Representative Cities In China Research Articles

The long-term clinical benefits and economic costs associated with increased use of prophylaxis among patients with haemophilia A in China: Population-based predictions from 2018 to 2033.

To predict the long-term benefits and economic costs of the improvements in haemophilia care in China demonstrated by increasing use of prophylaxis, compared with the current status. City-level predictions from 2018 to 2033 were conducted for five representative cities in China. The long-term clinical and economic outcomes in the scenario where haemophilia care has significantly improved and the existing scenario of haemophilia care were calculated and compared. The model input data were obtained from local records, expert interviews, published literature, and other sources. Outcome measures including number of bleeds and joint bleeds, number of target joints, disability rate, direct and indirect costs were calculated at the patient and population levels. The long-term predictions for 2033 demonstrated significantly improved bleed control and joint outcomes due to increased use of prophylaxis. The total number of averted bleed events per patient ranged from 3.9 in Shenyang to 16.1 in Zhengzhou in 2033, and the population-level averted bleed events ranged from 1963 in Xiamen to 14,868 in Zhengzhou. The treatment improvement also leads to significant economic costs driven by increase in clotting factor costs (more than 90%). At the population level, the additional total costs were highest in Zhengzhou (CNY 177.4 million) and lowest in Shenyang (CNY 45.4 million), due to their different population sizes and various existing treatment regimens. The outpatient and hospitalization costs decreased, while the factor costs increased. The long-term prophylaxis is associated with avoided bleed events and disabilities. The improved treatment regimens are also associated with a significant economic burden, driven by factor costs.

Effects of Air Pollution on Sunshine Duration Trends in Typical Chinese Cities

Long-term trends in sunshine duration in Chinese cities have been closely linked to factors caused by air pollution. To understand this impact on sunshine duration (SD), surface solar radiation from 1981 to 2020, annual PM2.5 concentration from 2012 to 2020 and air pollution index (API) data from 2013 to 2020 collected in ten representative cities in China were investigated, and the long-term relationship of SD with diffuse fraction (DF), aerosol option depth (AOD), annual PM2.5 concentration and API were analyzed. The results indicated that trends in SD varied across cities. SD decreased in seven of the ten selected cities’ stations in the past 40 years, and the annual mean SD decreased from −0.03 h d−1 per decade to −0.36 h d−1 per decade—particularly in the Beijing North China Plain, Shanghai and Wuhan stations in the Yangtze River delta, where the trend coefficients were lower than −0.5. Conversely, increases in varying degrees of SD were found in Kunming (0.38 h d−1 per decade), Guangzhou and Shenyang in Southwest, South and Northeast China, respectively—with the biggest trend coefficient of 0.54 in Kunming. In addition to the SD variation, the DF in the ten city stations increased continuously from 1981 to 2010 and then declined after 2010, which is closely related to decreases in the annual PM2.5 concentration after 2012. The correlation coefficients between DF and SD ranged from −0.04 to −0.62, validating their negative relationship and the slight increasing trend in SD in recent ten years. The annual averages for SD and the DF plateaued in the 2010s due to the stringent pollution controls established by the Chinese government after 2010. Furthermore, the correlation coefficients between SD and the API ranged from −0.12 to −0.58, demonstrating a negative relationship between SD and the API.

Passionately attached or properly matched? The effect of self-congruence on grocery store loyalty

