Mountainous Areas Of China Research Articles

Treating chronic arsenic toxicity with high selenium lentil diets

Arsenic (As) toxicity causes serious health problems in humans, especially in the Indo-Gangetic plains and mountainous areas of China. Selenium (Se), an essential micronutrient is a potential mitigator of As toxicity due to its antioxidant and antagonistic properties. Selenium is seriously deficient in soils world-wide but is present at high, yet non-toxic levels in the great plains of North America. We evaluate the potential of dietary Se in counteracting chronic As toxicity in rats through serum biochemistry, blood glutathione levels, immunotoxicity (antibody response), liver peroxidative stress, thyroid response and As levels in tissues and excreta. To achieve this, we compare diets based on high-Se Saskatchewan (SK) lentils versus low-Se lentils from United States. Rats drank control (0ppm As) or As (40ppm As) water while consuming SK lentils (0.3ppm Se) or northwestern USA lentils (<0.01ppm Se) diets for 14weeks. Rats on high Se diets had higher glutathione levels regardless of As exposure, recovered antibody responses in As-exposed group, higher fecal and urinary As excretion and lower renal As residues. Selenium deficiency caused greater hepatic peroxidative damage in the As exposed animals. Thyroid hormones, triiodothyronine (T3) and thyroxine (T4), were not different. After 14weeks of As exposure, health indicators in rats improved in response to the high Se lentil diets. Our results indicate that high Se lentils have a potential to mitigate As toxicity in laboratory mammals, which we hope will translate into benefits for As exposed humans.

Impacts of topography and land cover change on thunderstorm over the Huangshan (Yellow Mountain) area of China

In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model (version 3.1.1) was used to simulate a thunderstorm event which occurred on August 18, 2010, over the Yellow Mountain area of China. This event was a typical thunderstorm embedded in high-pressure systems. First, the development processes of mountain–valley breeze and convective cells were studied; second, this study focused on revealing the influencing mechanism of complex topography and heterogeneous land cover on thunderstorm by removing the Yellow Mountain and changing the land use categories. On flat terrain, the simulated results displayed that the convection weakened persistently, cloud top decreased sharply, and intensity of precipitation reduced. Moreover, there was no up-slope valley breeze, convergence, and lifting of water vapor could be found on the mountaintop. Then, the role of land use was revealed by changing original land cover into grassland, mixed forests, and bare soil in the innermost area, respectively. When covered by grassland, there were less sensible heating and lower moisture, leading to the planet boundary layer height decreasing and vertical lifting weakening, which tended to cause more stable atmosphere and less rainfall on the mountaintop; when covered by mixing forests, only small differences presented in simulated meteorological fields, including wind fields, moisture, cloud water mixing ratio, precipitation, and other fields; when covered by bare soil, the latent heating was more important in influencing the process of thunderstorm. There were less latent heating and lower accumulated water vapor compared to other experiments, causing vertical lifting weakening, stability of atmosphere increasing, and precipitation decreasing.

Study on the Criterion of Discriminant on Highway Collapse Disaster in Mountain Area

With the development of road construction in mountain area of China, the collapse disaster is increased because the high fill and deep cut of the road is more and more. And the great economic losses and casualties are caused by this kind of geological hazard. On basis of the development collapse summarizes the basic rules and types; this paper puts eight fast criterion of discriminant on highway collapse disaster in mountain area according to the character statistics analysis on engineering practice experience and collapse case. According to the development process of the stage on mountain highway collapse disaster, which includes early inoculation stage, middle potential stage and advanced induced stage. On the basis of the rapidly criterion of discriminant on highway collapse disaster in mountain area, this paper refines the five aspects in landform and physiognomy and geological structures, proposes the development process in criterion of discriminant on highway collapse disaster in mountain area. It’s hopeful that the research results can be provided the scientific guidance for the temporal discriminant of highway collapse disaster in mountain area.

