The impacts of agricultural payments on groundwater quality: Spatial analysis on the case of Slovenia

The European Common Agricultural Policy still follows its primary goals, i.e. quality food at affordable prices and a decent standard of living for farmers, fifty years after its adoption. Moreover, this policy adapts to the changing needs of society and the new challenges, mostly preservation of the environment, nature and biodiversity in rural areas. Although the Common Agricultural Policy receives the largest share of European budget, the funds are decreasing over time, especially direct payments, which aim to provide basic income support to farmers in the European Union. On the other hand, agri-environmental payments are gaining importance. Policy decision-makers should be interested in the question of impacts of growing eco-conditionality of agricultural spending. New insights would help them to be successful in achieving the goals of sustainable agriculture. The purpose of this paper is to estimate the impacts of production support payments and rural development payments on the quality of groundwater. We use the small EU country Slovenia as an example. The baseline indicators are the level of nitrates and pesticides in groundwater, while the impacts were estimated using spatial error model. The results show that direct payments, coupled subsidies and investment grants raise the level of pesticides in groundwater, but do not have any statistically significant impact on the level of nitrates in groundwater. Furthermore, we did not find any statistically significant effects of agri-environmental payments on decrease of groundwater pollution with nitrates. However, our findings revealed that agri-environmental payments are effective in reducing pesticides in groundwater, although only to a limited extent. These results imply a problem of insufficient targeting of agri-environmental measures on the one hand, and suggest that greening of direct payments is necessary and entirely justified.     

Exploring the global decline of music education

This article seeks to explain the disjuncture between the decline of music education in schools and the importance music has in popular youth culture and in creativity within the new knowledge economy. The data discussed in this article have been derived from analyses of major documents on curriculum reform as well as e-mail responses from music educators around the world. This analysis reveals that these music educators agree with the perception of a demise in music education around the world, as well as the significance of the disjuncture alluded to. The four major reasons found for the decline in music education are: (1) the model of curriculum supported in educational reforms; (2) an emphasis on standardized evaluation; (3) less resources available; and (4) a wrong approach on music advocacy.     

Supramolecular coordination complexes as diagnostic and therapeutic agents

The metal-based drugs represented by cisplatin, carboplatin, and oxaliplatin, prevail in cancer treatment, whereas new therapeutics are extremely slow to step into the clinic. Poor pharmacokinetics, multidrug resistance, and severe side effects greatly limit the development of metal-based anticancer drugs. The robustness and modular composition of supramolecular coordination complexes allow for the incorporation of novel diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, showing promising potentials for precise cancer theranostics. In this mini review, we highlight the recent advances in the development of supramolecular coordination complexes as diagnostic and therapeutic agents. The key focuses of these reports lie in searching sophisticated coordination ligands and nanoformulations that can potentially solve the issues faced by current metal-based drugs including imaging, resistance, toxicity, and pharmacological deficiencies.     

基于“无废理念”的纺织服装工业区绿色化改造模式研究

通过对中国工业区，特别是纺织服装工业区"产废"情况的梳理，明确针对污染严重，经济效益不高的工业区进行改造的必要性。为实现对纺织服装工业区绿色化改造，从"无废理念"出发，重点研究纺织服装工业区绿色化改造的可实施路径。在研究方法上将纺织服装工业区作为研究整体，基于可持续发展思想，构建纺织服装工业区经济、社会、环境复合生态系统，运用层次分析法，选取对于该类工业园区具有代表性的经济、社会、环境指标进行评价，通过评价后总的分值，结合生命周期规律，将需要改造的纺织服装工业区进行初步筛选。同时，利用经济、社会、环境各子系统的分值，对具体改造模式加以判别。文章通过对纺织服装工业区不可持续性的内涵挖掘，将工业区绿色化改造模式与改造内容建立关联，可以通过产业绿色化改造和建成空间绿色化改造，来实现工业园区的升级与转型，进而实现可持续发展。最后，根据模式判别结果，针对不同模式在产业与建成空间的不同特征，提出相应的绿色化改造方法和政策建议。在结论中总结基于"无废理念"纺织服装工业区绿色化改造与可持续发展的辩证关系。此方法适用于其他类型的工业区改造模式判别，以促进工业区的可持续发展。     

