Chinese Geographical Science最新文献

Accessibility and capacity of medical resources are key for the health care and emergency response, while the efficiency of the medical resources is very much limited by hypoxia in Tibet, China. Through introducing exercise efficiency, this study explores the accessibility of township residence to county-ship medical resources in Tibet using weighted mean travel time (WMT), and evaluates the medical capacity accordingly. The results show that: 1) the average travel time of township residence to county-level hospital is around 2 h by motor vehicle in Tibet. More than half of the population can not reach the county-ship hospital within 1 h, 33.24% of the population can not reach within 2 h, and 3.75% of the population can not reach within 6 h. 2) When considering the catchment of the medical resources and the population size, the WMT of the county-ship medical resources ranges from 0.25 h to 10.92 h. 3) After adjusted by travel time and exercise efficiency, the county-ship medical capacity became more unequal, with 38 out of 74 counties could not meet the national guideline of 1.8 medical beds per 1000. 4) In total, there are 17 counties with good WMT and sufficient medical resources, while 13 counties having very high WMT and low capacity of medical resources in Tibet. In the end, suggestions on medical resources relocation and to improve the capacity are provided. This study provides a method to incorporate exercise efficiency to access the accessibility and evaluate medical capacity that can be applied in high altitude ranges.

Electronic supplementary material: Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at 10.1007/s11769-022-1321-1.

The vigorous development of information and communications technology has accelerated reshaping of the financial industry. The COVID-19 pandemic has further catalyzed the demand for digital financial services. Digital financial inclusion relies on information technology to overcome spatial limitations. In this case, the research question is whether it adheres to the spatial laws governing conventional financial activities. This study uses exploratory spatial data analysis and a geographical detector to elucidate the spatiotemporal characteristics and factors influencing digital financial inclusion at the county level in China (Data don't include that of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan of China) from 2014 to 2020. The research findings indicate: first, China's county-level digital financial inclusion is generally increasing and exhibits significant spatial autocorrelation. Second, population density, level of traditional financial development, government regulation, and education level are key determinants of China's county-level digital financial inclusion. Third, policies should be differentiated by region to narrow the spatial gap in digital financial inclusion. The results provide a reference for other developing countries on using digital technology to develop financial inclusion.

Investigating urban expansion patterns aids in the management of urbanization and in ameliorating the socioeconomic and environmental issues associated with economic transformation and sustainable development. Applying Harmonized Defense Meteorological Satellite Program-Operational Line-scan System (DMSP-OLS) and the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership-Visible Infrared Imagery Radiometer Suite (NPP-VIIRS) Nighttime Light (NTL) data, this paper investigated the characteristics of urban landscape in West Africa. Using the harmonized NTL data, spatial comparison and empirical threshold methods were employed to detect urban changes from 1993 to 2018. We examined the rate of urban change and calculated the direction of the urban expansion of West Africa using the center-of-gravity method for urban areas. In addition, we used the landscape expansion index method to assess the processes and stages of urban growth in West Africa. The accuracy of urban area extraction based on NTL data were R ² = 0.8314 in 2000, R ² = 0.8809 in 2006, R ² = 0.9051 in 2012 for the DMSP-OLS and the simulated NPP-VIIRS was R ² = 0.8426 in 2018, by using Google Earth images as validation. The results indicated that there was a high rate and acceleration of urban landscapes in West Africa, with rates of 0.016 0, 0.017 3, 0.018 9, and 0.068 6, and accelerations of 0.31, 0.42, 0.54, and 0.90 for the periods of 1998-2003, 2003-2008, 2008-2013, and 2013-2018, respectively. The expansion direction of urban agglomeration in West Africa during 1993-2018 was mainly from the coast to inland. However, cities located in the Sahel Region of Africa and in the middle zone expanded from north to south. Finally, the results showed that the urban landscape of West Africa was mainly in a scattered and disordered 'diffusion' process, whereas only a few cities located in coastal areas experiencing the process of 'coalescence' according to urban growth phase theory. This study provides urban planners with relevant insights for the urban expansion characteristics of West Africa.

