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This paper evaluates the contribution of the multiple constituencies of commitment framework in explaining work attitudes and behaviors in a sample of Chinese manufacturing workers. Findings suggest that the organization, the supervisor, and co-workers were seen by respondents as separate commitment foci. Although the various commitments were moderately positively correlated, they were related differently to the dimensions of organizational citizenship behavior and withdrawal cognitions, in a way which provides support for the ''compatibility'' hypothesis. There was only limited support for our ''cultural'' hypothesis. An analysis of interactions between commitments suggested that commitment to supervisor was a stronger positive predictor of protecting company resources and interpersonal harmony when commitment to work group was lower, providing partial support for our moderating hypotheses.

In recent years, ground‐level ozone (O3) has been one of the main pollutants hindering air quality compliance in China's large city‐clusters including the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region. In this work, we utilized the process analysis (PA) and the higher‐order decoupled direct method (HDDM‐3D) tools embedded in the Community Multiscale Air Quality model (CMAQ) to characterize O3 formation and sensitivities to precursors during a typical O3 pollution episode over the YRD region in July 2018. Results indicate that gas‐phase chemistry contributed dominantly to the ground‐level O3 although a significant proportion was chemically produced at the middle and upper boundary layer before reaching the surface via diffusion process. Further analysis of the chemical pathways of O3 and Ox formation provided deep insights into the sensitivities of O3 to its precursors that were consistent with the HDDM results. The first‐order sensitivities of O3 to anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (AVOC) were mainly positive but small, and temporal variations were negligible compared with those to NOx. During the peak O3 time in the afternoon, the first‐ and second‐order sensitivities of O3 to NOx were significantly positive and negative, respectively, suggesting a convex response of O3 to NOx over most areas including Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing and Hefei. These findings further highlighted an accelerated decrease in ground‐level O3 in the afternoon corresponding to continuous decrease of NOx emissions in the afternoon. Therefore, over the YRD region including its metropolises, NOx emission reductions will be more important in reducing the afternoon peak O3 concentration compared with the effect of VOC emission control alone. Plain Language Summary: Ground‐level ozone (O3) is formed primarily from photochemical reactions between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx). Besides, O3 and other pollutants also frequently undergo various other processes such as vertical/horizontal transport and deposition. These chemical and physical processes cause the complexity of O3 formation and pose challenges to its mitigation. For instance, in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region of eastern China, ground‐level O3 has been among the main pollutants hindering air quality compliance. In this study, advanced modeling techniques based on the state‐of‐science community multiscale air quality model were utilized to understand at a regional scale the nonlinear response of O3 to NOx and VOCs, as well as to explore the contributions of these processes to O3 during the pollution episode between 24th and 31th July 2018 over this region. The results emphasized that O3 sensitivity to NOx was high and positive in the afternoon over most areas including the urban cores. This strongly indicates that NOx emission reductions could be an important way to reduce peak O3 and the more the reduction of NOx, the faster the decrease of peak O3. These findings provide important insights into the formulation of policies and regulations to mitigate O3 pollution. Key Points: The O3 chemically produced in the zone above 40 m contributed significantly to the surface O3 through vertical transportO3 sensitivity to NOx was high and positive in the afternoon over most of Yangtze River Delta region, including urban areasControlling NOx emissions is an important way to reduce peak O3, and the more NOx is reduced, the faster the decrease of peak O3 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of COVID‐19 in China has led to massive lockdowns in order to reduce the spread of the epidemic and control human‐to‐human transmission. Subsequent reductions in various anthropogenic activities have led to improved air quality during the lockdown. In this study, we apply a widely used exposure‐response function to estimate the short‐term health impacts associated with PM2.5 changes over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region due to COVID‐19 lockdown. Concentrations of PM2.5 during lockdown period reduced by 22.9% to 54.0% compared to pre‐lockdown level. Estimated PM2.5‐related daily premature mortality during lockdown period is 895 (95% confidential interval: 637–1,081), which is 43.3% lower than pre‐lockdown period and 46.5% lower compared with averages of 2017–2019. According to our calculation, total number of avoided premature death aassociated with PM2.5 reduction during the lockdown is estimated