Spatial Differences Research Articles

Narrowing regional dietary disparities can help reduce methylmercury exposure in China

Dietary methylmercury (MeHg) exposure has posed substantial risks to human health. Existing studies have characterized the spatial patterns of China's MeHg exposure. However, the spatial difference and relevant influencing factors have not been investigated. This study quantified the spatial differences of dietary MeHg exposure in China and revealed the relevant influencing factors, which can help optimize the dietary behavior to reduce MeHg exposure. Results show that dietary MeHg exposure in coastal regions is significantly higher than the national average, especially in Shanghai (+191%). Dietary structure difference is the most significant factor influencing spatial differences in MeHg exposure, and its contribution increased from 64% to 73% between 2004 and 2019. In particular, the high proportion of marine fish intake dominates the significantly higher MeHg exposure in most regions. An intake ratio of 2:3 for marine and freshwater fishes is recommended to ensure minimal MeHg exposure and meanwhile meet the nutritional needs. Moreover, narrowing regional dietary behavior disparities can reduce the overall MeHg exposure in China. These findings highlight the importance of region-specific measures in reducing dietary MeHg exposure and implementing the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

Spatial Variation in Flowering Age in <i>Cirsium pitcheri</i>: Does This Imperiled Dune Thistle Hedge Its Bets?

For perennial plants, the optimal timing of flowering is a tradeoff between survivorship and fecundity, a classic example of bet-hedging. For many monocarpic perennials, there is an advantage in delaying flowering until the plant reaches a larger size and is thus capable of a higher fecundity. However, in delaying flowering, there is a risk that the plant will die before ever reproducing. Here, we investigate this fitness trade-off in the imperiled dune thistle, Cirsium pitcheri (Torr. ex Eaton) Torr. & A. Gray (Asteraceae) (Pitcher’s thistle). Using a long-term, spatially explicit demographic data set with yearly censuses, we found that C. pitcheri individuals on the foredune flowered at a younger age compared to individuals in other dune habitats. We tested two alternative hypotheses: (1) younger flowering plants were able to reach a flowering threshold size more quickly, and (2) these plants were somehow stressed, and slow growth was a signal for high likelihood of dying, resulting in early reproduction at a smaller size. Our results support the former hypothesis: plants in all areas of the dune did not differ in size the year prior to flowering, despite spatial differences in age of flowering individuals. Therefore we conclude that the foredune microenvironment where plants flowered at younger ages facilitates rapid growth and reproduction for this species and may represent optimal habitat. This result provides insight into the demographic patterns of C. pitcheri that may inform the conservation and recovery of this threatened species. Although adapted to the dynamic dune environments of the Great Lakes, C. pitcheri may be vulnerable to climate change-induced changes in its optimal foredune habitat.

Implementing a completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite process using a novel umbrella basalt fiber carrier.

The completely autotrophic nitrogen removal over nitrite (CANON) process is significantly hindered by prolonged start-up periods and unstable nitrogen removal efficiency. In this study, a novel umbrella basalt fiber (BF) carrier with good biological affinity and adsorption performance was used to initiate the CANON process. The CANON process was initiated on day 64 in a sequencing batch reactor equipped with umbrella BF carriers. During this period, the influent NH4+-N concentration gradually increased from 100 to 200 mg·L-1, and the dissolved oxygen was controlled below 0.8 mg L-1. Consequently, an average ammonia nitrogen removal efficiency (ARE) and total nitrogen removal efficiency (TNRE) of ∼90 and 80% were achieved, respectively. After 130 days, ARE and TNRE remained stable at 92 and 81.1%, respectively. This indicates a reliable method for achieving rapid start-up and stable operation of the CANON process. Moreover, Candidatus Kuenenia and Candidatus Brocadia were identified as dominant anammox genera on the carrier. Nitrosomonas was the predominant genus among ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. Spatial differences were observed in the microbial population of umbrella BF carriers. This arrangement facilitated autotrophic nitrogen removal in a single reactor. This study indicates that the novel umbrella BF carrier is a highly suitable biocarrier for the CANON process.

