Liyang City Research Articles

Green and Low Carbon Development Performance in Farmland Use Regulation: A Case Study of Liyang City, China

Farmland use regulation strictly regulates the conversion of agricultural land for other agricultural purposes and the construction of agricultural facilities, thereby optimizing the land use pattern in rural areas. However, different measures and intensities of farmland use regulation can affect the overall performance of green and low-carbon development in rural areas. This study utilizes system dynamics modeling and simulation to conduct a case study based on current land use data from 10 towns in Liyang City, China. The empirical results indicate the following: (1) Based on comprehensive measurements of green and low carbon development performance, Liyang City exhibits a pattern of higher indices in the south and lower indices in the north. Towns such as Tianmu Lake, Daibu, and Shezhu show relatively high average comprehensive indices of 0.31, 0.30, and 0.28, significantly higher than other towns. (2) Simulation of farmland use regulation’s impact on green and low carbon development performance reveals that Scenario One, involving additional construction land occupying farmland, achieves a comprehensive index of only 0.23, significantly lower than the other scenarios. (3) Based on calculations and field surveys, Liyang City’s villages are categorized into four types, with the largest number being industry-integrated villages (94 villages). Accordingly, policies for farmland use regulation are designed for different village types. Therefore, future farmland use regulation should be tailored with differentiated institutional designs according to the development needs of different villages. This study’s findings provide insights into green and low-carbon development in rural areas.

Identification of key areas for ecological restoration of territorial space based on ecological security pattern analysis: A case study of the Taihu Lake city cluster.

The identification of key areas for ecological restoration of national land space based on the ecological security pattern is an important way to balance environmental protection and social development in the new era. With the Taihu Lake city cluster as the study area, we identified the ecological source from both structural and functional aspects, and used the minimum cumulative resistance model to identify the ecological corridors on the basis of constructing the resistance surface. Coupled the landscape ecological risk evaluation, we determined the appropriate width of each ecological corridor in the study area, identified the key restoration zones through the circuit theory. Then, we constructed the ecological security pattern of "six zones and four belts" and controlled by zoning. The results showed that the 32 ecological source areas in the Taihu Lake city cluster presented a spatial pattern of "more in the east and less in the west-mountains and lakes are connected" and 70 ecological corridors were concentrated in the west and the center. The suitable width of most of the ecological corridors was 1500-2000 m. The ecological restoration zones of the national land space were concentrated in the eastern part of the Lake Taihu, Changxing County, and Liyang City. According to the characteristics of the study area and the actual situation of the restoration area, we proposed specific protection and restoration measures, such as protecting the core ecological source, optimizing and restoring the important corridors, and reasonably planning land use of the ecological pinch points and obstacle points.

From the Perspective of Service and Transformation: How to Develop Small and Medium-Sized Electromechanical Enterprises - Based on "Changzhou Jiutian Electromechanical"

In recent years, with the continuous development of society, the mechanical and electrical industry technology continues to update, so that the mechanical and electrical automation in many fields show multi-function, high efficiency, green environmental protection, and other characteristics, the use of mechanical and electrical equipment in people's life and production of more and more high proportion. Based on this, Liyang City, Jiangsu Province has created a new pattern of "one core park and many bases" with Zhongguancun Science and Technology Industrial Park as the core and the township's characteristic industrial base as the auxiliary. Promoted the development of new industries, new enterprises, and new products, so that Liyang agriculture and animal husbandry machinery and other advanced manufacturing industries rapidly rise. With the fierce competition, the company has gained 65% of the domestic market share, and the 1.2 billion yuan company is working to build a global high-end grain machinery production base, transforming "Made in Europe and America" to "Made in China". How small and medium-sized mechanical and electrical enterprises survive in the fierce competition has triggered thinking. In this case, utilizing field investigation and online interview, the strategic analysis of Changzhou Jiutian Mechanical and Electrical Equipment Co., Ltd TD was conducted using the Porter five force model and Boston matrix analysis. Changzhou Jiutian Mechanical and Electrical Equipment Co., Ltd., as a small and medium-sized electromechanical enterprise, needs to stand firm in the current competitive environment. Our research shows that we should start with the service and transformation strategy to realize the self-development of enterprises.

Establishment and Application of a 42-plex Microhaplotype Assay in Forensic Genetics.

