Search Results (13,643)

Rural courtyard dwellings in cold regions are commonly characterized by low winter indoor temperatures, intermittent heating, solar heat gain, pronounced thermal fluctuations, and strong occupant adaptation. This study aimed to compare short-term winter indoor thermal conditions among three rural courtyard dwelling cases in Qingcheng Ancient Town, Gansu Province, Northwest China, and to examine the associations between operative temperature and multidimensional subjective thermal responses under the monitored conditions. Synchronized indoor–outdoor environmental measurements and 216 paired questionnaire records were collected during two winter survey days. To account for shared environmental exposure, the questionnaire records were organized into 66 dwelling–time clusters. The results showed that: (1) outdoor air temperature ranged from −13.34 °C to 13.24 °C, with a mean of −3.91 °C, while the mean operative temperature during the questionnaire periods was 11.31 °C and the mean thermal sensation vote (TSV) was −0.97, indicating an overall sensation close to slightly cool; (2) the dwelling with an added sunspace had the highest mean operative temperature, the ordinary brick–concrete dwelling exhibited the greatest temperature fluctuation, and the earth–wood dwelling remained cooler but relatively stable; (3) each 1 °C increase in operative temperature was associated with 75% higher odds of reporting a warmer TSV category (OR = 1.75, 95% CI: 1.53–2.00), while the two-way fixed-effects model estimated a 0.176-unit increase in mean TSV; and (4) higher operative temperature was associated with greater broad and clear thermal acceptability and a lower likelihood of preferring warmer conditions, with the study-specific neutral operative temperature estimated at 16.75 °C and a block-bootstrap 95% confidence interval of 15.66–18.40 °C. These findings provide field-based evidence of the associations between operative temperature and multidimensional winter thermal responses and offer an empirical basis for climate-responsive and heritage-sensitive thermal improvement strategies for rural courtyard dwellings. Full article

Regional digital innovation ecosystems are gradually becoming the core engine driving regional innovation and economic development, and are increasingly a critical strategic choice for countries seeking to secure a leading position in the global innovation competition. In addition to promoting economic growth, the RDIES can also provide crucial support for regional sustainable development by optimizing the allocation of digital innovation resources and strengthening collaborative innovation among multiple entities. Based on niche theory, this study constructs an evaluation index system and model to assess the niche fitness of RDIES and conducts an empirical evaluation of digital innovation ecosystems across 30 provinces and municipalities in China from 2013 to 2023. The results indicate that the overall niche fitness level of China’s RDIES remained relatively low during the study period, with significant disparities observed among provinces. Nevertheless, most provinces demonstrated a positive evolutionary trend in the niche fitness of their digital innovation ecosystems, suggesting that China’s RDIES as a whole is developing healthily and progressively. Furthermore, by employing the FFAGM(1,1) model optimized with a Fourier series, this study forecasts the niche fitness of China’s RDIES from 2024 to 2029. The prediction results show that the niche fitness values of the innovation community show a slight fluctuating decline; the niche fitness values of the resource niche fluctuate moderately and increase slightly; the niche fitness values of the technology niche remain relatively stable; the niche fitness values of the habitat niche continue to steadily improve; and the niche fitness of the overall RDIES shows a gradually upward trend. This study provides a framework for evaluating and forecasting the niche fitness of the RDIES, enriches research on grey prediction models, and offers theoretical and policy support for fostering resilient and resource-efficient digital innovation ecosystems. Full article

In the past decade, the green transformation of agricultural land use has been essential for addressing agricultural non-point source pollution while safeguarding food security. However, existing policy interventions often suffer from a persistent “high investment–low responsiveness” paradox, reflecting a structural mismatch between top-down policy supply and farmers’ demand. Using survey data from 478 rural households in Shaanxi Province, China, this study applies a choice experiment and mixed logit model to examine farmers’ preferences for green land-use incentive policies, preference heterogeneity, as well as policy interaction effects across production-end and sales-end dimensions. Three main findings emerge. First, farmers exhibit a hierarchical preference structure characterized by sales-end prioritization and production-end support as a safety net. Green government procurement and green product certification generate significantly higher willingness to accept (WTA) than conventional production subsidies, while green credit support is the least preferred instrument due to strong risk aversion. Second, preferences vary systematically across educational attainments and geographic regions: less-educated farmers favor direct technical guidance and input support, whereas more-educated farmers are more receptive to green credit; geographically, farmers in Shangluo exhibit pronounced caution toward debt-based credit, while those in Hanzhong and Ankang display stronger demand for green inputs and technical services. Third, policy combination effects are highly differentiated: within the production domain, subsidies complement technical guidance; within the sales domain, procurement and certification exhibit a substitution effect; across domains, significant complementarities emerge when certification is paired with production subsidies or green input provision, whereas credit support and certification act as substitutes. These findings reveal the heterogeneous structure of farmers’ policy preferences and the interactive mechanisms among policy instruments. The study provides a demand-oriented empirical basis for designing targeted and coordinated policy portfolios to promote green land-use transformation for similar ecologically sensitive mountainous agricultural regions in China. Full article

