Visual Preference Analysis and Planning Responses Based on Street View Images: A Case Study of Gulangyu Island, China

The features of a street environment play an essential role in human behavior, but predicting the preferred environment becomes challenging for city planning. This paper takes Gulangyu Island as an example and examines tourists’ visual preferences through street view images and a stated preference survey. Based on the findings, planning responses were proposed to provide references for improving tourists’ visual perception of the street’s environment. The results show that tourists’ preferences for the street environment are significantly affected by visual features. From highest to lowest are variety, the green view index, crowdedness, sky openness, and enclosure. The green view index, sky openness, and variety positively affect the visual utility, while crowdedness and enclosure have a negative effect. Among them, variety has the most potent positive effect on visual preference, while crowdedness has the most substantial negative effect. Moreover, there is a balance between green view and enclosure that is affected by green plants, and when the enclosure value is too high, the marginal effect of the green view index will be less effective. Last, the streets with high visual utility have an ideal natural environment, spacious roads, an open sky, and limited architecture

Quality Analysis on Spatial Planning Pattern of Rural Area in Southern Shaanxi, China

There have been many studies that have only focused on factors affecting the spatial distribution of rural settlements, without paying attention to their function and scale. China’s mountainous rural area has many problems, such as a fragile ecological environment, poor infrastructure and limited public service facilities. As a result, mountainous rural settlements demonstrate a disorderly and scattered layout. This research takes southern Shaanxi as its research area and uses quantitative and qualitative analysis to analyze the field survey data, revealing the spatial format of rural settlements and its influencing factors. The research results show that: (1) The spatial structure of mountainous settlements can be summarized as falling into three types—agglomeration type, belt type, and dispersion type. The individual settlements are discrete, and the spatial structure of the settlement groups exhibits small-scale clustering in a large area. (2) The influencing factors of spatial structure are ranked thus—geomorphological conditions > population quantity > land use scale. (3) The number of settlements in the study area is constantly decreasing, and their boundaries are gradually shrinking, showing randomly distributed characteristics. (4) A radius of 284.12 m can be used as a measure of the development scope of the village to control the scope of settlement construction. The objective of the research is to classify the spatial structure and propose the most optimal spatial mode in mountainous rural areas

Behavioral Research in Construction Engineering Management: A Review from a Neuropsychological Perspective

In construction engineering, there are many interactive and decision-making behaviors which could affect the progress and final performance. Based on the people-oriented concept, managing construction engineering should not ignore the understanding of individual behavior, and neuropsychology provides a refined microscopic perspective. This paper employed a bibliometric analysis of 1254 studies from the Web of Science related to behavioral research in construction engineering management using VOSviewer and summarized the neuropsychological mechanisms and research methods of behavior by systematic review. This paper found that: (1) Neuropsychological mechanisms of behavior include basic mechanisms about the brain and function and range from sensory to decision processes. Core factors are the functional ingredients. (2) Behavior research in construction engineering management is turning to neuropsychological experiments. Understanding the complex correlation mechanisms are the research trends in recent years. (3) Construction engineering management studies provide the means and methods to improve the validity and efficiency of management in the construction industry. The results confirm the impact of sensory perception on behavior and managerial performance. (4) The research trend in this field in the future is multidisciplinary. In total, this paper provides a potential effective reference for improving the performance of construction engineering management, developing sustainable construction production and consumption, and building a people-oriented livable city

Determination of Sulfur in Different Types of Geochemical Samples by ICP-OES with Acid Dissolution and Combustion-Infrared Absorption Spectrometry

BACKGROUND： Inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and combustion-infrared absorption spectrometry are the most widely used methods to measure sulfur content in geological samples. The ICP-OES method has high sensitivity and good stability, but it is greatly affected by sample pretreatment and matrix interference. Combustion-infrared absorption spectrometry is convenient and efficient, but due to the interference of crystal water infrared absorption, the analysis of samples with low sulfur content has poor stability. OBJECTIVES： To study the application scope of the two methods in geological sample analysis. METHODS: The sulfur content of samples was determined by ICP-OES and combustion-infrared absorption spectrometry. The detection limit, detection range, precision, accuracy and analysis efficiency of the two methods was compared in order to study and understand the performance of the two methods in sulfur measurement of geological samples. RESULTS: The best test condition of combustion-infrared absorption spectrometry was determined thus: optimal sample weight of 0.0500g, combustion time of 25s, analysis time of 40s and oxygen analysis flow rate of 4.0L/min. The detection limit of combustion-infrared absorption spectrometry was 10×10-6 and the detection range was 10×10-6-470000×10-6. The accuracy relative standard deviation (RSD) of the method was less than 6% (n=12) and the absolute value of relative error was less than 8%. CONCLUSIONS: For the analysis of low-sulfur samples, ICP-OES method can be used to analyze or compare, and multi-element simultaneous measurement can be determined. Batch samples or samples with a complex matrix can be analyzed by combustion-infrared absorption spectrometry, which is more convenient and efficient

Quality Analysis on Spatial Planning Pattern of Rural Area in Southern Shaanxi, China

There have been many studies that have only focused on factors affecting the spatial distribution of rural settlements, without paying attention to their function and scale. China’s mountainous rural area has many problems, such as a fragile ecological environment, poor infrastructure and limited public service facilities. As a result, mountainous rural settlements demonstrate a disorderly and scattered layout. This research takes southern Shaanxi as its research area and uses quantitative and qualitative analysis to analyze the field survey data, revealing the spatial format of rural settlements and its influencing factors. The research results show that: (1) The spatial structure of mountainous settlements can be summarized as falling into three types—agglomeration type, belt type, and dispersion type. The individual settlements are discrete, and the spatial structure of the settlement groups exhibits small-scale clustering in a large area. (2) The influencing factors of spatial structure are ranked thus—geomorphological conditions > population quantity > land use scale. (3) The number of settlements in the study area is constantly decreasing, and their boundaries are gradually shrinking, showing randomly distributed characteristics. (4) A radius of 284.12 m can be used as a measure of the development scope of the village to control the scope of settlement construction. The objective of the research is to classify the spatial structure and propose the most optimal spatial mode in mountainous rural areas