PurposeFresh products' homogeneity makes it difficult for grocery stores to differentiate themselves by improving product or service quality. This study analysed grocery store loyalty from the perspective of self-congruence and compared the relative importance of affective attachment and lifestyle matching, which acts as a mediating mechanism in influencing customer loyalty.Design/methodology/approachIndividuals in Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Beijing and Xi'an; representative cities of China's east, south, west, north and central regions, responded to questionnaires. Altogether, 282 valid responses were obtained; structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses.FindingsThe findings show that lifestyle congruence has a greater mediating effect than emotional attachment in the relationship between store-self congruence and grocery store loyalty. Furthermore, social self-congruence was the dominant dimension of store-self congruence that affects grocery store loyalty.Research limitations/implicationsThe first important academic contribution of this study is the provision of knowledge on the issue of whether to focus on generating grocery store loyalty via the mediating effect of emotional attachment or lifestyle congruence. Furthermore, the empirical findings further clarify the boundary of brand attachment theory, demonstrating the limitation of this theory in explaining the mediating mechanism for self-congruence on loyalty in a context that sells low-involvement products in a collectivistic culture. Another academic contribution focuses on the examination of dominant dimensions of self-congruence.Practical implicationsThis study provides a new strategy for grocery store managers to avoid the trap of homogeneous competition, namely, to clearly define consumers' social rather than personal identity. Additionally, grocery stores should focus on matching their image with target customers' lifestyles when building customer loyalty.Social implicationsThis study's findings also shed light on public policy. Some implications could be increasing the layout rationality of retail commercial outlets to facilitate the interaction between grocery stores and community consumers and promoting the matching of grocery stores and consumer lifestyles. Such policies may boost grocery sales, which in turn would boost farmers' incomes.Originality/valueCompared to previous studies, this study analysed the customer loyalty of grocery stores from the perspective of self-congruence, analysed the mechanisms by which self-congruence influences customer loyalty via the mediating effects of emotional attachment and lifestyle congruence and compared the relative significance of these two paths. Furthermore, this study clarified the relative importance of self-congruence dimensions in influencing grocery store loyalty.

Effects of typical sludge treatment on microplastics in China—Characteristics, abundance and micro-morphological evidence

Microplastics (MPs) are emerging pollutants that are enriched in sludge. They enter soil through sludge soil amendment, landfill, and discard, which will cause inescapable environmental pollution risks. Sludge treatment technology commonly used in China include anaerobic digestion (AD), thermal drying (TD), thermal hydrolysis (TH) and aerobic composting (AC). In this study, characteristics of MPs in sewage sludge from four representative large cities in China (Zhengzhou, Chongqing, Guangzhou, and Guilin) were analyzed. Effects of four representative sludge treatment technology on sludge MPs were also studied. In addition, the amount of MPs input to soil from sludge in China was estimated. The abundance range of sludge MPs of representative cities in China was 1448–11,125 n∙kg−1 DW. Previous studies indicate that this abundance range is low among other domestic cities and is close to that of European countries. MPs were predominantly fiber-shaped, accounting for 46.66%; 56.5% MPs were white and transparent, and 62.5% were polypropylene and polyethylene. The abundance of MPs in the sludge increased after TH, indicating that MPs broke into smaller particles. However, the other three treatment methods had no significant influence on the abundance of MPs. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed that the micro-morphology of sludge MPs surface were rougher after AD, and MPs cracked following TD and TH. Furthermore, broken edges were more blurred after TH, and surfaces of MPs were damaged and eroded after AC. The input quantities of MPs in sludge to soil was deduced to be 1013 particles per year. These results are important for controlling the potential risk of sludge MPs in China.

Impact of Basic Parameters on Heat and Moisture Process Simulation of Bamboo Building Envelope in China (I): Meteorological Parameters

As a country of rich bamboo forest and large-scale bamboo processing industry, China is promoting the development of modified bamboo building materials and the bamboo construction systems. In the study on bamboo building envelope (BBE), as a hygroscopic construction, particular attention should be paid to the coupled heat and moisture (H&M) process. However, the parameters basis and the thermal design code in China could not yet support such calculation on coupled H&M process of BBE. In order to clarify the impact of meteorological parameters on the H&M process of BBE, the study prepares 24 representative cities in China with climate data exported from the Meteonorm platform and 3 typical bamboos with complete material properties data tested through experiments, and then sets up comparison BBE model groups in the software WUFI Plus for annual H&M process simulation. Statistical analysis clarifies the correlation law between the H&M process of BBE and the meteorological parameters. The study highlights the importance of hygric meteorological data for the application of BBE.

