languages. It aids in advancing research on classifying writers of Mongolian historical texts and provides technical support for judicial authentication involving handwriting issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on authorized patents of China's artificial intelligence industry from 2013 to 2022, this paper constructs an Industry–University–Research institution (IUR) collaboration network and an Inter-Firm (IF) collaboration network and used the entropy weight method to take both the quantity and quality of patents into account to calculate the innovation performance of firms. Through the hierarchical clustering algorithm and classification and regression trees (CART) algorithm, in-depth analysis has been conducted on the intricate non-linear influence mechanisms between multiple variables and a firm's innovation performance. The findings indicate the following: (1) Based on the network centrality (NC), structural hole (SH), collaboration breadth (CB), and collaboration depth (CD) of both IUR and IF collaboration networks, two types of focal firms are identified. (2) For different types of focal firms, the combinations of network characteristics affecting their innovation performance are various. (3) In the IUR collaboration network, focal firms with a wide range of heterogeneous collaborative partners can obtain high innovation performance. However, focal firms in the IF collaboration network can achieve the same aim by maintaining deep collaboration with other focal firms. This paper not only helps firms make scientific decisions for development but also provides valuable suggestions for government policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the knowledge economy era, innovation has become a key emphasis for urban competitions. This paper constructs a theoretical research framework that integrates the basic understandings, influencing factors and ensuing results of intercity innovative competition relations. On the basis of data from the general programs of the National Natural Science Foundation of China from 2005 to 2019, this paper constructs intercity innovative competition relations in China, analyses their spatial distribution and quantitative characteristics, and quantitatively investigates the impact of urban innovation capacity and multidimensional proximity (e.g., geographical proximity, institutional proximity and cognitive proximity) on intercity innovative competition relations through a negative binomial model. The study obtained the following findings: (1) In terms of the overall intercity innovative competition relations, the intensity of China's intercity innovative competition relations gradually increased from 2005 to 2019, with a spatial clustering towards cities with high administrative ranks (e.g., municipalities directly under the central government, sub-provincial cities and provincial capitals); Beijing is always at the centre of innovative competition relations, but its standing has slightly slipped in recent years. (2) From the perspective of disciplines, cities can become benchmarks in particular fields of innovative competitions by competing according to their disciplinary strengths; intercity innovative competition relations in China vary across various academic disciplines. (3) In terms of influencing factors, urban innovation capacity has significant positive effects on intercity innovative competition relations; geographical proximity, institutional proximity and cognitive proximity all have significant positive effects on innovative competition relations; and interactions occur between multidimensional proximities, including a complementary effect between geographical proximity and institutional proximity, a substitutive effect between cognitive proximity and geographical proximity, and a substitutive effect between cognitive proximity and institutional proximity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) sector, as a source and a sink of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, is critical for achieving carbon neutrality. Many academic journals have published papers on land use carbon emission or sink (LUCES), but LUCES reviews are relatively rare, which poses great challenges in accurately understanding the research progress and future prospects. This work analyzes the research characteristics, hotspots and future perspectives of LUCES research by using a bibliometric analysis (such as DDA, VOSviewer, CiteSpace software) and a review based on the data (6115 scientific papers) during 1991–2023 from the Web of Science (WoS) platform. We found that (1) over the past 33 years, it first presented a steady growth, then fluctuating growth, and finally a rapid growth trend in the yearly number of publications in LUCES research. The USA (17.31%), China (14.96%), and the UK (7.37%) occupy a dominant position in this research field. (2) The related LUCES research is interdisciplinary, which mainly cover science and technology, meteorology and atmospheric sciences, geology, and environmental sciences and ecology disciplines. (3) The research hotspot analysis on LUCES shows that these articles mostly covered the follow three aspects: ecosystem services, climate change, and carbon neutrality. (4) A review of the past LUCES literature suggests that it is mainly focused on exploring the forefront issues in terms of the definition and boundaries, evaluation method and influencing factors, etc. This work suggests that further research could explore the main scientific problems on quantification of land-based carbon neutrality, quantitative analysis of the impact mechanisms, as well as interdisciplinary research and collaborative governance needed for carbon