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Urban underground space (UUS) development has been acknowledged as a positive contribution to urban resilience (UR). Such contribution has been qualitatively addressed in recent years, but only quantitatively discussed in few studies. Quantitative evaluation methods for UR are widely used in China and around the world, but the role of underground space is barely included. This paper provides a way to bridge this gap on the city scale. A UR evaluation framework was carefully constructed that covers the basic aspects and elements of UR. The contributions of UUS to UR were identified and integrated into the UR evaluation framework, and the measurement methods for each indicator related to UUS were determined. A case study of 19 sample cities in China were conducted using the integrated evaluation model. Correlation analysis and clustering analysis were further adopted to interpret the evaluation results, mainly with three indicators reflecting the level of UUS development, namely UUS area (m²), UUS density (104 m² /km² ) and UUS area per capita (m² / person). The results showed a strong correlation between UUS area and UR. The average proportion of UR provided by UUS in the 19 sample cities was 16.46%, while the maximum figure reached 29.20%. The sample cities were clustered into four categories based on the relationship between the proportion of UR provided by UUS, UUS area, and GDP per capita, where both high and low UUS area tend to provide less proportion of resilience than the medium UUS area. Corresponding suggestions for UUS utilization were proposed to assist cities in achieving urban resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studying changes in land use per capita is critical for understanding the interactions between humans and ecosystems, and for modeling the impacts of land use changes on climate systems. However, many uncertainties in historical estimates significantly hinder climate modeling. This study estimated the per capita cropland area in traditional agricultural regions of China over the past millennium using historical-document-based and modern statistical cropland and population data. The findings showed that changes in the per capita cropland area in the provinces of the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River could be characterized into three stages: slow decrease, rapid increase, and fluctuating decrease, whereas, in the provinces of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, there was a continuous decrease. Spatially, the per capita cropland area was higher in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River and lower in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River during the study period. The per capita cropland areas showed clear differences in the HYDE dataset and our study; the corresponding values of our study were 2.1–8.0, 1.7–8.2, and 1.6–8.8 times higher than those from the HYDE dataset for the early Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The far‐reaching impacts of climate change have further strengthened the determination of governments around the world to pursue low‐carbon development, and low‐carbon efficiency in less developed regions has become a "shortcoming" in realizing low‐carbon aspirations. We analyze the carbon emission efficiency (CEE) and its temporal evolution in less‐developed regions in developing countries, such as Western China. The differentiation of Western China was evaluated in terms of spatial and influencing factors through the Theil index and the logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI), and the innovative use of GDP gold content (GDPgc) to represent the absolute economic level in the Theil index. Considering the net carbon emissions (NCE) are undesirable outputs, the GDPgc is taken as the desired output. The Un‐Super‐SBM‐CRS method obtained the net carbon emission efficiency (NCEE) values. The results show that: (1) Western regions' NCE differences can be categorized as high per capita NCE areas (more than 25 tons), medium per capita NCE areas (10–25 tons), and low per capita NCE areas (0–10 tons). (2) The per capita‐based T (Theil index) and the GDPgc are comparable and "intra‐group convergence and inter‐group differentiation" can be used to describe intra‐regional and inter‐regional NCE differences. (3) Both the level of the economy and the level of urban development are drivers of the 11 domains, and the level of the economy is driven more than the level of urban development overall. There are significant regional differences in other factors. (4) The NCEs and their evolutionary trends in each region can be divided into single‐variable and fluctuating‐variable. © 2024 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the effect of a place-based policy in China, the Northeastern Revitalization Program. In 2003 the State Council of the People's Republic of China initiated the program in northeastern China by removing an agricultural tax, enhancing the urban social security system, facilitating foreign investment, and restructuring state-owned enterprises in the region. Using the synthetic control method, we find that the program had no significant effect on GDP per capita in all three regions. Liaoning had slightly worse GDP per capita post-treatment, as did Heilongjiang (albeit to a lesser extent). While the multiple synthetic control analysis shows that economic outcomes were worse post-treatment, the impact of this program was heterogeneous across the three regions. We argue the lackluster performance likely comes from the continuing dominance of inefficient state-owned enterprises in the provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of urbanization on the environmental quality of ecologically fragile areas has long been ambiguous. With a focus on the human–environment interaction in 95 counties of Hengduan Mountain, an ecologically fragile region in southwestern China, in this study, we clarify the impact and mechanism of urbanization on environmental quality through the environmental regulation effect, using econometric models and county-level panel data from 2010 to 2019. The results of this study show that: (1) urbanization and environmental regulation have increased over this 10-year period within the study area and regional differences in environmental quality have decreased; (2) urbanization significantly contributes to environmental quality, with heterogenous effects on different environmental elements—increasing the proportion of wetlands and green areas per capita but suppressing vegetation coverage and production efficiency; and (3) environmental regulation is an important mechanism for urbanization to improve environmental quality; however, there are negative externalities on neighboring areas. The results of this study show that urbanization and environmental quality are not always mutually exclusive, thus providing a reference for the development of pro-environmental urbanization to improve sustainable development in ecologically fragile areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural settlement consolidation (RSC) is an important tool for improving rural habitat environments, and the potential evaluation of RSC is the premise for rural settlement planning. This paper identified the potential sources of RSC in different reconstruction modes and built an influencing factor system for RSC. We analyzed the spatial differentiation patterns of the theoretical potential and the realistic potential, and we identified the factors influencing the potential realization based on an empirical investigation in China. Influenced by multiple constraints, the potential transition from theoretical to realistic was spatially differentiated and showed a spatial agglomeration at the village level. Rural depopulation had a direct impact on the theoretical potential of RSC, while the distance to the downtown, rural population, per capita GDP, and production and living conditions played an important role in the realistic potential. Particularly, rural settlement basic conditions, rural population, and arable land resources profoundly affected farmer exit willingness and the potential transition from theoretical to realistic. Four optimization paths for rural settlement reconstruction linking to land use policies were proposed, which could provide valuable information for rural settlement planning in socioeconomic transformation regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the grey prediction, the GM(1, 1) model is an important type, but it sometimes shows big prediction errors. To improve the prediction precision of GM(1, 1) model, the paper makes improvements from the following three aspects: (1) to improve the data's adaptability to the model, the paper transforms the accumulated generating sequence of original time sequence; (2) to make the model meet the variation characteristics of data, the paper extends the grey action of traditional GM(1, 1) model; (3) to avoid big average simulation or prediction relative error of model, the paper considers the minimum of the maximum of the two errors as the optimization objective function. The new extended grey model is called the GM(1, 1, exp × sin, exp × cos) model. The paper uses an improved particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm for the parameter optimization of GM(1, 1, exp × sin, exp × cos) model and thus improves the model's convergence rate and precision. According to the model and method proposed, the paper builds a GM(1, 1, exp × sin, exp × cos) model for China's GDP per capita. Results show that the model has high precision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-six cities in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration were taken as the research object, and this study comprehensively evaluated urbanization quality and ecological resilience from 2005 to 2020. On this basis, the spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and main influencing factors of the coupling relationship between urbanization and ecological resilience were systematically explored using a coupling coordination model and panel Tobit regression model. The results can be summarized as follows: (1) from 2005 to 2020, the quality of urbanization in the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration continued to grow, the level of ecological resilience grew slowly and fluctuated, and the development among