Geographical differences and influencing factors of rural energy consumption in Southwest mountain areas in China: A case study of Zhaotong City

China is a mountainous country, and Southwest mountain areas cover the most mountain areas in China and have the most serious problems. Taking Zhaotong city as the study area, based on 902 rural household questionnaires of 11 villages in 2 counties and Tobit model, this paper analyzes the geographical differences and influencing factors of energy consumption for non-production purposes of rural households living in different terrain conditions. This research finds that: (1) Coal takes up the main part of energy consumption in valley areas and coal consumption is mainly affected by per capita cultivated land area, household income, proportion of rural household energy expenditure in total expenditure, coal price, and family population size. Firewood takes up the main part of energy consumption in high mountain areas and firewood consumption is mainly affected by per capita firewood forest area, distance to purchase coal, household income, electricity price, and coal price. (2) Only when the distance is greater than 20 kilometers, that is the average distance of rural households living in middle mountain areas (1,600m∼1,800m) to purchase coal, the transportation condition has a significant impact on coal consumption. (3) In high mountain areas, prices of coal and electricity are the main factors influencing energy consumption choice of rural households. Too high prices of coal and electricity would to some extent lead rural households to choose firewood as the main energy consumption type. Compared to coal, rural households prefer to choose electricity.

Application of a Geohazard Early Warning System in Huaying Mountain Region, Sichuan Province

Geohazards occur in south west mountain area of China each year frequently. Therefore, selecting a typical region to establish a geohazard early warning system and to research the mechanisms of geohazard can greatly improve the ability of geohazard prevention in that mountain area, and then a geohazard early warning system is established at Huaying Mountain region. This article not only presents the construction of that system, but also elaborately analyses mechanism of some geohazards in that mountain region.

Incorporating topography in a cellular automata model to simulate residents evacuation in a mountain area in China

In China, both the mountainous areas and the number of people who live in mountain areas occupy a significant proportion. When production accidents or natural disasters happen, the residents in mountain areas should be evacuated and the evacuation is of obvious importance to public safety. But it is a pity that there are few studies on safety evacuation in rough terrain. The particularity of the complex terrain in mountain areas, however, makes it difficult to study pedestrian evacuation. In this paper, a three-dimensional surface cellular automata model is proposed to numerically simulate the real time dynamic evacuation of residents. The model takes into account topographic characteristics (the slope gradient) of the environment and the biomechanics characteristics (weight and leg extensor power) of the residents to calculate the walking speed. This paper only focuses on the influence of topography and the physiological parameters are defined as constants according to a statistical report. Velocity varies with the topography. In order to simulate the behavior of a crowd with varying movement velocities, and a numerical algorithm is used to determine the time step of iteration. By doing so, a numerical simulation can be conducted in a 3D surface CA model. Moreover, considering residents evacuation around a gas well in a mountain area as a case, a visualization system for a three-dimensional simulation of pedestrian evacuation is developed. In the simulation process, population behaviors of congestion, queuing and collision avoidance can be observed. The simulation results are explained reasonably. Therefore, the model presented in this paper can realize a 3D dynamic simulation of pedestrian evacuation vividly in complex terrain and predict the evacuation procedure and evacuation time required, which can supply some valuable information for emergency management.

Hydrological Response of Sloping Farmlands with Different Rock Fragment Covers in the Purple Soil Area of China