Impact of green finance on China's pollution reduction and carbon efficiency: Based on the spatial panel model

Green finance is an important means to promote the construction of ecological civilization and plays an important role in promoting the coordinated governance of pollution and carbon reduction. Based on the panel data of 277 cities at or above the prefecture level in China from 2006 to 2021, this study calculates the development level of green finance and the synergistic efficiency of pollution and carbon reduction. In addition, this study constructs the driving distance matrix. The study uses the spatial Durbin model to conduct an empirical test on the spatial effect and transmission mechanism of green finance on the synergistic efficiency of pollution and carbon reduction. Results show that: (1) A significant spatial difference exists between the development level of green finance and the collaborative efficiency of pollution and carbon reduction in China from 2006 to 2021. Moreover, the high-value areas of the two are concentrated in the eastern and southeast coastal areas, respectively; (2) The development of green finance has a positive spatial spillover effect on the collaborative efficiency of pollution and carbon reduction. The conclusion remains after a series of robustness tests, that is, green finance has a significant positive promoting effect on the collaborative efficiency of pollution and carbon reduction between the city and its neighboring cities; (3) The development of green finance can promote the improvement of the collaborative efficiency of pollution and carbon reduction by improving the level of green technology innovation and the advanced level of industrial structure, that is, the two play an intermediary effect. The conclusions of this study provide experience for an in-depth understanding of the environmental governance effect of green finance and actively guide financial resources to participate in the collaborative governance of carbon pollution.

Exploring Differences and Evolution of Coordination Level of the Industrial Structure, Economy and Ecological Environment Complex System in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Urban Agglomeration

Industrial structure (IS), economy (EC), and ecological environment (EE) could influence each other and constitute a complex system (IS-EC-EE). This study is to explore the differences and evolution of the coordination level of the IS-EC-EE complex system of 13 cities in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) urban agglomeration by coupling coordination degree model, Markov chain, GM (1,1) model, Dagum Gini coefficient, and Kernel density estimation method to provide a reference for regional sustainable development. The results show that the comprehensive evaluation index of IS, EC, and EE had significant differences among the 13 cities in the BTH region. The IS-EC-EE system of the whole BTH region was in a highly coupled and low-coordinated development state. And the coordination degrees of the 13 cities in the BTH region had spatial differences, which were mainly due to inter-regional differences, and the differences became larger. Furthermore, the coordinated development of the 13 cities had the probability of keeping high, moderate, and low coordination. It was predicted that the coordination degree of the IS-EC-EE system in the whole BTH region in 2020–2030 was roughly similar to the trend in 2009–2019. The coordination levels of Beijing and Tianjin were higher than in Hebei Province, so optimizations need to be considered for regional overall sustainable development.

Simple model to incorporate statistical noise based on a modified hodgkin-huxley approach for external electrical field driven neural responses

Noise activity is known to affect neural networks, enhance the system response to weak external signals, and lead to stochastic resonance phenomenon that can effectively amplify signals in nonlinear systems. In most treatments, channel noise has been modeled based on multi-state Markov descriptions or the use stochastic differential equation models. Here we probe a computationally simple approach based on a minor modification of the traditional Hodgkin-Huxley approach to embed noise in neural response. Results obtained from numerous simulations with different excitation frequencies and noise amplitudes for the action potential firing show very good agreement with output obtained from well-established models. Furthermore, results from the Mann–Whitney U Test reveal a statistically insignificant difference. The distribution of the time interval between successive potential spikes obtained from this simple approach compared very well with the results of complicated Fox and Lu type methods at much reduced computational cost. This present method could also possibly be applied to the analysis of spatial variations and/or differences in characteristics of random incident electromagnetic signals.

Spatial, Temporal, and Interspecific Differences in Composition of Stable Isotopes in Fishes in Maryland Coastal Bays

Carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotopes were used to evaluate spatial, temporal, and interspecific differences in trophic relationships of four fish species (Paralichthys dentatus, Anchoa mitchilli, Leiostomus xanthurus, and Bairdiella chrysoura) in Maryland’s coastal bays. The δ13C values for all species were more enriched in 2017 than in 2018, a year of higher-than-average rainfall that likely caused higher amounts of terrestrial carbon to enter the estuary. There were significant differences among species in the δ13C values, with L. xanthurus being the least depleted (−17.2‰ in 2017; −18.8‰ in 2018). Spatially, the δ13C values of the species, particularly P. dentatus and B. chrysoura, were more depleted in the northern bays, which have a higher nutrient content and receive more freshwater inflow directly from tributaries, than the southern bays. The observed δ13C values (−19.5 ± 0.2‰ to –17.2 ± 0.3‰), however, indicate that marine phytoplankton was the primary carbon source of the fishes. Overall, A. mitchilli was the most enriched in δ15N (13.0‰), and L. xanthurus was the most depleted (10.2‰). δ15N was more enriched in fish from the more human-impacted northern bays than in fish from the southern bays, though this might also have stemmed from the differences in the diet composition of the species in the northern and southern bays. A. mitchilli had the highest trophic level, while L. xanthurus and P. dentatus had the lowest trophic levels. Niche breadth was widest in L. xanthurus compared to the other fish species, suggesting a higher variability in diets among L. xanthurus individuals, leading to specialized diets. There was a high niche overlap between B. chrysoura, A. mitchilli, and L. xanthurus, which indicates they fed on similar prey resources.

High spatial variability in a species-rich assemblage of diadromous fishes in Hong Kong, southern China.

China has experienced substantial coastal reclamation and damming of rivers. These changes have the potential to impact migrations of diadromous fishes between the sea and fresh waters, but the composition of these fishes and the impacts of barriers to their movement in China have received little attention. We inventoried the species composition and distribution of diadromous fishes, and the impacts of barriers on them, in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), southern China. Fish assemblages were surveyed using hand-nets, supplemented by cast-netting and single-pass snorkel surveys, in 24 small coastal streams across three regions. Surveys were undertaken on multiple occasions during the wet and dry seasons to account for the monsoonal tropical climate. Twenty-eight diadromous fishes were collected, mostly gobies, amounting to over half (53%) of the total richness of primary freshwater fishes; four additional species are known from literature records. Diadromous richness was 48% greater during the wet season, when all species were encountered. Richness varied substantially among streams, from a maximum of 17 (2 streams that were diversity hot spots) to none (3 streams). The most widespread diadromous fish was Glossogobius giuris (71% frequency of occurrence), followed by Mugil cephalus (58% occurrence) and Eleotris oxycephala (50% occurrence). The remaining 25 diadromous fishes occurred in fewer than half of the streams; 12 species were confined to a single stream and may be locally threatened. There were conspicuous spatial differences in diadromous assemblages across HKSAR, despite its limited extent (1114 km2), the proximity of the surveyed streams, and the broad geographic distribution of most species. Regional species assemblages were influenced by localized habitat characteristics, with a noticeable distinction between areas with and without large, fast-flowing, and highly oxygenated streams. The presence of in-stream barriers (weirs: 0.3-8.7 m high) did not affect spatial patterns in species assemblages, although, on average, diadromous richness was lower in weir-obstructed streams (4.0 vs. 6.9 species in unobstructed streams). In total, 18 species were confined to unobstructed streams or sections below weirs, whereas the remaining 10 species were recorded both above and below weirs. Only the mottled eel (Anguilla marmorata) and a goby (Stiphodon multisquamus) were able to ascend weirs over 2 m. Although at least 400 m of the lower course of each stream was sampled, diadromous fishes were confined to the first 300 m in 12 of the 13 weir-obstructed streams. Remarkably, the tally of 32 diadromous species in HKSAR exceeds the 19 known from mainland China, highlighting the need for further research on composition and conservation status of diadromous fishes.

Measurement, Spatial Differences, and the Dynamic Evolution of China's Urban Business Environment Levels

Measurement, Spatial Differences, and the Dynamic Evolution of China's Urban Business Environment Levels

Satellites Reveal Spatial Heterogeneity in Dryland Photovoltaic Plants' Effects on Vegetation Dynamics

