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This paper shows that low-risk stocks significantly outperform high-risk stocks in the local China A-share market. The main driver of this low-risk anomaly is volatility, and not beta. A Fama–French style VOL factor is not explained by the Fama–French–Carhart factors, and has the strongest stand-alone performance among all these factors. Our findings are robust across sectors and over time, and consistent with previous empirical evidence for the US and international markets. Moreover, the VOL premium exhibits excellent investability characteristics, as it involves a low turnover and remains strong when applied to only the largest and most liquid stocks. Our results imply that the volatility effect is a highly pervasive phenomenon, and that explanations should be able to account for its presence in highly institutionalized markets, such as the US, but also in the Chinese market where private investors dominate trading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy saving is an explicit goal of housing retrofitting in both the Netherlands and China. Retrofit providers expect to achieve this goal by applying insulation to apartment buildings and improvements in heating, cooling and ventilation. The aim of this paper is to explore both conceptually and empirically the interactions between householders and retrofit providers. Interaction activities are conceptualized in a framework of overlapping practices of retrofitting and everyday life. Empirical material is derived from interviews with retrofit providers and householders in the Netherlands and China. This paper shows that full energy saving potential in housing retrofitting fails to be accomplished, due to a limited involvement of householders at the consumption junctions in retrofit processes. Central to this failure are the limited options for residents to share pre-retrofit living experiences, to test future housing equipment beforehand and to customize retrofit packages. Also post-retrofit educational support, evaluation and monitoring is falling short to engage householders in their appropriation of their retrofitted apartment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization has been responsible for the loss of cropland worldwide, especially in China. To guarantee national food security, China has implemented a series of policies to protect cropland. One of these policies requires that one-hectare cropland should be reclaimed when urban expansion occupies one-hectare cropland. Since most cropland reclamation leads to a conversion of natural habitat, such as wetland and grassland, urban expansion may lead to (indirect) natural habitat loss in addition to direct loss from conversion of into urban area. While several studies assessed the direct habitat loss resulted from built-up area expansion, few studies investigated the indirect losses caused by cropland displacement. In this paper, a model-based approach is applied to explore both direct and indirect impacts of built-up area expansion on natural habitat loss for the city of Wuhan, China, between 2010 and 2020 using different scenarios. Our scenarios differ in the implementation of strict cropland protection policies and ecosystem conservation strategies. Results show that the indirect loss of natural habitat due to cropland displacement under strict cropland protection policies far outweighs the direct loss due to built-up area expansion alone. Moreover, we found that ecosystem conservation strategies mainly influence the type of natural habitat that is affected, while the total amount of natural habitat loss remains relatively constant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding of cropland dynamics in a large geographical extent is mostly based on observations of area change, while the changes in landscape pattern are hardly assessed. The total amount of cropland in China has remained relatively stable in recent years, which might suggest there was little change. In this analysis, we combine the number of cropland patches (NP) with the total cropland area (TA) for a more comprehensive characterization of cropland change in China. We use GlobeLand30–a global land cover dataset with a 30 m resolution for the years 2000 and 2010–and characterize changes in TA and NP for each county as increase, stable, or decrease. This characterization shows that 703 out of 2420 counties experienced both cropland loss and increased fragmentation. The predominant cropland loss in these areas, especially in the North China Plain, is converted to artificial land. Another 212 are characterized by the opposite developments: an increase in cropland and decreased fragmentation. These counties, are mainly characterized by a conversion of forest areas and grassland areas. It suggests that the cropland conservation policy in China effectively protected the total cropland area in overall, but the consequences in terms of fragmentation might be underestimated. Counties with no obvious change in both indicators, measuring 279 counties, are mainly located in the Southeast. Our results are further compared with local level case studies: the fair consistency indicates alternatives of applying GlobeLand30 for analyzing landscape changes across scales and for cross-site comparisons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to find space for urban expansion and food production, China is rapidly converting its coastal wetlands through large-scale land reclamation. These conversions are dramatically altering the coastal environment, affecting