Application In China Research Articles

Creation or disruption? Doubts from the internet applications in China's rural sector

To address the current large gap in research on the Internet applications in the Chinese rural sector, this paper explores the effect of these applications on the labor productivity of Chinese farmers from a creative destruction perspective. First, we construct a model to analyze the direct and indirect paths of the Internet applications impact on the productivity of farm households at the theoretical level; second, we conduct an empirical study corresponding to the theory based on micro-survey data obtained from China's first nationwide large-scale social survey project. Specifically, we verified the Internet applications direct effect on farm household labor productivity through the mean treatment effect approach and explored the efficiency and mechanism of action of the Internet productivity effect in the rural sector using the mediating effect model, Probit model, and the counterfactual analysis framework. The study finds that the productivity effect of the rural Internet applications still has a certain gap compared with the urban sector, although it is not at the "Solow's paradox" stage. Further discussion reveals that the Internet adoption in rural areas is a process of "creative destruction", and its destructive effects are dominant at this stage, while the creative effects still need to be further explored. This paper emphasizes that, for developing countries, accurately identifying the development stage of the Internet applications and further exploring its creative role is an important way to improve labor productivity in rural areas, and it is also an important step to promote the construction of digital villages.

The impact of air quality on innovation activities in China

Severe air quality hurts human capital and threatens innovative outcomes. Using unique data containing 12.8 million patent applications in China, this paper examines the causal effect of particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5) on patent innovation. We estimate a two-stage least square model with thermal inversion as an instrumental variable. Our findings show that a one μg/m3 increase in the annual average PM2.5 concentration leads to a 1.3% decrease in the number of patents. Annual fluctuations in PM2.5 concentration levels across cities caused the total number of patents to decrease by 1.1% during the 2006–2010 period. From 2011 to 2015, the improvement in air quality increased the number by about 2.0%. It demonstrates another innovation co-benefit of improving air quality due to the tightened regulation.

Glomalin-related soil proteins respond negatively to fertilization and fungicide application in China's arid grassland

Glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) are a glycoprotein mainly produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. GRSP are deposited in the soil after being released from AM fungal hyphae, and they are believed to improve soil health and carbon (C) storage. However, it is unclear how fertilizer and mycorrhiza suppression affect the content of easily extractable (EE-GRSP) and total glomalin-related protein (T-GRSP) in arid grassland soil. We conducted a 3-yr in situ study to determine the main and interactive effects of nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and fungicide (benomyl) addition on EE-GRSP and T-GRSP content in the soil of desert steppe in Northwest China. To further explore the mechanisms influencing GRSP content, the plant community, soil fertility and the AM fungal traits were also identified. Following 3 years of fertilizer and fungicide application, P addition had a negative influence on EE-GRSP content (−12.50%), whereas N addition had no significant effect. Fungicide application reduced EE-GRSP (−18.47%) and T-GRSP content (−18.36%) regardless of N and P addition. By altering the extraradical hyphal length of AM fungi, P and fungicide application decreased the EE-GRSP and T-GRSP content without affecting the vegetation or soil characteristics. Overall, this study provides insights into the dynamics of GRSP in response to soil nutrient enrichment and fungicide application in a resource-limited grassland ecosystem.

Thermal insulations under concepts of green building in China

In order to protect the environment in present-day society, green buildings are seen as an effective and logical solution. Insulating materials are frequently widely used in green buildings to reduce their energy dissipation. China, as a global power, is at the forefront of ecological development. This paper will focus on the study of thermal insulations in the context of green concepts, a specific analysis of their properties and examples of their application in China. It is found that most of the green developments lack economic support and therefore, insulation materials need to be developed in the direction of low cost and high efficiency and effectively reduce their harmful effects on the environment. Furthermore, the development of insulation materials in China should pay attention to geographical differences, i.e. the insulation materials that can be applied in different regions in the North and South are different. This study will facilitate the application of insulating materials in China's ecological development, reducing related energy losses and protecting the surrounding environment.

