Adsorption of water on sulfide surfaces and natural floatability of sulfide minerals were studied using density functional theory (DFT) method. All computational models were built in a vacuum environment to eliminat...Adsorption of water on sulfide surfaces and natural floatability of sulfide minerals were studied using density functional theory (DFT) method. All computational models were built in a vacuum environment to eliminate the effects of oxygen and other factors. H2O molecule prefers to stay with pyrite and sphalerite surfaces rather than water, whereas for galena, chalcocite, stibnite, and molybdenite, H2O molecule prefers to stay with water rather than the mineral surfaces. On the other hand, pyrite surface favors N2 more than water, while sphalerite surface cannot adsorb N2. These results show that galena, stibnite, chalcocite, and molybdenite are hydrophobic, while sphalerite is hydrophilic. Although pyrite has certain hydrophilicity, it tends to be aerophilic because the reaction of pyrite with H2O is weaker than pyrite with N2. Thus, pyrite, galena, chalcocite, stibnite and molybdenite all have natural floatability.展开更多
The Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii), indigenous to China, became an endangered species because of considerable reduction both in number and distribution during the 20th century. Presently, it is listed as an...The Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii), indigenous to China, became an endangered species because of considerable reduction both in number and distribution during the 20th century. Presently, it is listed as an Appendix Ⅰ species by CITES and as Category I by the Key Protected Wildlife List of China. Understanding the genetic diversity and population structure of the Tibetan antelope is significant for the development of effective conservation plans that will ensure the recovery and future persistence of this species. Twenty-five microsatellites were selected to obtain loci with sufficient levels of polymorphism that can provide information for the analysis of population structure. Among the 25 loci that were examined, nine of them showed high levels of genetic diversity. The nine variable loci (MCM38, MNS64, IOBT395, MCMAL TGLA68, BM1329, BMSI341, BM3501, and MB066) were used to examine the genetic diversity of the Tibetan antelope (n = 75) in Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve(HXNNR), Qinghai, China. The results obtained by estimating the number of population suggested that all the 75 Tibetan antelope samples were from the same population. The mean number of alleles per locus was 9.4 ± 0.5300 (range, 7-12) and the mean effective number of alleles was 6.519± 0.5271 (range, 4.676-9.169). The observed mean and expected heterozygosity were 0.844 ± 0.0133 (range, 0.791-0.897) and 0.838 ± 0.0132 (range, 0.786-0.891), respectively. Mean Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) was 0.818 ± 0.0158 (range, 0.753-0.881). The value of Fixation index (Fis) ranged from -0.269 to -0.097 with the mean of -0.163 ± 0.0197. Mean Shannon's information index was 1.990 ± 0.0719 among nine loci (range, 1.660-2.315). These results provide baseline data for the evaluation of the level of genetic variation in Tibetan antelope, which will be important for the development of conservation strategies in future.展开更多
Ecological Civilization Construction and natural conservatiorl and sustain- able resources use are three aspects of same object proposed from various angles of theory and practice. The paper intends to simply deal wit...Ecological Civilization Construction and natural conservatiorl and sustain- able resources use are three aspects of same object proposed from various angles of theory and practice. The paper intends to simply deal with some problems of this aspect and to propose corresponding suggestions for related departments.展开更多
Changbai Mountain forest area is not only is a national timber base but also a green ecological defense for Songliao Plain of NE China. The Natural Forest Protection Project of this area has an important bearing on th...Changbai Mountain forest area is not only is a national timber base but also a green ecological defense for Songliao Plain of NE China. The Natural Forest Protection Project of this area has an important bearing on the social and economic sustainable development of Jilin Province or even the whole forest area in NE China. This paper summarized general conditions of natural forest in Changbai Mountain state-owned forest area and put forward six problems need to be urgently solved and five strategic suggestions on natural forest protection and sustainable management.展开更多
A new method to accelerate the convergent rate of the space-alternatinggeneralized expectation-maximization (SAGE) algorithm is proposed. The new rescaled block-iterativeSAGE (RBI-SAGE) algorithm combines the RBI algo...A new method to accelerate the convergent rate of the space-alternatinggeneralized expectation-maximization (SAGE) algorithm is proposed. The new rescaled block-iterativeSAGE (RBI-SAGE) algorithm combines the RBI algorithm with the SAGE algorithm for PET imagereconstruction. In the new approach, the projection data is partitioned into disjoint blocks; eachiteration step involves only one of these blocks. SAGE updates the parameters sequentially in eachblock. In experiments, the RBI-SAGE algorithm and classical SAGE algorithm are compared in theapplication on positron emission tomography (PET) image reconstruction. Simulation results show thatRBI-SAGE has better performance than SAGE in both convergence and image quality.展开更多
