Major Influencing Factors Research Articles

Impacts of root exudates on the toxic response of Chrysanthemum coronarium L. to the co-pollution of nanoplastic particles and tetracycline

Nano polystyrene (PS) particles and antibiotics universally co-exist, posing a threat to crop plants and hence human health, nevertheless, there is limited research on their combined toxic effects along with major influential factors, especially root exudates, on crop plants. This study aimed to investigate the response of Chrysanthemum coronarium L. to the co-pollution of nanoplastics and tetracycline (TC), as well as the effect of root exudates on this response. Based on a hydroponic experiment, the biochemical and physiological indices of Chrysanthemum coronarium L. were measured after 7 days of exposure. Results revealed that the co-pollution of TC and PS caused significant oxidative damage to the plants, resulting in reduced biomass. Amongst the two contaminants, TC played a more prominent role. PS could enter the root tissue, and the uptake of TC and PS by plant roots was synergetic. Malic acid, oxalic acid, and formic acid could explain 65.1% of the variation in biochemical parameters and biomass of the roots. These compounds affected the photosynthesis and biomass of Chrysanthemum coronarium L. by gradually lowering root reactive oxygen species (ROS) and leaf ROS. In contrast, the impact of rhizobacteria on the toxic response of the plants was relatively minor. These findings suggested that root exudates could alleviate the toxic response of plants to the co-pollution of TC and PS. This study enhances our understanding of the role of root exudates, providing insights for agricultural management and ensuring food safety.

The impact of tyre tread pattern design parameters on accelerated pass-by noise

Road-Traffic noise is one of the major environmental issues globally. Considering its effects on human health, international standards have been developed and emission limits have been adopted. In Europe, these regulations are becoming more stringent and challenging the automotive industry. There are two legislative Pass-by-noise test methods: Normal Pass-By-Noise (R117) for Tyre legislation and Accelerated Pass-By-Noise (R51) for vehicle legislation. For OE (Original Equipment) business meeting strict Accelerated Pass-By-Noise target is necessary for the Tyre industry because Tyre is a major influencing factor in overall vehicle noise. This paper explores the relationship between the parameters of tyre tread pattern and their effect on accelerated pass-by noise. The investigation shows how specific characteristics of the tread pattern, such as design, groove geometry, and other relevant factors, contribute to the overall noise generated during accelerated pass-by noise measurements.

Application of GRACE-based satellite estimates in the assessment of flood potential: A case study of Gangetic-Brahmaputra basin, India.

The high frequency of flood occurrences and the uneven distribution of hydrological stations make it difficult to monitor large-scale floods. Emergence of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite system sets up a new era of large-scale flood monitoring without much reliance on in situ hydrological observations. The GRACE-derived flood potential index (FPI) exhibits its ability to monitor major events of 2003, 2004, 2007, and 2008 over the Indo-Gangetic-Brahmaputra Basin (IGBB). Precipitation and soil moisture are the major influencing factors of flood. However, the response of potential flooding to such parameters is little known. Pearson's lag correlation analysis is used to examine the response of the GRACE-based FPI to precipitation and soil moisture over the study region comparing seasonal time series of the variables. Results exhibited a 2-month lagged response of FPI to precipitation in the Upper Gangetic Yamuna Chambal Basin (UGYCB) and the Lower Gangetic Basin (LGB) and 1-month lagged response in the Lower Brahmaputra Basin (LBB). With context to soil moisture, a 1-month lag is observed in the Gangetic basins, and no lag is observed in the LBB. Event wise analysis of the lags portrays slightly varying lags for different events; however, it provides a picture on the interaction between these variables. This study also assesses the agreement between FPI and satellite-based river discharge, i.e. Dartmouth Flood Observatory (DFO) discharge. A good correlation (> 0.60) between the two is observed. Threshold values of FPI are determined for the LBB due to its annual flood frequency. The nearly similar accuracy of threshold FPI, determined using DFO discharge, in monitoring floods and the predictive skill measure of FPI for LBB to the previous studies demonstrates the utility of satellite-based discharge in the quantification of threshold FPI values for different percentile floods.

