Changes in human settlement environments and their drivers in valley cities located in arid and semi-arid regions:A case study of Lanzhou in Western China

Development of urban human settlement environments(HSEs)is an integral part of promoting high-quality and sustainable regional development and constructing a beautiful China.The city of Lanzhou,located at the geometric center of China,is the only provincial capital traversed by the Yellow River.Given the constraints posed by the valley topography and the need for economic development,the development of this HSE,which is located within an arid region,poses considerable challenges.Evidently,an understanding of the evolution of HSEs and drivers of changes in them contributes to high-quality,sustainable urban development in arid and semi-arid regions.An analytical model was developed using the parameters of relief degree of land surface,human comfort days,the land cover index,nighttime light index,and precipitation.This model was used in combination with population density and the gross domestic product to analyze the spatial distribution of Lanzhou's HSE and its drivers.The results showed that landscapes in Lanzhou underwent significant changes between 2000 and 2022,with an increase in building-up land(+0.946%),cultivated land(+0.134%),and forest land(+0.018%)and a decrease in grassland(-1.10%).There was significant outward expansion of the main urban zone of Lanzhou and of various county towns,with the increase in building-up land being most prominent.During this period,there were significant changes in the periphery of the core urban area and county towns in Lanzhou,with decreases moving from the urban center(the highest value)to the surrounding areas(Yongdeng County had the lowest value).The correlation between the HSE and population density grew stronger in Anning and Chengguan Districts but became weaker in Xigu and Qilihe Districts.Spatiotemporal variations in the HSE were primarily caused by climate change,followed by human activities,and were also influenced by the valley topography.Overall,the spatial distribution of population density and the HSE in Lanzhou demonstrated good consistency under the in-fluence of economic development and urbanization.

Reflections on the Improvement of Rural Human Settlement Environment from the Perspective of Beauty and Livability

The construction of beautiful and livable villages is one of the important tasks of ruralrevitalization in the new era, and the development of rural areas attaches more and more importanceto the improvement of human settlement environment. By investigating the construction status andexisting problems of Zhaoba Village in Nanjing, it tries to take “beauty” and “livability” as the planningrequirements. The village positioning is planned accurately, and the functional layout is carried outreasonably. According to the characteristic industries, landscape features and infrastructure of ZhaobaVillage, humanized construction strategies are put forward, thus improving the quality of human settlementenvironment in Zhaoba Village.

The Protection of Human Rights in the Construction of Barrier-free Environment--Viewed from the perspective of the Marxist Human Rights Concept

The construction of a barrier-free environment contains a rich connotation of human rights protection,and is closely related to the study of human rights protection in China.With the evolution of the concept of barrier-free design and the expansion of its beneficiary groups,constructing a barrier-free environment has become a basic task that benefits all members of society and meets the public needs of all the people,with its core goal expanding from the protection of the rights of the disabled to the protection of the basic rights and interests of all members of society.Building a barrier-free environment from the perspective of the Marxist human rights concept is conducive to safeguarding the people’s right to subsistence and development,and at the same time,it satisfies their demand for the right to pursue a high-quality and better life and reflects the common vision of everyone in society fully enjoying human rights.promoting the construction of a barrier-free environment in terms of legal protection based on China’s institutional advantages can improve and innovate the country’s legislation on the construction of a barrier-free environment,so as to play an exemplary and guiding role in enhancing the international barrier-free level and enable all people to enjoy the good life created through the drive to build a barrier-free environment.

Humanizing the Culture of Technology Teams: Strategies for Creating Healthier and More Productive Work Environments

With the advancement of technology, companies are increasingly dependent on technology teams to stay competitive. However, members of these teams often work in stressful and unhealthy environments, which can undermine their productivity and well-being. The humanization of the culture of technology teams is an approach that aims to create healthier and more productive work environments for team members, promoting balance between personal and professional life. Despite the importance of a healthy and productive work environment, many companies do not invest in strategies to humanize the culture of their technology teams. This can lead to high levels of stress, staff turnover and low productivity. The objective of this project is to identify effective strategies to humanize the culture of technology teams and create healthier and more productive work environments in digital companies. For this, factors such as management styles, psychological safety, human-centered development, individual beliefs and time and energy management will be analyzed. The project’s methodology will include a literature review on the subject and qualitative data analysis will be performed using a content analysis approach. This project will contribute to the advancement of knowledge about the humanization of the culture of technology teams in digital companies. The results can be applied to companies that want to create healthier and more productive work environments for their team members.