In the mountainous area of China, the rock fragments in top soils are often removed by farmers because of their side effects on tillage. To understand hydrological processes and to assess the risk of soil erosion in purple soil areas with sloping farmlands, this study investigated the effects of rock fragment cover on surface runoff, infiltration, subsurface runoff, and erosion under field conditions using a portable rainfall simulator. Experimental twin plots (two subplots, 1 m wide by 2 m long, 32% slope) with different rock fragment covers ranging from 0 to 42% were exposed to four rainfall intensities: 45.5 � 1.9 mm=h (I1), 60.3 � 3.6 mm=h (I2), 92.0 � 4.1 mm=h (I3), and 123.9 � 9.4 mm=h (I4). Surface runoff, subsurface runoff, soil moisture, and sediment were measured. The results show that the hydrological response was influenced by the rock fragment cover and rainfall intensity. The rate of surface runoff in bare soils was affected by the rainfall intensity and increased with increasing rainfall intensity. The values of the surface runoff rates in bare soils were lower than 70 mm=h under the I1, I2, and I3 rainfall intensities. As the rock fragment cover increased, the surface runoff rate decreased while the infiltration rate, the subsurface runoff rate and the deep percolation coefficient increased. On the other hand, when the surface runoff rates in the bare soils were higher than 70 mm=h (in rainfall of I4), there were no significant differences in these hydrological variables among soils with different rock fragment covers. The differences in hydrological variables among soils with varying rock fragment covers decreased with increasing rainfall intensity. The rock fragment cover determined the erosive response. As the rock fragment cover increased, the sediment concentration de- creased. The presence of surface rock fragments significantly reduces soil erosion, and the relationship between the soil erosion rate and rock fragment cover can be expressed by an exponential function with a high degree of reliability for different rainfall intensities. However, the effectiveness of the rock fragment cover in reducing soil erosion decreased with increasing rainfall intensity. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)HE .1943-5584.0000576. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers. CE Database subject headings: Runoff; Rainfall; Soil erosion; China; Rocks; Slopes; Agriculture; Hydrologic aspects. Author keywords: Surface runoff; Subsurface runoff; Deep percolation; Rainwater distribution; Soil erosion rate; Simulated rainfall; Field condition.

Research on Evaluation Model and Application of Highway Alignment in Mountainous Area Based on Operating Speed

Based on the road conditions of the low-grade highway (lower Grade 2) in China southwest mountainous area and speed investigations under different conditions, the estimation model of running speed in this region was established, meanwhile, the criteria for the safety appraisal of line based on running speed in southwest is put forward. Finally, according to the above achievement we developed software for the safety appraisal of line that oriented the low class highway in southern mountainous area in China, and achieve a real-time evaluation of visualization in its design and service life. This method is available for multiple engineering projects.

First Report of Damping-Off of Rhodiola sachalinensis Caused by Rhizoctonia solani AG-4 HG-II in China.

Rhodiola sachalinensis A. Bor (family Crassulaceae), a perennial herbaceous plant, is distributed mainly in the mountainous areas of China, Japan, Korea, and Russia. It is widely used as a traditional Chinese medicine with adaptogenic properties, cardiopulmonary protective effects, and central nervous system activities (3). Currently, it is extensively cultivated in northeastern China. In August 2010, widespread (>60% of plants were symptomatic) damping-off was observed in a seedling field in Linjiang, China. Leaves and stems near the ground were affected first, with dark lesions forming on the stem and the lowest leaves exhibiting wilt. The wilt spread rapidly over the entire plant with leaves becoming grayish brown and water soaked and then turned black and died. Root rot, defoliation, and damping-off were also observed. Six isolates with morphological characteristics of Rhizoctonia solani Kühn were isolated from symptomatic stems when plated on potato dextrose agar (PDA). Mycelium was branched at right angles with a septum near the branch and a slight constriction at the branch base. Fungal colonies were initially white, turned brown with age, and produced irregularly shaped, brown sclerotia after 8 days on PDA. Hyphal cells removed from cultures grown at 25°C on 2% water agar were determined to be multinucleate when stained with 1% safranin O and 3% KOH solution (1) and examined at ×400 magnification. The internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the nuclear rDNA was amplified by using the primers ITS4/ITS5 (2). The ITS sequences (715 bp) were identical in these six isolates (GenBank Accession No. FR878087) and had 100% sequence identity with R. solani AG-4 HG-II (GenBank Accession No. HQ629873) along with numerous other accessions from this AG subgroup. Pathogenicity tests were performed on healthy, potted seedlings of R. sachalinensis. Twenty plants were inoculated near the base of the stem with a 0.6-cm-diameter mycelial plug from 3-day-old PDA cultures for each isolate. Twenty plants inoculated with only PDA plugs served as controls. The plants were covered with plastic bags and kept in a greenhouse at 20 to 25°C for 72 h. All inoculated plants showed characteristic symptoms as previously observed in the seedling field 13 days after inoculation, while control plants remained healthy. R. solani AG-4 HG-II was reisolated from symptomatic tissues on inoculated plants. To our knowledge, this is the first report of R. solani AG-4 HG-II causing damping-off on R. sachalinensis in China.

