Minority Areas Research Articles

Inequalities in emergency service accessibility: spatial analysis of urban infrastructure

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the relationship between emergency response times and crash severity in New York City, focusing on spatial disparities and their implications. It examines how these disparities impact disadvantaged neighborhoods, particularly regarding traffic safety and emergency service accessibility.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses comprehensive spatial analysis techniques, including hotspot mapping, network analysis for travel time modeling, local bivariate correlation analysis and service area calculations. It maps crash data alongside emergency facility locations, considering peak-hour traffic. The Area Deprivation Index (ADI) is integrated to evaluate socioeconomic factors influencing accessibility. This approach provides a nuanced understanding of how emergency response times correlate with crash severity at the census block level, accounting for socioeconomic disparities.FindingsThis study reveals significant disparities in emergency response times across New York City. In high-poverty, predominantly minority areas, response times are 2–3 min longer than average, correlating with a 15% increase in severe injury rates. Over 20% of neighborhoods show correlations between response times and crash severity, with positive linear (5.51%), negative linear (10.72%), concave (2.44%) and convex (2.80%) relationships. Blocks with positive linear relationships have a mean ADI rank of 3.918. During peak hours, 69.7% of Manhattan blocks show negative relationships, the highest among boroughs.Originality/valueThis research highlights spatial justice issues in urban emergency response systems, emphasizing the need for localized, data-driven planning and infrastructure adjustments. By integrating the ADI, the multifaceted approach reveals the complex dynamics of socioeconomic factors and emergency service accessibility that have not yet been investigated in diverse urban communities.

Law on Ensuring the Legitimate Interests of the People in the Land Sector

Recently, shortcomings in legal policies and practices, together with lax land management, have led to many land conflicts, causing complex political and social hotspots. Among the causes of this situation are unreasonable compensation prices for site clearance; unclear land boundaries, lack of legal basis, lack of land management records; and overlaps and conflicts between customs and practices of land use with laws and administrative regulations in land management in ethnic minority areas. The purpose of this study is to clarify the limitations in land laws such as land use limits, land use terms; regulations on land recovery and compensation when recovering land, restrictions on land prices; regulations on resettlement for people whose land is recovered; land use planning; from these shortcomings, propose solutions to improve land laws to protect the legitimate interests of the people.

Chain mediating role of moral values identification and positive psychological capital in the relationship between meaning in life and crisis vulnerability.

To explore the relationship between meaning in life and vulnerability to crisis among undergraduate nursing students and the chain mediating effect between moral values identification and positive psychological capital (PsyCap). A total of 330 undergraduate nursing students majoring in traditional Chinese medicine in ethnic minority areas of Yunnan Province were administered the Meaning in Life Questionnaire, Moral Values Identification Identity Questionnaire, Positive PsyCap Questionnaire, and Crisis Vulnerability Scale. Meaning in life was negatively correlated with crisis vulnerability and positively correlated with moral values identification and positive PsyCap. Crisis vulnerability was negatively correlated with moral values and positive PsyCap. Moral values was positively correlated with positive PsyCap. Chain mediation effect analysis demonstrated that meaning in life cannot directly predict crisis vulnerability, but it can predict crisis vulnerability through 3 indirect paths: the mediating role of moral values identification, the mediating role of positive PsyCap, and the chain mediating role of moral values identification and positive PsyCap. Meaning in life can indirectly reduce crisis vulnerability among undergraduate nursing students by enhancing moral values identification and positive PsyCap.

The Healthcare Support Program and Healthcare Utilization of Older Adults in Ethnic Minority Areas in Vietnam

Over the past few decades, Vietnam has experienced a substantial improvement in health outcomes, providing an example of a low-income country that has achieved a major success in public health despite the lack of resources. However, inequalities in access to healthcare services persist among the poor, ethnic minorities, and other vulnerable groups. To address this issue, the Vietnamese government implemented a healthcare support program in ethnic minority areas in 2013. We examine the effects of this program on healthcare utilization among older individuals aged 55-74. Employing a difference-in-differences approach and data from the Vietnam Household Living Standards Survey from 2008-2018, we find that the program has a positive effect on inpatient visits at public health facilities. However, the program has no impact on outpatient visits. Additional analysis reveals that the program increases outpatient visits at commune health stations and inpatient visits at district hospitals. There is also suggestive evidence of a switch from private to public facilities. Our results suggest that providing healthcare resources to disadvantaged areas can increase healthcare utilization of older people, which can, in turn, improve their health outcomes.