To establish and forensically verify a 42 microhaplotypes (mircohaps, MHs) multiplex assay system based on next-generation sequencing (NGS), and to explore the application value of this system in the practice of forensic genetics. A total of 42 highly polymorphic MHs were selected from previous studies, and sequenced by the MiSeq FGxTM platform to verify the repeata-bility, sensitivity, specificity, stability, and mixture analysis ability of the detection system. Through population genetic investigation of 102 unrelated Chinese Han individuals in Liyang City, Jiangsu Province, China, the application value of this system in forensic genetics was evaluated. The sequencing repeatability of the 42-plex MHs assay was 100% and the sensitivity was as low as 0.062 5 ng. The system had the ability to withstand the interference of indigo (≤2 500 ng/μL), humic acid (≤9 ng/μL), hemoglobin(≤20 μmol), and urea (≤200 ng/μL) and to detect mixtures of 2 people (1∶19), 3 people (1∶1∶9) and 4 people (1∶1∶1∶9). Based on 102 individual data, the combined power of discrimination and the combined power of exclusion were 1-3.45×10-30 and 1-3.77×10-11, respectively, and the average effect value of alleles was 2.899. The 42-plex MHs assay was successfully established in this study and this system has high repeatability and sensitivity, good anti-jamming ability and mixture analysis ability. The 42 MHs are highly polymorphism and have good application value in individual identification and paternity testing.

Regional complex system simulation optimization through linking governance and environment performance: A case study of water environmental carrying capacity based on the SDES model

The resolution of issues related to sustainable development in regions and urbans is closely related to the complex systems, which lie not only in the numerous subsystems and spatial hierarchy, but also in the complex relationships between humans, socioeconomic, environmental and governance.The system dynamics (SD) model has been widely used in modeling regional and urban complex systems which involve multi-dimensional socio-economic and environmental issues. However, most simulations have focused on the state variables, such as the end-state social-economic and environmental situation, while the interaction between governance and their consequences on complex systems has been scarce. In addition, the social-ecological system (SES) framework has been endorsed worldwide because of its ability to explicitly recognize the complex interactions among socioeconomic-ecological-governance subsystems. To date, there have been few studies that combine the SES framework and complex systems models to quantitatively simulate the environmental performance of governance. In this research, we try to fill this gap by combining both to create a SDES model to quantitatively simulate the impacts of stakeholders' actions on environmental performance, and the feasibility of SDES model is verified by simulating the impacts of stakeholders' actions on water environment carrying capacity (WECC) in Liyang City, China. Moreover, we establish a cost-benefit analytical framework to identify the most cost-effective action to improve WECC based on the SDES model. Findings of this research contribute new theoretical and methodological insights into addressing environmental issues while we are facing a more complex regional and urban system and fragmented governance.

Construction and Optimization of the Ecological Security Pattern in Liyang, China

Rapid urbanization with unreasonable human disturbances has caused a serious ecological crisis. By constructing an ecological-security pattern (ESP), key landscape elements can be effectively identified. ESP optimization helps to improve a city’s ecosystem services and achieve the harmonious development between man and nature. Therefore, it is crucial to construct an accurate ESP and propose practical ESP optimization strategies. Taking Liyang City as an example, this paper first constructed the ESP with a combination methodology of circuit theory, graph theory, the granularity-reverse method, and the comprehensive-evaluation method. Then, strategies for ESP optimization were proposed in terms of ecological restoration and ecological source promotion. Finally, the optimized ESP was verified by quantitative assessment involving landscape connectivity and network structure. Research results show that the current ESP includes 24 ecological sources, 41 ecological corridors, and 50 ecological nodes that need ecological restoration. In the optimized ESP, 31.5 km2 of ecological land is added, 3 ecological sources are added, 55 ecological corridors are generated, and the number of nodes in the ecological network is increased by 4. By comparing the evaluation results before and after optimization, it can be seen that the optimization scheme has a positive effect on landscape connectivity and ecological coordination of the whole region.

Research on Expansion Characteristics of Aquaculture Ponds and Variations in Ecosystem Service Value from the Perspective of Protecting Cultivated Lands: A Case Study of Liyang City, China.