municipalities tended to be balanced. (2) The overall coupling coordination degree of urbanization and ecological resilience showed a continuous increasing trend, and the coupling coordination type changed from basic coupling coordination to good coupling coordination. The number of cities with lagging urbanization quality decreased significantly; spatially, the gap in the coupling coordination degree between municipalities narrowed, and the cities with good coupling gradually clustered. (3) The results of the panel Tobit regression showed that the differences in the spatial evolution of coupling coordination mainly resulted from the interaction of drivers such as real utilized foreign capital, per capita GDP, carbon emission intensity, the proportion of science and technology expenditure to fiscal expenditure, the ratio of per capita disposable income of urban and rural residents, fixed asset investment in municipal utility construction, and the index of ecological land area ratio. In the future, the coupling coordination degree of urbanization and ecological resilience should be improved based on the type of coupling coordination according to local conditions, and the seven influencing factors should be carefully examined to accelerate the high-quality integrated development of the Yangtze River Delta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The One Belt One Road Initiative (BRI) has been the subject of multitudinous studies from various angles. Most previous studies have focused on BRI's economic, geopolitical, or commercial implications for China. However, the few studies that focused on BRI's influence on the exportations or importations of Chinese products via the Chinese Cross-border Electronic Commerce Market (CCBECM) have been carried out based only on authors' opinions rather than on empirical evidence. Therefore, the actual effect of BRI on the exportations of Chinese product brands via CCBECM in BRI countries still needs to be discovered. Utilizing B2C exportation data of Chinese smartphones and a Difference-in Difference Model (DIDM), we have first examined the actual and direct impact of BRI policy on Chinese smartphone brands exportations via the Chinese Cross-border Electronic Commerce Market (CCBECM) from 2012 to 2019 in BRI countries. Secondly, we assessed the moderating role of GDP per capita (GDP) and Internet Access Rate (IAR) between BRI policy and exportations of Chinese smartphone brands. The results showed that the impact of BRI remains insignificant on the exportations of Chinese smartphones via CCBECM in BRI countries. However, it could be significant if BRI includes more developed and economically strong countries. The study also highlighted a negative moderating role of GDP per capita between BRI policy and exportations, showing that the higher the BRI effect is, the less GDP per capita will influence Chinese smartphone exportations in BRI countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To describe the secular trends of cause-specific mortality among adolescents aged 10 to 24 years from 2004 to 2019 and explore the association between mortality and economic status, education level as well as health investment. Methods: Mortality data of adolescents aged 10 to 24 years were obtained from the national disease surveillance points system. The age-standardized mortality rate (ASMR) was calculated by using the population data from the sixth national population census in 2010. GDP per capita, urbanization rate, illiteracy rate of the population over 15 years old, government education expenditure per capita, number of health service providers per 1000 people, and number of health beds per 1000 people were collected from China's Economic and Social Big Data Research Platform. Age-period-cohort analysis was used to analyse the net age, period, and cohort effects of mortality among adolescents, while panel data regression was used to explore the association between mortality and economic status, education level as well as health investment. Results: Overall, the ASMR was 28.84 per 100,000 and the top five causes of mortality were road injuries, drowning, intentional self-harm and sequelae, leukaemia, and falls among adolescents aged 10 to 24 years in China in 2019. All-cause mortality declined with an annual percentage change of 4.02% (95% Confidence interval: 3.74% to 4.30%) from 2004 to 2019 yet with persistent differences across different demographic (gender and age) and geographical (urban-rural, and regional) subgroups. Notably, the ASMR for HIV/AIDS in males, lower respiratory infections in urban adolescents, and iron deficiency anaemia as well as cervical cancer in adolescents aged 20 to 24 years showed an increase over time. The multivariate panel data regression showed that the ASMR decreased by 5.18 (3.27, 7.08) per 100,000 for every increase in the number of health beds per 1000 population, but with insignificant association with GDP per capita and illiteracy rate in the total sample. Health beds investment was positively associated with ASMR at almost all subgroups except for adolescents aged 10 to 14 years; GDP per capita increase was helpful to males and rural adolescents while an increasing literacy rate was beneficial for females and adolescents aged 15 to 19 years. Conclusion: Given the persistent differences between subgroups, further investments including improving health services, especially increasing health bed investment, GDP per capita, and reducing the illiteracy rate and concern for adolescents in males, rural areas, the western regions, and aged 15 to 24 years are needed. Additionally, the increased burden of some diseases, such as HIV/AIDS, must be of further concern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• China's export spells defined at the 6-digit HS level are dynamic and short-lived. • Product sophistication is a crucial determinant in stabilizing export relationships. • Comparative advantage strengthens the effect of sophistication on export survival. • Income affects the link between sophistication and export in a reverse U-shaped way. • The findings shed light on the rapid expansion of China's export trade. This study investigates the survival of China's bilateral export flows at the six-digit HS level over the period 2002–2020. The results reveal that export relationships defined as product-destination pairs are highly dynamic and short-lived. Most export spells last no longer than five years, with a median duration of only two years. Product sophistication is a crucial determinant in establishing and stabilizing export relationships. This conclusion remains robust even after accounting for various measures for product sophistication, alternative definitions of export spells, and potential biases arising from simultaneity, sample selection, and data aggregation. Further analyses demonstrate that comparative advantage plays a positive role in moderating the nexus between product sophistication and export survival. In contrast, destination income poses a reverse U-shaped moderating effect on the relationship. The per capita income corresponding to the maximum moderating effect is US$ 6996.94, or the 56th percentile of the variable. Income distance accounts for the nonlinear effect of per capita destination income on export survival. These findings provide insights into China's rapid export growth and have significant implications for policymakers in China and other emerging economies striving for global trade success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Urbanization has a great impact on urban evapotranspiration. Water evaporation inside buildings is an important part of urban water vapor resources and a crucial core of urban hydrological processes. The systematic studies on building water evaporation (BWE) are mostly the method of experimental monitoring. This study proposed a new method to simulate and estimate water evaporation flux inside buildings in urban areas. Based on the nighttime light data and urban per capita gross domestic product (GDP), a new modeling system was built to simulate the total BWE. Building area was calculated using the nighttime light data. And the BWE coefficient Df was estimated according to the important indicator of economic development per capita GDP value. Then the water evaporation inside urban buildings and the spatial distribution of water evaporation inside buildings in typical cities could be obtained. The results showed that the total amount of water evaporation inside buildings in China's urban areas was 24.5 billion m3. Among the 31 provincial capitals in China, Shanghai had the largest BWE of 1.08 billion m3. The minimum water evaporation of buildings in Lhasa was 20.0 million m3. Studies of BWE can assess urban water budgets, support on‐demand allocation of water resources, and provide a fundamental understanding of the relationship between water resources and energy heat island effects in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of studies have provided evidence regarding the factors that influence commuting time. However, few studies have explored such effects in the context of considering spatial heterogeneity across cities, which limits the generalizability of the findings. This study addresses this gap by utilizing a dataset of 113 cities in China across the years 2014, 2016, 2018, and 2020. A two-level hierarchical linear model (HLM) was developed to explore the combined effects of city-level and individual-level factors on commuting time by constructing a nested "city-individual" relationship. The results show that (1) built environments at the city level significantly impact commuting time; (2) a non-linear association between population density and commuting time (U-shaped relationship) was identified, as well as between the number of buses and commuting time (inverted U-shaped relationship); (3) the urban construction land area and road area per capita exert negative effects on commuting time; (4) the impacts of individuals' jobs–housing balance, travel allowances, and education on commuting time vary across cities. These findings might contribute to optimizing the design of a built environment, addressing the challenge posed by longer commuting times, and providing a better understanding of the effects of individuals' characteristics on commuting time while considering the inherent differences across cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the relationship