neutrality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global dissemination of Christianity has resulted in diverse singing styles and historical narratives that incorporate different languages and musical traditions. Chinese Christian hymns, in particular, possess distinctive features that reflect the Chinese thinking mode and cultural values, showcasing the interplay between Western hymns and Chinese singing and poetic and cultural traditions within the Chinese historical context. This paper takes Chinese Christian hymnals published between 1807 and 1949 as its object of study. It conducts research on representative hymnals from three historical stages: the emergence, flourishing, and prosperity of hymns, and examines their compilation and publication. Using methods such as historical research, textual criticism, translation studies, and cross-cultural communication, the paper explores the evolution of Chinese Christian hymns. The paper analyzes such aspects of the hymnals as translating and writing strategies, thematic content, linguistic features, editing and formatting, as well as the selection and composition of melodies. It is concluded that the indigenization of Chinese hymns does not involve outright rejection of foreign elements or unquestioning adherence to local traditions, but rather represents a common ground between Chinese and Western languages and vocal traditions, reflecting the characteristic of glocalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sino–U.S. Treaty of Tientsin (1858), for the first time in history, included an article to ensure the toleration of Protestantism in China, i.e., the Toleration Article. The man behind the article was S. Wells Williams (1812–1884), an interpreter of the U.S. Legation and a former missionary, who negotiated with Chinese officials directly. Williams produced the Chinese version of the clause and its official English translation which led to controversies, for it was deemed unfaithful and humiliating to the Christian communities. This paper revisits this important episode in the history of Protestantism in China. Using first-hand archival materials, it reveals how Williams was forced to "mistranslate" the article in order to satisfy both parties. It further discusses the reasons behind the missionaries' criticism, which placed Williams in the center of clashes between religious and political interests. Through Williams' case, the paper foregrounds the crucial roles and difficult situations of missionary translators in diplomatic incidents that shaped the history of Christianity in China. More importantly, it highlights the conflicting interests and ideas in early Sino–U.S. diplomacy and shows how missionary translators worked to mediate the dilemma between evangelism and politics in 19th-century China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to develop a new model of Project-Based Instructional Taxonomy (PBIT) that provides a tool of course design that facilitates Computational Thinking (CT) development as creative action in solving real-life problems. Theoretically, PBIT is built on an integrative framework bringing together with studies on CT education, creativity, Bloom's Taxonomy, and Project-Based Instruction (PBI). This guides the course design to make alignment between diverse elements including education objectives, categories of CT, levels of learning ability, process of project facilitation, and methods of grading. A case will be discussed that focuses on a course Deep Learning and Technologies in AI bachelor program at Northeastern University (NEU) in China. It also shows how PBIT is applied in teaching practice that benefits students' CT development. As the conclusion indicates, this paper has contributions to future research on creativity, PBI, CT, and AI education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Territorial spatial planning involves fixability and flexibility in different driving factors related to control and development orientation, and they play an important role in regional sustainable development, especially in developing countries such as China. With rapid urbanisation and industrialisation, China has been impacted by conflicts between development and protection in territorial space. To integrate the contradictions among different territorial spatial planning measures, planners and scholars have started to focus on studies regarding fixability–flexibility relationships and integration. However, the relationship between and integration of fixability and flexibility in territorial spatial planning have yet to be clearly summarised. This paper explores an innovative research direction for the fixability–flexibility relations in territorial spatial planning from a new perspective, the Food–Energy–Water Nexus, which is a dynamic and comprehensive framework for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) studies. This paper covers the existing research on fixability and flexibility in territorial spatial planning. Moreover, after summarising the conflicts of fixability and flexibility, the dialectical relationship between and the integration of fixability and flexibility are researched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) delay can quantitatively reflect the congestion caused by the imbalance between capacity and demand in an airspace network. Furthermore, it is an important parameter for the ex-post analysis of airspace congestion and the effectiveness of ATFM strategy implementation. If ATFM delays can be predicted in advance, the predictability and effectiveness of ATFM strategies can be improved. In this paper, a short-term ATFM delay regression prediction method is proposed for the characteristics of the multiple sources, high dimension, and