In the context of global food insecurity, a large amount of cultivated land in China has been occupied by aquaculture ponds, leading to a series of variations in the ecological environment. The Chinese government pays close attention to the problem. In order to achieve sustainable development and ensure the safety of China’s cultivated land, the paper uses Liyang City as an example to discuss the spatial characteristics of the expansion of aquaculture ponds through occupying cultivated lands and analyzes the variations in ecosystem service value and cultivated land function. The conclusions are as follows: (1) 2073.24 hectares of cultivated lands were occupied for expanding aquaculture ponds in Liyang from 2009 to 2019, and there was a small number of new aquaculture ponds in the ecological protection area, which shows that the aquaculture ponds in Liyang City are at the stage of disorderly expansion; (2) the total value of ecosystem services increased by 1.43%; supply and support services values decreased, but the increase in regulation and cultural services values was sufficient to more than compensate for the mentioned losses; and (3) the expansion of aquaculture ponds leads to a decrease in the carbon storage of cultivated land, which in turn has negative impacts such as an increase in atmospheric carbon concentration.

Cohort profile: the Liyang cohort study on chronic diseases and risk factors monitoring in China (Liyang Study)

PurposeThe Liyang cohort study on chronic diseases and risk factors monitoring in China (Liyang Study) is a prospective population-based study which aims to investigate and identify the determinants of the...

Estimating population norms for the health-related quality of life of adults in southern Jiangsu Province, China

Although national health-related quality of life population norms had been published based on the EuroQol 5-Dimensions 5-levels scale, China is a vast country with diverse cultural and social development in various regions. Therefore, regional population norms may better reflect the health status of residents in a given area. The purpose of the study was to derive the HRQoL population norm for adult general population in southern Jiangsu Province using the EQ-5D-5L scale and explore potential influencing factors. The data were based on a cross-sectional survey conducted in Liyang City from March 2019 to July 2020. EQ-5D-5L utility scores based on Chinese value set and EQ-VAS scores were used to assess HRQoL. The Tobit regression model and generalized linear model were performed to identify the association among potential covariates and HRQoL. The means (95% confidence interval) of the EQ-5D-5L utility scores and EQ-VAS scores were 0.981(0.980–0.983) and 83.6(83.2–83.9), respectively. Younger people (≤ 40 years old) were more likely to experience problems with anxiety or depression. Additionally, women had lower HRQoL scores although multivariate analysis found no statistical difference between the sexes. Lower HRQoL was associated with advanced age, lower socioeconomic status, no spouse, lack of regular physical activities, smoking cessation, and chronic non-communicable diseases. Subjects who declared that they were afflicted by diseases presented significantly lower utility scores, ranging from 0.823 (0.766–0.880) for memory-related diseases to 0.978 (0.967–0.989) for hepatic diseases. Regional population norms of HRQoL are needed in the health economic study owing to the great socioeconomic differences across regions in China. The present study provides HRQoL population norms for adults in southern Jiangsu. These norm values could help policy makers better allocate limited health resources and prioritize service plans.

Effects of land use and landscape pattern characteristics on seasonal surface water quality in a typical reticulated river network area—a case study of Liyang City, Jiangsu Province