between finance and economic growth is a key direction of financial economics. However, most of the literature starts from the aggregate perspective and uses the GDP or per capita GDP as the explained variable to study the role of finance. Such a perspective ignores the heterogeneity of financial activities with respect to geographical distribution and makes it difficult to distinguish the roles of factor input and efficiency improvement. Because of this, this article introduces a "density" perspective on new economic geography and the measurement of the efficiency of the transition of development economics into financial economics. This article uses the stochastic frontier analysis (SFA) method to measure the technical efficiency (TE) of 272 cities in China from 2005 to 2018 and then, based on "forward-looking" and "backward-looking" methods, measures the impact of financial density on urban technical efficiency. This study found that overall, before the financial crisis in 2008, the contribution of financial density to technical efficiency showed a downward trend, and in the regional and provincial dimensions, the distribution of financial density's contribution to technical efficiency was generally in line with that of backward regions, with less regularity in developed regions. In the urban dimension, the contribution rate of financial density to resource-based cities with slow technological progress or advanced cities with rich financial resources is not very prominent and may even play a negative role; however, cities that are at a medium level of development, rich in population resources, have convenient transportation, and have a certain industrial foundation can greatly promote the improvement of technical efficiency. Therefore, it may be possible to optimize the marginal contribution of urban financial density to the technical efficiency of Chinese cities by encouraging the flow of financial resources and activities from cities with small marginal effects to those with large marginal effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the transfer of rural residential land is paramount in enhancing the efficiency of its utilization. The willingness of farmers to transfer rural residential land is influenced by the number of permanent residents. Existing research has drawn different conclusions about the relationship between these two factors, but the differences have not been analyzed. This study is based on survey data collected from our field research in Deqing County, Zhejiang Province, and utilizes the Probit model and threshold effect model to investigate the role of per capita net income in the relationship between the number of permanent residents and the willingness to transfer rural residential land. The results indicate: (1) There is a non-linear impact of the number of permanent residents on the willingness of farmers who are willing to live in rural areas to transfer to their rural residential land with an income threshold. There is a non-linear impact of the number of permanent residents on the willingness of farmers who are willing to live in city areas to transfer out of their rural residential land, with two income thresholds. By comparing with the actual situation, the size and order of the thresholds are scientifically established. (2) The transfer of rural residential land can serve as a supplementary solution to individual household applications for rural residential land, addressing China's historical legacy issues concerning rural residential land. Considering these findings, policymakers should first actively promote the reform of the rural residential land system while ensuring safeguards for farmers and then work to increase the value of rural residential land. Additionally, they should implement differentiated policies to promote rural residential land transfer. This study can provide a valuable reference for effectively revitalizing idle rural residential land. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The total factor productivity of grain (TFPG) is critically important to secure food production, while its spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the urbanized area is largely ignored. Selecting 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta, this study uses the data envelopment analysis (DEA) Malmquist index method to measure the TFPG in each city from 2012 to 2020 based on panel data, and explores the driving factors of the spatiotemporal evolution of the TFPG with the geographically and temporally weighted regression model. The results indicate the following: (1) Both the TFPG and technological progress varies in the same direction, indicating that technological progress dominates the TFPG in the studied region. The changes in technical efficiency, pure technical efficiency, and scale efficiency are relatively stable. (2) The spatial distribution of the TFPG shows a decentralized trend, with a pattern of high in the north and east areas and low in the south and west areas. (3) The driving factors, such as the development level of the grain economy, the amount of fertilizer used per unit area, and gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, have a restraining effect on the improvement of the TFPG, in which the amount of fertilizer used per unit area is the critical factor. (4) The scale of per capita labor operation, the proportion of the grain-growing population, and output of grain per hectare exert a promoting effect on the TFPG, in which both the proportion of the grain-growing population and output of grain per hectare are the critical factors. Finally, improving the efficiency of fertilizer use, expanding the production scale of the grain planting industry, and increasing the output of grain per hectare are proposed to improve the TFGP in the Yangtze River Delta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes the panel data of 283 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2020 as the research sample, measures the comprehensive index of industrial structure optimization and air quality by using GRA-TOPSIS comprehensive evaluation method, explores the spatial and temporal divergence characteristics of industrial structure optimization and air quality and the spatial and temporal evolution pattern of coupled and coordinated development by using ArcGIS spatial analysis and coupled coordination degree model, and analyzes the driving factors of coupled coordination degree of industrial structure optimization and air quality by combining multi-scale geographically weighted regression model. The study found the following: (1) The overall level of China's urban industrial structure is low, and shows an obvious eastern > central > western decreasing trend; urban air quality has a strong spatial clustering and spatial locking effect. (2) During the study period, the coupling coordination degree of industrial structure optimization and air quality showed an inverted "W" shape fluctuation from 2011 to 2020. The coupling degree and coupling coordination degree in 2020 were both higher than that in 2011, and most cities were in the run-in stage and moderate coordination stage. (3) There is a consistency in the temporal evolution trend and spatial evolution pattern of industrial structure optimization and air quality coupling degree and coupling coordination degree. (4) The driving factors are ranked according to the scale of action: public transportation intensity > population density > government intervention > GDP per capita > industrialization level. At present, China is in a critical period of promoting high-quality development by ecological civilization, and it is recommended to optimize regional industrial structure, improve urban air quality, and promote coordinated urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring carbon emissions is crucial for assessing and addressing economic development and climate change, particularly in regions like the nine provinces along the Yellow River in China, which experiences significant urbanization and development. However, to the best of our knowledge, existing studies mainly focus on national and provincial scales, with fewer studies on municipal and county scales. To address this issue, we established a carbon emission assessment model based on the "NPP-VIIRS-like" nighttime light data, aiming to analyze the spatiotemporal variation of carbon emissions in three different levels of nine provinces along the Yellow River since the 21st century. Further, the spatial correlation of carbon emissions at the county level was explored using the Moran's I spatial analysis method. Results show that, from 2000 to 2021, carbon emissions in this region continued to rise, but the growth rate declined, showing an overall convergence trend. Per capita carbon emission intensity showed an overall upward trend, while carbon emission intensity per unit of GDP showed an overall downward trend. Its spatial distribution generally showed high carbon emissions in the eastern region and low carbon emissions in the western region. The carbon emissions of each city mainly showed a trend of "several"; that is, the urban area around the Yellow River has higher carbon emissions. Meanwhile, there is a trend of higher carbon emissions in provincial capitals. Moran's I showed a trend of decreasing first and then increasing and gradually tended to a stable state in the later stage, and the pattern of spatial agglomeration was relatively fixed. "High–High" and "Low–Low" were the main types of local spatial autocorrelation, and the number of counties with "High–High" agglomeration increased significantly, while the number of counties with "Low–Low" agglomeration gradually decreased. The findings of this study provide valuable insights into the carbon emission trends of the study area, as well as the references that help to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals proposed by China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An assessment of rural development and its driving factors can effectively reflect the characteristics and transformation of rural areas and provide important information for the formulation and implementation of rural development strategies. Taking Northeast China as study area, a rural development index framework was constructed from three dimensions, i.e., basic rural conditions, the state of agricultural development, and farmers' living standards, based on which the rural