Research on Evaluation Model and Application of Highway Alignment in Mountainous Area Based on Operating Speed

Based on the road conditions of the low-grade highway (lower Grade 2) in China southwest mountainous area and speed investigations under different conditions, the estimation model of running speed in this region was established, meanwhile, the criteria for the safety appraisal of line based on running speed in southwest is put forward. Finally, according to the above achievement we developed software for the safety appraisal of line that oriented the low class highway in southern mountainous area in China, and achieve a real-time evaluation of visualization in its design and service life. This method is available for multiple engineering projects.

Establishmentof Quality-SafetyTraceabilitySystemfor Navel Orange

Traceability system has been an import means in food quality and safetymanagement. Governments in many countries are putting increasing emphasis onestablishment of food traceability systems. According to production, processing, storage and distribution of the featureagricultural products----navel orange in the central mountain area of China, this article proposes the technology line and the main result of the research of traceability forqualitysafetyof navel orange.

Research on the Thin Cloud Removal Method from RapidEye Image in Western Mountain Areas

Two methods for removing the thin cloud cover from the RapidEye remote sensing imagery in western mountain areas of China based on Photoshop environment are introduced in this paper.One is to directly adjust the three bands respectively by adjustment function of levels,and the other is band substitution.In the second method,the first step is to substitute infrared band for blue band,and then three bands are adjusted respectively in levels.Test results show that the imagery quality is enhanced obviously when the processed imagery is compared with the original one,and the efficiency in the production practice is improved.

Treatment adherence among sputum smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients in mountainous areas in China

BackgroundWe carried out an investigation in five provinces in China to assess treatment adherence and identify factors associated with insufficient treatment adherence in tuberculosis (TB) patients in mountainous, rural areas of China.MethodsIn each of the five provinces, all counties with > 80% mountainous area were stratified into three groups according to their gross domestic product. In each stratum, one county was randomly sampled. Study subjects were sampled from all smear positive TB cases registered in 2007 in the target counties. TB patients, village doctors, county doctors and directors of the TB prevention and control institutes were interviewed. Insufficient medication adherence was defined as taking less than 90% of anti-TB drug doses prescribed. Insufficient re-examination adherence was defined as having less than the recommended three sputum smear examinations during the treatment course.ResultsA minority of patients took drugs under direct observation: on average 29% during the intensive phase of treatment. In total, 524 TB patients were included, of whom 49 (9.4%) took less than 90% of all doses prescribed and 92 (17.6%) did not have all sputum smear examinations, with substantial variations between the provinces. In multivariable analysis, no direct observation of treatment during the intensive phase and the presence of adverse events were associated both with insufficient medication adherence and insufficient re-examination adherence. Overall, 79% of patients were adherent both to treatment and re-examinations.ConclusionsIn these remote and poor areas of China, the TB control program is not fully functioning according to the guidelines. The majority of patients are not treated under direct observation, while direct observation by health care staff was associated with better adherence, both to drug therapy and re-examinations. Insufficient adherence increases the risk of unsuccessful treatment outcomes and development of drug resistance. Measures should be taken urgently in these areas to strengthen implementation of the international Stop TB strategy.

