Assessment of Agricultural Soil Quality Indices Using Mechanistic Models

Assessing soil quality is a critical strategy for diagnosing soil status and anticipating concerns in land use systems for agricultural sustainability. In this study, two soil quality assessment indices, the Integrated Quality Index (IQI) and Nemoro Quality Index (NQI), were employed using two indicator selection methods: Total Data Set (TDS) and Minimum Data Set (MDS), focusing on agricultural fields in Golestan province, Iran. A total of 89 soil samples were collected and analyzed for particle size distribution, organic carbon, calcium carbonate equivalent (CCE), electrical conductivity (EC), pH, and plant-essential nutrients, including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, manganese, and iron. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to extract MDS from TDS, and geostatistical adaptation and correlation analyses were performed to determine the optimal soil quality evaluation index. Our results show that the exponential model better suits the spatial structure of soil quality indicators (IQIMDS: 0.955). Conformity and correlation analyses indicate that the IQI index outperformed the NQI index in estimating soil quality. The superiority of the TDS technique over the MDS technique in terms of accuracy (IQITDSs kappa: 0.155). Linear relationships between different methods showed a higher correlation coefficient (R2 = 0.43) through the application of IQI. This study suggests the use of IQIMDS to provide a reliable measurement that is particularly useful in assessing the quality of agricultural soil.

Spatial Distribution of Integrated Impact Index of Mega-event——A Case Study of Expo '99 Kunming

Taking the affinity between events and media as a conceptualization base, a total of 1032 related news re-ports of Expo '99 Kunming, gathered from the internet data bank of China INFOBANK from 1992 to 2003, are used as data sources. After classifying them with a communication research method-the content analysis, a data bank for SPSS is set up, and a mathematic model called the Integrated Impact Index of Expo '99 Kunming is constituted. With the model, the spatial distribution of the total integrated impacts of Expo '99 Kunming on the regions or cities with different regional scales is analysed quantitatively. The conclusions are: 1) the Expo '99 Kunming made obvious integrated impacts on the regions or cities of every scale, especially in the venue city and the region-Kunming City and Yunnan Province; 2) it had corresponding impacts on other provinces; 3) the spatial distribution of Integrated Impact Index had a disaggregation with both plane extension and spotted decentralization; and 4) there was a distance decay law in all three scales of regions (Kunming City, Yunnan Province and the whole China), which incarnated the spatial extension law of the integrated impact of a special mega-event.

Comprehensive Characterization Model of Integrated Cotton Fiber Quality Index

An integrated cotton fiber quality index （ICFQI） model with cotton fiber qualities which can directly express cotton fiber integrated quality and spinning yarn quality was studied. The fiber length, strength, Micronalre （fiber fineness and fiber maturity）, uniformity of fiber length, and short fiber content are the pivotal indexes expressing ICFQI. All of the results above are the basic knowledge to build up the models of ICFQI. According to spinning consistency index （SCI）, spinning strength and spinning yarn integrated quality, ICFQI was the best choice. As the methods of ICFQI had quite a lot of advantages like explicit mechanism, few independent variables. The integrated fiber quality index had a significant positive correlation with yarn strength and spinning consistency, significant negative correlation with yarn evenness and yarn thin places. In additional, the model of the relationship between ICFQI and SCI was established as： SCI=0. 235 6·ICFQI ＋56.153. It was concluded that ICFQI value was the shared reference index for the testing of fiber inspection agency and the selection and distribution of raw cotton bales by textile mills.

Development of an Integrated Coastal Vulnerability Index for the Ivorian Coast in West Africa

This study assesses the vulnerable state of the 566-km Ivorian coastal area using the physical (geomorphology, coastal slope, coastal retreat rate, relative sea level rise and wave/Tide energy) and socio-economic (coastal population density, harbor, airport, road, land use and protected area) factors as indicators. This enabled an Integrated Coastal Vulnerability Index to be determined for the Ivorian coastal zone. This Index could be defined as the weighted average of indexes based on physical and socio-economic factors. The study revealed that vulnerability of the western and the eastern coastlines of Cote d’Ivoire are strongly influenced by human activities, while physical forcing affects significantly the vulnerability of the central section. The relative vulnerability of the different sections depends also strongly on the geomorphology, wave energy, coastal population density and land use factors. The west and central sections of the coastline are more resilient than the eastern section when integrating physical and socio-economic factors. The Integrated Coastal Vulnerability Index, based on physical and socio-economic factors, appears to be more appropriate for coastal vulnerability assessment. These results could be useful in the development of adaptation strategies to increase the resilience of this coastal area and then extended for West Africa Coastal Areas Management.

