Non-cropping period accounting for over a half of annual nitric oxide releases from cultivated calcareous-soil alpine ecosystems with marginally low emission factors

Nitric oxide(NO)emissions from alpine ecosystems conventionally being long-term cultivated with feed crops are not well quantified.The authors attempted to address this knowledge gap by performing a year-round experimental campaign in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau.Fertilized(F)and unfertilized(UF)treatments were established within a flat calcareous-soil site for the long-term cultivation of feed oats.NO fluxes and five soil variables were simultaneously measured.A single plow tillage accounted for approximately 54%–73%of the NO releases during the cropping period(CP);and the non-cropping period(NCP)contributed to 51%–58%of the annual emissions.The direct NO emissions factor(EFd)was 0.021%±0.021%.Significantly lower Q10 values(p<0.01)occurred in the F treatment during the CP(approximately 3.6)compared to those during the other period or in the other treatment(approximately 4.9?5.1),indicating a fertilizer-induced reduction in the temperature sensitivity.The selected soil variables jointly accounted for up to 72%(p<0.01)of the variance for all the fluxes across both treatments.This finding suggests that temporally and/or spatially distributed fluxes from alpine calcareous-soil ecosystems for feed crop production may be easily predicted if data on these soil variables are available.Further studies are needed to test the hypothesis that the EFd is larger in alpine feed-oat fields than those in this study if the soil moisture content is higher during the period following the basal application of ammoniumor urea-based fertilizer.

Types of Infertility and Its Risk Factors among Infertile Women: A Prospective Study in Dhaka City

Background: Infertility is a global health issue, and it is a multidimensional problem with social, economic, and cultural influences. Objectives: The study aimed to determine types of infertility and their contributing factors among the respondent infertile women. Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study was conducted among infertile women visiting Sir Salimullah Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka. From January to December 2020, 111 infertile women were included and evaluated for infertility types and their contributing factors. Data were collected by face-to-face interviewing, and data were analyzed statistically. Results: Primary infertility was found among 90 (81%) and secondary infertility among 21 (18.9%). Among the direct risk factors of female infertility, ovulation failure was the majority of the cases, 74 (35.1%), and its mainly observed in primarily infertile women 58 (33.9%). These observations were statistically significant. Conclusions: Infertility should be treated as a public health problem, government and non-government organizations should develop a basic policy to create effective fertility centers.

Industrial Green Spatial Pattern Evolution of Yangtze River Economic Belt in China

We use the directional slacks-based measure of efficiency and inverse distance weighting method to analyze the spatial pattern evolution of the industrial green total factor productivity of 108 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt in 2003–2013.Results show that both the subprime mortgage crisis and ‘the new normal' had significant negative effects on productivity growth,leading to the different spatial patterns between 2003–2008 and 2009–2013.Before 2008,green poles had gathered around some capital cities and formed a tripartite pattern,which was a typical core-periphery pattern.Due to a combination of the polarization and the diffusion effects,capital cities became the growth poles and ‘core' regions,while surrounding areas became the ‘periphery'.This was mainly caused by the innate advantage of capital cities and ‘the rise of central China' strategy.After 2008,the tripartite pattern changed to a multi-poles pattern where green poles continuously and densely spread in the midstream and downstream areas.This is due to the regional difference in the leading effect of green poles.The leading effect of green poles in midstream and downstream areas has changed from polarization to diffusion,while the polarization effect still leads in the upstream area.

Liberalize or Not？ Societal Conflict, Plural Political Competition, and the Political Economy of FDI Liberalization

While the existing literature suggests political liberalization enhances the freedom of foreign direct investment （FDI）, the observation that some countries with more liberal political regimes have more restrictive policies toward direct investment than others remains unexplained. With a theoretical model of plural political competition and empirical evidences gathered from panel data, I argue that the liberalizing effect of political liberty on foreign direct investment hinges on the local factor endowment of the country experiencing democratization. I develop a theory of investment policy formation that takes into account the strategic response from domestic societal actors to redistribution of political power and its impact on FDI liberalization. Consistent with the theoretical prediction, the empirical results show political liberalization is more likely to lead to liberalization of foreign direct investment when the capital-labor ratio in the economy is relatively low.