Is Expansion or Regulation more Critical for Existing Protected Areas? A Case Study on China’s Eco-Redline Policy in Chongqing Capital

Protecting areas of important ecological value is one of the main approaches to safeguarding the Earth’s ecosystems. However, the long-term effectiveness of protected areas is often uncertain. Focusing on China’s ecological conservation redline policy (Eco-redline policy) introduced in recent years, this study attempted to examine the effectiveness of alternative policy interventions and their implications on future land-use and land-cover (LULC) patterns. A scenario analysis was employed to elucidate the implications of different policy interventions for Chongqing capital, one of the most representative cities in China. These interventions considered the spatial extent of Eco-redline areas (ERAs) and the management intensity within these areas. LULC data for two different periods from 2000 (first year) to 2010 (end year) were derived from satellite images and then used for future (2050) LULC projections, incorporating the various policy interventions. Furthermore, several landscape indices, including the shape complexity, contrast, and aggregation of forest patches were calculated for each scenario. After comparing the scenarios, our analysis suggests that the current extent of ERAs may not be sufficient, although their management intensity is. Therefore, we suggest that during the optimization of the Eco-redline policy, ERAs are gradually increased while maintaining their current management intensity.

A drug utilization study of oral anticoagulants in five representative cities of China between 2015 and 2019.

Oral anticoagulants (OACs), including warfarin and newer direct-acting OACs (DOACs), have been used for decades to prevent thromboembolic diseases. A drug utilization study was performed to determine the prescribing patterns of OACs. Data were extracted from the Cooperation Project of Hospital Prescription Analysis in China. A total of 455,490 prescription records from 43 tertiary hospitals in five cities of China (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Chengdu) were selected for inclusion. Quarterly trends of defined daily doses (DDDs) and defined daily dose cost (DDDC) from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2019 were calculated. Warfarin was the most widely used OAC with DDDs between 189,982 and 176,323 from the first quarter (Q1) of 2015 to the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2019, whereas the use of DOACs increased rapidly during this period. DDDs of rivaroxaban increased from 5409 in Q1 of 2015 to 125,800 in Q4 of 2019, whereas the DDDC declined from 160.5 to 45.7. From Q1 of 2018, rivaroxaban became the most prescribed OAC, surpassing warfarin, in patients diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis. In addition, the DDDs of rivaroxaban exceeded those of warfarin in patients diagnosed with non-valvular atrial fibrillation since the second quarter (Q2) of 2019. DDDs in outpatients and inpatients increased by 80.6% and 71.4%, respectively, and the DDDC for outpatients in Q4 of 2019 was 6.7-fold higher than that in Q1 of 2015. Among patients of all ages, the DDDs in elderly patients increased from 36.8% in Q1 of 2015 to 59.4% in Q4 of 2019. Moreover, the departments of cardiology and cardiothoracic surgery prescribed the majority of the OACs. In this study, we describe OAC prescription patterns in China. DOACs, especially rivaroxaban, contribute to the continuous increase in the use of OACs. In the investigated population of China, outpatients and elderly patients were observed to be administered the highest proportion of DOACs.

Fatty acid composition of human breast milk across lactational stages in six representative cities in China from 2018 to 2019

To investigate the fatty acid composition in breast milk at different lactation stages in six representative cities of China. From January 2018 to December 2019, milk sampling of 690 healthy lactating mothers(full-term) in 5 lactation periods of 0-5 days, 10-14 days, 40-45 days, 200-240 days and 300-400 days was collected from 6 representative regions in China, with 23 cases of breast milk received in each lactation stage in each city. Mix it into one mixture, and make a total of 30 mixes. Determination of fatty acids in breast milk was conducted by gas chromatography-flame ionization detector. The contents of total fatty acids(TFA), saturated fatty acids(SFA), monounsaturated fatty acids(MUFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids(PUFA) in breast milk increased with the progress of lactation and reached a relatively stable level after reaching a peak at 40-45 days. However, the composition ratio of SFA, MUFA and PUFA in TFA remained relatively stable from 0 to 400 days. The ratio of arachidonic to docosahexaenoic(AA/DHA) in breast milk from 0 to 400 days in the six cities ranged from 1.14 to 1.55, and there was no obvious trend of change in the whole lactation stage. The ratio of linoleic acid to alpha-linolenic acid(LA/ALA) in Chinese breast milk ranged from 3.84 to 18.94, showing significant regional variation. The content and composition of fatty acids in breast milk of six cities in China vary to a certain extent and show a dynamic change process with the passage of time of lactation.