Analysis on the Satisfaction Degree of Agricultural Water Demand in Semiarid Area of Western Liaoning

[Objective] The satisfaction degree of agricultural water demand was analyzed to provide climate basis for the agricultural structure adjustment and good harvest.[Method] By using integral humidity index and climatic tendency rate,the satisfaction degree of water demand of crops and its trend variation were studied.[Result] The precipitation in the growing season of crops showed decrease trend in western Liaoning,and the climatic tendency rate was-8.660--18.560 mm/10 a,with the precipitation decrease of 43-93 mm in recent 50 years.The satisfaction degree of agricultural water demand was up to 72%-88% in average,and over 80% satisfaction degree accounted for 30%-60%,while water shortage probability reached 68%-90%.The satisfaction degree of Chaoyang,Lingyuan and Beipiao was the lowest,while that of Jianchang and Jiangping was relative higher.The satisfaction degree of gross agriculture water demand went down with the time,and climate tendency rate was up to-2.490%--3.863%/10 a,with the decrease of 12%-19% in recent 50 years.[Conclusion] With the reduction of precipitation,the satisfaction degree of water demand of crops went down,and the climate in western Liaoning became more and more dry.

Chemical Property Variation Trend Analysis and Quality Evaluation of Water in Wei River

[Objective] Water quality variation trend of Wei River was analyzed and the water quality evaluation was performed in this study. [Method] Stationing and water sampling were conducted along Wei River at three different sites during the 12 months from January to December of 2014, the water samples were pre-treated and analyzed on chemical pollution indexes with the national standard, water quality data of Wei River in the 12 months was processed with periodic time series method, Spearman rank correlation coefficient was adopted to test pollution changing trend, and water quality status of Wei water was evaluated with integrated index of organic pollution. [Result] NH3-N and TN of Wei River exceeded the standard＇s lim- its; [ Y~ [ 〉Wp=0.506, [ Yss~ [ 〉Wp=0.506 and [ Y＆=0~,, Diecqieo 〉Wp=0.506 indicated that the integrated index of organic pollution of Shawangdu section, S.huyuan section and Tongguan Diaoqiao section showed a significant downtrend, respetively; and the water quality of the three sections became better, and it was worth noting that it was necessary to strengthen the water quality control of Wei River from January to June, so as to ensure that the water quality of Wei River reached the standard all the time. [Cendasien] This research was of significance in improving water ecological environment in Weinan as well as rationally utilizing water resources and finally realizing permanent development. Key words Wei River; Water quality variation trend; Integrated index of organic pollution; Evaluation

Multimode Process Monitoring Based on Fuzzy C-means in Locality Preserving Projection Subspace

For complex industrial processes with multiple operational conditions, it is important to develop effective monitoring algorithms to ensure the safety of production processes. This paper proposes a novel monitoring strategy based on fuzzy C-means. The high dimensional historical data are transferred to a low dimensional subspace spanned by locality preserving projection. Then the scores in the novel subspace are classified into several overlapped clusters, each representing an operational mode. The distance statistics of each cluster are integrated though the membership values into a novel BID (Bayesian inference distance) monitoring index. The efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method are validated though the Tennessee Eastman benchmark process.

The Research on System for Green Manufacturing Assessment

In the 20th century, manufacturing industries created a great amount of wealth for mankind, but they also caused the serious environmental pollution. Therefore, the implementation of green manufacturing will be imperative for manufacturing industries in the 21st century. The philosophy of sustainable development is necessarily and importantly used in the enterprise survival and progress. So, the green manufacturing prevails in the whole world, which appeals to the research from lots of experts and governments. However, how we can assess the green degree of the product becomes a significant problem to us. From the sustainable development view, it is pointed out in this paper how an enterprise can properly assess the green degree of the green products, which uses different indexes to measure the different influence.

