This paper examines the role played by tourism in affecting cultural identity and place attachment among members of the North American Chinese diaspora who travel to China. Previous literature ...portrays diaspora tourists as homogeneous and suggests that home return travel engenders broadly similar impacts on the individual. This study reveals diasporic communities are quite diverse and complex. Five types of diaspora tourist are identified, each having distinct travel motives, experiences, migration backgrounds, cultural identities and place attachments. The consequences of diaspora tourism particularly in terms of place attachment and cultural identity are further discussed, as home return travel induces positive, neutral and negative reactions.
•This research examines the impact of diasporic travel on one's place attachment and cultural identity.•Opinions from different generations of Chinese diaspora tourists from North America are considered.•A highly-explorative qualitative research design is adopted.•Five discrete types of diaspora tourists and their respective characteristics are outlines.•Consequences and outcomes of diasporic return are further discussed.
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•Smelting plants cause heavy vanadium pollution in local area.•Vanadium pollution posed serious impact on soil microbes over multiple gradients.•Vanadium(V)-reducing related bacteria ...might play a core role in community response.•Relation between vanadium(V)-reducing related bacteria and vanadium was explored.
The mining and smelting of navajoite has resulted in a serious vanadium pollution in regional geological environments and significant influence on soil microorganisms. However, the core microbiome responsible for adjusting community response to vanadium pollution and the driving pattern have been kept unclear. In this study, a suite of surface and profile soil samples over multiple gradients were collected in four directions and distances of 10–2000 m from a vanadium smelting plant in Panzhihua, China. The indigenous microbial communities and vanadium(V)-reducing related bacteria (VRB) were profiled by 16S rRNA gene high-throughput sequencing technique. Five VRB were detected in the original collected soil samples including Bacillus, Geobacter, Clostridium, Pseudomonas and Comamonadaceae based on high-throughput sequencing data analysis, and their abundances were significantly related with the content of vanadium. Low vanadium concentration promoted the growth of VRB, while high vanadium concentration would inhibit VRB multiplication. The Gaussian equation could be used to quantitatively describe the nonlinear relationship between VRB and vanadium. Network analysis demonstrated that the microbial communities were significantly influenced by VRB assemblage, and 1.32–52.77% of microbes in the community showed a close association with VRB. A laboratory incubation experiment also confirmed the core role of VRB to drive community response to vanadium pressure.
Increasing feed grain supply, particularly domestic supply, is intended to guarantee feed grain security and, as a result, food security. Based on the Global Agro-Ecological Zones (GAEZ) model, the ...potential yield and actual yield of feed and food grain in China were estimated. According to the theory of factor endowment, the yield potential development coefficient and the yield efficiency advantage index were then constructed to determine whether the current spatial layout of feed grain is reasonable and how it could be adjusted. The results showed that: (1) There was an imbalance in feed crops production: yield loss in high-potential regions and excessive development in low-potential regions. The imbalances lead to a mismatch between feed production and resource endowment which causes productivity losses and ecological risks. (2) There was considerable potential for increasing the feed grain yield on the Northeast China Plain, the Loess Plateau and in the northern arid and semiarid region. The soybean yield can be increased by about 25%, and the maize yield can be increased by even more. (3) The feed grain should be planted in regions with sufficient potential yield but insufficient actual yield; 26.42% of China’s soybeans and 34.74% of its maize were planted in these regions. (4) Some 16.69% and 15.65% of wheat and rice planting areas could be adjusted to soybeans, respectively; 20.76% and 21.04% of wheat and rice planting areas could be adjusted to maize, respectively. Through agricultural technology research and development, infrastructure support, comprehensive planning design and policy design, the yield potentials of feed grain can be realized. This will redress the imbalance wherein a food grain surplus and a feed grain shortage coexist.
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•Green and Facile Synthesis of fluorescent quantum yield Nitrogen-doped carbon dots (N-CDs).•N-CDs exhibit excellent biocompatibility, low-toxicity, and satisfactory chemical ...stability.•N-CDs have been applied in Fe3+ sensing, cell multicolor imaging.
Herein, a simple, green, and low-cost way was developed in the synthesis of fluorescent carbon dots (CDs) with well-distributed size, using one-pot hydrothermal treatment of rose-heart radish. The as-prepared carbon dots exhibit exceptional advantages including high fluorescent quantum yield (13.6%), excellent biocompatibility, low-toxicity, and satisfactory chemical stability. More strikingly, as-synthesized N-CDs generate strong response to Fe3+ ions and gives rise to the fluorescence quenching. This phenomenon was used to develop a fluorescent method for facile detection of Fe3+ with a linear range from 0.02 to 40μM and a detection limit of 0.13μM (S/N=3), and further extended to measure environmental water samples with satisfactory recoveries. Eventually, the low toxicity and strongly fluorescent carbon dots were applied for cell imaging and the quenched fluorescence by adding Fe3+, demonstrating their potential towards diverse applications.
