Endemic medicinal plant distribution correlated with stable climate,precipitation,and cultural diversity

Medicinal plants provide crucial ecosystem services,especially in developing countries such as China,which harbors diverse endemic medicinal plant species with substantial cultural and economic value.Accordingly,understanding the patterns and drivers of medicinal plant distribution is critical.However,few studies have investigated the patterns and drivers of endemic medicinal plants distribution in China.Here,we linked endemic medicinal plants distribution with possible explanatory variables,i.e.,paleoclimate change,contemporary climate,altitudinal range and ethnic minority human population size at the prefecture city level in China.Our results show that endemic medicinal plants are concentrated in southern China,especially in southwestern China.Notably,both endemic medicinal plant species richness and the ratio of endemic medicinal plant species richness are negatively associated with glacialinterglacial anomaly in temperature,and positively associated with contemporary precipitation and altitudinal range.In addition,we found that endemic medicinal plant species richness is positively associated with ethnic minority population sizes as well as its ratio to the overall population size.These findings suggest that the distribution of endemic medicinal plants is determined by multiple drivers.Furthermore,our findings stress that dramatic future climate changes and massive anthropogenic activities in southern China pose great challenges to the conservation of China's endemic medicinal plants.

Cultural Diversity of Traditional Settlement Landscape Gene

As a crucial channel for understanding traditional settlements culture,traditional settlement landscape gene is of vital importance to figure out status quo of traditional Chinese culture,to protect cultural heritage of settlements,and to help residents establish cultural confidence.This paper adopts diversity index,schema analysis,and qualitative analysis methods to identify cultural diversity and construct diversity map of cultural landscape genes.It shows that cultural diversity of landscape genes refers to the various forms of cultural factors in architecture,environment,culture,and layout,including type diversity,combination diversity,and functional diversity.

Including Minorities Within Organizations.A Research on Cultural Diversity in Italian Public Administration

The organizations operating in the public sphere can adopt various relational strategies to adapt to transformations linked to the presence of minorities and cultural diversities among its members.The emergence of the concept of diversity in the 1990s and the associated shifting of equal opportunities pose specific challenges in relation to minority employees.The aim of this study is to carry out a primary mapping of the diversity inclusion policies in Italian public administrations,as an emblematic example of the public sector in the Mediterranean area,and to analyse the factors that may favour the inclusion of minorities within organizations.Our approach integrates both quantitative and qualitative analysis.The research was organized in two phases:the first one was a monitoring of those public administrations sensitive to diversity policies;the second one was an analysis of 38 semi-structured interviews with privileged witnesses,including an analysis of the data and information from current activities of their organizations.An important element of originality of this contribution is that it investigates the perspectives and perceptions of the inhabitant of the Italian public administrations.Finally,this study offers concrete recommendations for the implementation of gender equality and diversity&inclusion in Italy,particularly in terms of training policies.

The Concepts of "Putting People First" and "Regarding Harmony as the Fundamentality" under the Framework of Cultural Diversity

Human civilization is currently undergoing another important turn. Following the economic globalization,cultural globalization has become an inevitable trend.

Human Rights and Cultural Diversity: Evolving Dynamics of Universality and Relativism——Safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and beautiful end of a human being～Khalil Gibran

1. Introduction Culture is a defining feature of an individual＇s identity. It embraces everything from the traditions, beliefs and values of an individual＇s family and community. It is also the language one speaks, and place of worship. Culture is all of these elements and the way they connect to make up one＇s way of life. It is often the source for serf-definition, expression, and sense of group belonging.

Cultural Diversity and Human Rights Development in Asia

Asia is an area filled with vigor and vitality and also conflicts, an area that ＂takes pride in its rich cultures, religions and diversity.＂More and more statesmen and scholars are watching closely the human rights conditions in the changing Asia. Asia is no longer a concept in its economic, cultural and geographical sense. It has become a regional community that has had an important impact on the human rights development in the world. In the 21 st century filled with challenges and hopes, people want to see not only an economically prosperous Asia but also an Asia community with increasing humanistic spirit and pursuit for constitutionalist values.

Contradiction or Coordination: between Urbanization and Cultural Heritage Protection

Urbanization is an inevitable trend of the development of human civilization. In the process of urbanization, human have learned lessons from protecting and inheriting cultural heritage or damaging and destroying it, and also accumulated precious experience, fi nally formed a reasonable path to harmoniously deal with the relationship between urbanization and cultural heritage protection. Besides, the accomplishment has been incorporated into the cause of the symbiosis of cultural diversity and the construction of harmonious cities. China's contemporary urbanization has been developing rapidly, thus its cultural heritage protection is facing severe challenges. However, the relationship between urbanization and cultural heritage protection is not completely confl icting. Coordinative development between the two is increasingly becoming a social consensus. The win-win result of China's urbanization and cultural heritage protection will make its own contribution to the progress of world's urbanization and cultural heritage protection.

