Search results for: Chinese mitten crab
Commenced in January 2007
Frequency: Monthly
Edition: International
Paper Count: 1068

Search results for: Chinese mitten crab

558 Spatial Differentiation Patterns and Influencing Mechanism of Urban Greening in China: Based on Data of 289 Cities

Authors: Fangzheng Li, Xiong Li

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Significant differences in urban greening have occurred in Chinese cities, which accompanied with China's rapid urbanization. However, few studies focused on the spatial differentiation of urban greening in China with large amounts of data. The spatial differentiation pattern, spatial correlation characteristics and the distribution shape of urban green space ratio, urban green coverage rate and public green area per capita were calculated and analyzed, using Global and Local Moran's I using data from 289 cities in 2014. We employed Spatial Lag Model and Spatial Error Model to assess the impacts of urbanization process on urban greening of China. Then we used Geographically Weighted Regression to estimate the spatial variations of the impacts. The results showed: 1. a significant spatial dependence and heterogeneity existed in urban greening values, and the differentiation patterns were featured by the administrative grade and the spatial agglomeration simultaneously; 2. it revealed that urbanization has a negative correlation with urban greening in Chinese cities. Among the indices, the the proportion of secondary industry, urbanization rate, population and the scale of urban land use has significant negative correlation with the urban greening of China. Automobile density and per capita Gross Domestic Product has no significant impact. The results of GWR modeling showed that the relationship between urbanization and urban greening was not constant in space. Further, the local parameter estimates suggested significant spatial variation in the impacts of various urbanization factors on urban greening.

Keywords: China’s urbanization, geographically weighted regression, spatial differentiation pattern, urban greening

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557 An Experimental Study on the Influence of Brain-Break in the Classroom on the Physical Health and Academic Performance of Fourth Grade Students

Authors: Qian Mao, Xiaozan Wang, Jiarong Zhong, Xiaolin Zou

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Introduction: As a result of the decline of students' physical health level and the increase of study pressure, students’ academic performance is not so good. Objective: This study aims to verify whether the Brain-Break intervention in the fourth-grade classroom of primary school can improve students' physical health and academic performance. Methods: According to the principle of no difference in pre-test data, students from two classes of grade four in Fuhai Road Primary School, Fushan district, Yantai city, Shandong province, were selected as experimental subjects, including 50 students in the experimental class (25 males and 25 females) and 50 students in the control class (24 males and 26 females). The content of the experiment was that the students were asked to perform a 4-minute Brain-Berak program designed by the researcher in the second class in the morning and the afternoon, and the intervention lasted for 12 weeks. In addition, the lung capacity, 50-meter run, sitting body forward bend, one-minute jumping rope and one-minute sit-ups stipulated in the national standards for physical fitness of students (revised in 2014) were selected as the indicators of physical health. The scores of Chinese, Mathematics, and English in the unified academic test of the municipal education bureau were selected as the indicators of academic performance. The independent-sample t-test was used to compare and analyze the data of each index between the two classes. The paired-sample t-test was used to compare and analyze the data of each index in the two classes. This paper presents only results with significant differences. Results: in terms of physical health, lung capacity (P=0.002, T= -2.254), one-minute rope skipping (P=0.000, T=3.043), and one-minute sit-ups (P=0.045, T=6.153) were significantly different between the experimental class and the control class. In terms of academic performance, there is a significant difference between the Chinese performance of the experimental class and the control class (P=0.009, T=4.833). Conclusion: Adding Brain-Berak intervention in the classroom can effectively improve the cardiorespiratory endurance (lung capacity), coordination (jumping rope), and abdominal strength (sit-ups) of fourth-grade students. At the same time, it can also effectively improve their Chinese performance. Therefore, it is suggested to promote micro-sports in the classroom of primary schools throughout the country so as to help students improve their physical health and academic performance.

Keywords: academic performance, brain break, fourth grade, physical health

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556 Rethinking Propaganda Discourse: Convergence and Divergence Unveiled

Authors: Mandy Tao Benec

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Propaganda, understood as a ‘deliberate attempt to persuade people to think and behave in a desired way’, contributes to the fabric of mass media discourse as an important component, albeit often under various alternative expressions except ‘propaganda’. When the word ‘propaganda’ does appear in the mainstream media of the West, it is often selectively applied upon undesiring parties such as China, the North Korea, Russia’s Putin, or terrorists, etc.. This attitude reveals an ‘us verse them’ mentality; and a presupposition that propaganda is something only ‘they’ do whilst ‘we’ do not. This phenomenon not only runs in danger of generating political naivety, but also calls for the necessity of re-examining propaganda which will benefit from analysing it in contrasting social and political environments. Therefore, this paper aims to compare how propaganda has been understood and put in practice both in the Anglo-American context and by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). By revealing the convergence and divergence of the propaganda discourses between China and the West, it will help clarify the misconception and misunderstanding of the term. Historical narrative analysis and critical discourse analysis are the main methodologies. By carefully examining data from academic research on propaganda in both English and Chinese, the landscape of how propaganda is defined throughout different eras is mapped, with special attention paid to analysing the parallelism and/or correspondence between China and the West when applicable. Meanwhile, critically analysing the official documents such as speeches and guidelines for propaganda administration given by top-rank CCP leaders will help reveal that in contrast to the West’s ‘us-them’ mentality, China sees oneself in no difference with the Western democracies when propaganda is concerned. Major findings of this study will identify a series of convergence and divergence between Chinese and Western propaganda discourses, and the relationship between propaganda the ‘signified’ (its essence) and propaganda the ‘signifier’ (the term itself), including (yet not limited to): 1) convergence in China catching up with the West, acknowledging the perceived pejorative connotation of the term 2) divergence in propaganda activities disassociated from the term in the West; and convergence in adopting such practice when China following suit in its external propaganda towards the West 3) convergence in utilising alternative notions to replace ‘propaganda’, first by the West, then imported and incorporated enthusiastically by China into its propaganda discourse 4) divergence between China’s internal and external propaganda and the subsequent differentiation between in which contexts the CCP sees fit to utilise the concept 5) convergence between China and the West in their English language propaganda discourses, whilst simultaneous divergence in their presuppositions: ‘usthem’ by the West and ‘we are the same’ by China. To conclude, this paper will contribute to the study of propaganda and its discourse by analysing how propaganda is understood and utilised in both worlds, and hence to uncover the discourse power struggle between the two, which contributes to the propaganda discourse itself. Hence, to untie the misconception of propaganda.

