Use In Rural Areas Research Articles

A new proposed model of EMOLUP for assessing of ecological capability of different utilizations and land use planning in Sepidan Township, Iran

The optimum use and appropriate management of renewable resources, with dynamic characteristics, needs to evaluate and classify the ecological capability of environment and its socio-economic conditions. Land use planning (LUP) is an iterative process based on the dialogue amongst all stakeholders aiming at the negotiation and decision for a sustainable form of land use in rural areas as well as initiating and monitoring its implementation. The main objective of this paper is the implementation of integration quantitative model namely EMOLUP (Eco-Socioeconomic Model of Land Use Planning) in Sepidan Township of the Fars province in Iran. Therefore, two main steps were prepared for the new model: I. Ecological capability evaluation of different land uses. This step is composed of the geometric mean method instead of the Boolean and MCE methods. II. Land use planning and prioritizing for the various uses. This step has been composed intersecting ecological capability maps and land use planning, based on two scenarios (economic and social). Then, it was compared with current qualitative and quantitative methods. Also, current land use is used for calibrating and modifying the proposed models. Results show using the geometric mean method is better than Boolean models, and the method of the calibrated geometric mean (with overall accuracy > 63 and kappa index > 0.39 for all land uses) is the best among different used models. Also, results of prioritizing and land use planning showed that quantitative method with two socio-economic scenarios (with an average of EPM erosion model = 0.31) is the best method for land use planning in the study area. We confirmed that the EMOLUP model can contribute to a better understand land use planning in different regions of the world.

Human activity and demographics drive the fire regime in a highly developed European boreal region

Organization of successful wildfire prevention and suppression require detailed information on ignition causes, size distributions and relations to weather. From a large and highly detailed dataset of Swedish wildfire incidents (n = 124 000) we assess temporal, geographical and human-related patterns over a 25-year-period (1996–2020). We find strong positive correlations between population density and wildfire occurrence, primarily caused by a wide spectrum of human activities. However, fires >10 ha mostly occurred in sparsely populated regions and were more often ignited by lightning or heavy machinery. Further, large fires had a history of long response times and insufficient mop-up, in turn intimately linked to low population density. We detect no trend over the 25-year-period in either fire weather, number of ignitions or burned area, but a dramatic decline in wildfire caused by children's play as well as by springtime burning of dead grass, a traditional fire use in rural areas. Our results indicate that irrespective of climate change, societal changes such as rural depopulation and cultural shifts are imminently important for the future fire regime in this intensely managed part of the boreal, and may warrant more attention worldwide.

Point-Of-Care Ultra-Sound (POCUS) for suspected surgical abdominal conditions in rural India-a mixed-method health needs assessment.

Evidence has shown a trend towards rising mortality from surgical abdominal conditions with increasing distance from hospitals in Eastern India. It has been claimed that imaging modalities such as portable ultrasound are ideal for use in rural areas of developing countries for diagnosis and management of a variety of acute abdominal conditions. This mixed-methods study aimed to explore the need for increased access to POCUS in rural, hard-to-reach populations within India, and to identify barriers that may exist to increasing this access. This mixed-methods study utilized a health needs assessment framework. Quantitative data was extracted from medical records within two outreach camp organisations supporting hard-to-reach populations in Uttarakhand and Jharkhand to provide contextual background statistics. Qualitative data was collected using semi-structured interviews taken from employees of each outreach camp. A framework analysis was employed to analyse the qualitative data. Both datasets were analysed in parallel. Twelve semi-structured interviews were undertaken, and 3 months of medical records were reviewed. Themes that presented themselves from the data included the use of camps for case-finding of conditions amenable to routine surgery, a need for POCUS to help with this diagnostic process, a perceived high disease burden from renal calculi, and complex cultural and legislative barriers to POCUS specific to this setting. POCUS was considered a useful tool in expanding access to surgery for these settings and finding ways of overcoming cultural and legislative barriers to its use should be of high priority. POCUS should be highly portable, robust, easily repairable, and battery operated. For telemedicine to be fully utilised, signal quality will have to be proven to be reliable.