development level of each city in Northeast China for the years 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015 and 2020 was assessed. Then, an exploratory spatial data analysis was used to explore the spatial and temporal variations in the rural development level in Northeast China during the period 2000–2020. The driving factors were also analyzed using a geographically and temporally weighted regression model. The results showed that the rural development level showed an increasing trend overall, with a spatial pattern of "high in the central, low in the east and west" in most periods. The degree of spatial agglomeration of the rural development level also showed a strengthening trend overall. The hots spots of rural development were mainly distributed in the Southern and Northern regions, while the cold spots were mostly concentrated in the central, eastern and western regions. Urbanization processes, elevation, annual precipitation and other natural factors have weakened the level of rural development to a certain extent, while agricultural production upgrading, an increase in the general public budget expenditure per capita and the sound financial situation of the government can promote rural development in Northeast China. The effects of the natural environment and local economic conditions on rural development were different in different regions. To improve rural development in the future, we should scientifically grasp the basic conditions, such as rural resource endowment, location conditions, agricultural technology, policies, investment and other external conditions, and formulate regional rural development strategies according to local conditions and in light of local rural characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze how rising labor costs contribute to economic restructuring in China. In a panel of prefectural cities and industries, spanning the years 1999-2007, we employ instrumental variables to identify the effect of increasing local wage levels. We find adverse effects on performance of (low-skilled) labor intensive industries in China's advanced regions. Consistent with cost-saving industry relocation, such industries expand in other locations, where wages are comparatively low. Comparing locations where such industries expand to those where they do not, we find that both economic complexity and subsequent per capita income increased faster in the former group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper redefines the connotation of China's human development in the context of the new development concept and high-quality development, and constructs the China Human Development Index (CHDI) indicator system accordingly. Then, based on the inequality adjustment model and DFA model, the human development level of each region in China from 1990 to 2018 is measured, and the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of China's CHDI and the current situation of regional imbalance are analyzed accordingly. Finally, LMDI decomposition technique and spatial econometric model were used to study the influencing factors of China's human development index. The results show that: (1) The weights of the CHDI sub-index estimated by the DFA model have good stability, and it is a relatively good objective weighting method. (2) Compared with the HDI, the CHDI in this paper can better reflect the level of human development in China. (3) China's human development has made great achievements and has basically achieved the leap from the low human development level group to the high human development level group. However, there are still significant gaps between regions. (4) From the results of LMDI decomposition, the livelihood index is the most important driving index of CHDI growth in each region. From the results of spatial econometric regressions, there is a strong spatial autocorrelation of China's CHDI among the 31 provinces. GDP per capita, financial education expenditure per capita, urbanization rate, and financial health expenditure per capita are the main influencing factors of CHDI. Based on the above research findings, this paper proposes a scientific and effective macroeconomic policy with important reference value for promoting the high-quality development of China's economy and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The grey prediction is a common method in the prediction. Studies show that general grey models have high modeling precision when the time sequence varies slowly, but some grey models show low modeling precision for the high-growth sequence. The paper researches the grey modeling for the high-growth sequence using the extended nonlinear grey Bernoulli model NGBM(1,1,t⌃p,α). To improve the nonlinear grey Bernoulli model NGBM(1,1,t⌃p,α)'s prediction precision and make data have better adaptability to the model, the paper makes improvements in the following three aspects: (1) the paper improves the accumulated generating sequence of original time sequence, i.e. making a new transformation of traditional accumulated generating sequence; (2) the paper improves the model's structure, extends the grey action and builds an extended nonlinear grey Bernoulli model NGBM(1,1,t⌃p,α); (3) the paper improves the model's background value and uses the value of cubic spline function to approximate the background value. Because the parameters of the new accumulated generating sequence transformed, the nonlinear grey Bernoulli model's time response equation and the background value are optimized simultaneously, the prediction precision increases greatly. The paper builds an extended nonlinear grey Bernoulli model NGBM(1,1,t⌃2,α) using the method proposed and seven comparison models for China's express delivery volume per capita. Comparison results show that the extended nonlinear grey Bernoulli model built with the method proposed has high simulation and prediction precision and shows the precision superior to that of seven comparison models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years there has been a great deal of research into environmental pollution using a variety of techniques in response to growing environmental concerns. Convergence analysis, one of these techniques, helps determine whether the developing countries will catch up with the rich countries in pollution using unit root tests. However, the vast majority of the research in the field has generally used conventional unit root tests. Since many economic series contain structural breaks, using unit root tests that account for structural breaks is essential for accurate prediction. More specifically, if the series has a fractional process, conventional unit root tests may erroneously conclude that the departure from linearity is permanent. Moreover, the existing literature mainly uses gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide, which represent pollution weakly. Therefore, we use per capita ecological footprint (EF hereafter) as a more comprehensive pollution indicator of environmental degradation. In this direction, the study aims to determine whether BRICS-T countries' EF converges to the average of the BRICS-T for the 1992–2017 period. Besides the ADF unit root test, we employed the Fourier ADF unit root test, which considers the structural breaks, and the Fractional Frequency Fourier ADF unit root test, which accounts for structural breaks by considering fractional values. Our results showed that EF converges in Russia and Turkey according to the conventional ADF test, in China and Russia according to the Fourier ADF test, and in Brazil and China according to the Fractional Fourier Frequency test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last four decades, the Chinese socio-spatial formation has become the most significant commercial, industrial, and financial power worldwide. Internally, in 1978, the annual GDP growth was 11.3%, and its average real growth was 2.3% in 2020. Per capita income went from US$ 194.80 in 1980 to US$ 10,434.78 in 2020. Externally, China exported US$ 325 billion and imported US$ 295 billion in 2002. In 2020, the exports were US$ 2.5 trillion and imports US$ 2.0 trillion. In turn, the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) increased from US$ 830 million in 1990 to US$ 110.2 billion in the same period. This rise of China in the world economy has led different authors to emphasize the Chinese imperialist and geopolitical strategies. Contrary to these assertions, the text hypothesizes that the Chinese dynamics in the post-2000 world economy characterize geo-economic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rural China has undergone a rapid transformation in the past few decades, especially the poverty-stricken areas, making a historic leap from inadequate subsistence to full well-off status. Based on rural regional system theory, this study analyzes the connotation of rural transformation development (RTD), explores the spatio-temporal patterns of RTD in the Yanshan-Taihang Mountainous, and diagnoses its influencing factors using a geographically and temporally weighted regression model. The results show that RTD is a dynamic process of qualitative changes in rural regional systems based on the accumulation of quantitative changes of elements, and the key to its measurement lies in analyzing the coupling coordination degree between quantitative changes of elements. From 2000 to 2020, the rapid development of urban population share, non-agricultural industry share, construction land share and NDVI in the Yanshan-Taihang Mountains contributed to a leap in RTD status, and the proportion of counties in a coupling coordination state increased from 24.24% to 96.97%. Spatially, the RTD level in the Taihang Mountains was significantly superior to that in the Yanshan Mountains. Average years of schooling, road density, per capita GDP and urban–rural dual structure were the main influencing factors of RTD, of which the first three were positive factors and the last one presented a negative correlation. To promote RTD to a higher level, it is an urgent matter to boost the high-quality development of county economy and rural education, improve public transportation infrastructure and innovate the policy system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any investigation of society's historical development should begin with the fundamental issue of productivity level. The Song witnessed at least 45 new advances in production