Keywords: China, discourse, power, propaganda

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555 How Different Are We After All: A Cross-Cultural Study Using the International Affective Picture System

Authors: Manish Kumar Asthana, Alicia Bundis, Zahn Xu, Braj Bhushan

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Despite ample cross-cultural studies with emotional valence, it is unclear if the emotions are universal or particular. Previous studies have shown that the individualist culture favors high-valence emotions compared to low-valence emotions. In contrast, collectivist culture favors low-valence emotions compared to high-valence emotions. In this current study, Chinese, Mexicans, and Indians reported valence and semantic-contingency. In total, 120 healthy participants were selected by ethnicity and matched for age and education. Each participant was presented 45 non-chromatic pictures, which were converted from chromatic pictures selected from International Affective Picture Database (IAPS) belonging to five-categories, i.e. (i) less pleasant, (ii) high pleasant, (iii) less unpleasant (iv) high unpleasant (v) neutral. The valence scores assigned to neutral, less-unpleasant, and high-pleasant pictures differed significantly between Chinese, Indian, and Mexicans participants. Significant effects demonstrated from the two-way ANOVAs, confirmed main significant effects of valence (F(1,117) = 24.83, p =0.000) and valence x country (F(2,117) = 2.74, p = 0.035). Significant effects emerging from the one-way ANOVAs were followed up through Bonferroni’s test post-hoc comparisons (p < 0.01). This analysis showed significant effect of neutral (F(2,119) = 6.50, p =0.002), less-unpleasant (F(2,119) = 13.79, p =0.000), and high-unpleasant (F(2,119) = 5.99, p =0.003). There were no significant differences in valence scores for the less-pleasant and more-pleasant between participants from three countries. The IAPS norms require modification for their appropriate application in individualist and collectivist cultures.

Keywords: cultural difference, affective processing, valence, non-chromatic, international affective picture system (IAPS)

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554 The Impact of Socioeconomic Status on Citizens’ Perceptions of Social Justice in China

Authors: Yan Liu

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The Gini coefficient indicates that the inequality of income distribution is rising in China. How individuals viewing the equality of current society is an important predicator of social turbulence. Perceptions of social justice may vary according to the social stratification. People usually use socioeconomic status to identify divisions between social stratifications. The objective of this study is to explore the potential influence of socioeconomic status on citizens’ perceptions of social justice in China. Socioeconomic status (SES) is usually reflected by either an SES indicator or a composite of three core dimensions: education, income and occupation. With data collected in the 2010 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), this study uses OLS regression analyses to examine the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and citizens’ perceptions of social justice. This study finds that most Chinese citizens believe that the current society is fair or more than fair. Socioeconomic status (SES) has a positive impact on citizens’ perceptions of social justice, which means individuals with higher indicator of socioeconomic status prefer to believe current society is fair. However, the three core dimensions which are used to measure socioeconomic status (SES) have different influences on perceptions of social justice: First, income helps enhance citizens’ sense of social justice. Second, education weakens citizens’ sense of social justice. Third, compared to the middle occupational status, people of both higher occupational status and lower occupational status have higher levels of perceptions of social justice. Though education creates a negative influence on perceptions of social justice, its effect is much weaker than that of income, which indicates income is a determining factor for enhancing people’s perceptions of social justice in China’s market society. Policy implications are discussed.

Keywords: education, income, occupation, perceptions of social justice, social stratification, socioeconomic status

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553 Effects of Exposure to Domestic Physical Violence on Children's Behavior: A Chinese Community-Based Sample

Authors: Cao Yuping, Li Longfei, Zhao Xingfu, Zhang Yalin

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Purpose: This study examined the effects of exposure to domestic physical violence (DPV) on children’s behavior in a community sample. Method: Ninety-three 12-16 year-old adolescents exposed to DPV were matched with 54 adolescents with no exposure to DPV based on age, gender, family composition and parental age and education level. Participation included assessment with the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-SF) and Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) by the adolescents and their parents respectively. Results: CBCL total score and anxiety/depression, social interaction problems, attention problems, delinquency, aggression and externalizing scores were significantly higher in adolescents exposed to DPV than those in controls (all ps<0.05).The CBCL total score and scores of anxiety/depression, social interaction problems, attention problems, delinquency, aggression and externalizing behaviors of boys were significantly higher in the research group than in the controls (all ps<0.05). Delinquency scores in abused adolescents were significantly higher than in DPV witnessed (p<0.05), but no other scores of CBCL were significant different. Different subtypes of behavioral problems were associated with different types of abuse. Conclusions: DPV exposure is associated with adverse behaviors in children, especially among boys. Children witness DPV alone have similar behavioral scores as the abused children. We recommend that both abused and DPV witness adolescents in Chinese communities need treatment to mitigate the effects on maladjusted behaviors.

Keywords: domestic violence, child, behavior, community, China

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552 Associations between Parental Marital Quality and Sexual Behaviors among 50,000 Chinese University Students

Authors: Jiashu Shen

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With the increase in the prevalence of divorce, the impact of divorce on children’s sexual and reproductive health has received wide attention, while few studies have investigated parent marital relationship. This study aims to study the relation of both parent divorce and perceived parental marital relationship with children’s sexual behaviors among Chinese university or vocational college students. The study used data from “National College Student Survey on Sexual and Reproductive Health 2019”, an internet-based survey conducted from November 2019 to February 2020, in 241 universities or vocational colleges in China. Statistical analyses were conducted to assess the relationship of perceived parental marital relationship and parents’ divorce of distinct occurrence time with sexual intercourse, risky sexual behaviors, unintended health outcomes and sexual abuse. Among 51,124 university or vocational college students, those whose parents had divorced accounted for 10.72%. Better perceived parental relationship was associated with a lower likelihood to have sexual intercourse (male: OR: 0.83, 95%CI: 0.80-0.86; female: OR: 0.73, 95%CI: 0.70-0.75), sexual abuse, risky sexual behaviors and unintended health outcomes. Divorce was also found to be associated with higher risk of sexual abuse, risky sexual behaviors and unintended health outcomes. The findings highlight the importance of parental marital relationship and divorce in risky sexual behavior among young adults. The findings may provide implications on intervention programs targeting at children with divorced parents from an early stage.