Migration of Norway Rats Resulted in the Worldwide Distribution of Seoul Hantavirus Today

Despite the worldwide distribution, most of the known Seoul viruses (SEOV) are closely related to each other. In this study, the M and the S segment sequences of SEOV were recovered from 130 lung tissue samples (mostly of Norway rats) and from six patient serum samples by reverse transcription-PCR. Genetic analysis revealed that all sequences belong to SEOV and represent 136 novel strains. Phylogenetic analysis of all available M and S segment sequences of SEOV, including 136 novel Chinese strains, revealed four distinct groups. All non-Chinese SEOV strains and most of the Chinese variants fell into the phylogroup A, while the Chinese strains originating from mountainous areas clustered into three other distinct groups (B, C, and D). We estimated that phylogroup A viruses may have arisen only within the last several centuries. All non-Chinese variants appeared to be directly originated from China. Thus, phylogroup A viruses distributed worldwide may share a recent ancestor, whereas SEOV seems to be as diversified genetically as other hantaviruses. In addition, all available mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequences of Norway rats, including our 44 newly recovered mtDNA sequences, were divided into two phylogenetic groups. The first group, which is associated with the group A SEOV variants, included most of rats from China and also all non-Chinese rats, while the second group consisted of a few rats originating only from mountain areas in China. We hypothesize that an ancestor of phylogroup A SEOV variants was first exported from China to Europe and then spread through the New World following the migration of Norway rats.

Offsetting Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Himalaya? Clean Development Dams in Himachal Pradesh, India

The carbon-offsetting scheme Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has evolved into one of the most important instruments for the funding of renewable energy projects in mountain regions in developing and newly industrializing countries. The CDM allows industrialized states to compensate for greenhouse gas emissions by investing in climate change mitigation activities abroad. These offsetting projects are intended to avoid emissions while simultaneously contributing to sustainable development at the local level. The most common project type under the CDM is hydropower, with the majority of projects being located in the mountain areas of China and India. However, doubts about the scrutinizing methods of the CDM as well as the often controversial impacts of dam building on mountain environments and communities raise questions about the ability of these “clean development” dams to serve as a sustainable means of mitigating climate change. The objective of the present article is to assess the effectiveness of large CDM hydropower projects in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. Analysis of planning documents and expert interviews revealed that “clean development” dams in the Himachal Himalaya fall short of achieving the goals of the CDM. Most projects are not in a position to compensate for emissions because they would have been built even without CDM support. Furthermore, it is arguable whether CDM dams contribute to sustainable mountain development, because the consequences of their construction are the same as for many other ordinary large dams, that is, environmental damage and conflicts that arise from the reallocation of land and water resources. Our results suggest that the promotion of large hydropower projects through the CDM in its current form is a highly ambivalent strategy. Shortcomings in the regulatory framework of the CDM may be undermining the environmental and social integrity of the CDM at both the global and local levels.

Increased Income, Energy Choice and Environment Sustainable Development : Based on the Survey in Western Mountainous Areas in China

The relationship between increasing income of rural households and energy choice is explored. Previous studies have been equivocal because they ignored the consideration of out-migration, which is a distinctive characteristic of present China . This study provides additional insight by considering income structure and energy structure of rural households in western China. The research was conducted in Zhouzhi County in the jurisdiction of Xi’an city, Shaanxi Province, China. Through questionnaire survey, 1074 rural households’ detailed information about their livelihoods were obtained. After descriptive statistics analysis and econometrics model analysis, we provide evidence that migration income plays a important role when rural households choosing modern energy such as electricity or gas, which shows higher income housholds like to choose cleaner but expensive energy. We also find out-migration can reduce family firewood consumption, transforming the use of firewood to other cleaner forms of energy, which can keep the ecological environment sustainable development.

Chain Reaction of Mountainside Disasters and its Dispersing Impact on the Traffic and Transportation Network

There are much mountainous areas in China. Mountainous traffic is greatly different from the plain.Interrelation of mountain landform and the traffic there is analyzed first. Because mountainous traffics and towns are greatly influenced by the disasters there, chain reaction of disasters and its dispersing impact are in particular demonstrated. The course of a disaster could be divided into several stages. Through analyzing their characteristics, solutions in turn to treat disaster are listed. A case is given to elaborate the disaster and its impact on the traffic and town.