The Application of Landscape Plants in Humanized Interior Environmental Design

Landscape plants play a role of decorating and beautifying the indoor environment.From the perspective of humanization,the functions and application patterns of landscape plants in the interior environmental design are analyzed in this study,and finally the application rules of landscape plants in the humanized interior environmental design are summarized.

Natural environment suitability for human settlements in China based on GIS

With the degeneration of environment and acceleration of urbanization,human environment has attracted great attention worldwide.This paper sets up the Human Settlements Environment Index(HEI) model and evaluates the natural environment suitability for Human Settlements in China based on GIS technology.The results show that the HEI of China decreases from southeast to northwest in general,HEI is significantly correlated with population density at grid size and the correlation coefficient(r) between them reaches 0.93,which indicates that natural environment suitability for Human Settlements has a significant influence on population distribution.Most people in China mainly concentrate in areas with high natural environment suitability.The total suitable area is 430.47×104 km2,which accounts for nearly 45% of the total land area in China,while the proportion of people living in the area reaches 96.56%.With a population density of 18 people per square kilometer,the critical area is the transitional region for people to live in China.The critical area covers 225.11×104 km2 with a population of 41.12 million.The non-suitable area covers 304.42×104 km2 with a population of only 2.49 million.

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.

Protection and Management for Ancient Villages from the Perspective of Human Settlement Environment——A Case Study of Xichong Village,Sikou Town,Wuyuan County

As urbanization continues, traditional villages are confronted by the conflict between protection and development, especially for ancient villages in living envi- ronment. China landscape is so vast, dominated by rural areas. Human settlement environment of ancient villages is so important for studying domestic human settle- ment environment, including ancient structure analysis and eco-resource organization. The research explored Xichong Village, Sikou Town, Wuyuan County and detailed how to improve its environment, providing references for ancient village development in settlement environment.

Impact of cold indoor thermal environmental conditions on human thermal response

To explore the thermal responses under the non-thermal equilibrium cold environmental conditions,a laboratory study was conducted in climate chamber.The local skin temperatures and thermal sensation of 20 subjects were recorded at 10 min intervals for 90 min under air temperatures of 7.4,9.1,11 and 15 °C.The results show that both local skin temperatures and mean skin temperature decrease not only with the drop of ambient air temperature but also with the exposure time.Local thermal sensation and overall the thermal sensation have the similar temperature-varying and time-varying characteristics.Predicted mean vote(PMV) model cannot correctly predict the thermal sensation under non-thermal equilibrium cold environment.The correlation between local thermal sensation and local skin temperatures shows that thermal sensation is closely related to skin temperature.Skin temperature is an effective indicator of thermal sensation.A linear relationship model between overall thermal sensation and mean skin temperature,considering both ambient temperature and exposure time,was established in the non-thermal equilibrium cold environment,which makes the evaluation of thermal sensation more objective.

A human－ecology approach to environmental design──An integrative human－ecology design derived from Chinese agricultural cultur eexperiences

Based on fundamental principles of ecology ,the ecological philosophy connotation of Feng-Shui(Wind and Water) concept from experiences of Chinese agricultural culture was first discussed , and then hu-man-ecological implications of Feng-Shui environment architecture is analyzed. As a theoretical integrationbetween human ecology and Feng-Shui theory ,“environment” and “environmental design” concepts were re-examined and given new definitions. With holistic principles of human ecological design in the context ofFeng-Shui , essential technical ways of integrative human ecological design were explored in the presentationof a case study of an urban environmental design in east China.

Changes in the growth of Scots pine(Pinus sylvestris L.)stands in an urban environment in European Russia since 1862

A century and a half ago,in the European part of Russia(Moscow),forest scientists established the first long-term observations of forests,many of which are under observation to the present day.In the twentieth century,climate changes and,due to industrial development,forest areas were under air pollution.Based on observations from 157 sites,this study shows that the growth and density of Scots pine(Pinus sylvestris L.)have decreased by the end of the twentieth century.The environment has changed,and the growth and development of plantations has slowed.Pine yields(-34%stand volume)and their life expectancy(on average 50 years)have decreased.These changes are critical for forestry and for the management of forests in urban centers.Due to the decline in growth,ecosystem functions by urban forests has decreased.In order to increase the sustainability of urban forests and the provision of ecosystem services,it is preferable to create multi-species stands with a complex structure.

