Poverty Problems in an Exhausted Mining City : Lessons from the Transformation of the Industrial Structure at Fuxin, Liaoning

鉱山資源に依存して発展してきた地方で資源の枯渇に直面したとき、労働者の失業が起き、地域経済の衰退で再就職も困難ということになると貧困問題が発生する。本稿では大規模な露天掘り炭鉱が枯渇し、残る炭鉱も枯渇が近づいている遼寧省阜新市における貧困問題を取り上げた。阜新市では2011年時点で人口の16.6%が生活保護の対象となるなど貧困問題は深刻だが、地元政府は産業構造の転換によって貧困問題の解消を図ってきた。国内の有力な食品加工企業の誘致による農業と畜産業の振興、観光業の振興、不動産開発などが推進されている。The exhaustion of mining resources may result in mass unemployment in mining cities. If the local economy depends heavily on mining, the exhaustion may even lead to poverty. This paper deals with the poverty problems caused by the exhaustion of coal resources at Fuxin, Liaoning, a city which has depended heavily on coal mining. Fuxin faces serious poverty problems, with 16.6 percent of the local population on welfare as of 2011. The Fuxin municipal government has been trying to tackle poverty by changing the industrial structure. Through the introduction of food processing industry, the city has tried to stimulate the development of local agriculture and husbandry. Tourism and real estate are also the focuses of local development.特集　中国の地域経済問

μ3-Iodo-tri-μ3-sulfido-sulfidotris[tris­(4-methoxy­phen­yl)phosphine-κP]tri­copper(I)tungsten(VI) N,N-dimethyl­formide solvate

A new W/S/Cu cluster, [Cu3WIS4(C21H21O3P)3]·C3H7NO, was formed by the reaction of ammonium tetra­thio­tungstate(VI), cuprous iodide and tris­(4-methoxy­phen­yl)phosphine in N,N-dimethyl­formamide. The title compound exhibits a heavily distorted cubane-like skeleton in which the average Cu—I, Cu—S and W—μ3-S distances are 2.934, 2.302 and 2.249 Å, respectively. The W atom exhibits tetrahedral geometry, formed by three μ3-S and one terminal S atom; the W—S(terminal) bond length is 2.1426 (13) Å. Each Cu atom is coordinated by one P atom from a tris­(4-methoxy­phen­yl)phosphine (mop), two μ3-S and one μ3-I atom, forming a distorted tetra­hedral coordination geometry. Some of the mop ligand methyl groups have large librations. Together with the three neutral mop ligands, the title compound is neutral; this contrasts with the all-halogen-coordinated Mo/S/Ag clusters with the same structure, which carry negative charge

A Neuroimaging Marker Based on Diffusion Tensor Imaging and Cognitive Impairment Due to Cerebral White Matter Lesions

Background: The peak width of skeletonized mean diffusivity (PSMD) is a new, fully automated, robust imaging marker for cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), strongly associated with processing speed. However, it has never been applied to cerebral white matter lesions (WMLs). Our study aimed to investigate the correlation between PSMD and cognition, particularly in the executive function of patients with WMLs.Methods: A total of 111 WML patients and 50 healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled, and their demographic information and cardiovascular disease risk factors were recorded. Subjects were divided into three groups: WMLs with normal cognition (WMLs-NC), WMLs with vascular cognitive impairment (WMLs-VCI), and HCs. They underwent conventional head magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), followed by neuropsychological and psychological examinations, including the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), and the executive function tests. We compared executive function and PSMD among the three groups and analyzed the correlation between PSMD and cognitive function in all subjects.Results: There were no significant differences in demographic characteristics (age, sex, education level, and cardiovascular disease risk factors) among the three groups (P > 0.05), but there were significant differences in global cognition (P < 0.0001), executive function (P < 0.0001), and PSMD (P < 0.0001). The average PSMD value (×10−4 mm2/s) was 2.40 ± 0.23, 2.68 ± 0.30, and 4.51 ± 0.39 in the HC, WMLs-NC, and WMLs-VCI groups, respectively. There was no correlation between PSMD and cognition in the HC group, but PSMD was significantly correlated with MoCA scores (r = −0.3785, P < 0.0001) and executive function (r = −0.4744, P < 0.0001) in the WMLs-NC group and in the WMLs-VCI group (r = −0.4448, P < 0.0001 and r = −0.6279, P < 0.0001, respectively).Conclusions: WML patients have higher PSMD and worse cognitive performance than HCs, and PSMD is strongly associated with global cognition and executive functions in WML patients. This result provides new insights into the pathophysiology of cognitive impairment in WML patients. PSMD could be a surrogate marker for disease progression and could thus be used in therapeutic trials involving WML patients