Depending on various government policies, COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease-19) lockdowns have had diverse impacts on global aerosol concentrations. In 2022, Changchun, a provincial capital city in Northeast China, suffered a severe COVID-19 outbreak and implemented a very strict lockdown that lasted for nearly two months. Using ground-based polarization Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR), we detected real-time aerosol profile parameters (EC, extinction coefficient; DR, depolarization ratio; AOD, aerosol optical depth), as well as air-quality and meteorological indexes from 1 March to 30 April in 2021 and 2022 to quantify the effects of lockdown on aerosol concentrations. The period in 2022 was divided into three stages: pre-lockdown (1-10 March), strict lockdown (11 March to 10 April), and partial lockdown (11-30 April). The results showed that, during the strict lockdown period, compared with the pre-lockdown period, there were substantial reductions in aerosol parameters (EC and AOD), and this was consistent with the concentrations of the atmospheric pollutants PM_2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 µm) and PM₁₀ (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 µm), and the O₃ concentration increased by 8.3%. During the strict lockdown, the values of EC within 0-1 km and AOD decreased by 16.0% and 11.2%, respectively, as compared to the corresponding period in 2021. Lockdown reduced the conventional and organized emissions of air pollutants, and it clearly delayed the time of seasonal emissions from agricultural burning; however, it did not decrease the number of farmland fire points. Considering meteorological factors and eliminating the influence of wind-blown dust events, the results showed that reductions from conventional organized emission sources during the strict lockdown contributed to a 30% air-quality improvement and a 22% reduction in near-surface extinction (0-2 km). Aerosols produced by urban epidemic prevention and disinfection can also be identified using the EC. Regarding seasonal sources of agricultural straw burning, the concentrated burning induced by the epidemic led to the occurrence of heavy pollution from increased amounts of atmospheric aerosols, with a contribution rate of 62%. These results indicate that there is great potential to further improve air quality in the local area, and suggest that the comprehensive use of straw accompanied by reasonable planned burning is the best way to achieve this.

High-quality development of marine fisheries provides an important advantage for China to build itself into a maritime power and implement the Blue Granary Plan effectively. Based on the concepts of 'new development', 'food security', and the six dimensions of 'openness, innovation, coordination, green, sharing, and security', in this study, we established an evaluation index system for the high-quality development of China's marine fishery sector. We applied the entropy method to evaluate the high-quality development level of China's marine fishery sector from 2000 to 2016 and explored its spatial and temporal evolution rules. Our results indicated that: 1) from 2000 to 2016, China's marine fishery sector was in the primary stage of high-quality development; 2) spatially, the highquality development of marine fisheries showed an upward trend in all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in the country (not including Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan of China), and with time, the distribution pattern changed from single to multi-polarization; 3) temporally, the development level of high-quality marine fisheries fluctuated during the study period. From 2000 to 2010, the growth rate in openness was relatively slow, but after 2010, it increased rapidly. Notably, innovation is the driving force for high-quality development. The green and security factors provide a solid guarantee for high-quality development. In the high-quality development of a region, economic development is better coordinated, and the distribution of benefits is more inclusive. This study provides a theoretical basis to formulate effective marine fishery policies for the high-quality development of the marine fishery sector in China. Exploring the high-quality development and evolution process of marine fishery is conducive to promoting the sustainable development of marine fishery industry, ensuring marine fishery food security, and alleviating global food crisis.

Accelerating the promotion of high-quality development of tourism (HQDT) is of great significance to the sustainable development of tourism. This paper defined the concept of HQDT, and then built an evaluation system for HQDT measurement to analyze the spatio-temporal evolution characteristics of China's HQDT based on provincial panel data from 2010 to 2019, using Geodetector to explore the similarities and differences between driving factors of HQDT and tourism development scale (TDS). The results show that: 1) Taking the development concepts of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing as the guidance, and considering the organic unity of quantity and quality, the evaluation index system of the HQDT consists of six dimensions of economic stability, innovation driving, coordination and linkage, green and sustainability, openness and cooperation, and sharing and harmony, which respectively represent the basis, momentum, means, orientation, direction and purpose of the HQDT; 2) The level of China's HQDT shows an upward trend, presenting the characteristics of eastern region > central region > western region > northeastern region in 2019. The regional differences in China's HQDT show a downward trend, and the intra-regional differences have replaced the inter-regional differences as the main source of regional differences; 3) China's HQDT shows the characteristics of higher in the east and lower in the west along the Hu line, while the improvement speed of HQDT shows the characteristics of faster in the west and slower in the east, making the decline of east-west differentiation of China's HQDT and the movement of the gravity center towards southwest; 4) Both HQDT and TDS are obviously driven by tourism capital investment and regional consumption. In terms of differences, the HQDT is more driven by government guidance, innovation driving force, and opening up, while the main driving factors of TDS are more biased toward capital elements and hardware facilities, including informatization, tourism resource, traffic, and eco-environment.

Poverty eradication is a realistic requirement for the addressing of the urban-rural development imbalance. It consolidates the achievements of the poverty alleviation, and accelerates the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In research that deals with poverty, qualitative analysis is often used to study the connection between a single influencing factor and poverty reduction, and to solve regional poverty through government measures. However, these studies usually ignore the multidimensional nature of poverty, and the fact that poverty alleviation also needs to be approached from multiple perspectives. By constructing a theoretical framework of poverty alleviation performance from the perspective of sustainable development, this study selects contiguous poverty-stricken areas in the Hunan Province, China as the empirical study area, constructs an evaluation index system from the three dimensions of economic development, infrastructure and people's livelihood security, and selects influencing factors from three aspects of 'population', 'land' and 'industry'. The spatial differentiation characteristics and influencing factors of poverty alleviation performance in poverty-stricken areas were studied by using the methods of entropy weight method and geodetector. The results show: firstly, in the concentrated and contiguous poverty-stricken areas of the Hunan Province, the performance of poverty alleviation in the economic development makes little difference, showing a 'high-medium-low' cross-distribution pattern. The poverty alleviation performance of the infrastructure presents a distribution pattern of 'low in the middle and high on both sides. The poverty alleviation performance of people's livelihood security has significant spatial differentiation characteristics, which all present a reunion distribution. The overall poverty alleviation performance varies greatly, showing a funnel-shaped distribution in space. Secondly, the spatial differentiation of poverty alleviation performance in the concentrated and contiguous poverty-stricken areas of the Hunan Province is the result of the combined effects of multiple factors. 'Population' is the dominant factor affecting the performance of poverty alleviation, 'land' is the basic factor that causes the spatial differentiation of poverty alleviation performance, and 'industry' is the key factor for the improvement of the poverty alleviation ability.