Rural transformation development: spatiotemporal evolution and mechanisms in the Garze-Ngawa-Liangshan region, Southwest China

ABSTRACT Rural transformation development (RTD) is crucial for achieving sustainable development in poverty-stricken rural areas. The Garze-Ngawa-Liangshan (GNL) region, an impoverished minority area in Southwest China, has undergone significant RTD in recent decades. This study establishes a comprehensive evaluation index model encompassing economy, population, land use and land cover, society, and ecology to explore the spatiotemporal variations of RTD and the differences in the transformation mechanisms in the GNL region. The results reveal that RTD in the GNL region exhibited notable spatiotemporal variation from 2000 to 2019. Despite considerable heterogeneity in spatial distribution, regional disparities in RTD have decreased, partly due to policy implementation. Importantly, the speed and magnitude of RTD, often overlooked in previous studies, are critical indicators for assessing its reasonableness. The ecological environment is particularly significant for RTD assessment, especially in China’s ecologically fragile mountainous rural areas. Our findings suggest that promoting balanced regional development is essential in poverty-stricken areas. This study provides valuable theoretical references for planners and policymakers in implementing rural revitalization strategies.

The association between intergroup contact and psychological capital among adolescents from Chinese ethnic minority areas: A latent profile analysis

Intergroup contact has been reliably associated with reduced prejudice and improved intergroup relations in research; however, relatively little is known about the association between intergroup contact and psychological capital. Guided by the tertiary transfer effect of intergroup contact, this study examined the latter association. A total of 1501 adolescents (M = 15.72 years, 55.8 % female) from areas in China mainly inhabited by ethnic minorities participated in this study. Latent profile analysis revealed that psychological capital could be classified into four different types: lowest (7.1 %), lower (51.0 %), mid (34.5 %), and high (7.3 %). Multinomial logistic regression revealed a positive association between contact quality (but not contact quantity and the product of contact quantity and quality) and the odds of adolescents being classified into the lower, mid, and high groups when compared to the lowest group. Moreover, the association between contact quality and being classified into the high group, compared to the lowest group, was stronger for boys than for girls. The implications of these findings are discussed in both theoretical and practical terms.

Digital Representation of Dulong Community’s Culture in Gongshan County, China

Before 1999, the Dulong community, China's most secluded ethnic minority, remained inaccessible and underdeveloped. The Dulong River region, the sole minority area unreachable by road, endured prolonged isolation (Cheng et al., 2022a, 2022b). Nevertheless, unique cultural heritages, the Dulong community faces extinction and Sinicization threats. Psychologist Mehrabian (1968) asserts that 93% of communication impact is non-verbal, emojis, as non-verbal cues that belong to the visual communication system, gained immense popularity on a global scale. This study explores the imperative need of the Dulong community on its culturally specific emoji set through semi-structured interviews. The first of its kind, the emoji collection features culturally specific elements like Dulong blanket and the ‘Suolaqiao’ ritual. In aboriginals' perception, Emoji's pictorial nature facilitates effortless cultural knowledge acquisition, and its property of shuttling through cyberspace contributes to fostering rapid global dissemination and preserving Dulong culture in a digital world.

Research on the Disaster Management of China’s Ethnic Minority Autonomous Regions in the Development of Modernization Construction—Taking Mabian Yi Autonomous County in Southern Sichuan as an Example

Many ethnic minority autonomous regions in China, mainly in mountainous areas, have caused great harm to people’s life and property safety due to frequent geological disasters. Therefore, it has become an urgent task for the government to create a system for predicting, preventing and effectively responding to disasters, and to strengthen the ability of relevant regions to jointly resist disasters. This paper takes Mabian Yi Autonomous County as the research object, and studies the disaster management of Mabian Yi Autonomous County. The research focuses on geological disaster vulnerability evaluation, geological disaster hazard evaluation, geological disaster risk evaluation, and geological disaster carrying capacity evaluation. The two elements of geological disaster risk evaluation are vulnerability evaluation and hazard evaluation. The main element of geological disaster carrying capacity evaluation is risk evaluation. Through evaluation, it is found that the central and eastern regions of Mabian Yi Autonomous County can be used as population concentration areas and develop modern agriculture and tourism. The western and northeastern regions can be used as nature reserves. Based on the above evaluation results, the disaster management opinions of Mabian Yi Autonomous County are given. This makes the government have a certain reference basis in the preparation of regional construction policy planning. From the perspective of unique disaster management, this paper provides the government with a political governance model for ethnic minority areas through the harmonious development of man and nature, to achieve a goal of sustainable development.