We discuss the feasibility of using controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) in the frequency domain for prospecting marine gas hydrates. Based on the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 164 log data, we have establi...We discuss the feasibility of using controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) in the frequency domain for prospecting marine gas hydrates. Based on the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 164 log data, we have established several 1-D resistivity models which have different gas hydrate concentrations. Meanwhile, we analyzed the electromagnetic response of marine gas hydrates in the frequency domain based on these models. We also studied the relationship between electrical field magnitude or phase and parameters such as receiver-transmitter distance and frequency. Our numerical modeling results provide us with a quantitative reference for exploration and resource evaluation of marine gas hydrates.展开更多
Evolution,adaptation and selection always exist in the evolutionary process of any species,which is the result of interrelation and interaction between living things and their environments,and the incarnation of natur...Evolution,adaptation and selection always exist in the evolutionary process of any species,which is the result of interrelation and interaction between living things and their environments,and the incarnation of natural laws in the evolutionary process of any species. Only if accurately understanding their connotation and interrelation among them,taking the evolution of living things as the line with centralizing the human sustainable development,dialectically unifying the active adaptation of the human being to their environments and oriented selection of nature and the society to species,we can acquire a better understanding of evolution of living things and a deeper understanding of the human sustainable development under biologically evolutionary background and uphold the true Darwinism,modern evolutionary point of view and the concept of current sustainable development in theory and in practice.展开更多
The article presents research findings related to recreational use of forests located in protected mountainous areas with forestage of over 80%. The study was designed to identify recreational potential of the Carpath...The article presents research findings related to recreational use of forests located in protected mountainous areas with forestage of over 80%. The study was designed to identify recreational potential of the Carpathian national parks (Bieszczady National Park, Bahia G6ra National Park, Goree National Park and Magura National Park; southern Poland) and to compare these findings with the actual number of visitors. The information received on the recreational potential of parks is important from the point of view of protection of natural resources and the financial situation of the parks. The calculated ratio may be an effective tool of management for park administration, that allows to reconcile statutory social and protective functions of national parks. The study determined the recreational potential of the forests with the use of recreational valorisation method designed for areas with varied terrain, and the evaluated factors included the stands of trees with their habitat and land relief. The permissible number of national park visitors, expressed as man- hour/ha/year ranges from 19.31 in Bieszczady National Park (BG: 19~ 35' E, 49~ 35' N) to 32.06 in in Bieszczady National Park (B: 22~ 40' E, 49~ lo' N). In 3 out of 4 investigated parks, Magura National Park (M: 21025' E, 49~ 30' N), Gorce National Park (G: 20~ lo' E, 49~ 35' N), B) recreation carrying capacity was not exceeded, whether or not the strictly protected area is taken into account. Only in BG was the recreation carrying capacity exceeded by nearly 24%, or by 85% if the strictly protected area isexcluded from tourism-related exploitation. The presented procedure for monitoring access to mountain forests in national parks, from the viewpoint of natural resources conservation, can be applied in other mountainous areas covered with forests and exposed to tourist and recreational traffic, and in forests facing particular risk of recreational damage, e.g. in urban and suburban forests growing in areas with varied orography.展开更多
After 1995, Tibet entered the stage of accelerated urbanization. The large floating population fi'om outside Tibet has become the driving force for urban expansion and the rising of urbanization rate. After analyzing...After 1995, Tibet entered the stage of accelerated urbanization. The large floating population fi'om outside Tibet has become the driving force for urban expansion and the rising of urbanization rate. After analyzing the changes of urban functions and spatial structure of urban system in Tibet, this paper argues that before 1995 the urbanization in Tibet was mainly driven by administrative function, resulting in certain population migration, whereas in the past decade economic function has become the key factor accelerating urban expansion with the market mechanism creating large-scale inflow of population. The floating population-based urbanization and high population growth in the agricultural and pastoral areas of Tibet has promoted the regional economic prosperity, but exerted resources and environmental pressure and brought some problems for Tibetan culture protection at the same time. The conflicts and contradictions between urbanization and the sustainability of natural resources, environment and social development have been intensified. Addressing these problems, this paper proposes some countermeasures for improving the sustainability of Tibetan urbanization.展开更多
