Impacts of Global Warming Perturbation on Water Resources in Arid Zone: Case Study of Kaidu River Basin in Northwest China

The main goal of this study was to assess the long-term impacts of global warming perturbation on water resources of the Kaidu River Basin in Northwest China. Temperature, precipitation and hydrology data during the past 29 years from 1979 to 2007 were collected and analyzed using parametric and non-parametric methods, the connection between temperature and precipitation by the combination of grey correlation analysis method and the hypothesis testing for trend of climate change. The results show a high increase in temperature in the study area as well as an extreme and highly variable hydrological regime in this region, where flash floods can exceed the total runoff from a sequence of years. These variations may be due to the geographical location of the Kaidu River Basin in arid zone. It also reveals that precipitation has a much greater impact on stream flow than that of temperature. The development of new approaches was proposed as responses to climate change in this arid region.

The Global Science of Integrated Water Governance

Abstract： This study discusses the benefits of establishing a broader discipline of water science, based on the organizing mechanism of PES-W （payments for ecosystem services on the watershed scale）. PES-W is derived from an extension of governance analyses of 163 watershed-based PES （payments for ecosystem services） programs, and from the integrative decision mechanism of IPES （integrated payments for ecosystem services） to generalize the PES approach. PES-W reflects three interrelated perspectives fundamental to the global science of integrated water governance： （1） the ecological and economic perspective to integrate human incentives for integrated water resources governance; （2） the sociological and ecological perspective to form partnerships for meta-monitoring and recta-funding for integrated watershed governance; and （3） the scientific and sociological perspective to develop organizing botmdaries based on technology, lifestyle, entrepreneurship and organizing infrastructure for integrated aquatic ecosystem governance. This study is intended to communicate with the international scientific communities for establishing an advanced, academic, and practical multidisciplinary field of the global science of integrated water governance as a critical condition for sustainable development in human societies.

Climate Change and Future Long-Term Trends of Rainfall at North-East of Iraq

Iraq is facing water shortage problem despite the presence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. In this research, long rainfall trends up to the year 2099 were studied in Sulaimani city northeast Iraq to give an idea about future prospects. The medium high （A2） and medium low B2 scenarios have been used for purpose of this study as they are more likely than others scenarios, that beside the fact that no climate modeling canter has performed GCM （global climate model） simulations for more than a few emissions scenarios （HadCM3 has only these two scenarios） otherwise pattern scaling can be used for generating different scenarios which entail a huge uncertainty. The results indicate that the average annual rainfall shows a significant downward trend for both A2 and B2 scenarios. In addition, winter projects increase/decrease in the daily rainfall statistics of wet days, the spring season show very slight drop and no change for both scenarios. However, both summer and autumn shows a significant reduction in maximum rainfall value especially in 2080s while the other statistics remain nearly the same. The extremes events are to decrease slightly in 2080s with highest decrease associated with A2 scenario. This is due to the fact that rainfall under scenario A2 is more significant than under scenario B2. The return period of a certain rainfall will increase in the future when a present storm of 20 year could occur once every 43 year in the 2080s. An increase in the frequency of extreme rainfall depends on several factors such as the return period, season of the year, the period considered as well as the emission scenario used.

Impact of Meteorological Drought on Streamflow Drought in Jinghe River Basin of China

Under global climate change, drought has become one of the most serious natural hazards, affecting the ecological environment and human life. Drought can be categorized as meteorological, agricultural, hydrological or socio-economic drought. Among the different categories of drought, hydrological drought, especially streamflow drought, has been given more attention by local governments, researchers and the public in recent years. Identifying the occurrence of streamflow drought and issuing early warning can provide timely information for effective water resources management. In this study, streamflow drought is detected by using the Standardized Runoff Index, whereas meteorological drought is detected by the Standardized Precipitation Index. Comparative analyses of frequency, magnitude, onset and duration are conducted to identify the impact of meteorological drought on streamflow drought. This study focuses on the Jinghe River Basin in Northwest China, mainly providing the following findings. 1) Eleven meteorological droughts and six streamflow droughts were indicated during 1970 and 1990 after pooling using Inter-event time and volume Criterion method. 2) Streamflow drought in the Jinghe River Basin lagged meteorological drought for about 127 days. 3) The frequency of streamflow drought in Jinghe River Basin was less than meteorological drought. However, the average duration of streamflow drought is longer. 4) The magnitude of streamflow drought is greater than meteorological drought. These results not only play an important theoretical role in understanding relationships between different drought categories, but also have practical implications for streamflow drought mitigation and regional water resources management.

