Region Of Northwestern China Research Articles

Trepanation during the late Neolithic Age from the Mapai cemetery in the Gan‐Qing region, northwestern China—A bioarcheological and experimental study

AbstractTrepanation skulls have been found clustered in the Gan‐Qing region of northwestern China, where the trepanation also demonstrated more signs of healing than those from other areas. In this study, two skulls belonging to the pre‐Qiang people from the Mapai cemetery in the late Neolithic period in the Gan‐Qing region with trepanation were observed using ultra‐depth electron microscopy and CT imaging. Moreover, trepanation experiments were conducted to test different tools and tool combinations to investigate the trepanation technique used by the pre‐Qiang people. Results demonstrated that the trepanation openings with signs of healing were the work of experienced trepanation practitioners, most likely for therapeutic purposes. Our experiments also demonstrated that different tools need to be used to generate similar perforations, suggesting a mature trepanation procedure by the pre‐Qiang people. Although it seems clear that the two individuals in this study underwent neurosurgical operations, it is impossible to determine why that surgery was performed. The trepanation phenomenon of the Gan‐Qing region enriches our knowledge of lifestyles, health status, and primitive yet then advanced medical techniques and healthcare.

Dietary diversity, diet quality, and oxidative stress in older adults

This cross-sectional study aimed to explore the relationship between diet quality, dietary diversity, and oxidative stress levels in older adults in parts of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwestern China. A total of 335 participants voluntarily participated in the study from April to July 2021. Laboratory tests and questionnaires were used to obtain general characteristics, dietary conditions, and indicators of oxidative stress. The dietary diversity scores of the participants were 5.20±1.39, the diet quality indices were 56.91±11.14, and most had poor diet quality. The levels of the oxidative stress markers malondialdehyde, superoxide dismutase, 8-iso-prostaglandin F2α, and total antioxidant capacity were 4.77±1.77, 40.33±9.85, 763.10±245.41, and 1.02±0.14, respectively. The results showed that the diet quality scores of participants were related to dietary diversity and whether the scores passed or not was significantly related to total antioxidant capacity.

Mixed economy and dried foods: Dental indicators reveal Heishuiguo Han Dynasty population's environmental adaptation to the semi‐arid region of northwestern China

AbstractSituated in the middle Hexi corridor, a vital passage of the ancient Silk Road, the Heishuiguo site was a military town on the northwestern frontier of the Han Dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE). To understand the lifestyle of the Heishuiguo population, levels of dental caries and tooth wear were assessed. Archaeological findings and historical records revealed a mixed subsistence strategy dependent upon agricultural production and domesticated animals at Heishuiguo. This was also supported by evidence from stable isotope analysis. Teeth are an excellent material for the reconstruction of ancient diet, subsistence strategies, and social behavior. The rate of dental caries in the Heishuiguo population fell into the range of mixed economic population. Tooth wear analysis, however, shows a conflicting result. Anterior tooth wear is particularly severe at Heishuiguo, indicating subsistence practices similar to hunter‐gatherers and modern Xinjiang Kazakhs. As a major Han garrison, the majority of the Heishuiguo populace were either immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. Their diet, with rich nutritional value, portability, and adapted to long‐term preservation needs, suited environmental requirements at Heishuiguo. However, these foods generally required heavier use of cutting and tearing motions with the anterior teeth. Frequent occlusion (alignment) as a result of such actions resulted in severe tooth wear. Such tooth wear may be attributed to a preference for tough, dry foods, such as nang cake along the Heishuiguo population, as well abundant meat consumption. Such a dietary culture resulted from the hot and dry climate, complex geographical conditions, and abundant resources at Heishuiguo. The result was that a unique lifestyle and dietary culture gradually formed at Heishuiguo due to this creative adaptation to the local environment.