Teachers’ Perceptions of Communicative Language Teaching Approach in English Grammar Teaching

Over the decades, the reform and opening-up policy of the 1970s has pushed China to become increasingly connected to the world, leading to a growing demand for foreign exchange. The need for English language talents has promoted the transformation of teaching methods and reforms to the national curriculum. In the early 1980s, Communicative Language Teaching was introduced into the EFL setting in Chinese English classes. However, there is minimal time to practice speaking and communicating, and researchers have debated its applicability in China. This study aims to explore the effectiveness of Communicative Language Teaching in English grammar teaching in three public secondary schools; the current teaching environment affects its application, and the constraints that may prevent teachers from using it. Through semi-structured interviews, qualitative thematic data were collected from five English teachers working in three cities in Henan province. The results show that the uneven distribution of teachers between the capital city (Zhengzhou) and the other two prefecture-level cities (Xinmi and Xinxiang), the difference in the textbooks used, and the disparity in the English proficiency of the students led to five teachers’ different views on the feasibility of CLT. The findings will provide pedagogical insights for Chinese English teachers and contribute to the government’s efforts to improve Chinese public secondary schools’ teaching and learning environment.r

Safe on Blued? A Qualitative Exploration of Sex, Risk, and Stigma on a Gay Social Application in China

Introduction Mobile dating apps emerged with the development of technology, for example, Blued in China, becoming a new risk field for gay men in the AIDS era. Users use social apps to chat online and date offline to achieve the satisfaction of lust or sexual practice, but the risk of AID looms over the whole process of using apps. Methods Nineteen interviewees were invited to participate in this study, which included gay men who were using or had used Blued. The content of the semi-structured interviews focused on the relationship between gay social apps and HIV risk. Results The study finds Blued interweaved with sex, risk, and stigma. Blued is sexualized due to sexual intentions and practices. There is also a sexual stratification of risk with Blued and its users based on socioeconomic factors. Users experience a dilemma between pursuing sex while being concerned about latent risk within a context of stigmatization. Conclusions Blued is sexualized in terms of the process of stimulating sexual gratification and facilitating sexual practices. The experience of Blued is an example of sexual stratification, and a structure of desire based on app users and app uses. Furthermore, the social stigma against men who have sex with men is transferred to Blued, which bears the stigma of “AIDS-Blued” with a dual stigma—HIV-related and homosexual stigma. However, with the authorized approval of Blued in public health, Blued could play an essential role in HIV/AIDS prevention and control.

Microplastics in wastewater treatment plants and their contributions to surface water and farmland pollution in China

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are usually considered gateways for microplastics (MPs) to enter the environment because large amounts of sewage are produced and MPs are incompletely removed during treatment processes. However, the contribution of effluent MPs to aquatic environmental pollution and that of sludge application to MPs in agricultural soil are still unknown. This study examines the presence of MPs in sewage and sludge in Shenzhen WWTPs and estimates the annual mass loading of MPs from WWTPs to surface water and farmland soil in China. According to our results, for Shenzhen, the annual contribution of MPs from WWTPs (which was obtained by multiplying the annual treated sewage volume by the estimated MP density in the treated sewage) to surface water could be 70.6−302 tons. With a normalized extrapolation model of population density, the contribution of national urban WWTPs to MPs in surface water was estimated to be 734 −3.10 × 103 tons/year, of which 220−950 tons/year entered the marine environment. Furthermore, the riverine flux of MPs from WWTPs to the ocean amounts to at least 7.0%–30% based on the maximum value of WWTP contribution to MPs in surface water. For sludge, the potential contribution of MPs to agricultural soil from Shenzhen WWTPs is (1.00−2.80) × 103 tons/year. With the above calculation procedure, it was estimated that the contribution of MPs to farmland from sludge application in China is (1.30−3.90) × 104 tons/year. The source appointment results for MPs in China's agricultural soil suggested that the contributions of the main four sources, namely, atmospheric deposition, agricultural mulch film, sludge application, and organic fertilizers, are 52%, 30%, 11%, and 7.0%, respectively.