technologies, items and tools, of which at least 15 took place in agriculture and 30 in handicraft. Although the Song surpassed previous dynasties in overall productivity, it was also affected by a number of limitations, seven of which were particularly relevant to productivity level. With the exception of agricultural technology and firearms, the Ming and Qing failed to make major breakthroughs in the remaining five fields. Although these dynasties outperformed the Song in terms of total productivity and technology, particularly in the introduction of crops, they fell behind in productivity per capita and quality of growth, due to the population boom and the stagnation and even regression of farm technologies. Whether compared with previous dynasties or with the Ming and Qing, the Song dynasty saw the zenith of productivity development in ancient China. The level of productivity underlies Song progress and Ming and Qing stagnation, as well as the rise of Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the efficiency with which natural resources are utilized is an indispensable for achieving sustainable development and carbon neutrality. By analyzing the utilization efficiency of energy, water, and land, we established a comprehensive natural resource utilization efficiency index (NRUEI). We then calculated the 2016 index for 165 cities in China, and investigated what caused it to vary. We found three main results: (1) the NRUEI varied greatly across China and there were significant positive correlations between urban energy utilization efficiency (EUE), water utilization efficiency (WUE) and land utilization efficiency (LUE); (2) the NRUEI showed a significant positive correlation with a city's population size, economy (Gross Domestic Product (GDP)), and the level of urban social development (GDP per capita); (3) cities in East China have the highest natural resource utilization efficiency, while cities in Northeast China have the lowest. These results indicate that China's increasing urban development is associated with rising natural resource utilization efficiency and that the city's endowment of natural resources is an important factor affecting that efficiency. Further, the results showed that the determinants of a city's NRUEI differed in large and small cities. Lastly, our results suggest that improving EUE is key for improving NRUEI in urban China, and different efficiencies can be improved intertwined. A major takeaway of this study is that there is great potential for improving natural resource utilization efficiency in Chinese cities and we include city-specific suggestions for efficiency improvements. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For mankind's survival and development, water, energy, and food (WEF) are essential material guarantees. In China, however, the spatial distribution of WEF is seriously unbalanced and mismatched. Here, a collaborative governance mechanism that aims at nexus security needs to be urgently established. In this paper, the Yellow River Basin in China with a representative WEF system, was selected as a case. Firstly, a comprehensive framework for WEF coupling coordination was constructed, and the relationship and mechanism between them were analyzed theoretically. Then, we investigated the spatiotemporal characteristics and driving mechanisms of the coupling coordination degree (CCD) with a composite evaluation method, coupling coordination degree model, spatial statistical analysis, and multiscale geographic weighted regression. Finally, policy implications were discussed to promote the coordinated development of the WEF system. The results showed that: 1) WEF subsystems showed a significant imbalance of spatial pattern and diversity in temporal changes; 2) the CCD for the WEF system varied little and remained at moderate coordination. Areas with moderate coordination have increased, while areas with superior coordination and mild disorder have decreased. In addition, the spatial clustering phenomenon of the CCD was significant and showed obvious characteristics of polarization; and 3) the action of each factor is self-differentiated and regionally variable. For different factors, GDP per capita was of particular importance, which contributed most to the regional development's coupling coordination. For different regions, GDP per capita, average yearly precipitation, population density, and urbanization rate exhibited differences in geographical gradients in an east-west direction. The conclusion can provide references for regional resource allocation and sustainable development by enhancing WEF system utilization efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aging population is a common problem faced by most countries in the world. This study uses 18 years (from 2002 to 2019) of panel data from 31 regions in China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Province), and establishes a panel threshold regression model to study the non-linear impact of the aging population on economic development. It is different from traditional research in that this paper divides 31 regions in China into three regions: Eastern, Central, and Western according to the classification standard of the National Bureau of Statistics of China and compares the different impacts of the aging population on economic development in the three regions. Although this study finds that the aging population promotes the economy of China's eastern, central, and western regions, different threshold variables have dramatically different influences. When the sum of export and import is the threshold variable, the impact of the aging population on the eastern and the central region of China is significantly larger than that of the western region of China. However, when the unemployment rate is the threshold variable, the impact of the aging population on the western region of China is dramatically higher than the other regions' impact. Thus, one of the contributions of this study is that if the local government wants to increase the positive impact of the aging population on the per capita GDP of China, the local governments of different regions should advocate more policies that align with their economic situation rather than always emulating policies from other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With climate change and rising sea levels, the residents and assets in low-elevation coastal zones (LECZ) are at increasing risk. The application of high-resolution gridded population datasets in recent years has highlighted the threats faced by people living in LECZ. However, the potential exposure of gross domestic product (GDP) within LECZ remains unknown, due to the absence of refined GDP datasets and corresponding analyzes for coastal regions. The climate-related risks faced by LECZ may still be underestimated. In this study, we estimated the potential exposure of GDP in the LECZ across China by overlying DEM with new gridded GDP datasets generated by random forest models. The results show that 24.02% and 22.7% of China's total GDP were located in the LECZ in 2010 and 2019, respectively, while the area of the LECZ only accounted for 1.91% of China's territory. Significant variability appears in the spatial-temporal pattern and the volume of GDP across sectors, which impedes disaster prevention and mitigation efforts within administrative regions. Interannual comparisons reveal a rapid increase in GDP within the LECZ, but a decline in its share of the country. Policy reasons may have driven the slow shift of China's economy to regions far from the LECZ. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the spatial-temporal evolution of forest resources construction and protection in China, whether there are spatial correlation and agglomeration effects in the process of development, and identify the key obstacles to forest resources construction and protection in China, the entropy method was used to calculate the comprehensive evaluation index of forest resources construction and protection in China, the Moran index was used to test the spatial correlation effect and spatial agglomeration effect of forest resources construction and protection level in China, and the obstacle model was used to determine the key obstacle factors affecting the construction and protection of forest resources in China. The results showed that: the comprehensive score of China's forest resources construction and protection level increased from 0. 352 1 in 2011 to 0. 705 0 in 2020, and showed obvious stage characteristics. The global Moran index was all greater than 0 and passed the 10% significance test during 2015-2016 and 2018-2020. The local Moran index showed “high-high” agglomeration only in Heilongjiang and Jilin at the 10% significant level in 2020. Origin structure, forest age structure, per capita forestland area, and forest fire frequency were the main obstacles affecting the construction and protection of forest resources in China. From 2011 to 2020, the construction and protection of forest resources in China showed an upward trend. There was obvious spatial positive autocorrelation, and the spatial relationship of most provinces was not significant, but the degree of agglomeration increased with the evolution of time. The level of forest construction is the main obstacle to the construction and protection of forest resources in China. Based on this, some countermeasures and suggestions are put forward to promote the construction and protection of forest resources in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, frequent climate extremes exert a serious impact on agricultural production and social development, which is seldom studied in the previous literature. Production–Living–Ecological (PLE) is a useful analysis framework, and China is a suitable model for such study. This paper takes the Huai River Eco-Economic Belt (HREB), an important agricultural zone in China, to study the relationship among agricultural production (P), society (L), and climate change (E), which is referred to as APLE. This paper constructs a coupled coordination evaluation index system for the APLE system and uses coupling coordination degree models and geographic detector to study the spatial and temporal evolution of the coordinated development of 34 counties (cities) in the HREB from 2009 to 2018. The results show the following: (1) The development of the agricultural subsystem and the social subsystem formed