Experimental Investigation of a Concentrating Bifacial Photovoltaic/Thermal Heat Pump System with a Triangular Trough

The heat absorbed by the heat transfer fluid for cooling a concentrated photovoltaic thermal (CPVT) solar collector can be used for purposes such as residential heating and cooking. Because of the combined production of heat and power, these systems are proposed for individual or commercial use in rural areas. In this study, a hybrid system was proposed to increase the electrical efficiency of the system. Experiments were conducted in winter conditions. Two operational modes were compared, namely a CPVT system with HP (HP-CPVT) and without HP (CPVT). The evaporator of the heat pump was settled inside the triangular trough receiver. The effects of cooling the PV system with a heat pump in the bifacial CPVT system on the electrical and thermal energy efficiencies were investigated. The electricity and thermal energy efficiencies of the CPVT system were calculated as 12.54% and 38.37% in the HP-CPVT system, respectively, and 10.05% and 81.97% in the CPVT system, respectively. The electrical exergy efficiencies of the CPVT system with and without HP were 14.65% and 10.73%, respectively. The thermal exergy efficiencies of the CPVT system with and without HP were 82.47% and 85.63%, respectively. The thermal heat obtained from the HP-CPVT system can be used for heating needs. Thus, the bifacial HP-CPVT system was an example of the micro-CHP system.

Electric bicycle as an ecological transport for the Russian countryside: realities and prospects

The article raises the question of the prospects of electric bicycles as one of the types of ecological transport. The aim of the study is to determine the attitude of Russian rural residents to electric bicycles as an environmentally friendly mode of transport and outline its prospects in rural areas. Using some scientific methods ( sociological survey of agricultural university students who have a rural area as their preferred place of residence; experiment to determine the possibilities of using an electric bicycle in rural areas; content analysis of marketplaces that sell electric bicycles), the authors come to the conclusion that in order for the electric bicycle to take its rightful place in the rural transport system and thereby contribute to improving the environmental situation, it is necessary to solve the social problems of Russian agriculture – and above all, to improve the standard of living of peasants. In addition, manufacturers should offer models specially designed for rural areas to the market, since many brands sold in Russia are insufficiently adapted for use in rural areas. The authors also believe that there is a need for social advertising of electric transport as well as educational activities that refute myths and stereotypes concerning electric bicycles.

Development of technology for reuse of collector trench waters

It is known that water in nature has the property of self-purification. But by our century, the level of water pollution exceeded the norm. As a result, water could not completely eliminate the contaminants contained in its composition. This also defines the problem of solving on self-purification of water. There are various ways to control the quality of water, from which it is possible to list the following: reduce the number of dissolved salts contained in the water or dilute the water, reduce the hardness of the water, reduce the amount of iron contained in it, reduce the number of floating substances hanging in the water, etc. Therefore, in this proposed method, salt underground water sources are used, and the problems of water for use in rural areas, farms, and similar enterprises have been solved. The degree of desalination depends on the content of water. Magnesium cation water is sufficient to separate the gypsum compounds, which are found to be unfavorable for this method. This requires a method and technology that will distinguish only these salts from water. In this article, the process of adding irrigation water to groundwater, treating it, and reusing it for irrigation has been implemented. An experiment was conducted using Faraday's law. The experiment was mainly to remove unwanted salt content from the water through plates and check the quality of the water. As a result, the excess amount of salt in the water was removed, and it was reused and used for irrigation.

Contribuição financeira por grupo de produtos agropecuários dos municípios paulistas em relação à área produtiva ocupada.

Differences in agricultural productivity may not be clearly detected with the politicaladministrative division constituted by adjacent areas of municipalities. The objective of this work was to identify the productivity of rural areas, with productive activity, in groups of agricultural products in the municipalities of the state of São Paulo. It involved variables on the gross value of production and types of use in rural areas. Production in municipalities was concentrated in certain sets of products, with productive diversification not occurring in municipalities, but in clusters of municipalities and more sharply in regions with higher productivity.

