Gansu Province Of China Research Articles

Analysis on characteristics of female gametophyte and functional identification of genes related to inflorescences development of Kentucky bluegrass.

The inflorescence is composed of spikes, and the spike is the carrier of grass seed formation and development, so the development status of inflorescence implies grass seed yield and quality. So far, the systematic analysis of inflorescence development of Kentucky bluegrass has not been reported. The development process of the female gametophyte of wild germplasm materials of Kentucky bluegrass in Gannan, Gansu Province of China (KB-GN), was observed. Based on this, the key developmental stages of inflorescence in KB-GN were divided into premeiosis (GPreM), meiosis (GM), postmeiosis (GPostM), and anthesis (GA), and four stages of inflorescence were selected to analyze the transcriptome expression profile. We found that its sexual reproduction formed a polygonum-type embryo sac. Transcriptome analysis showed that 4256, 1125, 1699, and 3127 genes were highly expressed in GPreM, GM, GPostM, and GA, respectively. And a large number of transcription factors (TFs) such as MADS-box, MYB and NAC, AP2, C2H2, FAR1, B3, bHLH, WRKY, and TCP were highly expressed throughout the inflorescence development stages. KEGG enrichment and MapMan analysis showed that genes involved in plant hormone metabolism were also highly expressed at the entire stages of inflorescence development. However, a few TFs belong to stage-specific genes, such as TRAF proteins with unknown function in plants was screened firstly, which was specifically and highly expressed in the GPreM, indicating that TRAF may regulate the preparatory events of meiosis or be essential for the development of megaspore mother cell (MMC). The expression patterns of 15 MADS-box genes were analyzed by qRT-PCR, and the expression results were consistent with that of the transcriptome. The study on the inflorescence development of KB-GN will be great significant works and contribution to illustrate the basic mechanism of grass seeds formation and development.

Holomorphology and neotype designation of Microperla retroloba (Wu, 1937).

Microperla retroloba (Wu, 1937) is a poorly described species from Gansu Province of China and the types of which were apparently lost. Herein, a neotype of M. retroloba is designated based on new material from Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region adjacent to Gansu Province. Male, female, larva and egg morphology of M. retroloba are described, illustrated and compared with all congeners.

First Report of Leaf Spot Caused by Alternaria brassicae on Avena sativa in China.