Distribution Prediction of Hyalomma asiaticum (Acari: Ixodidae) in a Localized Region in Northwestern China

Hyalomma tick species are considered the competent vector tick species that carry and transmit Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) to humans and animals. Hyalomma asiaticum is one of the major tick species widespread in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China. To determine the potential prevalence of H. asiaticum in XUAR, species distribution modeling was performed using MaxEnt algorithm assembled with bioclimatic variables and curated tick presence records. The results indicate that potential habitats of H. asiaticum mainly cover the northern and western XUAR. The suitable habitats included the west rim of the Taklimakan Desert, Turpan Basin, and Junggar Basin. The models show a mean area under the curve of 0.865 ± 0.068 for H. asiaticum based on 10-fold cross-validation. Despite limited tick presence records used in the study, this work describes the potential distribution and the association of important bioclimatic variables that are crucial for the survival of H. asiaticum in many arid areas in XUAR. The model could be helpful in tick distribution study and surveillance of CCHFV in the region.

Study of the Flood Frequency Based on Normal Transformation in Arid Inland Region: A Case Study of Manas River in North-Western China

Flood disaster is one of the natural disasters which cause the most serious economic losses, the most casualties, and the greatest social impact. Flood frequency analysis is very important for reducing flood disaster. In this paper, based on the flood data of Manas River and tools of Box–Cox and Johnson normal transformation, the nonparametric statistical method for flood frequency analysis is studied in order to analyze the adaptability between it and the rivers in arid region of north-western China. The calculation result of the fitness index is divided into two parts: high flood discharge and low flood discharge. One of the two evaluation indexes has an advantage in fitting, and the number of advantages of the three methods in each part has been counted. After analysis, for the flood peak discharge frequency of rivers in arid region of north-western China, the frequency curve of Johnson transformation fits best with empirical data. The high flood discharge advantage is 6, and the low flood discharge is 4. For the flood volume frequency of rivers in arid region of north-western China, Box–Cox transform fits well with empirical data at the high flood discharge frequency curve, and its advantage is 12; Johnson transformation has a better fit between the low flood discharge frequency curve and empirical data, and its advantage is 12. Therefore, it is the way of improving the precision of flood frequency analysis to use the method of P-III distribution and normal transformation comprehensively.

Effects of organic fertilizer proportion on the distribution of soil aggregates and their associated organic carbon in a field mulched with gravel

Gravel and sand mulching is an indigenous technology that has been used for increasing soil temperature and improving crop yield and water use efficiency for at least 300 years in northwestern China. However, long-term application of inorganic fertilizer with gravel and sand mulch could decrease the soil organic carbon content, and how to improve soil fertility under gravel and sand mulching remains largely unknown. Thus, we evaluated the effects of the application of inorganic (chemical) and organic (manure) fertilizers on the distribution of soil aggregates and their associated organic carbon in a field mulched with gravel and sand. A 5-year (2014–2018) field experiment was conducted in the arid region of northwestern China. Total organic carbon (TOC), permanganate oxidizable carbon (POC), TOC reserves in soil aggregates with different particle sizes, and watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) productivity in gravel-mulched fields were analysed for the following six fertilization modes: no N fertilizer input as a control (CK), N fertilizer without organic fertilizer (CF), and organic fertilizer replacing 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of mineral nitrogen (recorded as OF-25%, OF-50%, OF-75% and OF-100%, respectively). The results showed that, higher manure to nitrogen fertilizer ratios were positively correlated with the percentage of soil macroaggregates (> 0.25 mm), mean weight diameter (MWD), TOC and POC concentrations, and their ratios in different particle sizes. Compared with CF, the treatments with 50% to 100% organic fertilizer significantly increased TOC storage (5.91–7.84%) in the soil profile (0–20 cm). Moreover, the CF treatment did not increase SOC concentrations or TOC storage, compared with CK. The fruit yield (2014–2018) of watermelon significantly increased by an average of 31.38% to 45.70% in the treatments with 50% to 100% organic fertilizer, respectively, compared with CF. Our results suggest that the partial replacement of chemical fertilizer with organic manure (OF-50%, OF-75% and OF-100%) could increase the proportion of macroaggregates, POC and TOC concentrations, and TOC stock in aggregates with different particle size and improve the yield of watermelon in the gravel fields of arid northwestern China mulched with gravel and sand.