This study focuses on Siraitia grosvenorii, an economically important crop endemic to Guangxi Province, China, with significant value in both the pharmaceutical and food industries. However, its dioecious reproductive system results in low natural pollination efficiency, necessitating reliance on costly artificial pollination in commercial production, which severely constrains large-scale cultivation and the breeding of improved varieties. Herein, we systematically investigated the molecular mechanisms of silver nitrate (AgNO₃)-induced partial masculinization of female flowers, resulting in the formation of morphologically bisexual flowers with aborted stamens. Morphological observations revealed that untreated female flowers exhibited permanently arrested stamen primordia, whereas spraying treatments with 0–300 mg/L AgNO₃ triggered the development of morphologically complete bisexual flowers. Nevertheless, AgNO₃-induced stamens exhibited severely disrupted male reproductive development, as indicated by the absence of mature pollen grains at anthesis. Cytological evidence demonstrated that pollen abortion was initiated at the pollen mother cell (PMC) stage, accompanied by abnormal vacuolation and impaired nutrient metabolism in tapetal cells. The dominant abortive phenotype was that PMCs exhibited abnormal development and progressive degeneration during the meiotic developmental window. Methylation-sensitive amplification polymorphism (MSAP) assays further revealed markedly elevated CpG-type methylation levels in AgNO₃-induced bisexual flowers at early developmental stages. Expression analysis revealed that SgWIP1 exhibited distinct temporal expression patterns among female, male, and AgNO₃-induced bisexual flowers, with reduced expression during later stages of stamen development in induced bisexual flowers. Collectively, our findings confirm that AgNO₃ only partially activates the stamen developmental cascade in S. grosvenorii. Extensive epigenetic reprogramming triggered by AgNO₃, together with the inability to sustain the expression of core male-determining genes, is tightly linked to tapetal dysfunction and subsequent pollen sterility. This study aims to elucidate the unique mechanism by which AgNO₃-induced partial masculinization in S. grosvenorii from multiple perspectives—including tissue and cellular structure, DNA methylation epigenetic modifications, and gene transcription regulation—using techniques such as morphoanatomy, histochemistry, epigenetics (MSAP), and gene expression analysis. The findings of this study will contribute to molecular breeding efforts focused on sex regulation and promote industrial development. Full article

Leucopaxillus giganteus, a wild saprotrophic fungus with high edible and medicinal value, has not yet achieved large-scale artificial cultivation. To elucidate the abiotic and biotic factors governing its growth, we analyzed physicochemical properties and bacterial communities of mycosphere and bulk soils from Shanxi Province, China. We observed geographic variation in the diversity, composition, and functional profiles of dominant mycosphere soil bacterial communities. Soil organic carbon, available potassium, altitude, longitude, and latitude were the key factors affecting mycosphere soil bacterial community structure. Distance–decay analysis revealed that the beta diversity of mycosphere soil bacterial communities declined with increasing geographical distance. Bacterial diversity in the L. giganteus mycosphere was significantly lower than that in bulk soil. Genera such as Micromonospora, Streptosporangium, Paraburkholderia, Pedobacter, Caballeronia, Paenibacillus, and Flavobacterium could act as saprotrophic helper bacteria in the mycosphere of L. giganteus. LEfSe analysis revealed 72 genera that exhibited significant abundance differences among samples from six geographic regions, including Bradyrhizobium, Sphingomicrobium, and Phyllobacterium. Functional annotation detected enriched pathways for transport and catabolism, signal transduction, and carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in mycosphere soil bacterial communities. These results advance our understanding of the ecological interactions of L. giganteus and support its artificial cultivation and sustainable resource use. Full article

