Central-eastern Region Research Articles

The training contents, problems and needs of doctors in urban community health service institutions in China

BackgroundThe Chinese government offered various types of training programs for strengthening the role of doctors working in community health service institutions (CHSIs). The study intended to investigate the current training programs and training needs of doctors nationally in urban CHSIs in China, and to provide propositions for training more qualified doctors in the future.MethodsTotal 3098 doctors in 192 urban CHSIs were chosen from 9 provinces (Hebei, Liaoning, Shandong, Zhejiang, Fujian, Hunan, Guangxi, Guizhou, Ningxia) and one municipality (Beijing) among 31 provinces in eastern, central, and western regions by stratified sampling methods in Mainland China. All doctors in the selected CHSIs were investigated in this study. We discharged 3073 questionnaires, and the response rate was 98.0%. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the characteristics, training contents, problems and needs of doctors. Differences in training contents, problems and needs between eastern, central and western regions were analyzed with chi-square tests.Results49.3% of doctors in CHSIs had Bachelor’s degree and beyond. 12.9% of doctors had senior professional titles. The most frequent training topics for the doctors in eastern, central and western regions were “basic clinical theory knowledge” (52.4%), “community health service competency” (59.6%), “clinical practice skills” (45.9%) respectively. The most serious problem for doctors was “insufficient training time” in eastern (36.8%), central (36.5%) and western (39.6%). The biggest knowledge need for doctors both in eastern (79.8%) and central region (79.1%) was “the updated international medical knowledge”, in western region it was “the updated domestic medical knowledge” (73.2%). The biggest skill-related training need for doctors in eastern region (84.1%) and central region (82.6%) was “communication skills”, and “diagnosis and differential diagnosis” in western region (78.2%).ConclusionGovernment should design proper training contents according to the knowledge and skill needs of different design. Furthermore, a uniform, rigorous training and evaluation system focus on practicability should be established to promote community health service system in Mainland China.

The effect of industrial relocation on industrial land use efficiency in China: A spatial econometrics approach

The variation of industrial land use efficiency caused by industrial relocation is of great significance to the land use, but little attention has been paid to the spatial effect of industrial relocation on industrial land use efficiency. This study investigates the temporal features of industrial land use efficiency at the regional level and the spatial features of industrial relocation at the provincial level. The industrial land use efficiency exhibits an obvious rising trend in the eastern region, central region, western region and northeast region from 2002 to 2013. There is significant spatial correlation among 30 provinces in industrial land use efficiency and shows obvious trapezoidal growth trends in 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2013. The study estimates the spatial effect of industrial relocation on the industrial land use efficiency in six industries by the spatial Durbin model (SDM). The results show that the industrial relocation of the chemical and rubber industry, mineral manufacturing industry, and machinery manufacturing industry plays a markedly positive role in improving the industrial land use efficiency. It is noteworthy that the impacts of industrial relocation on the industrial land use efficiency in the food and beverage industry, light and textile industry, and high-tech manufacturing industry are not significant. Except for the enterprise ownership structure, three other control variables, namely regional economic development, human capital stock, and industrial fixed capital, can contribute to promoting industrial land use efficiency.

The Impact of Population Migration on Urban Housing Prices: Evidence from China’s Major Cities

With increasingly high housing prices, the urban housing problem has changed from an economic issue to a livelihood issue in China. Taking 32 major cities in China as an example, this paper employed data from 2007 to 2016 to build a panel data model to empirically study the impact of population migration on urban housing prices. From the two perspectives of the national level and regional level (eastern region, central region and western region), the results of this study showed that (1) on the national level, population inflow had a significant positive correlation with urban housing prices, where a population inflow rate increase of 1% increased urban housing prices by 0.31%; and (2) on the regional level, a population inflow rate increase of 1% increased urban housing prices in the eastern region by 1.34%, but population inflow had no obvious impact on the urban housing prices in the central and western regions. Based on the results, this study suggested addressing housing supply imbalances through housing product diversification and affordable housing system improvement, and addressing construction land supply imbalances by building a perfect system linking land-use planning to population; at the same time, it also suggested building more nationally central cities following the urbanization trend, and taking this as the key to developing urban agglomerations, reasonably decentralizing the population flow, promoting the healthy and stable development of the real-estate market and advancing sustainable urbanization. The above conclusions have practical significance for China and other developing countries to coordinate population and urban development in the process of rapid urbanization.