Oat (Avena sativa) is an annual gramineous crop, which contains a source of soluble dietary fiber, β-glucan, unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, phenolic acids and avenanthramides. It widely cultivated in cool and semi-arid areas in northern China (Li et al, 2017). In July 2018, a severe leaf spot infection was observed in the Forage Germplasm Nursery (31°17'22″N, 103°40'15″E, 2885 m elevation) in Tianzhu County, Wuwei City of Gansu Province in China. Disease incidence (total number of diseased leaves / total number of surveyed leaves X 100%) was 93% over 300 m2 planting area. Symptoms initially appeared as small circular to irregular, gray-green, water-soaked spots on the leaves in the middle or along the margin of leaves, that enlarged and coalesced. The center of the leaf spots turned brown to reddish-brown. Infected tissues from symptomatic leaves were cut into small pieces (5×5 mm), surface sterilized with 70% ethanol for 60 s, soaked in 5% commercial bleach (~0.275% NaClO) for 5 min (Xue et al, 2018), rinsed five times with distilled water, plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA) medium, and incubated for 3 days in the dark at 25°C (Zhang, 2003; Blagojević et al, 2020; Humpherson et al, 1989). Hyphae emerging from the tissue were subcultured on fresh PDA medium for purification. All colonies were light brown with intensive sporulation in rings that was grayish white, and later became grayish brown. The back of the colony was dark brown. Conidiophores were light brown, unbranched, grew vertically on hyphae, and each conidiophore produced 3 to 7 conidia (mostly 6). Conidia were light brown, septate, straight to slightly curved, single or in chains, oval or obclavate, measured 17 to 32 µm wide and 63 to 106 µm long with the conical beak cell, 7 to 12 transverse septa, 0 to 5 longitudinal septa. These morphological characteristics were similar to the descriptions of Alternaria spp. (Simmons, 2008). A single isolate, YMZZ1, was selected for molecular identification. The ITS region of rDNA, partial GAPDH and Tef1-α gene sequences were amplified by PCR with the primer pairs of ITS1/ITS4, gpd1/gpd2 and EF1-728F/EF1-986R, respectively (Woudenberg et al, 2013). Sequences were deposited in GeneBank under accessions MN446739 (ITS), MN481462 (GAPDH), and MN464104 (Tef1-α). A nucleotide BLAST search revealed ITS, GAPDH and Tef1-α sequences to be 99% similar to accessions numbers MN856410 (565/573 bp), MK026431 (575/575 bp), and MH754531 (211/211 bp), respectively) of A. brassicae. Neighbor-joining (NJ) and Maximum Likelihood (ML) phylogenetic analysis were conducted based on ITS, GAPDH and TEF-1α sequences using MEGA7.0 under Kimura 2-parameter model. The isolate YMZZ1 clustered with a representative strain A. brassicae LGBA22 with 100% bootstrap support. To test its pathogenicity, six healthy 3 week old plants were spray-inoculated with a suspension of 3×105 conidia/mL of YMZZ1. The same number of plants were sprayed with sterilized water as control. All plants were covered with transparent plastic bags for 48 h to maintain high relative humidity and incubated in a 25°C growth chamber (16/8 h light/dark) for observation. Ten days after inoculation, leaf spot symptoms were observed on leaves similar to those previously observed in nursery; no symptoms were observed on the control. The pathogenicity test was repeated twice under the same conditions and A. brassicae was re-isolated from inoculated plants each time fulfilling Koch's postulates. A. brassicae has not been previously reported as a pathogen of A. sativa in the world, but has been mentioned as a pathogen of horse radish (Armoracia rusticana) in Serbia (Blagojevic et al, 2015). To our knowledge, this is the first report of leaf spot caused by A. brassicae on A. sativa in China. This study stresses an urgent need to identify appropriate management strategies of A. brassicae that help in preventing losses in quality and yield of oats in northern China.

Intelligent Recognition of Ore‐Forming Anomalies Based on Multisource Data Fusion: A Case Study of the Daqiao Mining Area, Gansu Province, China

AbstractNovel prediction methods using artificial intelligence have been developed to improve the identification, discovery, and utilization of new types of mineral resources at new depths or using new technologies. However, most artificial intelligence methods require large training data sets that are often unavailable for mineralization prediction models, leading to inaccuracies. To address this issue, we developed a semi‐supervised machine‐learning method to identify metallogenic anomalies using the density‐based spatial clustering of applications with noise method and autoencoder. The outputs of this method show irregularity in distributions inferred from geological, geochemical, and hyperspectral remote sensing data that match known mineralization locations. We focus on the Daqiao mining area of Gansu Province in China to show that the model predictions are highly consistent with known deposits of the Yinmahe and Daqiao gold mines, and two new prospecting areas have been highlighted for further field confirmation. The accuracy of this semi‐supervised learning method was verified by an interdisciplinary intelligent analysis, showing that this method could have wide‐reaching applications for improving regional geological surveys.

A new bacterial leaf blight disease of oat (Avena sativa) caused by Pantoea agglomerans in China

