Understanding Urban Vitality from the Economic and Human Activities Perspective:A Case Study of Chongqing,China

The literature on urban vitality tends to focus on the built environment.This paper argues that some important processes in shaping vitality may be overlooked without examining the intensity and diversity of economic and human activities.Using newly developed spatial big data and adopting the methods of multi-indicator measurement and spatial analysis methods,we analyzed the pattern of urban vitality in Chongqing,a provincial city in western China and,on this basis,evaluated the creation and maintenance of urban vitality from the economic and human activities perspective.Our findings indicate that the impacts of economic and human activities are positive and significant.Among the three intensity and diversity indicators,economic intensity and population density show an effect on urban vitality stronger than that of economic diversity.However,economic diversity has the strongest superposition or interactive effect,and is thus an important foundation dynamic.The positive effect of population density on urban vitality is largely a result of Chongqing’s jobs-housing balance.The case of Chongqing highlights the importance of topographic features,historical inheritance,large-scale migration,and cultural activities in shaping the distinctive vitality pattern of a city.This study contends that the creation and maintenance of urban vitality can not be fully explained without incorporating the impacts of economic and human activities.It contributes to a comprehensive measurement of urban vitality and enriches its connotations.

Understanding the Global Identification with China’s Stories: A Cross-Cultural Perspective

Cross-cultural storytelling is a primary way for humankind to seek mutual recognition of value orientations between cultures,which facilitates the ability to jointly address the problems of human existence in the context of globalization.In this study,we conducted an interview survey of 6,130 respondents who were college students or graduates from 107 countries.The results show that there were a number of cross-cultural values embodied in China’s stories seen by the respondents as part of a common vision for the future of humankind and widely identified guidance on collaborative responses to global challenges.These cross-cultural values are common prosperity,ecological harmony,individual-collective integration,the urgency of global peace,as well as respect for multicultural and indigenous development paths.

Design Principles and Mechanistic Understandings of Non-Noble-Metal Bifunctional Electrocatalysts for Zinc-Air Batteries

Zinc-air batteries(ZABs)are promising energy storage systems because of high theoretical energy density,safety,low cost,and abundance of zinc.However,the slow multi-step reaction of oxygen and heavy reliance on noble-metal catalysts hinder the practical applications of ZABs.Therefore,feasible and advanced non-noble-metal elec-trocatalysts for air cathodes need to be identified to promote the oxygen catalytic reaction.In this review,we initially introduced the advancement of ZABs in the past two decades and provided an overview of key developments in this field.Then,we discussed the work-ing mechanism and the design of bifunctional electrocatalysts from the perspective of morphology design,crystal structure tuning,interface strategy,and atomic engineering.We also included theoretical studies,machine learning,and advanced characterization technologies to provide a comprehensive understanding of the structure-performance relationship of electrocatalysts and the reaction pathways of the oxygen redox reactions.Finally,we discussed the challenges and prospects related to designing advanced non-noble-metal bifunctional electrocatalysts for ZABs.

Understanding the Relationship Between Shrinking Cities and Land Prices:Spatial Pattern,Effectiveness,and Policy Implications

Urban shrinkage has emerged as a widespread phenomenon globally and has a significant impact on land,particularly in terms of land use and price.This study focuses on 2851 county-level cities in China in 2005–2018(excluding Hong Kong,Macao,Taiwan,and‘no data’areas in Qinhai-Tibet Plateau)as the fundamental units of analysis.By employing nighttime light(NTL)data to identify shrinking cities,the propensity score matching(PSM)model was used to quantitatively examine the impact of shrinking cities on land prices,and evaluate the magnitude of this influence.The findings demonstrate the following:1)there were 613 shrinking cities in China,with moderate shrinkage being the most prevalent and severe shrinkage being the least.2)Regional disparities are evident in the spatial distribution of shrinking cities,especially in areas with diverse terrain.3)The spatial pattern of land price exhibits a significant correlated to the economic and administrative levels.4)Shrinking cities significantly negatively impact on the overall land price(ATT=–0.1241,P<0.05).However,the extent of the effect varies significantly among different spatial regions.This study contributes novel insights into the investigation of land prices and shrinking cities,ultimately serving as a foundation for government efforts to promote the sustainable development of urban areas.