Development and Protection: Reshaping Cultural Policies——A Study of the UN's Advancement of Cultural and Creative Industry in Developing Countries

Cultural diversity originates from modern cultural industries. The UN's decade–long promotion of cultural diversity coincides with the advancement of China's cultural and creative industries; however, China's situation is different from the creative economy advocated by the UN in terms of developmental logic. The policy of cultural diversity provides a basis for the UN to push forward the development of cultural and creative industries in developing countries. It is derived from the developmental theories of developed countries, which regard creativity(innovation) as a "technique" and overlook its uniqueness. The digital revolution has never given fair play to developing countries which explains why the UN's promotion of cultural diversity has not yet helped developing countries to substantially increase their exports of cultural goods and services in the past ten years. Nevertheless, the development of the in ternet and digital technology may create an opportunity for developing countries to catch up with and surpass their developed neighbors. China's unique approach to cultural and creative development may serve as a model for the international community to pursue sustainable development in the future.

The Question of“Mindsets”and AI:Cultural Origins and Limits of the current AI Ethical AIs and Cultural Pluralism

The current process of scientific and technological development is the outcome of the epochal Cultural Revolution in the West:i.e.The emergence of the Age of Enlightenment and its pursuit of“rationality”.Today,“rationality”combined with“logic”has mutated into a“strong belief”in the power of rationality and“computational processes”as a‘safer’and the only way to acquire knowledge.This is the main driving force behind the emergence of AI.The core of this mindset is the fundamental duality of the observer and the observed.After the imperial expansion of Western Europe-in alliance with religion,its previous foe(“Christianity”)-this worldview became the globally dominant mindset.The paper explores the dominant narrative of rationality and reason in Western science,and seeks an alternative world of cultural diversity.

Can an evidence-based fall prevention program be translated for use in culturally diverse communities?

Older adult falls are a significant public health problem,but one that is amenable to preventive interventions.1,2 Despite the progress made in identifying risk factors,developing efficacious health-related interventions,and promoting evidencebased programs in the community,much work remains before these strategies are broadly available and effectively used to reduce fall-related injuries.3 As Newton and ScottFindlay4 have pointed out,the translation of basic scientific knowledge into clinical studies,and the transformation of clinical studies into improvements in health services and public health practices,remain major obstacles to widespread adoption.

Culture Diversity and Biodiversity Protection of Zhuang People in Western Guangxi

[ Objective ] The aim was to explore the relation between culture diversity and biodiversity of the Zhuang people. [ Method ] Botany in minority ethnic groups was researched based on information searching, interviewing and surveying with consideration of the importance of cultural and biological diversity. [ Result] The Zhuang culture, involving color, cuisine, geography and song, is closely related to biodiversity, and worship culture, involving plants, animals, and folk cus- tom, plays an important role in protection of biodiversity. However, biodiversity is significantly affected by some factors, including natural condition, population quality, traditional culture, wrong policies, negative effect of modern ecological culture, natural and environmental resources. [ Conclusion] It is suggested that lo- cal education should be enhanced to absorb modem science＆technology, to promote the concept of confirming to nature and of harmonious development and to achieve sustainable development in western of Guangxi.

On Culture's Diversity and Human Rights' Development

As a universal word, the concept of human rights has been accepted and practiced by all countries around the world. Human rights are the fundamental rights which are or ought to be

Book Review:Contacts and Contrasts in Cultures and Languages:Edited by Barbara Lewandowska-Tomaszczyk,Springer(2019)Switzerland pp.233 ISBN 978-3-030-04981-2

The book under review presents contrasts,contacts and interconnections and about similarity,hybridity and differences in languages and cultures by case study.It provides descriptions and interpretations of social and cognitive phenomena as well as processes that emerge at the interface of languages and cultures in the context of contrastive and contact linguistics and media discourse.Different contexts are explored with rich empirical findings and authentic materials.

Mobilities, Identities and Diversities: Contemporary Interpretations of a Canonical Chinese Play in Singapore

Globalization increases mobilities and multiplies identities in Asia.Singapore,a city state with diverse Asian communities,amplifies this trend.In the 1990s,Singapore recruited large numbers of Western educated Chinese scholars,who formed new diasporas across Asia and became catalyst for further cultural diversities.This multifaceted Asian phenomenon can be best exemplified in Chinese scholar-director Grant Shen’s contemporary productions of the traditional Chinese opera—The West Wing(2008,2016).This study discusses issues of mobilities,identities,and diversities through The West Wing,in which the performers are predominantly from Asian diasporas.The mobility of Grant Shen from China to Singapore via the US diversifies his cultural identity,at once rooted deeply in Chinese culture while openly embracing Western liberalism and Singaporean plurality.His theatre productions,boldly adopting pop music,employing trendy language,and recreating pro-feminist scenes,vividly attest to cultural diversities.Identity issues come to the fore when this well-received play in Singapore toured Shanghai,where it was welcomed by the young but frowned upon by others as subversive to Chinese tradition.This study views the multiplicity of Singapore as a fertile land for productions foretelling the plural future Asia.