Land use transformations in the Brazilian Savanna: A decade of soil erosion and runoff measurements

Changes in land cover and land use (LULC) are one of the main drivers of erosion and runoff. How ever, most research has relied on short-term observations and only focused on one or two land cover types. We investigated the long-term trade-off between common agricultural land covers (sugarcane, pasture, and soybean), runoff, and soil loss rates. We compared these to native forest (wooded Cerrado) and bare soil. The field observations were done in 100 m2 experimental plots in Brazil maintained during the past 10 years. The paper provides three main contributions: (1) long-term runoff and soil loss rates of plots under different LULCs, (2) comparison of runoff, soil loss, and pedological characteristics between plots constructed 10 years apart, and (3) analysis of the trade-off between different LULCs. When ranking land covers based on runoff and soil loss rates, there is a shift in ranking positions, making it difficult to determine which one is more environmentally harmful. However, it is evident that whatever agricultural practice is used, there is a significant impact when compared to native forest. For example, the area converted to pasture resulted in almost 20 times higher runoff, while conversion to sugarcane resulted in 5 times higher soil loss. Not only land cover plays a major influencing factor, but also weathering exposing time. Areas under the same land cover and environmental conditions had different rates of soil loss and runoff due to long-term exposure effects such as soil crusting. Our findings have high relevance for the hydrological and agricultural community by demonstrating (i) the magnitude of trade-off in terms of soil loss and runoff due to land cover changes and (ii) that soil loss should not be assumed to be a linear process over time, as it is commonly assumed.

Evaluation of Coupled Human–Natural System Coordination in Xinjiang and Analysis of Obstacle Factors

The coupling and coordination of humans and natural systems, as the core of geographical research, is an important issue that social development needs to confront and explore. The study of the coupling and coordination of the human–natural system in Xinjiang, as well as the obstacles, is of great significance for its ecological environment and social development. This study establishes a multidimensional index system for the coupling of the human–natural system in Xinjiang. The comprehensive evaluation index and coupling coordination degree of the human–natural system from 2013 to 2020 were calculated, using weighted methods and a coupling coordination evaluation model. The main obstacles to the development of coupling and coordination in Xinjiang were identified, with the aid of a barrier model. The study indicates: (1) the human–natural system composed of ecological environment, urban–rural livability, cultural characteristics, civil harmony, and green development reflects the comprehensive development level of Xinjiang; (2) from 2013 to 2020, the sustainable development of the human–natural system in Xinjiang was good, with an upward trend in the evaluation index; (3) from 2013 to 2020, the level of coupling and coordination of the human–natural system in Xinjiang improved, transitioning from low to high levels; (4) from 2013 to 2020, the main factors impeding the coordinated development of the human–natural system changed. In addition to urban–rural differences and water resource conditions, medical conditions and carbon emissions also became major influencing factors on the coupling and coordination degree of the human–natural system in arid regions. Therefore, the research on the coupling and coordination relationship of the human–natural system and the analysis of obstacles in Xinjiang can provide scientific basis for the high-quality sustainable development and the construction of a beautiful Xinjiang.

Factors influencing patients’ engagement with ChatGPT for accessing health-related information

ABSTRACT This study aims to investigate the factors influencing patients’ engagement with ChatGPT for accessing health-related information. A quasi-experimental design with a mixed-methods approach including both quantitative online survey and qualitative interviews was adopted in this study for data collection and analysis. A total of 139 and 24 outpatients were recruited for survey and interviews, respectively. Twenty-eight influencing factors were identified from both survey and interview analysis that may affect positively or negatively on patients’ engagement on ChatGPT. Survey results revealed user-centric factors, including perceived usefulness (mean score rating = 3.59), followed by trustworthiness (Mean score rating = 3.53) to be major influencing factors, while interview findings revealed ChatGPT-related factors such as information quality, ethical concerns, and technical limitations as the major influencing factors. ChatGPT has exponentially generated users’ interest in its features and functionalities, but there are still some concerns which may limit their engagement. Areas of future research include ChatGPT and patient satisfaction; ChatGPT for public health awareness; and ChatGPT for self-management of chronic diseases.