to be 42.4 thousand over the YRD region, with Shanghai, Wenzhou, Suzhou (Jiangsu province), Nanjing, and Nantong being the top five cities with largest health benefits. Avoided premature mortality is mostly contributed by reduced death associated with stroke (16.9 thousand, accounting for 40.0%), ischemic heart disease (14.0 thousand, 33.2%), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (7.6 thousand, 18.0%). Our calculations do not support or advocate any idea that pandemics produce a positive note to community health. We simply present health benefits from air pollution improvement due to large emission reductions from lowered human and industrial activities. Our results show that continuous efforts to improve air quality are essential to protect public health, especially over city‐clusters with dense population. Plain Language Summary: The outbreak of COVID‐19 is tragic and has caused tremendous impacts on people's life across the world. In late January 2020, massive lockdown was taken in China in order to prevent the spread of the pandemic and control human‐to‐human transmissions. As a result of reduced human activities, air quality was shown to improve substantially over China. A natural follow‐up question would be what is the short‐term health impact associated with the changes of air quality during the lockdown. This study attempted to quantify the number of avoided death due to reduced PM2.5 concentrations over the Yangtze River Delta Region in China, a region with dense population and used to suffer from severe air pollution problems in the past. Key Points: PM2.5 concentration decreased substantially during COVID‐19 lockdown in the Yangtze River Delta Region, ChinaNumber of PM2.5‐related premature death decreased due to lockdownAvoided premature mortality is mostly contributed by reduced death associated with stroke, ischemic heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, three soil amendments (inorganic, liming, or organic–inorganic materials) were used in a Cd-contaminated purple field soil to investigate their impacts on soil Cd availability, enzyme (urease, catalase, sucrase, and acid phosphatase) activities, microbial biomass (carbon/nitrogen) and type (bacteria, fungi, and actinomycetes) in mustard and corn trials. Results showed that soil amendments generally decreased soil exchangeable Cd, fungi and bacterial populations while increasing the activities of all the four soil enzymes tested, microbial biomass carbon and populations of actinomycetes (p < 0.05). Soil pH and microbial biomass nitrogen did not exhibit any significant response (p > 0.05) whereas stronger effects appeared in soil organic matter and available nutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium; p < 0.05). However, only soil available phosphorous significantly correlated with soil microbial activity in both mustard and corn trails (p < 0.05). Thus, application of phosphorous-containing amendments should be considered for promoting soil health in the remediation of the Cd-contaminated purple soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Three Gorges Dam's construction and industrial transfer have resulted in a new air pollution pattern with the potential to threaten the reservoir eco-environment. To assess the impact of socioeconomic factors on the pattern of air quality vairation and economical risks, concentrations of SO, NO, and PM, industry genres, and meteorological conditions were selected in the Three Gorges Reservoir of Chongqing (TGRC) during 2006-2015. Results showed that air quality had improved to some extent, but atmospheric NO showed an increased trend during 2011-2015. Spatially, higher atmospheric NO extended to the surrounding area. The primary industry, especially for agriculture, had shown to be responsible for the remarkable increase of atmospheric NO ( p < 0.01) due to the direct burning of agricultural straws and the emission of livestock breeding. The improvement of regional industrial structure and industrialization benefited air pollutant reductions, but construction industries had inhibited the improvement of regional air quality. In the tertiary industry, the cargo industry at ports had significantly decreased atmospheric NO as a result of eliminating the obsoleted small ships. Contrarily, the highway transportation had brought more air pollutants. The relative humidity was shown to be the main meteorological factor, which had an extremely remarkable relation with atmospheric SO ( p < 0.01) and a significant correlation with atmospheric NO ( p < 0.05), respectively. In the future, the development of agriculture and livestock breeding would make regional air quality improvement difficult, and atmospheric SO, NO, and PM deposition would aggravate regional soil and water acidification and reactivate heavy metal in soil and sediment, further to pose a high level of ecological risk in the TGRC and other countries with reservoirs in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reflects on a study which investigates the reliability and validity of selfadministered Chinese Shortness of Breath Questionnaire (SOBQ) with pictorial enhancement(C-SOBQ), an instrument for assessing the impact of dyspnoea on daily activities of patients with different lung diseases. The study focuses on the patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) to check the reliability of the instrument to enhance the clinical application of the instrument.