Keywords: college students, divorce, family relationship, sexual behavior

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551 The First Import of Yellow Fever Cases in China and Its Revealing Suggestions for the Control and Prevention of Imported Emerging Diseases

Authors: Chao Li, Lei Zhou, Ruiqi Ren, Dan Li, Yali Wang, Daxin Ni, Zijian Feng, Qun Li

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Background: In 2016, yellow fever had been first ever discovered in China, soon after the yellow fever epidemic occurred in Angola. After the discovery, China had promptly made the national protocol of control and prevention and strengthened the surveillance on passenger and vector. In this study, a descriptive analysis was conducted to summarize China’s experiences of response towards this import epidemic, in the hope of providing experiences on prevention and control of yellow fever and other similar imported infectious diseases in the future. Methods: The imported cases were discovered and reported by General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) and several hospitals. Each clinically diagnosed yellow fever case was confirmed by real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR). The data of the imported yellow fever cases were collected by local Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through field investigations soon after they received the reports. Results: A total of 11 imported cases from Angola were reported in China, during Angola’s yellow fever outbreak. Six cases were discovered by the AQSIQ, among which two with mild symptom were initiative declarations at the time of entry. Except for one death, the remaining 10 cases all had recovered after timely and proper treatment. All cases are Chinese, and lived in Luanda, the capital of Angola. 73% were retailers (8/11) from Fuqing city in Fujian province, and the other three were labors send by companies. 10 cases had experiences of medical treatment in Luanda after onset, among which 8 cases visited the same local Chinese medicine hospital (China Railway four Bureau Hospital). Among the 11 cases, only one case had an effective vaccination. The result of emergency surveillance for mosquito density showed that only 14 containers of water were found positive around places of three cases, and the Breteau Index is 15. Conclusions: Effective response was taken to control and prevent the outbreak of yellow fever in China after discovering the imported cases. However, though the similar origin of Chinese in Angola has provided an easy access for disease detection, information sharing, health education and vaccination on yellow fever; these conveniences were overlooked during previous disease prevention methods. Besides, only one case having effective vaccination revealed the inadequate capacity of immunization service in China. These findings will provide suggestions to improve China’s capacity to deal with not only yellow fever but also other similar imported diseases in China.

Keywords: yellow fever, first import, China, suggestion

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550 Effectiveness of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Treatment of Eczema: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Based on Eczema Area and Severity Index Score

Authors: Oliver Chunho Ma, Tszying Chang

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Background: Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been widely used in the treatment of eczema. However, there is currently a lack of comprehensive research on the overall effectiveness of TCM in treating eczema, particularly using the Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) score as an evaluation tool. Meta-analysis can integrate the results of multiple studies to provide more convincing evidence. Objective: To conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis based on the EASI score to evaluate the overall effectiveness of TCM in the treatment of eczema. Specifically, the study will review and analyze published clinical studies that investigate TCM treatments for eczema and use the EASI score as an outcome measure, comparing the differences in improving the severity of eczema between TCM and other treatment modalities, such as conventional Western medicine treatments. Methods: Relevant studies, including randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-randomized controlled trials, that involve TCM treatment for eczema and use the EASI score as an outcome measure will be searched in medical literature databases such as PubMed, CNKI, etc. Relevant data will be extracted from the selected studies, including study design, sample size, treatment methods, improvement in EASI score, etc. The methodological quality and risk of bias of the included studies will be assessed using appropriate evaluation tools (such as the Cochrane Handbook). The results of the selected studies will be statistically analyzed, including pooling effect sizes (such as standardized mean differences, relative risks, etc.), subgroup analysis (e.g., different TCM syndromes, different treatment modalities), and sensitivity analysis (e.g., excluding low-quality studies). Based on the results of the statistical analysis and quality assessment, the overall effectiveness of TCM in improving the severity of eczema will be interpreted. Expected outcomes: By integrating the results of multiple studies, we expect to provide more convincing evidence regarding the specific effects of TCM in improving the severity of eczema. Additionally, subgroup analysis and sensitivity analysis can further elucidate whether the effectiveness of TCM treatment is influenced by different factors. Besides, we will compare the results of the meta-analysis with the clinical data from our clinic. For both the clinical data and the meta-analysis results, we will perform descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviations, percentages, etc. and compare the differences between the two using statistical tests such as independent samples t-test or non-parametric tests to assess the statistical differences between them.

Keywords: Eczema, traditional Chinese medicine, EASI, systematic review, meta-analysis

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549 Incorporating Lexical-Semantic Knowledge into Convolutional Neural Network Framework for Pediatric Disease Diagnosis

Authors: Xiaocong Liu, Huazhen Wang, Ting He, Xiaozheng Li, Weihan Zhang, Jian Chen

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The utilization of electronic medical record (EMR) data to establish the disease diagnosis model has become an important research content of biomedical informatics. Deep learning can automatically extract features from the massive data, which brings about breakthroughs in the study of EMR data. The challenge is that deep learning lacks semantic knowledge, which leads to impracticability in medical science. This research proposes a method of incorporating lexical-semantic knowledge from abundant entities into a convolutional neural network (CNN) framework for pediatric disease diagnosis. Firstly, medical terms are vectorized into Lexical Semantic Vectors (LSV), which are concatenated with the embedded word vectors of word2vec to enrich the feature representation. Secondly, the semantic distribution of medical terms serves as Semantic Decision Guide (SDG) for the optimization of deep learning models. The study evaluate the performance of LSV-SDG-CNN model on four kinds of Chinese EMR datasets. Additionally, CNN, LSV-CNN, and SDG-CNN are designed as baseline models for comparison. The experimental results show that LSV-SDG-CNN model outperforms baseline models on four kinds of Chinese EMR datasets. The best configuration of the model yielded an F1 score of 86.20%. The results clearly demonstrate that CNN has been effectively guided and optimized by lexical-semantic knowledge, and LSV-SDG-CNN model improves the disease classification accuracy with a clear margin.

Keywords: convolutional neural network, electronic medical record, feature representation, lexical semantics, semantic decision

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548 Analyzing Music Theory in Different Countries: Compare with Greece and China

Authors: Baoshan Wang

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The present study investigates how music theory has developed across different countries due to their diverse histories, religions, and cultural differences. It is unknown how these various factors may contribute to differences in music theory across countries. Therefore, we examine the differences between China and Greece, which have developed unique music theories over time. Specifically, our analysis looks at musical notation and scales. For example, Tonal music originates from Greece, which harbors quite complex notation and scaling. There exist seven notes in each scale within seven modes of scales. Each mode of the diatonic scale has a unique temperament, two of which are most commonly used in modern music. In contrast, we find that Chinese music has only five notes in its scales. Interestingly, a unique feature of Chinese music theory is that there is no half-step, resulting in a highly divergent and culture-specific sound. Fascinatingly, these differences may arise from the contrasting ways that Western and Eastern musicians perceive music. While Western musicians tend to believe in music “without borders,” Eastern musicians generally embrace differing perspectives. Yet, the vast majority of colleges or music conservatories teach the borderless theory of Western music, which renders the music educational system incomplete. This is critically important because learning music is not simply a profession for musicians. Rather, it is an intermediary to facilitate understanding and appreciation for different countries’ cultures and religions. Education is undoubtedly the optimal mode to promote different countries’ music theory so people across the world can learn more about music and, in turn, each other. Even though Western music theory is predominantly taught, it is crucial we also pursue an understanding of other countries’ music because their unique aspects contribute to the systematic completeness of Music Theory in its entirety.

