Search

Electric vehicles (EVs) are now widely acknowledged as ideal means of transportation in future, in terms of energy conservation and environmental protection for urban governance. EV lease service is an effective measure to promote the use of EVs and has gained the support of many countries. In this article, a comprehensive pricing scheme is developed to optimize the annual operations profit for EV lease service based on mileage-based pricing (MBP), where the profit is defined as the revenue subtracted by the maintenance cost. Different from the traditional MBP for vehicle lease service, our model characterizes how the grade level of EVs affects the maintenance cost after each failure. Moreover, the lease service is modeled as a queuing system where each consumer has the probability choosing the MBP by comparing the service value and his expense. An enumerative algorithm is developed to find the optimal pricing as well as analyze the influence of parameters on the optimal profit. The algorithm is implemented in the pricing of an EV lease company in China. The results show that the optimal pricing will increase with service rate, consumer arrival rate, and the service value from lessor, but decrease with waiting cost of consumers. Differential pricing strategies are also proposed to resolve the conflict goals of lessors and consumers, which can further boost lessors’ profit and raise consumers’ satisfaction level. The results show that MBP with differential pricing strategies will increase profit between 2.3% and 69.8%, comparing with cases without differential pricing strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Achieving high‐quality care and retention of nurses are major concerns for nurse leaders in hospitals. The organisational context is theorised to influence the quality of care and patient and nurse outcomes. This review focuses on China where the healthcare system is different from most Western countries in terms of government healthcare expenditure, public health insurance and healthcare delivery system. Objectives: To explore the organisational context of nursing practice in hospitals in China and its relationship with quality of care, patient outcomes (patient adverse events, safety and satisfaction) and nurse outcomes (burnout, job satisfaction and intention to leave). Design: A mixed‐methods review. Data sources: The electronic databases PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, PsycINFO and China Academic Journals Database were used. Methods: This review was conducted using the SALSA (Search, Appraisal, Synthesis and Analysis) framework. Quality assessment was conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) critical appraisal checklists for cross‐sectional studies and qualitative research. A narrative synthesis was conducted and was supported by tabulation of study data. The PRISMA guidelines were used for this review. Results: Twenty‐three articles met the inclusion criteria and were retrieved, analysed and synthesised. This review supports the link between organisational context, quality of care, and patient and nurse outcomes in the Chinese healthcare system. Aspects of organisational context warrant attention including nurse staffing levels, the shortage of nurses, a lack of nurse participation in hospital affairs and support for the professional development of nurses. Conclusions: The findings suggest that tailored interventions are needed to improve the organisational context of nursing practice in Chinese hospitals and, in particular, to address the nurse workforce issues and organisational leadership and support. The unique policy context of the Chinese healthcare system should be considered when developing these interventions. Relevance to Clinical Practice: Recognising the importance of the organisational context, it is imperative that nurse leaders make every effort to legislate for safe nurse staffing and to establish a caring culture to improve quality of care and nurse and patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant phenological events are sensitive indicators of climate change, and their change could markedly affect the structure and function of ecosystems. Previous studies have revealed the spatiotemporal variations in the phenological events of woody plants. However, limited studies have focused on the phenophases of herbaceous plants. In this study, by using a meta-analysis method, we extracted information about the phenological changes in herbaceous plants in China's grasslands from existing studies (including the period, station, species, phenophases, phenological trends, and climatic determinants) and analyzed the patterns manifested in the dataset. The results showed that the spring phenophases (e.g., first leaf date and first flowering date) of the herbaceous plants mainly advanced over the past 30 years, but a large difference existed across grassland types. The spring phenophases of forages (species from the Cyperaceae, Gramineae, and Leguminosae families) became earlier in the desert steppe and alpine steppe but showed no apparent trends in the alpine meadow and even became later in the meadow steppe and typical steppe. In most cases, the increase in spring temperatures and precipitation promoted the greening up of herbaceous plants, while sunshine duration was positively correlated with the green-up date of herbaceous plants. For the autumn phenophases, the proportions of the earlier and later trends were very close, but the trends varied among the grassland types. The leaf coloring dates of the forages were delayed in the meadow steppe and alpine steppe but showed no distinct pattern in the typical steppe or alpine meadow and even became earlier in the desert steppe. In most cases, the increase in growing season temperature led to an earlier leaf coloring date of the herbaceous plants, but the increase in the preseason precipitation delayed the leaf coloring date. Our results suggested that the phenophases of herbaceous plants have complicated responses to multiple environmental factors, which makes predicting future phenological changes difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating grassland phenology and its relationship with climatic factors is crucial for understanding ecosystem responses to climate change. However, there have been few studies on the impact of soil moisture on grassland phenology. In this study, we extracted the green-up date in the Inner Mongolia grasslands, China, using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data from the Global Inventory Modeling and Mapping Studies (GIMMS) NDVI3g dataset (1982–2015) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (2001–2015). We investigated the spatiotemporal pattern of the green-up date and its relationship with four climatic factors, including growing degree days, chilling days, soil moisture, and solar radiation. Most areas (67.1%) exhibited a trend towards earlier green-up date, but the significant trends (p < 0.05) were only found in 13.4% of the areas. For both datasets, the pixels with a negative regression coefficient of soil moisture accounted for more than 87% of the total area (more than 21% significantly, p < 0.05). Regarding the other factors, the sign of regression coefficients was not consistent among pixels. Thus, soil moisture correlated more significantly with the green-up date in temperate grasslands compared with the other climatic factors. This study provides the scientific basis for better understanding the mechanism of phenological response to climate change in temperate grasslands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a natural ecosystem or as climatic climax community, grassland