1172: EVALUATION OF SHELF-STABLE BLOOD PRODUCTS FOR RESUSCITATION IN A CANINE MODEL OF HEMORRHAGIC SHOCK

Introduction: Hemorrhagic shock is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in trauma patients. Current resuscitation methods use blood products that require temperature control and have a limited lifespan, which present significant limitations for use in rural areas and combat zones. This study examined whether shelf stable blood product resuscitation strategies leveraging freeze-dried plasma (FDP), hemoglobin based oxygen carrier (HBOC), and lyophilized platelets (LP) provide an alternative to conventional resuscitation strategies in a canine model. We hypothesized that a combination of HBOC and FDP with or without LP would be non-inferior to chilled whole blood (CWB) for hemorrhagic shock resuscitation. Methods: Seven dogs were anesthetized and subjected to controlled hemorrhage of up to 40% of their blood volume (T0) over one hour to achieve a mean arterial blood pressure of 35-50 mmHg. They were maintained in shock for 45 minutes and were then randomized to receive: CWB, FDP+HBOC, or FDP+HBOC+LP over 30 minutes (T105-135). Citrated blood was collected at T0, T105, T135, and T180 for thromboelastography (TEG 5000). Samples were run in duplicates with kaolin activation to measure reaction time (r), kinetic time (k), alpha angle (alpha), and maximum amplitude (MA). Between-group comparisons were performed using a Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA and a Bonferroni correction. Results are reported as mean +/- standard deviation. Results: There was no difference in baseline parameters between groups or in TEG values between groups at the end of shock T0 and T105. There was a difference in alpha and MA between groups at T135 (p= 0.02 for both) and T180 (p=0.02 and 0.002, respectively). Specifically, alpha and MA were lower in the FDP+HBOC+LP group (alpha: 54.9 +/- 6.6 deg; MA: 43.5 +/- 11.5 mm) than in the CWB group (alpha: 64.4 +/- 5.2 deg; MA: 58.2 +/- 5.1 mm). There was no difference in r, alpha, and k between groups at any time point. Conclusions: In this canine model of controlled hemorrhage, TEG parameters between FDP+HBOC and CWB were not different. We demonstrated evidence of reduced coagulation function in FDP+HBOC+LP. The biological relevance of those findings should be determined in an uncontrolled hemorrhage model. Resuscitation with shelf-stable products appeared safe and satisfactory in this model.

A GIS-based multi-criteria decision analysis approach using AHP for rural settlement site selection and eco-village design in Erzincan, Turkey

In recent years, natural resource depletion, rapid population growth, and increasing urbanization have all reached new heights. All of these ecological problems that exceed the planet's absorbing capacity, have begun to imperil both human life and nature itself. Rural settlement plans aim to optimize the use of natural resources. Agricultural lands are used for non-agricultural purposes as a result of proper placement planning of rural settlements. The suitability of land for a specific purpose is determined via suitability analysis. Therefore, it is extremely important to use technological innovations in the selection of rural settlement areas in addition to considering the technical, economic, and social factors in determining the most suitable locations. With the advancement of computer technology, Geographical Information System (GIS) has become an important tool for more effective use of rural areas. In this study, the most suitable rural settlement area was determined by using GIS in Erzincan Province. Technical, social, cultural, and economic criteria were developed for the selection of the location. Alternative locations were analyzed using the GIS, Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis and the Analytical Hierarchy Process method based on the criteria and site data. The most suitable areas for rural settlements were chosen as the Merkez, Tercan, Kemaliye, and Kemah districts in Erzincan Province. Çağlayan town in the Merkez district has been determined as the most suitable region for an eco-village and a cost calculation and 3D eco-village design were carried out in Çağlayan.