complexity of ATFM delay prediction data. The method firstly constructs an ATFM delay prediction network model, specifies the prediction object, and proposes an ATFM delay prediction index system by integrating common flow control information. Secondly, an ATFM delay prediction method based on feature extraction modules (including CNN, TCN, and attention modules), a heuristic optimization algorithm (sparrow search algorithm (SSA)), and a prediction model (LSTM) are proposed. The method constructs a CNN-LSTM-ATT model based on SSA optimization and a TCN-LSTM-ATT model based on SSA optimization. Finally, four busy airports and their major waypoints in East China are selected as the ATFM delay prediction network nodes for example validation. The experimental results show that the MAEs of the two models proposed in this paper for ATFM delay regression prediction are 4.25 min and 4.38 min, respectively. Compared with the CNN-LSTM model, the errors are reduced by 2.71 min and 2.59 min, respectively. Compared with the TCN-LSTM model, the times are 3.68 min and 3.55 min, respectively. In this paper, two improved LSTM models are constructed to improve the prediction accuracy of ATFM delay duration so as to provide support for the establishment of an ATFM delay early warning mechanism, further improve ATFM delay management, and enhance resource allocation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-wheeled non-motorized vehicles (TNVs) have become the primary mode of transportation for short-distance travel among residents in many underdeveloped cities in China due to their convenience and low cost. However, this trend also brings corresponding risks of traffic accidents. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the driving behavior characteristics of TNVs through their trajectory data in order to provide guidance for traffic safety. Nevertheless, the compact size, agile steering, and high maneuverability of these TNVs pose substantial challenges in acquiring high-precision trajectories. These characteristics complicate the tracking and analysis processes essential for understanding their movement patterns. To tackle this challenge, we propose an enhanced You Only Look Once Version X (YOLOx) model, which incorporates a median pooling-Convolutional Block Attention Mechanism (M-CBAM). This model is specifically designed for the detection of TNVs, and aims to improve accuracy and efficiency in trajectory tracking. Furthermore, based on this enhanced YOLOx model, we have developed a micro-trajectory data mining framework specifically for TNVs. Initially, the paper establishes an aerial dataset dedicated to the detection of TNVs, which then serves as a foundational resource for training the detection model. Subsequently, an augmentation of the Convolutional Block Attention Mechanism (CBAM) is introduced, integrating median pooling to amplify the model's feature extraction capabilities. Subsequently, additional detection heads are integrated into the YOLOx model to elevate the detection rate of small-scale targets, particularly focusing on TNVs. Concurrently, the Deep Sort algorithm is utilized for the precise tracking of vehicle targets. The process culminates with the reconstruction of trajectories, which is achieved through a combination of video stabilization, coordinate mapping, and filtering denoising techniques. The experimental results derived from our self-constructed dataset reveal that the enhanced YOLOx model demonstrates superior detection performance in comparison to other analogous methods. The comprehensive framework accomplishes an average trajectory recall rate of 85% across three test videos. This significant achievement provides a reliable method for data acquisition, which is essential for investigating the micro-level operational mechanisms of TNVs. The results of this study can further contribute to the understanding and improvement of traffic safety on mixed-use roads. [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]

Short-term power load forecasting is of great significance for the reliable and safe operation of power systems. In order to improve the accuracy of short-term load forecasting, for the problems of random fluctuation in load and the complexity of load-influencing factors, this paper proposes a two-stage short-term load forecasting method, SSA–VMD-LSTM-MLR-FE (SVLM–FE) based on sparrow search algorithm (SSA), to optimize variational mode decomposition (VMD) and feature engineering (FE). Firstly, an evaluation criterion on the loss of VMD decomposition is proposed, and SSA is used to find the optimal combination of parameters for VMD under this criterion. Secondly, the first stage of forecasting is carried out, and the different components obtained from SSA–VMD are predicted separately, with the high-frequency components input to a long short-term memory network (LSTM) for forecasting and the low-frequency components input to a multiple linear regression model (MLR) for forecasting. Finally, the forecasting values of the components obtained in the first stage are input to the second stage for error correction; factors with a high degree of influence on the load are selected using the Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC) and maximal information coefficient (MIC), and the load value at the moment that has a great influence on the load value at the time to be predicted is selected using autocorrelation function (ACF). The forecasting values of the components are fused with the selected feature values to construct a vector, which is fed into the fully connected layer for forecasting. In this paper, the performance of SVLM–FE is evaluated experimentally on two datasets from two places in