The Golden Parachute Mechanism of Listed Businesses' Bad Faith Takeover Defense

As the wave of mergers and acquisitions spreads in China, incidents of hostile takeovers in the capital market are becoming more frequent. More Chinese companies are revising their articles of association and adding anti-hostile takeover clauses, including the Golden Parachute clause, to protect their interests. Most research on Golden Parachute has focused on the U.S. market, but China's capitalist market environment and corporate governance structure differ greatly from the U.S., and there are blank spaces in the value judgment of the Golden Parachute in American studies. When introducing it in China, legislative bodies and corporate rules should not copy blindly; rather, they should extract its essence while discarding the dross. This article summarizes current research literature on the Golden Parachute clause by Chinese and American academia, uses empirical research to analyze how the clause was applied in the Musk-Twitter acquisition case, and presents personal insights on how Chinese companies can write the Golden Parachute clause into their articles of association and localize it based on actual mergers and acquisitions scenarios. Efforts must be made at the institutional, legal, and ethical levels to address the challenges faced by the Golden Parachute clause in practice, thereby opening up greater possibilities for their application in China.

Current Status of RV Reducer Development in China and Abroad

RV reducer has a wide range of applications in China due to a series of advantages such as high precision (backlash less than 1 Angle minute), high rigidity, high durability, high output density (strong torque & compact), wide reduction ratio range and low vibration. Due to the large gap between domestic RV reducer and foreign brands, this is mainly reflected in the low level of research and low investment due to low profitability, the domestic RV reducer market relies heavily on imports at present. By reviewing the development status of RV reducer at home and abroad, this paper points out the restrictive factors in the development of domestic RV reducer, the number of patents filed as the main measure for assessing the level of research in China and abroad, and puts forward suggestions and directions for the development of domestic RV reducer, providing reference for the next development of domestic RV reducer.

Industrial Chain Disruption Events Monitoring with Deep Learning Methods: A Practical Application in China

Globalization has made the industrial chain longer and more complex, resulting in greater vulnerability to emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, earthquakes, and wars. Emergencies will lead to plant shutdowns, supply shortages, market blockades, and other risk events, leading to large-scale supply chain disruption, also known as industrial chain disruption. The safety and stability of the industrial chain are the foundation of national economic stability. All countries attach great importance to risk monitoring leading to the interruption of the industrial chain. However, at present, the risk monitoring method of the industrial chain is mainly to screen out the risk events that may cause the industrial chain disruption from news by manually monitoring the news media. It is of great significance to establish an efficient automatic monitoring system for industrial chain disruption events (ICDE). In this paper, an ICDE monitoring model is proposed to identify ICDE automatically using deep learning technology. The ICDE monitoring model consists of an ICDE identification model and an ICDE correlation model. The former identifies risk events from online news through the Ernie model, while the latter matches risk events with industrial chain nodes through similar nodes and virtual nodes. Similar nodes refer to synonyms in industrial chain nodes. Virtual nodes refer to the words that appear in a large number in the news and do not exist in the industrial chain, but they form an inclusive relationship with the nodes of the industrial chain. Finally, the model is applied to the new energy vehicle industry chain as an example. The application results show that the model can monitor ICDE on each node of the industry chain in real time, and the identification accuracy of ICDE is 92%. Through the ICDE monitoring model, the national or local government can formulate measures to reduce industrial losses in time and track the risk status of the industrial chain in real time.