An urban-rural comparison of family stress and early childhood intervention: Data linkage between two cross-sectional studies

An urban-rural comparison of family stress and early childhood intervention: Data linkage between two cross-sectional studies Abstract. Background: So far, there is insufficient information about where in Germany which families are reached by home-visiting programs and how well. One example is the provision of home-visiting program by health service professionals (LaB) in early childhood intervention. Research questions: Are there urban-rural differences in psychosocial stress among families? What differences exist in terms of expanding support services, receiving a service, and using the offered LaB? Methods: Data from a representative family survey on psychosocial stress characteristics and the use of services, and a nationwide survey of professionals on the development and expansion of early childhood intervention at the community level were linked. Analyses included descriptive statistics and regression models. Results: Most psychosocial stress characteristics were reported with similar rates in rural and urban areas. Although the LaB program is more widespread in urban regions, it was more likely to be used in rural regions when offered. LaB was more likely to be used by families with migration background, with signs of depression or anxiety of parents, and with a child with perinatal adversities, and less likely when there was a need for expansion of this service. Conclusions: The increased use in rural areas could be due to the fact that there are long distances to few centralized services. Therefore, the outreach character of the LaB program is appreciated, especially among less mobile families.

Simulation analysis of rural land use using rate of change driven by population and economic dynamics - A case study of Huangguashan village in Chongqing, China

The conflicts between various types of land use in rural areas of China are becoming more and more obvious, therefore, how to more accurately simulate and predict the future land cover changes in rural areas has become an important topic of current academic research. In this research, the dynamic multi-year data was used to replace the static one-year data and brought into the future land use simulation (FLUS) model for the simulation of land use in Huangguashan village, Chongqing, China. The accuracy results of the two sets of simulations are compared in terms of accuracy kappa coefficient and Overall Accuracy (OA). Next, using the improved FLUS model, four different future development scenarios of priority ecological conservation, priority economic development, priority farmland conservation and priority integrated development were set up to simulate the land use data of Huangguashan village in 2030. The results of the research found that (1) the kappa coefficient and OA values were higher for the simulation of FLUS model using dynamic multi-year data. The simulation results are closer to the actual situation, especially the simulation enhancement effect is more obvious for the long-term; (2) by comparing the land use types of four different future development scenarios, it is suggested that Huangguashan village should adopt the integrated development priority scenario as the direction of future policy formulation and planning development in the future. This research can provide more effective scientific decision support and significance for governments to formulate multi-scheme rural land use development policies.

Confounding effects of harvesting on urban heat island intensity in a mid-sized city in Brazil

Urban heat island (UHI) studies have traditionally focused on the relative difference between air temperatures measured at an urban area and those at a rural location, taken as a reference. Whereas the influence of urban areas on UHI intensity has been abundantly explored, the impact of the choice of an adequate rural reference location, due to the frequent agricultural use of rural areas, still remains understudied. The issue of climate variability of rural areas is a determining factor for assessing UHI intensity. Brazil is the world's largest sugarcane producer, with a 33% share of the global market. Many mid-sized cities in the Brazilian state of São Paulo are located close to sugarcane fields, which all undergo the sugarcane growth cycle with defined pre-harvest and post-harvest stages. The aim of this study is to understand the interference of seasonal harvesting periods in sugarcane plantations on the development of UHI magnitudes in and around (at suburban locations) Piracicaba, located in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, at 22° 42′ 30“ S and 47° 38’ 01” W and characterized by Köppen-Geiger's Cfa, humid subtropical climate. We deployed a fully-equipped weather station at the site of a sugarcane crop at post- and pre-harvest and a small network of three weather stations provided with air temperature and humidity sensors in the city center and in suburban neighborhoods in Piracicaba. Pre-harvest showed the highest UHI intensities, though not confounding the analysis of intra-urban temperature differentiation patterns. Results stress the relevance of the choice of the baseline rural station in terms of temporal variability related to the sugarcane harvesting cycle.

Physical exercise during neoadjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer as a mean to increase pathological complete response rates: Trial protocol of the randomized Neo-ACT trial.