In recent years, the issue of translator certification has attracted a great deal of attention among professional translators and translation studies scholars. Using the economic theory of signaling as a framework and an experiment involving the use of fictitious resumes, this study entailed interviews with eight translator recruiters in Hong Kong. The ranking of the resumes and the critical textual analysis of the eight transcribed interviews show the importance of formal educational qualifications and relevant work experience in the screening of resumes. Most interviewees viewed translator certification as an “add-on” and preferred an academic degree to translator certification. To some extent, this is due to inadequate knowledge and misconceptions about the process of translator certification. Hence, it is suggested that translation companies and translator training institutions/professional translator associations should engage in coordinated efforts to develop multilateral signaling mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two major groups of theories - the existential norm theory and the ontological theory - are often employed in research studies in lifelong learning. Existential norm theory emphasizes policy formulation while ontological theory focuses more on the role of the learner. Regardless of which theory a survey is based upon, empirical evidence is indeed crucial. To date, surveys based on empirical evidence are rare in quantity. The objective of this study was to conduct a large-scale survey of local citizens to obtain their general opinions on the demand for continuing education. The survey was conducted between March and May in 2008 through stratified random telephone interviews, and 1,506 Hong Kong citizens aged between 18 and 64 were successfully interviewed. This paper summarizes the survey findings in five major aspects: (1) participation rate of continuing education and projected participation rate in the next twelve months; (2) most preferred subject areas and the learners' learning motives; (3) channels and/or media through which course/programme information was obtained; (4) hindrances to learning and the reasons behind them; and (5) attitude towards online learning and reasons for choosing (or not choosing) the online learning mode. The authors hope that the findings help the Government, in some way or other, to formulate education policies, and also assist education providers in planning the offering of courses/programmes. It is hoped that this kind of survey will promote empirical studies in the field of continuing education and lifelong learning, and can be used as references for the continuing education sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role of industrial 'tripartitism' as a feature of industrial relations in Hong Kong. Drawing on data from a survey of the property management industry they conducted, the authors show how diversity in the forms of hiring practices and heterogeneity in the composition of the workforce contribute to an impasse in which an industrial tripartite council is bogged down despite its stated mission. The controversies arise from the issue of the long work hours of the security guards, leading to wide public concern and the subsequent proposed change from the industry norm of the two-shift day to a three-shift day for the workers. The case study also attests to the difficulties in setting up industry-wide work standards due to intra-sectoral diversities, and in particular, the dual labour market conditions and the multi-tiered principal-agent relationship arising from outsourcing arrangement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluates the contribution of the multiple constituencies of commitment framework to the explanation of work attitudes and behaviours among samples of manufacturing workers in the United Kingdom (UK) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). Our findings suggest that the organization, the supervisor, co-workers and the union were seen by respondents as separate commitment foci. Consistent with the ‘compatibility hypothesis’, the relationship between commitment and outcome was stronger where the constituency focus was matched. However, the ‘cultural hypothesis’, on the greater salience of person-or group-based commitments in the PRC context, was generally not accepted. The findings are discussed in the light of the comparative cultural and industrial relations contexts of the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors of this article sought to test a model based on a meta analysis by Bamberger, Kluger and Suchard on the effects of job satisfaction and union instrumentality on union commitment on a sample of union members from the People's Republic of China. The previous study had found that attitudes favorable to unions have a stronger direct effect on union commitment than does union instrumentality. They also found that union commitment has an effect on participation in the union. The authors note that the North American results of the previous study may not generalize to China because of institutional differences between the function of unions. In China, unions generally provide employees with services and representation while at the same time acting as an agent of the government in the resolution of disputes and other issues.