Rule of Law History and Development in China: in Comparison of Australia

The article discusses the rule of law development and application in China compared with Australia. In August 2021, the Chinese Central Government issued the Implementation Outline for the Construction of a Government Under the Rule of Law (2021-2025), which indicated the general plan to improve rule of law for the next five years. In the past few years, the Chinese government has made great efforts to promote the rule of law theory. China enforced judicial reform, which improves the judicial independence and professional ability of legal practitioners. Chinese rule of law formation has been influenced by western countries due to previous foreign legal aid and Australian judicial practice has also been influenced by Chinese theory. In Australia, people are encouraged to solve civil disputes via mediation and other alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods, which may be influenced by Chinese theory of “Fengqiao Experience”. It is important to continue increasing rule of law in China, but it is improper to transplant the Australian theory to China directly due to the different legal culture and history between two countries. Generally, more efforts need to be made for strengthening rule of law in China.

Social compensation or social enhancement? A path model connecting rejection sensitivity and loneliness for Chinese online dating applications users

Rejection-sensitive people may find online dating an ideal way to explore romantic relationships because of its relatively low social cost and their high control of impression management. However, they may also experience negative events during online dating, such as cyberbullying, which may lead to self-blame and social concessions. This study investigates the compensating and enhancing effects of online dating on rejection-sensitive people. Findings from an online survey of 459 users of mainstream online dating applications in China reveal a positive relationship between rejection sensitivity and the use of online dating applications. The increased use of online dating applications is positively associated with cyberbullying victimization, further contributing to loneliness. These findings support both the social compensation and enhancement hypothesis in the context of online dating, especially for individuals with deficit social competence and psychological vulnerability. This study extends existing research by uncovering a paradoxical mechanism that explains how online dating affects vulnerable individuals' well-being. Online dating product design should consider protecting specific groups of users from being cyberbullied.

A surname-based index of migration intensity and its application in China

A surname-based index of migration intensity and its application in China

Application of GC-IMS coupled with chemometric analysis for the classification and authentication of geographical indication agricultural products and food.

Geographical indications (GI) are used to protect the brand value of agricultural products, foodstuffs, and wine and promote the sustainable development of the agricultural and food industries. Despite the necessity for the traceability and recognition of GI product characteristics, no rapid, non-destructive approaches currently exist to identify, classify, and predict these properties. The application of gas chromatography-ion mobility spectrometry (GC-IMS) has increased exponentially due to instrument robustness and simplicity. This paper provided a detailed overview of recent GC-IMS applications in China for the quality evaluation of GI products and food, including agricultural products, as well as traditional Chinese food and liquor. The general workflow of GC-IMS coupled with chemometric analysis is presented, including sample collection, model construction and interpretation, and data acquisition, processing, and fusion. Several conclusions are drawn to increase partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) model precision, a chemometric technique frequently combined with GC-IMS.

Integrated MOVES model and machine learning method for prediction of CO2 and NO from light-duty gasoline vehicle

With rapid urbanization and industrialization, the number of light-duty gasoline vehicles (LDGVs) in China has continued to grow rapidly, leading to a significant increase in traffic pollution. Therefore, it is essential to accurately calculate the emission of LDGVs for air quality monitoring and management. Fortunately, Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) is a sophisticated model for estimating mobile source emissions with good prediction accuracy. However, the parameters of MOVES are based on the field tests in the US, which is worth exploring whether MOVES can be applied to other countries. Hence, in this paper, we used the portable emission measurement system (PEMS) to conduct real driving emission (RDE) tests of LDGVs, aiming to explore the possibility of the MOVES application in China. Based on the field tests, we modified basic parameters in the MOVES model, but unsatisfactory prediction performance was obtained. Existing research on improving MOVES performance mainly involved new binning of operating modes, but these methods had limited improvements. Though studies have also used machine learning methods for predicting LDGV emissions, they lacked comparison and integration with the MOVES model. To further improve the prediction accuracy, we proposed a novel road vehicle emission model that integrated the machine learning method and the MOVES to predict the road-level emission rates of NO and CO2 emissions of LDGVs. In addition, we employed the Boruta algorithm to capture the key influencing factors and promote prediction performance. The enhanced model outperformed MOVES and achieved higher R2 values. On average, the improvement for CO2 was 0.132, and for NO, it was 0.261. This work will provide references for MOVES improvements in practical scenarios and better predict pollutant emissions for LDGVs using limited resources of field tests in cities outside the US.