IntroductionIn early breast cancer, neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is increasingly used. The proof of efficacy is pathologically complete response (pCR), i.e. the absence of invasive tumour in breast and lymph nodes at surgery. Today, pCR is a common endpoint in pharmaceutical trials since it is significantly associated with survival especially in triple-negative and HER2-positive subtypes. Apart from the mitigation of treatment-related toxicity and symptoms, physical exercise mediates anti-tumoral systemic effects associated with tumour regression in preclinical and clinical models. The aim of Neo-ACT is to test the hypothesis that physical exercise can improve pCR rates in breast cancer patients receiving NACT.MethodThe Neo-ACT trial is a prospective clinical trial, randomising T1-3N0-2 breast cancer patients planned for NACT to either a home-based physical exercise intervention supported by a mobile application or routine care. The primary endpoint is pCR; secondary endpoints are patient-reported quality of life, toxicity-related outcomes, and oncological outcomes such as Residual Cancer Burden, objective radiological tumour response, as well as overall, breast cancer-specific and disease-free survival at 2, 5 and 10 years. The intervention consists of a combination of high-intensity interval and resistance training of progressing intensity, and includes at least 150 min of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week, inclusive of two weekly 60-min exercise sessions. In order to show an improvement in pCR of 10%, a total of 712 participants need to be included in the analysis. The Neo-ACT has been registered at clinicaltrials.gov on January 11, 2022 (NCT05184582).Expected resultsIf Neo-ACT can prove the oncological efficacy of physical exercise, implementation of training programmes into NACT schedules will be pursued. The use of a digitally led exercise intervention aims to test the potential of such a strategy for use in rural areas and areas of limited resources.

Development and Experimental Investigation of Briquetting Machine for Use in Rural Area

Biomass is an organic matter such as agricultural crop residues, forest plant materials and animal wastes used as animal fodder, domestic fuel energy source in India. The briquetting technology is the extrusion process of various biomass materials to produce briquettes as a biofuel substitute for fuel wood, coal and charcoal. Mahua (Madhuca Indica) seeds oil extraction plant have waste known as mahua deoiled cake (Doc) is major forest biomass and is locally available in southern parts of Gujarat. The development of an efficient and low-cost screw press type briquetting machine appropriate for rural peoples of developing countries was carried out. The four combinations with different proportions of raw biomass such as mahua seed deoiled cake, coal, rice husk and grass were used to produce briquette C1 (70:10:10:10), C2 (50:20:20:10), C3 (100:0:0:0), and C4 (50:0:50:0), respectively. The properties of briquettes were determined as the density of briquettes, shatter resistance, tumbling resistance, water retention test and calorific value. The highest resistance to water penetration was observed for combination C1 briquettes as 52.20% because mahua Doc has less porosity and high density. Combination C4 briquettes were observed for a maximum degree of densification and maximum energy density ratio as 31.37% and 1.1, respectively. Tumbler resistance and shatter resistance were observed maximum for combination C1 as 86.70% and 99.82%, respectively which comprises 70% mahua Doc, 10%, coal, 10% rice husk and 10% grass. A high calorific value was found 3946.43 kcal/kg in combination C3 (100:0:0:0) because briquette made of 100% mahua Doc. The addition of Mahua Doc matter in the briquette was found better results as an increase in calorific value, water retention, shatter and tumbling resistance.

A Digital Microfluidic RT-qPCR Platform for Multiple Detections of Respiratory Pathogens.

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic has spread worldwide and caused more than six million deaths globally. Therefore, a timely and accurate diagnosis method is of pivotal importance for controlling the dissemination and expansions. Nucleic acid detection by the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method generally requires centralized diagnosis laboratories and skilled operators, significantly restricting its use in rural areas and field settings. The digital microfluidic (DMF) technique provides a better option for simultaneous detections of multiple pathogens with fewer specimens and easy operation. In this study, we developed a novel digital microfluidic RT-qPCR platform for multiple detections of respiratory pathogens. This method can simultaneously detect eleven respiratory pathogens, namely, mycoplasma pneumoniae (MP), chlamydophila pneumoniae (CP), streptococcus pneumoniae (SP), human respiratory syncytial virus A (RSVA), human adenovirus (ADV), human coronavirus (HKU1), human coronavirus 229E (HCoV-229E), human metapneumovirus (HMPV), severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), influenza A virus (FLUA) and influenza B virus (FLUB). The diagnostic performance was evaluated using positive plasmids samples and clinical specimens compared with off-chip individual RT-PCR testing. The results showed that the limit of detections was around 12 to 150 copies per test. The true positive rate, true negative rate, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of DMF on-chip method were 93.33%, 100%, 100%, 99.56%, and 99.85%, respectively, as validated by the off-chip RT-qPCR counterpart. Collectively, this study reported a cost-effective, high sensitivity and specificity on-chip DMF RT-qPCR system for detecting multiple respiratory pathogens, which will greatly contribute to timely and effective clinical management of respiratory infections in medical resource-limited settings.