AbstractA new leaf blight disease of oat (Avena sativa) was observed in many oat fields in Huan county, Gansu Province of China, during 2018–2019. Typical symptoms appeared as yellow necrotic and water‐soaked lesions. The lesions developed from tip to base of leaves and eventually resulted in leaf withering. Disease incidence on plants (leaves) was approximately 36%–100%. A gram‐negative bacterium was isolated from the necrotic lesions of all samples. Coupled with multigene sequence (16S rRNA and gyrB gene) analyses, Biolog Gen III MicroStation, morphological, physiological, and biochemical characterization identified the pathogen as Pantoea agglomerans. Pathogenicity tests by wounding and injection inoculations in the greenhouse established that P. agglomerans could induce typical symptoms as observed in the field. The infection rate in leaves was 44%–71% after 14 days. In addition, host range tests showed that P. agglomerans could infect other plant hosts, including Sorghum sudanense, Medicago sativa, Fagopyrum esculentum, Setaria italica, and Zea mays. This is the first report of P. agglomerans causing bacterial leaf blight disease (LBD) on oat in China. The current study can provide a foundation for the prevention of this disease in the future.

Experimental study on the influence of cutter shape on cutter wear for hard rocks

Cutter shape is an important factor on cutter wear for hard rock TBMs. In this paper, the influence of cutter shape on the cutter wear was investigated by the wear tests on small-size cutters with the scale of 1/10 of the actual size, and the related rock fragmentation characteristics induced by different cutters was studied as well. In the tests, 6 types of small-size cutters, considering the design parameters of cutter diameter, cutter tip width and cutter tip shape, were selected. The granite samples were collected from the Beishan site, Gansu province of China. For each test, the cutting distance of the single cutter was 100m, and then the cutter wear could be obtained by weighing method. The tests shown that, 1) the cutter wear was basically proportional to the cutter tip width when the same penetration was reached, while the cutter force was not reduced remarkably for the narrow cutter when compared with that of wide-tip cutter; 2) the wear of 17-inch cutter was much higher when compared with that of 19-in and 20-in cutters; 3) the wear of round-edged cutter was obviously lower than that of flat-edged cutter, due to the former hardly presented curling behaviour after cutting while the latter had obviously curled. The test results facilitated better understanding of wear mechanism of TBM cutters and provided the references for cutter selection for TBM tunnelling in hard rock.

Daphnes Cortex and its licorice-processed products suppress inflammation via the TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling pathway and regulation of the metabolic profile in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Ethnopharmacological relevanceDaphnes Cortex (Daphne Giraldii Nitsche, DGN) is a popular traditional Chinese herbal medicine for traumatic injuries and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in the Shaanxi and Gansu provinces of China. Due to skin irritation caused by raw DGN (RDGN), licorice-processed DGN products are usually used in clinical practice. However, the efficacy and mechanisms of action between DGN and its licorice-processed DGN products in treating RA have not been compared. AimsThis study compared the efficacy and elucidated the mechanisms in vitro and in vivo between RDGN and its licorice-processed DGN products in treating RA. Materials and methodsA collagen-induced RA rat model was established, and treated with different doses of RDGN and its licorice-processed DGN products for 4 weeks to explore the therapeutic effects. The anti-inflammatory effects were assessed in RAW 264.7 macrophages stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Analyses of the differential quality markers (DQMs) between DGN and its licorice-processed DGN products using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry, and non-targeted metabolomics analyses of rat synovial tissues were used to systematically explore correlations between DGN processing and its efficacy. ResultsLicorice-processed DGN products significantly ameliorated RA symptoms in CIA rats. Licorice-processed DGN products also regulated inflammatory cytokines, matrix metalloproteinases, and vascular endothelial growth factor in the serum and cell supernatants. Licorice-processed DGN products significantly inhibited Toll-like receptor 4/nuclear factor kappa B/NOD-like receptor family, pyrin domain containing 3 (TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3) signaling in CIA rats and LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells. The DQMs between RDGN and its licorice-processed DGN products were identified, most of which were amino acids or energy-related metabolites present in licorice-processed DGN products. Correlations between DQMs with differential metabolites and differential metabolic pathways were established. ConclusionsLicorice-processed DGN products displayed better anti-inflammatory effects via the TLR4/NF-κB/NLRP3 signaling pathway on CIA rats and LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells, and regulation of the metabolic profile in treating RA.