Spatial Syntactic Analysis and Revitalization Strategies for Rural Settlements in Ethnic Minority Areas: A Case Study of Shuanglang Town, China

Spatial Syntactic Analysis and Revitalization Strategies for Rural Settlements in Ethnic Minority Areas: A Case Study of Shuanglang Town, China

Meteorological factors and rhegmatogenous retinal detachment in metropolitan France

Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) is a sight-threatening condition with rising global incidence. Identifying factors contributing to seasonal variations in RRD would allow a better understanding of RRD pathophysiology. We therefore performed a retrospective case series study investigating the relationship between RRD occurrence and meteorological factors throughout metropolitan France (the METEO-POC study), particularly the mean temperature over the preceding 10-day period (T-1). Adult patients having undergone RRD surgery and residing in one of the three most populated urban areas of each French region were included (January 2011–December 2018). The study involved 21,166 patients with idiopathic RRD (61.1% males, mean age 59.8–65.1 years). RRD incidence per 100,000 inhabitants increased from 7.79 to 11.81. RRD occurrence was not significantly associated with mean temperature over T-1 in the majority of urban areas (31/36). In a minority of areas (5/36) we observed correlations between RRD incidence and mean temperature over T-1, however these were extremely weak (r = 0.1–0.2; p < 0.05). No associations were found between RRD incidence and secondary outcomes: mean daily temperature over the 10 days prior T-1, minimum/maximum temperatures, rainfall, duration of sunshine, atmospheric pressure, overall radiation, relative humidity, wind speed. Overall, we found no relationships between meteorological parameters and RRD occurrence.

The Impact of Social Support on the College Enrollment Aspirations of Ethnic Minority Vocational Students: A Case Study of a Modern Industrial College in Xinjiang

In recent years, China has been striving to enhance the quality of the population in ethnic minority areas, promote local talent cultivation, and accelerate local economic development by increasing investment in basic education resources and expanding enrollment in higher education. This study conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 ethnic minority students from a modern industrial college in Xinjiang to explore the influence of social support on academic aspirations. Employing qualitative research methods and drawing on the interview outline by Wang (2020), supported by Ajzen’s (1991) Theory of Planned Behavior, the study concludes that national policies, schools, teachers, and parents influence the academic aspirations of ethnic minority students. Based on these findings, the study suggests the effective implementation of relevant national policies and calls for schools, teachers, and parents to pay attention to and encourage the academic aspirations of ethnic minority students. This study inspires future scholars to pay more attention to the academic aspirations of ethnic minority students, aiming to provide them with more assistance and improve the overall education level of ethnic minority students.

A Multimodal Analysis of the Linguistic Landscape of Guilin: City as a World-Class Tourism

The study of language landscape has always been the focus of linguistic research, but there are few studies on the world-class tourism language landscape in minority areas. Guilin has always been one of the hottest world-class tourism destinations, with its unique minority character. From the perspectives of multimodal analysis and tourism language landscape construction, this paper discussed the language landscape characteristics of Longyin Road and East-West Lane scenic spots with different orientations and investigated the local people's attitudes towards multilingual signs. The study found that the majority of signs are monolingual and bilingual, predominantly in Chinese and English. Non-textual elements significantly complemented the linguistic landscape, highlighting the need for accurate and diverse multilingual signage to enhance Guilin's world-class tourism image.

The Development Dilemma of Primary Education in Western Ethnic Areas—Based on the Perspective of the Postgraduate Teaching Group

Common prosperity is the essential requirement of socialism with Chinese characteristics and an important feature of Chinese modernization. Common prosperity is inseparable from the all-around development of people. Promoting the all-round development of people is inseparable from education. Education is an important starting point for realizing the common prosperity of the people. Education in western minority areas is important to achieve the strategic goal of common prosperity. Based on the practical experience of the volunteers of the postgraduate teaching group, this paper analyzes the national policy and probes into the dilemma of primary education in western ethnic areas. It puts forward countermeasures to improve China's education, help it build a strong country, and realize the common prosperity of all the people.