Amphibian parasites of the Order Dermocystida (Ichthyosporea): current knowledge, taxonomic review and new records from Brazil.

Amphibian parasites of the Order Dermocystida (Ichthyosporea) are widespread pathogens known mainly from Europe and North America, which cause primarily a disease of skin and subcutaneous tissue in their hosts. The taxonomy of these organisms has been problematic given their conserved morphology, similar clinical disease and pathology. Currently recognized taxa belong to the three closely related genera, Amphibiocystidium, Amphibiothecum, and Rhinosporidium, whereas species of Dermocystidium and Sphaerothecum destruens include fish parasites. Here, we review the taxonomy of Dermocystida based on a molecular phylogenetic analysis, principally of amphibian parasites, including DNA sequences obtained from amphibian hosts collected in the central-eastern region of South America. A new taxonomic arrangement is proposed, which includes the designation of type material for Dermocystidium pusula, synonymization of Amphibiothecum with Dermocystidium, and the restriction of Amphibiocystidium to its type species A. ranae. We also review the taxonomic status of Dermosporidium hylarum until the present work included in the synonymy of the human and animal pathogen R. seeberi, and considered herein as a valid taxon, however. In addition, a new species of Sphaerothecum parasitic to amphibians is described, being the first record of this genus in the southern hemisphere and in an amphibian host.

Research on the Disequilibrium Development of Output of Regional Innovation Based on R&D Personnel

Regional innovation is of great significance to the sustainable development of a regional economy. However, there exists a disequilibrium development of output of regional innovation in China, which affects the imbalance of regional economic development to a certain extent. In order to explore the process and mechanism of the disequilibrium development in regional innovation, a new perspective is adopted in this paper to analyze the index of R&D (research and development) personnel, which is an important input element of regional innovation output. The regional samples, including 31 provinces in China, are divided into three parts: eastern region, central region, and western region. First, developing the tendency and speed of the disequilibrium of regional innovation output are analyzed by using σ convergent model and β convergent model, respectively, during the period of analyzing the process of the disequilibrium development. Then, the LMDI (logarithmic mean Divisia index) method is used to analyze the character of regional innovation output by using R&D personnel as an important endogenous factor during the period of analyzing the mechanism of the disequilibrium development. At last, we draw the conclusion of the study. We find that: (i) there is a gap in the absolute amount between regions in a long term, but the gap between regions is shrinking and the speed of catching up between regions is different; (ii) the efficiency of R&D personnel is the most positive effect of promoting equilibrium.

Exploring China's 21-year PM10 emissions spatiotemporal variations by DMSP-OLS nighttime stable light data