Long-term distribution planning requires weather sequences that capture not only changes in temperature and precipitation, but also the dependence and persistence among heat, humidity, wind, solar radiation, and rainfall. This paper develops multivariate weather scenario generation for Shaanxi Province, China, using daily data from six NEX-GDDP-CMIP6 models for 1985–2014 and 2031–2060 under SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5 at four locations. Two generators are compared: a vector autoregressive model with seven-day residual blocks, and a season-conditioned multivariate nearest-neighbor analog. The comparison leaves out complete five-year periods within 24 climate-model–location units and tests whether the future-minus-historical changes in 16 weather and compound-event indices are preserved. The two methods each obtain the lower overall loss in 12 units. The vector autoregressive method better preserves most marginal and correlation signals, whereas the nearest-neighbor method better preserves RX3day, hot–dry–low-wind days, dry-spell duration, and three-day compound stress. Both are retained to generate 960 30-year paths, which drive a fixed IEEE 33-node resilience example showing that generator differences propagate to demand, renewable availability, repair duration, and unserved energy. The resulting conditional scenario sets provide an auditable weather basis for climate-resilient and sustainable long-term planning of distribution systems, which is a prerequisite for a sustainable energy transition under a changing climate. Full article

We developed and evaluated two pentaplex real-time fluorescent PCR assays (Panel 1/Panel 2) for simultaneous detection of ten ovine pathogens. Panel 1 targets respiratory pathogens: Bluetongue virus (BTV), Foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), Schmallenberg virus (SBV), Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV), and Sheep pox virus-Goat pox virus (SPPV-GTPV). Panel 2 targets reproductive pathogens: Border disease virus (BDV), Brucella spp. (Bru), Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), Chlamydia abortus (C. abortus), and Caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV). Each panel uses six fluorescent channels for detection. Validation using reference pathogens and plasmids confirmed that the assay can effectively detect the target pathogens. The Limit of Detection at 95% probability (LOD95) ranged from 2.9 to 6.1 copies/μL for all targets, with correlation coefficients (R²) greater than 0.99. The intra-assay and inter-assay coefficients of variation (CV) were less than 1.5% at both high (10⁵ copies/μL) and low (10³ copies/μL) template concentrations. Cross-reactivity tests demonstrated high specificity with no cross-detection among different targets. Validation using 620 clinical samples collected from multiple provinces in China showed strong concordance with reference methods. This multiplex assay provides a rapid, sensitive, specific, and reliable tool for the differential detection and surveillance of major ovine respiratory and reproductive pathogens. Full article

Traditional Miao villages in southwest China are being reshaped by rural modernization, tourism development, and changing everyday practices, creating a need for architectural interventions that accommodate contemporary functions without reducing local culture to decorative motifs. This study examines Jiubai Village in Guizhou Province through the lens of vernacular reinterpretation and develops a design-driven pathway linking the identification of vernacular spatial elements, interpretation of socio-spatial meanings, refinement of design principles, and translation into contemporary architecture. The research combines documentary study, repeated field surveys, morphological and typological analysis, oral-history interviews, informal discussions, and architectural design experimentation. The results reveal a multi-scalar socio-spatial system linking topographic and material adaptation with village-scale collective spaces, ritual practices, and household-scale gathering around the huotang. They also show uneven modernization and the persistence of cultural and spatial values despite functional change. The proposed design intervention translates these relationships through an open collective ground floor, a reinterpreted huotang, terrain-responsive form, timber expression, and layered contemporary functions. This study suggests that relational reinterpretation, rather than formal imitation, may support cultural continuity and spatial sustainability in rural revitalization, while broader environmental, economic, and long-term social sustainability remains beyond the scope of this assessment. Full article

Regional identification and risk mapping of landslide and debris flow hazard chains (LDHCs) are essential for disaster prevention and land-use planning in mountainous regions. This study proposes a machine learning framework for the regional identification and risk mapping of LDHCs in southern Gansu Province, China. A spatial database was established using an inventory of 160 landslide hazard chains (LHCs) and 121 debris-flow hazard chains (DHCs), together with eight environmental conditioning factors. Considering the distinct geomorphological characteristics of the two hazard types, grid-based and watershed-based mapping units were adopted for landslide and debris-flow susceptibility mapping, respectively. Five ensemble learning algorithms were evaluated to identify the optimal susceptibility models. Hazard maps were subsequently generated by integrating susceptibility with earthquake- and extreme rainfall-triggering factors, and regional risk maps were produced by incorporating population and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) exposure data. The Random Forest model achieved the best performance for LHC susceptibility mapping, with an accuracy of 84.9% and an AUC of 0.914, whereas the Extra Trees model performed best for DHC susceptibility mapping, with an accuracy of 92.6% and an AUC of 0.978. The resulting risk maps indicate that the middle and lower reaches of the Bailong River, including Wudu, Zhouqu, Qin’an, and Tianshui, represent the highest-risk areas for LDHCs. The proposed framework provides an effective and transferable approach for regional identification and risk mapping of LDHCs, offering valuable support for disaster prevention, emergency planning, and land-use management in mountainous regions. Full article