the associated ecosystem services and threatening the regional ecological security. Since this trend is expected to continue for maintaining the economic growth and food security considerations, understanding the extent of reclamation and its related land use changes is important for sustainable coastal land use planning and management. In this study, we analyze land use changes between 1977 and 2015 in middle Jiangsu coast, China, an area that is characterized by land reclamation from wetland conversion. In addition, we surveyed local farmers occupying the reclaimed land and compared their farm characteristics and attitudes against their inland counterparts to understand their role in these processes. We observed that 17% of the reclaimed land was converted to farmland and 43% to aquaculture ponds during the study period. At the same time, the natural wetlands, which originally dominated the area, were substantially reduced by 96%. Characteristics of farmers cultivating the reclaimed land were relatively similar to the inland farmer in many aspects. However, coastal farmers owned larger farms with less fragmented parcels, have a higher income from their farm and showed more enthusiasms for implementing agricultural land use changes comparing to their inland counterparts. The environmental value of the coastal wetlands and the limited opportunities for further land reclamation will pose significant challenges in the context of the region being a hotspot of urban expansion and an important contributor to food production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Knowledge of essential amino acid requirements in infants is important because excessive intake of protein can lead to increased long-term morbidity such as obesity. A deficient intake may lead to suboptimal growth and impaired neurodevelopment. The current recommended branched-chain amino acid requirements in infants aged 0-1 mo are based on the amino acid content of human milk. Objective: We quantified the requirements for isoleucine, leucine, and valine for term neonates by using the indicator amino acid oxidation method with [1-13C]phenylalanine as the indicator. Design: Fully enterally fed term infants received randomly graded amounts of isoleucine (5-216 mg . kg-1 . d-1), leucine (5-370 mg . kg-1 . d-1), or valine (5-236 mg . kg-1 . d-1) as part of an elemental formula. Data are expressed as means ± SDs. Results: Eighty-three Asian, term neonates (mean ± SD birth weight: 3.3 ± 0.4 kg; gestational age: 39.4 ± 1.3 wk) were studied at a postnatal age of 13 ± 5 d. Mean requirements for isoleucine, leucine, and valine (measured in boys only) were 105 mg . kg-1 . d-1 (r2 = 0.61, P < 0.001), 140 mg . kg-1 . d-1 (r2 = 0.26, P < 0.01), and 110 mg . kg-1 . d-1 (r2 = 0.35, P = 0.001), respectively. Conclusions: Current human milk-based recommendations for isoleucine and valine in term infants aged 0-1 mo are correct. However, the current recommendation for leucine (166 mg . kg-1 . d-1) is higher than the mean requirement of 140 mg . kg-1 . d-1 that we determined in this study [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We simulate settlement system changes in China until 2050. • Our model includes multiple settlement systems, allowing for different urbanization trajectories. • Future changes include both urban development and a development of village landscapes. • Increase in built-up land mostly leads to a decline in natural areas via cropland displacement. • Maintaining current population densities can avoid a loss of 57–73 × 103 km2 of natural land. China has experienced unprecedented urbanization in the past few decades, fueled by population growth, economic development, and rural to urban migration. In the future, economic growth as well as rural to urban migration is expected to continue, but demographic scenarios indicate that the population of China will peak and subsequently decline. As a result, it is unsure how urban areas will develop after peak population. In this study we further develop the CLUMondo land system model to simulate land system changes in China until 2050. Our application represents a range of settlement systems, from dense urban areas to village landscapes, differing in their built-up area as well as their population density to enable the simulation of different settlement change trajectories. Our results show that a UN high population scenario in combination with a continued decline in population density leads to an increase of built-up land of about 48%. Conversely, the UN low population scenario in combination with a constant population density could be accommodated within the current amount of built-up land in China. Due to prevailing cropland protection policies, increase in built-up land will mostly lead to a loss of natural areas, hence our scenarios highlight the opportunity space for limiting land take and saving natural areas. This study also demonstrates the need for more nuanced representation of settlement systems for the assessment of land change trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wide variety of settlement systems exist, ranging from small villages to large metropolises. However, spatial analyses are typically confined to the mere presence or absence of built-up land and the changes therein, while more subtle differences between various settlement systems are ignored. In this paper we study the spatial distribution of Chinese settlements in terms of their built-up land, cluster density and cluster size, as well as their changes between 1990 and 2010. Subsequently, we