With the rapid growth of economy and urbanization rate, haze pollution is becoming more and more serious in China, and it is harmful to human health and China's sustainable development. For exploring spatiotemporal variations of PM10 pollution problem from 1992 to 2012 in China, we first proved that there existed a positive correlation between the intercalibrated Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) Operational Linescan System (OLS) sensor nighttime stable light (NSL) data and PM10 emissions in this study. Then linear regression analysis was utilized to model spatiotemporal PM10 emission variations in China by the intercalibrated DMSP-OLS NSL data. PM10 emissions at prefectural level were selected as validation data for verifying the accuracy of spatiotemporal PM10 emissions variations and the results demonstrated that the DMSP-OLS NSL data can simulate PM10 emissions at 1 km resolution well. At last, spatiotemporal PM10 emission dynamics were analyzed from national scale down to regional and urban agglomeration scales. The results clearly noticed that the variations of PM10 emissions in different regions and urban agglomerations were different. The high-growth type of PM10 emissions was mainly located in the Eastern region, Central region, Western region, Shandong Peninsula, Wuhan Metropolitan Area and Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan, with significant lower concentrations in the Northeastern region, Middle south of Liaoning and Pearl River Delta. The high grade of PM10 emissions was mainly distributed in the Eastern region, Central region and Shandong Peninsula, with significant lower concentrations in the Western region, Northeastern region, Sichuan-Chongqing. Considering the difference of temporal and spatial variations of PM10 emissions in the four regions, the mitigation strategy in the Eastern and Central China should mainly focus on the adjustment of industrial structure, while in Western and Northern China, we should pay attention to the improvement and optimization of regional energy structure and energy efficiency.

Metals and micronutrients in some edible crops and their cultivation soils in eastern-central region of Tunisia: A comparison between organic and conventional farming

In the present study, we evaluated the concentrations of several micronutrients and heavy metals (Fe, Mg, Mn, K, Ca, Na, Zn, Cu, Ni and Cd) in soils and in edible parts of two vegetables (Solanum lycopersicum cv. Amal) and (Lactuca sativa L. cv Augusta) and a fruit (Fragaria x ananassa cv. Sabrina) from conventional and organic farming in the eastern-central region of Tunisia. A principal component analysis (PCA) was conducted to investigate correlations between metals in the edible part of the crops and metals in soil. The bio-concentration factors (BCF) were calculated to evaluate the ability of plants to absorb nutrients from the soil. Our data indicated a significant decrease in micronutrients in the edible part of crops from organic farming. However, toxic metals loads significantly increased in crops from conventional agriculture. Our data should be carefully considered in view of the potential health risk assessment for Tunisian consumers.

Life and career skills of primary school students: A tentative model and an online scale


 
 
 Life and career skills are essential attributes for living in the 21st century because they are important to both learning and working in local and international workplaces. This study tried to create a measurement model of life and career skills and develop an online scale for investigating the psychometric property of the scale. The participants consisted of 646 primary students in Northern, Central, Southern and North eastern regions of Thailand. Then, the classical test theory, the multidimensional item response theory and the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used for data analysis. The analysis of data appeared as item of difficulty index, discrimination power index and reliability of the scale. In addition, the multidimensional analysis and the CFA of data showed item fit and construct validity of the scale. This may lead to the development of clear and correct measure of students’ life and career skills structure. Policy implications are discussed.
 Keywords: Life and career skills, tentative model, online scale, construct validity.
 
 

Cost-effectiveness of the controlled temperature chain for the hepatitis B virus birth dose vaccine in various global settings: a modelling study.

The controlled temperature chain (CTC) strategy allows vaccines to be kept outside the cold chain for a short period of time. In remote rural areas, the CTC strategy for the hepatitis B virus (HBV) birth dose vaccination could improve its geographical coverage and timeliness of delivery, but with additional outreach costs. We assessed the cost-effectiveness of the CTC strategy for the HBV birth dose across six world regions and 72 countries according to their HBV prevalence, delivery costs, and birth dose coverage and timing. By use of a mathematical model of perinatal HBV transmission and disease progression, we calculated per 1000 births the total HBV-related disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) and costs, including vaccine delivery costs and costs associated with HBV-related disease, with and without the CTC strategy. A CTC strategy produced health benefits in all regions and was cost-saving in the regions of east Asia and Pacific, Latin America and Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, and north Africa and Middle East. The CTC strategy cost US$0·15 (IQR -7·11 to 4·75) per DALY averted in the central and eastern Europe and central Asia region and $79·72 (66·47 to 94·47) in the south Asia region. Within individual countries, more savings were achieved and more DALYs averted in areas with above average HBV prevalence, below average birth dose coverage, or later than average birth dose delivery. A CTC outreach strategy that improves the timing and coverage of the HBV birth dose vaccination is likely to be cost-saving and reduce the burden of HBV infection associated with perinatal transmission. Burnet Institute.