The Four Dimensional Connotation Definition of Scientific Understanding of the Ocean and Human Practical Achievements

By analyzing the sustainable development process of strengthening marine environmental protection and global reporting and assessment of marine environmental conditions since the Human Environment Conference, this paper summarizes the scientific connotation of “scientific understanding of the ocean” reflected in the United Nations Global Marine Environmental Assessment Report, proposes the etymological definition and specific coverage, representative global and regional practical experience of scientific understanding of the ocean, and further analyzes and defines the human activities and cognitive evolution process of “scientific understanding of the ocean”. It marks the leap in human cognition in four dimensions: observation and evaluation, intervention and regulation, disciplinary knowledge system, and supporting guarantee system. It condenses the connotation definitions and human practical achievements of each dimension, and puts forward countermeasures and suggestions to strengthen marine environmental protection and sustainable development.

What-If XAI Framework (WiXAI): From Counterfactuals towards Causal Understanding

People learn causal relations since childhood using counterfactual reasoning. Counterfactual reasoning uses counterfactual examples which take the form of “what if this has happened differently”. Counterfactual examples are also the basis of counterfactual explanation in explainable artificial intelligence (XAI). However, a framework that relies solely on optimization algorithms to find and present counterfactual samples cannot help users gain a deeper understanding of the system. Without a way to verify their understanding, the users can even be misled by such explanations. Such limitations can be overcome through an interactive and iterative framework that allows the users to explore their desired “what-if” scenarios. The purpose of our research is to develop such a framework. In this paper, we present our “what-if” XAI framework (WiXAI), which visualizes the artificial intelligence (AI) classification model from the perspective of the user’s sample and guides their “what-if” exploration. We also formulated how to use the WiXAI framework to generate counterfactuals and understand the feature-feature and feature-output relations in-depth for a local sample. These relations help move the users toward causal understanding.

The Role of Music in Multicultural Education:A Tool for Promoting Cultural Understanding and Inclusion

In this essay,it will be examined how music can be a powerful tool in multicultural education in promoting humanity and cultural sensitivity.As classroom diversity increases,the challenge lies with educators to ensure that an equal and appropriate learning environment for all students with cultural sensitivity is maintained.To address this problem,therefore,the study explores how music may be effectively incorporated into intercultural education approaches.This paper has evidence that music is a language that has transcended cultures and promotes tolerance,appreciation,and acceptance of diversity through a synthesis of literature and examples.Several implications posit that music can make people feel they belong,enhance the relations of people from diverse cultures,and provide a practical way of learning about other cultures.The potential of music as a tool to engage social justice issues and liberate oppressed groups is also discussed in this research.It exists,but with caution to cultural appropriation and stereotyping of students,thus requiring educators to be sensitive and socially-apperceived on the best practice ways on how to integrate music into classrooms.The end explains how music helps in nurturing a generation of embracing the world,more sensitive and more inclined to the happenings in society to create a society that will be more sensitive and tolerant with the growing society which is diversifying.Therefore,the current article recommends further exploration and development of music-facilitated/inclined pedagogy of ME in hopefully enhancing cultural consciousness/sensitivity and fostering more social integration.

A Study on High School Mathematics Teaching Design Based on Teaching for Robust Understanding: Taking the Cosine Theorem as an Example

Teachers’teaching behavior plays a crucial role in students’development,and there are problems in the current teaching behavior of mathematics teachers such as ignoring students’cognitive needs,lack of equal opportunities for students’classroom performance as well as lack of formative evaluation of students.In order to solve the phenomenon,this paper analyzes and explains how to promote teaching based on the Teaching for Robust Understanding(TRU)evaluation framework with the goal of focusing on the development of all students,taking the teaching design of The Cosine Theorem as an example,and provides ideas and methods for first-line high school mathematics teachers.

中国戏曲对外传播中的媒介形象建构——基于China Daily相关英文报道的分析

本研究收集China Daily2019至2022年有关中国戏曲的英文报道,自建英文语料库,从语篇层面进行分析发现,China Daily建构的中国戏曲形象主要表现为历史悠久、种类丰富、底蕴深厚、认可广泛、官方重视、传播主体多元化、受众年轻化、传播形式创新化、“戏曲+旅游”融合发展、戏曲助力乡村振兴等特征,为对外展示真实、立体、全面的中国发挥了积极作用。

Electrochemical Carbon Dioxide Reduction to Ethylene:From Mechanistic Understanding to Catalyst Surface Engineering

Electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction(CO_(2)RR)provides a promising way to convert CO_(2)to chemicals.The multicarbon(C_(2+))products,especially ethylene,are of great interest due to their versatile industrial applications.However,selectively reducing CO_(2)to ethylene is still challenging as the additional energy required for the C–C coupling step results in large overpotential and many competing products.Nonetheless,mechanistic understanding of the key steps and preferred reaction pathways/conditions,as well as rational design of novel catalysts for ethylene production have been regarded as promising approaches to achieving the highly efficient and selective CO_(2)RR.In this review,we first illustrate the key steps for CO_(2)RR to ethylene(e.g.,CO_(2)adsorption/activation,formation of~*CO intermediate,C–C coupling step),offering mechanistic understanding of CO_(2)RR conversion to ethylene.Then the alternative reaction pathways and conditions for the formation of ethylene and competitive products(C_1 and other C_(2+)products)are investigated,guiding the further design and development of preferred conditions for ethylene generation.Engineering strategies of Cu-based catalysts for CO_(2)RR-ethylene are further summarized,and the correlations of reaction mechanism/pathways,engineering strategies and selectivity are elaborated.Finally,major challenges and perspectives in the research area of CO_(2)RR are proposed for future development and practical applications.

Understanding cultivated land dynamics and its driving forces in northern China during 1983-2001

Based on the long-term serial NOAA/NDVI dataset during 1983-1999 and SPOT/VGT dataset in 2001, the land use/cover change information in the 13 provinces of northern China was extracted based on the analysis of the cultivated landscape characteristics at first, then the effects of human activities on cultivated land process were explored by GIS and the driving forces of cultivated land change were investigated. The conclusions can be drawn as follows： （1） The constant increase of weak ecological function land as desert and cultivated land and the decrease of the ecological function land of forest and shrub were the main characteristics of the land use/cover change in the 13 provinces from 1983 to 1999, which showed the effects on the ecological adjustment fimction. However, such situations were changed to some extent in the 2000s because of the eco-construction policy of the government. （2） From 1983 to 2001, the Barycenter of cultivated land tended to move from northeast to southwest with the topography and transportation situations being the main influences on the cultivated land distribution. It is found that the cultivated land use intensity decreased noticably with the increase of distance from the main communication arteries. （3） The improvement of the people＇s living standard is closely related with the cultivated land change. The structural adjustment in the agricultural land caused by economic development and the improvement of the people＇s living standard ig an important factor affecting the cultivated land change in northern China from 1983 to 2001

China's shale gas exploration and development: Understanding and practice

Through detailed analyses of the distribution characteristics of organic-rich shale, appearance features of high-quality shale, microscopic characteristics of shale reservoir rocks, fracability, and the relationship between preservation conditions and shale gas enrichment in Upper Ordovician Wufeng Formation-Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation in Sichuan Basin, theoretical understandings and specific suggestions with respect to the exploration and development of shale gas in China are summarized and proposed respectively. Important geological understandings in the exploration and development of shale gas of the Wufeng Formation–Longmaxi Formation in the Sichuan Basin can be summarized into the following aspects: depositional environment and depositional process control the distribution of organic-rich shale; high quality shale in "sweet spot segments" are commonly characterized by high content of organic carbon, high brittleness, high porosity and gas content; organic pores are important storage space for the enrichment of shale gas; preservation conditions are the key factor for the geological evaluation of shale gas in structurally complex regions; shale gas can be considered as "artificial gas reservoirs" and the fracability assessment is essential for high-production; nanoscale storage space and the mode of occurrence control the special seepage characteristics of shale gas. The following suggestions are proposed for the development of China's shale gas industry:(1) focus more on fundamental research to achieve new breakthrough in the geological theory of shale gas;(2) emphasize exploration practices to have all-round discoveries in multiple strata;(3) study the regularities of development and production to establish new models of shale gas development;(4) think creatively to invent new technologies to tackle key problems;(5) explore the management innovation to create new mechanisms in shale gas development.

Research Agenda for Understanding Transboundary Ecosystem Changes and Eco-security in Southwestern China