Discussion on moxibustion practice of the Han medical bamboo slips unearthed in Wuwei and Juyan regions of Gansu province

Through collecting the relevant moxibustion records of Han medical bamboo slips unearthed in Wuwei and Juyan regions of Gansu province, the situation and characteristics of clinical practice of moxibustion were summarized. In Wuwei Han medical bamboo slips, the contraindications of moxibustion were recorded, with age and time involved. Juyan Han medical bamboo slips mainly recorded the methods of moxibustion at the acupoints located on the back of the body, with clear emphasis and requirement of acupoint selection, single acupoint moxibustion and moxibustion quantity (the numbers of moxa cone) included. These records on bamboo slips initially display the practice and development of moxibustion in Gansu and other northwestern regions of China in the Han Dynasty, providing a certain instruction for the literature research of moxibustion of the excavated Han medical bamboo slips.

Impacts of Gauge Data Bias on the Performance Evaluation of Satellite-Based Precipitation Products in the Arid Region of Northwestern China

It has been reported that systematic bias exists in gauge measurements, which are usually used as the evaluation benchmark, so it is crucial to investigate the impacts of gauge data bias on the evaluation of satellite precipitation products. Six satellite precipitation products (IMERG, CMORPH, GSMaP, PERSIANN, PERSIANN−CCS, and PDIR−Now) and gauge data are collected from 2003 to 2015 in the arid region of Northwestern China. A daily correction for precipitation biases from wind-induced undercatch, wetting loss, and trace error is made for gauge measurements. The changes in metrics, including four continuous and four categorical metrics, are calculated to illustrate how the gauge data bias impacts the evaluation of six satellite precipitation products. The results show the following: The overall performances of six satellite precipitation products are undervalued by the gauge bias. Compared to other satellite products, the performance of IMERG is the best, whether before or after bias correction. However, the performances of all six satellite products are still not good enough even after bias correction and need to be improved. The impacts of gauge bias on the evaluation of the satellite precipitation products also differ by subregion, season, satellite precipitation product, precipitation intensity, and precipitation phase. In conclusion, the impacts of the gauge bias on the performance assessment of satellite products are obvious over the study region, implying that bias correction for gauge measurements is needed to obtain an accurate understanding of the performance of satellite precipitation products if choosing the gauge data as the evaluation benchmark.

Evolution of Volatile Aroma Compounds and Amino Acids in Cabernet Gernischt Grape Berries (Vitis vinifera L.): Comparison of Different Training Systems for Mechanical Soil Burial.

Soil burial is a survival strategy for grapevines that can safely overwinter in north-western regions of China. A suitable training system was beneficial for soil burial to provide winter protection. Moreover, the training system can also significantly affect fruit quality during the development of grape berries, such as primary and secondary metabolites. In this study, four-year-old Cabernet Gernischt grapevines were used as experimental material and exposed to four training systems, including the Ningxia traditional vertical trunk (control, CK); the gobelet (T1); single guyot (T2); slant trunk with vertical shoot positioning (STVSP) (T3). The results showed that total soluble solid total phenol content was 12.69%, 57% higher under T3 training systems than in the control, and T3 alleviated the canopy density, leading to improving the leaf photosynthetic efficiency gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) assay used to detect the aroma compounds. The results indicated that the T3 training system enhanced the accumulation of alcohols, carbonyl compounds, C6/C9 and esters, which account for the largest proportion of volatile compounds, and the qRT-PCR reveals that VvEcar, Vvter, VvCCD1, and VvLis were raised under T3 at the transcriptional level. Moreover, T3 contributes to most free amino acid synthesis. Additionally, the PCA reveals the correlation of free amino acids under four training systems, which reflected the mostly amino acid related to T3, and thus, we could speculate that T3 enhances the overall aroma. These results may lead to new strategies to select a new, short trunk training system to achieve mechanized buried soil, to prevent cold and produce high-quality wine in this area.

Discovery of Tick-Borne Karshi Virus Implies Misinterpretation of the Tick-Borne Encephalitis Virus Seroprevalence in Northwest China.

