A Framework of the Decision Support System (DSS) for Higher Education Appropriate Scale

According to the relation of the developing speed and scale of higher education and those of national economy, the establishing method and structure of higher education appropriate scale DSS CHEASDSS) are researched applying to educational economic principle and decision support system theory.

A method for choice of optimum scale on land use monitoring in Tarim River Basin

Optimal scale is one of the important issues in ecology and geography.Based on land-use data of the Tarim River Basin in Xinjiang of China in the 1950s,regarding the area of land use types as the parameter in scale selecting,the histograms of the patches in area are charted.Then,by reinforcing the normalized scale variances(NSV) with 3 landscape indi-ces,the scale characteristics of land use in the Tarim River Basin can be summarized.(1) NSV in the Tarim River up to a maximum at scale of 1:50,000 which is considered appropriate for the Tarim River.(2) Diversity indices of saline land are consistent with NSV's.Diversity indices and NSV of sandy land showed that the appropriate scale is in the same scale domain.There is a significant difference between diversity indices and NSV of forestland and shrub-land.(3) Fractal dimension of sandy land and saline land showed a hierarchical structure at a scale of 1:10,000.Fractal dimension of forestland and shrubland are distributed under the same hierarchical structure in the region.

Assessment of soil total phosphorus storage in a complex topography along China's southeast coast based on multiple mapping scales

Soil phosphorus (P) plays a vital role in both ecological and agricultural ecosystems, where total P (TP) in soil serves as a crucial indicator of soil fertility and quality. Most of the studies covered in the literature employ a single or narrow range of soil databases, which largely overlooks the impact of utilizing multiple mapping scales in estimating soil TP, especially in hilly topographies. In this study, Fujian Province, a subtropical hilly region along China’s southeast coast covered by a complex topographic environment, was taken as a case study. The influence of the mapping scale on soil TP storage (TPS)estimation was analyzed using six digital soil databases that were derived from 3 082 unique soil profiles at different mapping scales, i.e., 1:50 000 (S5),1:200 000 (S20), 1:500 000 (S50), 1:1 000 000 (S100), 1:4 000 000 (S400), and 1:10 000 000 (S1000). The regional TPS in the surface soil (0–20 cm) based on the S5, S20, S50, S100, S400, and S1000 soil maps was 20.72, 22.17, 23.06, 23.05, 22.04, and 23.48 Tg, respectively, and the corresponding TPS at0–100 cm soil depth was 80.98, 80.71, 85.00, 84.03, 82.96, and 86.72 Tg, respectively. By comparing soil TPS in the S20 to S1000 maps to that in the S5map, the relative deviations were 6.37%–13.32%for 0–20 cm and 0.33%–7.09%for 0–100 cm. Moreover, since the S20 map had the lowest relative deviation among different mapping scales as compared to S5, it could provide additional soil information and a richer soil environment than other smaller mapping scales. Our results also revealed that many uncertainties in soil TPS estimation originated from the lack of detailed soil information, i.e., representation and spatial variations among different soil types. From the time and labor perspectives, our work provides useful guidelines to identify the appropriate mapping scale for estimating regional soil TPS in areas like Fujian Province in subtropical China or other places with similar complex topographies. Moreover, it is of tremendous importance to accurately estimate soil TPS to ensure ecosystem stability and sustainable agricultural development, especially for regional decision-making and management of phosphate fertilizer application amounts.