Research on Geographical Environment and Culture Symbiosis of Chishui River Basin

This paper took Chishui River Basin as the research object,and pointed out that its culture,which reflected local life and production and was featured with regional characteristics as well as abundant cultural connotation,was constituted by native natural and cultural geography,folk customs and historical feature.The relation between Chishui salt path and salt business culture under the typical closed and half-closed geographical environment was analyzed to indicate that the realignment of Chishui River had brought prosperity of Chishui River,booming of commercial towns,and development of ancient architectures and guild hall culture.The relation between rich natural resources and production and life culture of Chishui River was explained to show that Danxia landform nurtured stone culture,Chishui River resources cultivated fishing culture,special hydrogeological environment fostered liquor culture represented by Maotai,and Bamboo culture accumulated for hundreds of years.Finally,it introduced military culture and the spirit of the Long March forming based on the special location of Chishui River.It emphasized that geological environment was the important basis for human's survival and played an immeasurable role in the cultural development of a region.

Two Issues in Studying Security Environment

To some extent, China’s security environment depends on if it has active creation, understanding, attention and vigilance on the common interests of the surrounding areas and groups of states, and if it could take timely and proper countermeasures. In my personal view, two principles should be taken into consideration. The first principle is

Impact of Geographical Environment on British Landscape Garden Design

The study attempts to analyze the regional cultural characteristics of Britain under the unique geographical environment by taking the development process and characteristics of British landscape garden as the research object.British culture is an important carrier of British landscape garden culture,and the impact of the unique culture of“the empire on which the sun never sets”on formation and development,formal characteristics,temperament and connotation of landscape garden is discussed.

Environment and Human Behaviors——Taking “The Acorn Gatherer” as a Case Study

Human living environment interacts with human behaviors.Environment to some degree determines human behaviors which in return reshape and sustain the dynamic environment.Taking Richard Jefferies' The Acorn Gatherer as a case study,this paper makes an argument that the behaviors of the villagers in the story can be more adequately interpreted in view of the backward countryside environment,and the same is true with the author Richard Jefferies' non-interference in the omniscient third-person point of view in writing the story.It is Richard Jefferies' family environment that makes up his viewpoint of writing,reflecting his critical loving of the countryside,where lives boom and conventions are extremely followed.

PROGRESS IN STUDIES ON GEOGRAPHICAL ENVIRONMENTS OF THE QINGHAI-XIZANG PLATEAU

The Qinghai Xizang (Tibet) Plateau area was subjected to twice uplift and planation in the Tertiary. Intense uplifting of the plateau area has given rise to drastic changes and differentiation of physical environment on the plateau and the surrounding area since 3.4 Ma B.P. Significant environmental changes with dry tendency in interior of the plateau had occurred during the last 150 ka B.P. By comparative study on several mountains of the plateau, two systems of the structure type of the altitudinal belt are identified and nine groups are subdivided . A distribution model with close relevance to highland uplift effect has been generalized. A number of striking geo ecological phenomena and their spatial pattern such as moisture corridor, dry valleys, high cold meadow zone, and high cold arid core area are investigated and discussed. Based on the thermal conditions, moisture regimes and variation in landforms of the plateau is sequentially demarcated. A tentative scheme of 2 temperature belts, 10 natural zones and 28 physical districts has been proposed not including southern slopes of the East Himalayas. The Qinghai Xizang Plateau is sensitive to “green house effect”, showing close relation with global change. Characteristics of temperature and precipitation on the plateau during the last 2000 years, and response of glaciers, snow deposit and permafrost on the plateau to global change are dealt with in the present paper.

PHYSICAL STRUCTURE OF GEOGRAPHICAL ENVIRONMENT-INTEGRITY AND DISPARITY,GENERALITY AND INDIVIDUALITY

Integrity and disparity are two of the basic characteristics implied in the scientific connotation of the physical environment as a material system. From a dialectical materialistic point of view the physical character of geographical environment of the earth surface is the unity in diversity. It is on such grounds that the two basic characteristics were put forth by the author in his monograph 'Physical Structure of South American Geographical Environment' as the underlying theme. This holds true for the hierarchy of physical regions. For instance, the physical environment of the earth surface in unity behaves as a huge whole, yet, in differentiation into continents, it displays disparity; each continent differs from others and becomes an integrity in its own right. The same is true of regions of lower levels. In the case of generality and individuality of regional types and their constituent distributive areas in different continents, the same relationship exists among them. Owing to similar origin

Spatio-temporal Distribution Characteristics and Environmental Impact Factors of Lung Cancer Mortality: A Case Study of Yuhui District in Bengbu City, China