AbstractLarge‐scale photovoltaic (PV) plants are growing rapidly in drylands because of the rich solar radiation and vast unutilized land. The transformation of landscapes in dryland has threatened local fragile vegetation. Existing studies have investigated the issue by field observations and satellite data, yet the spatial differences in vegetation changes due to dryland PV plants deployment and underlying driving mechanisms remain poorly understood. In this study, Landsat Normalized Difference Vegetation Index data were used to assess the vegetation changes disturbed by PV plants in China's drylands. We further identified environmental factors affecting vegetation changes based on random forest regression model. Our findings reveal the spatial heterogeneity in the impact of PV plants on vegetation dynamics—PV plant deployment promoted the growth of vegetation in the vast majority of arid and hyper‐arid drylands, while it tends to cause vegetation decline in the sub‐humid and semi‐arid drylands. The impact of PV plants on vegetation dynamics depends on local environmental conditions. We found that deploying PV plants in areas with sparse vegetation, low humidity, and long sunshine duration is more likely to promote vegetation restoration. The findings and data maps with highly detailed information can help guide solar energy operators in siting and ecological restoration to enhance techno–ecological synergies in the future.

Evaluation of Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (S2S) precipitation forecast performance from NMME-2 over Indonesia

Abstract Global Subseasonal-to-Seasonal (S2S) precipitation forecast was known to bridge the gap between weather and seasonal forecast, can be utilized as supporting information for decision-making related to hydrometeorological disaster mitigation activities. However, uncertainty in global models caused forecast performance can be different across regions and time periods. Therefore, it is important to evaluate forecast performance before utilizing the prediction result in any region. In this study, performance of probabilistic precipitation forecast from Multi-model Ensemble (MME) of three models in The North American Multi-Model Ensemble phase 2 (NMME-2) project was evaluated in Indonesia region based on two evaluation metrics: continuous ranked probability score (CRPS) and reliability diagram. The evaluation was conducted during the boreal summer (May–October) and boreal winter (November–April) periods, as well as during the active period of subseasonal climate variability phenomenon Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). Our result shows that S2S precipitation forecast from MME of CFSv2, CanCM4 and GEOS5 models are sufficiently accurate and reliable during the boreal summer period for Central Sumatra, Southern Sumatra, Southern Kalimantan, Java, Southern Sulawesi, and Southern Papua regions, with a range of CRPS values between 4-16 mm/7 days and a ‘perfect’ reliability category. There is no notable distinction in the performance of S2S precipitation forecast between the active and inactive events of the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO). The difference in CRPS values between these two periods is only around 0.8-1.2 mm/7 days, and there is no difference in reliability categories across Indonesia as a whole, nor significant spatial pattern differences.

Regional Differences in the Spread of Pneumonia in Russia: A Comparative Spatiotemporal Analysis of the Situation in 2017–2021

Introduction: Pneumonia remains a respiratory disease of concern that keeps influencing morbidity and mortality throughout the world in the 21st century. Increased incidence rates of pneumonia have been registered in Russia for a long time. In this regard, regional surveillance seems relevant across the country for a better understanding of recent spatial differences in the disease spread and their fluctuations. Objective: To carry out a spatiotemporal analysis of regional differences in pneumonia prevalence in the adult population of Russia in 2017–2021 with a focus on pre- and COVID-19 pandemic periods, given the Russian long-term dynamics for 2010–2022. Materials and methods: The study covers the years 2017–2021 with sufficient data on pneumonia prevalence collected. Static and dynamic parameters were calculated for the compared pre- and pandemic periods. A series of cartograms developed using GIS tools made it possible to visualize the information obtained and assess the spatiotemporal situation of the process under study. Results: The long-term dynamics of pneumonia prevalence rates in the adult population in Russia was examined with the regional trends in 2017–2021 assessed. In 2017–2019, they rose in most regions of Russia but the growth rate did not exceed 30 %. In 2019–2021, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the pneumonia situation changed dramatically and the disease rates increased in most regions. A significant deterioration of the situation was observed in most of the European part of Russia with the growth rates ranging from 70 % to 90 %. The number of regions with a null increase in the pneumonia prevalence dropped from 25 to five. Conclusions: Changes in the regional differences in the disease prevalence in the adult population of Russia for 2017–2021 were assessed. The uneven interregional spread of pneumonia complicated during the pandemic compared with the pre-pandemic period. Increased growth rates of the disease prevalence of varying intensity were observed in 80 Russian regions.