The longitudinal range-gorge region (LRGR) in Southwestern China, characterized by longitudinal mountain ranges and deep valleys, includes the basins of four major international rivers: the Yuanjiang-Red, Lancang Mekong, Nujiang Salween and Irrawaddy. This region is classified as one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots, and provides an important ecological and economic corridor linking China and Southeast Asian countries. Over the past half century, it has served as a resource base for timber and minerals needed to fuel economic development, which resulted in rapid and drastic changes in ecosystem and species diversity. Proposed and ongoing development programs, such as China’s Great Western Development campaign, Greater Mekong Subregional Economic Cooperation (GMS) and China-ASEAN free trade zone development (“10+1”), threaten to bring unprecedented disturbance to the region’s ecosystems. Present and emerging threats to eco-security have caught tremendous attention worldwide. Therefore, studies on such problems are critical for enhancing ecosystem health and transboundary eco-security. This paper indicates several multi-disciplinary and cross-sector studies on transboundary resources in this region that will meet three major national needs: 1) identifying core scientific issues of ecological development and infrastructure construction in highplateau and mountainous areas for the Western Development campaign; 2) developing maintenance mechanisms and control methodologies for transboundary eco-security and resource base development; 3) providing scientific grounds for multi-lateral diplomacy, trade and economic cooperation, and conflict resolution as part of China’s opening-up to south Asia. The key subjects to be solved include dynamics and major drive forces of this area, ecological effects caused by major projects construction, and transboundary eco-security and its controlling. The research projects proposed in this article will develop theories on ecosystem change and transboundary eco-security, and provide a scientific basis for national and international development strategies.

Understanding Relationship Between Accessibility and Economic Growth:A Case Study from China(1990–2010)

China′s economy and transport infrastructure have both experienced rapid development since 1978, and especially since 1990. Today, China is the second-largest economic entity in terms of GDP and has the largest high-speed rail(HSR) network and the second-largest expressway network in the world. This paper explores the relationship between accessibility and economic growth in China from 1990 to 2010. In the study, the basic research units include 333 prefecture-level cities and four municipalities. We explore a bivariate analysis framework of accessibility and economic growth, and their increase rates, to examine this relationship using long-term panel data. The results indicate that, first, accessibility and economic growth show a significant positive relationship using both cross-section and panel data, while the increase rate in accessibility and GDP indicate no significant relationship using cross-section data and a poor significant relationship using panel data. Second, the distributions of local advantage are uneven. Cities with low local advantage with respect to accessibility and GDP are mainly located in China′s eastern coastal region or the provincial capitals, while those with low local advantage in terms of their increase rates are located in the western region. Third, as China′s economic growth and transport networks have evolved, the distribution of local advantage shows little change in terms of accessibility and GDP, but a greater change in terms of their increase rates, which is largely influenced by the distribution of expressway and HSR networks.

The Crucial Role of Tectono-sedimentary Records of China in Understanding Paleogeographic Evolution

The Central-east Asian continent,in which China is presently located,is a composite terrane composed of many small or micro-scale blocks and orogenic belts (Ren et al.,1999).Compared with large-scale cratons such as North America and Siberia,the blocks that make up China are much smaller.For example,the North China and Siberian blocks,as well as some part of the ancient African continent,belonged to part of the Colombia supercontinent and connected with Baltica (Rogers and Santosh,2002;Lu et al.,2002).After major rifting episodes at 1.8-1.6 Ga.

The Effect of Latinization on Reading Time and Understanding: Greeklish in Communication and Social Media

The increasing prevalence of technology in society has an impact on young people’s language use and development. Greeklish is the writing of Greek texts using the Latin instead of the Greek alphabet, a practice known as Latinization, also employed for many non-latin alphabet languages. The primary aim of this research is to evaluate the effect of Greeklish on reading time. A sample of 732 young Greeks were asked about their habits when communicating through e-mail and social media with their friends and they then participated in an experiment in which they were asked to read and understand two short texts, one written in Greek and the other in Greeklish. The findings of the research show that nearly one third of the participants use Greeklish. The results of the experiment conducted reveal that understanding is not affected by the alphabet used but reading Greeklish is significantly more time consuming than reading Greek independently of the sex and the familiarity of the participants with Greeklish. The findings suggest that amending social and communication media with software utilities related to Latinization such as language identifiers and converters may reduce reading time and thus facilitate written communication among the users.

Solving Algebraic Problems with Geometry Diagrams Using Syntax-Semantics Diagram Understanding

Solving Algebraic Problems with Geometry Diagrams(APGDs)poses a significant challenge in artificial intelligence due to the complex and diverse geometric relations among geometric objects.Problems typically involve both textual descriptions and geometry diagrams,requiring a joint understanding of these modalities.Although considerable progress has been made in solving math word problems,research on solving APGDs still cannot discover implicit geometry knowledge for solving APGDs,which limits their ability to effectively solve problems.In this study,a systematic and modular three-phase scheme is proposed to design an algorithm for solving APGDs that involve textual and diagrammatic information.The three-phase scheme begins with the application of the statetransformer paradigm,modeling the problem-solving process and effectively representing the intermediate states and transformations during the process.Next,a generalized APGD-solving approach is introduced to effectively extract geometric knowledge from the problem’s textual descriptions and diagrams.Finally,a specific algorithm is designed focusing on diagram understanding,which utilizes the vectorized syntax-semantics model to extract basic geometric relations from the diagram.A method for generating derived relations,which are essential for solving APGDs,is also introduced.Experiments on real-world datasets,including geometry calculation problems and shaded area problems,demonstrate that the proposed diagram understanding method significantly improves problem-solving accuracy compared to methods relying solely on simple diagram parsing.