Hill Dam Design to Improve Water Use in Rural Areas—Case Study: Sacachún, Santa Elena

The Sacachún commune in Ecuador currently faces a lack of water for its agricultural development; this reduces its possibilities of socio-economic development and causes migration to urban areas. This research proposes a presa colinar (hill dam) design that uses ancestral knowledge and classic engineering techniques to promote water use during the dry season in semi-arid regions. The methodology consisted of: (i) a systematic compilation of the ancestral structures used for water planting and harvesting in Ibero-American; (ii) selecting an appropriate place to build the hill dam; (iii) the dam’s body design; (iv) and creating a proposal for agricultural water use. The results helped define a good location for the hill dam implementation. In addition, a 10 m high and 40 m wide earthen dam was designed, with a storage capacity of 114,341 m3, extending agriculture to 7.5 ha through a polyculture system of six different plants. The embankment has a cofferdam located downstream, which provides stability in static and pseudo-static conditions. In addition, the dam slopes have a 2:1 ratio, and a spillway channel and filter drain were dimensioned to protect the dam.

Automatic recognition of parasitic products in stool examination using object detection approach.

BackgroundObject detection is a new artificial intelligence approach to morphological recognition and labeling parasitic pathogens. Due to the lack of equipment and trained personnel, artificial intelligence innovation for searching various parasitic products in stool examination will enable patients in remote areas of undeveloped countries to access diagnostic services. Because object detection is a developing approach that has been tested for its effectiveness in detecting intestinal parasitic objects such as protozoan cysts and helminthic eggs, it is suitable for use in rural areas where many factors supporting laboratory testing are still lacking. Based on the literatures, the YOLOv4-Tiny produces faster results and uses less memory with the support of low-end GPU devices. In comparison to the YOLOv3 and YOLOv3-Tiny models, this study aimed to propose an automated object detection approach, specifically the YOLOv4-Tiny model, for automatic recognition of intestinal parasitic products in stools.MethodsTo identify protozoan cysts and helminthic eggs in human feces, the three YOLO approaches; YOLOv4-Tiny, YOLOv3, and YOLOv3-Tiny, were trained to recognize 34 intestinal parasitic classes using training of image dataset. Feces were processed using a modified direct smear method adapted from the simple direct smear and the modified Kato-Katz methods. The image dataset was collected from intestinal parasitic objects discovered during stool examination and the three YOLO models were trained to recognize the image datasets.ResultsThe non-maximum suppression technique and the threshold level were used to analyze the test dataset, yielding results of 96.25% precision and 95.08% sensitivity for YOLOv4-Tiny. Additionally, the YOLOv4-Tiny model had the best AUPRC performance of the three YOLO models, with a score of 0.963.ConclusionThis study, to our knowledge, was the first to detect protozoan cysts and helminthic eggs in the 34 classes of intestinal parasitic objects in human stools.