Abstract: A significant proportion of the total energy produced in Hong Kong is consumed by the building stocks, which account for nearly half of the total energy consumption. Due to expanding economy and substantial improvement in living standards over the past decade, the demand of electricity generation has remarkably increased. This rising trend of energy use will inevitably lead to increasing environmental problems. In this respect, a comprehensive set of codes of practice for energy efficiency in building services installation were drawn up by Energy Efficiency Office (EEO) in 1998 in Hong Kong. The codes represent a performance-based approach, which set maximum allowable energy consumption levels for various installations with statements of requirements and evaluation methods. This work evaluates the codes and their improvements on our environment by considering the energy saving, reduction of fuel use and pollutants emission from the power plants if the building energy code programmes become statutory. A group of pilot buildings selected from the commercial sector is used in an evaluation study. In particular, the potential reduction of greenhouse gases emission to the environment has been predicted for the justification of the usefulness of the energy codes. It is found that the application of building energy codes on these buildings has achieved a substantial reduction of energy consumption and an accompanied reduction of greenhouse gas emission. A simple benefit–cost analysis is also performed to evaluate the economics behind the codes and the results fully justify its enactment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper examines the factors influencing members' intent to participate in their union, drawing on a study of Hong Kong firefighters. As in Western studies, the main direct predictor of intent to participate is affective union commitment, but instrumentality is a relatively more important antecedent of affective union commitment and participation than in the Western studies. We found some evidence of frustration-aggression effects on intent to participate in 'militant' and 'general' union activities, although the latter was significant only among individuals who perceive management-employee relations as co-operative and trusting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study compared age stereotypes among 567 respondents sampled in the UK and Hong Kong and examined how these stereotypes were related to discriminatory attitudes at work. Compared to the Hong Kong sample, UK respondents saw older workers as more effective at work, but less adaptable to change. As expected, respondents' own age was predictive of positive age stereotypes, although for supervisors this relationship was moderated in the case of perceptions of work effectiveness. Stereotypical beliefs were found to significantly affect respondents' attitudes towards the training, promotion and retention of older workers, their willingness to work with older workers, and their support for positive discrimination. Findings also suggest that anti-age discrimination policies in the respondent's organization had a positive impact on beliefs about the adaptability of older workers and possibly also on attitudes towards providing them with training. Implications of the findings were discussed in light of the existing socio-political environment in the UK and Hong Kong. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the industrial weaknesses of the Federation of Trade Unions (FTU) in Hong Kong, China. Adoption of outward-looking approach by the FTU; Ability of FTU to balance effective representation of workers with the government; Limitations of policies of unions; Relevance of management hostility towards unions and employee apathy.

To identify seasonal fluxes and sources of dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) wet deposition, concentrations and δ15N signatures of nitrate (NO 3 −) and ammonium (NH 4 +) in wet precipitation were measured at four typical land-use types in the Three Gorges reservoir (TGR) area of southwest China for a one-year period. Higher DIN fluxes were recorded in spring and summer and their total fluxes (averaged 7.58 kg N ha−1) were similar to the critical loads in aquatic ecosystems. Significant differences of precipitation δ15N were observed for NH 4 +-N between town and wetland sites in spring and between urban and rural sites in summer. For NO 3 −-N, significant differences of precipitation δ15N were observed between town and rural sites in spring and between urban and town sites in autumn, respectively. Quantitative results of NO 3 −-N sources showed that both biomass burning and coal combustion had higher fluxes at the urban site especially in winter (0.18 ± 0.09 and 0.19 ± 0.08 kg N ha−1), which were about three times higher than those at the town site. A similar finding was observed for soil emission and vehicle exhausts in winter. On the whole, DIN wet deposition averaged at 12.13 kg N ha−1 yr−1 with the urban site as the hotspot (17.50 kg N ha−1 yr−1) and regional NO 3 −-N fluxes had a seasonal pattern with minimum values in winter. The contribution to NO 3 −-N wet deposition from biomass burning was 26.1 ± 