New insights into the controlling factors of nitrate spatiotemporal characteristics in groundwater of Dagu aquifer in Qingdao, China

Identifying spatiotemporal variation of groundwater NO3-N and its primary controlling factors are vital for groundwater protection. This study, under the data scarce conditions and based on time series monitoring data in Dagu aquifer, applied methods including hydrochemical ion ratio, multiple linear regression, support vector regression and grey relational analysis and dedicated to revealing primary controlling factors of temporal variation patterns of groundwater NO3-N. The results showed that agricultural and manure fertilizer are the main sources of NO3-N in north and central area (vegetable farming area), and that domestic sewage discharge and manure fertilizer are the main sources of NO3-N in south area (residential and grain planting area). In addition, results identified the dominant influencing factors of variation of NO3-N in different regions, with human wastewater discharge, nitrogen load amount and water-table depth being the dominant factors of variations of NO3-N in north area, human wastewater discharge being the main factor of variations of NO3-N in central area, and irrigation water and human wastewater being the leading factors of variations of NO3-N in south area. Moreover, types of controlling factors can influence the seasonal variations of NO3-N. NO3-N in vegetable farming area that dominantly affected by fertilization generally shows higher concentration and larger variation range of concentration during summer and autumn than that during spring. NO3-N which mainly affected by human wastewater discharge and manure inputs shows minimal seasonal variation of mean concentration. NO3-N in grain area influenced by irrigation could show more significant variations during spring and autumn than that during summer. The conclusions can enhance understandings of major influencing factors on NO3-N variation in local aquifer. Importantly, the dominant roles of water-table depth and irrigation in NO3-N variation of N2 site (vegetable planting area) and S5 site (grain planting area), respectively, were highlighted.

Public transport mode choice behavior of different-income passengers during large-scale public health incidents

Public transport ridership has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic in many countries. Investigating passengers' public transport mode choice behavior during large-scale public health incidents can uncover the major influential factors and help propose policies and strategies to reduce the pandemic transmission and recover the public transport revenue. This study develops an integrated choice and latent variables (ICLV) model by income based on structural equation model to model passengers' public transport choice behavior during the normalized stage of the pandemic. The model considers passengers' socioeconomic attributes, travel attributes, and attitude-perception attributes, and can appropriately capture passengers' psychological latent attributes. Taking Beijing China as an example, we collect some revealed preference survey data online. The modeling results show that the risk perception as a mediator variable has a significant impact on mode preference. Moreover, the convenience of public transport has the largest influence on risk perception. These findings suggest that risk perception and the convenience of public transport play a major role in passengers' mode choice behavior. In addition, the impacts of the various influential factors on the public transport mode choices are significantly different across different income groups. Further, the ICLV model can achieve better performance and is superior to the traditional Multinomial Logit model. The modeling framework can help propose targeted and instructive strategies during the normalized stage of the pandemic by uncovering the major influential factors in passengers’ public transport mode choices, which is applicable to similar pandemics in the future.

Prevalence and risk factors of osteosarcopenia in elderly patients with uncontrolled type 2 diabetes.

To assess the prevalence of osteosarcopenia (OS) in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and explore the related risk factors for developing this condition. This cross-sectional study enrolled hospitalized T2DM patients aged 60 years and older. Patients underwent assessments of total hip bone mineral density (BMD), grip strength, the Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB), and body composition. Based on the 2019 Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia (AWGS) criteria, appendicular skeletal muscle mass (ASM), grip strength, and SPPB were measured to diagnose sarcopenia. BMD and T values of the lumbar spine and hip were measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA). Osteosarcopenia was defined when both sarcopenia and osteoporosis criteria were met. Statistical analysis included binary logistic regression to identify significant risk factors. A total of 254 hospitalized T2DM patients (80 males and 174 females) were included. They were divided into T2DM-OS (n = 58) and T2DM-NOS (n = 196) groups based on the presence of osteosarcopenia. The average ages were 72.724 ± 6.463 and 69.265 ± 6.035 years, respectively. The prevalence of osteosarcopenia in T2DM patients was 22.8%, with 20.7% (12 males) and 79.3% (46 females) in the T2DM-OS group. After adjusting for confounding factors, it was found that male gender (OR: 5.738, 95% CI: 1.602-20.551, P = 0.007), fasting plasma glucose (OR: 0.904, 95% CI: 0.821-0.995, P = 0.038), and ASMI (OR: 0.049, 95% CI: 0.013-0.184, P < 0.001) were major influencing factors for the development of osteosarcopenia in elderly T2DM patients. The prevalence of T2DM-OS is relatively high, with male gender, low fasting plasma glucose, and low ASMI identified as risk factors.