a "scissors difference" from 2009 to 2014, and the three subsystems showed a slight upward trend during 2014–2018. (2) The coupling and coordinated development of the APLE system in the HREB was generally stable, and the coupling coordination degree was improved from low-grade and slightly uncoordinated to barely and primarily coordinated. Furthermore, the spatial differentiation of the coupling coordination degree shows a clear pattern of being high in the southeast and low in the northwest. (3) The main influencing factors are the drought and flood protection rate, the effective irrigation rate, the per capita electricity consumption in agriculture, the number of beds in healthcare facilities per 10,000 people, the per capita disposable income of urban residents, the annual average temperature, and the annual precipitation. (4) The spatial–temporal evolution of the coupling and coordinated development of the APLE system is the result of the comprehensive effect of internal driving forces such as food security, the consumption level of rural residents, and the development level of urbanization construction, and external driving forces such as government public welfare and natural conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To control the spread of COVID-19, the Chinese government announced a "lockdown" policy, and the citizens' activities were restricted. This study selected three standard air quality indexes, AQI, PM2.5, and PM10, of 2017–2021 in 40 major cities in six regions in China to analyze their changes, spatial–temporal distributions, and socioeconomic influencing factors. Compared with 2019, the values of AQI, PM2.5, and PM10 decreased, and the days with AQI levels "AQI ≤ 100" increased during the "lockdown" in 2020. Due to different degrees of industrialization, the concentration of air pollutants shows significant regional characteristics. The AQI values before and after the "lockdown" in 2020 show significant spatial autocorrelation, and the cities' AQI values in the north present high autocorrelation, and the cities in the south are in low autocorrelation. From the data at the national level, carbon emission intensity (CEI), per capita energy consumption (PEC), per capita GDP (PCG), industrialization rate (IR), and proportion of construction value added (PCVA) have the greatest impact on AQI. This study gives regulators confidence that if the government implements regionalized air quality improvement policies according to the characteristics of each region in China and reasonably plans socioeconomic activities, it is expected to improve China's air quality sustainably. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural non-point source pollution has got more attention than rural non-point source pollution (RNPSP) in the past decades. Discharge patterns, causes and prevention measures of RNPSP in the four economic regions of mainland China are still lacking. Based on the framework for RNPSP assessment from agricultural production and rural resident living, inventory analysis and redundancy analysis methods were used to calculate the discharges of RNPSP and identify its influence factors, respectively. During 1978–2019, increased national per capita chemical oxygen demand (COD), total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) discharges with values of 1.62, 3.04 and 3.86 times was found, respectively. Northeast and eastern regions always had the higher per capita COD, TN and TP discharges than those of national average. In addition, eastern region had highest average per capita discharges of COD, TN and TP with increased times of 1.90, 2.67 and 2.47 than the national average. The biggest variations of per capita discharges of COD, TN and TP were mainly occurred in Shandong, Liaoning and Fujian provinces from eastern region, and in Inner Mongolia from western region. Livestock and poultry were the dominate sources of per capita COD and TP discharges, while contribution of fertilization was highest to per capita TN discharge. Agricultural production had higher contribution to the national per capita COD, TN and TP discharges with ratios of 75.56%, 90.27% and 82.51%, respectively. Highest contribution of agricultural production in northeast region and rural resident living in western region should be noted. Redundancy analysis shows that pig was the key factor of RNPSP discharges in the four economic regions. Freshwater aquaculture and resident living were the important factors to RNPSP discharges in northeast and eastern regions, respectively, while rice planting should be highlighted to the discharges of RNPSP in central and western regions. Our results revealed the different discharge patterns and causes of RNPSP in the four economic regions of mainland China. The increased RNPSP discharges were associated with intensified agricultural production which was driven by changed resident lifestyles. Targeted RNPSP controlling strategies should be carried out besides the universal and important strategies involving fertilization, and livestock and poultry in four economic regions. • An inventory analysis method was used to calculate the discharges of rural non-point source pollution (RNPSP). • Fertilization, livestock and poultry were the dominate sources of per capita RNPSP discharges. • Increased RNPSP discharges were associated with intensified agricultural production which was driven by changed resident lifestyles. • Targeted RNPSP controlling strategies should be carried out in four economic regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The loss of biodiversity is one of the three global crises today. How to reduce habitat destruction and overexploitation to protect biodiversity is an urgent issue to be addressed. This study aims to explore the influential factors and driving mechanisms of habitat quality to find ways to reduce the interference of human activities on habitat quality. This paper evaluates the habitat quality in 30 provinces of China from 2010 to 2020 using the InVEST model and studies its geospatial differences by spatial auto-correlation. Then it investigates the influencing factors and driving mechanisms based on Geodetector and proposes strategies to improve habitat quality for different regions. The study shows that first, habitat quality is not distributed homogeneously in Chinese provinces, and habitat quality varies widely among different regions in the structure. Second, factors have different influences on habitat quality, which can be grouped into "key factors" and "auxiliary factors". Its driving forces vary greatly over time, with per capita water resources, nighttime light index, area of afforested land, forest area, and destructed forest area as key factors in both 2010 and 2020. Third, the factor pairs are all bifactor or non-linear enhanced, showing that two factors have a stronger combined effect on habitat quality than a single factor. In particular, factors such as per capita water resources and area of afforested land in very strong interactions with others. Fourth, corresponding strategies are proposed for different regions in China to improve habitat quality according to the analysis of the spatial inequality of habitat quality and its driving mechanism, providing a reference for relevant regions abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) has abundant regional advantages. Its rapid economic development plays an essential strategic role in China's overall growth; however, this place significantly pressurized on resources and the environment. Accordingly, this study developed an evaluation index and system of sustainable development for a green economic system based on the emergy theory. Moreover, comparative analyses were made according to the present ecological--socioeconomic systems of the YRD. The results indicated a large gap between the production efficiencies of the three provinces and a single city in the YRD. The highest emergy yield ratio was in Anhui Province, but the corresponding emergy yield per capita and emergy output density was the lowest; the environmental load ratios were all > 10, which is considered a high load; the sustainable development indices were all < 1, which represents a state of unsustainable development. According to the present research results, suggestions for the sustainable development of the YRD were put forth here. This research provides theoretical and methodological support for the sustainable development of an ecological economy in the YRD. It can serve as a decision-making reference for China to achieve the goal of carbon peak and carbon neutralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building sector is the second-largest energy consumer in China. With the proposal to reach a carbon peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060, China attaches more importance to the energy conservation and emission reduction of the residential sector. To study the connection between socioeconomic factors and residential energy consumption (REC), this paper collects the data of 13 prefecture-level cities in Jiangsu Province, China, from 2001 to 2019 to explore the REC impact factors by the STIRPAT model. The factors for modeling are identified from relevant studies and weighted by the independent weight coefficient method (IWCM). The regression result shows that the average number of persons per household, per capita housing construction area, urbanization rate, and cooling degree days have a significant positive impact on REC, while a negative correlation is found between per capita housing construction area, residential water consumption, and residential liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consumption. Strategies of energy conservation and emission reduction in residential building sector are explored based on the demonstration of the future REC pattern evolution and the changes in its impact factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper selects the data of 30 regions in China from 2008 to 2020 as the basis to construct a theoretical analysis framework between fiscal decentralization, environmental regulation, and green economy efficiency (GEE). For empirical analysis, the study adopts super-slacks-based measure (SBM) method to measure GEE, and Tobit model is adopted to study the relationships between key constructs under investigation. The key findings of the study are as follows: (1) GEE level is at the upper middle level, and the green economic