Experiences and enlightenments from targeted poverty alleviation measures of China

Poverty exists in many countries and is a worldwide problem that needs urgent solution. As the second largest economy in the world, China has successfully lifted more than 0.8 billion population out of poverty in the past decades. However, the less poor population left, more difficult to solve the problem. In 2013, the Chinese president Xi Jinping proposed “Targeted Poverty Alleviation” Measures to further instruct the poverty reduction process of China, to make sure all poor population get out of poverty in 2020. This thesis mainly focus on “Targeted Poverty Alleviation” Measures, to study the background, the conception, the mechanism, and specific using of these measures, further more to make conclusion on its characteristic to gain experiences and enlightenments.A pobreza existe em muitos países e é um problema mundial que precisa de solução urgente. Como a segunda maior economia do mundo, a China conseguiu tirar mais de 0,8 bilhão de pessoas da pobreza nas últimas décadas. No entanto, quanto menos população pobre sobrar, mais difícil resolver o problema. Em 2013, o presidente chinês Xi Jinping propôs medidas de “Alívio Direcionado à Pobreza” para instruir ainda mais o processo de redução da pobreza na China, para garantir que toda a população pobre saia da pobreza em 2020. Esta tese concentra-se principalmente nas medidas “Alívio Direcionado à Pobreza”, para estudar os antecedentes, a concepção, o mecanismo e o uso específico dessas medidas, e ainda mais para concluir sua característica de obter experiências e esclarecimentos

Construction Stage Seismic Resilience Evaluation of a Continuous Girder Bridge with the Cast-in-Place Cantilever Construction Method

To rapidly evaluate the seismic resilience of the bridges under construction, the construction stage seismic resilience evaluation method was proposed. Based on a case bridge of continuous girder with the cast-in-place cantilever construction method, the seismic resilience of bridges at different construction stages was researched and compared. The bridge model was established by utilizing the construction stage module in the Midas Civil finite element modelling software. The functional losses of the bridges at different construction stages were computed. The three dimensional functional surfaces of Function-Time-PGA (Peak Ground Acceleration) were drawn. The resilience indexes at different construction stages with different seismic PGAs were compared, the resilience indexes with and without consideration of the delay recovery period were compared and analysed. The research results show: 1) in the control period, the functional loss is directly proportional to the PGA, but the function and resilience indexes are inversely proportional to the PGA; 2) the seismic resilience indexes of bridges at different construction stages are vastly different; 3) the resilience indexes with and without consideration of the delay recovery period are different; for the case bridge with the delay recovery period to recovery period ratio of 20%, the difference of the resilience indexes with and without consideration of the delay recovery period can reach 17% when the seismic PGA is 1.0 g. This paper provides a new method to evaluate the seismic resilience of construction stages, and it can be used to provide suggestions for the seismic damage evaluation and post-seismic recovery scheme

Nutrient Uptake and Utilization and Antioxidants of Fruits in Red Raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) Cultivar ‘Autumn Bliss’ in response to Fertilization under Extended Photoperiod

Annual-fruiting cultivars of red raspberry (Rubus idaeus L.) complete its entire cycle of vegetative growth, flowering, and fruiting in one growing season, which has not been well studied in response to treatments of photoperiod and fertilization. In this study, micro-propagated plantlets of ‘Autumn Bliss’ were planted in a greenhouse at Dalian, Northeast China. Some were treated with fertilizers at the rate of 12 g per plant (N-P2O5-K2O, 14-14-14) under extended photoperiod of 17 h with PPFD of 240 μmol m-2 s-1 at dark-time (Pho.+Fert.), while others were treated with longer photoperiod (Pho.) or with the control. Compared to the control, both growth and biomass in shoot part of ‘Autumn Bliss’ were promoted by the Pho.+Fert. treatment, but foliar nutrients declined as the symptom of nutrient dilution. The Pho. treatment had no effect on either growth or nutrient uptake in leaves, resulting in the symptom of nutrient depletion compared to the Control. Soil P availability positively correlated with foliar P concentration but negatively correlated with root length. Only the Pho.+Fert. treatment resulted in the advance of fruiting by two months at July when fruits were measured to have acceptable fruit weight of about 3 g and contents of anthocyanin at ~26.4 mg cyaniding-3-glucoside equiv. 100 g-1 Fw and total phenolic content at ~17.5 mg GAE 100 g-1 Fw