陕西省新型城镇化与生态环境协调度研究

城镇化与生态环境之间相互影响、相互促进，两系统间耦合协调状态对于区域绿色可持续发展意义重大。以陕西省2005—2019年数据为例，在构建新型城镇化与生态环境系统评价指标体系的基础上结合耦合协调度模型、相对发展模型及面板向量自回归(PVAR)模型分析新型城镇化系统与生态环境系统间的耦合协调时空规律及互动关系。结果表明：(1)陕西省耦合协调度总体呈现“基本不协调—基本协调—中度协调”的演变规律。(2)各市耦合协调发展状态空间差异明显，2005年、2013年、2019年陕西省10个城市新型城镇化与生态环境耦合协调发展状态存在较大差异性，相对发展状态整体上由新型城镇化滞后状态发展为生态环境滞后状态。(3)脉冲响应图反映出新型城镇化与生态环境两系统间存在明显互动关系，前期生态环境受新型城镇化冲击的负向抑制作用，后期影响逐渐减小，受自身冲击较大，而新型城镇化发展前后期均主要受自身影响。本研究认为新型城镇化发展必须以生态为优先，在提高生态承载力的基础上，加速提升陕西省各区域空间人口等不同维度城镇化发展水平，从而实现高质量可持续的绿色发展目标。     

The Art Collector

Abstract

The initiating point of this paper was an article in AEPR by Peter J. Smith in March/April 2003. At the end of the article, Peter J. Smith provides a short answer.     

基于耦合协调度的黄土高原地区NDVI与降水关系的变异诊断

植被是地表生态系统的重要"指示器"，在能量交换、水循环、碳循环、生物地球化学循环和维持中发挥着重要作用，降水是影响植被变化的主要气候因子，研究两者之间的作用关系具有重要的意义和价值。利用Mann-Kendall趋势检验法和Hust指数分析了黄土高原地区归一化植被指数（NDVI）的变化趋势，使用相对发展率（RDR）指数和重心转移模型分析了NDVI变化的时空差异，并构建了基于耦合协调度理论和Pettitt检验方法的NDVI与降水关系的变异诊断方法，识别了黄土高原地区NDVI与降水关系的突变点，探讨了降水对NDVI变化的影响以及造成NDVI与降水关系变化的原因。结果表明：（1）黄土高原地区73.49%面积的NDVI在1998-2017年有呈现显著增加趋势（P<0.05），大部分地区NDVI在未来依旧呈现增加趋势；（2）黄土高原地区丘陵沟壑区与高原沟壑区的NDVI增加幅度大于黄土高原地区整体的增加幅度，而北部风沙区和农灌区以及黄土高原地区边界区域的NDVI增加滞后于区域整体变化；（3） NDVI与降水耦合协调程度逐年增强，两者关系在2006年发生显著突变（P<0.05）；（4） NDVI呈现显著增加区域降水明显高于不显著变化区域（P<0.05），降水对NDVI变化存在一定影响，在丘陵沟壑区、高原沟壑区北部和东部河谷及土石山区北部NDVI和降水存在显著正相关关系（P<0.05），然而黄土高原地区大部分区域的降水并不存在显著变化趋势（P>0.05），因此造成黄土高原地区NDVI与降水关系在2006年发生显著突变的主要原因应该是人类活动（P<0.05）。研究成果有助于进一步理解黄土高原植被变化与降水的相互作用，为黄土高原生态建设和水土流失治理提供一定的科学支撑。     

Hip circumduction is not a compensation for reduced knee flexion angle during gait

It has long been held that hip abduction compensates for reduced swing-phase knee flexion angle, especially in those after stroke. However, there are other compensatory motions such as pelvic obliquity (hip hiking) that could also be used to facilitate foot clearance with greater energy efficiency. Our previous work suggested that hip abduction may not be a compensation for reduced knee flexion after stroke. Previous study applied robotic knee flexion assistance in people with post-stroke Stiff-Knee Gait (SKG) during pre-swing, finding increased abduction despite improved knee flexion and toe clearance. Thus, our hypothesis was that hip abduction is not a compensation for reduced knee flexion. We simulated the kinematics of post-stroke SKG on unimpaired individuals with three factors: a knee orthosis to reduce knee flexion, an ankle-foot orthosis commonly worn by those post-stroke, and matching gait speeds. We compared spatiotemporal measures and kinematics between experimental factors within healthy controls and with a previously recorded cohort of people with post-stroke SKG. We focused on frontal plane motions of hip and pelvis as possible compensatory mechanisms. We observed that regardless of gait speed, knee flexion restriction increased pelvic obliquity (2.8°, p < 0.01) compared to unrestricted walking (1.5°, p < 0.01), but similar to post-stroke SKG (3.4°). However, those with post-stroke SKG had greater hip abduction (8.2°) compared to unimpaired individuals with restricted knee flexion (4.2°, p < 0.05). These results show that pelvic obliquity, not hip abduction, compensates for reduced knee flexion angle. Thus, other factors, possibly neural, facilitate exaggerated hip abduction observed in post-stroke SKG.