efficiency varies greatly among regions. The GEE value of the eastern region is the highest and lowest in the west, and the central region is in between. (2) From a national perspective, fiscal decentralization, environmental regulation, per capita gross domestic product (GDP), and urbanization all have a significant negative coefficient on the national GEE, inhibiting local GEE improvement. Foreign direct investment impact on GEE is not significant, but green credit has a significant positive coefficient. (3) From a regional perspective, the effects of fiscal decentralization on the green economic efficiency of western region were not significant, but the sign of coefficient found to be negative. However, in the other two regions, fiscal decentralization has a significant positive impact on GEE. Moreover, environmental regulation impact on GEE is positive in eastern region and negative in western part, and not significant in the central region; economic development can promote GEE in the central region and negative in west, but not significant in eastern region. Foreign direct investment (FDI) shows no significant impact in the eastern region but exists a significant negative impact in the other two regions. Finally, green credit has no significant impact in the central region but exists significant positive effect in the other two regions. This paper studies the green economic efficiency of undesired output, which is of great significance to my country's future green development and the formulation of environmental regulation policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

County is the center of China's socio-economic development and the key node for urban–rural integration. Also, the county is an important carrier for promoting urban and rural green development. Improving green and low-carbon development capabilities and formulating county-level low-carbon standards will play a significant role in promoting China's new people-oriented urbanization and rural revitalization. Although there have been extensive studies on low-carbon benchmarks, over half of the benchmarks tend to ignore the development stage of the evaluated region and its needs. When the region's economy reaches a certain level, constraints from low-carbon targets may limit the local development process. This study firstly allocated county carbon intensity reduction targets (CIRT) by considering the differences in county carbon reduction capacity and responsibility. Secondly, a dynamic benchmark system of per capita carbon emissions (PCCE) in counties in China is constructed. Finally, we took Changxing County in Zhejiang Province as a research case to verify the dynamic benchmark of PCCE. According to the carbon intensity target reduction rate (CITRR), China's counties can be divided into three categories: low carbon emissions reduction capability-responsible counties (L-CERCRC), medium carbon emissions reduction capability-responsible counties (M-CERCRC), and high carbon emissions reduction capability-responsible counties (H-CERCRC). The results show that (1) due to the national CO2 emission reduction target in 2030, the carbon intensity will be 60% lower than in 2005, the CITRR for China's 1510 counties range from 8.36 to 137.83%; the average CITRR is 48.40%. (2) Changxing County's CITRR is 57.71%, which belongs to the H-CERCRC. The PCCE of Changxing County will be much higher than the benchmark when the carbon peak is reached in the future. (3) For reaching the aiming benchmark, Changxing County is suggested to adjust its relevant influencing factors of PCCE for converting local's PCCE reaching to the benchmark within a certain time period. The dynamic benchmark system for PCCE in China's counties established in this study is economically sensitive, which not only takes the differences of counties into account, but also meets the needs of counties' diverse development form stages. This system provides counties a few coordinated directions which can improve the local's economic development and reduce greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions through the development progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This study compared the cost-effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccines applied in Chinese seniors. • The PCV13 vaccination for Chinese seniors is cost-effective at a threshold of the national GDP per capita. • The PCV13 vaccination strategy is more cost-effective than PPSV23 vaccination and PCV13-PPSV23 sequential vaccination. • Potential vaccine price reductions would make pneumococcal vaccination more economical. We aimed to assess the cost-effectiveness and health benefits of 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPSV23), 13-valent pneumococcal conjunctive vaccine (PCV13), and PCV13-PPSV23 sequential vaccination strategies in preventing pneumonia and other pneumococcal diseases among the senior citizens (≥ 65 years) in China. The cost-effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccines compared to no vaccination was estimated using a decision-tree Markov model from a societal perspective. Parameters including epidemiological data, vaccine efficacy and cost data were obtained from previous studies. Cases and deaths averted, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained, and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs) were presented as outcomes. Sensitivity analyses were performed to explore the uncertainty in the model. In the base-case analysis, compared with no pneumococcal vaccination, the ICERs of PPSV23, PCV13 and PCV13-PPSV23 are US$10,776.7/QALY, $9,193.2/QALY, and $15,080.0/QALY, respectively. PCV13 is the most cost-effective strategy and the only cost-effective strategy based on a threshold of the one-time national GDP per capita, whereas PPSV23 vaccine strategy is provided with the lowest cost, and PCV13-PPSV23 demonstrates the greatest impact on pneumococcal disease burden. Sensitivity analyses reveal that the results are greatly influenced by serotype coverage, vaccine efficacy, CAP incidence and vaccine prices. The PCV13 vaccination for Chinese seniors is more cost-effective than PPSV23 vaccination and PCV13-PPSV23 sequential vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the construction of beautiful countryside to carry out zoning and grading of domestic waste disposal in rural areas and to improve the harmlessness of domestic waste disposal in rural areas is of great importance in this regard. 8 indicators (disposable income per capita, population density, garbage collection density, household waste generation per capita, distance from urban and county centres, road network density, topography fluctuation, land area) of 30 881 township units in China were proposed; a scientific and reasonable township identification index system was constructed; the spatial distribution pattern of townships in China was calculated by using spatial difference analysis, spatial autocorrelation analysis, spatial interpolation analysis; and the domestic waste disposal patterns of different types of townships in the eastern, central, western and northeastern of China were discussed. The results show that (1) according to the township classification, China’s townships can be divided into the urban-rural integration type, the intensive type, and the dispersed type of villagers; (2) in terms of spatial heterogeneity, the difference within the indices of townships in the eastern and central of China is relatively small, so the same waste treatment model are popularized; the township indices in the northeastern and western of China are very different, so the different types of domestic waste disposal should be popularized; (3) with respect to spatial correlation, the spatial agglomeration effect of the township index is evident at different scales in China, particularly the spatial correlation effect of “near-vermilion” in the eastern of China. Lastly, based on the spatial distribution characteristics of rural cities and towns, the selection of the rural domestic waste disposal model in different regions of China was summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a proxy for human activity, per capita urban land has great significance for urban planning. We still lack a comprehensive understanding of per capita urban land from the perspective of urban–rural gradients. Thus, based on the concentric buffering method and the dynamic-time-warp clustering method, this research analyzes the urban–rural gradient of the per capita urban land of 345 cities in China in 2000, 2010, and 2016. We find that the per capita urban land in China grew from 110.2 m2/person in 2000 to 118.9 m2/person, increasing by 7.9%. The urban–rural gradient of the per capita urban land can be classified into six types: (1) large city with a mono peak; (2) large city with a fluctuating increase; (3) medium city with a mono peak; (4) medium city with a declining trend; (5) small city with a mono peak, and (6) small city with a declining trend. In addition, most cities shifted from a mono-peak type to a declining type, which suggested that the low-density, sprawling development was intensifying. The dynamic-time-warp clustering method used in this research can effectively compare trends of the urban–rural gradient of per capita urban land across cities, which can be applied to the analysis of the urban–rural gradient of air pollution, urban green space, and urban heat islands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominant livelihood types of farm households have become increasingly differentiated in recent years, which has attracted the attention of researchers. Identifying the characteristics and driving factors of household livelihood differentiation is of great significance for revealing man-land relationship and policy making. Based on the interview data of farm households in typical villages in key ecological function areas of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in China, we analyzed the pattern of the dominant diversified livelihood types and the livelihood characteristics among different farm households. Then we assessed the driving forces of livelihood diversification by optimal scaling regression. The results indicated that: (1) In the study area, the dominant livelihood types show two trends of agriculturally dominant livelihood (accounting for 53.07%) and non-agriculturally dominant livelihood (accounting for 46.93%). Moreover, farm households