Environmental and Human Health Hazards from Chlorpyrifos, Pymetrozine and Avermectin Application in China under a Climate Change Scenario: A Comprehensive Review

Chlorpyrifos has been used extensively for decades to control crop pests and disease-transmitting insects; its contribution to increasing food security and minimizing the spread of diseases has been well documented. Pymetrozine and Avermectin (also known as abamectin) have been used to replace the toxic organophosphate insecticides (e.g., Chlorpyrifos) applied to rice crops in China, where the overuse of pesticides has occurred. In addition, climate change has exacerbated pesticide use and pollution. Thus, farmers and communities are at risk of exposure to pesticide pollution. This study reviews the contamination, exposure, and health risks through environmental and biological monitoring of the legacy pesticide Chlorpyrifos and currently used insecticides Pymetrozine and Avermectin in China; it investigates whether changes in pesticide usage from Chlorpyrifos to Pymetrozine and Avermectin reduce pesticide contamination and health hazards to communities and residents. In addition, this review discusses whether Pymetrozine and Avermectin applications could be recommended in other countries where farmers largely use Chlorpyrifos and are exposed to high health risks under climate change scenarios. Although Chlorpyrifos is now banned in China, farmers and residents exposed to Chlorpyrifos are still experiencing adverse health effects. Local farmers still consider Chlorpyrifos an effective pesticide and continue to use it illegally in some areas. As a result, the concentration levels of Chlorpyrifos still exceed risk-based thresholds, and the occurrence of Chlorpyrifos with high toxicity in multiple environmental routes causes serious health effects owing to its long-term and wide application. The bioaccumulation of the currently used insecticides Pymetrozine and Avermectin in the environment is unlikely. Pymetrozine and Avermectin used in paddy water and soil for crop growth do not pose a significant hazard to public health. A change in pesticide use from Chlorpyrifos to Pymetrozine and Avermectin can reduce the pesticide contamination of the environment and health hazards to communities and residents. Finally, we recommend Pymetrozine and Avermectin in other countries, such as Vietnam, and countries in Africa, such as Ghana, where farmers still largely use Chlorpyrifos.

Reconstruction of long-term high-resolution lake variability: Algorithm improvement and applications in China

Temporal monitoring of inland water bodies using remote sensing images is often impeded by missing data caused by clouds and other adverse conditions. To date, various data recovery algorithms have been developed based on the water occurrence threshold (WOT), where the contaminated pixels are recovered by using long-term historical water distribution information. Here, we propose an improved algorithm, enhanced WOT (EWOT), which addresses the issue of mismatch between the water occurrence product and the actual historical water presence that has been neglected by previous WOT algorithms. The EWOT algorithm achieved an overall high accuracy (with a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) = 5.1%) and prevailed against a representative WOT algorithm. The accuracy could be further reduced (MAPE = 1.6%) after the application of a novel quality control process. In addition, the temporal coverage of the high-quality surface water area time series was improved by an average of 26.2%, and the percent count and percent area of lakes with high-quality reconstructed data reached as high as 84.5% and 94.7%, respectively, facilitating the utilization of these data in further time series analysis. In general, the improvement was closely associated with the extent of the contamination before recovery. We evaluated the algorithm's ability to be implemented on a large scale in China, and the results generally were in line with previous studies. Nonetheless, our high-quality annual-based dataset presented a more comprehensive and continuous representation of the changes in lake area spanning from 2000 to 2019. The significance of improving the existing WOT algorithms is highlighted in this study, and the proposed method can be readily extended to lakes worldwide, thus providing a valuable data source to examine the causes and possible impacts of lake dynamics.

