Airport Development and Regional Economic Growth in China

Air transport has experienced phenomenal growth in China over the last 30 years, but studies on China’s airport development are few. This paper aims to fill in this literature gap by focusing on the determinants of airport development in the Chinese regions using the most up-to-day and comprehensive data on China’s airports and their related economic and geographical variables. The empirical results based on an augmented production function indicate that airport development is positively related with economic growth, industrial structure, population density, and openness, but negatively related with ground transportation. The growth of airport transportation in the eastern region is slower than in the inland areas, implying a more significant substitution effect of air transport on ground transport in the less densely populated areas, irrespective of economic activities. The results have useful policy implications as any regional transportation development plan has to simultaneously consider the competitive and supplementary effects of both air and land transports in a specific location.Airport Development, Regional Economic Growth, China

Conflict over mining in rural China: a comprehensive survey of intentions and strategies for environmental activism

Mining causes severe adverse effects such as pollution and forced resettlement. Accordingly, it has prompted conflicts that are also evident in China. Our study assesses whether and how rural residents’ engage in environmental activism (EA) against mining. This is achieved by constructing a model of EA strategies, coupled to variables that examine respondents’ intentions. The model uses data from a survey (n = 352) covering 37 villages spread over 5 provinces and 1 provincial-level municipality. The model is based on a refinement of the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Various findings are reported: (1) a majority of respondents (77%) believes that pollution in the mining areas is serious; (2) there is pessimism about the effects of EA with 41% believing it does not improve the environment, and less than one-fifth feeling the government supports EA, contradictorily; (3) well over half has engaged in one or more forms of EA, while (4) dominant EA strategies consist of complaining to local government or village authorities (both over 40%), or open protest (opted for by over 17%); (5) economic dependency and gender affect the intention for EA, as those employed in mining and women are less inclined to participate. Whereas studies pointed to “inclined abstainers” or the “silent majority”, this study ascertains that—with regard to mining—rural residents are not silent. We posit that a threshold of environmental endurance might have been reached. In this context, policymakers need to tackle the adverse effects of mining, as it is likely to generate more violent confrontations that ultimately pose risks to political credibility and social stability

Mining institutions, contention and credibility: Applying the Conflict Analysis Model to court cases in China

Abstract(#br)China features a fast-growing mining industry with mounting environmental problems. This study examines the dilemmas posed by this growth from the perspective of credibility and conflict. In doing so, we assess the source of, and actors, timing, intensity, and outcomes linked to, mining-related conflicts using the Conflict Analysis Model. Based on a set of court decisions (n = 123), conflicts can be grouped according to: 1) land acquisition; and 2) mining-induced land subsidence. We ascertain that conflicts linked to land acquisition feature low intensity; revolve around disagreement over (illegal) land rents (instead of legally required expropriation); and are between villages/farmers versus mining companies. However, conflicts over land subsidence are high intensity; revolve around compensation; and are between farmers and government. It is concluded that the institutions governing the mining sector are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, rules on land acquisition and lease function as an ‘empty institution’ as rural land is illegally leased to mining companies rather than formally expropriated. This situation facilitates mineral exploitation while gaining credibility from a collusion of government, companies, villages, and farmers. Contrarily, the rules on land subsidence generate significant conflict amongst the rural populace and call for greater involvement of the central government

Low-Rank Representation for Incomplete Data

Low-rank matrix recovery (LRMR) has been becoming an increasingly popular technique for analyzing data with missing entries, gross corruptions, and outliers. As a significant component of LRMR, the model of low-rank representation (LRR) seeks the lowest-rank representation among all samples and it is robust for recovering subspace structures. This paper attempts to solve the problem of LRR with partially observed entries. Firstly, we construct a nonconvex minimization by taking the low rankness, robustness, and incompletion into consideration. Then we employ the technique of augmented Lagrange multipliers to solve the proposed program. Finally, experimental results on synthetic and real-world datasets validate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method

The Anyang Esophageal Cancer Cohort Study: Study Design, Implementation of Fieldwork, and Use of Computer-Aided Survey System

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) has been observed repeatedly in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) tissues. However, the causal relationship between HPV infection and the onset of ESCC remains unknown. A large cohort study focusing on this topic is being carried out in rural Anyang, China. Methodology/Principal Findings: The Anyang Esophageal Cancer Cohort Study (AECCS) is a population-based prospective endoscopic cohort study designed to investigate the association of HPV infection and ESCC. This paper provides information regarding the design and implementation of this study. In particular we describe the recruitment strategies and quality control procedures which have been put into place, and the custom designed computer-aided survey system (CASS) used for this project. This system integrates barcode technology and unique identification numbers, and has been developed to facilitate real-time data management throughout the workflow using a wireless local area network. A total of 8,112 (75.3%) of invited subjects participated in the baseline endoscopic examination; of those invited two years later to take part in the first cycle of follow-up, 91.9 % have complied. Conclusions/Significance: The AECCS study has high potential for evaluating the causal relationship between HPV infection and the occurrence of ESCC. The experience in setting up the AECCS may be beneficial for others planning to initiate simila