地表水质受区域景观组成及其空间配置的影响较大，了解景观特征与水质之间的关系可以极大地提高潜在污染的可预测性和污染物输出的评估能力. 以典型网状河网区域(江苏省溧阳市)为例，研究了土地利用和景观格局特征对地表季节水质的影响. 本研究基于2017年每单月从12个监测断面收集的21个水质指标，首先分析了多尺度缓冲区(500、1000、1500、2000、2500和3000 m)内土地利用和景观格局特征，然后通过主成分分析选取12个指标作为主要水质因子，采用冗余分析确定景观因子对水质指标的最佳影响尺度，最后采用偏最小二乘回归(PLSR)探究了最佳影响尺度下景观因子对季节水质的影响. 结果表明，2500 m缓冲区是该区域景观因子对水质指标的最佳影响尺度，旱季大多数水质指标PLSR模型的显著性和预测能力比雨季强. 雨季大多数水质指标都受园地、林草地、散布与并列指数(IJI)和香农均匀度指数(SHEI)的重要影响，并且这些景观因子与除pH和溶解氧浓度之外的其他水质指标均呈负相关. 在旱季，溶解氧、石油类、化学需氧量、总氮和总磷浓度受土地利用的影响最大; 另外，IJI是电导率、硫酸盐和亚硝酸盐氮浓度的最重要影响因子，而SHEI对硫化物和总悬浮物浓度的影响最大. 此外，景观指数对雨季水质的影响更大. 本研究结果揭示了网状河网区域土地利用/景观格局与季节性水质的关系，为区域水环境管理和景观格局优化提供了科学依据.;Surface water quality is greatly affected by regional landscape composition and its spatial configuration. Understanding their relationship can greatly improve the predictability of potential pollution and the evaluation capability of pollutant output. Taking a typical reticulated river network area (Liyang City, Jiangsu Province) as an example, the effects of land use and landscape pattern characteristics on seasonal surface water quality were examined. In this study, 21 water quality indicators were collected from 12 monitoring sections every single month in 2017. Firstly, the characteristics of land use and landscape pattern in multi-scale buffer zones (500, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500 and 3000 m) were analyzed. Then 12 water quality indexes were identified as the main water quality factors through principal component analysis, and the best impact scale of regional landscape factors on water quality indicators was revealed by redundancy analysis. Finally, partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to explore the landscape impact on seasonal water quality in the best impact scale. The results showed that 2500 m buffer zone was the best impact scale on water quality indicators. The significance and prediction ability of PLSR models of most water quality indicators were stronger in dry season than that in rainy season. Most water quality indicators in rainy season were significantly affected by orchard land, forest-grass land, dispersion and juxtaposition index (IJI) and Shannon evenness index (SHEI), and these landscape factors were negatively correlated with other water quality parameters except pH and dissolved oxygen (DO). In the dry season, DO, petroleum, chemical oxygen demand, total nitrogen and total phosphorus were most affected by land use. In addition, IJI was the most important impact factor of electrical conductivity, sulfate and nitrite nitrogen, while SHEI had the greatest impact on sulfide and total suspended solids. In addition, landscape metrics had greater impacts on water quality in rainy season. This study revealed the relationship between land use/landscape pattern and seasonal water quality in the reticulated river network area, and provided scientific basis for regional water environment management and landscape pattern optimization.

Characteristics and Driving Forces of Non-Grain Production of Cultivated Land from the Perspective of Food Security

A large proportion of the cultivated land in China has been used for non-grain production purposes. As food insecurity is worsening worldwide, this issue has attracted attention from the Chinese government. In order to curb this trend and to ensure food security, this paper explores the quantitative characteristics and spatial distribution of cultivated land used for non-grain purposes in Liyang City, Jiangsu Province, and discusses the clustering characteristics and mechanisms behind this based on spatial autocorrelation analysis and geographically weighted regression (GWR). The results show that most of the cultivated land in Liyang City has not been used for non-grain purposes, and the cultivated land reserve is abundant. Among all land types, irrigable land has the largest non-grain production rate of cultivated land. There is no significant spatial correlation of cultivated land for non-grain purposes in most towns in Liyang, among which Kunlun Street is in the High-High (HH) zone and Daibu Town in the Low-High (LH) zone. It is also found that the same factor has various impacts on the non-grain production of cultivated land in different towns, and the number of enterprises is the core factor that leads to the non-grain use of cultivated land in Liyang city. Low food prices lead some farmers to plant other crops with higher economic benefits, and also lead to the outflow of the rural labor force. This will not only accelerate the non-grain production of cultivated land, but also cause a large amount of cultivated land to be in a state of unmanned cultivation, further aggravating the proportion of non-grain production in cultivated land.

Occurrence Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment of Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Groundwater in Wuxi-Changzhou

The concentrations of 22 endocrine disrupting chemicals, including 4 categories of sex hormones, progesterones, glucocorticoids, and phenolic hormones, in groundwater of Wuxi-Changzhou were analyzed using solid-phase extraction and ultra-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The results indicated that 20 EDCs were detected, among which bisphenol A (BPA), estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), and 17α-ethinyl estradiol (EE2) were the main components with detection ratios greater than 90%, followed by estriol (E3) and methyl-prednisolonel (Meprednl), which had detection rates 67.7% and 48.4%, respectively. The average concentration of BPA was the highest (4.95 ng·L-1), followed by that of Meprednl, E2, prednisolone (Prednl), testosterone propionate (TES-pro), and megestrol-acetate (MA; 2.84, 0.71, 0.64, 0.58, and 0.53 ng·L-1, respectively). The total concentration in each site ranged from 0.38 to 147.35 ng·L-1. The sites with higher concentration were mainly distributed in the Xinbei District, Liyang City, and the Zhonglou District of Changzhou City. The potential sources were analyzed by a principal component analysis (PCA) combining the point sources near sample sites. The results showed that domestic sewage, aquaculture, and industrial wastewater were the main sources, following by medical wastewater. A non-carcinogenic risk assessment showed a low risk of EDCs in the groundwater of the study area, and the risk of drinking water was greater than that of skin exposure. EE2 had the highest non-carcinogenic risk and is suggested to be monitored in priority.