China. In Place 1, the RMSE, MAE, and MAPE are 128.169 MW, 102.525 MW, and 1.562%, respectively; in Place 2, the RMSE, MAE, and MAPE are 111.636 MW, 92.291 MW, and 1.426%, respectively. The experimental results show that SVLM–FE has high accuracy and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blueberries have high nutritional and economic value and are easy to cultivate, so they are common fruit crops in China. There is a high demand for blueberry in domestic and foreign markets, and various technologies have been used to extend the supply cycle of blueberry to about 7 months. However, blueberry grows in clusters, and a cluster of fruits generally contains fruits of different degrees of maturity, which leads to low efficiency in manually picking mature fruits, and at the same time wastes a lot of manpower and material resources. Therefore, in order to improve picking efficiency, it is necessary to adopt an automated harvesting mode. However, an accurate maturity detection model can provide a prerequisite for automated harvesting technology. Therefore, this paper proposes a blueberry ripeness detection model based on enhanced detail feature and content-aware reassembly. First of all, this paper designs an EDFM (Enhanced Detail Feature Module) that improves the ability of detail feature extraction so that the model focuses on important features such as blueberry color and texture, which improves the model's ability to extract blueberry features. Second, by adding the RFB (Receptive Field Block) module to the model, the lack of the model in terms of receptive field can be improved, and the calculation amount of the model can be reduced at the same time. Then, by using the Space-to-depth operation to redesign the MP (MaxPool) module, a new MP-S (MaxPool–Space to depth) module is obtained, which can effectively learn more feature information. Finally, an efficient upsampling method, the CARAFE (Content-Aware Reassembly of Features) module, is used, which can aggregate contextual information within a larger receptive field to improve the detection performance of the model. In order to verify the effectiveness of the method proposed in this paper, experiments were carried out on the self-made dataset "Blueberry—Five Datasets" which consists of data on five different maturity levels of blueberry with a total of 10,000 images. Experimental results show that the mAP (mean average precision) of the proposed network reaches 80.7%, which is 3.2% higher than that of the original network, and has better performance than other existing target detection network models. The proposed model can meet the needs of automatic blueberry picking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of carbon neutrality does have economic costs; however, few studies have measured the cost and the economic neutral opportunities. This paper uses a dynamic computable general equilibrium (CGE) model to simulate China's carbon neutrality path from 2020 to 2060 and analyzes its economic impact. This paper innovatively adjusts the CGE modeling technology and simulates the boundary of the Porter hypothesis on the premise of economic neutrality. The results show that the carbon neutrality target may reduce the annual GDP growth rate by about 0.8% in 2020–2060. To make the carbon pricing method under the carbon neutrality framework meet the strong version of the Porter hypothesis (or economic neutrality), China must increase its annual total factor productivity by 0.56–0.57% in 2020–2060; this is hard to achieve. In addition, the study finds that China's 2030 carbon target has little impact on the economy, but the achievement of the 2060 carbon neutrality target will have a significant effect. Therefore, the paper believes that the key to carbon neutrality lies in the coexistence of technological innovation and carbon pricing to ensure that we can cope with global warming with the lowest cost and resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review will serve as an entry point for international researchers who would like to tap into the vast scientific potential of Chinese-language literature on oceanic fronts. We focused on observational physical oceanography studies of marine fronts. A thorough bibliographic search netted 95 papers published in 1982–2023, with a sharp increase in the total number of papers from 2006–2010 to 2011–2015, when this number almost tripled. This trend continued unabated through the early 2020s. The sharp increase in Chinese-language publications preceded by several years a rapid increase in English-language publications in the same field. Regionally, the overwhelming majority of papers is focused on the China Seas, particularly the East China Seas and northern South China Sea. Elsewhere, a number of papers were dedicated to the Southern Ocean and North Atlantic. Thematically, papers on remote sensing of ocean fronts dominate the literature, with special attention to the development of front-detection algorithms that can be applied to satellite data on sea surface temperature, salinity, chlorophyll, and sea level anomaly. Numerous papers on marine fronts in the China Seas present important results that have to be considered by international researchers. Overall, this review emphasizes the significant contributions made by Chinese oceanographers, particularly to studies of the frontal oceanography of the China Seas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban digital infrastructure is the cornerstone of optimizing resource allocation and promoting sustainable economic development in the era of digital economy, and it will also affect corporate ESG performance. Based on the data of Chinese A-share listed companies from 2011 to 2021, an asymptotic