Forecast and uncertainty analysis of extreme precipitation in China from ensemble of multiple climate models

Global climate change is expected to have a major impact on the hydrological cycle. Understanding potential changes in future extreme precipitation is important to the planning of industrial and agricultural water use, flood control, and ecological environment protection. In this paper, we study the statistical distribution of extreme precipitation based on historical observation and various global climate models (GCMs), and predict the expected change and the associated uncertainty. The empirical frequency, generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution, and L-moment estimator algorithms are used to establish the statistical distribution relationships and the multi-model ensemble predictions are established by the Bayesian model averaging (BMA) method. This ensemble forecast takes advantage of multi-model synthesis, which is an effective measure to reduce the uncertainty of model selection in extreme precipitation forecasting. We have analyzed the relationships among extreme precipitation, return period, and precipitation durations for 6 representative cities in China. More significantly, the approach allows for establishing the uncertainty of extreme precipitation predictions. The empirical frequency from the historical data is all within the 90% confidence interval of the BMA ensemble. For the future predictions, the extreme precipitation intensities of various durations tend to become larger compared to the historic results. The extreme precipitation under the RCP8.5 scenario is greater than that under the RCP2.6 scenario. The developed approach not only effectively gives the extreme precipitation predictions, but also can be used to any other extreme hydrological events in future climate.

A new TMY generation method based on the entropy-based TOPSIS theory for different climatic zones in China

Typical meteorological years (TMY) serve as basic parameters for building energy consumption simulation and play a key role in building energy-saving design. At present, the most widely used method for generating TMY is the Finkelstein–Schafer statistical method of Sandia Laboratory in the United States. However, when this method is used to generate TMY, all meteorological parameters use a uniform weighting factor which fails to reflect the different regional climate impact differences. It is unreasonable to adopt a unified weighting factor, because the meteorological resources of different climate zones are very different, and the leading role of building energy consumption is different. This paper proposes a new method, applying the entropy-based Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution(TOPSIS) method for TMY generation. The entropy-based TOPSIS method is an objective method, in which the determination of weight and decision result does not involve any subjective preference but totally relies on the objective data set. This method can reflect the climate differences in different climate zones. The rationality of this method is verified by selecting five typical representative cities in China. The single meteorological parameter deviation analysis and building energy consumption simulation were used to evaluate the generated TMY. The results show that the TMY generated by the entropy-based TOPSIS method is closer to the long-term average. This method only considers monthly data, so the development of entropy-based TOPSIS is simpler and less time-consuming.

A Life-cycle Cost-benefit Analysis for Rooftop Photovoltaic Systems in Lightweight Steel-structured Industrial Buildings

There is a widespread consensus that energy efficiency of buildings is an essential component of sustainable development and several kinds of renewable energy technologies have been widely used to achieve this sustainable goal. As a rapidly developing country, China’s manufacturing industry still occupies a prominent position, with a large number of industrial buildings that are also a crucial part of urban planning. Compared with multi-story and high-rise commercial buildings, large industrial sheds have a much more usable roof area, where rooftop photovoltaic (PV) systems are increasingly used. However, due to the small structural margins of the lightweight steel-structured (LSS) industrial buildings and the large initial investment of the thin-film PV system, few case studies are available for this kind of industrial buildings. In this research, three representative cities in China, with varying levels of solar radiation availability, are selected as typical external design factors. Taking a typical LSS industrial building with an added thin-film rooftop PV system as an example, a life-cycle cost-benefit analysis is conducted from environmental and economic aspects. The results of the analysis demonstrate the effectiveness of the rooftop thin-film PV system as a means to increase the energy efficiency of the LSS industrial buildings.

What are the underlying transmission patterns of COVID-19 outbreak? An age-specific social contact characterization