A hybrid model of empirical wavelet transform and extreme learning machine for dissolved oxygen forecasting

The accurate predicting trend of dissolved oxygen (DO) can reduce the risks to aquaculture, so a combined nonlinear prediction model based on empirical wavelet transform (EWT) and extreme learning machine (ELM) optimised by adaptive disturbance particle swarm optimisation (ADPSO) is proposed. First of all, DO series are decomposed into a term of relatively subsequence by EWT, secondly, the decomposed components are reconstructed using the C-C method, and thirdly an ELM prediction model of every component is established. At last, the predicted values of DO datasets are calculated by using RBF to reconstruct the forecasting values of all components. This model is tested in the special aquaculture farm in Liyang City, Jiangsu Province. Results indicate that the proposed prediction model of EWT-ELM has better performance than WD-ELM, EMD-ELM, ELM and EWT-BP. The research shows that the combined forecasting model can effectively extract the sequence characteristics, and can provide a basis for decision-making management of water quality, which has certain application value.

Study on a water pollution simulation and analysis system based on WebGIS: A case study of Liyang City, Jiangsu Province

A surface water quality analysis and pollutant diffusion simulation system was studied and developed using WebGIS. This paper introduces the structural design, technology development and main functions of the system. Using Liyang City of Jiangsu Province as an example, an environmental water monitoring database was established. Based on the database, a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of water quality in Liyang City were determined and provided decision support for pollution management. In addition, two authoritative water pollution diffusion analysis models (including a one-dimensional model and a two-dimensional model) were integrated, and a dynamic simulation of water pollution accidents was constructed with the support of GIS technology.

A New Emerging Technology: Na‐Ion Batteries

Increasing awareness of environmental pollution and requirement of reliable energy are driving to develop various energy storage systems. Among them, rechargeable batteries play a key role in our modern society. “Building better batteries” remains an ongoing process to cater diverse energy demands starting from small-scale consumer electronics to large-scale automobiles and grid storage. Constantly promoting the development of battery technologies towards better, cheaper and safer properties is the persistent mission of scientific researchers. Due to the similar working principle to Li-ion batteries, abundant resource advantages, and mature fabrication technologies, Na-ion batteries (NIBs) have become a rising star and aroused a great deal of interest particularly for the application in the grid electrical energy storage. To realize the goal, the scientific community is making unremitting endeavors in the search for more efficient, reliable and economical materials and technologies, where the new designing and discovering, the endless improvements and innovations, as well as the proposed solutions and strategies are the best proof. This special issue presents a body of work discussing the important topics in NIB research: i) the synthetic condition- and composition-dependent layered oxides, ii) the multielectron reactions of polyanionic materials, iii) the application of Prussian blue analogs in organic or aqueous electrolytes, iv) the synthesis of anode materials and understanding of storage mechanism, and v) the effect of salt concentration on electrolyte and electrode property. This issue begins with a research news of sodium-oxygen batteries to review the cell chemistry and reaction mechanism, and consists of three communications, five reviews and nine research papers to introduce the above-mentioned topics, discuss them in detail, and summarize recent advances. As one of the main components of NIBs, cathode materials play a key role in overall performance, and consequently capture considerable interest. Among them, layered metal oxides, polyanionic compounds and Prussian blue analogs have been intensively examined due to their respective advantages. Four papers cover sodium layered oxides (investigating the synthetic condition, element doping and structure design for the material modification), six papers involve polyanionic cathodes (with regard to the versatile skeleton, multielectron reaction and tunable redox potential to realize high power or high energy density batteries), and two papers concern Prussian blue analogs (possessing rigid open framework with large interstitial sites and capable of applying in both organic and aqueous electrolytes). Compared with cathode materials, the selection of anode materials suffer from limited options. Two reviews summarize the state-of-the-art achievements of carbonaceous anodes: one aims to help readers comprehensively learn how to fabricate one-element doped and several-elements co-doped carbons to tune the anode performance, and the other intends to demonstrate the sodium storage ability of graphitic carbons with strategies of solvent co-intercalation, graphite expanding and active material compositing. One research paper on the cobalt/chalcogenides in B, N co-doped graphene for sodium storage is a live example combining the main content of the two reviews. Besides, another research paper reports evidence for reversible silicon redox activity by investigating the sodium storage mechanism in silicon oxycarbide. Electrolytes are also crucial to influence the whole performance of battery system. Organic electrolytes containing solvents and salts are still the mostly used type, where the salt-solvent coordination greatly impacts the ionic conductivity, viscosity, electrochemical stability window etc. One research paper systematically investigates the salt concentration on the properties of organic carbonate-based electrolyte and finds that viscosity plays a major role in influencing ionic conductivity rather than ions and molecules’ coordination. The best electrolyte should make a good compromise between physicochemical and electrochemical properties. This special issue in Small Methods attempts to offer highlights on the new developments of electrode material design, electrolyte composition optimization, sodium storage mechanism interpretation, and electrochemical performance improvement for NIBs in a broad range. Even there are still many challenges to be resolved, given the facts that important achievements have been realized and over 10 companies in the world start to commercialize this technology, in particular, HiNa Battery Company has successfully installed a Na-ion battery system with a capacity of 30 kW/100 kWh for the energy storage in Liyang city of China (Figure 1). We are sure that NIBs will have promising applications in the future. It has been our pleasure to edit this special issue, and we would like to thank Small Methods editors, particularly, Dr. Guangchen Xu, for proposing the special issue and handling all the papers. We would also express our earnest thanks to all the authors for their commitment and great work, and appreciate all the reviewers who have made excellent contributions to guarantee this high-quality issue for the community.