Old Empires, Modern State: Legacies of Partitions on Voting Behaviour in the 2023 Polish Parliamentary Elections

Abstract The legacies of former partitions are still visible in today’s Poland in the economy, society and politics. Our article integrates the historical and geographical perspective into the study of electoral behaviour in Poland. We conduct a geographical description of electoral results in the 2023 parliamentary elections and determine how economic and cultural attributes related to different paths of development associated with the former partitions are reflected in the apparent spatial differences. We distinguish between direct and indirect influence. It is indirect when differences in economic development (e.g. changes in agrarian structures) or cultural transformations (e.g. secularisation) resulting from former policies are reflected in different electoral choices. The influence is direct if belonging to a former empire determines electoral behaviour regardless of the economic and cultural determinants of the vote. We found that the influence concerns primarily the former Russian and Austrian regions. The analysis is conducted at the county (powiat) level.

The influence of spatial resolution on coastline detection by means of multisource remote sensing data

Identifying an instantaneous coastline through remote sensing data poses a challenge due to various factors, such as the intricate nature of the coast and the selection of the appropriate sensor with its inherent spatial resolution. Even so, accurate identification of the coastline through remote sensing data has immense potential to provide reliable and timely information about the coastal environment. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether there are spatial differences when detecting a coastline by means of multiple remote sensors. We vectorized orthomosaics from UAV flights during high, mean, and low tides manually, creating three reference baselines. The cross-shore distances from the three vectors were compared to the coastline vectors extracted from a water index, using six different satellite data collected on the nearest possible date to that of the UAV flights, with MODIS Terra, Landsat 8, Sentinel-2, RapidEye, PlanetScope, and Google Earth. The results indicate that the cross-shore distance of the coastline vectors depended directly on the spatial resolution of the sensors. Concerning the mean tide, Google Earth provided the highest accuracy, with a marginal error of 6.7 m, while MODIS provided the largest difference with a margin of 449 m. Our results indicate that future satellite-derived coastline detection approaches should consider the relationship between tide amplitude and spatial resolution on sandy shores.

Spatio-temporal pattern and the evolution of the distributional dynamics of county-level agricultural economic resilience in China.

Because the complexity of the external environment has put great pressure on the agricultural economy, making it vulnerable, it is necessary to promote a system of resilience in the agricultural economy so that Chinese agriculture can continue to persevere in the face of serious external uncertainties. Therefore, this paper investigates the spatio-temporal pattern and evolution of the distributional dynamics of China's county-level agricultural economic resilience based on 2000-2020 data covering 2,545 counties. The results are as follows: first, from 2000 to 2020, the mean value of China's county-level agricultural economic resilience showed an obvious upward trend, which indicates that China's agricultural economy gradually increased its ability to resist risks and continued to develop in a favourable manner. Specifically, the county-level agricultural economic resilience index of the northeast region grew the most significantly, while the index of county units in the western region was relatively low. Second, the centre of gravity of the spatial distribution of China's agricultural economic resilience gradually migrated to the northwest, showing a dominant direction from northeast to southwest and a tendency to develop from southeast to northwest. Third, the spatial differences in China's agricultural economic resilience generally showed an upward trend, while county-level differences were the main source of the overall differences, followed by inter-provincial differences, inter-municipal differences and inter-regional differences. Additionally, the contribution of county-level differences to the overall differences fluctuated within the range of 54%-58%. Fourth, there is a possibility of localized convergence in China's agricultural economic resilience, which is continuous in spatial effects and has obvious positively correlated spatial effects at different times and in different county spaces.

Endothelial cells in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension exhibit cytoskeletal alteration