BackgroundCOVID-19 has spread to 6 continents. Now is opportune to gain a deeper understanding of what may have happened. The findings can help inform mitigation strategies in the disease-affected countries. MethodsIn this work, we examine an essential factor that characterizes the disease transmission patterns: the interactions among people. We develop a computational model to reveal the interactions in terms of the social contact patterns among the population of different age-groups. We divide a city's population into seven age-groups: 0–6 years old (children); 7–14 (primary and junior high school students); 15–17 (high school students); 18–22 (university students); 23–44 (young/middle-aged people); 45–64 years old (middle-aged/elderly people); and 65 or above (elderly people). We consider four representative settings of social contacts that may cause the disease spread: (1) individual households; (2) schools, including primary/high schools as well as colleges and universities; (3) various physical workplaces; and (4) public places and communities where people can gather, such as stadiums, markets, squares, and organized tours. A contact matrix is computed to describe the contact intensity between different age-groups in each of the four settings. By integrating the four contact matrices with the next-generation matrix, we quantitatively characterize the underlying transmission patterns of COVID-19 among different populations. FindingsWe focus our study on 6 representative cities in China: Wuhan, the epicenter of COVID-19 in China, together with Beijing, Tianjin, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Shenzhen, which are five major cities from three key economic zones. The results show that the social contact-based analysis can readily explain the underlying disease transmission patterns as well as the associated risks (including both confirmed and unconfirmed cases). In Wuhan, the age-groups involving relatively intensive contacts in households and public/communities are dispersedly distributed. This can explain why the transmission of COVID-19 in the early stage mainly took place in public places and families in Wuhan. We estimate that Feb. 11, 2020 was the date with the highest transmission risk in Wuhan, which is consistent with the actual peak period of the reported case number (Feb. 4–14). Moreover, the surge in the number of new cases reported on Feb. 12 and 13 in Wuhan can readily be captured using our model, showing its ability in forecasting the potential/unconfirmed cases. We further estimate the disease transmission risks associated with different work resumption plans in these cities after the outbreak. The estimation results are consistent with the actual situations in the cities with relatively lenient policies, such as Beijing, and those with strict policies, such as Shenzhen. InterpretationWith an in-depth characterization of age-specific social contact-based transmission, the retrospective and prospective situations of the disease outbreak, including the past and future transmission risks, the effectiveness of different interventions, and the disease transmission risks of restoring normal social activities, are computationally analyzed and reasonably explained. The conclusions drawn from the study not only provide a comprehensive explanation of the underlying COVID-19 transmission patterns in China, but more importantly, offer the social contact-based risk analysis methods that can readily be applied to guide intervention planning and operational responses in other countries, so that the impact of COVID-19 pandemic can be strategically mitigated. FundingGeneral Research Fund of the Hong Kong Research Grants Council; Key Project Grants of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Performance assessment of CO2 supermarket refrigeration system in different climate zones of China

In this paper, a R744 Partial Cascaded Two-stage Compression Refrigeration System (R744-PC-TCS) was proposed and evaluated in terms of coefficient of performance (COP) and seasonal energy efficiency ratio (SEER) when it operated in five typical climate representative cities in China. R134a and CO2 are used as refrigerants in this study. The results show that the SEER of the supermarket refrigeration system in the severe cold zone and the mild zone is higher than that of the other climate zones. The performance of the R134a Two-stage Compression Refrigeration System (R134a-TCS) performs better than the R744 Two-stage Compression Refrigeration System (R744-TCS). However, both COP and SEER of the CO2 system can be improved significantly by adding a parallel compressor, as well as using the single-stage vapor compression partial cascade cycle for subcooling under the practical working conditions (such as R744-PC-TCS). The greatest improvement of R744-PC-TCS can be achieved in the areas with poor climatic conditions, in which COP increases by 48.9% at an ambient temperature of 39 °C, and SEER increases by the maximum of 21.5% in hot summer and warm winter zones, compared with that of R744-TCS. Compared with R134a system, the R744-PC-TCS basically achieves the comparable or even higher energy efficiency. It can be concluded that the proposed R744-PC-TCS has a great potential to replace the existing R134a refrigeration system for the supermarket refrigeration application.

Comparative study of municipal solid waste disposal in three Chinese representative cities

China is facing severe environmental problems, the total municipal solid waste (MSW) generation has dramatically increased and presented great challenges all over the country. Cities have different characteristics in MSW components, generation quantity, influencing factors and disposal ways. Beijing, Guangzhou and Lhasa of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei economic circle, Pearl River Delta economic zone, and Qinghai-Tibet plateau regions were selected as representative cities, to compare and analyze the features, influencing factors to the MSW generation quantities, and its components by grey correlation analysis. Predictions of MSW generation quantities for Beijing, Guangzhou and Lhasa in 2025 would be 1251.22, 704.71 and 71.040 million tons, respectively, made by BP (back propagation) nerve work using MATLAB software. Results showed that the main indicators of influencing factors to MSW in three cities were all of economic development levels, population and investments of government input. Based on the analysis of internal relationship and characteristics of MSW, some barriers of MSW management were analyzed, and recommendations were given. Our study analyzed the influencing factors and forecasted quantities of MSW generation in representative cities in China, providing valuable evidences for the severe MSW disposal situation of different economic zones in China.