Research on the Relationship between Eukaryotic Phytoplankton Community Structure and Key Physiochemical Properties of Water in the Western Half of the Chaohu Lake Using High-Throughput Sequencing

Eukaryotic phytoplankton play a major role in the circulation of material and energy in a lake’s ecosystem. The acquisition of information on the eukaryotic phytoplankton community is extremely significant for handling and regulating the ecosystems of lakes. In this study, samples were collected from the western half of Chaohu Lake in the summer and winter periods. Analyses revealed that the eukaryotic phytoplankton in this region comprised 70 genera, 34 orders, and 7 phyla. There were 61 genera, 29 orders, and 7 phyla in summer, and 25 genera, 14 orders, and 5 phyla in winter. The dominant genus was Chlamydomonas of Chlorophyta in summer. In contrast, the dominant genus was Mychonastes of Chlorophyta in winter. The diversity index analysis revealed that the eukaryotic phytoplankton community exhibited greater fluctuation in the summer than in the winter. Moreover, analysis of the physiochemical properties of the water samples showed considerable spatial and temporal differences in the water quality. This paper focusses primarily on analysing the influence of the physiochemical properties of water on the eukaryotic phytoplankton community. In particular, the effects of the major physicochemical properties of water on the community evolution of eukaryotic phytoplankton classes were evaluated using the redundancy analysis method. The findings demonstrated that total phosphorus (TP), PO4−-P, NH4+-N, and total nitrogen (TN) were the primary influencing factors in summer, whereas NO3−-N, DO, and water temperature (WT) were the major influencing factors in winter. Subsequently, the Mantel test revealed that the phylum level of the eukaryotic phytoplankton community was significantly correlated with WT, DO, NH4+-N, TN, TP, and Chlorophyll a. Variance partitioning analysis indicated that seasonal factors accounted for a large proportion of the variation in the eukaryotic phytoplankton community, reaching 48.4%. Subsequently, co-occurrence network analysis demonstrated that most families of eukaryotic phytoplankton were facilitated mutually, with the proportion of promotion being 94.1%. This study provides insight into the crucial factors that influence the phytoplankton communities and a reasonable control direction for the positive evolution of the eukaryotic phytoplankton community in the western half of Chaohu Lake.

Sex and obesity influence the relationship between perfluoroalkyl substances and lean body mass: NHANES 2011–2018

ObjectivePolyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are known endocrine disruptors, that have been the subject of limited research regarding their impact on human lean body mass. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of PFAS exposure on lean body mass. MethodsWe performed a cross-sectional data analysis involving 1022 adolescents and 3274 adults from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2011–2018, whose lean body mass was measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. The lean mass index (LMI) was calculated as lean body mass dividing by the square of height. The association between PFAS and LMI was examined through a multivariate-adjusted weighted generalized linear model. Moreover, weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression models were employed to futher examine the relationship between the mixture of PFAS and LMI. ResultsRegression analyses revealed an inverse correlation between PFAS exposure and LMI after adjusting for potential covariates. Adults with higher serum PFAS concentrations manifested a reduction in whole LMI (β = −0.193, 95 % confidence interval (CI): −0.325 to −0.06). Notably, this correlation was particularly significant in adult females and individuals with obesity, and it was observed across diverse anatomical regions, including lower limbs, right arm, trunk, and whole lean body mass. In adult females, the association between PFAS and whole LMI was statistically significant (β = −0.294, 95 % CI: −0.495 to −0.094), and a similar trend was found in obese individuals (β = −0.512, 95 % CI: −0.762 to −0.261). WQS regression analyses supported the results obtained from weighted linear regression analyses. ConclusionsOur study suggests that exposure to PFAS, whether individually or in combination, is associated with decreased lean body mass in specific body areas, with sex and obesity serving as major influencing factors.

Performance of convolutional neural network (CNN) and performance influencing factors for wood species classification of Lepidobalanus growing in Korea

This study aimed to investigate the performance and factors affecting the species classification of convolutional neural network (CNN) architecture using whole-part and earlywood-part cross-sectional datasets of six Korean Quercus species. The accuracy of species classification for each condition was analyzed using the datasets, data augmentation, and optimizers—stochastic gradient descent (SGD), adaptive moment estimation (Adam), and root mean square propagation (RMSProp)—based on a CNN architecture with three to four convolutional layers. The model trained with the augmented dataset yielded significantly superior results in terms of classification accuracy compared to the model trained with the non-augmented dataset. The augmented dataset was the only factor affecting classification accuracy in the final five epochs. In contrast, four factors in the entire epoch, such as the Adam and SGD optimizers and the earlywood-part and whole-part datasets, affected species classification. The arrangement of earlywood vessels, broad rays, and axial parenchyma was identified as a major influential factor in the CNN species classification using gradient-weighted class activation mapping (Grad-CAM) analysis. The augmented whole-part dataset with the Adam optimizer achieved the highest classification accuracy of 85.7% during the final five epochs of the test phase.