The Healthy China Initiative is a major health strategy being pursued by the country. To prevent and control different types of diseases as well as their complex variants, research on the spatio-temporal differentiation among and mechanisms of influence of epidemic diseases is growing worldwide. This study analyzed monthly data on the incidence of influenza by using different methods, including Moran's I, the hotspot analysis model, concentration analysis, and correlation analysis, to determine the characteristics of spatio-temporal differentiation in the incidence of influenza across prefecture-level cities in China from 2004 to 2017, and to examine its relationship with air pollution. According to the results, the overall incidence of influenza in China exhibited a trend of increase from 2004 to 2017, with small peaks in 2009 and 2014. More cases of influenza were recorded in the first and fourth quarters of each year. Regions with higher incidences of influenza were concentrated in northwestern and northern China, and in the coastal areas of southeastern China. Over time, the distribution of regions with a higher incidence of influenza has shifted from the west to the east of the country. A significant relationship was observed between the incidence of influenza and factors related to air pollution. The contents of five air pollutants (PM_2.5, PM₁₀, SO₂, NO₂, and CO) were significantly positively correlated with the incidence of influenza, with a decreasing order of contribution to it of SO₂ > CO > NO₂ > PM_2.5 > PM₁₀. The content of O₃ in the air was negatively correlated with the incidence of influenza. The influence of air pollution-related factors on the incidence of influenza in different regions and seasons showed minor differences. The large-scale empirical results provided here can supply a scientific basis for governmental disease control authorities to formulate strategies for regional prevention and control.

Background: There is a known shortage of trained palliative care professionals, and an even greater shortage of professionals who have been trained through interprofessional curricula. As part of an institutional Palliative Care Training Center grant, a core team of interprofessional palliative care academic faculty and staff completed a state-wide palliative care educational assessment to determine the needs for an interprofessional palliative care training program.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to describe the process and results of our community needs assessment of interprofessional palliative care educational needs in Washington state.

Design: We approached the needs assessment through a cross-sectional descriptive design by using mixed-method inquiry.

Setting/subjects: Each phase incorporated a variety of settings and subjects.

Measurements: The assessment incorporated multiple phases with diverse methodological approaches: a preparatory phase-identifying key informants; Phase I-key informant interviews; Phase II-survey; and Phase III-steering committee endorsement.

Results: The multiple phases of the needs assessment helped create a conceptual framework for the Palliative Care Training Center and developed an interprofessional palliative care curriculum. The input from key informants at multiple phases also allowed us to define priority needs and to refine an interprofessional palliative care curriculum.

Conclusions: This curriculum will provide an interprofessional palliative care educational program that crosses disciplinary boundaries to integrate knowledge that is beneficial for all palliative care clinicians. The input from a range of palliative care clinicians and professionals at every phase of the needs assessment was critical for creating an interprofessional palliative care curriculum.

Background:  Maternal vaccination with an acellular pertussis (aP)-containing vaccine is a recommended strategy in a growing number of industrialized countries, to protect young infants from disease. Little is known on the effect of this strategy in low- and middle-income countries. Following a previous report on the effect of adding a pertussis and diphtheria component to the tetanus vaccination program in pregnant women in Vietnam, we report on infant immune responses to a booster aP vaccine dose in this randomized controlled clinical trial.

Methods:  Thirty infants of Tdap (tetanus, diphtheria, and acellular pertussis)-vaccinated pregnant women and 37 infants of women vaccinated with a tetanus-only vaccine received a fourth aP-containing vaccine dose in the second year of life. Blood was taken 1 month after the fourth infant dose. Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against pertussis toxin (PT), filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA), pertactin (Prn), tetanus toxoid (TT), and diphtheria toxoid (DT) were measured using commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA).

Results:  One month after the booster dose, significantly lower antibody titers were measured in the Tdap group for anti-TT IgG (P < .001) only. Anti-DT IgG, anti-PT IgG, anti-Prn IgG, and anti-FHA IgG antibody titers were comparable for both groups. A rise in antibody concentrations was elicited for all (except DT) antigens after boosting.

Conclusions:  The present results indicate that the blunting of infant pertussis responses induced by maternal immunization, measured after a primary series of aP vaccines, was resolved with the booster aP vaccine dose. These results add to the evidence for national and international decision makers on maternal immunization as a vaccination strategy for protection of young infants against infectious diseases.