14.1%, which is the second dominant factor lower than coal combustion (26.5 ± 12.6%) in the TGR area during spring and summer. Hence N emission reduction from biomass burning, coal combustion and vehicle exhausts should be strengthened especially in spring and summer to effectively manage DIN pollution for the sustainable development in TGR area. Image 1 • Seasonal N content and isotope were characterized at four land-used types. • High fluxes of N deposition were observed in summer and spring. • Deposited N threatens regional aquatic ecosystems especially in spring and summer. • Biomass burning contributed 25.8 ± 14.0% to total NO 3 −-N deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, ozone pollution in China has been shown to increase in frequency and persistence despite the concentrations of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) decreasing steadily. Open crop straw burning (OCSB) activities are extensive in China and emit large amounts of trace gases during a short period that could lead to elevated ozone concentrations. This study addresses the impacts of OCSB emissions on ground-level ozone concentration and the associated health impact in China. Total VOCs and NO x emissions from OCSB in 2018 were 798.8 Gg and 80.6 Gg, respectively, with high emissions in Northeast China (31.7%) and North China (23.7%). Based on simulations conducted for 2018, OCSB emissions are estimated to contribute up to 0.95 µg/m3 increase in annual averaged maximum daily 8-hour (MDA8) ozone and up to 1.35 µg/m3 for the ozone season average. The significant impact of OCSB emissions on ozone is mainly characterized by localized and episodic (e.g., daily) changes in ozone concentration, up to 20 µg/m3 in North China and Yangtze River Delta region and even more in Northeast China during the burning season. With the implementation of straw burning bans, VOCs and NO x emissions from OCSB dropped substantially by 46.9%, particularly over YRD (76%) and North China (60%). Consequently, reduced OCSB emissions result in an overall decrease in annual averaged MDA8 ozone, and reductions in monthly MDA8 ozone could be over 10 µg/m3 in North China. The number of avoided premature death due to reduced OCSB emissions (considering both PM 2.5 and ozone) is estimated to be 6120 (95% Confidence Interval: 5320–6800), with most health benefits gained over east and central China. Our results illustrate the effectiveness of straw burning bans in reducing ozone concentrations at annual and national scales and the substantial ozone impacts from OCSB events at localized and episodic scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The city clusters in eastern coastal China have suffered from serious air pollution in the past decades, which is partially related to the complex local topography and meteorological conditions. The planetary boundary layer (PBL) scheme is a critical parameter for accurate meteorology simulations and air quality predictions. In this study, we analyze the impact of four typical PBL schemes, namely, Yonsei University (YSU), Mellor-Yamada-Nakanishi-Niino Level 2.5 (MYNN), Asymmetric Convective Model version 2 (ACM2), and Mellor-Yamada-Janjic (MYJ) PBL, within the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model to assess their impacts on the simulations of air pollutant concentrations based on the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) for the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region, one of the most developed city clusters in eastern China. The results indicate that the MYNN scheme performs best in terms of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO 2) simulations, with mean bias of 4.8 μg m−3 and 9.3 μg m−3 in summer and 11.7 μg m−3 and 5.4 μg m−3 in winter, respectively. The YSU scheme performs best for ozone (O 3) prediction, with better simulation results in summer than in winter. Notably, some discrepancies among different PBL schemes in the prediction of air pollution are directly associated with the complex topography. For the prediction of PM 2.5 , the MYJ and YSU schemes tend to overestimate the concentrations in the plains of Jiangsu and northern Anhui while underestimating PM 2.5 in the hilly areas compared with the MYNN scheme. Meanwhile, the performance of the ACM2 scheme is opposite to that of the MYJ and YSU schemes. For O 3 predictions, MYJ overestimates O 3 in the eastern coastal area and underestimates O 3 in the inland areas in summer compared with the YSU scheme, while the ACM2 scheme is the opposite of the MYJ scheme, and the MYNN scheme consistently overestimates O 3. • Impacts from four PBL schemes within WRF on the simulation of air pollutants are evaluated over the YRD region. • Seasonal and diurnal variations of surface pollutant concentrations are predicted and discussed. • The MYNN scheme shows good performance for PM 2.5 and NO 2 , while the YSU scheme is most suitable for O 3 prediction in the YRD. • Implementing a single PBL scheme for a large area with complex topography is insufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomass burning (BB) has significant impacts on air quality and climate change, especially during harvest seasons. In previous studies, levoglucosan