As natural ecosystems provide the material basis and fundamental support for regional sustainable devel-opment,the sustainability of natural ecosystems is an important prerequisite and a viable approach for the achiev...As natural ecosystems provide the material basis and fundamental support for regional sustainable devel-opment,the sustainability of natural ecosystems is an important prerequisite and a viable approach for the achievement of regional sustainable development.It is also the final criteria to assess whether sustainable development paradigm is successful.Along with the increasing impacts of human activities on natural ecosystems,the evaluation of regional ecological sustainability has become one of the key issues for research on macro ecology and sustainable development.Based on different unit of indicators,this study firstly groups the evaluation frameworks of regional ecological sus-tainability into three major types:comprehensive index evaluation with dimensionless unit,monetary valuation,and biophysical quantity measurement.We then discuss and compare these types in terms of basic principles,scope of ap-plications,advantages and shortcomings.Finally,drawn on the discussion about characteristics of ecological sustain-ability,we outline the current trend and future directions of regional ecological sustainability evaluation,for instance,transition from sustainable development evaluation to sustainability science,integration of goal-oriented and problem-solving approaches,combination of spatial pattern analysis and ecological sustainability evaluation,and en-hancement of ecological sustainability evaluation at landscape scale.展开更多
Many of those involved in the ecological movement have found inspiration and parallels within the Buddhist tradition. The Buddhist philosophy of karmic causality and dependent origination (pratitya-samutpada) convey...Many of those involved in the ecological movement have found inspiration and parallels within the Buddhist tradition. The Buddhist philosophy of karmic causality and dependent origination (pratitya-samutpada) convey the notion of interdependence of humans and nature. Today, especially in the United States, there are many movements, such as the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, to promote eco-living and sustainable communities, which call for humans to be mindful of the environment and make conscientious choices for the benefit of all sentient beings and non-sentient entities. Just as humans have been the cause of the gradual deterioration of Nature, we can also be the solution towards an coo-conscious living, which not only fosters a healthy environment, but also enables us to build good merit. The core Buddhist teaching, which must be embraced by all eco-minded practitioners is the notion of interdependence, which has been expounded by notable Japanese Buddhist figures in the eighth century, such as Kukai (774-835) of the Shingon School and Dogen (1200-1253) of the Soto Zen sect, who both viewed that non-living life forms--trees, plants, and the earth--could also achieve enlightenment. Their view is based on the ontological notions of Buddha-nature (tathagata-garbha) and Indra's Jewel Net, which is a powerful image found in Huayen's (Jpn. Kegon) Avatamsaka Sutra. This paper examines Buddhist teachings and sutras, which support eco-friendly and sustainable movements in our society and world today.展开更多
In this paper, we propose a new method that combines collage error in fractal domain and Hu moment invariants for image retrieval with a statistical method - variable bandwidth Kernel Density Estimation (KDE). The pro...In this paper, we propose a new method that combines collage error in fractal domain and Hu moment invariants for image retrieval with a statistical method - variable bandwidth Kernel Density Estimation (KDE). The proposed method is called CHK (KDE of Collage error and Hu moment) and it is tested on the Vistex texture database with 640 natural images. Experimental results show that the Average Retrieval Rate (ARR) can reach into 78.18%, which demonstrates that the proposed method performs better than the one with parameters respectively as well as the commonly used histogram method both on retrieval rate and retrieval time.展开更多