Among cancers, lung cancer is the most common cause of death in China. For the prevention and control of lung cancer, it is necessary to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of lung cancer mortality, as well as the changes in the trend and the affecting mechanism. Based on statistics and auto-correlation analysis, this paper studied the spatial and temporal distribution of lung cancer mortality in Yuhui District, Bengbu, Huaihe River Basin, from 2017 to 2020. In addition, Spearman’s Rank Correlation Assessment Model and Geographic Detector Model were used to examine the relationship between environmental factors and lung cancer mortality to identify impact factors and their mechanisms. The findings indicated that: 1) from the characteristics of temporal distribution, the number of lung cancer deaths exhibited a linear growth tendency, with the highest mortality in winter;2) from the characteristics of spatial distribution, lung cancer mortality showed a strong spatial agglomeration form, concentrating on two clustering areas, located in the old city and the central city of Bengbu, near the Huaihe River;3) from the point of view of the whole research area, there were 15 impact factors with significant correlation in the built and natural environment factors. The significant impacting factors in the built environment included land use, road traffic, spatial form and blue-green space, which could indirectly affect lung cancer mortality, while air pollution and temperature constituted the significant impacting factors in the natural environment;4) the influence of screened environmental factors on lung cancer mortality was different. Spatial stratified heterogeneity assessment, the interaction among environmental factors demonstrated statistical significance, it was found that the interaction between environmental factors in pairs had a significant enhancement effect on lung cancer mortality. To some extent, urban planning and policies could reduce lung cancer mortality.

A spatial regression modeling framework for examining relationships between the built environment and pedestrian crash occurrences at macroscopic level:A study in a developing country context

Researchers have been trying to identify the contributory factors behind pedestrian crash occurrences through studies at both microscopic and macroscopic levels.However,built environment-related factors have primarily been examined in developed countries,resulting in a limited understanding of the phenomenon in the context of developing countries.Methodologically,these studies mostly used global regression models,which failed to incorporate spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity.Additionally,some of these studies applied spatial regression models randomly without following a comprehensive logical framework behind their selections.Our study aimed to develop a comprehensive spatial regression modeling framework to examine the relationships between pedestrian crash occurrences and the built environment at the macroscopic level in a megacity,Dhaka,the capital of a developing country:Bangladesh.Using secondary pedestrian crash data,the study applied one global non-spatial model,two global spatial regression models,and two local spatial regression models following a comprehensive spatial regression modeling framework.The factors which significantly contributed to pedestrian crash occurrences in Dhaka were employed person density,mixed and recreational land use density,primary road density,major intersection density,and share of non-motorized modes.Except for the last factor,all the other ones were positively related to pedestrian crash density.Among the five models used in this study,the multiscale geographically weighted regression(MGWR)performed the best as it calibrated each local relationship with a distant spatial scale parameter.The findings and recommendations presented in this study would be useful for reducing pedestrian crashes and choosing the appropriate modeling technique for crash analysis.

Geography and Rural Household Income:A Village Level Study in Henan Province,China

This study uses the data from a sample survey conducted in April 2007 on 1 251 rural households in 11 villages of Henan Province, the largest less developed agricultural province in China, to examine how geography affects rural household income （RHI）. The quantitative analysis indicates following results. I） The significance of the traditional geographical factors reduces as RHI rank increases. 2） The landform does not affect the RHI significantly. The per capita income of rural household in a plain area is lower than that in a mountainous area. And 3） the capital endowment and status of non-farm economic activities contribute to the increase of RHI. But the probability and intensity of non-farm economic activities of rural households in urban outskirts villages are higher than that in non-urban outskirts villages. Based on the results, the paper further concludes that geography still plays a significant role in rural development, but it is changing over time. The agricultural resources （such as per capita arable land） significantly affect RHI with the relatively lower income level, while the geographical location shows a more significant impact on RHI with the relatively high income level. Along with economic development, the proximity replaces the traditional geographical factors such as landform and physical resources as the major determining factor in RHI.

An update of the Guangzhou Twin Eye Study

The Guangzhou Twin Eye Study(GTES)is a population-based study of young twins residing in Guangzhou City.The major aim of GTES is to explore the impact of genes,environmental factors and gene-environment interactions on common eye diseases.From 2006,for more than 1,300 twin pairs,age 7-26 years old,progressive ocular phenotypes,such as refraction,ocular biometrics,weight,and height were collected annually,while non-progressive phenotypes such as parental refraction,corneal thickness,retinal fundus,intraocular pressure and DNA only collected at baseline.In the current study,we summarize the major findings on the etiology of myopia in recent decades.

