Assessing the Spatial Equality of COVID Testing Sites Maintaining Zero COVID Policy

Rapid and timely testing is essential to minimize the COVID-19 spread. Decision makers and policy planners need to determine the equal distribution and accessibility of testing sites. This study mainly examines the spatial equality of COVID-19 testing sites that maintain a zero COVID policy in Guangzhou City. The study has identified the spatial disparities of COVID testing sites, characteristics of testing locations, and accessibility. The study has obtained information on COVID testing sites in Guangzhou City and population data. Point pattern analyses, Euclidian distance and allocation, and network analyses are the main methods used to achieve the research objectives, and 1183 total COVID testing sites can be recognized in Guangzhou City. Results revealed that spatial disparities could be noticed over the study area. Testing locations of Guangzhou City are highly clustered. The most significant testing sites are located in Haizhu District, which has the third largest population. The highest population density can be identified in Yuexiu District. However, only 94 testing sites are located there. According to all the results, higher disparities can be identified, and a lack of testing sites is located in the north part of the study area. Some people in the northern part have to travel more than 10 km to reach a testing site. Finally, this paper suggests increasing the number of testing sites in the north and south parts of the study area and keeping the same distribution, considering the area, total population, and population density. This kind of research will be helpful to decision-makers in making proper decisions to maintain a zero COVID policy.

Evolution of the Spatial Distribution of Basic Infrastructures and Services in the Niakhar Area (Fatick), Senegal

Basic infrastructures and services present an important socio-economic and territorial equity issue, because the availability of these makes it possible to improve the living conditions of populations, makes territories attractive and stimulates their development. The objective of our study has been achieved, so our results provided information on the rate of propagation of basic infrastructures and services, as well as the evolution of the forms of spatial distribution of the latter. The data used comes from the census and geolocation of basic infrastructures and services in the Niakhar area, carried out by the IRD in 2018. Centrographic measurements were used to describe the overall spatial distribution and the use of chi-square statistics confirmed the existence of a preferential direction of distribution. To verify the existence of a spatial structure of infrastructure and service seeding, the Ripley statistic is used. Our results can be useful for land use planning and spatial resource allocation policies. Indeed, the identification of different types of spatial aggregates and the highlighting of the preferred directions of the distribution of basic infrastructures and services, make it possible to correct disparities in the spatial distribution of basic resources.

The Increasing Role of Synergistic Effects in Carbon Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement, and Its Associated Health Benefits in China

A synergistic pathway is regarded as a critical measure for tackling the intertwined challenges of climate change and air pollution in China. However, there is as yet no indicator that can comprehensively reflect such synergistic effects;hence, existing studies lack a consistent framework for comparison. Here, we introduce a new synergistic indicator defined as the pollutant generation per gross domestic product (GDP) and adopt an integrated analysis framework by linking the logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method, response surface model (RSM), and global exposure mortality model (GEMM) to evaluate the synergistic effects of carbon mitigation on both air pollutant reduction and public health in China. The results show that synergistic effects played an increasingly important role in the emissions mitigation of SO_(2), NOx, and primary particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter no greater than 2.5 μm (PM2.5), and the synergistic mitigation of pollutants respectively increase from 3.1, 1.4, and 0.3 Mt during the 11th Five-Year Plan (FYP) (2006–2010) to 5.6, 3.7, and 1.9 Mt during the 12th FYP (2011–2015). Against the non-control scenario, synergistic effects alone contributed to a 15% reduction in annual mean PM2.5 concentration, resulting in the prevention of 0.29 million (95% confidential interval: 0.28–0.30) PM2.5-attributable excess deaths in 2015. Synergistic benefits to air quality improvement and public health were remarkable in the developed and population-dense eastern provinces and municipalities. With the processes of urbanization and carbon neutrality in the future, synergistic effects are expected to continue to increase. Realizing climate targets in advance in developed regions would concurrently bring strong synergistic effects to air quality and public health.

Crisis, Stimulus Package and Migration in China

This paper analyzes the short-term and long-term effects that the global economic crisis and the investment priorities of the Chinese Government＇s stimulus package had on Chinese migrant flows between 2008 and 2014. Combining micro-level household survey data and macro-level statistics, the authors have found that in the short run, the regional and sectoral impact of the crisis, combined with the government＇s investment priorities, caused a reorientation of migration routes from the export-oriented coastal provinces towards the central and western regions, from inter-provincial migration towards intra-provincial migration, and from manufacturing industry towards the construction sector. However, in the longer run, the decreasing attractiveness of the eastern region and the increasing attractiveness of the western region proved to be transitory, although the pre-crisis relative advantage of the eastern region was not fuUy restored. What proved to be persistent were the attractiveness of the central region and the intra-provincial migration in all three regions, and, in particular, the steady growth of migrants in the construction sector.

Are Central and Western Chinese Provinces Catching up with the East？ An Empirical Analysis of Convergence Processes across China

Since the Reform and Opening-up policy had been implemented in 1978, China's Mainland has experienced significant economic growth, with GDP rising on an annual average of about 10%. However, this growth miracle was far from being evenly distributed across space. It is, therefore, the aim of this paper to study the evolution of spatial disparities in economic development across the country between 1993 and 2012, a period which is characterized by all provinces having access to international markets and being open for international investors. We seek to answer the question of whether Central and Western Chinese provinces were catching up with the East. We define ＇catching up＇ as a growing similarity among spatial units. Convergence processes might manifest in four dimensions, including （1） the spatial allocation of employment, value added generation and the fixed capital stock, （2） forms of technical change, （3） productivity patterns, and （4） income distribution. Results show that persistent phases of convergence appeared. However, in some cases the catching up of China＇s less developed parts with the flourishing East was limited to only a few Western and Central Chinese provinces. A high degree of path-dependency in economic development prevented catching up from taking place in a more uniform manner.