Background: Cinnamomum chago (C. chago) B.S.Sun et H.L.Zhao, a rare tree species endemic to Yunnan Province of China, produces fruit kernels that are rich in fatty oils (CCKF); however, the potential health benefits of CCKF have not been previously reported. Method: We characterized the chemical composition of CCKF and evaluated its therapeutic potential in a rat model of loperamide-induced functional constipation (FC). Results: CCKF contained an abundance of dodecanoic acid, accounting for 70.18%. CCKF alleviated constipation by increasing fecal pellet output and moisture content, enhancing small intestinal propulsion rate, and ameliorating colonic pathological damage. Additionally, CCKF modulated gastrointestinal hormone levels and enhanced the expression of ZO-1 and Occludin. Furthermore, CCKF increased gut microbial diversity, altered the Bacillota/Bacteroidota ratio, enriched potentially beneficial bacteria (including Kineothrix, Roseburia, Lacrimispora, and Lawsonibacter), and reduced Segatella abundance. CCKF may affect Arginine and proline metabolism, Biosynthesis of amino acids, D-Amino acid metabolism, etc. Conclusion: The present results provide a scientific basis for the potential application of CCKF as a functional food to alleviate functional constipation. Full article

This study investigates the deformation evolution and stability degradation of a rainfall-reactivated loess–carbonaceous slate landslide in Luoda Town, Gansu Province, China. Field investigation, borehole logging, water-content-controlled direct shear tests, GNSS monitoring, rainfall analysis, and FLAC3D modeling were integrated to examine the weak shear zone developed near the lithological contact. The landslide comprises loessial–colluvial deposits overlying weathered carbonaceous slate and exhibits a progressive rotational-slide pattern characterized by rear tensile cracking, middle translational movement, and frontal compressional bulging. As specimen water content increased from 17% to 24%, the cohesion and internal friction angle of the shear-zone soil decreased from 22.6 to 14.5 kPa and from 17.0° to 9.7°, respectively. GNSS monitoring identified steady creep, accelerating creep, and rapid failure, with G1 accelerating earlier than G2. The strongest observed rainfall–displacement correlations occurred at antecedent windows of 48 h for G1 and 120 h for G2, indicating spatially variable rainfall responses. Across the corresponding laboratory-derived strength states, the calculated factor of safety decreased from 1.512 to 0.898. These results indicate that the 2021 reactivation was controlled by a weak shear-zone layer near the lithological contact, with rainfall-related wetting likely contributing to strength degradation and progressive deformation. Full article

Intramuscular fat (IMF) deposition drives premium beef value, but phenotypic selection is costly and slow. Although genome-wide studies have linked the KIRREL3 region to meat quality, whether intronic variants directly affect carcass traits and retain predictive power across physiological stages remains unproven. We genotyped two intronic SNPs (g.29756010C>T and g.29756149C>T) in Woking cattle, a high-quality beef breed developed in Jilin Province, China (n = 473; 226 and 206 heifers at 36 and 48 months, respectively, plus an independent validation cohort of n = 41), assessed for fatty acid composition, meat quality, and multi-tissue gene expression. Both loci were polymorphic and in Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. At 36 months, TT individuals showed higher dressing percentage, rib thickness, and meat grade than CC at both loci. By 48 months, the 63-bp locus retained broader associations with carcass traits, whereas the 203-bp locus effects weakened. In the validation group, CC animals had higher IMF and muscle KIRREL3 expression than TT, yet received lower meat grades. Five fatty acids differed significantly among genotypes after Benjamini–Hochberg correction (q < 0.05), whereas the dominant fatty acids (C16:0, C18:1n9c, C18:0, C18:2n6c) showed no proportional differences. KIRREL3 was most highly expressed in the kidney among eight tissues examined. These findings identify the 63-bp site as a candidate marker for meat quality in local Chinese cattle, with potential for marker-assisted selection pending confirmation in larger cohorts and functional studies. Full article