was frequently used for the calculation of BB contribution to PM 2.5 , however, the degradation of levoglucosan (Lev) could lead to large uncertainties. To quantify the influence of the degradation of Lev on the contribution of BB to PM 2.5 , PM 2.5 -bound biomass burning-derived markers were measured in Changzhou from November 2020 to March 2021 using the thermal desorption aerosol gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (TAG-GC/MS) system. Temporal variations of three anhydro-sugar BB tracers (e.g., levoglucosan, mannosan (Man), and galactosan (Gal)) were obtained. During the sampling period, the degradation level of air mass (x) was 0.13, indicating that ~87 % of levoglucosan had degraded before sampling in Changzhou. Without considering the degradation of levoglucosan in the atmosphere, the contribution of BB to OC were 7.8 %, 10.2 %, and 9.3 % in the clean period, BB period, and whole period, respectively, which were 2.4-2.6 times lower than those (20.8 %-25.9 %) considered levoglucosan degradation. This illustrated that the relative contribution of BB to OC could be underestimated (~14.9 %) without considering degradation of levoglucosan. Compared to the traditional method (i.e., only using K + as BB tracer), organic tracers (Lev, Man, Gal) were put into the Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model in this study. With the addition of BB organic tracers and replaced K + with K + BB (the water-soluble potassium produced by biomass burning), the overall contribution of BB to PM 2.5 was enhanced by 3.2 % after accounting for levoglucosan degradation based on the PMF analysis. This study provides useful information to better understand the effect of biomass burning on the air quality in the Yangtze River Delta region., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The land use/land cover (LULC) change in the fast-developing city clusters of China exhibits impacts on both the meteorology and air quality. However, this effect, especially in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), has not been well quantified. In this study, the LULC data are extracted from Landsat satellite imageries for year 2000 and 2018 for the YRD region. The Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry (WRF/Chem) model is applied to investigate the impact of historical LULC change on regional meteorology and air pollution over the YRD region during the past two decades. Two simulation scenarios are performed with two sets of LULC data to represent the pre-urbanization (LULC of year 2000) and the most recent urban pattern (LULC of year 2018). Results indicate that rapid urbanization leads to an increase of monthly mean 2-m temperature by 0.4-2.1 °C but decrease of the 10-m wind speed by 0.5-1.3 m/s in urban areas; the maximum increase of daytime planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) in July and November is 289 and 132 m, respectively. Affected by favorable changes in the meteorological conditions due to LULC change, the PM 2.5 concentrations in most urban areas show a decreasing trend, especially during the nighttime in summer. On the contrary, surface ozone (O 3 ) concentration in urban areas has increased by 7.2-9.8 ppb in summer and 1.9-2.1 ppb in winter. Changes in O 3 concentration are inversely proportional to changes in NO x and the spatial distribution of PM 2.5 . Areas with higher O 3 concentration are consistent with areas of higher temperature and lower wind speed. Our findings reveal that LULC changes during the past years bring observable changes in air pollutant concentrations, which should not be neglected in the YRD region regarding air quality trends as well as policy evaluations under the warming threat., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The outbreak of COVID-19 has spreaded rapidly across the world. To control the rapid dispersion of the virus, China has imposed national lockdown policies to practise social distancing. This has led to reduced human activities and hence primary air pollutant emissions, which caused improvement of air quality as a side-product. To investigate the air quality changes during the COVID-19 lockdown over the YRD Region, we apply the WRF-CAMx modelling system together with monitoring data to investigate the impact of human activity pattern changes on air quality. Results show that human activities were lowered significantly during the period: industrial operations, VKT, constructions in operation, etc. were significantly reduced, leading to lowered SO 2 , NO x , PM 2.5 and VOCs emissions by approximately 16-26%, 29-47%, 27-46% and 37-57% during the Level I and Level II response periods respectively. These emission reduction has played a significant role in the improvement of air quality. Concentrations of PM 2.5 , NO 2 and SO 2 decreased by 31.8%, 45.1% and 20.4% during the Level I period; and 33.2%, 27.2% and 7.6% during the Level II period compared with 2019. However, ozone did not show any reduction and increased greatly. Our results also show that even during the lockdown, with primary emissions reduction of 15%-61%, the daily average PM 2.5 concentrations range between 15 and 79 μg m -3 , which shows that background and residual pollutions are