Keywords: culture, development, music theory, music history, religion, western music

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547 Adoption of Green Supply Chain Practices and Their Impact on a Firm's Economic and Environmental Performance

Authors: Qingyu Zhang, Helin Ma, Lili Weng, Mei Cao

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Green supply chain management has been an important organizational strategy to reduce environmental risks and improve financial performance. Firms have to adopt green supply chain practices to meet the official regulations and reduce peer pressure in China. This paper exhibits an empirical study of the drivers of green supply chain management practices and the environmental and economic performance of green supply chain management implementation in Chinese firms. While China is the fastest-growing emerging economy, it has paid a high ecological price. It is reported that China hosts 7 of the world’s 10 most polluted cities. The continued environmental deterioration and the resultant heightened regulatory control and public scrutiny have posed new operating challenges to firms conducting business in China. These challenges make the country an ideal setting to conduct the present study. A research questionnaire was developed to gather data in China. The questionnaire targeted managers and employees in Chinese companies. The data were collected in the last quarter of 2015, involving industries such as electronic & communicational equipment, textile & clothing, pharmaceutical & healthcare, and so on. This study confirms and validates that (1) both internal and external drivers play a significant role in the implementation of green supply chain management practices; (2) green purchase and investment recovery have a significant impact on firms’ environmental and economic performance; (3) with the improvement of the firms’ environmental performance, their economic performance will improve.

Keywords: economic performance, environmental performance, external driver, green supply chain management

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546 Object-Based Image Analysis for Gully-Affected Area Detection in the Hilly Loess Plateau Region of China Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Authors: Hu Ding, Kai Liu, Guoan Tang

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The Chinese Loess Plateau suffers from serious gully erosion induced by natural and human causes. Gully features detection including gully-affected area and its two dimension parameters (length, width, area et al.), is a significant task not only for researchers but also for policy-makers. This study aims at gully-affected area detection in three catchments of Chinese Loess Plateau, which were selected in Changwu, Ansai, and Suide by using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The methodology includes a sequence of UAV data generation, image segmentation, feature calculation and selection, and random forest classification. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the influences of segmentation strategy and feature selection. Results showed that vertical and horizontal root-mean-square errors were below 0.5 and 0.2 m, respectively, which were ideal for the Loess Plateau region. The segmentation strategy adopted in this paper, which considers the topographic information, and optimal parameter combination can improve the segmentation results. Besides, the overall extraction accuracy in Changwu, Ansai, and Suide achieved was 84.62%, 86.46%, and 93.06%, respectively, which indicated that the proposed method for detecting gully-affected area is more objective and effective than traditional methods. This study demonstrated that UAV can bridge the gap between field measurement and satellite-based remote sensing, obtaining a balance in resolution and efficiency for catchment-scale gully erosion research.

Keywords: unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), object-analysis image analysis, gully erosion, gully-affected area, Loess Plateau, random forest

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545 The Communist Party of China’s Approach to Human Rights and the Death Penalty in China since 1979

Authors: Huang Gui

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The issues of human rights and death penalty are always drawing attentions from international scholars, critics and observers, activities and Chinese scholars, and most of them looking at these problems are just doing with such legal or political from a single perspective, but the real relationship between Chinese political regime and legislation is often ignored. In accordance with the Constitution of P.R.C., Communist Party of China (CPC) does not merely play a key role in political field, but in legislation and law enforcement as well. Therefore, the legislation has to implement the party’s theory and outlook, and realize the party’s policies. So is the death penalty system, though it is only concrete punishment system. Considering this point, basic upon the introducing the relationship between CPC and legislation, this paper would like to explore the shifting of CPC’s outlook on human rights and the death penalty system changes in different eras. In Maoist era, the issue of human rights was rejected and deemed as an exclusion zone, and the death penalty was unjustifiably imposed; human rights were politically recognized and accepted in Deng era, but CPC has its own viewpoints on it. CPC emphasized on national security and stability in that era, and the individual human rights weren’t taken correspondingly and reasonably account of. The death penalty was abused and deemed as an important measure to control crime. In post-Deng, human rights were gradually developed and recognized. The term of ‘state respect and protect human rights’ is contained in Constitution of P.R.C., and the individual human rights are gradually valued, but the CPC still focus on state security, development, and stability, the individual right to life hasn’t been enough valued like the right to substance. Although the steps of reforming death penalty are taking, there are still 46 crimes punishable by death. CPC should change its outlook and pay more attention to the right to life, and try to abolish death penalty de facto and de jure.

Keywords: criminal law, communist party of China, death penalty, human rights, China

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544 The Impact of China’s Waste Import Ban on the Waste Mining Economy in East Asia

Authors: Michael Picard

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This proposal offers to shed light on the changing legal geography of the global waste economy. Global waste recycling has become a multi-billion-dollar industry. NASDAQ predicts the emergence of a worldwide 1,296G$ waste management market between 2017 and 2022. Underlining this evolution, a new generation of preferential waste-trade agreements has emerged in the Pacific. In the last decade, Japan has concluded a series of bilateral treaties with Asian countries, and most recently with China. An agreement between Tokyo and Beijing was formalized on 7 May 2008, which forged an economic partnership on waste transfer and mining. The agreement set up International Recycling Zones, where certified recycling plants in China process industrial waste imported from Japan. Under the joint venture, Chinese companies salvage the embedded value from Japanese industrial discards, reprocess them and send them back to Japanese manufacturers, such as Mitsubishi and Panasonic. This circular economy is designed to convert surplus garbage into surplus value. Ever since the opening of Sino-Japanese eco-parks, millions of tons of plastic and e-waste have been exported from Japan to China every year. Yet, quite unexpectedly, China has recently closed its waste market to imports, jeopardizing Japan’s billion-dollar exports to China. China notified the WTO that, by the end of 2017, it would no longer accept imports of plastics and certain metals. Given China’s share of Japanese waste exports, a complete closure of China’s market would require Japan to find new uses for its recyclable industrial trash generated domestically every year. It remains to be seen how China will effectively implement its ban on waste imports, considering the economic interests at stake. At this stage, what remains to be clarified is whether China's ban on waste imports will negatively affect the recycling trade between Japan and China. What is clear, though, is the rapid transformation in the legal geography of waste mining in East-Asia. For decades, East-Asian waste trade had been tied up in an ‘ecologically unequal exchange’ between the Japanese core and the Chinese periphery. This global unequal waste distribution could be measured by the Environmental Stringency Index, which revealed that waste regulation was 39% weaker in the Global South than in Japan. This explains why Japan could legally export its hazardous plastic and electronic discards to China. The asymmetric flow of hazardous waste between Japan and China carried the colonial heritage of international law. The legal geography of waste distribution was closely associated to the imperial construction of an ecological trade imbalance between the Japanese source and the Chinese sink. Thus, China’s recent decision to ban hazardous waste imports is a sign of a broader ecological shift. As a global economic superpower, China announced to the world it would no longer be the planet’s junkyard. The policy change will have profound consequences on the global circulation of waste, re-routing global waste towards countries south of China, such as Vietnam and Malaysia. By the time the Berlin Conference takes place in May 2018, the presentation will be able to assess more accurately the effect of the Chinese ban on the transboundary movement of waste in Asia.