Elevated levels of fine particulate matter <2.5
m in aerodynamic diameter (PM
) are associated with increased risk of cardiovascular outcomes and death, but their association with risk of CKD and ...ESRD is unknown. We linked the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Veterans Affairs databases to build an observational cohort of 2,482,737 United States veterans, and used survival models to evaluate the association of PM
concentrations and risk of incident eGFR <60 ml/min per 1.73 m
, incident CKD, eGFR decline ≥30%, and ESRD over a median follow-up of 8.52 years. County-level exposure was defined at baseline as the annual average PM
concentrations in 2004, and separately as time-varying where it was updated annually and as cohort participants moved. In analyses of baseline exposure (median, 11.8 interquartile range, 10.1-13.7
g/m
), a 10-
g/m
increase in PM
concentration was associated with increased risk of eGFR<60 ml/min per 1.73 m
(hazard ratio HR, 1.21; 95% confidence interval 95% CI, 1.14 to 1.29), CKD (HR, 1.27; 95% CI, 1.17 to 1.38), eGFR decline ≥30% (HR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.18 to 1.39), and ESRD (HR, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.17 to 1.35). In time-varying analyses, a 10-
g/m
increase in PM
concentration was associated with similarly increased risk of eGFR<60 ml/min per 1.73 m
, CKD, eGFR decline ≥30%, and ESRD. Spline analyses showed a linear relationship between PM
concentrations and risk of kidney outcomes. Exposure estimates derived from National Aeronautics and Space Administration satellite data yielded consistent results. Our findings demonstrate a significant association between exposure to PM
and risk of incident CKD, eGFR decline, and ESRD.
High‐entropy materials refer to a kind of materials in which five or more metal species were incorporated deliberately into a single lattice with random occupancy. Up to now, such a concept has been ...only restricted to hard materials, such as high‐entropy alloys and ceramics. Herein we report the synthesis of hybrid high‐entropy materials, polymetallic zeolitic imidazolate framework (also named as high‐entropy zeolitic imidazolate framework, HE‐ZIF), via entropy‐driven room‐temperature mechanochemistry. HE‐ZIF contains five metals including ZnII, CoII, CdII, NiII, and CuII which are dispersed in the ZIF structure randomly. Moreover, HE‐ZIF shows enhanced catalytic conversion of CO2 into carbonate compared with ZIF‐8 presumably a result of the synergistic effect of the five metal ions as Lewis acid in epoxide activation.
Give me five: The synthesis of a hybrid high‐entropy material, a polymetallic zeolitic imidazolate framework (also named a high‐entropy zeolitic imidazolate framework, HE‐ZIF), is made possible by entropy‐driven room‐temperature mechanochemistry. HE‐ZIF contains five metals which are dispersed in the ZIF structure randomly and can be used for conversion of CO2 into carbonate.
With the rapid development of Chinese economy, many negative effects of land use transitions under the pressure of rapid urbanization on local ecological system and environment have occurred. This ...paper examines the dynamic patterns of land use in Tianjin Binhai New Area experienced rapid urbanization, using high-resolution Landsat TM (Thematic Mapper) data in 1985, 1995, 2005 and 2010, and socio-economic data from both research institutes and government departments, and assesses the changes of ecosystem services value (ESV) by drawing a connection between the observed land use dynamics and the evaluation of ESV, based on the latest research of Costanza et al. (2014) and some revisions adapted to the situation of China. The outcomes indicated that, during the period 1985–2010, ESV of the study area decreased by 25.9%, from 12,194 to 9037 billion RMB¥, due to the losses of large quantities of ecological land (e.g., farmland and water body) to construction land. Then, some of the major implications for improving the urban planning of Tianjin Binhai New Area were discussed. The authors argue that it is fundamental to meet the demand of construction land for socio-economic development, meanwhile protect regional ecosystem services function and maintain its stability; only in this way can the new developing area of China realize the sustainable use of ecological resources in the process of rapid urbanization, as well as the integration of economic, social and ecological benefits.
•Land use transitions due to rapid urbanization brought about negative effects on local ecological system.•The ecosystem services value of Tianjin Binhai New Area has decreased substantially since the mid-1980s.•It is fundamental to meet the demand for socio-economic development with minimum loss of regional ecosystem services function.•Improved urban planning may ensure the building of an ecological livable new developing area.
The last quarter century witnessed significant population growth, aging, and major changes in epidemiologic trends, which may have shaped the state of chronic kidney disease (CKD) epidemiology. Here, ...we used the Global Burden of Disease study data and methodologies to describe the change in burden of CKD from 1990 to 2016 involving incidence, prevalence, death, and disability-adjusted-life-years (DALYs). Globally, the incidence of CKD increased by 89% to 21,328,972 (uncertainty interval 19,100,079– 23,599,380), prevalence increased by 87% to 275,929,799 (uncertainty interval 252,442,316–300,414,224), death due to CKD increased by 98% to 1,186,561 (uncertainty interval 1,150,743–1,236,564), and DALYs increased by 62% to 35,032,384 (uncertainty interval 32,622,073–37,954,350). Measures of burden varied substantially by level of development and geography. Decomposition analyses showed that the increase in CKD DALYs was driven by population growth and aging. Globally and in most Global Burden of Disease study regions, age-standardized DALY rates decreased, except in High-income North America, Central Latin America, Oceania, Southern Sub-Saharan Africa, and Central Asia, where the increased burden of CKD due to diabetes and to a lesser extent CKD due to hypertension and other causes outpaced burden expected by demographic expansion. More of the CKD burden (63%) was in low and lower-middle-income countries. There was an inverse relationship between age-standardized CKD DALY rate and health care access and quality of care. Frontier analyses showed significant opportunities for improvement at all levels of the development spectrum. Thus, the global toll of CKD is significant, rising, and unevenly distributed; it is primarily driven by demographic expansion and in some regions a significant tide of diabetes. Opportunities exist to reduce CKD burden at all levels of development.
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