still high. Source apportionment results indicate that the residual pollution of PM 2.5 comes from industry (32.2-61.1%), mobile (3.9-8.1%), dust (2.6-7.7%), residential sources (2.1-28.5%) in YRD and 14.0-28.6% contribution from long-range transport coming from northern China. This indicates that in spite of the extreme reductions in primary emissions, it cannot fully tackle the current air pollution. Re-organisation of the energy and industrial strategy together with trans-regional joint-control for a full long-term air pollution plan need to be further taken into account., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: This study aims to investigate the effect of pre-operative intravenous methylprednisolone on post-operative pain control and joint mobility in Chinese patients undergoing single primary total knee arthroplasty., Methods: This is a prospective, randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled single-centre trial. Sixty subjects were randomized into intervention and control group. The peri-operative anaesthetic and analgesic regimes were standardized. The intervention group received 125 mg methylprednisolone intravenously on the induction of anaesthesia. Subjects were assessed at 24, 30 and 48 h after surgery and upon discharge for pain scores and range of movement from the operated knee. Change in C-reactive protein level was calculated. Patient's satisfaction was recorded. Adverse reactions were documented. Subjects were followed up at 6 weeks, 4 months and 1 year., Results: Rest pain and pain on movement were significantly reduced in the methylprednisolone group at 24 and 30 h after surgery (ANOVA p = 0.030, p = 0.003, p = 0.032, p = 0.010). The methylprednisolone group demonstrated a greater range of movement from the operated knee up to 30 h after surgery (ANOVA p = 0.031). Post-operative C-reactive protein level was significantly less in the methylprednisolone group (p < 0.001). Methylprednisolone group had a higher patient's satisfaction than the control group (p < 0.01). No adverse effects were noted at the 1-year follow-up., Conclusion: Pre-operative intravenous methylprednisolone improves post-operative pain and joint mobility after total knee arthroplasty up to 30 h after operation. It results in a higher patients' satisfaction. It can act as an effective adjunct in the multimodal analgesic regime., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT03082092.

With the population growth, urbanization and industrialization, China has become a hotspot of atmospheric deposition nitrogen (ADN), which is a threat to ecosystem and food safety. However, the impacts of increased ADN on rice growth and grain metal content are little studied. Based on previous long-term ADN studies, greenhouse experiment was conducted with four simulated ADN rates of 0, 30, 60 and 90 kg N ha -1  yr -1 (CK, N 1 , N 2 and N 3 as δ 15 N, respectively) to assess rice growth and metal uptake in a red soil ecosystem of southeast China during 2016-2017. Results showed that simulated ADN could promote rice growth and increase yields by 15.68-24.41% (except N 2 ) and accumulations of cadmium (Cd) or copper (Cu) in organs. However, there was no linear relationship between ADN rate and rice growth or Cd or Cu uptake. The 15 N-ADN was mainly accumulated in roots (21.31-67.86%) and grains (25.26-49.35%), while Cd and Cu were primarily accumulated in roots (78.86-93.44% and 90.00-96.24%, respectively). 15 N-ADN and Cd accumulations in roots were significantly different between the two growing seasons (p < 0.05), implying the accumulative effects of ADN. Data also indicated the synergetic effect between accumulations of 15 N-ADN and soil Cd and Cu. This study demonstrated that increasing ADN could potentially enhance Cd or Cu uptake in rice grain and threaten rice grain safety. However, related nonlinear mechanism is still needed to be discussed between increasing ADN and rice response in the future., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

An integrated source apportionment methodology is developed by amalgamating the receptor-oriented model (ROM) and source-oriented numerical simulations (SOM) together to eliminate the weaknesses of individual SA methods. This approach attempts to apportion and dissect the PM 2.5 sources in the Yangtze River Delta region during winter. First, three ROM models (CMB, PMF, ME2) are applied and compared for the preliminary SA results, with information from PM 2.5 sampling and lab analysis during the winter seasons. The detailed source category contribution of SOM to PM 2.5 is further simulated using the WRF-CAMx model. The two pieces of information from both ROM and SOM are then stitched together to give a comprehensive information on the PM 2.5 sources over the region. With the integrated approach, the detailed contributing sources of the ambient PM 2.5 at different receptors including rural and urban, coastal and in-land, northern and southern receptors are analyzed. The results are compared with previous data and shows good agreement. This integrative approach is more comprehensive and is able to produce a more profound and detailed understanding between the sources and receptors, compared with single models.