Resilience effects for household food expenditure and dietary diversity in rural western China

A more resilient livelihood is increasingly recognized as an efficient way to improve vulnerable households’food security and optimize their dietary decisions.This study quantifies rural household resilience in western China,identifies the three pillars(absorptive capacity,adaptive capacity,and transformative capacity)contribution to resilience,and then establishes the estimated Resilience Capacity Index(RCI)linked with food security and dietary diversity supported by the multiple indicator multiple cause(MIMIC)model.Results show that,despite geographical heterogeneity,the RCI consistently increased from 2015 to 2021.Households with a higher RCI inheriting better capacity to deal with risk and shocks are significantly and positively correlated with increasing food expenditure and diversifying food choices.It can be because resilient households will allocate more money to food expenditure instead of saving for livelihood uncertainty.Thus,policymakers can provide more incentives for rural households to adopt more dynamic and effective risk management strategies.This,in turn,could yield positive spillover effects by preventing human capital loss associated with dietary-related chronic diseases and mortality.

Epidemiological and clinical features,treatment status,and economic burden of traumatic spinal cord injury in China:a hospital-based retrospective study

Traumatic spinal cord injury is potentially catastrophic and can lead to permanent disability or even death.China has the largest population of patients with traumatic spinal cord injury.Previous studies of traumatic spinal cord injury in China have mostly been regional in scope;national-level studies have been rare.To the best of our knowledge,no national-level study of treatment status and economic burden has been performed.This retrospective study aimed to examine the epidemiological and clinical features,treatment status,and economic burden of traumatic spinal cord injury in China at the national level.We included 13,465 traumatic spinal cord injury patients who were injured between January 2013 and December 2018 and treated in 30 hospitals in 11 provinces/municipalities representing all geographical divisions of China.Patient epidemiological and clinical features,treatment status,and total and daily costs were recorded.Trends in the percentage of traumatic spinal cord injuries among all hospitalized patients and among patients hospitalized in the orthopedic department and cost of care were assessed by annual percentage change using the Joinpoint Regression Program.The percentage of traumatic spinal cord injuries among all hospitalized patients and among patients hospitalized in the orthopedic department did not significantly change overall(annual percentage change,-0.5%and 2.1%,respectively).A total of 10,053(74.7%)patients underwent surgery.Only 2.8%of patients who underwent surgery did so within 24 hours of injury.A total of 2005(14.9%)patients were treated with high-dose(≥500 mg)methylprednisolone sodium succinate/methylprednisolone(MPSS/MP);615(4.6%)received it within 8 hours.The total cost for acute traumatic spinal cord injury decreased over the study period(-4.7%),while daily cost did not significantly change(1.0%increase).Our findings indicate that public health initiatives should aim at improving hospitals’ability to complete early surgery within 24 hours,which is associated with improved sensorimotor recovery,increasing the awareness rate of clinical guidelines related to high-dose MPSS/MP to reduce the use of the treatment with insufficient evidence.

How do the landslide and non-landslide sampling strategies impact landslide susceptibility assessment? d A catchment-scale case study from China

The aim of this study is to investigate the impacts of the sampling strategy of landslide and non-landslide on the performance of landslide susceptibility assessment(LSA).The study area is the Feiyun catchment in Wenzhou City,Southeast China.Two types of landslides samples,combined with seven non-landslide sampling strategies,resulted in a total of 14 scenarios.The corresponding landslide susceptibility map(LSM)for each scenario was generated using the random forest model.The receiver operating characteristic(ROC)curve and statistical indicators were calculated and used to assess the impact of the dataset sampling strategy.The results showed that higher accuracies were achieved when using the landslide core as positive samples,combined with non-landslide sampling from the very low zone or buffer zone.The results reveal the influence of landslide and non-landslide sampling strategies on the accuracy of LSA,which provides a reference for subsequent researchers aiming to obtain a more reasonable LSM.