Establishing reference intervals for urine and serum iodine levels: A nationwide multicenter study of a euthyroid Chinese population

ContextUrinary iodine (UI) is commonly used for evaluating iodine status, whereas serum iodine (SI) is more closely correlated with bioavailable iodine. However, no reliable reference intervals (RIs) for clinical use are available. We aimed to establish RIs for SI, UI, and a ratio of UI to urinary creatinine (U-Cre) applicable to the Chinese population. MethodsThis multicenter cross-sectional study enrolled 930 apparently healthy adults from six representative cities in China (Beijing, Dongying, Guiyang, Urumqi, Shenzhen, and Qiqihar) in 2017. Thyroid ultrasonography and thyroid function tests, including antithyroid antibody tests, were performed to exclude individuals with latent thyroid diseases. An iodine intake-related questionnaire survey was performed. SI and UI were measured using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Possible influencing factors of iodine levels were evaluated using multiple regression analysis. ResultsPost-exclusion, the final analysis included 894 individuals. Seafood intake frequency was positively correlated with SI (standardized partial regression coefficient = 0.23) but not with UI and UI/U-Cre. SI was positively correlated with serum TT4 (Spearman correlation coefficient: 0.40), TT3 (0.23), and FT4 (0.18). SI and UI showed no age- or sex-specific variations. Significantly higher UI/U-Cre values were observed in Qiqihar than in Beijing, Guizhou, and Shenzhen. Shenzhen showed the lowest UI levels among all evaluated cities. With application of latent abnormal values exclusion procedurere, the RIs for SI, UI, and UI/U-Cre in the population were 36.0–79.3 μg/L, 19–385 μg/L, 22–450 μg/g, respectively. ConclusionsWe established RIs for UI and SI among healthy Chinese individuals with no thyroid nodule or dysfunction.

Enhanced Super-Resolution Mapping of Urban Floods Based on the Fusion of Support Vector Machine and General Regression Neural Network

Super-resolution mapping of urban flood (SMUF) is one of the hotspots in remote sensing and urban environment research. In this letter, a new SMUF method based on the fusion of support vector machine and general regression neural network (FSVMGRNN) was proposed to achieve enhanced performance. An SVM-SMUF algorithm was developed and a fusion criterion was formulated. Then, the FSVMGRNN-SMUF algorithm was developed. The results of FSVMGRNN-SMUF were evaluated using Landsat 8 OLI imagery of two representative cities in China. FSVMGRNN-SMUF yielded the most accurate SMUF results among the five SMUF methods according to visual comparisons and quantitative comparisons. The mapping accuracy of FSVMGRNN-SMUF related to the kernel functions was also analyzed and discussed. The results of this letter will help to boost practical applications of median-low resolution remote sensing images in urban flooding mapping, and to strengthen the means for monitoring and assessing urban flooding disasters.

Sources of variation evaluation of 24,25(OH)2D levels and the ratio of 25OHD to 24,25(OH)2D in apparently healthy Chinese adults: a multicenter cross-sectional study

24,25(OH)2D and the 25OHD/24,25(OH)2D ratio have recently been shown to be useful for screening for hypercalcemia caused by CYP24A1 mutations. However, no population-based data on 24,25(OH)2D have been published for Chinese populations, and few studies evaluated the sources of variation on 24,25(OH)2D levels and the 25OHD/24,25(OH)2D ratio. Hence, in 2018, we enrolled 1211 apparently healthy adults without systematic diseases from six representative cities in China (Beijing, Dongying, Guiyang, Urumqi, Shenzhen, and Qiqihar). 24,25(OH)2D and 25OHD levels were measured using isotope dilution liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Multiple regression analysis showed that sex contributed the most to variations in 24,25(OH)2D, 25OHD, and 25OHD/24,25(OH)2D (rp= -0.255, -0.253, and 0.141, respectively), and age also contributed to variations in 25OHD but not 24,25(OH)2D or 25OHD/24,25(OH)2D. Men had significantly higher 24,25(OH)2D and 25OHD levels than women, but had significantly lower 25OHD/24,25(OH)2D values. Individuals from Dongying had the highest 24,25(OH)2D and 25OHD values, whereas individuals from Urumqi had the lowest values. The median(2.5–97.5%) values for 24,25(OH)2D, 25OHD, and 25OHD/24,25(OH)2D were 1.2(0.36–2.65) ng/mL, 18.9(8.6–32.5) ng/mL, and 16.0 (9.8–30.8), respectively. 24,25(OH)2D was significantly correlated with 25OHD (r = 0.838, p < 0.001), and 25OHD/24,25(OH)2D was significantly negatively correlated with 24,25(OH)2D (r = -0.758, P < 0.001) and 25OHD (r = -0.310, P < 0.001). In conclusion, in this nationwide, multicenter, cross-sectional study, we evaluated the levels of 24,25(OH)2D and the 25OHD/24,25(OH)2D ratio in the Chinese population. Sex contributed the most to variations in 24,25(OH)2D, 25OHD, and 25OHD/24,25(OH)2D.