The Study on Prospect and Early Opportunities for Carbon Capture and Storage in Guangdong Province, China

AbstractCCS is regarded as an important and strategic technology option to reduce CO2 emission, and has received tremendous attention around the world. Guangdong, as the largest economic and energy-consuming province in China, is necessary to take CCS as an important option to reduce its future CO2 emission. This paper presents the partial outcome of the first CCS-related research in Guangdong, which is aiming for preliminary assessment on the feasibility of CCS development in Guangdong. The main objective of the study is to characterize the industrial CO2 emissions and understand its CCS prospects. Coal-fired power plants in Guangdong are the major point sources, contributing to more than 90% of CO2 emissions from the electric power generation. The power plants are mainly located in the Pearl River Delta, while the newly built and projected large plants are mainly located in eastern coastal zone, which provides a great potential for CO2 capture. For the storage potential, there are six sedimentary basins in or around Guangdong with effective storage capacity of 568 GtCO2. Since the onshore storage capacity in Guangdong is limited, the northern portion of the Pear River Mouth Basin (PRMB) was considered the most promising choice for Guangdong to storage CO2. By considering the distance between source and sink, technology maturity, land resources and other factors, it can be concluded that in the short term the power plants under construction and projected located in the eastern coastal areas will be the most promising resources for CO2 capture and the corresponding storage sites are the existing oil/gas fields which located in the northeast of PRMB. But in the long term, as technologies and the international carbon market mature, the extensively retrofitting of existing coal-fired power plants in the Pearl River Delta region with CO2 capture will become possible. In order to promote the development of CCS in Guangdong, more basic investigation and policy research are necessary in the coming years

Strawberry Mixed Gel 3D Printing Formula Optimization

In order to improve the utilization rate of strawberry tail fruit and expand the product categories of strawberry processing, strawberry pulping was combined with xanthan gum and carrageenan to form a base material suitable for 3D printing. The optimal formula of strawberry mixed gel 3D printing was obtained by using single factor and response surface optimization experiments. The results showed that: The influence of different raw materials on the printing accuracy was in the order of K-carrageenan>strawberry pulp>xanthan gum, and the optimal process formula was strawberry pulp additive amount of 40 g, xanthan gum additive amount of 2 g, K-carrageenan additive amount of 3 g. Under this condition, the printing accuracy of strawberry 3D printing products was 98.39%, and strawberry 3D printing products were most consistent with the set model (cube: The upper side length was 15 mm, the lower side length was 15 mm, the height was 15 mm), at this time, the material could be well extruded and the support capacity was the best

A Comprehensive Analysis of the Association Between SNCA Polymorphisms and the Risk of Parkinson's Disease