difference-in-difference model is used to investigate the impact of urban digital infrastructure on corporate ESG performance based on the "broadband China" strategy and its underlying mechanism. This paper finds that urban digital infrastructure can promote corporate ESG performance. Further, urban digital infrastructure can contribute to corporate ESG performance by increasing research and development (R&D) investment, improving corporate governance, and increasing information transparency. Through heterogeneity analysis, the results show urban digital infrastructure contributes more significantly to the ESG performance of state-owned, small and medium, growth-stage, and low-profit companies and is more pronounced in non-heavy polluting companies and companies in the central and western regions. This paper has enhanced the theoretical framework of urban digital infrastructure and corporate ESG (environmental, social, and governance) performance, paving the way for a new approach to the collaborative development of cities and enterprises in pursuit of green and sustainable growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of high grain production costs, which is not conducive to sustainable agricultural development and food security, is highlighted in the context of China's "large country and small household farmers". Reducing the grain production costs through factor allocation and organizational drive has become particularly important. Based on 768-grain peasant households in China, this paper uses OLS regression and robust regression to examine the effects of agricultural factor inputs and cooperatives on grain production costs. It analyzes the synergistic and substitution effects between farmers' factor inputs and cooperatives in grain production. It was found that: (1) in farmers' grain production, reductions in the grain production costs can be realized by expanding the area under cultivation, improving the use of agricultural machinery, and increasing technological inputs; (2) a reduction in the grain production costs can also be realized through cooperatives driving farmers into grain production; (3) cooperatives can provide farmers with various types of agricultural production services in grain production and cooperative-driven substitution effects between the agricultural factor inputs of farm households. The findings of this paper contribute to the enrichment of research in the field of agricultural production and are important for enhancing agricultural sustainability and reducing grain production costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Philosophies in the East and West have favored wisdom in their search for truths. The Chinese civilization has sought holistic wisdom in its long history of absorbing the Abrahamic faiths since the seventh century. This paper aims to investigate how the Abrahamic faiths have interacted with ancient Chinese culture. In particular, this paper will examine the earliest written records in Chinese of the Luminous Religion (or Jingjiao), the earliest Jews in Kaifeng, and the earliest Muslims in China. By analyzing their theology of creation with reference to the Holy Spirit and qi (wind/breath/pneuma), this paper attempts a constructive Chinese natural theology based on a sympathetic and critical assessment of Alister McGrath's natural theology but makes up for his spirit deficit. This paper argues that the holistic wisdom achieved in the early integration process of the Abrahamic faiths with the Chinese culture is closely intertwined with the Spirit and qi, which provides a fruitful ground to construct a Chinese natural theology. The contribution of this paper lies in its original research into the earliest written records of the three Abrahamic faiths in China from the perspective of the doctrine of creation and its relationship with the Spirit and qi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imported air pollution has a significant impact on urban air quality. Relevant studies have shown that many urban air pollution events are not resourced by local emissions but are imported by air pollution from surrounding areas transported across regions. The prevention and control of air pollution is very necessary. However, the existing supervision of urban air quality mostly relies on ground monitoring stations, which are extremely limited in time and space, and cannot satisfy continuous time-space air pollution research. Therefore, aiming at the problem of urban air pollution control, this paper used MERRA-2 reanalysis data and ground monitoring data to establish a "Time-Longitude-Latitude" three-dimensional pollution curve, and then a genetic algorithm was used to optimize its fitting. This study finally reconstructed the imported air pollution transmission route. This paper takes an air pollution event that occurred in Xuzhou City, China, on 12 January 2020, as an example. Through the analysis of aerosol optical depth (AOD), particulate matter (PM), wind speed, and other factors, we found the source, transmission route, and impact time of this pollution. We have verified the correctness and accuracy of the reconstructed contamination transport paths. It is proved that the method is universal and it can quickly and accurately restore the air pollution transmission route and identify the urban imported air pollution transmission entrance. This method will also provide strong data support for the division of responsibilities of environmental protection departments in various regions for severe air pollution transmission events and provide effective governance ideas for the prevention and control of imported air pollution in recipient cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]