Reporting Bias of Dampness Problems and Smoking—A Result of Study Design

Using questionnaire is a common, efficient and cheap way to collect data in population-based epidemiological studies. However, there is a general trend of declining response rates leading to a higher risk for bias affecting the validity of results. Use of anonymous questionnaires and/or other ways of distributions, e.g. via schools instead of postal, may increase response rates, but can also lead to other types of systematic errors. This study indicates that results from cross-sectional questionnaire studies differ depending on distribution method and whether the survey is anonymous or not. Also the official purpose of the survey may affect the outcome. When studying well-known risk-factors and health effects, potential methodological problems like reporting bias must be considered in cross sectional studies.

The Application of Geographic Information System(GIS) to the Study of Chinese History

Historical geographic information system construction echoes the call of academic development in the information era and demonstrates the in-depth advancement of history studies. In recent years, an increasing number of data platforms have been built to facilitate historical information storage, display, management and analysis. In such a context, the geographic information system(GIS) begins to contribute to the study of Chinese history. Its contribution is highlighted in nine areas: historical climate, fluvial landforms, town economies, rural settlements, hydraulic societies, environmental changes, ancient cities, ancient maps and HGIS-enabled research methods. The application of GIS to the study of Chinese history initiates a reform in research methods and at the same time upgrades the philosophy of history studies, facilitating the utilization of a diversity of historical data(documents, ancient maps, remote-sensing images, archaeological information, etc.) for dynamic tracing and multi-factor comprehensive research. At present, restricted by traditional disciplinary boundaries, the construction of HGIS platforms remains slow and insufficient, making it difficult to extensively apply GIS to the study of Chinese history.

Application of computational methods in genetic study ofinflammatory bowel disease

Genetic factors play an important role in the etiology of inflammatory bowel disease(IBD). The launch of genome-wide association study(GWAS) represents a landmark in the genetic study of human complex disease. Concurrently, computational methods have undergone rapid development during the past a few years, which led to the identification of numerous disease susceptibility loci. IBD is one of the successful examples of GWAS and related analyses. A total of 163 genetic loci and multiple signaling pathways have been identified to be associated with IBD. Pleiotropic effects were found for many of these loci; and risk prediction models were built based on a broad spectrum of genetic variants. Important gene-gene, gene-environment interactions and key contributions of gut microbiome are being discovered. Here we will review the different types of analyses that have been applied to IBD genetic study, discuss the computational methods for each type of analysis, and summarize the discoveries made in IBD research with the application of these methods.

Human settlement's social network analysis based on spatial trend surface model:a case study of Chongqing Municipality

Integrated with GIS and remote sensing(RS) technology,a systematic analysis and its methodology for human-settlements social environment has been introduced.This methodology has been called spatial trend field model(STFM).STFM's application history in the field of human-settlements social environment has been discussed at first.Then,some index data models have been created through STFM,which include population density trend field,human activity strength trend field,city-town spatial density trend field,urbanization ratio trend field,road density trend field,GDP spatial density trend field and PER-GDP spatial density trend field.With all above-mentioned indexes as input data,through Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Techniques Algorithm(ISODATA),this paper makes a verification study of Chongqing municipality.The result of the case study confirms that STFM methodology is credible and has high efficiency for regional human-settlements study.

Preliminary Study on Early-warning System of Ecological Security in Water-Level-Fluctuating Zone (WLFZ) of Three Gorges Reservoir

The area,the scope as well as some ecological environment questions in Three Gorges Reservoir was briefly introduced. Then its early warning-system frame was preliminarily constructed,which includes ecological security dynamic monitoring,ecological security appraisal,ecological security forecast and ecological security decision-making management. The synthetic evaluation indicator system of the ecological security quality were initially established,which includes ecological environment pollution,land use and land cover change,geological hazard and epidemic outbreaks. At the same time,29 evaluating indicators were selected,divides into the basic factors,response factors and inducing factors,which need to be Real-time monitored.

Application of statistical analysis of sample size:How many occupant responses are required for an indoor environmental quality(IEQ)field study

Determining required sample size is one of the critical pathways to reproducible,reliable and robust results in human-related studies.This paper aims to answer a fundamental but often overlooked question:what sample size is required in surveys of occupant responses to indoor environmental quality(IEQ).The statistical models are introduced in order to promote determining required sample size for various types of data analysis methods commonly used in IEQ field studies.The Monte Carlo simulations are performed to verify the statistical methods and to illustrate the impact of sample size on the study accuracy and reliability.Several examples are presented to illustrate how to determine the value of the parameters in the statistical models based on previous similar research or existing databases.The required sample size including“worst”and“optimal”cases in each condition is obtained by this method and references.It is indicated that 385 is a“worst case”sample size to be adequate for a subgroup analysis,while if the researcher has an estimate of the study design and outcome,the“optimal case”sample size can potentially be reduced.When the required sample size is not achievable,the uncertainty in the result can properly interpret via a confidence interval.It is hoped that this paper would fill in the gap between statistical analysis of sample size and IEQ field research,and it can provide a useful reference for researchers when planning their own studies.