Background: Various studies have reported associations between synuclein alpha (SNCA) polymorphisms and Parkinson's disease (PD) risk. However, the results are inconsistent. We conducted a comprehensive meta-analysis of the associations between SNCA single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and PD risk in overall populations and subpopulations by ethnicity.Methods: Standard meta-analysis was conducted according to our protocol with a cutoff point of p < 0.05. To find the most relevant SNCA SNPs, we used a cutoff point of p < 1 × 10−5 in an analysis based on the allele model. In the subgroup analysis by ethnicity, we divided the overall populations into five ethnic groups. We conducted further analysis on the most relevant SNPs using dominant and recessive models to identify the contributions of heterozygotes and homozygotes regarding each SNP.Results: In our comprehensive meta-analysis, 24,075 cases and 22,877 controls from 36 articles were included. We included 16 variants in the meta-analysis and found 12 statistically significant variants with p < 0.05. After narrowing down the variants using the p < 1 × 10−5 cutoff, in overall populations, seven SNPs increased the risk of PD (rs2736990, rs356220, rs356165, rs181489, rs356219, rs11931074, and rs2737029, with odds ratios [ORs] of 1.22–1.38) and one SNP decreased the risk (rs356186, with an OR of 0.77). In the East Asian group, rs2736990 and rs11931074 increased the risk (with ORs of 1.22–1.34). In the European group, five SNPs increased the risk (rs356219, rs181489, rs2737029, rs356165, and rs11931074, with ORs of 1.26–1.37) while one SNP decreased the risk (rs356186, with an OR of 0.77). The heterozygotes and homozygotes contributed differently depending on the variant.Conclusions: In summary, we found eight SNCA SNPs associated with PD risk, which had obvious differences between ethnicities. Seven SNPs increased the risk of PD and one SNP decreased the risk in the overall populations. In the East Asian group, rs2736990 and rs11931074 increased the risk. In the European group, rs356219, rs181489, rs2737029, rs356165, and rs11931074 increased the risk while rs356186 decreased the risk. Variants with the highest ORs and allele frequencies in our analysis should be given priority when carrying out genetic screening

Flexibility evaluation of psammophytes using Young’s modulus based on 3D numerical simulation

Flexible psammophytes play an important role in controlling soil wind erosion and desertification, owing to their characteristics. Although flexibility of psammophytes has been considered in previous studies, the interaction between flexible psammophytes and the surrounding airflow field still remained unclear. In this study, we used the Young’s modulus to describe plant flexibility and conducted a 3D computational fluid dynamics simulation using a standard k-ε model and a fluid–structure interaction model. Taking Caragana korshinskii (Caragana), a typical psammophyte, as the research object, we constructed 3D geometric models with different diameters to simulate the airflow field around the flexible psammophytes. By comparing with the simulation results of rigid plants and simulation results of flexible plants at different wind speeds, we could verify the rationality of the simulation method. Based on the simulation results, the maximum swing amplitude of the model and the Young’s modulus were found to have a negative correlation, presenting an exponential functional relationship with good fitting. The relationship between the actual Young’s modulus of the plant branches and that of different diameter models in the numerical simulation was also established. This study is expected to improve our basic understanding of the interaction between flexible psammophytes and the surrounding airflow field, and provide some qualitative reference for the numerical simulation of the airflow field around flexible psammophytes

Factors Associated With Dyskinesia in Parkinson's Disease in Mainland China

Background and Objectives: Studies examining the risk factors for dyskinesia in Parkinson's disease (PD) have been inconsistent, and racial differences exist. Since there have been no systematic studies of the characteristics of dyskinesia in the Mainland Chinese population, we sought to elucidate the risk factors for dyskinesia.Methods: A total of 1974 PD patients from Mainland China were systematically investigated by univariable and multivariable analyses. PD patients with and without dyskinesia were stratified into 4 groups according to levodopa equivalent daily dose (LEDD) and analyzed by a Cox proportional hazards model. A longitudinal study of 87 patients with dyskinesia was classified into 3 groups according to the duration from onset of PD to the initiation of levodopa, and comparisons among groups were analyzed by the Mann-Whitney test.Results: Early age of onset, long disease duration, being female, high LEDD, low UPDRS III scores (ON-state) and high Hoehn-Yahr stage (ON-state) were predictors of dyskinesia. Dyskinesia was levodopa dosage-dependent, and the incidence increased remarkably when LEDD exceeded 300 mg/d (p < 0.05). The emergence of dyskinesia had no association with the initiation time of levodopa, and if the latter was more than 4 years, the duration of time on chronic levodopa free of motor complications was significantly shortened.Conclusions: We found risk factors for the prediction of dyskinesia. Our data shows that physicians should be cautious if the LEDD exceeds 300 mg/d. The development of dyskinesia was not correlated with the time of levodopa initiation