Scale Differences and Gradient Effects of Local Climate Zone Spatial Pattern on Urban Heat Island Impact—A Case in Guangzhou’s Core Area

With the continuous development of cities, the surface urban heat island intensity (SUHII) is increasing, leading to the deterioration of the urban thermal environment, increasing energy consumption, and endangering the health of urban residents. Understanding the spatio-temporal scale difference and gradient effect of urban spatial patterns on the impact of SUHII is crucial for improving the climate resilience of cities and promoting sustainable urban development. This paper investigated the characteristics of SUHII changes at different time periods based on local climate zones (LCZs) and downscaled land surface temperature (LST) data. Meanwhile, landscape pattern indicators and the multiscale geographically weighted regression (MGWR) model were utilized to analyze the impacts of urban spatial patterns on SUHII at multiple spatial–temporal scales. The results indicated that the SUHII of each LCZ type exhibited diverse patterns in different time periods. High SUHII occurred in summer daytime and autumn nighttime. Compact and high-rise buildings (LCZ1/2/4) showed markedly higher SUHII during the daytime or nighttime, except for heavy industry. The extent of influence and the dominant factors of LCZ spatial patterns on SUHII exhibit obvious scale differences and gradient effects. At the regional scale, highly regular and compacted built-up areas tended to increase SUHII, while single and continuously distributed built-up areas had a greater impact on increasing SUHII. At the local scale, the impact of the PLAND (1/2/4/5/10) on SUHII exhibited a trend of diminishing from urban to suburban areas. In urban areas, the PLAND of LCZ 1, LCZ 2, and LCZ4 was the major factor affecting the increase in SUHII, whereas, in suburban areas, the PLAND of LCZ 2 and LCZ 10 was the major influencing factor on SUHII. The results can provide a scientific reference for mitigating urban heat island effects and constructing an ecologically ‘designed’ city.

Live agent training as an important process safety measure to strengthen resilience in hazardous (CBRN) work situations.

Various occupational groups as well as emergency responders are important human factors in combating incidents and emergencies in a broad range. Negative deviations from a process-safe condition should be detected and transformed into a safer condition to prevent negative consequences. Therefore, training and education of personnel is an important measure in this case as well as a major influencing factor on the vulnerability to errors during operations and their resilience. From lack of training to incorrect execution due to excessive stress, fear, or unfamiliar situations, it is important to counteract this with targeted training under conditions that are as close to reality as reasonably achievable. Realistic training situations involving live agents allow to recognize mistakes or inadequacies not only in personnel but also in material or in mission planning and to create a more effective working environment. Many violations of work guidelines are due to well-intentioned deviations from nonexecutable standard operation procedures that have never been tested. Repeated, progressive training under real hazardous conditions can help to strengthen mission readiness and resilience of teams. It better prepares them for their dangerous activities.

Formation condition for concave-bank deposition in the meanders of the Middle Yangtze River and its application

In what kind of meanders concave-bank deposition (CBD) can occur remains an open question. This study investigated the characteristics and major influencing factors of CBD in the meanders of the Middle Yangtze River (MYR), and proposed a formation condition for CBD. Concave-bank deposition occurred in 10 of 23 meanders in the MYR, including two types: counter point bar (CPB) and concave-bank bench (CBB). CPB occurred in both mildly-curved and sharp bends, while CBB only occurred in sharp bends. Hydrodynamic conditions and sediment supply are two major factors controlling the formation of CBD. The incoming sediment load remained in an amount of 0.68 × 108 t/y at Jianli and 0.77 × 108 t/y at Luoshan after Three Gorges Project operation, therefore, CBD development was not limited by a lack of sediment and instead is mainly dependent on the hydrodynamic conditions in the MYR. Flow separation zones were observed in the typical CBD-type bends of the MYR, which indicated that CBD was the result of flow separation or recirculation. An adverse longitudinal water surface gradient is the necessary condition for the formation of concave-bank flow separation. Therefore, a formation condition for CBD was proposed based on this assumption, which considered the combined effects of channel resistance, riverbed slope, channel widening, and curvature. CBD happens when the channel widening and curvature terms are greater than the channel resistance and longitudinal channel slope terms. The proposed condition was verified based on the data of the 23 bends in the MYR and 26 bends in 12 other rivers. The results indicated that more than 85% of the bends were correctly identified. Therefore, the proposed formation condition provided considerably high accuracy.