Simulation of Water Pollution Diffusion Based on WebGIS

Taking Liyang City of Jiangsu Province as the research object, a water pollution accident diffusion simulation and analysis system, taking WebGIS as the core, was established by taking finite difference method to do the system dynamics water quality model solution. This paper introduces the construction process of the model, the integration of the model with GIS, the interactive application of the system and users and the visual dynamic expression of water pollution accidents. By combining the statistical analysis of the spatial and environmental database in the system, the scientific simulation of the temporal and spatial relationship of the development of water pollution accidents on the client side is realized and providing precise decision support for early warning and control of water pollution diffusion.

Evaluation of malaria elimination surveillance in Liyang City from 2010 to 2016

To evaluate the effect of malaria elimination monitoring in Liyang City, so as to provide the evidence for formulating control strategies and measures of malaria elimination. The monitoring data about the epidemic situation, blood tests of feverish patients and epidemiology investigation of individual malaria patients in Liyang City from 2010 to 2016 were collected and analyzed by the descriptive epidemiology method. From 2010 to 2016, there were 67 malaria cases in total. Totally 39 196 feverish patients had blood tests for Plasmodium, and 65 of them showed positive and the positive rate was 0.17%. The other 2 cases of microscopy negative were treated with anti-malarial drugs by themselves after the onset of fever, and no Plasmodium was detected in the microscopy, but the tests with malaria rapid diagnostic kit (RDTs) were positive. Among all the 67 cases, there were 49 falciparum malaria cases, 13 ovale malaria cases and 5 vivax malaria cases. All the 67 malaria cases were imported, and the number of cases from Africa was 63 (94.03%). Totally 97.01% (65/67) of the malaria patients were male and most of them were young adults. The patients aged 30 to 49 years accounted for 73.13% (49/67) and 80.60% (54/67) of them were farmers. There were malaria cases in all the 10 towns of the city, and the time of onset had no obvious seasonal characteristics. The timely rate of case report, timely rate of blood film review, standardized treatment rate, epidemiological case investigation rate, and epidemic focus investigation and disposal rate were all 100%. There were 18 076 people with the active case investigation, but no malaria parasite positive carriers were found. The mosquito vector monitoring was performed with the methods of mosquito trap lamp and human bait half night trap, and 187 and 78 Anopheles mosquitoes were captured respectively, and all the parasites were Anopheles sinensis. A total of 88 person-times were performed for the Plasmodium examinations with microscopy and RDTs (one blood sample, two detections) in Liyang City Center for Disease Prevention and Control from 2012 to 2016, and 35 person-times were positive, including 28 person-times of Plasmodium falciparum and 7 person-times of P. ovale, and there was no statistically significant difference between the detection rates of P. falciparum, and P. ovale (adjusted χ2 = 0.05, P > 0.05). There were 34 RDTs positive cases, including 14 cases of malignant malaria, and 17 cases of malignant malaria or mixed infections of P. falciparum with other three kinds of Plasmodium parasites, and 3 cases of single infection or mixed infections of other three kinds of Plasmodium parasites, and there was a statistically significant difference among them in the positive RDTs detection rates (adjusted χ2 = 13.75, P < 0.05). There are still imported malaria cases and there is the risk of malaria retransmission in Liyang City. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the malaria surveillance work and the management of infectious sources, so as to consolidate the achievements of malaria elimination in the future.