Pituitary tumor transforming gene-1 haplotypes and risk of pituitary adenoma: a case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>It has been suggested that pituitary adenoma results from accumulation of multiple genetic and/or epigenetic aberrations, which may be identified through association studies. As pituitary tumor transforming gene-1 (<it>PTTG1</it>)/securin plays a critical role in promoting genomic instability in pituitary neoplasia, the present study explored the association of <it>PTTG1 </it>haplotypes with the risk of pituitary adenoma.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We genotyped five <it>PTTG1 </it>haplotype-tagging SNPs (htSNP) by PCR-RFLP assays in a case-control study, which included 280 Han Chinese patients diagnosed with pituitary adenoma and 280 age-, gender- and geographically matched Han Chinese controls. Haplotypes were reconstructed according to the genotyping data and linkage disequilibrium status of the htSNPs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No significant differences in allele and genotype frequencies of the htSNPs were observed between pituitary adenoma patients and controls, indicating that none of the individual <it>PTTG1 </it>SNPs examined in this study is associated with the risk of pituitary adenoma. In addition, no significant association was detected between the reconstructed <it>PTTG1 </it>haplotypes and pituitary adenoma cases or the controls.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Though no significant association was found between <it>PTTG1 </it>haplotypes and the risk of pituitary adenoma, this is the first report on the association of individual <it>PTTG1 </it>SNPs or <it>PTTG1 </it>haplotypes with the risk of pituitary adenoma based on a solid study; it will provide an important reference for future studies on the association between genetic alterations in <it>PTTG1 </it>and the risk of pituitary adenoma or other tumors.</p

Nanoporous structures with Fe

Fe-based amorphous alloy was widely concerned in the field of wastewater treatment because of its nanoporous structure, which has higher reactivity activity. However, as it is easy to get oxidative poisoning, its long-term reactivity activity is restricted. A uniform nanoporous layer has been synthesized by mechanical attrition and dealloying on the surface of Fe76Si9B10P5 amorphous alloy powders in this work. In the test of catalytic performance, due to nanoporous structure, Fe0/FeⅡ/FeⅢ are involved in the Fenton process at the same time. The Fenton reaction was further catalyzed to generate more active group  · OH; therefore, the degradation rate reaches 99.8% within 60 min. This coexistence of Fe0/FeII/FeIII persisted after five cycles of the catalytic reaction, indicating the excellent catalytic stability of the catalyst. Using this tunable pretreatment method for surface activation, novel applications for metallic glasses can be developed

Impact of high-speed rail on tourism in China

The “time-space compression” effect of high-speed rail (HSR) has effectively improved the accessibility of the cities and has had a profound impact on tourism. This study explores the impact of HSR on tourism development in cities along HSR lines from the perspective of transfer of transport advantages, then evaluates the impact of HSR on tourism development using panel data of 286 cities in China from 2005 to 2013 by the difference-in-differences (DID) method. The empirical results show that the opening of HSR has significantly increased the tourism revenue and tourist arrivals. These results are still holds after considering endogenous HSR lines placement, and by various robustness checks. Further analysis of nodal effect shows that node cities experienced greater growth in tourism revenue than non-node cities. The analysis of mechanism found that tourism development in node cities relied on hotel industry, while tourism development in non-node cities relied on scenic spots industry. The findings of this study validate the role of HSR as a catalyst for urban tourism development, and reveal the comparative advantages of tourism in different cities under the influence of HSR. This study has important reference value for the development of tourism industry policies in cities along and around HSR lines

Recent applications of fluorescent nanodiamonds containing nitrogen-vacancy centers in biosensing

Fluorescent nanodiamonds (FNDs) with nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers have been extensively studied in numerous fields because of their distinct magneto-optical properties. The NV center is a perfect candidate for a nanosensor because of its stable photoluminescence and manipulable spin state by microwave/magnetic field. Considering the controllable sizes (5–100 nm), abundant surface groups, and good biocompatibility, FNDs are valuable in biosensing to study the physiological activity at the cellular scale. This review summarizes the recent applications of FNDs in detecting physiological parameters (such as temperature, pH) as well as proteins, free radicals, viruses, etc. Highlights include the development of FND-based biosensors and the NV center transduction system that responds to signal changes or concentrations fluctuations of target species

The mechanism of HSR impact on tourism development.

The mechanism of HSR impact on tourism development.</p