Psychological factors affecting memorable tourism experiences

ABSTRACTThis study tries to explore psychological components of memorable tourist experience (MTE) that are most likely to recall tourists’ memories. Urban residents from three representative cities in China were selected as research samples, and totally 301 usable questionnaires were used for data analysis. The results showed that the recollection of MTE was positively affected by novelty, involvement and social interaction. It was also suggested that hedonism and novelty had positive effects on the vividness of MTEs significantly. Additionally, in the context of Chinese culture, two new psychological factors, social interaction and perceived serendipity, resulted in different effects on the MTE.

Uncovering Variations, Determinants, and Disparities of Multisector-Level Final Energy Use of Industries Across Cities

With continuous industrialization and urbanization, cities have become the dominator of energy consumption, to which industry is making leading contribution among all sectors. Given the insufficiency in comparative study on the drivers of energy use across cities at multisector level, this study selected seven representative cities in China to quantify and analyze the contributions of factors to changes in final energy use (FEU) in industrial aggregate and sectoral levels by using Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index method. Disparities in the drivers of industrial FEU across cities were explicitly revealed within two stages (2005–2010 and 2010–2015). Some key findings are presented as follows. Alongside the increase in industrial output of seven cities within two stages, the variation trends in industrial FEU are different. Industrial output effect (contribution rate 16.7% ~ 184.0%) and energy intensity effect (contribution rate −8.6% ~ −76.5%) contributed to the increase in aggregate FEU positively and negatively, respectively. Beijing had the largest contribution share of industrial structure effect (−24.4% and −12.8%), followed by Shenyang and Xi’an. Contributions of energy intensity effect and industrial output effect for Chemicals, Nonmetals, Metals, and Manufacture of equipment were much larger than those of other sectors. The results revealed that production technological innovations, phase-out of outdated capacities of energy intensive industries, and industrial restructuring are crucial for reduction in industrial FEU of cities. This study also provided reference to reasonable industrial layout among cities and exertion of technological advantages from a national perspective.

Research on the synergy of urban system operation—Based on the perspective of urban metabolism

Cities have been posing threats to local environment due to intensive human activities. Disordered urban metabolism can lead to unhealthy urban system operation. Studying urban metabolism can identify the characteristics and structure of urban system operations, thereby promoting sustainable development. We construct an ecological network to model the energy/material flows among the sectors of urban system in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, and Chongqing, which are the most representative cities of China. Ecological network analysis was introduced to survey the system's characteristic of structure and function. Results show that Shanghai's urban metabolic system has the highest synergism with a value of 5.04, followed by Beijing, Chongqing, and Tianjin. Different cities vary considerably in terms of the relationships among the sectors. In Beijing and Chongqing, there is mutualistic relationship between environment and primary industry. Transportation forms a mutualistic relationship with tertiary industry and other sectors Only in Chongqing. The good relationships between primary industry and construction are merely seen in Beijing and Shanghai. However, some relationships are similar in the four cities, for instance, all the relationships between primary industry and advanced industry, and between construction and advanced industry are competition; All the relationships between environment and transportation are mutualism. We further explored the network stability and found that the studied urban systems are all located in a stable status relatively. Our research could reveal the synergy of urban operation, and provide a theoretical basis for optimizing urban metabolic processes by regulating the flows and guidance for sustainable urban development.