The Impact of the ECB’s Quantitative Easing Policy on Capital Flows in the Cesee Region

Abstract This paper attempts to empirically assess the impact of the ECB’s quantitative easing policy on capital flows in the countries of the Central and South Eastern region. Given the tight trade and financial linkages of the region with the euro area, one should expect that the buoyant liquidity provided by the ECB might affect the size of the capital inflows. We test this hypothesis by employing panel estimation on a sample of 14 countries CESEE countries for the 2003-2015 period. Contrary to the expected outcome, the results reveal either negative or insignificant impact of the change in the ECB balance sheet on the different types of capital inflows. The results suggest that the magnitude of the crisis, to which the ECB responded to was immense, hence precluding any significant impact of the monetary easing on capital flows in the region. The inclusion of a dummy in the model, to control for the 2008 crisis confirms the findings from the first specification and also does not change the finding on the ECB quantitative easing impact on the capital flows. The impact of the crisis dummy on capital flows is negative and it holds for almost all types of capital inflows, except for the government debt flows, which is consistent with the countercyclical fiscal policies and rising public debt after the crisis.

A CONSERVAÇÃO DA BIODIVERSIDADE E O PAPEL DA AGRICULTURA FAMILIAR NA BACIA DO RIO CORUMBATAÍ

A bacia do Corumbataí possui importância regional por ser a principal fonte de abastecimento da região Centro-leste do Estado de São Paulo. Estudos realizados nesta paisagem agrícola priorizaram os remanescentes, hidrologia, matas ciliares, a matriz agrícola, fauna e suas relações, e muitas vezes desconsideram a população rural local. A fim de conservar o ecossistema, principalmente relacionado às questões da água, muitos estudos ecológicos propõem como alternativas o fortalecimento de políticas públicas, corredores florestais, educação ambiental ou de um mero cumprimento das leis ambientais. No entanto, entendemos que não incluindo a população rural em busca da melhor qualidade ambiental, não há nenhuma garantia da conservação na prática. Por meio de uma pesquisa interdisciplinar este estudo assume o caráter utilitário das relações dos moradores das zonas rurais com problemas ambientais, especialmente de água, e como esta relação pode ser incorporada em propostas de conservação para resolver a atual crise “verde” na bacia do rio Corumbataí. Os resultados mostram que os estudos sobre a relação entre a população rural na bacia do rio Corumbataí e o meio ambiente são extremamente importantes para entender a relação entre o homem e a natureza em paisagens agrícolas no Estado de São Paulo, e que a conservação deve ser realizada na prática. Então deve atentar que o conhecimento e a experiência dos pequenos agricultores são essenciais para a sua manutenção no campo, bem como para pesquisa e autopreservação. Assim, os resultados indicam perspectivas reais para o desenvolvimento social rural e ambiental na conservação em paisagens agrícolas.

On the nexus of financial development, economic growth, and energy consumption in China: New perspective from a GMM panel VAR approach

This paper studies the endogenous relationships among financial development, energy consumption, and economic growth in China by applying a GMM panel VAR approach with a panel data of 30 Chinese provinces over the period 1996Q1–2015Q4. Financial development is measured by six individual indicators and by a comprehensive indicator obtained through the PCA method. We also account for regional heterogeneity by dividing our sample into three regions: eastern region, central region, and western region.We underline our findings in three aspects. First, financial development measured by most individual indicators (m2, credit, revenue of the insurance industry, and stock market value) and the comprehensive one has a significantly negative impact on economic growth. Second, energy consumption can significantly contribute to economic growth in all regions, while no feedback effect is found except in the western region. This result is further supported by the Granger causality tests. Last, financial development in the sense of m2, credit, stock turnover, and the comprehensive indicator can significantly lessen energy consumption in all regions. But this inhibitory effect is found to be largest in the western region, followed by the eastern region, and be smallest in the central region. The Granger causality tests confirm further the existence of heterogeneity across regions. A bidirectional Granger causality between the two variables is found in the eastern region, a unidirectional Granger causality running from energy consumption to financial development is identified in the central region, and no significant causal relationship shows up in the western region. Our findings provide valuable policy implications for China heading for a green economic growth.