Soil Fertility Comparison between Rotations of Tobacco-Rice (TR) and Rape-Rice (RR)

Tobacco-planting plays an important role in ensuring the high-quality tobacco raw materials supply and the local social and economic development in Chenzhou City. In recent years whether tobacco-planting is better for the maintenance and improvement of soil fertility than other crop-planting has been highly concerned. In this study, 16 soil fertility indicators and soil integrated index (IFI) were compared by 21 pairs of fields in Chenzhou city under the rotations of tobacco-rice (TF) and rice-rice (RR), and results showed that, comparing the mean values of soil fertility indicators, the contents of OM, TN, AN, AK, S and IFI were extremely significantly higher in TR than those in RR (p < 0.01), the contents of Cu, Ca, Mg and Fe were significantly higher in TR than those in RR (p < 0.05), but Mn content was significantly lower in TR than those in RR (p < 0.05). Meanwhile the contents of TP, TK and AP were insignificantly higher in TR than those in RR, and the contents of B, Mo and Zn were insignificantly lower in TR than those in RR. The above significant differences in soil fertility indicators were mainly due to relatively higher fertilizer inputs and less nutrient removal during tobacco-growing season than during rape-growing season, the net increase of N, P2O5 and K2O are 8.61, 5.25 and 24.89 kg per 667 m2 respectively in tobacco-growing season, while the net decrease of N, P2O5 and K2O are 8.88, 4.70 and 4.62 kg per 667 m2 respectively in rape-growing season. C.V. of soil fertility indicators and IFI were meanly lower in TR (52.25% and 15.95%, respectively) than those in RR (63.07% and 22.12%, respectively). Comparatively, tobacco-planting can improve soil fertility better than rape-planting when rotated with late rice in Chenzhou city. For tobacco-planting, Mg fertilizer should be applied for 23.8% TR fields, while more N, K, Ca, Mg, S and B fertilizers should be applied for 42.86%, 23.81%, 14.29%, 47.62%, 80.95% and 47.62% RR fields, respectively.

Influence of Geomorphology on Fish Fauna of a Small Mississippi Bluffline Stream

Fish were collected from 39 sites on the main channel and major tributaries of a highly erosive stream, Hotophia Creek. A total of 2,642 specimens representing 38 species were collected between 1986 through 2003. The bluntface shiner Cyprinella camura was the dominant species of fish and when grouped with other cyprinids accounted for 38.0% of the total numbers collected. By weight, Lepisosteusoculatus, Lepomismegalotis, lctiobusbubalus, and Lepomismacrochirus were the dominant species; accounting for 49.9% of the total catch. While more diminutive species such as cyprinids that might be subject to predation by large fish more frequently were found in shallow channels. Fishes with specific habitat requirement such as the pirate perch were found in the middle group of sites, that were disturbed by erosion process but that featured the necessary habitat requirements. Sensitive or intolerant species like the Yazoo darter, creek chubsucker and cyprinids in general were more frequently found in the undisturbed and habitat complex channels. This study supports the hypothesis that geomorphological stream stages are associated with specific communities of fishes.

RIG-A New Management Information System for Railway Transportation

A grid technology together with data warehouse and mediator is used to develop the railway transport management information system （TMIS）, which is aiming at managing and publishing all kinds of enterprise resources among dynamic collections of such information systems with heterogeneous architectures and distributed in geography within Chinese Ministry of Railway. As one logical information integration framework and a uniform interface for accessing resources, a prototype named railway information grid （RIG） is proposed. Its main modules and the key technologies, together with its feasibility, are discussed in detail. RIG can not only provide the integral information service and the interoperability of information at the application level, but also bring us such benefits as： easy use, high efficiency, and reasonable total cost of ownership.