in the agro-pastoral areas are mainly agriculturally dominated (accounting for 75.68%), while farm households in the mountainous areas are mainly non-agriculturally dominated (accounting for 66.93%). (2) The labor allocation and income source of different types of farm households are consistent with their dominant livelihood types. The farm households with agriculturally dominant livelihoods have more natural resources than those with non-agriculturally dominant livelihoods. In terms of housing conditions, farm households with agriculturally dominant livelihoods are inferior to those with non-agriculturally dominant livelihoods. (3) The farm labor, dependency ratio, agricultural income, supplemental income and locational conditions have negative impacts on the non-agricultural trend of farm household livelihood decisions, while off-farm labor, non-farm income, education level and the per capita amount of compensation have significant positive impacts on it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potentially inappropriate medications (PIM) in elderly inpatients in the Aerospace Center Hospital, and probe into the work pattern of PIM pharmaceutical intervention conducted by clinical pharmacists, so as to provide theoretical and practical basis for ensuring rational medication in elder patients. METHODS: Through a single center cohort study, the elder patients hospitalized in the Aerospace Center Hospital from Jan. to Jun. 2021 were selected as research objects. These patients were divided into intervention group and control group based on whether the clinical pharmacists carried out pharmaceutical intervention. The Criteria of Potentially Inappropriate Medications for Older Adults in China (2017 version) (hereinafter referred to as the Criteria) was applied to evaluate the PIM of both groups and analyze the effect of PIM improvements by clinical pharmacists. RESULTS: A total of 455 patients who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled in the research, including 214 patients in the intervention group and 241 patients in the control group. To eliminate the effect of confounding factors between two groups, propensity score was used to balance the between-group differences. After matching, there were 164 cases in the intervention group and 164 cases in the control group, a total of 328 patients. By applying the Criteria, 257 patients (78. 35%) had at least 1 PIM, with 1 (1 to 2) PIM per capita. In terms of effectiveness, the incidence of PIM (P =0. 023), PIM per capita (P =0. 024) and 90 d all-cause readmission rate (P =0. 032) were significantly lower in the intervention group compared with the control group, with statistically significant differences; in terms of economy, the average treatment cost of patients in the intervention group was significantly lower compared with the control group, with statistically significant difference (P = 0. 022). CONCLUSIONS: Pharmaceutical intervention on elderly inpatients by clinical pharmacists can not only reduce the incidence of PIM, per capita PIM and 90 d all-cause readmission rate, but also reduce the treatment cost of patients and improves the rationality of clinical medication in elderly patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the determination factors of the spatial distribution of forest cover is crucial for global forest governance. This study contributed a nuanced case, focusing on the determination factors for the spatial distribution of forest cover in Fujian Province, China, in 2020. In order to achieve this, a high-resolution GIS-based data set was used, and spatial auto-correlation and geographic detector approaches were adopted. Three findings are presented in the results. First, the spatial distribution of forest cover is affected by natural conditions. In regions with more precipitation, higher altitude, or cooler temperatures, forest cover is higher. The relationship between the spatial distribution of forest cover and slope is an inverted-U shape. Second, socioeconomic factors have a greater explanatory capacity. In particular, regions with dense populations or roads have less forest cover. Third, there is an inverted-U-shaped relationship between the spatial distribution of forest cover and GDP per capita. With the growth of GDP per capita, forest cover is first positive, but subsequently negative. The results indicate that natural factors could shape the spatial distribution of forest cover, while socioeconomic factors could play a more significant role in the spatial distribution of forest cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban regions are the dominant carbon emitter in China. Although the role of urban regions is a crucial concern in peaking China's carbon emission in 2030 or earlier, there were little focus set to the driving factors among urban regions from spatial differences. To excavate more effective abatement strategies to China's cities, this paper improved the environmental Leontief and Ghosh input–output models and structural decomposition analysis to investigate the driving factors of the spatial differences in the CO2 emissions among four municipalities. The results released that the increasing enlarged spatial differences of CO2 emission were significant. In general, the spatial differences were dramatically influenced by the per capita final demand level from the demand perspective and the sectoral energy intensity from the supply perspective. In particular, the structural factors presented an increasingly critical role. Inspired by the results, the city level "common but distinct" policy implications were formulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The floating population’s livelihood is an important indicator for the measurement of local governments’ governance ability and is also an important way to test the results of urbanization. From the perspectives of fiscal system and fiscal resource, we constructed a theoretical analysis framework of the government’s fiscal capacity affecting the floating population’s settlement intention. Based on the dynamic monitoring data of China ’s National Health Commission and the data of its National Bureau of Statistics during 2014− 2018, this article empirically analyzed the effects of local government’s fiscal capacity on the floating population’s settlement intention. The results showed that: ① During the sample period, fiscal capacity and public service supply had significant positive effects on the floating population’s settlement intention, and fiscal capacity exhibited enhanced adjustment effects in the influence path of public service. ② Region heterogeneity analysis found that the floating population in the eastern region paid more attention to public service, but the adjustment effect of fiscal ability on public service supply was lower, and the mismatch between the demand side and supply side reflected the shortcomings of the fiscal functions. However, the adjustment effect of fiscal ability on public service supply in the central region was the highest. ③ In terms of the local government’s fiscal capacity, fiscal skill capacity improvement enhanced the public service supply levels to promote the settlement intention, while fiscal decentralization, fiscal configuration capacity, and fiscal transparency exhibited interference adjustment effects. ④ In terms of the public service, with the improvement of the government’s fiscal capacity, the positive impact of the hard public service supply on the settlement intention was strengthened, while the household registration restrictions on soft public service weakened the settlement intention. This study then constructed threshold regression models and found that there existed heterogeneous fiscal incentives and government strategic behaviors because of the per capita GDP differences. As the regional per capita GDP exceeded the threshold point, the adjustment effect of fiscal capacity on soft public service was transformed from enhancement to inhibition. Therefore, we should reform the public fiscal system, correct improper fiscal resource allocation patterns, increase local public service supply, and strive to promote the process of urbanization with the people as the key factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the impact of inclusive finance on agricultural green development, This paper uses both static panel and dynamic panel (system GMM model) estimation methods to make empirical analysis of the impact of inclusive financial development on agricultural green development. The results both find that there is a significant positive correlation between the level of inclusive financial development, real GDP per capita, the proportion of the added value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery in GDP and agricultural green development. This paper puts forward some countermeasures and suggestions to promote agricultural green development, including vigorously developing inclusive finance, promoting economic growth, promoting the development of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, and increasing environmental protection expenditures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to further develop and improve the management theory of public libraries, this paper studies the impact of library information on the utilization of regional environmental resources from the perspective of intelligent adaptive learning. Firstly, based on the data envelopment analysis method, this paper measures the efficiency of Public Libraries in various regions of China. Then, using Tobit model, this paper analyzes the environmental factors affecting the efficiency of public libraries from three aspects: financial allocation, per capita GDP, and per capita years of education. The results show that there is a significant correlation between per capita GDP, per capita years of education, and the efficiency of public libraries. There is a significant negative correlation between per capita GDP and public library efficiency (the coefficient is -5.73x10-6, and the probability of two-sided t-test is 0.0229); There is a significant positive correlation between the number of years of education per capita and the efficiency of Public Libraries (the coefficient is 0.0684, and the probability of two-sided t-test is 0.0169). Conclusion: This study provides a reference for the performance evaluation of provincial public libraries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]