Dynamic Evolution of Regional Discrepancies in Carbon Emissions from Agricultural Land Utilization: Evidence from Chinese Provincial Data

Agricultural land, as an important carbon source, has produced about 20% of carbon dioxide globally. The calculation and spatial-temporal distribution of carbon emissions resulting from agricultural land utilization (ALU) has attracted a great deal of attention from scholars. Most of the existing literature widely agrees that China’s carbon emissions from ALU showed significant regional discrepancies, but rarely pays attention to the evolutionary characteristics of the discrepancies. This study calculated the total carbon emissions from ALU based on six kinds of carbon emissions sources in the 31 provinces of mainland China, which showed obviously different characteristics in terms of their abundances of agricultural land resources, relative scarcities of production factors, levels of science and technology and economic prosperity. We then analyzed the evolutionary process and characteristics of regional discrepancies in carbon emissions from ALU at the national level and regional level with the method of kernel density estimation. The key results demonstrated the following: (1) The carbon emissions from ALU in the whole country and the eastern, central and western regions of China have increased sharply during the study period. From 2000 to 2015, the carbon emissions from ALU in the whole of China, the eastern region, central region, and western region were increased by 2626.11 (104 tons), 441.32 (104 tons), 1054.45 (104 tons), and 1130.3 (104 tons), respectively, with an average annual growth rate of 2.75%, 1.29%, 3%, and 4.35%, respectively; (2) The scale of carbon emissions from ALU showed significant spatial disparities at the regional and inter-provincial levels. From 2000 to 2015, the central region had the highest carbon emissions from ALU, while the eastern and western regions had the second and third highest carbon emissions; (3) The distribution curves of carbon emissions from ALU in the whole country and each region all moved in the right direction gradually during the study period, and the width of the curves increased, indicating the regional discrepancies of carbon emissions from ALU was expanding at different spatial scales. Distribution curves of carbon emissions from ALU in the eastern, central and western regions all showed a “multi-polar” differentiation phenomenon in 2000, while presented a “tri-polar”, “bipolar” and “multi-polar” division in 2015, respectively.

Occurrence of Blastocystis sp. and Pentatrichomonas hominis in sheep and goats in China

BackgroundGlobal data regarding the molecular epidemiology of Blastocystis sp. and Pentatrichomonas hominis in sheep and goats are sparse. China has one of the largest sheep and goat populations in the world. In this study we investigated the occurrence of Blastocystis sp. and P. hominis in domestic sheep and goats in China, and analyzed the genetic characterization of these two parasite species.MethodsIn total, we collected fresh fecal samples from 832 sheep and 781 goats located on seven and ten farms, respectively, in the central eastern region of China. The corresponding sequences obtained in this study were subject to molecular analysis for subtype and allele identification of Blastocystis sp., and species and genotype confirmation of P. hominis.ResultsThe occurrence of Blastocystis sp. was 6.0% (50/832) in sheep and 0.3% (2/781) in goats. The most predominant subtype (ST) of Blastocystis sp. in sheep was ST10 (50.0%), followed by ST14 (20%), ST5 (16%), novel sequence 1 (6%), novel sequence 4 (4%), novel sequence 2 (2%) and novel sequence 3 (2%). However, only ST1 was observed in goats. No mixed infections with different subtypes were found in this study. The 18S alleles showed allele 2 (100%) for ST1; allele 115 (75%) for ST5; and no match allele for ST5 (25%), ST10 (100%), ST14 (100%), novel sequence 1 (100%), novel sequence 2 (100%), novel sequence 3 (100%), and novel sequence 4 (100%) on the Blastocystis subtype (18S) and Sequence Typing (MLST) database. For P. hominis, two goats (0.3%) and zero sheep (0%) were identified as positive in this study. The 18S rRNA gene sequences of two P. hominis isolates from goats displayed 100% identity to type CC1, found previously in dogs, monkeys and humans.ConclusionsThese results provide the detailed data on the occurrence and molecular epidemiology of Blastocystis sp. and P. hominis in sheep and goats in China. They also contribute to and expand our knowledge of the Blastocystis sp. and P. hominis epidemiology around the world.