Cymbella liyangensis sp. nov., a new cymbelloid species (Bacillariophyceae) from streams in North Tianmu Mountain, Jiangsu province, China

During a survey of freshwater diatoms from streams in North Tianmu Mountain, Liyang City, Jiangsu Province, China, a new Cymbella species, Cymbella liyangensis sp. nov. was recorded. A detailed morphological description of C. liyangensis is presented, based on light and scanning electron microscopy. The main features of C. liyangensis are: moderately dorsiventral, semi-lanceolate valves with broadly to obtusely rounded ends; indistinct central area on the dorsal side, bordered by 1–2 shorter central striae; three or four round, different-sized stigmata open at the ends of the central ventral striae; a “ridge like” structure is present at the junction of the valve face and mantle around the valve; a marked tendency to develop biseriate striae, with up to 10 biseriate striae near the apices. The new species is compared with C. hubeiensis, C. sumatrensis, C. tridentina, C. parva, C. rumrichae, C. hantzschiana and C. vulgata, all of which show similarities to Cymbella liyangensis but differ in details of size, valve shape, stria density and structure, and number of stigmata. The species is common to abundant on stones from relatively clean stream waters from North Tianmu Mountain.

A Study on the Design of Rural Material Flow System Based on the Traditional Chinese Twenty-four Solar Terms - A Case Study of Lifengjie in Liyang City, Jiangsu Province, China

In the view of Chinese traditional twenty-four solar terms, the circulation of various substances in the material flow system of base production and life is systematically analyzed, and on the basis of the existing system problem point, as well as by combining with the concept of the twenty-four solar terms and the system design method, the author reconstructs each subsystem of the base material flow system, moreover, the author eventually connects the subsystems and reconstructs a material flow system conforming to the traditional Chinese solar terms and conforming to the requirements of ecological sustainability.

Investigation of major parasitic diseases and related knowledge, attitude and practice among rural residents in Liyang City

To investigate the prevalence of major parasitic diseases and related knowledge, attitude and practice among rural residents in Liyang City, so as to provide the evidence for formulating appropriate preventive strategies and measures. Three villages were selected from three towns as survey sites, and the residents who were above three years old and had been in the village for over six months were investigated. The Kato-Katz technique was applied to detect intestinal parasite eggs in residents' feces, and the cellophane anal swab was used to detect Enterobius vermicularis eggs among children aged 3-6 years. The iodine liquid smear and saline smear methods were used to examine intestinal protozoa cysts or trophozoites. Hookworm species were identified by the tube filter paper culture method. A structured questionnaire was used to collect the information on residents' knowledge, attitude and practice of the prevention and control of major parasitic diseases. Totally 759 residents were investigated and tested at the three rural survey sites, and only 2 cases were detected of parasitic infection and the total infection rate was 0.26%. Both cases were mild infections without mixed infection. The total awareness rate of knowledge on ascariasis, trichuriasis and ancylostomiasis was 37.9%, while the awareness rate of knowledge on clonorchiasis was 13.8%. The age and educational level were important factors of the knowledge on prevention and control of parasitic diseases among the residents. The formation rates of washing hands before meal and after using the toilet, and never drinking unboiled water were 83.8% and 92.1%, respectively. Totally 11.6% of the residents usually ate raw or half-cooked freshwater fishes and shrimps, and 53.0% had not the behavior to prepare raw and cooked food using the different chopping boards. The proportions of residents using fresh feces as manure and working in the field with bare feet were 13.8% and 22.8% respectively. The proportions of residents who thought they could, could not, or were not sure to change the risk behaviors and habits of parasitic infections were 40.2%, 28.5% and 31.4%, respectively. The infection rate of major parasitic diseases among the rural residents in Liyang City is low, and the awareness rate of knowledge on preventing parasitic diseases is also low. Therefore, the health education on the prevention and control of parasitic diseases should be strengthened to guide them to develop good hygiene, diet and farming habits. The environmental sanitation should be continuously improved to block the endemic of parasitic infection.