Keywords: Asia, ecological unequal exchange, global waste trade, legal geography

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543 Lateral Torsional Buckling Investigation on Welded Q460GJ Structural Steel Unrestrained Beams under a Point Load

Authors: Yue Zhang, Bo Yang, Gang Xiong, Mohamed Elchalakanic, Shidong Nie

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This study aims to investigate the lateral torsional buckling of I-shaped cross-section beams fabricated from Q460GJ structural steel plates. Both experimental and numerical simulation results are presented in this paper. A total of eight specimens were tested under a three-point bending, and the corresponding numerical models were established to conduct parametric studies. The effects of some key parameters such as the non-dimensional member slenderness and the height-to-width ratio, were investigated based on the verified numerical models. Also, the results obtained from the parametric studies were compared with the predictions calculated by different design codes including the Chinese design code (GB50017-2003, 2003), the new draft version of Chinese design code (GB50017-201X, 2012), Eurocode 3 (EC3, 2005) and the North America design code (ANSI/AISC360-10, 2010). These comparisons indicated that the sectional height-to-width ratio does not play an important role to influence the overall stability load-carrying capacity of Q460GJ structural steel beams with welded I-shaped cross-sections. It was also found that the design methods in GB50017-2003 and ANSI/AISC360-10 overestimate the overall stability and load-carrying capacity of Q460GJ welded I-shaped cross-section beams.

Keywords: experimental study, finite element analysis, global stability, lateral torsional buckling, Q460GJ structural steel

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542 Digital Transformation and Environmental Disclosure in Industrial Firms: The Moderating Role of the Top Management Team

Authors: Yongxin Chen, Min Zhang

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As industrial enterprises are the primary source of national pollution, environmental information disclosure is a crucial way to demonstrate to stakeholders the work they have done in fulfilling their environmental responsibilities and accepting social supervision. In the era of the digital economy, many companies, actively embracing the opportunities that come with digital transformation, have begun to apply digital technology to information collection and disclosure within the enterprise. However, less is known about the relationship between digital transformation and environmental disclosure. This study investigates how enterprise digital transformation affects environmental disclosure in 643 Chinese industrial companies, according to information processing theory. What is intriguing is that the depth (size) and breadth (diversity) of environmental disclosure linearly increase with the rise in the collection, processing, and analytical capabilities in the digital transformation process. However, the volume of data will grow exponentially, leading to a marginal increase in the economic and environmental costs of utilizing, storing, and managing data. In our empirical findings, linearly increasing benefits and marginal costs create a unique inverted U-shaped relationship between the degree of digital transformation and environmental disclosure in the Chinese industrial sector. Besides, based on the upper echelons theory, we also propose that the top management team with high stability and managerial capabilities will invest more effort and expense into improving environmental disclosure quality, lowering the carbon footprint caused by digital technology, maintaining data security etc. In both these contexts, the increasing marginal cost curves would become steeper, weakening the inverted U-shaped slope between DT and ED.

Keywords: digital transformation, environmental disclosure, the top management team, information processing theory, upper echelon theory

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541 Association among Trait Mindfulness, Leukocyte Telomere Length, and Psychological Symptoms in Singaporean Han Chinese

Authors: Shian-Ling Keng, Onn Siong Yim, Poh San Lai, Soo Chong Chew, Anne Chong, Richard Ebstein

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Research has demonstrated a positive association between mindfulness meditation and physical health. Little work, however, has examined the association between trait mindfulness and leukocyte telomere length (LTL), an emerging marker of cellular aging. The present study aimed to examine whether facets of trait mindfulness are correlated with longer LTL in a Singaporean Han Chinese sample and whether these facets may mediate the association between psychological symptoms and LTL. 158 adults (mean age = 27.24 years) completed measures assessing trait mindfulness and psychological symptoms (i.e., depression and stress) and provided blood samples for analyses of LTL using qPCR. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to assess the association between facets of trait mindfulness and LTL. Bootstrapping-based mediational analyses were run to examine the role of trait mindfulness as a mediator of the association between psychological symptoms and LTL. Of five facets of trait mindfulness (describe, act with awareness, observe, nonreactivity, and nonjudging), nonreactivity was significantly associated with LTL, after controlling for the effects of age, gender, and education, β = .21, p = .006. Further, there was a trend for overall trait mindfulness, β = .15, p = .06, and nonjudging, β = .13, p = .095, to each predict longer LTL. Nonreactivity significantly mediated the association between depression and LTL, BCa 95% CI [-.004, -.0004], p=.03, as well as the association between stress and LTL, BCa 95% CI [-.004, -.0004], p=.04. The results provide preliminary evidence for a positive association between selected facets of trait mindfulness and slower cellular aging, indexed by LTL. The findings suggest that individuals who are high on equanimity may experience slower aging at the cellular level, presumably through engaging in more effective coping mechanisms and modulation of stress. The findings also highlight the role of nonreactivity as a potential mechanism that underlies the association between LTL and psychological symptoms.