The influence of vegetation and sediment on flow characteristics in open channels cannot be neglected. To study the flow variability under the effects of the instream natural vegetation and sediment supply, experiment...The influence of vegetation and sediment on flow characteristics in open channels cannot be neglected. To study the flow variability under the effects of the instream natural vegetation and sediment supply, experiments were conducted with varied water and sediment supply in a movable bed of a river prototype. The instantaneous threedimensional velocities near two types of vegetation patches(the shrub and the weed) and along the centerline of the main channel with vegetation belts were measured using a 3-D side-looking acoustic Doppler velocimetry. The experimental results show that both the instream vegetation and sediment supply strongly affect the flow and turbulence characteristics. In the case of vegetation patches, both the shrub and weed have a considerable influence on the distribution of the streamwise velocity and turbulence intensity of their surrounding water. The streamwise velocity distribution followed as J-shape and linear shape around the weed and shrub under different experimental conditions. The turbulence intensity was large at the top of the weed and shrub;the shrub had its greatest influence on the downstream water flow. In the case of vegetation belts,the streamwise velocity along the centerline of the main channel exhibited an S-shape, J-shape and linear shape at different locations under varied water,vegetation structures and riverbed configurations.The turbulence intensity along the centerline of the main channel ranged from 0.0 to 0.1. The upstream turbulence intensity was affected considerably by a sediment supply, while the downstream turbulence intensity changed with the varied vegetation characteristics and riverbed topography. The second flow coefficient M-value increased longitudinally and was almost positive along the centerline of the main channel, implying that the rotational direction of the secondary current cell was clockwise.展开更多
The issues of reducing CO_2 emissions, sustainably utilizing natural mineral resources, and dealing with industrial waste offer challenges for sustainable development in energy and the environment. We propose an effic...The issues of reducing CO_2 emissions, sustainably utilizing natural mineral resources, and dealing with industrial waste offer challenges for sustainable development in energy and the environment. We propose an efficient methodology via the co-reaction of K-feldspar and phosphogypsum for the extraction of soluble potassium salts and recovery of SO_2 with reduced CO_2 emission and energy consumption. The results of characterization and reactivity evaluation indicated that the partial melting of K-feldspar and phosphogypsum in the hightemperature co-reaction significantly facilitated the reduction of phosphogypsum to SO_2 and the exchange of K^+(K-feldspar) with Ca^(2+)(CaSO_4 in phosphogypsum). The reaction parameters were systematically investigated with the highest sulfur recovery ratio of ~ 60% and K extraction ratio of ~ 87.7%. This novel methodology possesses an energy consumption reduction of ~ 28% and CO_2 emission reduction of ~ 55% comparing with the present typical commercial technologies for utilization of K-feldspar and the treatment of phosphogypsum.展开更多
For decades, Africa has undergone many crisis, affecting economy, climate, food, politics as well as society with irreparable consequences on the environment. The protection of the latter, being one of the cornerstone...For decades, Africa has undergone many crisis, affecting economy, climate, food, politics as well as society with irreparable consequences on the environment. The protection of the latter, being one of the cornerstones of sustainable development, is only possible if it's based on a reliable and rigorous diagnosis and inventory. This study suggests a method to characterize natural resources, in particular agricultural ones, by showing their landscape context. In this perspective and in the absence of any pre-existing mapping, as it is often the case in Africa, this work provides a simple and reproducible approach that merely uses Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) (free) images, with the only constraint of the cross-checking of several images at different times of the plant cycle.展开更多
Natural cocoa butter is expensive but a major ingredient used for the manufacture of chocolate. The search for alternative cheaper cocoa butter substitute with the similar physical properties, fatty acid and triglycer...Natural cocoa butter is expensive but a major ingredient used for the manufacture of chocolate. The search for alternative cheaper cocoa butter substitute with the similar physical properties, fatty acid and triglyceride content has been proposed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential ofcbeaper and processed (fractionated- or deodorized-) shea butter (FSB or DSB) to partly substitute 5% and 7.5% cocoa butter in chocolate production. The proximate composition, microbiological and sensory qualities, as well as estimated cost of the formulated chocolate products were determined and compared with that of the 100% cocoa butter chocolate as control. Results showed that all the shea butter substituted chocolate samples varying in percentages of incorporation had acceptable proximate composition and microbial quality according to the international standards. Also, there were no significant differences (P 〉 0.05) among all the five samples in terms of flavour, after-taste and texture except for the 7.5% FSB substituted chocolate which differed significantly (P 〈 0.05) from the other samples in terms of overall acceptability, thus 7.5% FSB was less preferred by consumers. FSB is cheaper than DSB based on the world market price quotes. Thus the current study recommends the use of FSB for chocolate confectioneries at 5% substitution rate for cocoa butter could help reduce the cost of chocolate production and increase turnovers.展开更多