use these three properties to delineate settlement systems, and analyze the observed change trajectories between 1990 and 2010. We find that roughly 70% of all built-up land and more than 50% of all new built-up land added between 1990 and 2010 is included in village landscapes, which challenges the current focus on studying mega-cities. We also find that settlement changes mostly follow small and incremental steps towards more dense urban systems, following multiple different development trajectories. Specifically, rural villages seldom convert into urban systems directly, but typically increase gradually to towns and sub-urban landscapes. Settlement systems provide a first step towards a comprehensive understanding of human settlements and their change trajectories, which can inform targeted land use planning and the development of policies that more explicitly accounts for diversity in settlement types. • Settlement systems are characterized using spatial patterns of built-up land in China between 1990 and 2010. • The majority of the built-up land in China is contained in village landscapes. • The majority of the built-up land increase also takes place in village landscapes. • Settlements change in small and incremental steps towards urban landscapes. • Settlement changes follow multiple different trajectories in different locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas in China have expanded rapidly in recent decades, which mainly resulted in the conversion of fertile cropland. As the growth of urban areas is likely to continue in the next decades, there is a need for detailed assessments of urbanization impacts on food production. However, most land use models cannot simulate different types of urban change trajectories, such as expansion and densification, which constrains their capacity to inform such assessments with sufficient detail on the patterns of urbanization. In this paper, we present a land use model that represents multiple types of settlements, which allows to simulate multiple different urban change trajectories. We applied this model to Jiangsu Province, China, and assess the impact of projected urban development between 2015 and 2030 on cropland area and crop production. Results show that population growth is accommodated by different urban change trajectories, depending on the absence or presence of land use policies to maintain food security. In the absence of policies, population growth mainly leads to urban expansion, yielding losses in both cropland area and crop production. Implementing strict cropland protection policies leads to more urban densification and all population can be accommodated without a net loss of cropland. Yet, crop production decreases in this scenario as the most productive croplands are still converted and compensated by less productive areas. Protecting crop production instead leads to a small loss in cropland area combined with cropland intensification and different types of urban change, but maintains the total crop production. These results show the relevance of more nuanced representation of urban development in land use models in order to inform land use policies. • Land use assessments should account for the variety in settlements, from towns to metropolises. • We model land use change using multiple different settlement systems. • In the absence of policies, urban growth will lead to a decline in cropland and crop production. • Protecting cropland area leads to urban densification accompanied by a decline in crop production. • It is possible to maintain crop production and still accommodate for urban growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Global economic water scarcity risks were assessed for quantity and quality. • Water quality-driven local and cascading economic risks comprised 20–30 %. • China emerged as the foremost exporter/importer of water scarcity risks globally. • Improving water efficiency and quality are equally vital for economic resilience. Pollution from untreated wastewater discharges depletes clean water supply for humans and the environment. It poses adverse economic impacts by determining agricultural yields, manufacturing productivity, and ecosystem functionality. Current studies mainly focus on quantity-related water scarcity assessment. It is unknown how low water quality amplifies local water stress and induces cascading economic risks globally. In this study, we estimated both quality and quantity-related water scarcity index (WSI), local economic water scarcity risk (WSR), and cascading virtual WSR evident in global trade markets across 40 major economies from 1995 to 2010. We find developing countries, e.g., India and China, witnessed fast growth in both quantity and quality-related WSI. Major developed economies, e.g., the US and Germany, experienced a modest increase in water stress but alleviated quality-related risks. Local economic risk (WSR) grew from $116B to $380B, with quality-related risks rising from 20 % to 30 %. Virtual economic WSR in global supply chains increased from $39B to $160B, with quality-related risks increasing from 19 % to 27 %. China became the top exporter of economic WSR, ranked above the US, France, and Japan, and the second-largest position as an importer, trailing only the US. We finally conducted scenario modeling by 2030, assuming different progresses on SDG 6 targets. The findings suggest that only the most ambitious progress in both water quality enhancement and efficiency improvement helps to alleviate ∼20 % economic WSR globally. Our findings underscore the necessity for strategies that integrate management of untreated wastewater flows, improved water use efficiency, and diversification of supply chain networks to enhance global economic resilience to water challenges in the future. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutrient pollution is a widespread problem in rivers in China. Managing nutrient pollution requires better knowledge of in-stream processes governing the surface water quality. As current nutrient models for China mainly focus on river export of nutrients to seas, in-stream surface water quality and their contributing sources and processes are, therefore not well understood. This requires accounting for combined effects of nutrient inputs to rivers from produced waste, biochemistry of different forms of nutrients and their transport by river network. Moreover, improvements can be made in evaluating the model performance of large-scale nutrient models based on water quality measurements in China (using the surface water quality classes from 1 to 6). The objective of this study is to quantify the spatial variation in in-stream water quality for nutrients, and associated sources, for water quality classes in China. Our new Model to Assess River Inputs of Nutrients to seAs (MARINA 3.0) for in-stream water quality distinguishes different nutrient forms including dissolved inorganic (DIN, DIP) and organic (DON, DOP) nitrogen and phosphorus and was applied for the year 2012. Our model simulations compare reasonably well with measurements across 155 river sections. Results show that between 12% and 66% of the streams are highly polluted (exceeding water quality class 3) and depending on nutrient form. Diffuse sources dominate in 76% of the streams for DIN. Point sources such as direct discharges of animal manure dominate in 46%–59% of the streams for DON, DIP and DOP. The dominant sources vary considerably between rivers and nutrient forms. This indicates the need account for nutrient forms in models and national monitoring programs. Our model results could support effective management to reduce nutrient pollution in China. • We model in-stream water quality explicitly in relation to water quality classes in China. • Between 12% and 66% of the streams are highly polluted (above water quality class III). • Diffuse sources dominate in more than two-thirds of the streams for DIN. • Point sources dominated in around half of the streams for DON, DIP and DOP. • Polluted streams contribute to coastal eutrophication along Chinese coasts, particular for Bohai Gulf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • We calculated the intensity of urban air pollution islands of 2273 china's cities. • Urban air pollution island intensities reduced significantly after 2013. • The influence of economic development on it shows an environmental Kuznets curve. • Urban sprawl, polycentric development, and urban green reduce urban air pollution. • Climate mitigation-oriented pollution control policies are essential in the future. Air pollution levels tend to be higher in urban areas than in surrounding rural areas, and this air pollution has a negative effect on human health. However, the spatiotemporal patterns of urban–rural air pollution differences and the determinants of these differences remain unclear. Here, we calculate the Urban Air Pollution Island (UAPI) intensity for PM 2.5 and PM 10 on a monthly, seasonal, and annual scale for 2273 cities in China from 2000 to 2020. Subsequently, we analyze the influence of urban characteristics using a combined approach of a two-way fixed effects model and a spatial Durbin model. Results show a strong downward trend in the UAPI intensity since 2013, with reductions ranging from 42 % to 61 % until 2020, for both pollutants and in summer as well as winter. Consistently, the proportion of the cities experiencing the UAPI phenomenon decreased from 94.5 % to 77.3 % for both PM 2.5 and PM 10. We find a significant influence of urban morphology on UAPI. Specifically, urban sprawl, polycentric development, and an increase in urban green spaces are associated with a reduction in UAPI, while dense urban areas intensify it. Our study also reveals a robust inverted U-shaped relationship between stages of economic development and UAPI. Moreover, economic development and air pollution itself show spillover effects that oppose their direct impacts. These results suggest that urban and regional planning and more ambitious climate change mitigation policies could be more effective strategies for mitigating air pollution in cities than end-of-pipe control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface waters account for 77% of the total fresh water resources in China. Rivers areimportant fresh water resources for human needs, but severely polluted with nutrients inChina. This study addresses three challenges in nutrient modelling for rivers in China. First,the understanding of the impacts and the development of associated managementstrategies are still humbled by the traditional modelling scales. Existing models oftenquantify nutrient pollution on biophysical scales (e.g. basin, grid), whereas sources andmanagement strategies are from administrative scales (e.g. county, province levels).Second, the representation of locations of point sources in existing water qualitymodels is generally poor. The spatial characteristics of the point source locations(e.g. hydrology) can influence on the water quality. Third, the direct discharges ofmanure are not well represented in most existing water quality models. However,direct