Progress in Research of Gas Hydrate

It is of great significance to study gas hydrate because of following reasons. （1） Most organic carbon in the earth reserves in the form of natural gas hydrate, which is considered as a potential energy resource for the survival of human being in the future. （2） A series of novel technologies are based on gas hydrate. （3） Gas hydrate may lead to many hazards including plugging of oil/gas pipelines, accelerating global warming up, etc. In this paper, the latest progresses in exploration and exploitation of natural gas hydrate, the development of hydrate-based technologies including gas separation, gas storage, CO2 sequestration via forming hydrate, as well as the prevention of hydrate hazards are reviewed. Additionally, the progresses in the fundamental study of gas hydrate, including the thermodynamics and kinetics are also reviewed. A prospect to the future of gas hydrate research and application is given.

Activity Based Costing Adoption Among Manufacturing Companies in Nigeria

The study examines the extent of adoption of Activity Based Costing （ABC） among naanufacturing companies in Nigeria. The primary data were sourced through questionnaires administered to the Management Accountants of 40 selected manufacturing companies in South Western part of Nigeria. Descriptive statistics was employed to analyze the data. The study reveals that inability of the traditional cost systems to provide relevant cost was the most highly ranked reason in their decision to adopt ABC. Traditional methods of allocating overhead were therefore believed to be deficient in terms of improving global competitiveness. Also, 60% of the respondents have adopted ABC due to increased ranges of products, competition and increased overhead. Familiarity with and adoption of ABC was found to be across the manufacturing, more than half of the sample are familiar with it. The 40% of respondents who have not adopted ABC cited the cost and complexity involved with implementation as the main reason in non-adoption. However, cost of implementing ABC was enormous which hinder the small scale manufacturing from adopting it. This result may reflect the fact that larger firms are more likely to have the diverse mix of products or services that makes the use of ABC advantages. Consequently, the study recommends that the companies who have not adopted ABC because of its high cost of implementation should endeavor to consider its adoption because in the long run the benefits derive from it will outweigh its cost. It helps to identify inefficient products, departments and activities and helps to allocate more resources on profitable products. In conclusion, the senior management should also give their utmost support to the implementation and success of ABC.

Global Warming Induced Sea Level Rise on Soil, Land and Crop Production Loss in Bangladesh

Available data have been analyzed to assess impacts of global warming induced sea level rise on loss of soil and land resources and their implications on food security of Bangladesh. Scientists believe that because of sea level rise coastal zone of Bangladesh has already experienced noticeable impacts especially in terms of area of inundation and erosion, saline intrusion, loss of soil and land, loss of crop production in addition to migration of people from vulnerable areas. The loss of land mass and degradation of soil and land resources will adversely affect national food production and thereby food security. Sea level rise impacts are really high for Bangladesh, though the country plays insignificant role in green house gas emission. Development and implementation of adaptation policies and taking initiatives to realize those policies are the right ways to respond to sea level rise impacts in Bangladesh.

China＇s Contributions to the World： Economic Growth, Resource . Consumption and Global Imbalance

This paper makes systematic observations of China＇s contributions to global macroeconomic growth and bulk commodity consumption. Our observations suggest that while China＇s economic size is relatively small on a per capita basis, its contributions are large in terms of overall volume; moreover, the economy has experienced tremendous growth. Quantifying these characteristics that are unique to China＇s development creates a realistic background upon which China can re-examine its trade and economic policies and strategic thinking.

Developing newly emerging high-end industries in the low-carbon economy

Global warming has exerted severe challenges on the sustainable development of economic society and the food security,resource security,energy security and ecological security of the world.Low-carbon economy has become the current trend of the global economic development.Thus,the industrial development of China must seek the institutional innovation and technological innovation so as to improve the efficiency of energy.High-end industry has become the main factor of the future development of the economic society.Thus,to develop the high-end industry is an important approach to realize low-carbon economy.This paper explores the strategies of the development of newly emerging high-end industries against the background of low-carbon economy form such perspectives as effective use of resources,the improvement of independent innovative ability,and leading the high-end,high quality and high efficiency industries to the important region.

Globalization and Socio-educational Inequalities： A Study of Privatization of Higher Education in India

India is the world＇s largest democracy. The preamble of the constitution enshrines the values of a socialist, secular and equality. The aim was to create a society, based on fair and equitable distribution of resources and bringing the weaker sections to the mainstream of the society. However with the entry of globalization rapid changes were being made in the structural policy. Markets started taking over from where the state left off. it has been two decades and half since the liberalization, privatization and globalization phase was ushered in. Subsequently, privatization of education is rampant in each part of education system of India. The main objective of this paper is to find out socio-educational inequality at higher education level and to explore the educational participation, attainment and performance of scheduled castes at higher education level. Basically, this study is an empirical and exploratory research. Data collection and analysis were done through the data triangulation methods in this research process.

Coastal biodiversity and bioresources: variation and sustainability

The 1^(st) International Coastal Biology Congress(1^(st) ICBC) was held in Yantai, China, in Sep. 26–30, 2014. Eighteen manuscripts of the meeting presentations were selected in this special issue. According to the four themes set in the ICBC meeting, this special issue include four sections, i.e., Coastal Biodiversity under Global Change, Adaptation and Evolution to Special Environment of Coastal Zone, Sustainable Utilization of Coastal Bioresources, and Coastal Biotechnology. Recent advances in these filed are presented.