Summary Measure of Health-Related Quality of Life and Its Related Factors Based on the Chinese Version of the Core Healthy Days Measures: Cross-Sectional Study.

The core Healthy Days measures were used to track the population-level health status in the China Chronic Disease and Risk Factor Surveillance; however, they were not easily combined to create a summary of the overall health-related quality of life (HRQOL), limiting this indicator's use. This study aims to develop a summary score based on the Chinese version of the core Healthy Days measures (HRQOL-5) and apply it to estimate HRQOL and its determinants in a Chinese population. From November 2018 to May 2019, a multistage stratified cluster survey was conducted to examine population health status and behavioral risk factors among the resident population older than 15 years in Weifang City, Shandong Province, China. Both exploratory factor analyses and confirmatory factor analyses were performed to reveal the underlying latent construct of HRQOL-5 and then to quantify the overall HRQOL by calculating its summary score. Tobit regression models were finally carried out to identify the influencing factors of the summary score. A total of 26,269 participants (male: n=13,571, 51.7%; mean age 55.9, SD 14.9 years) were included in this study. A total of 71% (n=18,663) of respondents reported that they had excellent or very good general health. One summary factor was extracted to capture overall HRQOL using exploratory factor analysis. The confirmatory factor analysis further confirmed this one-factor model (Tucker-Lewis index, comparative fit index, and goodness-of-fit index >0.90; root mean square error of approximation 0.02). Multivariate Tobit regression analysis showed that age (β=-0.06), educational attainments (primary school: β=0.72; junior middle school: β=1.46; senior middle school or more: β=2.58), average income (≥¥30,000 [US $4200]: β=0.69), physical activity (β=0.75), alcohol use (β=0.46), self-reported disease (β=-6.36), and self-reported injury (β=-5.00) were the major influencing factors on the summary score of the HRQOL-5. This study constructs a summary score from the HRQOL-5, providing a comprehensive representation of population-level HRQOL. Differences in summary scores of different subpopulations may help set priorities for health planning in China to improve population HRQOL.

Assessing the Relative and Combined Effect of Climate and Land Use on Water-Related Ecosystem Services in the Yangtze River Economic Belt, China

The ecosystem service (ES) is essential for residents’ health and well-being. The ecosystem service value (ESV) is one of the measures to scientifically quantify the wealth of ESs. However, climate and human activities intensely affect the sustainability of ESs. Therefore, knowing the relative and combined effects of climate and human activities on ESs and ESV can be crucial. This study selects the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) as the study area to detect how climate and human activities affected the ES and ESV changes during 2001–2020, including net primary productivity, water yield, soil retention, water purification, and integrated ESV. The results show that the southern YREB has relatively higher ESs than the northern YREB, except for the NDR-P, which is mainly located in the urban agglomeration area. The general ranking for the ESV of different provinces in the YREB is sequenced from higher to lower as Sichuan, Yunnan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Guizhou, Hubei, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangsu, Chongqing, and Shanghai. Specifically, the ESV of Sichuan is the highest at about 972 billion yuan (133.57 billion USD), while the lowest ESV has been discovered in Shanghai at approximately 0.25 billion yuan (0.03 billion USD). It can be noticed that the regions where climate is the major influencing factor for ESs are concentrated upstream of the YREB, and human activities mainly influence ESs in highly urbanized areas. Furthermore, climate and human activities account for the highest proportion (86%) of synergistic effects for ESV in Yunnan. In contrast, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai accounted for the lowest proportions, at 18%, 26%, and 31%, respectively. This study may provide crucial insights into how ESs and ESV in the YREB have changed during the study period to inform policymakers, drawing more attention to the inhibitory and synergistic effects arising from the interaction between climate and human activities, to make more reliable decisions on adapting to climate crises in the future.