Despite few human cases of tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV), high rates of TBEV seroprevalence were reported among humans and animals in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Northwestern China. In this study, the Karshi virus (KSIV) was identified and isolated from Hyalomma asiaticum ticks in Xinjiang. It belongs to the genus Flavivirus of the family Flaviviridae and is closely related to TBEV. KSIV infects cell lines from humans, other mammals and ticks, and causes encephalitis in suckling mice. High minimum infection rates (4.96%) with KSIV were detected among tick groups. KSIV infections have occurred in sheep and marmots, resulting in antibody-positive rates of 2.43 and 2.56%, respectively. We further found that, of the KSIV antibody-positive serum samples from animals, 13.9% had TBEV exposure showing cross-reaction to KSIV, and 11.1% had KSIV infection resulting in cross-reaction to TBEV; 8.3% were likely to have co-exposure to both viruses (or may be infected with one of them and present cross-reactivity with the other). The results revealed a substantial KSIV prevalence among ticks in Xinjiang, indicating exposure of animals to KSIV and TBEV. The findings implied misinterpretation of the high rates of TBEV seroprevalence among humans and animals in previous studies. There is a need to develop detection methods to distinguish KSIV from TBEV and to perform an in-depth investigation of KSIV and TBEV prevalence and incidence in Northwestern China, which would enhance our preparation to provide medical treatment of emerging diseases caused by tick-borne viral pathogens such as KSIV.

Evaluation and Comparison of MODIS C6 and C6.1 Deep Blue Aerosol Products in Arid and Semi-Arid Areas of Northwestern China

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Deep Blue (DB) algorithm was developed for aerosol retrieval on bright surfaces. Although the global validation accuracy of the DB product is satisfactory, there are still some regions found to have very low accuracy. To this end, DB has updated the surface database in the latest version of the Collection 6.1 (C6.1) algorithm. Some studies have shown that DB aerosol optical depth (AOD) of the old version Collection 6 (C6) has been seriously underestimated in Northwestern China. However, the status of the new version of the C6.1 product in this region is still unknown. This study aims to comprehensively evaluate the performance of the MODIS DB product in Northwestern China. The DB AOD with high quality (Quality Flag = 2 or 3) was selected to validate against the 23 sites from the China Aerosol Remote Sensing Network (CARSNET) and Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) during the period 2002–2014. By the overall analysis, the results indicate that both C6 and C6.1 show significant underestimation with a large fraction of more than 54% of collocations falling below the Expected Error (EE = ±(0.05 + 20% AODground)) envelope and with a large negative Mean Bias (MB) of less than −0.14. Furthermore, the new C6.1 products failed to achieve reasonable improvements in the region of Northwestern China. Besides, C6.1 has slightly fewer collocations than C6 due that some pixels with systematic biases have been removed from the new surface reflectance database. From the analysis of the site scale, the scatter plot of C6.1 is similar to that of C6 in most sites. Furthermore, a significant underestimation of DB AOD was observed at most sites, with the most severe underestimation at two sites located in the Taklimakan Desert region. Among 23 sites in Northwestern China, there are only two sites where C6.1 has largely improved the underestimation of C6. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that there are also two sites where the accuracy of the new C6.1 has declined. Moreover, it is surprising that there is one site where a large overestimation was observed in C6 and improved in C6.1. Additionally, we found a constant value of about 0.05 for both C6 and C6.1 at several sites with low aerosol loading, which is an obvious artifact. The significant improvements of C6.1 were observed in the Middle East and Central Asia but not in most sites of Northwestern China. The results of this study will be beneficial to further improvements in the MODIS DB algorithm.

Prevalence of early childhood caries in three regions of China: A cross-sectional study.

The burden of early childhood caries (ECC) in different regions of China with different levels of economic development has been of interest to policymakers and public health workers. To investigate regional differences in ECC prevalence in China and to identify associated risk factors. A total of 11612 three- to five-year-old children from three geographic regions of China were included in this cross-sectional study. The dmft index was assessed for each child. A questionnaire regarding children's dietary habits, oral health behaviors, parents' socioeconomic status, and attitudes toward oral health was administered. Odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated to evaluate associated factors. Caries prevalence in the Eastern, Central and Northwestern regions of China was 63.4% (95% CI: 61.4%-64.5%), 59.4% (95% CI: 58.6%-61.7%), and 59.0% (95% CI: 58.5%-61.6%), respectively. Children from the Northwestern (OR=0.83, 95% CI: 0.75-0.92) and Central (OR=0.83, CI: 0.75-0.92) regions of China had a lower risk of experiencing ECC. Dietary habits and parents' specific oral health knowledge and attitudes were associated with ECC. Differences in ECC prevalence were found in the three regions of China. Multiple factors were associated with ECC. Overall, the burden of ECC was heavy in the examined regions.