HEALTH CONSUMER DIVERSITY AND ITS IMPLICATIONS

Health care consumers no longer want to be passive receivers of treatment and care, they want to be involved. This shift is driven by the new information technology and a ‘social revolution’. Easy access to health information, thanks largely to the Internet, and active health consumer organizations have provided consumers with enabling independent health information. Individual consumers are also more willing to enter into a dialogue, participate and influence decisions concerning their own care. At the same time the consumer role becomes more diverse. Populations in many countries today are culturally, socially, and demographically diverse. Understanding consumer diversity is one of the greatest challenges facing health care providers. There is a risk that the quality of health care provided to consumers can vary depending on the skills of the professionals to tune into the values and preferences of the individual consumer. Health care providers need to listen to and incorporate consumers’ experiences into their health service offerings in new and creative ways. They need to engage in a dialogue with various consumer groups using multiple channels. There is a need for a new business logic, which would structurally help the providers, on an individual basis to deal with more sophisticated health care consumers. This is a review paper and provides a framework and a set of strategies for dealing with health consumer diversity. We draw on three interrelated theories – open systems theory, service management research and the concept of consumer segmentation to understand health care consumers’ attitudes and behaviour, and their expectations.

Fungal diversity in major oil-shale mines in China

As an insufficiently utilized energy resource,oil shale is conducive to the formation of characteristic microbial communities due to its special geological origins.However,little is known about fungal diversity in oil shale.Polymerase chain reaction cloning was used to construct the fungal ribosomal deoxyribonucleic acid internal transcribed spacer（r DNA ITS）clone libraries of Huadian Mine in Jilin Province,Maoming Mine in Guangdong Province,and Fushun Mine in Liaoning Province.Pure culture and molecular identification were applied for the isolation of cultivable fungi in fresh oil shale of each mine.Results of clone libraries indicated that each mine had over 50% Ascomycota（58.4%–98.9%）and 1.1%–13.5%unidentified fungi.Fushun Mine and Huadian Mine had 5.9% and 28.1% Basidiomycota,respectively.Huadian Mine showed the highest fungal diversity,followed by Fushun Mine and Maoming Mine.Jaccard indexes showed that the similarities between any two of three fungal communities at the genus level were very low,indicating that fungi in each mine developed independently during the long geological adaptation and formed a community composition fitting the environment.In the fresh oil-shale samples of the three mines,cultivable fungal phyla were consistent with the results of clone libraries.Fifteen genera and several unidentified fungi were identified as Ascomycota and Basidiomycota using pure culture.Penicillium was the only genus found in all three mines.These findings contributed to gaining a clear understanding of current fungal resources in major oil-shale mines in China and provided useful information for relevant studies on isolation of indigenous fungi carrying functional genes from oil shale.

Cultivation and diversity analysis of novel marine thraustochytrids

Thraustochytrids are a group of unicellular marine heterotrophic protists,and have long been known for their biotechnological potentials in producing squalene,polyunsaturated fatty acids(PUFAs)and other bioactive products.There are less than a hundred known strains from diverse marine habitats.Therefore,the discovery of new strains from natural environments is still one of the major limitations for fully exploring this interesting group of marine protists.At present,numerous attempts have been made to study thraustochytrids,mainly focusing on isolating new strains,analyzing the diversity in specific marine habitats,and increasing the yield of bioactive substances.There is a lack of a systematic study of the culturable diversity,and cultivation strategies.This paper reviews the distribution and diversity of culturable thraustochytrids from a range of marine environments,and describes in detail the most commonly used isolation methods and the control of culture parameters.Furthermore,the perspective approaches of isolation and cultivation for the discovery of new strains are discussed.Finally,the future directions of novel marine thraustochytrid research are proposed.The ultimate goal is to promote the awareness of biotechnological potentials of culturable thraustochytrid strains in industrial and biomedical applications.

Parenting of Immigrant Chinese Families in Western Countries:A Systematic Review

Increasing numbers of studies have been done on parenting in Chinese immigrant families due to the growing population of Chinese immigrants in Western countries.This paper systematically reviews 35 peer-reviewed journal articles relevant to parenting in Chinese immigrant families,categorizing them into descriptive studies,simple explanatory studies,and dialectical and dynamic studies,and identifying their major findings and limitations.It finds that descriptive studies tend to describe parenting as a collection of static characteristics,and simple explanatory studies are likely to define parenting as an independent factor mechanically related to other factors.Thus these two types of studies are barely able to reveal the real essence of parenting in immigrant Chinese families.To solve the limitations of descriptive studies and simple explanatory studies,this paper argues for conducting dynamic and dialectical studies,which conceptualize parenting as a dynamic process dialectically related to cultural differences and other processes.

WeAreOneof“The Others”

Why should human beings be divided into“us”or“them”?This question underlies the basic proposition of anthropology.In fact,it has never received a decisive answer.In the dialoguebetween Marshall Sahlins and Wang Mingming,the two agreethat“we are part of the other,”because it is to the other that we owe the constitution of our full selves.The modernity of diversity and plurality supports the validity of this judgment.