Rural household income and inequality under the Sloping Land Conversion Program in western China

As payment for ecosystem services (PES) programs proliferate globally, assessing their impact upon households' income and livelihood patterns is critical. The Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP) is an exceptional PES program, in terms of its ambitious biophysical and socioeconomic objectives, large geographic scale, numbers of people directly affected, and duration of operation. The SLCP has now operated in the poor mountainous areas in China for 10 y and offers a unique opportunity for policy evaluation. Using survey data on rural households' livelihoods in the southern mountain area in Zhouzhi County, Shaanxi Province, we carry out a statistical analysis of the effects of PES and other factors on rural household income. We analyze the extent of income inequality and compare the socio-demographic features and household income of households participating in the SLCP with those that did not. Our statistical analysis shows that participation in SLCP has significant positive impacts upon household income, especially for low- and medium-income households; however, participation also has some negative impacts on the low- and medium-income households. Overall, income inequality is less among households participating in the SLCP than among those that do not after 7 y of the PES program. Different income sources have different effects on Gini statistics; in particular, wage income has opposite effects on income inequality for the participating and nonparticipating households. We find, however, that the SLCP has not increased the transfer of labor toward nonfarming activities in the survey site, as the government expected.

Effect of habitat fragmentation on the schistosome-transmitting snail Oncomelania hupensis in a mountainous area of China

The effect of habitat fragmentation on schistosome-transmitting snails was assessed in an intervention village and a control village in Sichuan Province, China. Snail habitats were fragmented by environmental management. After 2 years, the proportions of quadrats with snails in the fragmented habitats decreased from 9.35% to 2.41% in one patch (c3) and from 12.20% to 6.57% in another patch (c12), whilst the proportions in habitats without fragmentation did not alter significantly. Mean snail density decreased from 0.246 to 0.063 snails/0.11 m 2 in patch c3 and from 0.356 to 0.177 snails/0.11 m 2 in patch c12, whilst the mean snail density of other patches did not alter significantly. Most snails from the same patch and/or its remaining patches after fragmentation clustered together in the phylogenetic tree, except for c1, c3 and its remaining patches (c5, c6 and c11). Snail habitats in the study zone exhibited visible fragmentation. Habitat fragmentation could decrease the snail population size and limit migration and dispersal of snails between patches.

Probabilistic evaluation for the implicit limit-state function of stability of a highway tunnel in China

This paper presents a practical algorithm for the first-order reliability method (FORM) to deal with the implicit nature of a limit-state function (LSF) in reliability assessment of stability of a working highway tunnel, which is constructed in a mountainous area in China. First, a mechanical model to determine the LSF that is not explicitly known with complex non-linear behaviour is formulated for the primary support provided by the combination of shotcrete and rockbolts. After reviewing concisely the basic concepts relevant to the FORM, the central difference approximation is subsequently introduced to estimate the partial derivatives of the LSF. By consideration of Taylor’s formula, this LSF can be transformed into an equation involving a single unknown described as the reliability index, and then the resulting solution procedure for determination of the reliability index can be rendered based on the derivation rule of compound function. A flow for tunnel reliability problem posed by the implicit LSF in applying the FORM is further developed. Eventually, the proposed methodology for the LSF in the non-explicit circumstance is used to perform the probabilistic evaluation for such a working tunnel where the choices of values of step length coefficient affecting the calculation results are suggested. Comparisons are made with the Monte-Carlo simulation method (MCSM) to assess the computational accuracy and efficiency of the algorithm proposed in this paper. It is shown that the MCSM used to obtain the “exact” solutions entails the formidable computational effort, whereas the current algorithm that alleviates the computational labour dramatically can provide an efficient way of implementing reliability calculations for the implicit LSF and offer results which are found to be in satisfactory agreement with the “exact” ones when the step length coefficient is properly taken.