The Role of Office Hours in Supporting Students in Ethnic Universities: An Empirical Study on Human Resource Management

Office Hours not only solve problems left over in class stimulate students' learning motivation and overcome students' learning obstacles, but also build a closer relationship with teachers and get professional advice on further study and employment. However, most teachers and students lack understanding and recognition of this system. Therefore, how to establish a set of Office Hours system and implement it in a reasonable and orderly manner has become a critical research topic. The purpose of this study is to explore the implementation of Office Hours in colleges and universities in ethnic areas; the curriculum learning problems perceived by students; the suggestions perceived by students; the effects of Office hours perceived by students, and to provide relevant recommendations. This study obtained data through a literature search and the implementation of Office Hours. A total of 56 students were selected to participate in the interview. Big data analytics was adopted to get useful words and interpret them later. The results show that in terms of curriculum, the respondents perceive the problem course as advanced mathematics and computer. In addition, the respondents' perceived recommendations included building interests, practising, and writing notes. In addition, only 17% of students received help, on average, when only academic issues were discussed. Therefore, this study puts forward useful and feasible suggestions for universities in minority areas and follow-up research.

Evaluation and influencing factors of ecological resilience in tourism villages from farmers’ perspectives: a case study of Chinese minority settlement areas

Rural social-ecological systems have been significantly impacted by the development of rural tourism, creating substantial challenges for the synergistic development of rural ecological restoration and agricultural workers’ household livelihoods. In alignment with the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration action plan, it is crucial to understand the ecological resilience of tourism villages from the perspective of farmers to achieve sustainable development. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were conducted in this study to gather livelihood data from farmers in tourism villages in Xiangxi, China, a region primarily inhabited by ethnic minorities. A measurement index system for the ecological resilience of rural tourism was constructed based on the three dimensions: pressure, state, and response. A comprehensive index method was employed for quantitative evaluation, and influencing factors were analyzed using an obstacle model. The results show that farmers’ livelihoods can be divided into four types: tourism-led, labor-led, agriculture-led, and part-time tourism-based. Their ecological resilience indices are 0.4516, 0.4177, 0.4001, and 0.4590, respectively, representing an overall intermediate level. There are differences in various indices for different livelihood types, with the highest stress index observed in labor-led farmers (0.1655), the highest state index in agriculture-led farming households (0.1585), and the highest response index in tourism-led farming households (0.1766). Common obstacles to the ecological resilience of farmers and their villages include the number of family members engaged in tourism work, the area of forest land, and the farmers’ understanding of ecological policies affecting them. Additionally, core family members’ education levels and the area of homesteads emerged as important obstacle factors. Based on these research findings, recommendations are proposed to enhance the ecological resilience of rural farmer households in the tourism villages of ethnic minority areas. The aim is to provide valuable case studies for promoting the sustainable development of rural tourism in underdeveloped regions worldwide.

Assessment of Rural Industry Integration Development, Spatiotemporal Evolution Characteristics, and Regional Disparities in Ethnic Regions: A Case Study of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Counties

Ethnic regions in China primarily focus on the development of agricultural and animal husbandry economies, which are relatively underdeveloped. Rural industry integration development (RIID) is considered the foundation and guarantee for ethnic regions to achieve high-quality modernization of agriculture. The purpose of this article is to measure the level of rural industrial integration in ethnic minority areas, analyze the spatial evolution and regional differences, and explore the actual situation of RIID in these regions. The aim is to provide a decision-making basis for local governments to effectively promote the development of rural industrial integration. Based on the improvement of the evaluation index system for rural industrial integration development, this paper takes the counties of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region as the research area. Utilizing panel data from the statistical yearbooks of 68 banners and counties in Inner Mongolia from 2011 to 2020, the panel entropy weight TOPSIS method is employed to assess the average level of rural industrial integration in the research area. The ArcGIS natural breakpoint method is employed to classify the level of RIID in county areas. Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) and GeoDa are utilized to analyze the spatial distribution characteristics of RIID. Finally, the Theil index is employed to analyze the regional differences in the level of RIID. The results show the following: (1) The overall level of RIID in ethnic regions is relatively low, with the contributions of the four dimensions in the evaluation index system as follows: integration path &gt; integration foundation &gt; integration sustainability &gt; integration effect. The level of RIID in the study area is as follows: western region &gt; eastern region &gt; central region. (2) Spatially, there are positive correlations and significant spatial clustering in the level of RIID, with the spatial clustering effect of RIID weakening. (3) There are regional differences in the level of RIID, which are expanding. The inter-regional differences are decreasing, while the intra-regional differences are increasing. (4) The construction of agricultural processing facilities, financial investment, financial support, and talent policies are important influencing factors for the current stage of RIID in ethnic regions. Therefore, in the low-level development stage of RIID in ethnic regions, it is necessary to fully utilize the advantages of resource endowment, increase investment in rural infrastructure, and strengthen the guidance of talent flow into rural revitalization construction.