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – EU funding. Main funding source(s): Health Research Fund (Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria [FIS]) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III Introduction Endothelial dysfunction (ED) is pivotal in Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension (CTEPH) due to structural and functional alterations in endothelial. Previous studies have shown the critical function of cytoskeletal elements, particularly actin microfilaments and microtubules, along with associated cell adhesion complexes, in the endothelial integrity. Nevertheless, precise alterations in the cytoskeletal elements of endothelial cells (ECs) in CTEPH patients remain unclear. Purpose This study aims to investigate the cytoskeleton changes in CTEPH-ECs compared to healthy ECs, characterizing morphological and structural differences. Objectives involve assessing microtubules and microfilaments expression, and their influence on ECs migratory capacity. Finally, our study aims to gain novel insights into the spatial organization of cytoskeleton components in CTEPH patients. Methods CTEPH-ECs were isolated from freshly resected pulmonary endarterectomy specimens of CTEPH patients, while human pulmonary artery ECs (HPAE) were used as healthy controls. Fluorescence immunocytochemistry assessed phenotypic and compositional characteristics of the cytoskeleton. Morphometric analysis described morphology and filament organization of cytoskeletal proteins using a custom-built pipeline. X-ray microscopy examined the phenotype and cytoskeletal components distribution. The migration assay evaluated how these structural differences affected ECs migratory capacity and the cytoskeletal elements expression. Results CTEPH-ECs exhibited larger surface area (1352 vs 662µm2, p<0.01) and a more stellate morphology (0.365 vs 0.289, p<0.01) than HPAE-ECs. Immunostaining indicated altered cytoskeletal composition in CTEPH-ECs with significantly higher tubulin expression, expressed in microtubules, (3327 vs 2238AU, p<0.01) and F-actin microfilaments (2068 vs 1300AU, p<0.01) compared to HPAE. Similarly, CTEPH-ECs showed reduced G-actin expression (3002 vs 7461AU, p<0.01). Morphometric analysis demonstrated that microfilaments were thinner (0.623 vs 0.831AU, p<0.01), more straight (0.135 vs. 0.172, p<0.01) and more aligned (0.132 vs. 0.156, p<0.01) in CTEPH-ECs. Microtubule thickness decreased compared to HPAE-ECs (0.341 vs 1.371AU, p<0.01). CTEPH-ECs showed impaired wound healing (60 vs 89% closure, p<0.05). CTEPH group showed an increase in microtubules and microfilaments expression during wound healing, but with irregular patterns, unlike the constant levels in HPAE. TXM-technology revealed spatial organization differences, especially expansive microtubules distribution in CTEPH-ECs (4.2*10^7 vs. 8.7*10^6 nm³, p<0.05). Conclusion These preliminary findings highlight significant structural and compositional differences in CTEPH-ECs, along with altered wound healing capacity, suggesting dynamic cytoskeletal and cellular changes in CTEPH. Understanding these alterations is crucial for advancing CTEPH knowledge and identifying potential therapeutic targets.

A study on the spatial differences between the tourism network attention and tourism flow in Shanghai, China

The tourism network attention as a reflection of tourism demand is closely related to the tourism flow, the differences between the two has become an important criterion for judging the efficiency of destination tourism demand conversion, as well as a manifestation of the balance and coordination of destination tourism industry. Against the background of insufficient release of tourism demand in China, research on the development differences between tourism network attention and tourism flow can provide a basis for demand-side management and high-quality development. Based on the theory of spatial mismatch, this research analyzes the spatial development difference between the tourism network attention and the tourism flow in Shanghai from 2012 to 2021 using methods such as center of gravity model, spatial mismatch index, and two-dimensional combination matrix. The results show: (1) According to the analysis of the center of gravity model, there was a shift of the center of gravity of tourism network attention with the direction of "south-north", while the tourism flow shifted "west-east"; the center of gravity between tourism network attention and tourism flow began to diverge from 2012 to 2016, gradually converged from 2016 to 2019, and then gradually deviated again after 2020. (2) According to the spatial mismatch index, the spatial mismatch types between tourism network attention and tourism flow in various Districts of Shanghai are mainly negative and low mismatch, with high mismatch areas mainly distributed in the eastern and southwestern parts of Shanghai. (3) Combining the two-dimensional combination matrix, it can be observed that the spatial development difference between tourism network attention and tourism flow in Shanghai show a characteristic of "enlarging-shrinking-enlarging". From 2012 to 2016, the spatial development difference between tourism network attention and tourism flow in Shanghai continuously expanded; from 2017 to 2019, the spatial development difference continuously shrank; and from 2020 to 2021, the spatial differences expanded again. (4) The analysis results of the panel data model show that the development of tourism resources and the level of tourism services have a positive promoting effect on the evolution of spatial mismatch, while the social basic development environment has a negative effect. The research results not only meet the needs of evaluating the high-quality development of the tourism industry in the current economic restructuring, providing direction for the high-quality development of the regional tourism industry, but also enrich the research content of network attention as a tourism element participating in the evaluation of tourism industry development quality, and deepen the relationship research between network attention and tourism flow.