Research on a UAV spray system combined with grid atomized droplets

BackgroundsUAVs for crop protection hold significant potential for application in mountainous orchard areas in China. However, certain issues pertaining to UAV spraying need to be addressed for further technological advancement, aimed at enhancing crop protection efficiency and reducing pesticide usage. These challenges include the potential for droplet drift, limited capacity for pesticide solution. Consequently, efforts are required to overcome these limitations and optimize UAV spraying technology.MethodsIn order to balance high deposition and low drift in plant protection UAV spraying, this study proposes a plant protection UAV spraying method. In order to study the operational effects of this spraying method, this study conducted a UAV spray and grid impact test to investigate the effects of different operational parameters on droplet deposition and drift. Meanwhile, a spray model was constructed using machine learning techniques to predict the spraying effect of this method.Results and discussionThis study investigated the droplet deposition rate and downwind drift rate on three types of citrus trees: traditional densely planted trees, dwarf trees, and hedged trees, considering different particle sizes and UAV flight altitudes. Analyzing the effect of increasing the grid on droplet coverage and deposition density for different tree forms. The findings demonstrated a significantly improved droplet deposition rate on dwarf and hedged citrus trees compared to traditional densely planted trees and adopting a fixed-height grid increased droplet coverage and deposition density for both the densely planted and trellised citrus trees, but had the opposite effect on dwarfed citrus trees. When using the grid system. Among the factors examined, the height of the sampling point exhibited the greatest influence on the droplet deposition rate, whereas UAV flight height and droplet particle size had no significant impact. The distance in relation to wind direction had the most substantial effect on droplet drift rate. In terms of predicting droplet drift rate, the BP neural network performed inadequately with a coefficient of determination of 0.88. Conversely, REGRESS, ELM, and RBFNN yielded similar and notably superior results with a coefficient of determination greater than 0.95. Notably, ELM demonstrated the smallest root mean square error

Hyponatremia in Children With Bacterial Meningitis

Background: Hyponatremia has frequently been described as a common complication associated with bacterial meningitis, though its frequency and clinical course in children with bacterial meningitis are unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the frequency, clinical characteristics, and prognosis associated with pediatric hyponatremia due to bacterial meningitis.Methods: We performed a retrospective review of children with bacterial meningitis provided with standard care. One hundred seventy-five children were included. We documented all participants' symptoms and signs, laboratory and microbiological data, radiological findings, and complications that occurred during their hospital admission. Disease severity was determined using the maximum Pediatric Cerebral Performance Category (PCPC) and minimum Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS). Residual deficits were assessed using PCPC at discharge.Results: Hyponatremia (<135 mmol/L) was seen in 116 (66.4%) of the patients assessed and was classified as mild (130–135 mmol/L) in 77, moderate (125–129 mmol/L) in 26, and severe (<125 mmol/L) in 13. Hyponatremia was associated with a shorter duration of symptoms before admission, higher CSF white cell counts, and a longer duration of hospitalization. Moderate and severe hyponatremia were associated with an increase in convulsions, impaired consciousness, altered CSF protein levels, higher maximum PCPC scores, and lower minimum GCS scores. Severe hyponatremia was further associated with the development of systemic complications including shock, multiple organ dysfunction syndrome, respiratory failure requiring mechanical ventilation, and an increase in poor outcome (PCPC ≥ 2). Hyponatremia was not associated with the development of neurologic complications. Logistic regression analyses revealed that convulsions (OR 12.09, 95% CI 2.63–56.84) and blood glucose levels > 6.1 mmol/L (OR 8.28, 95% CI 1.65–41.60) predicted severe hyponatremia.Conclusion: Hyponatremia occurred in 66.4% of the assessed pediatric bacterial meningitis patients. Moderate and severe hyponatremia affected the severity of pediatric bacterial meningitis. Only severe hyponatremia affected the short-term prognosis of patients with pediatric bacterial meningitis. We recommend that patients with pediatric bacterial meningitis who exhibit convulsions and increased blood glucose levels should be checked for severe hyponatremia. Further studies are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment of hyponatremia

The MBD7 complex promotes expression of methylated transgenes without significantly altering their methylation status.

DNA methylation is associated with gene silencing in eukaryotic organisms. Although pathways controlling the establishment, maintenance and removal of DNA methylation are known, relatively little is understood about how DNA methylation influences gene expression. Here we identified a METHYL-CpG-BINDING DOMAIN 7 (MBD7) complex in Arabidopsis thaliana that suppresses the transcriptional silencing of two LUCIFERASE (LUC) reporters via a mechanism that is largely downstream of DNA methylation. Although mutations in components of the MBD7 complex resulted in modest increases in DNA methylation concomitant with decreased LUC expression, we found that these hyper-methylation and gene expression phenotypes can be genetically uncoupled. This finding, along with genome-wide profiling experiments showing minimal changes in DNA methylation upon disruption of the MBD7 complex, places the MBD7 complex amongst a small number of factors acting downstream of DNA methylation. This complex, however, is unique as it functions to suppress, rather than enforce, DNA methylation-mediated gene silencing

Case Report: Mycobacterium kansasii causing infective endocarditis explored by metagenomic next-generation sequencing

In this report, we describe the first case of infective endocarditis caused by Mycobacterium kansasii in a 45-year-old male patient who presented with a 10-day fever and decompensated cirrhosis. Despite negative results in blood culture and pathology, we employed metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) to analyze the genome sequences of both the host and microbe. The copy number variation (CNV) indicated a high risk of liver disease in the patient, which correlated with biochemical examination findings. Notably, M. kansasii sequences were detected in peripheral blood samples and confirmed through Sanger sequencing. Unfortunately, the patient’s condition deteriorated, leading to his demise prior to heart surgery. Nevertheless, we propose that mNGS could be a novel approach for diagnosing M. kansasii infection, particularly in cases where blood culture and pathology results are unavailable. It is important to consider M. kansasii infection as a potential cause of endocarditis and initiate appropriate anti-infection treatment