E-bikes in rural areas: current and potential users in the Netherlands

This study considers how socio-demographic characteristics, mobility situation and attitudes explain current and potential e-bike use in rural areas. Due to longer distances between travel destinations, rural areas in most western societies are characterized by a high car dependence and low use of active modes like walking and cycling. Developing e-bike mobility in these areas can support more healthy and sustainable rural mobility. A large-scale mobility survey conducted among rural residents in the northern parts of the Netherlands provides insight in the determinants of current and potential e-bike use in rural areas. The participant characteristics show that in rural areas also, the e-bike is already used among a broad population of varied ages and backgrounds and for different purposes. Among respondents who did not own an e-bike, especially those with lower socioeconomic status and a household with children showed more willingness to use an e-bike in the future. No evidence was found for current or potential substitution of public transport use. Current e-bike users less likely use a car or regular bicycle as their primary mode of transport. Those who are willing to use an e-bike are less likely to currently use a regular bicycle as their main mode of transport. These findings suggest that the e-bike can substitute both car and bicycle use to some extent. However, bicycle users seem more reluctant towards owning or adopting an e-bike than car users, suggesting greater potential for a shift away from car travel. Furthermore, current and potential e-bike users hold more positive attitudes toward different aspects of e-bike travel than non-users. This provides impetus for future actions to further encourage e-bike use.

Rural Areas in Poland – Changes Since Joining the European Union

Abstract Rural areas are experiencing a dynamic, multidirectional change. It is the result of impact of many processes, including rapid, often spontaneous urbanisation and structural transformation in the agricultural sector and temporary and permanent movements of the population. Changes in the spatial structures of the countryside, on the one hand, influenced by European programmes and measures, linked to the processes of modernisation and organisation of rural settlements and economic systems. On the other hand, rapid economic development and spontaneous investment are resulting in the expansion of the urban forms of land use – not only in the immediate surroundings of the cities and towns, but also in remote, peripheral areas dominated until recently by farming. The paper presents the genesis of contemporary land use in rural areas in Poland, linking the countryside structures with the intensity and forms of residency and user economies in the rural areas. The main drivers of change, significantly affecting the emerging forms of farming villages, are processes of intensive suburbanisation and semi-urbanisation, the phenomenon of progressive peripherisation of large areas in different parts of the country, the depopulation of the countryside and profound changes in the demographic structure of the population, improvement of infrastructure and transport accessibility and economic revival of villages. There are also important issues related to advantages such as natural and cultural values of the village. The aim of the article is to present the main directions of functional and spatial transformations of rural areas in Poland from the beginning of the 21st century. The main hypothesis is that the development of rural areas in Poland proceeds in two directions: Urban “colonization”, which involves the invasion of both single- and multi-family housing in the surroundings of traditional villages and in areas previously used for agricultural purposes, is becoming increasingly widespread; this follows restructuring and diversification (spatial and functional) in urbanized rural areas. Much indicates that the rational development and use of rural areas will be one of the main challenges of Poland in the near future.

Evaluation of impact of "2+26″ regional strategies on air quality improvement of different functional districts in Beijing based on a long-term field campaign

Consecutive measurements of ambient fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from February 2016 to April 2018 have been performed at four representative sites of Beijing to evaluate the impact of “2 + 26” regional strategies implemented in 2017 for air quality improvement in non-heating period (2017NH) and heating period (2017H). The decrease of PM2.5 were significant both in 2017NH (20.2% on average) and 2017H (43.7% on average) compared to 2016NH and 2016H, respectively. Eight sources were resolved at each site from the PMF source apportionment including secondary nitrate, traffic, coal combustion, soil dust, road dust, sulfate, biomass/waste burning and industrial process. The results show that the reductions of industrial process, soil dust, and coal combustion were most effective among all sources at each site after the regional strategies implementation with the large reductions in potential source areas. The decrease of coal combustion in 2017NH were larger than 2017H at all sites while that of soil dust and industrial sources were the opposite. Insignificant reduction of coal combustion contribution at the suburban site in the heating period indicated that rural residential coal burning need further control. The industrial source control in the suburbs were least effective compared with other districts. Traffic was the largest contributer at each site and control of traffic emissions were more effective in 2017H than 2017NH. The local nature and increase of biomass/waste burning contributions emphasized the effect of fireworks and bio-fuel use in rural areas and incinerator emissions in urban districts. Secondary nitrate and sulfate were mainly impacted by the regional transport from southern adjacent areas and favorable meteorological conditions played an important part in the PM2.5 abatements of 2017H. Secondary nitrate became a more major role in the air pollution process because of the larger decrease of sulfate. Finally suggestions for future control are made in this study.