Influencing Factors and Development Trend Analysis of China Electric Grid Investment Demand Based on a Panel Co-Integration Model

Electric grid investment demand analysis is significant to reasonably arranging construction funds for the electric grid and reduce costs. This paper used the panel data of electric grid investment from 23 provinces of China between 2004 and 2016 as samples to analyze the influence between electric grid investment demand and GDP, population scale, social electricity consumption, installed electrical capacity, and peak load based on co-integration tests. We find that GDP and peak load have positive influences on electric grid investment demand, but the impact of population scale, social electricity consumption, and installed electrical capacity on electric grid investment is not remarkable. We divide different regions in China into the eastern region, central region, and western region to analyze influence factors of electric grid investment, finally obtaining key factors in the eastern, central, and western regions. In the end, according to the analysis of key factors, we make a prediction about China’s electric grid investment for 2020 in different scenarios. The results offer a certain understanding for the development trend of China’s electric grid investment and contribute to the future development of electric grid investment.

Factors associated with tuberculosis treatment failure in the Central East Health region of Burkina Faso

IntroductionTuberculosis treatment failure results in increased risk of morbidity, drug resistance, transmission and mortality. There are few data about tuberculosis treatment outcomes in Burkina Faso. The current study investigated the factors associated with tuberculosis treatment failure in the central east health region of Burkina Faso.MethodsWe conducted a case-control study. All cases of pulmonary tuberculosis failing first-line treatment matched to those who were cured (controls) in the Central Eastern Region were sampled from January 2010 to December 2014. Predictors of treatment failure were determined using multiple conditional logistic regression.ResultsA total of 381 patients with positive microscopic pulmonary tuberculosis were included. Of these 76 cases failed first-line treatment while 305 controls were cured. Weight loss between diagnosis and first sputum-smear examination was significantly associated with the tuberculosis treatment failure [aOR: 2.5, 95% CI: 1.3-4.7]. In addition, the delay from between treatment initiation to first sputum-smear examination, and high bacillary load at the first sputum-smear examination were significantly associated with treatment failure (p<0.001).ConclusionStrengthening the relationship between health care services and local communities to improve the follow-up of tuberculosis patients, and improving adherence to tuberculosis treatment among tuberculosis patients with weight loss between treatment initiation and 2-month sputum-smear examination could be useful to reduce the risk of unsuccessful outcome.

Bangladesh; GIS; Meteorological drought; Rainfall data; Spatial analysis; SPI

The Standardized Precipitation Index (SPI) was computed in three different cropping seasons namely, Pre-Kharif, Kharif and Rabi based on the monthly precipitation data of thirty-five meteorological stations over Bangladesh during the period 1980–2015. In this study, different features of meteorological drought including frequency of drought, dry and wet periods, percentage of drought area, temporal and spatial variations of drought in Bangladesh were examined. The results revealed that the most significant increasing trend of drought area was found in Rabi season (8.66% per decade) and decreasing trend was found in Kharif season (2.47% per decade). In Kharif season, the trend of drought area was found increasing in northern region with a rate of 2.63% per decade where central region, eastern region and southern and western region were decreasing with a rate of 1.06%, 3.02% and 3.02% per decade, respectively. All drought affected areas were experienced by moderate, severe and extreme droughts in several years during the study period in three seasons. The significant drought events were found in 1992, 2008, 2012 and 2014 in Pre-Kharif, 1981, 1985, 1992, 1994, 2006 and 2012 in Kharif and 1985, 1986, 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2012 in Rabi season. Some areas of southern and western regions, central regions, eastern regions and most of the northern region were more vulnerable to meteorological drought. Major finding of this study was Pre-Kharif and Rabi season were the most vulnerable to meteorological drought that indicates high seasonal rainfall anomaly in most of the regions of Bangladesh.