In vitro and in vivo anti-eczema effect of Artemisia annua aqueous extract and its component profiling

Ethnopharmacological relevanceArtemisia annua L. belongs to the Asteraceae family and has a long history of clinical application in China. It has been widely used for centuries to treat fever, malaria, jaundice and some skin diseases (such as scabies and sores). Modern pharmacological studies have shown that it has anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, antimalarial and antibacterial effects. Aim of studyThis study aimed to investigate the anti-eczema effect of A. annua aqueous extract (AAE), profile its potential bioactive components and try to explore its possible underlying mechanisms. Materials and methodsThe MTT assay was employed to assess the cytotoxicity of AAE. The anti-eczema effect of AAE was evaluated using both an in vitro 3D epidermal inflammation model and an in vivo guinea pig itching model. The bioactive components of AAE were characterized by ultra-performance liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry coupled with the UNIFI platform. ResultsIn this study, we found that AAE is safe for primary human skin keratinocytes at concentrations ranging from 31.3 μg/mL to 250 μg/mL. Further investigations indicate that AAE can increase the itching threshold, inhibit the expression of the inflammatory cytokine TSLP, and promote the expression of FLG mRNA. Additionally, the utilization of UPLC-QTOF/MS and UNIFI platform enabled us to identify 61 potential bioactive components of AAE, with sesquiterpenes and phenolic acids being the most abundant components. ConclusionsIn this study, the anti-inflammatory and anti-itch effects of the A. annua extract were revealed, along with sesquiterpenes and phenolic acids were identified as potential bioactive components according to literature. The AAE extract holds potential for utilization in the treatment of eczema.

Impact of patent quality on enterprises’ export competitiveness under the background of big data and Internet of Things

After entering the new century, the role of science and technology and innovation in promoting economic development has become increasingly obvious, and the Chinese government has also attached great importance to patent management. With the joint efforts of the people of the whole country, the number of patent applications in China has been among the highest in the world for many consecutive years. However, from the perspective of patent quality, there is still a certain gap with developed countries, resulting in generally low efficiency for Chinese export enterprises. Therefore, it is of great significance to explore the relationship between the quality of patents and the competitiveness of exporting enterprises. Through variance calculation, we constructed a countermeasure system for using intellectual property rights to enhance competitiveness. The experimental results show that the patent quality is proportional to the competitiveness of export enterprises, and the higher the patent quality, the stronger the competitiveness of export enterprises. The development of this study further clarifies the important value of patent quality, which helps export enterprises adjust their development strategies and effectively enhance their competitiveness.

China's application of the One Health approach in addressing public health threats at the human-animal-environment interface: Advances and challenges

BackgroundDue to emerging issues such as global climate change and zoonotic disease pandemics, the One Health approach has gained more attention since the turn of the 21st century. Although One Health thinking has deep roots and early applications in Chinese history, significant gaps exist in China's real-world implementation at the complex interface of the human-animal-environment. MethodsWe abstracted the data from the global One Health index study and analysed China's performance in selected fields based on Structure-Process-Outcome model. By comparing China to the Belt & Road and G20 countries, the advances and gaps in China's One Health performance were determined and analysed. FindingsFor the selected scientific fields, China generally performs better in ensuring food security and controlling antimicrobial resistance and worse in addressing climate change. Based on the SPO model, the “structure” indicators have the highest proportion (80.00%) of high ranking and the “outcome” indicators have the highest proportion (20.00%) of low ranking. When compared with Belt and Road countries, China scores above the median in almost all indicators (16 out of 18) under the selected scientific fields. When compared with G20 countries, China ranks highest in food security (scores 72.56 and ranks 6th), and lowest in climate change (48.74, 11th). ConclusionOur results indicate that while China has made significant efforts to enhance the application of the One Health approach in national policies, it still faces challenges in translating policies into practical measures. It is recommended that a holistic One Health action framework be established for China in accordance with diverse social and cultural contexts, with a particular emphasis on overcoming data barriers and mobilizing stakeholders both domestically and globally. Implementation mechanisms, with clarified stakeholder responsibilities and incentives, should be improved along with top-level design.