Process Optimization and Quality Components Analysis of γ-Aminobutyric Acid Pickled Tea.

Pickled tea is an anaerobically fermented tea common in Thailand, Myanmar and Yunnan minority areas. γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is non-protein amino acid with multiple bioactives, which can be easily produced under anaerobic conditions. During the processing of pickled tea, controlling the process parameters is effective for the production of GABA-rich products; however, the precise parameters remain to be clarified. In the present study, the fresh leaves of Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze (C. sinensis) 'FudingDabai', C. sinensis 'MabianLv No. 1', C. sinensis 'Wuniuzao' and C. sinensis 'Fuxuan No. 9' were used as raw materials to process GABA-rich pickled tea. Single-factor and orthogonal experiments were conducted to determine the best tea cultivars and optimize the best processing parameters via comparing the content of GABA, tea polyphenols (TPs) and other biochemical components of GABA-rich pickled tea. The results of the signal-factor experiment showed that the fresh leaves of C. sinensis 'MabianLv No. 1' had the highest GABA content of 2.61 mg·g-1 after treatment with vacuum for 6 h; therefore, C. sinensis 'MabianLv No. 1' was selected as the raw material for the subsequent experiments. Orthogonal experiments showed that the highest GABA content of 2.53 mg·g-1 was found in the pickled tea with 8 h of vacuum treatment, 20 min of rolling after microwave fixing, 20 min of spreading and 20 d of anaerobic fermentation at room temperature. Further, the sensory evaluation showed that it possesses a strong sour taste with a slight sweetness and a light yellow color and better comprehensive quality. This indicates that these parameters are optimal for the processing of GABA-rich pickled tea. This study will provide scientific basis for the subsequent production of high GABA tea.

Research on the Cultivation of English Learning Strategies for Senior High School Students in Minority Areas

This paper brings up some suggestions and methods for cultivating English learning strategies for senior high school students in minority areas by summarizing the relevant English learning strategies by domestic and foreign scholars, and analyzing the survey of English learning strategies of senior high school students in minority areas.

Assessing the modification impact of vaccination on the relationship of the Discomfort Index with hand, foot, and mouth disease in Guizhou: A multicounty study.

Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is a major public health issue in China while temperature and humidity are well-documented predictors. However, evidence on the combined effect of temperature and humidity is still limited. It also remains unclear whether such an effect could be modified by the enterovirus 71 (EV71) vaccination. Based on 320,042 reported HFMD cases during the summer months between 2012 and 2019, we conducted a study utilizing Distributed Lag Non-Linear Models (DLNM) and time-varying DLNM to examine how China's HFMD EV71 vaccine strategy would affect the correlation between meteorological conditions and HFMD risk. The incidence of HFMD changed with the Discomfort Index in an arm-shaped form. The 14-day cumulative risk of HFMD exhibited a statistically significant increase during the period of 2017-2019 (following the implementation of the EV71 vaccine policy) compared to 2012-2016 (prior to the vaccine implementation). For the total population, the range of relative risk (RR) values for HFMD at the 75th, 90th, and 99th percentiles increased from 1.082-1.303 in 2012-2016 to 1.836-2.022 in 2017-2019. In the stratified analyses, Han Chinese areas show stronger relative growth, with RR values at the 75th, 90th, and 99th percentiles increased by 14.3%, 39.1%, and 134.4% post-vaccination, compared to increases of 22.7%, 41.6%, and 38.8% in minority areas. Similarly, boys showed greater increases (24.4%, 47.7%, 121.5%) compared to girls (8.1%, 28.1%, 58.3%). Additionally, the central Guizhou urban agglomeration displayed a tendency for stronger relative growth compared to other counties. Although the EV71 vaccine policy has been implemented, it hasn't effectively controlled the overall risk of HFMD. There's been a shift in the main viral subtypes, potentially altering population susceptibility and influencing HFMD occurrences. The modulating effects of vaccine intervention may also be influenced by factors such as race, sex, and economic level.

Research on Performance Evaluation of Preferential Tax Policies in Minority Areas

Research on Performance Evaluation of Preferential Tax Policies in Minority Areas