Problems and Prospects Faced by Chinese Higher Education Management in the Era of Globalization

The present and future international competitions, in the final analysis, are the talent competition. China is the world＇ s most populous nation, and it is the world＇ s most resource-rich countries of labor. Full development of human resources enhance the people＇ s level of education in general, which is today＇ s global trend of development of human resources in order to enhance the comprehensive national strength, but also the inevitable choice based on China＇ s basic national conditions of building a moderately prosperous society. It is faced with competition for talent era of knowledge economy, and it is in the face of economic globalization and integration trends in the face of China＇ s human resources situation. How to make heavy population burden into a country rich in human resources and how to play this advantage, how to create hundreds of millions of high-quality workers and technical personnel, innovative talents, education, especially higher education in China will play an increasingly important role.

The application of the MOOCs postgraduate education in the army

MOOCs as a new kind ofordine teaching mode worldwide at breakneck speed. This paper analyzes the development and advantages of MOOCs, to draw lessons fi＇om the successful experience of the MOOCs, build conform to the demand of our colleges and universities graduate education MOOCs platforrr~ promote excellent education experts in the army,high-quality teaching resource sharing, to promote the teaching idea transformation,teaching content update and the teaching method reform, improve the quality of military high-level talent cultivation.

Natural Resources in Economies＇ Status Transition from ＇Periphery＇ to ＇Center ＇

This paper divides the history of global trade since 1000AD into three periods using Rahl Prebisch＇s center-periphery pattern and summarizes the effects of resource trade on periphery economies during each period. However, this paper argues that the resource curse paradox does not justify isolation between developing and developed countries. On the contrary, developing countries should be encouraged to integrate into the existing center-periphery pattern and achieve economic growth through resource trade. This paper supplements the existing literature＇s analysis of resource endowment＇s role in global trade and offers recommendations for resource-rich developing countries to avoid the resource curse, identify a viable path to development, and achieve sustainable development by harnessing natural resources more productively.

Climate Change and Water Resources： Strategies and Practices for Improved Water Management in Arid Countries

Assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change （IPCC） highlighted the complex linkages between climate change and water. The likely warmer climate induced by the climate change is set to alter hydrological cycle and the shifting pattern of the rainfall would affect the spatial and temporal distribution of runoff, soil moisture, and surface and groundwater reserves. Therefore, there is an urgent need to assess the impacts of climate change on water and devise adaptation measures including management structures and processes by which one can deal with this challenge. The paper highlights with the global overview of climate change impacts on water in the arid region, supported and substantiated through scientific evidence drawn from IPCC reports and other relevant documents. This paper provides an overview of water resource management challenges including transboundary geopolitical concerns documented across the world and emphasizes the importance of an integrated framework for adaptive policy making. Further, it examines the viable water resource management options for various sectors and regions and showcases some of the international best practices in adaptation and mitigation. The paper also explains the complementary role of traditional knowledge in coping with climate change risks and uncertainties and the need for a balanced view in designing adaptation and mitigation strategies.

Influences of environmental changes on water storage variations in Central Asia

The spatio-temporal pattern of the global water resource has significantly changed with climate change and intensified human activities. The regional economy and ecological environment are highly affected by terrestrial water storage(TWS), especially in arid areas. To investigate the response relationships between TWS and changing environments(climate change and human activities) in Central Asia, we used the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment(GRACE) data, Climatic Research Unit(CRU) climate data and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) remote sensing data products(MOD16A2, MOD13A3 and MCD12Q1) from 2003 to 2013, as well as the slope and Pearson correlation analysis methods. Results indicate that:(1) TWS in about 77% of the study area decreased from 2003 to 2013. The total change volume of TWS is about 2915.6 × 108 m^3. The areas of decreased TWS are mainly distributed in the middle of Central Asia, while the areas of increased TWS are concentrated in the middle-altitude regions of the Kazakhstan hills and Tarim Basin.(2) TWS in about 5.91% of areas, mainly distributed in the mountain and piedmont zones, is significantly positively correlated with precipitation, while only 3.78% of areas show significant correlation between TWS and temperature. If the response time was delayed by three months, there would be a very good correlation between temperature and TWS.(3) There is a significantly positive relationship between TWS and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(NDVI) in 13.35% of the study area.(4) The area of significantly positive correlation between TWS and evapotranspiration is about 31.87%, mainly situated in mountainous areas and northwestern Kazakhstan. The reduction of regional TWS is related to precipitation more than evaporation. Increasing farmland area may explain why some areas show increasing precipitation and decreasing evapotranspiration.(5) The influences of land use on TWS are still not very clear. This study could provide scientific data useful for the estimation of changes in TWS with climate change and human activities.