The Practice and Innovation of Energizing the Competitiveness of Brand of County by the IP of Culture and Tourism at Zigui

The integration of culture and tourism makes the interaction between culture and tourism deeper and closer. After years of vigorous development, the tourism of county is no longer like before building infrastructure in the entire scenic area, and the economy of county no longer relies on hardware construction and a large investment. And now a new focus is needed to promote the economy and brand competitiveness of the county. Combining the IP (intellectual property) construction method in the Internet era with regional brands with local cultural characteristics, an innovative form of IP for county cultural and tourism brands at present is created, the Zigui County of Yichang City is the practical example of the innovative form. Combine with the unique culture of Qu Yuan, the Dragon Boat Festival, and navel orange specialty of Zigui, the IPs of brand of the county that are called “one da three xiao”, which are Qudafu, Chengxiaozi, Zongxiaogui, and Zhouxiaolong, were created. The IPs are deeply loved by tourists, and quickly stand out in the competition of tourism spread in the surrounding counties and cities. By energizing the competitiveness of brand of the county through IP, the new appearance of county brand of the Zigui, which effectively attracts traffic and drives the economic promotion of Zigui County, is displayed with affinity, sustainability and influence

Mitigating environmental impacts of milk production via integrated maize silage planting and dairy cow breeding system: A case study in China

peer reviewedEnvironmental impacts of milk production are depending on the production efficiency of livestock and cropland. A mode of integrated maize silage planting and dairy breeding system (IPBS) has been widely promoted in China, as a promising way to recycle manure, reduce chemical fertilizer consumption and improve soil quality. However, quantitative environmental impacts and mitigation potential of this system remains unclear. In this study, based on life cycle assessment (LCA), environmental performance of non-IPBS and IPBS were compared: non-IPBS only involved dairy cow breeding, whereas maize silage planting was incorporated in IPBS. Results indicated that, although 60% of the surveyed dairy farms adopted IPBS, the self-sufficiency rate of maize silage was 57%. Compared with non-IPBS, IPBS had apparent potential in reducing global warming potential (−14%), acidification potential (−10%), eutrophication potential (−18%), non-renewable energy use (−10%), water use (−8%) and land use (−13%). It is estimated that, in China, 81% of dairy farms could adopt IPBS, resulting in a reduction of approximately 21% in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to compared with current situation, but the premise is that 2.0 million ha cropland should be applied for maize silage cultivation. Interestingly, environmental performance of IPBS was affected by the self-sufficiency rate of maize silage and restricted by milk yield and maize silage yield. Thus, mitigation of environmental impacts of milk production could be realized by combining a short-term strategy of increasing maize silage planting area in dairy farms and a long-term plan for technological improvements in the yield of crop and milk

Precision Higgs physics at the CEPC

The discovery of the Higgs boson with its mass around 125 GeV by the ATLAS and CMS Collaborations marked the beginning of a new era in high energy physics. The Higgs boson will be the subject of extensive studies of the ongoing LHC program. At the same time, lepton collider based Higgs factories have been proposed as a possible next step beyond the LHC, with its main goal to precisely measure the properties of the Higgs boson and probe potential new physics associated with the Higgs boson. The Circular Electron Positron Collider~(CEPC) is one of such proposed Higgs factories. The CEPC is an $e^+e^-$ circular collider proposed by and to be hosted in China. Located in a tunnel of approximately 100~km in circumference, it will operate at a center-of-mass energy of 240~GeV as the Higgs factory. In this paper, we present the first estimates on the precision of the Higgs boson property measurements achievable at the CEPC and discuss implications of these measurements.Comment: 46 pages, 37 figure

Recognition on characteristics and applicability of typical modes for manure & sewage management in pig farming: A case study in Hebei, China.

peer reviewedScale-up intensive pig farming can increase profitability by economies of large scale, but it also exacerbates environmental pollution caused by the disordered discharge of manure and sewage. Manure & sewage management (MSM) is critical to mitigate environmental pressure and reuse livestock waste. However, the corresponding MSM measures adopted by pig farmers are multitudinous in reality, due to the diversity of MSM methods and heterogeneity of farmers' characteristics and behaviors. Thus, this study empirically categorized five typical MSM modes (i.e., traditional simple mode (TSM), mixed processing mode (MPM), semi-biogas mode (SBM), professional processing with simple utilization mode (PPSUM) and professional processing with full utilization mode (PPFUM)) by clustering analysis, based on the field data from 406 pig farms, and further discriminated farmers' heterogeneous characteristics on corresponding mode adoption. Results revealed that each mode was distinctive. The applicability of the corresponding mode was reflected in the synthesis deliberation, involving farming structure, land, farmers' characteristic and their subjective awareness. Farmers' education level and pro-environmental perception are significantly promoted to adopt technology-intensive MSM modes. Scale upgrading has a positive effect on mechanization adoption and diversified strategies application. Land as an unalterable objective factor restricted the extension of MSM modes based on field returning. Conclusions clarified typical MSM modes and provided references to individual pig farms on appropriate mode selection, further enhancing the efficiency of MSM and contributing to the sustainability of green development of pig farming in China

Factors Affecting Soybean Crude Urease Extraction and Biocementation via Enzyme-Induced Carbonate Precipitation (EICP) for Soil Improvement

Enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) is a new biogeotechnical ground improvement technique that uses calcium carbonate (CaCO3) formed by biochemical processes to increase soil strength and stiffness. In this paper, crude urease extracted from soybeans was employed to catalyze the precipitation of CaCO3 in sand. To optimize the urease extraction efficiency, factors affecting the soybean crude urease extraction, including the powdered soybean particle size, concentration, soaking time, and soaking temperature, were addressed. This paper also provided further insight regarding the impact of the urease activity of soybean crude extract on the chemical conversion efficiency and the biocementation performance in EICP. The findings revealed that the powdered soybean concentration and the particle size were the two most important factors affecting the urease activity of the soybean crude extract. The enzyme activity utilized in the EICP process might further lead to different reactant efficiencies of urea-CaCl2 solution, and consequently, the improvement in the physical and mechanical properties of biocemented sand. Considering the chemical conversion efficiency and the biocementation performance, 60 g/L of powdered soybean was concluded as the preferred quantity for extracting the crude urease, with an enzyme activity of 6.62 mM urea min−1. Under this condition, a chemical conversion efficiency of approximately 95% for 0.5 M urea-0.5 M CaCl2 could be obtained in merely 12 h, and the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the EICP-treated sand exceeded 4 MPa with a CaCO3 content of ~8%. As a high-efficient cost-effective alternative to the purified enzyme for carbonate precipitation, the soybean crude urease showed great potential for ground improvement

Factors Affecting Soybean Crude Urease Extraction and Biocementation via Enzyme-Induced Carbonate Precipitation (EICP) for Soil Improvement

Enzyme-induced carbonate precipitation (EICP) is a new biogeotechnical ground improvement technique that uses calcium carbonate (CaCO3) formed by biochemical processes to increase soil strength and stiffness. In this paper, crude urease extracted from soybeans was employed to catalyze the precipitation of CaCO3 in sand. To optimize the urease extraction efficiency, factors affecting the soybean crude urease extraction, including the powdered soybean particle size, concentration, soaking time, and soaking temperature, were addressed. This paper also provided further insight regarding the impact of the urease activity of soybean crude extract on the chemical conversion efficiency and the biocementation performance in EICP. The findings revealed that the powdered soybean concentration and the particle size were the two most important factors affecting the urease activity of the soybean crude extract. The enzyme activity utilized in the EICP process might further lead to different reactant efficiencies of urea-CaCl2 solution, and consequently, the improvement in the physical and mechanical properties of biocemented sand. Considering the chemical conversion efficiency and the biocementation performance, 60 g/L of powdered soybean was concluded as the preferred quantity for extracting the crude urease, with an enzyme activity of 6.62 mM urea min−1. Under this condition, a chemical conversion efficiency of approximately 95% for 0.5 M urea-0.5 M CaCl2 could be obtained in merely 12 h, and the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of the EICP-treated sand exceeded 4 MPa with a CaCO3 content of ~8%. As a high-efficient cost-effective alternative to the purified enzyme for carbonate precipitation, the soybean crude urease showed great potential for ground improvement

StrawFeed model: An integrated model of straw feedstock supply chain for bioenergy in China

peer reviewedWith the growing concerns of fossil fuel scarcity and its negative impacts on global environment, bioenergy as an alternative energy source has attracted more attention as climate change mitigation. As one of the largest carbon emission and agricultural production countries in the world, China has abundant straw resources and great potential for energy utilization, and the number of straw-to-energy business projects is increasing dramatically. Correspondingly, there is a strong demand to design a stable and sustainable straw feedstock supply chain. However, due to the uncertainty of system boundary and neglect of potential risks, the procurement cost for bioenergy conversion plants (BCP) is varied significantly. Model is a critical approach in strengthening the understanding that leads to promoting supply efficiency. Therefore, an open-source & GIS-enabled linear programming model, named StrawFeed, is proposed to simulate the operation of straw feedstock supply. The costs of raking, baling, loading and transporting have been investigated as components in the StrawFeed model. The model is applied to case analysis of corn straw supply in Nongan county, a major corn production region in Northeast China. The results illustrate that the straw supply cost could be 172 CNY/ton, and the reasonable profit allocation mechanism could achieve the triple-win solution among farmers, brokers, and BCP. Furthermore, the challenges and opportunities for optimization are investigated with scenario analysis, based on unique circumstances and supporting policies in China. Unfavorable weather could delay the available working day, and thereby cost would increase up to 13%. The optimized scheme of straw utilization could achieve better environmental and ecological benefits, but the transportation distance for straw supply has to be expanded and the increased cost would be up to 53%. Cross-regional operation of agricultural machinery and machine procurement subsidies could reduce the cost by 18% and 5% respectively. This model is helpful to estimate accurate supply cost and deploy sustainable straw feedstock supply, which could contribute to assisting investors and policymakers for bioenergy industry in China

Medical woman's journal : a monthly journal publ. in the interests of women physicians ; off. organ of the Medical Women's National Association

Hierarchical SnO2 hollow spheres self-assembled from nanosheets were prepared with and without carbon coating. The combination of nanosized architecture, hollow structure, and a conductive carbon layer endows the SnO2-based anode with improved specific capacity and cycling stability, making it more promising for use in lithium ion batteries