Background: Surfactant proteins play a key role in alveolar stability. We examined whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) related to the surfactant protein genes are associated with severe influenza., Methods: In the first cohort, 12 SNPs related to surfactant protein genes were compared between Chinese patients with severe and mild pandemic 2009 influenza A(H1N1) (A[H1N1]pdm09) infection who were matched for age, sex, and underlying risk conditions. The SNP rs1130866, which was significantly different between the two groups, was further genotyped in a second cohort of patients. Multivariate analysis was performed to control for confounding factors. The genotype frequencies were also compared with those of the general Han Chinese population., Results: This study consisted of 380 patients with A(H1N1)pdm09 infection. In the first cohort of 84 patients, the C allele of rs1130866, an SNP in the surfactant protein B gene (SFTPB), was significantly associated with severe disease (OR = 3.37, P = .0048), although the P value was .057 after Bonferroni correction. In the second cohort of 296 patients, the C/C genotype was confirmed in the univariate analysis to be associated with severe disease. Multivariate analysis of the second cohort showed that genotype C/C was an independent risk factor for severe A(H1N1)pdm09 infection (second cohort: OR = 2.087, P = .023). Compared to the general Han Chinese population, the C/C genotype was overrepresented in patients with severe A(H1N1)pdm09 infection (OR = 3.232, P = .00000056)., Conclusions: SFTPB polymorphism is associated with severe influenza. The role of SFTPB in influenza warrants further studies.

Dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) from atmospheric deposition has been a growing concern in the world and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition is increasing quickly in China especially Southeastern China. In our study, DON wet deposition was estimated by collecting and analyzing rainwater samples continuously over eight years (2005-2012) in a typical red-soil farmland ecosystem, Southeast China. Results showed that the volume-weighted-average DON concentration varied from 0.2 to 3.3 mg N L(-1) with an average of 1.2 mg N L(-1). DON flux ranged from 5.7 to 71.6 kg N ha(-1) year(-1) and averaged 19.7 kg N ha(-1) year(-1) which accounted for 34.6% of the total dissolved nitrogen (TDN) in wet deposition during the eight-year period. Analysis of DON concentration and flux, contribution of DON to TDN, rainfall, rain frequency, air temperature and wind frequency and the application of pig manure revealed possible pollution sources. Significant positive linear relation of annual DON flux and usage of pig manure (P<0.0001) suggested that agricultural activities, especially application of pig manure, were the main source of DON in the study area. In conclusion, DON wet deposition was an important part of TDN and would have a possible effect on N cycle in the red-soil agro-ecosystem in the future.

The dry deposition of atmospheric nitrogen (including NO(2) and NH(3)) into a typical agro-ecosystem in Southeast China during 2006-2007 was estimated. Results indicated that the dry deposition velocities of NO(2) and NH(3) ranged from 0.04-0.24 cm s(-1) and 0.09-0.47 cm s(-1), respectively. The higher values appeared in the non-crop growing period. Concentrations of atmospheric NO(2) and NH(3) ranged from 24.64-104.10 μgN m(-3) and 14.40-389.6 μgN m(-3), respectively. Variation of the NH(3) mixing ratio showed a clear double-peak. NO(2) and NH(3) deposition fluxes were 74.68-80.75 kgN ha(-1), which was equivalent to 162.4 and 175.5 kg ha(-1) of urea applied in 2006-2007. The N deposition fluxes were 13.91-40.38 and 5.33-22.73 kgN ha(-1) in peanut and rice growing periods, accounting for 8.18%-40.38% and 2.13%-23.06% of N fertilizer usages, respectively. NO(2) and NH(3) deposition were significant for the red soil farmland.