Traditional economic geography teaching has failed to effectively help students identify the sustainable development intentions contained in industrial transformation. Sustainable Development Education (ESD) has become a key path to address this challenge, but there remains a lack of empirical exploration of how to effectively integrate ESD into economic geography courses. Therefore, this study embeds place-based teaching into the course and creates a ten-week intervention module called “Observation of Hometown Industries” at a comprehensive university in Hubei Province, China, requiring 105 second-year undergraduate geography majors to conduct field research on the sustainable transformation of local industries. Based on a mixed research design, the results indicated that the most pronounced gains occurred in students’ self-efficacy for sustainability (relative increase 20.0%), closely followed by sustainability-related knowledge and sense of place belonging (19.8%), and systems-thinking capacity (18.2%), with effect sizes ranging from 0.76 to 0.89, indicating moderate-to-strong educational relevance. Qualitative analysis further revealed that this place-based teaching approach helps students recognize the complex trade-off between economic growth, environmental conservation, and social equity in the sustainable transformation of industries. This study provides empirical evidence for cultivating key sustainable literacy in higher education and offers an operational teaching model for integrating ESD into economic geography courses. Full article

Huai chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat. cv. Huaiju), collected from Jiaozuo, Henan Province, China, is a medicinal and edible plant rich in phenolic compounds. Polyphenols are natural bioactive compounds with potential antibacterial activity. In this study, HPLC-MS/MS was used to identify and quantify the phenolic compounds in huai chrysanthemum polyphenol extract, and its antibacterial activity against representative Gram-negative and Gram-positive foodborne bacteria was evaluated. A total of 22 polyphenolic compounds were identified, including 10 phenolic acids, 10 flavonoids, and two other phenolic compounds. Caffeic acid was the predominant phenolic acid, while luteoloside was the predominant flavonoid. Flavonoids accounted for 94.03% of the total identified polyphenols. The extract inhibited the growth of both Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, with an MIC₈₀ of 12.5 mg/mL for both strains. Further analysis showed that the extract reduced intracellular protein content and ATP levels, increased extracellular alkaline phosphatase activity, altered cell surface charge, affected superoxide dismutase activity, and caused marked morphological changes in bacterial cells. These results suggested that the antibacterial effect of huai chrysanthemum polyphenol extract was related to cell envelope damage, energy metabolism disturbance, and redox imbalance. This study provided a basis for further application of huai chrysanthemum polyphenol extract as a natural antibacterial ingredient in food preservation. Full article

Aboveground biomass (AGB) is an important indicator for monitoring ecosystem carbon stocks and vegetation productivity. However, optical-remote-sensing-based AGB estimation is prone to saturation effects. Multi-source remote sensing fusion provides an important means of alleviating optical saturation. Although the optimal estimation result can currently be obtained directly on the basis of overall model accuracy, the contribution mechanisms and effective ranges of different information sources after optical saturation, as well as their dependence on topographic background, remain difficult to explain. Accordingly, this study used Dongzhai National Nature Reserve in Luoshan County, Henan Province, China, as the study area and 90 field-measured AGB values as the target variable; integrated GEDI L2A/L2B, Landsat 9, Sentinel-2, GF-2, GF-5B hyperspectral, Sentinel-1, topographic, and climatic data; constructed four feature sets comprising optical information Sp, structural information St, microwave scattering information Se, and topographic and climatic information En; designed eight ablation experiments using a random forest model; and analyzed the contribution mechanisms and response thresholds of multi-source remote sensing information for AGB estimation under optical saturation. The results showed that: (1) St was the core information source for improving AGB estimation accuracy in the reserve, and adding only structural information to optical information increased the model OOF R² from 0.169 to 0.433, and the high-AGB interval (64.18–129.456 Mg ha⁻¹) was the primary source of model estimation error; (2) under the full-sample sliding-window framework of this study, the predictive response of Sp gradually weakened with increasing AGB and eventually entered a stable saturation state. Thereafter, St provided sustained and stable compensation for RMSE and MAE, whereas the improvements from Se and En were mainly concentrated in the transition stage from weakening optical response to stable saturation, and only when both were simultaneously incorporated in the presence of St; (3) multi-source remote sensing fusion is not necessarily more effective with more information sources. The key lies in whether different information sources can provide effective information under specific ecological backgrounds and observation conditions. Full article