Spatial Pattern and Driving Mechanism of Urban–Rural Income Gap in Gansu Province of China

The urban–rural income gap is a principal indicator for evaluating the sustainable development of a region, and even the comprehensive strength of a country. The study of the urban–rural income gap and its changing spatial patterns and influence factors is an important basis for the formulation of integrated urban–rural development planning. In this paper, we conduct an empirical study on 84 county-level cities in Gansu Province by using various analysis tools, such as GIS, GeoDetector and Boston Consulting Group Matrix. The findings show that: (1) The urban–rural income gap in Gansu province is at a high level in spatial correlation and agglomeration, leading to the formation of a stepped and solidified spatial pattern. (2) Different factors vary greatly in influence, for example, per capita Gross Domestic Product, alleviating poverty policy and urbanization rate are the most prominent, followed by those such as floating population, added value of secondary industry and number of Internet users. (3) The driving mechanism becomes increasingly complex, with the factor interaction effect of residents’ income dominated by bifactor enhancement, and that of the urban–rural income gap dominated by non-linear enhancement. (4) The 84 county-level cities in Gansu Province are classified into four types of early warning zones, and differentiated policy suggestions are made in this paper.

Does External Shock Influence Farmer’s Adoption of Modern Irrigation Technology?—A Case of Gansu Province, China

Due to the severe irrigational water scarcity and ever-growing contamination of existing water resources, the potential of improved and innovative irrigation technology has emerged. The risk-taking network may play an essential role in the adoption of modern irrigation technology (MIT). The main goals of the current study were to find the impacts of external shocks on MIT adoption by farmers. For doing so, the study analyzed the mediating effect of economic vulnerability (EV) and the moderating effect of the risk-taking network on farmer’s adaptation of MIT. Economic vulnerability of farmers refers to risks caused by external shocks to the farming system which may affect the farmer’s adoption of MIT. The empirical set-up of the study consists of micro survey data of 509 farmers from the Gansu Province of China. The results show that the external shock has a significant negative impact on adapting MIT by rural farmers. At the same time, EV plays an intermediary effect in increasing the impact of external irrigation on the adaptation of MIT. The intermediary to total effect is 36.57%. The risk-taking network has a moderate effect on the relationship between external shocks, affecting farmers to adopt MIT, while external shocks also increase EV which affects farmers’ adopting MIT. Thus, it can be said that the risk-taking network regulates the direct path of external shocks affecting farmers’ choice to adapt to MIT, and external shocks also affect farmer’s MIT adaptation. The public and private partnerships should be strengthened to facilitate risk minimization. Government should provide subsidies, and financial organizations should also formulate more accessible loans and risk-sharing facilities. The government should expand the support for formal and informal risk-taking network. They should also extend their support for formal and informal risk-taking networks to improve the risk response-ability of vulnerable farmers. The concerned authorities should attach smallholder farmers’ socio-economic structure and reform the existing policies according to their demands. The governmental authorities should also endorse the risk-sharing function of informal institutions.

Application of telemedicine in the COVID-19 epidemic: An analysis of Gansu Province in China

This paper analyzes the application of various telemedicine services in Gansu Province, China during the COVID-19 epidemic, and summarizes the experiences with these services. In addition, the satisfaction levels of patients and doctors with the application of telemedicine in COVID-19 were investigated, the deficiencies of telemedicine in Gansu were determined, and recommendations for modification were proposed. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has broken out in China, and Gansu Province in Northwest of China has not been spared. To date, there are 91 local COVID-19 cases and 42 imported cases. 109 hospitals were selected as designated hospitals during the COVID-19 outbreak, and most of them were secondary hospitals. However, it was unsatisfactory that the ability of medical services is relatively low in most of secondary hospitals and primary hospitals. Therefore, we helped the secondary hospitals cope with COVID-19 by means of remote consultation, long-distance education, telemedicine question and answer (Q&A). Our practical experience shows that telemedicine can be widely used during the COVID-19 epidemic, especially in developing countries and areas with lagging medical standards.