discharges of manure to rivers have a considerable contribution to the nutrientpollution in China. The objective of this study is, therefore, to quantify inputs ofnitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) to Chinese rivers from different sources at multiplescales. We developed a novel multi-scale modelling approach based on three models: The Modelto Assess River Inputs of Nutrients to seAs (MARINA), NUtrient flows in Food chains,Environment and Resources use (NUFER) and the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC)hydrological model. Our multi-scale model is novel for (1) modelling on multiple scales fordifferent processes as appropriate, (2) producing the outputs (e.g. inputs of N and P to rivers)on multiple scales and (3) including a detailed, state-of-the art representation of point sourcesof nutrients in to rivers. Major improvements were made to the model inputs byusing the Chinese county database (2238 counties) and by including the location ofmanure discharges and of 4404 wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) for the wholeChina. The model results show that the river pollution and source attributions differ amongspatial scales. Point sources account for 75% of the total dissolved phosphorus (TDP) inputsto rivers in China in 2012, and diffuse sources for 72% of total dissolved nitrogen (TDN)inputs. One-third of the sub-basins account for more than half of the nutrient pollution in theChinese rivers. Downscaling to the smallest scale (polygons) reveals that 14% and 9% ofthe area contribute to more than half of the calculated TDN and TDP pollution,respectively. Sources of nutrient pollution vary considerably among and within counties.Clearly, multi-scale modelling may help to develop effective policies to reduce riverpollution. PIC [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal is the dominant fuel for electricity generation around the world. This type of electricity generation uses large amounts of water, increasing pressure on water resources. This calls for an in-depth investigation in the water-energy nexus of coal-fired electricity generation. In China, coal-fired power plants play an important role in the energy supply. Here we assessed water consumption of coal-fired power plants (CPPs) in China using four cooling technologies: closed-cycle cooling, once-through cooling, air cooling, and seawater cooling. The results show that water consumption of CPPs was 3.5 km 3 , accounting for 11% of total industrial water consumption in China. Eighty-four percent of this water consumption was from plants with closed-cycle cooling. China’s average water intensity of CPPs was 1.15 l/kWh, while the intensity for closed-cycle cooling was 3–10 times higher than that for other cooling technologies. About 75% of water consumption of CPPs was from regions with absolute or chronic water scarcity. The results imply that the development of CPPs needs to explicitly consider their impacts on regional water resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] We use survey data to analyze agricultural land system change in Northeast China. [•] Land system changes analyzed include land tenure, crop choice and intensification. [•] Spatial patterns of these aspects are related to road accessibility. [•] Crops for domestic use are increasingly replaced by cash crops in the study region. [•] Family characteristics affect land transfer while external drivers affect crop choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban land use is often characterized based on the presence of built-up land, while the land use intensity of different locations is ignored. This narrow focus is at least partially due to a lack of data on the vertical dimension of urban land. The potential of Earth observation data to fill this gap has already been shown, but this has not yet been applied at large spatial scales. This study aims to map urban 3D building structure, i.e. building footprint, height, and volume, for Europe, the US, and China using random forest models. Our models perform well, as indicated by R2 values of 0.90 for building footprint, 0.81 for building height, and 0.88 for building volume, for all three case regions combined. In our multidimensional input variables, we find that built-up density derived from the Global Urban Footprint (GUF) is the most important variable for estimating building footprint, while backscatter intensity of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) is the most important variable for estimating building height. A combination of the two is essential to estimate building volume. Our analysis further highlights the heterogeneity of 3D building structure across space. Specifically, buildings in China tend to be taller on average (10.35 m) compared to Europe (7.37 m) and the US (6.69 m). At the same time, the building volume per capita in China is lowest, with 302.3 m3 per capita, while Europe and the US show estimates of 404.6 m3 and 565.4 m3, respectively. The results of this study (3D building structure data for Europe, the US, and China) are publicly available, and can be used for further analysis of urban environment, spatial planning, and land use projections. • We present the first 3D building structure for Europe, the US, and China. • Building footprint, height, and volume are mapped at a 1 km2 resolution. • Our random forest models are very robust, with R2 values higher than 0.81. • The spatial pattern of 3D building structure differs across case study regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]