Keywords: depression, mindfulness, stress, telomere length

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540 Location Choice: The Effects of Network Configuration upon the Distribution of Economic Activities in the Chinese City of Nanning

Authors: Chuan Yang, Jing Bie, Zhong Wang, Panagiotis Psimoulis

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Contemporary studies investigating the association between the spatial configuration of the urban network and economic activities at the street level were mostly conducted within space syntax conceptual framework. These findings supported the theory of 'movement economy' and demonstrated the impact of street configuration on the distribution of pedestrian movement and land-use shaping, especially retail activities. However, the effects varied between different urban contexts. In this paper, the relationship between economic activity distribution and the urban configurational characters was examined at the segment level. In the study area, three kinds of neighbourhood types, urban, suburban, and rural neighbourhood, were included. And among all neighbourhoods, three kinds of urban network form, 'tree-like', grid, and organic pattern, were recognised. To investigate the nested effects of urban configuration measured by space syntax approach and urban context, multilevel zero-inflated negative binomial (ZINB) regression models were constructed. Additionally, considering the spatial autocorrelation, spatial lag was also concluded in the model as an independent variable. The random effect ZINB model shows superiority over the ZINB model or multilevel linear (ML) model in the explanation of economic activities pattern shaping over the urban environment. And after adjusting for the neighbourhood type and network form effects, connectivity and syntax centrality significantly affect economic activities clustering. The comparison between accumulative and new established economic activities illustrated the different preferences for economic activity location choice.

Keywords: space syntax, economic activities, multilevel model, Chinese city

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539 A Preliminary Study of the Reconstruction of Urban Residential Public Space in the Context of the “Top-down” Construction Model in China: Based on Research of TianZiFang District in Shanghai and Residential Space in Hangzhou

Authors: Wang Qiaowei, Gao Yujiang

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With the economic growth and rapid urbanization after the reform and openness, some of China's fast-growing cities have demolished former dwellings and built modern residential quarters. The blind, incomplete reference to western modern cities and the one-off construction lacking feedback mechanism have intensified such phenomenon, causing the citizen gradually expanded their living scale with the popularization of car traffic, and the peer-to-peer lifestyle gradually settled. The construction of large-scale commercial centers has caused obstacles to small business around the residential areas, leading to space for residents' interaction has been compressed. At the same time, the advocated Central Business District (CBD) model even leads to the unsatisfactory reconstruction of many historical blocks such as the Hangzhou Southern Song Dynasty Imperial Street. However, the popularity of historical spaces such as Wuzhen and Hongcun also indicates the collective memory and needs of the street space for Chinese residents. The evolution of Shanghai TianZiFang also proves the importance of the motivation of space participants in space construction in the context of the “top-down” construction model in China. In fact, there are frequent occurrences of “reconstruction”, which may redefine the space, in various residential areas. If these activities can be selectively controlled and encouraged, it will be beneficial to activate the public space as well as the residents’ intercourse, so that the traditional Chinese street space can be reconstructed in the context of modern cities.

Keywords: rapid urbanization, traditional street space, space re-construction, bottom-up design

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538 Public Preferences for Lung Cancer Screening in China: A Discrete Choice Experiment

Authors: Zixuan Zhao, Lingbin Du, Le Wang, Youqing Wang, Yi Yang, Jingjun Chen, Hengjin Dong

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Objectives: Few results from public attitudes for lung cancer screening are available both in China and abroad. This study aimed to identify preferred lung cancer screening modalities in a Chinese population and predict uptake rates of different modalities. Materials and Methods: A discrete choice experiment questionnaire was administered to 392 Chinese individuals aged 50–74 years who were at high risk for lung cancer. Each choice set had two lung screening options and an option to opt-out, and respondents were asked to choose the most preferred one. Both mixed logit analysis and stepwise logistic analysis were conducted to explore whether preferences were related to respondent characteristics and identify which kinds of respondents were more likely to opt out of any screening. Results: On mixed logit analysis, attributes that were predictive of choice at 1% level of statistical significance included the screening interval, screening venue, and out-of-pocket costs. The preferred screening modality seemed to be screening by low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) + blood test once a year in a general hospital at a cost of RMB 50; this could increase the uptake rate by 0.40 compared to the baseline setting. On stepwise logistic regression, those with no endowment insurance were more likely to opt out; those who were older and housewives/househusbands, and those with a health check habit and with commercial endowment insurance were less likely to opt out from a screening programme. Conclusions: There was considerable variance between real risk and self-perceived risk of lung cancer among respondents, and further research is required in this area. Lung cancer screening uptake can be increased by offering various screening modalities, so as to help policymakers further design the screening modality.

Keywords: lung cancer, screening, China., discrete choice experiment

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537 Epstein-Barr Virus-associated Diseases and TCM Syndromes Types: In Search for Correlation

Authors: Xu Yifei, Le Yining, Yang Qingluan, Tu Yanjie

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Objective: This study aims to investigate the distribution features of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) syndromes and syndrome elements in Epstein-Barr virus-associated diseases and then explores the relations between TCM syndromes or syndrome elements and laboratory indicators of Epstein-Barr virus-associated diseases. Methods: A cross-sectional study of 70 patients with EBV infection was described. We assessed the diagnostic information and laboratory indicators of these patients from Huashan Hospital Affiliated to Fudan University between November 2017 and July 2019. The disease diagnosis and syndrome differentiation were based on the diagnostic criteria of EBV-associated diseases and the theory of TCM respectively. Confidence correlation analysis, logistic regression analysis, cluster analysis, and the Sankey diagram were used to analyze the correlation between the data. Results: The differentiation of the 4 primary TCM syndromes in the collected patients was correlated with the indexes of immune function, liver function, inflammation, and anemia, especially the relationship between Qifen syndrome and high lactic acid dehydrogenase level. The common 11 TCM syndrome elements were associated with the increased CD3+ T cell rate, low hemoglobin level, high procalcitonin level, high lactic acid dehydrogenase level, and low albumin level. Conclusion: The changes in immune function indexes, procalcitonin, and liver function-related indexes in patients with EBV-associated diseases were consistent with the evolution law of TCM syndromes. This study provides a reference for judging the pathological stages of these kinds of diseases, predicting their prognosis, and guiding subsequent treatment strategies based on TCM syndrome type.