Temperature and soil attributes drive the regional variation in leaf anatomical traits of Populus euphratica

Leaf anatomical traits are susceptible to environmental changes and can reflect plant adaptation strategies to the environment. Populus euphratica plays a key role in maintaining ecosystem processes and functions in arid zones, but the variations in leaf anatomical traits of Populus euphratica and their drivers at large scales remain unclear. Here, we investigated 10 leaf anatomical traits of Populus euphratica from 12 sampling sites in the arid zone of China, and explored how they were affected by geographic, climatic, and soil factors. Our results showed that these traits differed significantly between sites (P < 0.05), which was mainly determined by climate and soil factors that together explained 41.4 % of the trait variation. The impact of climate factors is the most critical, as they can directly influence the variation in leaf anatomical traits and indirectly affect trait variation by influencing soil factors. Among them, the max temperature of the warmest month (BIO5), soil available phosphorus (SAP) and soil moisture content (SM) had the most critical effect. Besides, temperature was the major influencing factor for the ratio of spongy tissue thickness to leaf thickness (SR), palisade tissue thickness (PT), the ratio of palisade tissue thickness to spongy tissue thickness (PSR), and the ratio of palisade tissue thickness to leaf thickness (CTR), while soil nutrient was the major influencing factor for leaf thickness (LT), lower epidermis thickness (LET), and spongy tissue thickness (ST). Our results provide important insights into the response of dryland forests to climate change, and suggest that climate warming and declining soil quality may have a stronger effect on Populus euphratica.

Islamic microfinance services: a catalyst for poverty reduction in eastern Ethiopia

PurposeThis study aims to examine the influence of Islamic microfinance services (IMFS) on poverty reduction in the eastern part of Ethiopia.Design/methodology/approachA binary logistic regression model was used to analyze poverty reduction and income, education, household size, age and saving of IMFS through a semi-closed questionnaire by using a purposive sampling technique. A semi-closed interview with higher officials from an Islamic microfinance service was also used.FindingsThe study results show that the income, education, household size and age of the IMFS’ clients are the major influencing factors that affect poverty reduction in Ethiopia.Practical implicationsThe study’s findings provide insights for policymakers to revise intensively their regulations and directives for Islamic microfinance operators. It emphasizes the government’s role in serving the community’s interests through financial inclusion and in developing programs to enhance the effectiveness of Islamic microfinance operations in the poverty reduction process. As a social implication, Islamic microfinance service providers gain insights into how beneficiary-side variables contribute to the country’s poverty reduction after offering Islamic microfinance products to them.Originality/valueThe results of this study are distinctive because they show how poverty reduction in Ethiopia is influenced by how income level is increased, how better educational level is attained, how household size is managed and how well the age of the client is effectively used for productivity. The paper also provides a new view of Islamic microfinance in Ethiopia, its influencing factors for poverty reduction and challenges with the operating system.

Effect of Ca content on the synthesis and properties of FA-GGBFS geopolymer: Combining experiments and molecular dynamics simulation

The elemental components in the precursor of geopolymers are different, and their mechanical properties are also different. As one of the major influencing factors, calcium content is worth further research and exploration. This paper aims to explore the impact of calcium content on fly ash (FA)-ground granulated blast furnace slag (GGBFS) geopolymer in a comprehensive and multi-scale manner through various research methods such as indoor experiments, microscopic experiments, and molecular dynamics simulations. Using GGBFS as the main source of calcium content in geopolymers, different calcium content samples were prepared by adjusting the GGBFS content. The consistency, setting time, compressive strength, flexural strength, elastic modulus, self-shrinkage value, and dry-shrinkage value of the test blocks were tested at corresponding ages. Analyze its microscopic characteristics through scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). Finally, the structural models of four geopolymer gels with different Ca contents were constructed, and the mechanism of calcium influence was further characterized from the atomic level. The results indicate that an increase in calcium content is beneficial for the rapid hardening of geopolymer mortar, with varying degrees of increase in compressive strength, flexural strength, and elastic modulus. However, with the increase in calcium content, shrinkage is greater, which may lead to durability drawbacks such as cracking in practical engineering. Therefore, the calcium content should be appropriately controlled. The microscopic morphology showed that the polymer became denser with increasing calcium content, and the Ca/Si ratio in EDS also increases accordingly. Molecular dynamics simulation results also show that Ca can form Ca–O bonds with distant oxygen atoms, making the gel structure more stable.