Integrated Geophysical Survey in Defining Subsidence Features of Glauber's Salt Mine, Gansu Province in China

Integrated Geophysical Survey in Defining Subsidence Features of Glauber's Salt Mine, Gansu Province in China

Characterization and Recombinant Genotypes of HIV-1 in Gansu Province, China

It is important to monitor the diversity and evolution of HIV-1 genotypes, especially in some remote and undeveloped regions in China where the diversity and distribution of HIV-1 genotypes are not fully clear. To investigate the genotypes and distribution of HIV-1 in far Northwestern Gansu Province of China, we selected 220 HIV-1-positive plasma samples from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Gansu from January 2016 to December 2018. The viral load of inclusion samples were over 1,000 copies per milliliter. The gag, pol, and env gene of HIV-1 were amplified by nested reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction kit, sequenced, and then identified genotypes using HIV-BLAST tool and the neighbor-joining method. One hundred fifty of 220 inclusion samples were successfully determined HIV-1 genotypes. Our results show that circulating recombinant forms (CRF) 07_BC and CRF01_AE are predominant and accounted for 46.7% and 28.0%, respectively. Other HIV-1 subtypes and genotypes included B/B' (6.0%), CRF08_BC (4.0%), and C (1.3%). In addition, we reported CRF65_cpx and CRF55_01B subtypes in Gansu for the first time. Phylogenetic tree analysis showed that the sequences of different samples are scattered in different genotype groups, and no obvious aggregation occurs. Our results indicate the genetic variety and complexity of HIV-1 and provide critical information for HIV/AIDS control and prevention in Gansu Province.

MicroRNA profiles in five pairs of early gastric cancer tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues.

Approximately half of the world's gastric cancer cases and deaths occur in China. In addition, the incidence and mortality rates of gastric cancer in Gansu province in China are much higher than the average nationwide levels. The present study investigated microRNA (miRNA/miR) profiles in early gastric cancer (EGC) without specific symptoms. miRNA expression levels in five pairs of EGC tissues and adjacent non-cancerous mucosa tissues of patients from Gansu province in China were analyzed using a miRNA microarray. A total of 47 differentially expressed miRNAs (DEMs) were identified. Subsequently, mRNA expression profiles of three pairs of cancer tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues from 3 Asian patients with stage I or stage II gastric cancer (stage I/II; American Joint Committee on Cancer classification, Eighth Edition) were obtained from The Cancer Genome Atlas database, and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified. The target genes of DEMs were filtered from the DEGs using the miRDB database and a miRNA-gene network was constructed. The functions of DEMs were evaluated using the tool for annotations of human miRNAs database, and via Gene Ontology analysis, Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes analysis and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis of the target genes. Finally, survival analyses of DEMs, which were in the miRNA-gene network, was performed. The results suggested that a number of miRNAs, including hsa-let-7a-5p, hsa-miR-27a-3p, hsa-miR-126-5p and hsa-miR-424-5p, may serve critical roles in EGC. The present study could provide a basis for the identification of EGC screening biomarkers. Furthermore, the present study may provide a basis for the exploration of the cause of the high incidence of gastric cancer in Gansu province from the perspective of miRNAs.

Analysis of Endophyte Diversity of Rheum palmatum from Different Production Areas in Gansu Province of China and the Association with Secondary Metabolite.