Development of a phytoplankton-based index of biotic integrity for ecological health assessment in the Yangtze River

Background The application of index of biotic integrity(IBI)to evaluate river health can be an essential method for river ecosystem management.However,these types of methods were developed in small,low-order streams,and are therefore,infrequently applied to large rivers.To that end,phytoplankton communities and environmental variables were monitored in 30 sampling segments of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River,China during the wet(July-August)and dry(November-December)seasons in 2017-2018.We developed a phytoplankton-based index of biotic integrity(P-IBI)and used the index to assess the ecological health of the Yangtze River.Relationships among P-IBI,its component metrics,and environmental factors were analyzed across different seasons.Results Results obtained from the P-IBI indicated that the phytoplankton-based ecological health of the Yangtze River was rated as“good”during both seasons,with an overall better condition in the dry season.During the wet season,there were scattered river segments with P-IBI ratings of“fair”or below.Water quality and land use appeared to shape the patterns of P-IBI.In the wet season,P-IBI negatively correlated with total phosphorus,nitrate,total suspended solids,turbidity,conductivity,and dissolved oxygen.In the dry season,P-IBI positively correlated with total nitrogen,ammonium,and nitrite,and negatively correlated with water temperature.Conclusions The ecological health of the Yangtze River as reflected by the P-IBI exhibited spatial and temporal variability,with the effect of water quality being greater than that of local land use.This study indicated the importance of considering seasonal effects in detecting large river ecological health.These findings enhanced our understanding of the ecological health and characterized potential benchmarks for management of the Yangtze River.These findings also may be applicable to other large rivers elsewhere.

Pore Size Distribution as a Soil Physical Quality Index for Agricultural and Pasture Soils in Northeastern Iran

Assessment of soil quality is important for optimum production and natural resources conservation. Agricultural and pasture soil qualities of Deh-Sorkh region located at south of Mashhad, northeastern Iran were assessed using the integrated quality index (IQI) and Nemero quality index (NQI) models in combination with two datasets, i.e., total data set (TDS) and minimum data set (MDS). In this study 6 soil properties considered as MDS were selected out of 18 properties as TDS using principle component analysis. Soil samples were divided into 3 groups based on optimum ranges of 8 soil physical quality indicators. Soil samples with the most indicators at optimum range were selected as group 1 and the samples having fewer indicators at optimum range were located in groups 2 and 3. Optimum ranges of soil pore size distribution functions were also determined as soil physical quality indices based on 8 soil physical quality indicators. Pore size distribution curves of group 1 were considered as the optimum pore size functions. The results showed that relatively high organic carbon contents could improve pore size distribution. Mean comparisons of soil physical quality indicators demonstrated that mean weight diameter of wet aggregates, structural stability index, the slope of moisture retention curve at inflection point, and plant available water content in agricultural land use decreased significantly in relation to pasture land use. In addition, the results demonstrated that the studied MDS could be a suitable representative of TDS. 78% of pasture soils had the optimum pore size distribution functions, while this parameter for agricultural soils was only 13%. In general, the soils of the studied region showed high limitations for plant growth according to the studied indicators.

Assessment of river ecosystem health in Tianjin City,China:index of ecological integrity and water comprehensive pollution approach

Evaluation of the river ecological environment can provide a basis for river management and ecological restoration.To conduct a comprehensive health assessment of the rivers in Tianjin,their biological,physical,and chemical indicators are investigated on the basis of 32 river monitoring sites from August to September 2018.The comprehensive pollution and ecological integrity indexes of the rivers are analyzed.Results of the two evaluations,compared to achieve the river ecological environment evaluation,are as follows.1)Index of Ecological Integrity evaluation shows that among the sampling points,18.8%are"healthy",28.1%are"sub-healthy",40.6%are"fair",6.3%are"poor",and 6.3%are"very poor".2)The comprehensive evaluation of the chemical properties of the 32 river ecosystems in Tianjin shows severe overall river pollution and low standard water function area.Of the total sampling sites,16(50%)are heavily contaminated and 10(31.3%)are moderately contaminated.Excessive chemical oxygen demand and ammonia nitrogen are the main causes of water pollution.3)The Index of Ecological Integrity(IEI)has high correspondence with environmental factors.Pearson correlation analysis results show that the IEI index is significantly correlated with permanganate index(R=-0.453;P=0.023<0.05).Analysis results using BEST show that ammonia nitrogen is the best environmental parameter to explain the changes in IEI(R_(ho)=0.154;P=0.02<0.05)and those using RELATE show significant correlation between the biotic index and the environmental parameter matrices(R_(ho)=0.154;P=0.034<0.05).

Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine Is Included in Science Citation Index Expanded Journal List from 2008

Chinese Journal of Integrative Medicine is included in Science Citation Index Expanded Journal List (SCl-E)from 2008 after a strict judgment process.In addition,this journal is also indexed and abstracted by Index Medicus/PubMed,Chemical Abstract(CA),Excerpta Medica(EMBASE),Abstract Journal

The Evolution and Driving Force on Integrating Environmental Protection and High-Quality Economic Development

An index system is constructed to measure the integration of environmental protection and high-quality economic development in different cities in China from 2006 to 2018,and to explore its evolution and driving forces.From the three dimensions of integration foundation,integration depth and integration performance,this paper adopts AHP-Entropy combined weighting method to build the integration index.In addition,this paper comprehensively uses exponential decomposition,comparative analysis and o convergence and divergence analysis to explore the spatio-temporal differences and dynamic mechanisms.The results show that the overall integration level of China's cities continues to improve,of which technological progress is the core driving force,the transformation of development mode is a crucial path,and the intensity of environmental governance is the key support.The evolution and driving forces of the integration level of first-tier cities,new first-tier cities and other cities are significantly different.Promoting integration level is a critical way for resourcebased cities to break the resource curse.Urban agglomeration integration led by the growth pole can effectively improve the overall regional integration level.This paper innovates that the relationship between environmental protection and high-quality economic development is discussed from the perspective of integration,and the paths to improve the integration level of resource-based cities and urban agglomerations are identified.This paper is helpful to clarify the differences in integration levels and driving forces of different cities,and provide a reference value for the precise implementation of high-quality development and“beautiful China.”

Evaluation of heavy metal contamination hazards in nuisance dust particles, in Kurdistan Province, western Iran

The effects of natural andgeochemical factors depending on heavy metal contamination in nuisance dust particles were evaluated. The nuisance dust particles were sampled using passive deposit gauge method for one year from April2010 to March2011 and the obtained samples were measured for the total contents and the contamination levels of Fe, Mn, Cu and As usinggeo-accumulation index （Igeo ）, enrichment factor （EF） and the integrated pollution index （IPI）. The results showed that, the contamination levels of Fe and Mn based on Igeo values, were uncontaminated （Igeo 〈 0） （variations of the Igeo index was from -3.11 to -1.751 for Fe, from -0.630 to -1.925 for Mn）, while the values of Cu and As were demonstrated to have moderate contamination based on Igeo values （variations of Igeo index was from -1.125 to 0.848 for Cu, and from -2.002 to 1.249 for As）. The analysis of EF also revealed minor to moderate enrichment for Mn （1.215-4.214）, minor to moderately severe enrichment for Cu （2.791-6.484）, and As （1.370-8.462）, respectively. The variation of the IPI index also showed low to moderate level of heavy metal pollution in nuisance dust particulates （0.511-1.829）. The analysis of the results also approved that the natural processes andgeochemical variables （the changing meteorological parameters） can significantly affect the availability of heavy metals in nuisance dust particles in Western Iran.

The next steps in academic integrity-education,awareness,norms,duty and law

We conducted and analyzed several internet surveys in order to understand the profile of global research integrity and ethical awareness,encompassing global population distribution.These were(1)the global distribution of Committee of Publishing Ethics(COPE)membership;(2)the global distribution of“Integrity”or“Ethics”journals;(3)the level of academic integrity awareness in European higher education institutions and(4)awareness of academic integrity in the top universities of Asia and Africa.The results of this survey series highlight seriously imbalanced awareness of research integrity and publishing ethics across the world,especially in developing areas with the highest population density.We therefore propose a new index,the“Academic Integrity Awareness Index”for future discussions across the linked spheres of publishing and research.