Geographical Environment for the Safe Production of Food

Food is essential for human survival, but harmful, toxic substances in food damage and threaten human health. Food production is inseparable from the place where the food is produced; that is, from the geographical environment that consists of natural and human environments, two parts of a unified whole. China’s territory is vast and its geographical environment is complex and diverse. Food production patterns in different parts of the country vary significantly, as do local socio-economic and cultural conditions. Such differences have an enormous impact on food safety. Based on the geographical area where food is produced in China, this paper reveals the main environmental problems arising from industrial and agricultural production activities, and related risks for food safety and health. In concluding, we make some recommendations for countermeasures. The main food safety related environmental problems include the excessive application of chemical fertilizers and pesticides; high background levels of heavy metals; discharge of wastewater and heavy metals; and excessive use of additives and antibiotics in livestock and poultry breeding and aquatic products. All these issues can lead to huge risks for food safety and thus health. These are not simply scientific issues, but also political, economic and legal issues, as well as social problems that differ from region to region. Therefore, comprehensive studies are needed to identify risks to food safety and health hazards in different areas. Systematic and comprehensive risk assessments of health problems caused by changing ecosystems, environmental pollution, nutrition problems and lifestyle, and especially comprehensive risk assessments of regional environmental changes and health risks are needed. Measures based on an understanding of local conditions must be put forward to protect food safety and health, to strengthen multi-sectoral management, and to improve environmental quality

Northward-shift of temperature zones in China＇s eco-geographical study under future climate scenario

Despite the well-documented effects of global climate change on terrestrial species＇ ranges, eco-geographical regions as the regional scale of ecosystems have been poorly studied especially in China with diverse climate and ecosystems. Here we analyse the shift of temperature zones in eco-geographical study over China using projected future climate scenario. Projected climate data with high resolution during 1961-2080 were simulated using regional climate model of PRECIS. The number of days with mean daily temperature above 10℃ and the mean temperature of January are usually regarded as the principal criteria to indicate temperature zones, which are sensitive to climate change. Shifts due to future climate change were calculated by comparing the latitude of grid cells for the future borderline of one temperature zone with that for baseline period （1961-1990）. Results indicated that the ranges of Tropical, Subtropical, Warm Temperate and Plateau Temperate Zones would be enlarged and the ranges of Cold Temperate, Temperate and Plateau Sub-cold Zones would be reduced. Cold Temperate Zone would probably disappear at late this century. North bor- derlines of temperature zones would shift northward under projected future climate change, especially in East China. Farthest shifts of the north boundaries of Plateau Temperate, Subtropical and Warm Temperate Zones would be 3.1°, 5.3° and 6.6° latitude respectively. Moreover, northward shift would be more notably in northern China as future temperature increased.

Born of geographical environment, coloring for regional context： Concept and progress of geo-architecture

In today＇s world, where re-examination has been given to cultural globalization, the relationship between architectures and specific regions is one of many specific issues. At this time, the study of architecture from the perspective of geography has significant meaning for treasuring regional characteristics and protecting the essence of ethnic culture. The study of geo-architecture includes two aspects： the influence of geographical environment upon architecture and reflexively, architectural responses to geographical environment. In ＂Geo-Architecture and Landscape in China＇s Geographic and Historic Context Series＂（4 volumes）, published by Springer Nature in 2016, the contents of ＂geo-architecture＂ has been interpreted from various angles as form, function, semantics and symbol. This book is the first to be entitled ＂Geo-Architecture＂, which studies the relationship between geography and architecture from the perspective of geographical environment and historical context in China. The book＇s research reveals the influences of different geographical scales, such as zone（macro）, region（middle） and site（micro） scales, on architecture; it discusses dynamic and systematic thought, including such research elements as ＂Object-Subject-Time＂, and it reflects views on pattern and process of cultural landscape. Research on geo-architecture aims to help construct the security pattern of the cultural landscape for the new requirements of a new era, which is used to optimize spacial structure, stimulate heritage conservation and renewal, respect the geographical environment, pay attention to historical culture and sustain emotional memory.

Recent advances for aerosol and environment study in Asia

Rapid economic development over the past two decades in Asian countries such as China and India has raised awareness of pollution control measures necessary to protect public health and welfare. The 7th Asian Aerosol Conference （AAC） of the Asian Aerosol Research Assembly （AARA）, was held in Xi＇an, China, during August 17-20, 2011. The 7th AAC engaged 550 participants from the sciences, industry, and regulatory communities from 21 countries. The conference included -350 plenary, platform, and poster presentations. In this special issue of PARTICUOLOGY, 15 peer-reviewed scientific articles have been selected to publish from the conference abstracts to represent recent advances for aerosol and environment study in Asia.