Investigations of the differences in the metabolites of medicinal plants have typically focused on the effects of external environmental factors. However, little is known about the relationship between endophytes diversity and host metabolites. We used high-throughput sequencing methods to compare the endophyte diversity of Rheum palmatum from eight different production areas in Gansu Province of China and to analyze the association between those areas and five secondary metabolites (aloe-emodin, rhein, emodin, chrysophanol, and physcion). The results show that the diversity and OTUs (Operational taxonomic units) abundance of endophytic fungi and bacteria of R. palmatum differed according to production area. Spearman analysis showed that the five secondary metabolites of R. palmatum were positively correlated with the diversity and abundance of endophytic fungi. Comparing both space and environmental differences to determine influences on community structure, VPA analysis revealed that geographic factors explained more difference in community composition of fungal and bacterial endophytes than climate factors. PICRUSt and FUNGuild predictive analysis indicated that metabolites were the primary components of endophytic bacteria in all samples, while the function of endophytic fungi was composed of dominant trophic modes (saprotroph and pathotroph), and relative abundances were different. Our results help elucidate the correlation of plant–microbe interactions and offer pivotal information to reveal the role of endophytes in the production of R. palmatum and its important secondary metabolite.

A novel multivariable grey prediction model and its application in forecasting coal consumption

Coal is an important energy source worldwide. Objectively and accurately predicting coal consumption is conducive to healthy coal industry development, because such predictions can provide references and warnings that are useful in formulating energy strategies and implementing environmental policies. Population size and area economic development are the main factors that affect coal consumption. Considering the above influences, this paper first establishes a differential equation and proposes a novel multivariable Verhulst grey model (MVGM(1,N)) based on grey information differences. MVGM(1,N) extends classical model from single-variable to multivariate and diminishes the characteristics of Verhulst’s reliance on saturated S-shaped and single-peak data, making classical model more applicable to real situations. To prove the effectiveness of MVGM(1,N) simulation experiments are carried out in areas with high coal consumption. The result of this proposed model is more precise than that of NLARX, ARIMA and five classical grey models Finally, this novel multivariable model predicates coal consumption of Inner Mongolia and Gansu Provinces in China, the results show that MVGM(1,N) is preferable to other models, indicating that this model can effectively predict coal consumption.

Interspecific hybridization contributes greatly to the origin of Asian pear cultivars – a Case study of pears from Gansu province of China

Interspecific hybridization contributes greatly to the origin of Asian pear cultivars – a Case study of pears from Gansu province of China

Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim mapping with multi-temporal Sentinel-2 images: The importance of different features and consistency of results

Zanthoxylum bungeanum Maxim (ZBM) is an important woody species in large parts of Asia, which provides oils and medicinal materials. Timely and accurate mapping of its spatial distribution and planting area is of great significance to local economy and ecology. As a special tree species planted in the Grain for Green Program of China, Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture (Linxia) in Gansu Province of China has vigorously developed ZBM cultivation since the launch of the program. However, lacking the accurate ZBM planting information hinders the assessment of the benefits and losses of the program to local people. Therefore, this study investigated the potential of multi-temporal Sentinel-2 Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI) to accurately map ZBM in the study area in 2019. We first investigated the classification accuracies of four alternative Random Forest (RF) classifications using either alone or in combination, spectral bands, vegetation indices (VIs), and topographical variables. The importance of the three categories of features was examined based on the mean decrease accuracy (MDA) metric. The classification results with the most important features were further assessed for their consistency by considering the voting rates of 800 trees based on testing samples. Results show that the sole use of the spectral bands (40 input features) already achieves a satisfactory classification accuracy of 95.43%. Adding extra VIs and topographical variables further improves the results, but only to a small extent. However, certain VIs and topographic variables are far more effective in classification compared with the original spectral bands, especially the Red Edge Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI705) and Normalized Difference Yellow Index (NDYI). The classification accuracy achieves nearly 95% when using only the top 15 most important features. The desirable periods for differencing of ZBM and other land cover types are fruit coloring and ripening periods. The final map shows that the ZBM planting in Linxia is mainly distributed along the Yellow River and around the Liujiaxia reservoir. The total mapped acreages of ZBM is 51,601 ha, covering 9.51% of the study area. 99% of ZBM tends to grow between 1500 and 2400 m altitude, and 67% of ZBM are planted in areas with slopes between 5 and 25°. Voting rates show that the percentages of classification results with strong and good consistency are generally over 70% for all land cover types, proving the derived land cover map's high credibility, including ZBM. Altogether, our results demonstrate the high potential of multi-temporal Sentinel-2 images in accurate mapping of ZBM, which can serve as a reference for other specialty crops or tree species.