Distribution of Avian Influenza A Viruses in Poultry-Related Environment and Its Association with Human Infection in Henan, 2016 to 2017

Objective To survey avian influenza A viruses(AIVs) in the environment and explore the reasons for the surge in human H7 N9 cases.Methods A total of 1,045 samples were collected from routine surveillance on poultry-related environments and 307 samples from human H7 N9 cases-exposed environments in Henan from 2016 to2017. The nucleic acids of influenza A(Flu A), H5, H7, and H9 subtypes were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction.Results A total of 27 H7 N9 cases were confirmed in Henan from 2016 to 2017, 24 had a history of live poultry exposure, and 15 had H7 N9 virus detected in the related live poultry markets(LPMs). About 96%(264/275) Flu A positive-environmental samples were from LPMs. H9 was the main AIV subtype(10.05%) from routine surveillance sites with only 1 H7-positive sample, whereas 21.17% samples were H7-positive in H7 N9 cases-exposed environments. Samples from H7 N9 cases-exposed LPMs(47.56%)had much higher AIVs positive rates than those from routine surveillance sites(12.34%). The H7+H9 combination of mixed infection was 78.18%(43/55) of H7-positive samples and 41.34%(43/104) of H9-positive samples.Conclusion The contamination status of AIVs in poultry-related environments is closely associated with the incidence of human infection caused by AIVs. Therefore, systematic surveillance of AIVs in LPMs in China is essential for the detection of novel reassortant viruses and their potential for interspecies transmission.

Environmental influence in the forested area toward human health: incorporating the ecological environment into art psychotherapy

This study on the development of a psychotherapy program based on the relationship between forests and human health focused on actively considering the natural ecological environment. This study categorized and compared an art psychotherapy program that simply moved to an outdoor space and a forest-art therapy program that actively utilized the forest environment as a medium. The characteristics of the natural environment, such as openness, change, and diversity, shortened the amount of time participants took to develop a rapport and open up and played a vital role in recovering mental health. After a bold attempt at integrating forest environment and art psychotherapy by going beyond outdoor art therapy, there were significant results pertaining to improvements in mental disorders in today’s society, including stress vulnerabilities, depression, anxiety, and aggression. The research results verified that the developed forest-art therapy method had greater efficacy in relation to both the Stress Vulnerability-Interpersonal Sensitivity Scale and the Stress Vulnerability-Self-Regulation Scale.

Farmers' Willingness-to-Pay for Environment and Human Health and Adoption of IPM

Although chemical control of pests increases crop production, it brings a lot of damage to environment and human health. There exist a number of alternative methods that are not so harmful to environment and human health. However, whether and how much in extent these technologies adopted are plausible depends on the comparison of benefit-cost between chemical control and the alternative control methods (such as Integrated Pest Management, IPM) and farmers' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for envirorment and human health. Using contingent valuation method (CVM), the author investigates farmers' WTP for environment and human health, recognizes the factors influencing WTP, and accordingly points out the importance of pest control technology extension and government regulation of pesticides.

One-step cell biomanufacturing platform:porous gelatin microcarrier beads promote human embryonic stem cell-derived midbrain dopaminergic progenitor cell differentiation in vitro and survival after transplantation in vivo

Numerous studies have shown that cell replacement therapy can replenish lost cells and rebuild neural circuitry in animal models of Parkinson’s disease.Transplantation of midbrain dopaminergic progenitor cells is a promising treatment for Parkinson’s disease.However,transplanted cells can be injured by mechanical damage during handling and by changes in the transplantation niche.Here,we developed a one-step biomanufacturing platform that uses small-aperture gelatin microcarriers to produce beads carrying midbrain dopaminergic progenitor cells.These beads allow midbrain dopaminergic progenitor cell differentiation and cryopreservation without digestion,effectively maintaining axonal integrity in vitro.Importantly,midbrain dopaminergic progenitor cell bead grafts showed increased survival and only mild immunoreactivity in vivo compared with suspended midbrain dopaminergic progenitor cell grafts.Overall,our findings show that these midbrain dopaminergic progenitor cell beads enhance the effectiveness of neuronal cell transplantation.