Soil respiration is a key component of the global carbon cycle, and even small changes in soil respiration rates could result in significant changes in atmospheric CO_2 levels. The conversion of tropical forests to ru...Soil respiration is a key component of the global carbon cycle, and even small changes in soil respiration rates could result in significant changes in atmospheric CO_2 levels. The conversion of tropical forests to rubber plantations in SE Asia is increasingly common, and there is a need to understand the impacts of this land-use change on soil respiration in order to revise CO_2 budget calculations. This study focused on the spatial variability of soil respiration along a slope in a natural tropical rainforest and a terraced rubber plantation in Xishuangbanna, Southwest(SW) China. In each land-use type, we inserted 105 collars for soil respiration measurements.Research was conducted over one year in Xishuangbanna during May, June, July and October 2015(wet season) and January and March 2016(dry season). The mean annual soil respiration rate was 30% higher in natural forest than in rubber plantation and mean fluxes in the wet and dry season were 15.1 and 9.5 Mg C ha^(-1) yr^(-1) in natural forest and 11.7 and 5.7 Mg C ha^(-1) yr^(-1) in rubber plantation. Using a linear mixedeffects model to assess the effect of changes in soil temperature and moisture on soil respiration, we found that soil temperature was the main driver of variation in soil respiration, explaining 48% of its seasonal variation in rubber plantation and 30% in natural forest. After including soil moisture, the model explained 70% of the variation in soil respiration in natural forest and 76% in rubber plantation. In the natural forest slope position had a significant effect on soil respiration, and soil temperature and soil moisture gradients only partly explained this correlation. In contrast, soil respiration in rubber plantation was not affected by slope position, which may be due to the terrace structure that resulted in more homogeneous environmental conditions along the slope. Further research is needed to determine whether or not these findings hold true at a landscape level.展开更多
基金Project(51164001)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(NCET-11-0925)supported by New Century Excellent Talents in University,China
文摘Adsorption of water on sulfide surfaces and natural floatability of sulfide minerals were studied using density functional theory (DFT) method. All computational models were built in a vacuum environment to eliminate the effects of oxygen and other factors. H2O molecule prefers to stay with pyrite and sphalerite surfaces rather than water, whereas for galena, chalcocite, stibnite, and molybdenite, H2O molecule prefers to stay with water rather than the mineral surfaces. On the other hand, pyrite surface favors N2 more than water, while sphalerite surface cannot adsorb N2. These results show that galena, stibnite, chalcocite, and molybdenite are hydrophobic, while sphalerite is hydrophilic. Although pyrite has certain hydrophilicity, it tends to be aerophilic because the reaction of pyrite with H2O is weaker than pyrite with N2. Thus, pyrite, galena, chalcocite, stibnite and molybdenite all have natural floatability.
基金Conservation Technology for Endangered Wildlife Program, Social Service Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology (No. 2001DIB100058)National Key Project of 10th Five-Year Plan (No. 2001BA510B10).
文摘The Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii), indigenous to China, became an endangered species because of considerable reduction both in number and distribution during the 20th century. Presently, it is listed as an Appendix Ⅰ species by CITES and as Category I by the Key Protected Wildlife List of China. Understanding the genetic diversity and population structure of the Tibetan antelope is significant for the development of effective conservation plans that will ensure the recovery and future persistence of this species. Twenty-five microsatellites were selected to obtain loci with sufficient levels of polymorphism that can provide information for the analysis of population structure. Among the 25 loci that were examined, nine of them showed high levels of genetic diversity. The nine variable loci (MCM38, MNS64, IOBT395, MCMAL TGLA68, BM1329, BMSI341, BM3501, and MB066) were used to examine the genetic diversity of the Tibetan antelope (n = 75) in Hoh Xil National Nature Reserve(HXNNR), Qinghai, China. The results obtained by estimating the number of population suggested that all the 75 Tibetan antelope samples were from the same population. The mean number of alleles per locus was 9.4 ± 0.5300 (range, 7-12) and the mean effective number of alleles was 6.519± 0.5271 (range, 4.676-9.169). The observed mean and expected heterozygosity were 0.844 ± 0.0133 (range, 0.791-0.897) and 0.838 ± 0.0132 (range, 0.786-0.891), respectively. Mean Polymorphism Information Content (PIC) was 0.818 ± 0.0158 (range, 0.753-0.881). The value of Fixation index (Fis) ranged from -0.269 to -0.097 with the mean of -0.163 ± 0.0197. Mean Shannon's information index was 1.990 ± 0.0719 among nine loci (range, 1.660-2.315). These results provide baseline data for the evaluation of the level of genetic variation in Tibetan antelope, which will be important for the development of conservation strategies in future.