Incipient bifenthrin-resistance in field populations of cocoa mirids, Distantiella theobroma (Dist.) and Sahlbergella singularis Hagl. (Hemiptera: Miridae)

Bifenthrin is one of the insecticides approved by the Ghana Cocoa Board (COCOBOD) for the control of cocoa mirids. Bifenthrin-resistance levels of D. theobroma and S. singularis collected from different locations in the Eastern Region (ER), Volta Region (VR) and Central Region (CR) were determined by calculating their resistance ratios (RRs). The highest RRs for S. singularis were recorded from New Tafo in the ER and Logba Alikpati in the VR, which displayed 6-fold and 6.2- fold bifenthrin-resistance, respectively. Populations of S. singularis from Pankese in the ER and Likpe in the VR also displayed 3.6-fold and 3.9-fold bifenthrin-resistance, respectively. The D. theobroma population that displayed the highest bifenthrin-resistance of 3.7-fold was from New Tafo. The results show incipient bifenthrin-resistance in field populations of D. theobroma and S. singularis, which requires the implementation of effective resistance management strategies to prevent full-blown resistance in the cocoa mirids.

Green competitiveness evaluation of provinces in China based on correlation analysis and fuzzy rough set

The meaning of regional competitiveness has been changed recently to better fit the new development theme of “green” and “sustainable”. Correspondingly, the traditional regional competitiveness evaluation system, which pays too much attention to economic indicators, has not been able to fully evaluate regional green competitiveness. Based on the meaning of regional green competitiveness, we used correlation analysis, fuzzy rough set and entropy weight methods to select and analyze 21 indicators and develop a regional green competitiveness index. Indicators included measures of natural resources competitiveness, ecological environment competitiveness, energy consumption and energy saving competitiveness, economic and social sustainable competitiveness as well as human health competitiveness. Based on the green competitiveness index, we divided the green competitiveness spectrum into three levels (light green, medium green and dark green) to explore changes of the index in 30 provinces of China during the period 2004–2014. Results showed that ecological environment competitiveness and sustainable competitiveness of economy and society are two key factors that influence the green competitiveness of provinces in China. Green competitiveness also showed spatial differences, varying from high to low in a westerly direction from the eastern region, central region, northeast region and western region. Notably, the green competitiveness level of more than half of the provinces changed markedly, proving that the green competitiveness of the provinces can develop through leap-style changes.

Selección de herramientas web para la creación de actividades de aprendizaje en Cibermutua

Ciber-mutua es un ciber-museo desarrollado para el Museo Territorial de los Andes Nororientales (Mutua), el cual se proyectó como un espacio para conocer y explorar las diferentes realidades urbanísticas, patrimoniales y territoriales de la región centro-oriental de Colombia, coadyuvando en la recuperación del patrimonio cultural y urbano de la ciudad de Tunja, Colombia. Con el fin de reforzar el conocimiento expuesto en el ciber-museo y generar interés entre sus usuarios, se crearon actividades digitales de aprendizaje que hacen uso de herramientas web libres. Este artículo enfatiza en el proceso investigativo llevado a cabo en la selección de herramientas web para la creación de las actividades digitales de aprendizaje en el ciber-museo, exponiendo los beneficios e inconvenientes que se presentaron durante este proceso.