Identifying potential provenances for climate-change adaptation using spatially variable coefficient models

BackgroundSelection of climate-change adapted ecotypes of commercially valuable species to date relies on DNA-assisted screening followed by growth trials. For trees, such trials can take decades, hence any approach that supports focussing on a likely set of candidates may save time and money. We use a non-stationary statistical analysis with spatially varying coefficients to identify ecotypes that indicate first regions of similarly adapted varieties of Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirbel) Franco) in North America. For over 70,000 plot-level presence-absences, spatial differences in the survival response to climatic conditions are identified.ResultsThe spatially-variable coefficient model fits the data substantially better than a stationary, i.e. constant-effect analysis (as measured by AIC to account for differences in model complexity). Also, clustering the model terms identifies several potential ecotypes that could not be derived from clustering climatic conditions itself. Comparing these six identified ecotypes to known genetically diverging regions shows some congruence, as well as some mismatches. However, comparing ecotypes among each other, we find clear differences in their climate niches.ConclusionWhile our approach is data-demanding and computationally expensive, with the increasing availability of data on species distributions this may be a useful first screening step during the search for climate-change adapted varieties. With our unsupervised learning approach being explorative, finely resolved genotypic data would be helpful to improve its quantitative validation.

Measurement and synergistic evolution analysis of economic resilience and green economic efficiency: Evidence from five major urban agglomerations, China

It has become a significant issue for urban economies to maintain efficient and green development while ensuring security and stability. This study evaluated economic resilience (ER) and green economic efficiency (GEE) in China's five urban agglomerations using the combined weight model and the meta-frontier global super-efficiency SBM model with undesired outputs. Analyzed synergistic degrees between ER and GEE and regional differences by the modified coupled coordination model and Dagum's Gini coefficient. Results indicated that ER overall showed an increase from 2003 to 2021. GEE exhibited a slanting 'W' shaped trend but remained generally upward. In addition, the synergistic degree between ER and GEE increased, indicating beneficial interactions and a trend of synergistic evolution moving towards advancement. Spatial differences in synergistic degree were mainly due to hypervariable density, with inter-regional variations as a secondary factor. The Pearl River Delta (PRD) showed the highest intra-regional variation in synergistic degree and the Chengdu-Chongqing region (CC) the least. The synergistic gap between CC and PRD was the largest, while the gap between CC and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River (MYR) was the smallest. Understanding ER and GEE's spatiotemporal evolution is expected to induce sustainable economic development in urban agglomerations further.

Research on the supply and demand of elderly care service resources in China.

This study aims to assess the current status and spatial distribution differences of elderly care service resources supply and demand in China. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were utilized to gather participants' insights into the current demands for elderly care services, the status of resource allocation, and related indicators. The entropy weight method was employed to determine indicator weights, yielding objective demand and allocation indices for elderly care service resources. Kernel density estimation was used to illustrate the distribution characteristics of the demand and allocation indices. The coupling coordination degree model was applied to measure the coupling coordination level of China's elderly care service resource supply and demand system in 2020. The demand index ranks highest in Beijing (0.3291), Shanghai (0.2941), and Tianjin (0.2563), while the lowest are found in Tibet (0.1673), Guangxi (0.1727), and Guizhou (0.1737). Kernel density estimation shows that the demand index is concentrated in the range of 0.1800 to 0.2000. The top three regions for allocation index are Shanghai (184.0007), Qinghai (129.8177), and Beijing (109.5941), with the lowest in Liaoning (34.8558), Hainan (35.3168), and Yunnan (36.6366). Kernel density estimation indicates that the allocation index is concentrated in the range of 25-75. Calculations of coupling coordination degree show that Shanghai has high coordination quality (0.9368), Beijing has good coordination (0.8392), while Hainan and Yunnan experience severe imbalances (0.1990, 0.1831). There is a significant lack of coordination between the demand for elderly care services and the allocation of resources in Hainan and Yunnan provinces in China. Most provinces, with the exception of Beijing and Shanghai, exhibit some degree of misalignment. The Chinese government should address the varying needs of the elderly population in different regions, pay timely attention to regional disparities, enhance regional cooperation, and dynamically allocate elderly care resources in a rational manner.