Keywords: EBV-associated diseases, traditional Chinese medicine syndrome, syndrome element, diagnostics

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536 Responding to the Mental Health Service Needs of Rural-to-Urban Migrant Workers in China: Current Situation and Future Directions

Authors: Yujun Liu, Maosheng Ran

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Background: Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers’ mental health problems raise attentions from different social sectors. However, situation of present mental health services provided to this population has not been discovered. This study attempts to describe the current mental health service situation, identify the gaps and give the future directions based on the quantitative data. Methods: Questionnaire surveys were conducted among 2017 rural-to-urban migrant workers in 13 cities and 100 social work service organizations in 5 cities in 2014. Data was collected by face-to-face structured interview by trained interviewers. Findings: Migrant workers’ mental health status was not good. Compared to the severity of mental distress, mental health service for this population was lacking and insufficient, which accounted for only 14.4% of all services in our sample. And the group work and case work were the most frequently-used methods. By estimating a series of regression models, we revealed that life experiences and working conditions were significantly associated with migrant workers’ mental health status. Therefore, the macro social work practices aimed at this whole group were advocated to promote their mental wellbeing. That is, practitioners should not only focus on the improvement of migrant workers’ emotion management capacity, but also pay attention to raise awareness and improve their living and working condition; not only concentrate on the solving of individuals’ dilemma, but also promote gradual reformation of present labor regime and hukou system in China.

Keywords: Chinese rural-to-urban migrant workers, macro social work practice, mental health service needs, mental health status

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535 A Study on Hierarchy and Popularity of Foreign TV Series with Different Origin Countries among Chinese Audiences from a Uses and Gratification Perspective

Authors: Terigele

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Cultural products are always shelved into different classes of a hierarchy that separates so-called highbrow and lowbrow cultures. This study illustrated that audiences might even construct a hierarchy according to the origin countries when consuming certain products. Chinese audiences now have access to TV series from all around the world thanks to the internet. TV series from different origin countries show some particular features in terms of length, theme, plots, accessibility, seriousness etc. Their audiences were therefore stereotyped because of what they watch. Based on in-depth interviews with 20 participants, this research has following findings: 1) Most popular origin countries of foreign TV series in China are Korea, the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan and European countries in a descending order. Korean TV series are most popular because they are less serious and more accessible compared to others. 2) In the hierarchy of the TV series, European TV series stand on the top followed by British and American TV series. Japanese TV series are also categorized into highbrow class. Korean TV series are at the bottom and always seen as lowbrow cultural products. 3) Most audiences consume TV series from more than one origin countries and have different needs when watching them. Participants reported that they watch European TV series because those TV series are more artistic than their counterparts and of great quality. They watch British and American TV series mainly to improve their English and to learn about the culture. They find Japanese TV series very enjoyable with a large variety of themes and impressive lines. Audiences watch Korean TV series mostly to entertain and kill time. 4) Audiences do care about cultural taste. Especially those who watch European, British and American TV series usually tend to consider audiences who watch nothing but Korean TV series to be shallow. On the other hand, Korean TV series’ audiences seem to care less about the hierarchy of the TV series. Even when they discuss the hierarchy, they tend to accept the judgments with ironies and jokes. Future studies can dig deeply into the genre and content of TV series with different origin countries and also investigate more about the psychology of audiences regarding the gender, age, education, socioeconomic status etc.

Keywords: foreign TV series, hierarchy, popularity, uses and gratification

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534 Systematic Review of the Efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Parkinson Disease

Authors: Catarina Ramos Pereira, Jorge Rodrigues, Natália Oliveira, Jorge Machado, Maria Begoña Criado, Jorge Machado, Henri J. Greten

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Background: Parkinson's disease is a multi-system neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor and non-motor symptoms. To slow disorder progression, different treatment options are now available, but in most cases, these therapeutic strategies also involve the presence of important side effects. This has led many patients to pursue complementary therapies, such as acupuncture, to alleviate PD symptoms. Therefore, an update on the efficacy of this treatment for patients of PD is of great value. This work presents a systematic review of the efficacy of acupuncture treatments in relieving PD symptoms. Methods: EMBASE, Medline, Pubmed, Science Direct, The Cochrane Library, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Central), and Scielo databases were systematically searched from January 2011 through July 2021. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in English with all types of acupuncture treatment were included. The selection and analysis of the articles were conducted by two blinding authors through the Rayyan application. Results: 720 potentially relevant articles were identified; 52 RCTs met our inclusion criteria. After the exclusion of 35, we found 17 eligible. The included RCTs reported positive effects for acupuncture plus conventional treatment compared with conventional treatment alone in the UPDRS score. Conclusions: Additional evidence should be supported by rigorous methodological strategies. Although firm conclusions cannot be drawn, acupuncture treatment, in the framework of an interdisciplinary care team, appears to have positive effects on PD symptoms.

Keywords: systematic review, Parkinson disease, acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine

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533 Geographic Information System Based Development Potentiality Assessment for Rural Villages: Case Study in Fuliang County, Jingdezhen

Authors: Sishen Wang

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Chinese rural industry development is the major task currently during rapid urbanization. Development of potentiality assessment, evaluate the overall suitability of each village for further industrial development, could offer reference for policy makers, especially considering the limited data available in Chinese rural regions. The study focuses on 157 official villages in Fuliang County and evaluates their development potentiality by their topography, transportation condition, population, income of villagers, infrastructure and environmental conditions. Land cover changes for Fuliang county and surrounding areas of each village is also investigated for reference. The final development potentiality of each village was calculated by adding different weighted scores of different categories. Besides, inverse distance weighting (IDW) images for both final score of development potentiality and each factor were made and compared to help to understand the final result. The study found that village in the southern and northern regions have higher development potentiality than villages in the eastern and western regions, mainly because of higher income of villagers, good accessibilities and a large amount of population size. In addition, the Fuliang county was divided into five regions based on final result and policy reference for the development of each region were put forward individually. In addition, three suggestions were made for better local development potentiality: Firstly, the transportation accessibility needs to be improved in the northern regions by building more public transit system there. Secondly, the environmental conditions and infrastructure conditions in the eastern region of the county need some improvement. Thirdly, some encouragement and job opportunities should beset up in the western regions to attract labor force to move in and settle down.