A novel approach for amplification and purification of mouse oligodendrocyte progenitor cells

Although transgenic and knockout mice are widely used to study the specification and differentiation of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs), mouse primary OPCs are difficult to be purified and maintained, and many in vitro studies have to resort to rat OPCs as substitutes. In this study, we reported that mouse O4 negative early-stage OPCs can be obtained by culturing cortical tissue blocks, and the simultaneous treatment of OPCs with PDGFaa, bFGF and EGF is the key for the propagation of mouse OPCs in culture. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) was found to be a potent mitogen for OPCs and cooperate with Platelet Derived Growth Factor-AA (PDGFaa) to extend cell division and inhibit their differentiation. EGF also collaborates with PDGFaa and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) to convert bipolar or tripolar OPCs to more vital fibroblast-like OPCs without compromising their oligodendrocyte differentiation potential. In addition, EGF promoted the survival and proliferation of glial progenitor cells (GPCs) derived from primary OPC cultures, and a mixture of GPCs and OPCs can be obtained and propagated in the presence of EGF, bFGF and PDGFaa. Once EGF is withdrawn, GPC population decreased sharply and fibroblast-like OPCs changed into typical OPCs morphology, then homogeneous OPCs were obtained subsequently

Would You Accept Virtual Tourism? The Impact of COVID-19 Risk Perception on Technology Acceptance from a Comparative Perspective

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism industry and its stakeholders have tried to develop a new virtual tourism market, but its effectiveness remains to be tested. We proposed and tested a new measurement scale composed of ease of use, usefulness, autonomy, enjoyment, perceived risk of COVID-19, and attitude. In total, 274 questionnaires were collected by the purposive sampling method and 239 of them were valid, with 57 potential virtual tourists (who knew of but had not used VR in tourism) and 182 actual virtual tourists (who had experienced virtual tourism). Then, we used path analysis to test the hypothetical model and compared the results of two groups. The results show that (1) the popularity of virtual tourism is limited, (2) ease of use significantly affects usefulness and enjoyment for the two groups, (3) usefulness significantly affects autonomy and enjoyment for the two groups, (4) perceived risk of COVID-19 has a direct impact on the attitude towards virtual tourism for the two groups rather than a moderating role, and (5) expected ease of use has a significant effect on autonomy, and autonomy further influences enjoyment for potential tourists. This paper is an explorative attempt to explore virtual technology applied in tourism during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results provide theoretical contributions and practical implications for technology improvement, tourism marketing, and virtual tourism development

A review of the tools and techniques used in the digital preservation of architectural heritage within disaster cycles

Abstract Architectural heritage is vulnerable to disasters. Digital technologies can fight destruction and can ensure integrity by monitoring, managing and protecting architectural heritage from disasters. In this paper, we clarify the relationship between disasters, digitalization and architectural heritage conservation for the sustainability of cultural heritage. This study used the PRISMA process, and bibliometric tools VOSviewer and Citespace to explore the potential of digital technologies in the protection of architectural heritage—especially during disaster cycles, from the perspectives of both universal and typicality; the results revealed that digital twins, deep learning, and preventive conservation are currently hot topics in digital preservation research (especially that research which relates to disaster cycles). On this basis, this paper summarizes the relevant technologies involved in architectural heritage preservation from the perspective of the disaster cycle and the digital phase, and proposes three future research directions: accurate prediction of multi-disasters, automatic early warning of structural damages, and intelligent monitoring of human–computer interaction. This paper constructs a new research frame for digital preservation of architectural heritage during disasters, providing theoretical reference and practical guidance for architectural heritage conversation

ADAMTS4 Enhances Oligodendrocyte Differentiation and Remyelination by Cleaving NG2 Proteoglycan and Attenuating PDGFRα Signaling

Although NG2 is known to be selectively expressed in oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) for many years, its expressional regulation and functional involvement in oligodendrocyte differentiation have remained elusive. Here, we report that the surface-bound NG2 proteoglycan can physically bind to PDGF-AA and enhances PDGF receptor alpha (PDGFRα) activation of downstream signaling. During differentiation stage, NG2 protein is cleaved by A disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs type 4 (Adamts4), which is highly upregulated in differentiating OPCs but gradually downregulated in mature myelinating oligodendrocytes. Genetic ablation of Adamts4 gene impedes NG2 proteolysis, leading to elevated PDGFRα signaling but impaired oligodendrocyte differentiation and axonal myelination in both sexes of mice. Moreover, Adamts4 deficiency also lessens myelin repair in adult brain tissue following Lysophosphatidylcholine-induced demyelination. Thus, Adamts4 could be a potential therapeutic target for enhancing oligodendrocyte differentiation and axonal remyelination in demyelinating diseases. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: NG2 is selectively expressed in OPCs and downregulated during differentiation stage. To date, the molecular mechanism underlying the progressive removal of NG2 surface proteoglycan in differentiating OPCs has been unknown. In this study, we demonstrate that ADAMTS4 released by differentiating OPCs cleaves surface NG2 proteoglycan, attenuates PDGFRα signaling, and accelerates oligodendrocyte differentiation. In addition, our study also suggests ADAMTS4 as a potential therapeutic target for promoting myelin recovery in demyelinating diseases