Spatiotemporal pattern of carbon productivity and carbon offset potential in Chinese counties.

This study used panel data for 2166 county-level units in China between 2000 and 2017 to characterize carbon productivity's temporal and spatial evolution in Chinese counties. The "catch-up effect" of carbon offsets between counties was examined, and this was used to measure the carbon offset potential and analyze its spatial differences. The results indicated that: (1) China's carbon productivity increased from 2000 to 2017; carbon productivity in eastern China was the highest, and carbon productivity in northeast China was the lowest. A polarization to unipolarization evolutionary trend was evident. (2) Considering the spatial differences in carbon productivity, the overall difference in carbon productivity in China from 2000 to 2017 first decreased and then increased; the contribution rate of differences between cities and counties to the overall difference was relatively stable, at around 39.88 %. The contribution rate of the differences between zones to the overall difference was the lowest, remaining stable at around 2.49 %. (3) In terms of the spatial distribution of the carbon offset potential, the eastern region exhibited the highest average carbon offset potential. The carbon offset potential of China exhibited a "high in the north and low in the south; low in the west and high in the east" spatial pattern.

The green paradox puzzle: fiscal decentralisation, environmental regulation, and agricultural carbon intensity in China.

China has the highest carbon dioxide emissions worldwide. Exploring the mechanism of fiscal decentralisation on agricultural carbon intensity can help China reach its carbon peak and become carbon neutral. This study used panel data for 30 provinces in Mainland China from 2000 to 2019 and constructed a spatial Durbin model to investigate the spatial-temporal patterns and internal relationships among fiscal decentralisation, environmental regulation, and agricultural carbon intensity. The results indicated that (1) from 2000 to 2019, the agricultural carbon intensity showed a downward trend and showed a spatial pattern of 'high in the north and low in the south'. The degree of fiscal decentralisation has gradually increased, and the spatial pattern of 'high in the north and low in the south' has also emerged. The intensity of environmental regulation continues to increase, and the intensity of environmental regulation in inland areas is higher than that in coastal areas. (2) From 2000 to 2019, the global Moran index of agricultural carbon intensity showed a development trend of first rising and then falling, and the spatial correlation changed from strong to weak. Agricultural carbon intensity tends to develop from polarisation to balanced development. (3) Both fiscal decentralisation and environmental regulation can reduce agricultural carbon intensity, and environmental regulation has a negative spatial spillover effect. (4) Under the influence of fiscal decentralisation, environmental regulation is not conducive to reducing agricultural carbon intensity due to the characteristics of 'race to the bottom', causing the 'green paradox' effect. (5) Environmental regulation and fiscal decentralisation in main grain producing areas have less impact on agricultural carbon intensity than in non-main grain producing areas. Therefore, the central government should focus on optimising the fiscal decentralisation system, formulating a differentiated agricultural carbon emission control system, regulating competition among local governments, and optimising a political performance evaluation system.

The Impact of Rural Population Mobility on Fertility Intention under the Comprehensive Two-Child Policy: Evidence from Rural China.

Declining fertility rates pose challenges to global economic, social, cultural and political development. Low fertility rates among rural floating populations are exacerbating these challenges. However, it is not clear whether and to what extent rural population mobility (RPM) has reduced migrants' willingness to have children. At the same time, rural migration may represent a self-selection behavior (i.e., selection bias), and traditional measurement methods may be insufficient for effectively estimating the quantitative impacts of rural migration. Accordingly, the data from 1734 rural households from 28 provinces in mainland China were collected in the current study, and endogenous switching regression (ESR) models were used to correct the selection bias to quantitatively evaluate the impacts of RPM on fertility intention. The results revealed the following: (1) For rural residents who choose to move, if they chose not to move, their willingness to give birth would increase by 19.820%, their willingness to have female children would increase by 48.526%, and their willingness to have male children would drop by 26.711%. (2) For rural residents who choose not to move, if they chose to move, their willingness to give birth would drop by 55.982%, their willingness to have female children would drop by 18.294%, and their willingness to have male children would drop by 55.106%. (3) For eastern rural residents who choose to move, if they chose not to move, their willingness to give birth would decrease by 40.273%. For midwestern rural residents who choose to move, if they chose not to move, their willingness to give birth would increase by 24.786%. (4) For eastern rural residents who choose not to move, if they chose to move, their willingness to give birth would increase by 11.032%. (5) For midwestern rural residents who choose not to move, if they chose to move, their willingness to give birth would drop by 71.744%. The abovementioned findings can provide research support for other low-fertility countries or regions toward increasing fertility rates and addressing any imbalances in current gender ratios. They can also help to provide realistic strategies for alleviating the global population crisis.

[Brown adipose tissue in human and its potential physiological significance].

Brown adipose tissue (BAT) plays an important role in nonshiverthing thermogenesis, thermoregulation and body mass regulation in small mammals. However, in human, the presence of brown adipose tissue was thought to be relevant only in infants, with negligible physiologic relevance in adult. Recently, using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron-emission tomographic and computed tomographic (PET-CT) scans showed that adults retain metabolically active BAT depots that can be induced in response to cold and sympathetic nervous system activation. These findings highlight BAT as a potential relevant target for pharmacological and gene expression manipulation to combat human obesity. We reviewed the recent research progresses of BAT in human and its potential functional significance.

Physiological and biochemical basis of basal metabolic rates in Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii) and Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus).

Basal metabolic rate (BMR) has been shown to be a highly flexible phenotypic trait both between and within species, but the physiological, biochemical and molecular mechanisms are still unclear. Brandt's voles (Lasiopodomys brandtii) and Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) are two sympatric rodent species in Inner Mongolian grasslands of China. It has been shown that Brandt's voles have higher metabolic rate than Mongolian gerbils. In this study, we elucidated the inter-specific variation in BMR integratively from the molecular levels to whole organism. Our results showed that differences in organ mass were not good predictors for the observed variations in BMR, while variations in the activity of thyroid hormones and the metabolic biochemical markers of tissues, such as mitochondria density, cytochrome c oxidase activity and state 4 respiration, were strongly correlated with variations in BMR, and there was also a positive relationship between residuals of T(3)/T(4) and state 4 respiration, suggesting that thyroid hormones play an important role in the determination of BMR variations.

Isolation and characterization of Arthrobacter sp. HY2 capable of degrading a high concentration of p-nitrophenol.

A soil bacterium strain, capable of using p-nitrophenol (PNP) as its sole source of carbon and energy, was isolated by enrichment on minimal salt medium (MSM). On the basis of a phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences the bacterium is a species of Arthrobacter, closely related to Arthrobacter ureafaciens DSM 20126. This strain has an unusually high substrate tolerance for PNP degradation in MSM. Greatest degradation of PNP was observed at 30 degrees C and under slightly alkaline pH (pH 7-9) conditions. Effective degradation rates slowed as the concentration of PNP was increased. Addition of glucose from 0.1% to 0.5% generally enhanced the degradation of PNP at high concentration (400 mg/l) although acidification as a result of glucose metabolism had a negative effect on PNP depletion. Biodegradation of PNP at high concentration was greatly accelerated by beta-cyclodextrin at a concentration of 0.5%, indicating that beta-cyclodextrin could be a promising addictive for effective PNP bioremediation.