is relatively dry with a strongly seasonal climate, and sensitive to climatic changes. Most of the previous studies used remote sensing data to investigate the phenological response of grassland to climate change, while ground‐based studies covering a large geographic area were limited. In this study, using the long‐term phenological data (1981–2012) of 16 herbaceous species observed at 20 stations in Inner Mongolia, China, we first investigated the trends in three spring phenophases, including the dates of bud‐burst, first leaf unfolding, and 50% of leaf unfolding. Subsequently, multiple linear regressions between phenophases and four climatic factors (spring temperature, soil moisture, chilling temperature, and insolation) were performed to determine the relative importance of each factor on the spring phenology. To validate the resulted regression coefficients, we developed a controlled environment to investigate the factors regulating the leaf unfolding time of one dominant species (Leymus chinensis). The results showed that the study area became warmer and drier from 1981 to 2012. However, the overall changes in spring phenophases were not apparent, as there was a similar proportion of significant earlier or later trends. Such phenological changes were driven by multiple climatic factors. The warmer temperature would advance the spring phenophases, while lower soil moisture would delay them. The impact of soil moisture was significant in the experimental data, but not significant in the observation data. In addition, leaf unfolding became faster when L. chinensis experienced more chilling days, but this effect was difficult to be detected in observation data due to the weak sensitivity of the leaf unfolding time to chilling days. These findings can help us to understand how the spring phenology of typical herbaceous species responds to multiple climatic factors under the background of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Black wolfberry fruits grown in different locations show different metabolic profile. • 204 primary and specialized metabolites, and 267 lipids were identified in fruits. • Black wolfberry fruits grown in Alxa Left Banner contain higher levels of glycolipids. • Glycolipid levels were positively correlated with their anti-inflammatory capacities. Black wolfberry is a commonly cultivated woody plant in China, and is rich in nutrients that are beneficial for human. To characterize the endogenous metabolite differences among black wolfberry fruits grown in different geographical regions, mass spectrometry-based metabolomic and lipidomic analyses were performed in black wolfberry grown in nine locations throughout five provinces in China, from which 204 primary and specialized metabolites, and 267 lipids were identified in their fruits. Three samples from Alxa Left Banner, Jinta, and Minqin showed dramatically altered metabolite profiles, displaying higher levels of phenolic acids, soluble sugars and flavonoids, but lower levels of tricarboxylic acid cycle intermediates and aromatic amino acids. Moreover, the lipid profile of the Alxa Left Banner sample was strikingly distinct from all other samples, with high levels of monogalactosyl diacylglycerol and sulfoquinovosyl diacylglycerol, which are positively correlated with their anti-inflammatory capacities. These findings thus prompt for further studies on black wolfberry fruit for their health benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vehicle air quality is a topic of interest but information regarding the composition and sources of interior volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is incomplete. This study improves this situation by determining VOC species that deserve to be concerned in new vehicles and providing basic data for source apportionment. VOC measurements in 86 vehicles manufactured between 2017 and 2018 from 10 of the top-selling models in the Chinese market were performed. A total of 41 species were identified as "noteworthy" VOCs in new vehicles based on five criteria: prevalence, possible health effects, possible odors, characteristic presence in vehicles, and high concentrations. Significant correlations were found for approximately half the 820 [(41 × 40)/2] possible pair combinations of the 41 determined VOCs suggesting they come from a few common sources. The data could improve our understanding of VOC levels in new vehicles and can be used for source apportionment. • Field tests regarding VOC levels in 86 new vehicles were performed. • 41 species were identified as "noteworthy" VOCs in new vehicles. • Significant correlations were found for approximately half the 820 possible pair combinations of the 41 VOCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foliage of jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) as a byproduct of agriculture, is a traditional nutraceutical material in China. Previous studies have shown that it is a rich resource of polyphenols. However, information on its complete phenolic profile and the difference between cultivars is still limited. This study investigated and compared phytochemical profiles of leaves of 66 Chinese jujube cultivars. Forty-two compounds, including 22 flavonols, two flavanols, one flavanone, 13 derivatives of phenolic acids, three simple acids, and one unknown hexoside were identified/tentatively identified using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry. Eight major flavonols were quantified by HPLC coupled with an ultraviolet (UV) detector. The contents of total flavonoids ranged from 2.6–25.1 mg/g dry weight (DW). Differences between cultivars were analyzed by hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA). This study presents a systematic study on the phenolic compounds in Chinese jujube leaves of different cultivars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Protected areas (PAs) have been established worldwide to conserve biodiversity. However, the conservation effectiveness of different PA functional zones remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated National Nature Reserves (NNRs) in China to explore and quantify the conservation in their core, buffer, and experimental zones. We compared the area and proportion of forest loss for these functional zones during the period from 2001 to 2018. The results showed that the forest loss in NNRs showed a decreasing trend since 2011, indicating that NNRs reduced the forest loss. There was no significant difference of forest loss proportion (p = 0.42) between the core zones (0.60 ± 1.32%) and buffer zones (0.55 ± 0.88%), implying that their performance in forest conservation was similar. There was a significant difference between experimental and core zones as well as between experimental and buffer zones both in forest loss area and proportion (p ˂ 0.05). We confirmed that the proportion of functional zones significantly affects the conservation effectiveness, i.e., an improper proportion of core zones or buffer zones may lead to forest loss. Therefore, we suggest an optimal proportion of core and buffer zones at 30%–50% and 10%–40%, respectively. Overall, the effectiveness of functional zones in forest nature reserves was assessed on a national scale. The results of this study support the recent adjustment in the PA functional zoning system in China. • National Nature Reserves in China have reduced the forest loss trend. • Buffer zones performance is similar to that of core zones for forest conservation. • Buffer and core zones are more effective than experimental zones for conservation. • Proportion of functional zones significantly affects conservation effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]