Urban networks among Chinese cities along "the Belt and Road": A case of web search activity in cyberspace

Discussion of an environmental depletion assessment method–A case study in Xinjiang, China

Environmental process assessment based on the environmental depletion index (EDI) is an important part of the long-term monitoring and early warning mechanism of China’s resources and environmental carrying capacity. The EDI aims to realize the unified environmental impact assessment of economic and environmental systems through the ratio relationship between economic growth and pollutant emission growth. However, in terms of pollutant emissions, the EDI ignores the environmental capacity (EC), which means that the effectiveness and objectivity of environmental impact assessment must be verified. In this study, with Xinjiang as an example and based on the EDI, Sulfur dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen oxide (NOx), Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and Ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) were selected for calculation and assessment both without and with consideration of EC and for discussion of the suitability of the environmental depletion method for resources and environmental carrying capacity. The results indicated that ① the percentages of SO2, NOx, COD, NH3-N and CEDI in counties and cities that tend to be poor and lack EC were 32.98%, 29.79%, 30.85%, 28.72% and 38.30%, respectively, while the percentages in counties and cities with EC were 10.64%, 3.19%, 13.83%, 8.51% and 10.64%, respectively. ② When EC was included, the number of counties and cities where changes in SO2, NOx, COD, NH3-N and CEDI tended to be “poor → good” were 23, 26, 17, 21 and 28, respectively, and the number of counties and cities where such changes tended to be “good → poor” were 2, 1, 1, 2 and 2, respectively. ③ EC inclusion corrected overestimated or underestimated EDI results, making the evaluation results more objective and reasonable. This understanding provides a scientific reference for the coordinated development of the regional economy and environment in Xinjiang and worldwide.

Industrial Land Change in Chinese Silk Road Cities and Its Influence on Environments

The “Belt and Road” has developed from a Chinese initiative to an international consensus, and Silk Road cities are becoming a strategic step for its high-quality development. From the perspective of industrialization, the “Belt and Road” can be regarded as a “spillover” effect of the industrialization process in China. With the spatial shift of Chinese industries along the “Belt and Road” and their clustering in Silk Road cities, the development and change of industrial land in Silk Road cities has become a new area of concern for governments and scholars. In this paper, the driving mechanism of industrial land change in 129 cities along the Silk Road in China is empirically studied by the GeoDetector method. The findings include: first, the development and changes of industrial land in Silk Road cities are significantly spatially heterogeneous, and the “Belt and Road” reshapes the town system and economic geography along the route by virtue of the differentiated configuration and changes of industrial land, changing the social, political, landscape and spatial relations in cities on the line. Second, the driving forces of industrial land change in Silk Road cities under the influence of the “Belt and Road Initiative” are increasingly diversified and differentiated, with significant two-factor enhancement and non-linear enhancement interaction between two driving factors, and growing complexity of the driving mechanisms, requiring policy makers to design policies based on key factors, comprehensive factors and their interaction. Third, the environmental effect of industrial land change is highly complex. The industrial land quantity has a direct impact on the ecological state parameter and plays a decisive role in the quality of the ecological environment and its changes in Silk Road cities. However, changes in the industrial land affect the ecological state change indirectly, mainly interacting with it through the coupling of pollutant and carbon dioxide emissions, energy use, ecological planning and landscape design and policy interventions. Finally, this study provides a new framework and method for Silk Road scholars to analyze the spatial and temporal evolution characteristics of land use and coverage in cities along the “Belt and Road” and their influence mechanisms, and provides a basis for the government to make decisions on industrial land supply and layout planning and spatial governance policy design, which is of great theoretical significance and practical value.

Mutualistic Pattern of Intra-Urban Agglomeration and Impact Analysis: A Case Study of 11 Urban Agglomerations of Mainland China

Despite the worldwide studies on urban agglomeration (UA), the effects of intra-UA interaction patterns have not been thoroughly elucidated to date. To fill the research gap, first, this study utilized the Baidu Internet search data to quantify the internal interaction patterns of 11 main UAs in China. Rail-way data were referenced for verification. Based on building intercity interaction network, the node symmetry index (NSI) was calculated. Considering the estimated interaction strength and mutuality, the intra-interaction patterns were classified into symmetrical and asymmetrical mutualism, where the former indicates that the interactions of cities are mutually beneficial and the latter means that the interactions are unbalanced. The socio-economic development levels of cities and UAs were estimated by the entropy-TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution) method. Finally, the impacts of intra-UA interaction were explored through ordinary least square regression. This study obtained two findings. Firstly, at the city scale, symmetrical mutualism had a greater impact than asymmetrical mutualism on the city’s socio-economic development level. Secondly, at the regional scale, both symmetrical and asymmetrical mutualism were related with regional socioeconomic development level; however, only symmetrical mutualism showed a correlation with regional coordinated development level. Respondent suggestions and implications to promote regional coordinated development were then offered based on the results of the analysis. Limitations of this study include that exogenous interactions between UAs and their backlands, and other relationships, such as competition, were not discussed. These issues can be considered in future researches. This study characterizes the interaction pattern of intra-urban agglomeration and offers advice and suggestion for implementing regional sustainable development.

Sources of news as a necessity for improving community health literacy about COVID-19

Background: In the 21st century, the world has become a global village and a disease outbreak in one part of the world can spread rapidly to other countries far away. Methods: The emergence of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) in China in January 2020 and its growing level of spread and severity between and within other countries as well as different continents has become a global emergency. Moreover, low health literacy results in more problems and continuation of the outbreak. Consequently, COVID-19 pandemic may produce new debates, discussions, and disturbing developments every day. In the meantime, cyberspace plays an important role in this case. Results: Improving people's health literacy can lead to increased potential of patients to make informed decisions, reduce health risks, increase disease prevention, and improve quality of life. Conclusion: The experience during COVID-19 pandemic has shown that health literacy plays an important role in preventing and controlling diseases and pandemic.