Keywords: development potentiality, Fuliang GIS-Based, GIS, official village

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532 Removal of Lead Ions from Aqueous Medium Using Devised Column Filters Packed with Chitosan from Trash Crab Shells: A Characterization Study

Authors: Charles Klein O. Gorit, Mark Tristan J. Quimque Jr., M. Cecilia V. Almeda, Concepcion M. Salvana

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Chitosan is a promising biopolymer commonly found in crustacean shells that has plausible effects in water purification and wastewater treatment. It is a primary derivative of chitin and considered second of the most abundant biopolymer prior to cellulose. Morphological analysis had been done using Scanning Electron Microscopy with Energy Dispersive Microscopy (SEM/EDS), and due to its porous nature, it showcases a certain degree of porosity, hence, larger adsorption site of heavy metal. The Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy of the chitosan and ‘lead-bound’ chitosan, shows a relative increase of percent abundance of lead cation from 1.44% to 2.08% hence, adsorption occurs. Chitosan, as a nitrogenous polysaccharide, subjected to Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis shows amide bands ranging from 1635.36 cm⁻¹ for amide 1 band and 1558.40 cm-1 for amide 2 band with NH stretching. For ‘lead-bound’ chitosan, the FT-IR analysis shows a change in peaks upon adsorption of Pb(II) cation. The spectrum shows broadening of OH and NH stretching band. Such observation can be attributed to the probability that the attachment of Pb(II) ions is in these functional groups. A column filter was devised with lead-bound chitosan to determine the zero point charge (pHzpc) of the biopolymer. The results show that at pH 8.34, below than the zpc level of literatures cited for lead which ranges from pH 4 to 7, favors the adsorption site of chitosan and its capability to adsorb traces amount of aqueous lead.

Keywords: chitosan, biopolymer, FT-IR, SEM, zero-point charge, heavy metal, lead ions

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531 Is Audit Quality Implied by Accruals Quality Associated with Audit Fees and Auditor Tenure? Evidence from China

Authors: Hassan Y. Kikhia, Jin P. Zhang, Khaldoon G. Albiatr

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The Enron and Arthur Andersen scandal has raised concerns internationally about auditor independence and audit quality. Furthermore, the debate continues about the relationship between audit fees, auditor tenure and audit quality in spite of extensive empirical evidence examining audit failures and earnings management. Therefore, the purpose of current research is to determine the effect of audit fee and audit tenure both partially and simultaneously on the audit quality. Using a sample of Chinese firms, an environment where we believe it provides us with an opportunity to test whether the development of market and legal institutions affects the impact of audit fees and auditor tenure on audit quality. We employ the standard deviation of residuals from regressions relating current accruals to cash flows as proxy for audit quality. The paper documents statistically significant negative association between audit fees and audit quality. These findings are consistent with economic bonding being a determinant of auditor behavior rather than auditor reputational concerns. Further, the current paper shows a positive association between auditor tenure and audit quality in the earlier years of audit tenure. These results support the proposition that when the Learning Effect dominates the Bonding Effect in the earlier years of tenure, then audit quality is likely to be higher. Taken audit fees and audit tenure together, the results suggest that there is positive association between audit fees and audit quality in the earlier years of auditor tenure. Interestingly, the findings of our study have important implications for auditors, policymakers, multinational firms, and users of financial reports. As the rapid growth of China's economy gains global recognition, the Chinese stock market is capturing the attention of international investors. To a lesser extent, our paper also differs from the prior studies in methodology and findings in the investigation of audit quality.

Keywords: audit quality, accruals quality, audit fees, auditor tenure

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530 Development of Method for Detecting Low Concentration of Organophosphate Pesticides in Vegetables Using near Infrared Spectroscopy

Authors: Atchara Sankom, Warapa Mahakarnchanakul, Ronnarit Rittiron, Tanaboon Sajjaanantakul, Thammasak Thongket

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Vegetables are frequently contaminated with pesticides residues resulting in the most food safety concern among agricultural products. The objective of this work was to develop a method to detect the organophosphate (OP) pesticides residues in vegetables using Near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy technique. Low concentration (ppm) of OP pesticides in vegetables were investigated. The experiment was divided into 2 sections. In the first section, Chinese kale spiked with different concentrations of chlorpyrifos pesticide residues (0.5-100 ppm) was chosen as the sample model to demonstrate the appropriate conditions of sample preparation, both for a solution or solid sample. The spiked samples were extracted with acetone. The sample extracts were applied as solution samples, while the solid samples were prepared by the dry-extract system for infrared (DESIR) technique. The DESIR technique was performed by embedding the solution sample on filter paper (GF/A) and then drying. The NIR spectra were measured with the transflectance mode over wavenumber regions of 12,500-4000 cm⁻¹. The QuEChERS method followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was performed as the standard method. The results from the first section showed that the DESIR technique with NIR spectroscopy demonstrated good accurate calibration result with R² of 0.93 and RMSEP of 8.23 ppm. However, in the case of solution samples, the prediction regarding the NIR-PLSR (partial least squares regression) equation showed poor performance (R² = 0.16 and RMSEP = 23.70 ppm). In the second section, the DESIR technique coupled with NIR spectroscopy was applied to the detection of OP pesticides in vegetables. Vegetables (Chinese kale, cabbage and hot chili) were spiked with OP pesticides (chlorpyrifos ethion and profenofos) at different concentrations ranging from 0.5 to 100 ppm. Solid samples were prepared (based on the DESIR technique), then samples were scanned by NIR spectrophotometer at ambient temperature (25+2°C). The NIR spectra were measured as in the first section. The NIR- PLSR showed the best calibration equation for detecting low concentrations of chlorpyrifos residues in vegetables (Chinese kale, cabbage and hot chili) according to the prediction set of R2 and RMSEP of 0.85-0.93 and 8.23-11.20 ppm, respectively. For ethion residues, the best calibration equation of NIR-PLSR showed good indexes of R² and RMSEP of 0.88-0.94 and 7.68-11.20 ppm, respectively. As well as the results for profenofos pesticide, the NIR-PLSR also showed the best calibration equation for detecting the profenofos residues in vegetables according to the good index of R² and RMSEP of 0.88-0.97 and 5.25-11.00 ppm, respectively. Moreover, the calibration equation developed in this work could rapidly predict the concentrations of OP pesticides residues (0.5-100 ppm) in vegetables, and there was no significant difference between NIR-predicted values and actual values (data from GC-MS) at a confidence interval of 95%. In this work, the proposed method using NIR spectroscopy involving the DESIR technique has proved to be an efficient method for the screening detection of OP pesticides residues at low concentrations, and thus increases the food safety potential of vegetables for domestic and export markets.

Keywords: NIR spectroscopy, organophosphate pesticide, vegetable, food safety

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529 The Influence of Demographic on Tea Consumption in China

Authors: Xiguan Jiangfan Yang

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This study investigates the tea consumption based on the Double-Hurdle model. The results of a CHNS survey of 12,745 samples in China offer two preliminary insights: First, we can’t apply the conclusions we get by using all samples to the men or women subgroups. Second, men and women are impacted by different demographic not only on the intention to drink tea, but also on the quantities of tea consumed. These two findings suggest that appropriate and corresponding marketing strategies should be developed to targeting on the different groups of tea consumers.

Keywords: Chinese, CHNS, Double-Hurdle model, tea consumption

Procedia PDF Downloads 393