A Planted Forest Mapping Method Based on Long-Term Change Trend Features Derived from Dense Landsat Time Series in an Ecological Restoration Region

Planted forests provide a variety of meaningful ecological functions and services, which is a major approach for ecological restoration, especially in arid areas. However, mapping planted forests with remote-sensed data remains challenging due to the similarities in canopy spectral and structure characteristics and associated phenology features between planted forests and other vegetation types. In this study, taking advantage of the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform and taking the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwestern China as an example, we developed an approach to map planted forests in an arid region by applying long-term features of the NDVI derived from dense Landsat time series. Our land cover map achieved a satisfactory accuracy and relatively low uncertainty, with an overall accuracy of 93.65% and a kappa value of 0.92. Specifically, the producer (PA) and user accuracies (UA) were 92.48% and 91.79% for the planted forest class, and 93.88% and 95.83% for the natural forest class, respectively. The total planted forest area was estimated as 3608.72 km2 in 2020, accounting for 20.60% of the study area. The proposed mapping approach can facilitate assessment of the restoration effects of ecological engineering and research on ecosystem services and stability of planted forests.

Implications of the development and evolution of global wind power industry for China—An empirical analysis is based on public policy

This paper probes into the different stages of development of public policies of the global wind power industry since the beginning of the 21st century and the impetus of such development. The Danish government introduced two energy plans which made it become a world leader in wind power; the German government launched public policies to buy-back and support the development of offshore wind power to boost the growth of its wind power industry, the booming of the wind power industry in the United States cannot be separated from its tax model and policy promotion. After a rapid development from 2000 to 2021, China’s wind power industry is stepping into the “parity era”. Combining with its national conditions, it has deployed “carbon neutral” and “carbon peaking” and other strategies. However, through analysis, this paper finds that wind energy in China has not been utilized well. For example, in 2020, China’s annual wind curtailment rate reached 16.61 billion kWh, which is equivalent to the total energy production of some countries a year. In the northwestern region of China, where this phenomenon is the most serious, the total curtailment reaches 1.95 billion kWh. Shannxi, Qinghai, Ningxia, and Xinjiang are four provinces in the region. The amount of curtailment of these places account for 30,100 kW, 32,100 kW, 20,100 kW, 35,100 kW respectively, accounting for 10.4%, 8,6%, 3.8%, and 11.2% respectively in northwest China. At the same time, in the first half of 2021, the bidding volume of wind power in the national open market reached 32.92 GW, which equals the annual bidding volume in 2020, leading to a surge in the volume and a severe shortfall in energy subsidies. Currently, the subsidies have decreased from 0.25 yuan per kWh at the peak to 0.06 yuan per kWh, making wind power companies cash-strapped. In summary, the current Chinese wind power industry has problems such as the serious “wind curtailment” phenomenon and imperfect policies related to subsidies for renewable energy. This paper aims to provide suggestions for the development of China’s wind power industry from three aspects, namely learning policies and innovating public policies, learning technologies and suggestions to policies, under the complex context at home, and abroad and the development process of leading countries in the wind power industry.

Conditions for the formation of ground water in artesian basins of intermountain type

The article focuses on the features of the formation of artesian basins of intermountain type. The conditions of formation of groundwater of Heihe artesian intermountain basin, located in the arid region of North-Western China, and water resources of the Tien Shan within Kyrgyzstan are considered. The differences in the hydrogeological structure of the basins, the features of recharge / discharge caused them to be divided into areas that are characterized by features in the chemical composition and quality of groundwater. This study describes the factors affecting the formation of groundwater, the geological and hydrogeological, and also hydrodynamic features of intermountain artesian basins. The main pattem of groundwater flows is characterized and the conceptual models of groundwater systems are presented. The chemical composition of their constituent aquifers is characterized. The obtained results provide a scientific basis for rational planning of social-economic management in the water-limited regions.