Intended and unintended environmental consequences of grassland rental in pastoral China

Among herders, market-oriented grassland rental has been prevalent in China following the implementation of the Household Contracted Responsibility System, which allocated formerly collectively-owned use rights to individual herders. However, empirical evidence on the effect of grassland rental on herder households' overgrazing behaviour is scant, despite the fact that it is one of the main determinants of the severe grassland degradation in China. This study thus investigates the effects of grassland rental on both household- and plot-level grazing intensity and overgrazing based on a survey of 876 plots and 516 households in the Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, and Gansu provinces in China. An instrumental variable approach is utilised to correct the endogeneity bias of herders’ decision to rent in grassland. The household-level empirical results show that each 1000-mu increment of rent-in grassland leads to an intended 42% decrease in the overall grazing intensity and a 61% decrease in the overgrazing index. However, a plot-level analysis pooling both rent-in and self-owned grassland plots reveals the unintended consequence that herders are over-exploiting rent-in grassland plots; as a result, the grazing intensity on rent-in grassland is 2.03 times that on owned grassland. Therefore, grassland rental should be encouraged, but the monitoring system should pay more attention to the overgrazing of rental grassland.

New measures of alliance and conflict for three-way conflict analysis

In the Pawlak model of conflict analysis, a rating of −1, 0, and +1 indicates that an agent is negative, neutral, and positive towards an issue. One defines measures of alliance and conflict of agents based on their three-valued ratings on a set of issues. Existing studies make some restrictive assumptions. One assumption is that a single distance function determines alliance, conflict, and neutrality. Another assumption is that all issues are equally important. The third assumption is that different pairs, such as (+1,+1), (0,0), and (−1,−1), contribute equally to alliance and conflict. Intuitively, different issues may have different importances and a (+1,+1) agreement may be stronger than a (0,0) agreement. To address these weaknesses, in this paper we use a pair of an alliance measure and a conflict measure, rather than a single distance measure. We propose and study a new class of additive measures of alliance and conflict by assigning different weights to different issues and assigning different values to different pairs of ratings. Existing measures are special cases of the new measures. By using the new measures, we construct a general model of three-way conflict analysis. Finally, we give an application of the new alliance and conflict measures in making the development plan of Gansu Province in China.

Ecosystem service value evaluation method in a complex ecological environment: A case study of Gansu Province, China.

The scientific assessment of regional ecosystem service value (ESV) is helpful in developing scientific ecological protection plans and compensation policies. However, an ESV evaluation method that can adapt to the complex and diverse characteristics of the ecological environment has not been established. This study takes Gansu Province in China as an example, fully considering the regional differences in ecosystem service function. Five correction indices for the value equivalent factor per unit area were constructed on a provincial scale, and a regional difference adjustment index for 11 categories of ecosystem services was constructed on a regional scale. In this way, a value evaluation model based on regional differences was established. The results show that in 2015, the total ESV reached 2,239.56 billion yuan in Gansu Province, with ESV gradually increasing from the northeast to the southwest, and the high-value areas of service function being located in Qilian and Longnan Mountains. The forest and grassland ecosystems contributed the most to the ESV. From the perspective of value composition, local climate regulation and biodiversity maintenance functions are the main service functions of Gansu Province. From 2000 to 2015, ESV increased by 3.43 billion yuan in the province. The value of forest and urban ecosystems continued to increase, whereas the value of cultivated land ecosystem continued to decrease. In terms of spatial characteristics of the service value change, the area that experienced value reduction gradually moved from the central part of Gansu Province to the surrounding areas. The evaluation method proposed in this paper provides a relatively comprehensive evaluation scheme for the spatiotemporal dynamic evaluation of ESV in complex ecological environments.