Changes of groundwater flow field of Luanhe River Delta under the human activities and its impact on the ecological environment in the past 30 years

The Luanhe River Delta is located in the center of the Circum-Bohai Sea Economic Zone.It enjoys rapid economic and social development while suffering relatively water scarcity.The overexploitation of groundwater in the Luanhe River Delta in recent years has caused the continuous drop of groundwater level and serious environmental and geological problems.This study systematically analyzes the evolution characteristics of the population,economy,and groundwater exploitation in the Luanhe River Delta and summarizes the change patterns of the groundwater flow regime in different aquifers in the Luanhe River Delta according to previous water resource assessment data as well as the latest groundwater survey results.Through comparison of major source/sink terms and groundwater resources,the study reveals the impacts of human activities on the groundwater resources and ecological environment in the study area over the past 30 years from 1990 to 2020.The results are as follows.The average annual drop rate of shallow groundwater and the deep groundwater in the centers of depression cones is 0.4 m and 1.64 m,respectively in the Luanhe River Delta in the past 30 years.The depression cones of shallow and deep groundwater in the study area cover an area of 545.32 km^(2)and 548.79 km^(2),respectively,accounting for more than 10%of the total area of the Luanhe River Delta.Overexploitation of groundwater has further aggravated land subsidence.As a result,two large-scale subsidence centers have formed,with a maximum subsidence rate of up to 120 mm/a.The drop of groundwater level has induced some ecological problems in the Luanhe River Delta area,such as the zero flow and water quality deterioration of rivers and continuous shrinkage of natural wetlands and water.Meanwhile,the proportion of natural wetland area to the total wetland area has been decreased from 99%to 8%and the water area from 1776 km^(2)to 263 km^(2).These results will provide data for groundwater overexploitation control,land subsidence prevention,and ecological restoration in plains and provide services for water resources management and national land space planning.

Difficulties and Countermeasures of Rural Human Settlement Environment Governance in Tianjin

The course of rural human settlement environment governance in Tianjin could be roughly divided into four stages:germination,initiation,promotion and deepening.After the development for nearly 20 years,rural human settlement environment governance of Tianjin is faced with many difficulties,such as imperfect village construction planning,poor use effect of sewage facilities,low participation of farmers,and insufficient financial investment.Therefore,some countermeasures and suggestions are put forward,such as scientific planning and overall consideration,innovating financing mechanism,encouraging diversified investment of funds,and strengthening the publicity of rural human settlement environment governance.

A holistic framework for facilitating environmental and human health

In the Anthropocene,health is necessary to achieve global sustainable development.This is a challenge because health issues are complex and span from humans to ecosystems and the environment through dynamic interac-tions across scales.We find that the health issues have been mainly addressed by disciplinary endeavors which unfortunately will not result in panoramic theories or effective solutions.We recommend focusing on the intri-cate interactions between humans,ecosystems and the environment for developing common theoretical under-standings and practical solutions for safeguarding planetary health,with human health as the key indicator and endpoint.To facilitate this paradigm shift,a holistic framework is formulated that incorporates disturbances from inner Earth and our solar system,and accommodates interactions between humans,ecosystems and the environ-ment in a nested hierarchy.An integrative and transdisciplinary health science is advocated along with holistic thinking to resolve our current health challenges and to achieve the health-related sustainable development goals.

HUMAN IMPACTS ON THE ECOLOGICAL ENVIRONMENT AND MODERN URBAN CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE LOESS PLATEAU

The influence of human activities on environment and climate change is the most conspicuous problem of the Loess Plateau, and it may be divided into two aspects: firstly, the excessive utilization of land by the human race causes the destruction of vegetation, and consequently large expanse of land is under desertification and the characteristics of the ground surface and the water and heat exchange on the ground surface have changed; secondly, the use of coal by industries produces a huge amount of carbon dioxide and trace elements, which enter into the atmosphere to cause air pollution.Data of 1951-1990 are collected from 69 meteorological stations on the Loess Plateau. After analysis, the decadal variations of temperature and rainfall in the last 40 years are obtained as follows: (1) In the arid zone of the north- west of the Loess Plateau, the increase in temperature is the largest. For the past 40 years, the annual mean temperature has increased 0.7-1.0 ℃ . In the semiarid zone of the middle