Sustainable agricultural water management incorporating inexact programming and salinization-related grey water footprint

In arid and semi-arid regions, improper irrigation activities not only exacerbate water shortages, but also lead to environmental pollution such as soil salinization that hinders crop growth and agricultural sustainability. There has been a lack of agricultural water management tools that could support agricultural water management with salinization-related grey water footprints being considered and associated uncertainties being addressed. In this study, salinization-related grey water footprints were measured through accounting for relationships among irrigation, soil salinity, evapotranspiration and crop yield, and then incorporated into an agricultural water management model for supporting environmentally sound irrigation decisions. Such an agricultural water management model was also characterized by a newly proposed generalized fuzzy interval fractional programming (GFIFP) method that could address ratio problems of two objectives and dual uncertainties. The developed methodology coupling the GFIFP method and grey water footprints was applied to an irrigation region in northwestern China where water scarcity and soil salinization hindered local development. Five credibility levels corresponding to decision makers' varied satisfactory degrees over water availability, and nine weight coefficients of possibility and necessity measures were considered. Results showed that, in order to reduce negative environmental impacts while increasing economic benefits, more irrigation water should be allocated to wheat and sunflower rather than corn. When the credibility level is 0.5 and weight coefficient is 0.9, the system efficiency would be the highest. Compared to the benchmark year of 2018, this scenario would generate [0.330, 6.647] billion yuan more benefits and [16.0, 133.9] million m3 less grey water footprints. Compared to three conventional approaches, GFIFP could provide decisions with more flexibility and less environmental impacts. The developed approach could also be applied to agricultural water management problems in other areas aiming at reducing grey water footprints and enhancing environmental benefits under uncertainty.

Design and experiment of seed furrow cleaning device based on throwing and sliding for no-till maize seeding

In order to solve the serious problems of seeds are covered by residual film and overhead by straw during no-till seeding, a seed furrow cleaning device for no-till maize seeding was developed, which adopted a collaborative cleaning method of rotating spring teeth and curved sliding shovel. The movement process and motion trajectory of throwing residual film and straw were constructed. The maximum distance of throwing to one side in horizontal and maximum height in vertical were obtained. The motion trajectory of adjacent spring teeth was analyzed by Matlab, the motion trajectories of adjacent spring teeth at different speeds of 120 r/min, 150 r/min and 180 r/min were achieved, the theoretical analysis results showed that the area of omitted area decreased with the increase of rotation speed. Based on theoretical and simulation analysis of critical parameters, the forward speed of machine, rotation speed of spring teeth, and dip angle between spring teeth and rotary disc were selected as the influencing factor. Straw cleaning rate (SCR) and residual film cleaning rate (RFCR) were selected as the response values for three factors and three levels of orthogonal experiment design. The optimal combination of the selected parameters was obtained, and the field test verification was also conducted. The results showed that the rotation speed of spring teeth, forward speed and dip angle of spring teeth significantly affect SCR and RFCR were in decreasing order. The field test results indicated that when forward speed was 6 km/h, rotation speed of spring teeth was 180 r/min and dip angle of spring teeth was 40°, SCR and RFCR were 88.27% and 84.31%, respectively. This study provides a reference for the development of no-till seeder in Xinjiang and the northwestern regions of China. Keywords: maize, conservation tillage, no-till seeding, seed furrow cleaning, straw, residual film DOI: 10.25165/j.ijabe.20221504.7097 Citation: Yuan P P, Li H W, Lu C Y, Wang Q J, He J, Huang S H, et al. Design and experiment of seed furrow cleaning device based on throwing and sliding for no-till maize seeding. Int J Agric & Biol Eng, 2022; 15(4): 95–102.

A levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) comparison of coal-to-hydrogen with CCS and water electrolysis powered by renewable energy in China

Hydrogen has increasingly been an attractive energy in the context of carbon neutrality. The traditional coal-to-hydrogen process (C2H) is cost-effective, while has high CO2 emissions. In contrast, low-carbon hydrogen production technologies such as coal-to-hydrogen coupled CCS (C2HCCS) and renewable energy electrolysis of water for hydrogen production may be climate friendly, but of the economic feasibility needs to be evaluated. This study analyzed the production cost, cost structure and regional differences of C2H, C2HCCS, alkaline electrolysis (ALK), and proton exchange membrane electrolysis (PEM) in China via the levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) model. The main findings include: (1) The LCOH of the C2HCCS is 13.1–19.4RMB/kg, which is 57.6–128.3% higher than the coal-to-hydrogen process (7.2–10.1RMB/kg), and 20.5–61.0% lower than that of the hydrogen production via the water electrolysis powered by renewable energy (16.4–51.8RMB/kg). (2) The C2HCCS can be considered as a cost-effectiveness option in northwestern regions of China, especially in the provinces of Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, and Gansu, for the future blue hydrogen energy industry. (3) Currently, hydrogen production via renewable energy-based water electrolysis has no cost advantage in most regions, but wind power-based electrolysis in Gansu and photovoltaic power-based electrolysis in Chongqing have the potential to compete with the C2HCCS process.

Changes in fatty acid composition of fatty fractions of dry‐cured beef during different drying temperature and chilled storage

Dry-cured beef is a traditional meat product of the Kazakh nomads in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in northwestern China. In order to determine the effect of high temperature and short time drying on the fatty fractions of dry-cured beef. The beef of Xinjiang was used as the raw material and dried beef was dried at different drying temperatures. After being cooled down to room temperature, the meat samples were stored in a refrigerator at 4℃. Sampling occurred on days 0, 15, 30, and 60 for analysis of changes in pH, Water activities (aw), thiobarbituric acid reaction substrate (TBARS) value, and the lipid content and fatty acid composition of total intramuscular lipids, phospholipids, triglycerides, and free fatty acids (FAAs). The results showed that with prolonged storage time, the pH value increased slightly but this increase was not significant (p > .05). The aw value decreased slightly but this decrease was not significant (p > .05). The TBARS values increased by the greatest amount during treatment at 60°C from 0–60 days. After 60 days at 4°C, the TBARS values of the samples had increased from 0.237 to 0.813. The preferential hydrolysis of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in the phospholipids was observed, and this resulted in the percentage of PUFA in the phospholipids decreasing markedly and the free fatty acids increasing significantly during storage. Therefore, there is a dynamic relationship between the fat content and the fatty acid composition, the phospholipids, and the free fatty acids during the storage of dry-cured beef treated at different temperatures. Practical applications The fat content and fatty acid composition are among the most valuable quality characteristics for Kazakh dry-cured beef. Understanding of the effects of lipid oxidation on the development of flavor will allow producers to control the flavor qualities of this product. This study is of great practical importance in the industrial development of traditional dry-cured beef.

Can Adaptive Governance Promote Coupling Social-Ecological Systems? Evidence from the Vulnerable Ecological Region of Northwestern China

Adaptive governance is increasingly considered a feasible approach to address the uncertainties and complexities of social-ecological system (SES), whereas its role on SES coupling has not been sufficiently testified. Empirical evidence is provided in this paper with the case of northwestern China, a region struggling with economic backwardness and ecological vulnerability. Given the ambiguities in scholarship on the causal relationship between adaptive governance and SES coupling, we develop a theoretical framework to outline the driving mechanism of adaptive governance by focusing on its impact on ecosystem service (ES) delivery. Within the framework, ecosystem governance and social system governance are identified as pathways of adaptive governance, which are estimated on their effects on SES coupling by FGLS. The results show that (1) only the synergy of them can positively promote SES coupling rather than isolated one of them, and (2) only social system governance presents a lustrous role in restraining the effect of resource-dependence on SES coupling as opposed to ecosystem governance. The practice of northwestern China again evidences its key leader’s role in seizing the opportunity window and social innovation. The results further uncover the necessity of synthesizing the social and ecological dimensions for shaping adaptive governance and the direction of targeted reforms for catalyzing the transition to adaptive governance.