基金Supported by the"Strategic Priority Research Program"of the Chinese Academy of Sciences(XDA05050300)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(41171041)~~
文摘Ecological Civilization Construction and natural conservatiorl and sustain- able resources use are three aspects of same object proposed from various angles of theory and practice. The paper intends to simply deal with some problems of this aspect and to propose corresponding suggestions for related departments.
文摘Changbai Mountain forest area is not only is a national timber base but also a green ecological defense for Songliao Plain of NE China. The Natural Forest Protection Project of this area has an important bearing on the social and economic sustainable development of Jilin Province or even the whole forest area in NE China. This paper summarized general conditions of natural forest in Changbai Mountain state-owned forest area and put forward six problems need to be urgently solved and five strategic suggestions on natural forest protection and sustainable management.
文摘A new method to accelerate the convergent rate of the space-alternatinggeneralized expectation-maximization (SAGE) algorithm is proposed. The new rescaled block-iterativeSAGE (RBI-SAGE) algorithm combines the RBI algorithm with the SAGE algorithm for PET imagereconstruction. In the new approach, the projection data is partitioned into disjoint blocks; eachiteration step involves only one of these blocks. SAGE updates the parameters sequentially in eachblock. In experiments, the RBI-SAGE algorithm and classical SAGE algorithm are compared in theapplication on positron emission tomography (PET) image reconstruction. Simulation results show thatRBI-SAGE has better performance than SAGE in both convergence and image quality.
基金supported by the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University(No.NCET-04-0370)
文摘We discuss the feasibility of using controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) in the frequency domain for prospecting marine gas hydrates. Based on the Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Leg 164 log data, we have established several 1-D resistivity models which have different gas hydrate concentrations. Meanwhile, we analyzed the electromagnetic response of marine gas hydrates in the frequency domain based on these models. We also studied the relationship between electrical field magnitude or phase and parameters such as receiver-transmitter distance and frequency. Our numerical modeling results provide us with a quantitative reference for exploration and resource evaluation of marine gas hydrates.
基金Supported by Science Foundation of Chuxiong Normal University(06YJRC19)Key Subject Construction of Chuxiong Normal University (05YJJSXK03 )National Natural Science Foundation of China (30760040)~~
文摘Evolution,adaptation and selection always exist in the evolutionary process of any species,which is the result of interrelation and interaction between living things and their environments,and the incarnation of natural laws in the evolutionary process of any species. Only if accurately understanding their connotation and interrelation among them,taking the evolution of living things as the line with centralizing the human sustainable development,dialectically unifying the active adaptation of the human being to their environments and oriented selection of nature and the society to species,we can acquire a better understanding of evolution of living things and a deeper understanding of the human sustainable development under biologically evolutionary background and uphold the true Darwinism,modern evolutionary point of view and the concept of current sustainable development in theory and in practice.
文摘The article presents research findings related to recreational use of forests located in protected mountainous areas with forestage of over 80%. The study was designed to identify recreational potential of the Carpathian national parks (Bieszczady National Park, Bahia G6ra National Park, Goree National Park and Magura National Park; southern Poland) and to compare these findings with the actual number of visitors. The information received on the recreational potential of parks is important from the point of view of protection of natural resources and the financial situation of the parks. The calculated ratio may be an effective tool of management for park administration, that allows to reconcile statutory social and protective functions of national parks. The study determined the recreational potential of the forests with the use of recreational valorisation method designed for areas with varied terrain, and the evaluated factors included the stands of trees with their habitat and land relief. The permissible number of national park visitors, expressed as man- hour/ha/year ranges from 19.31 in Bieszczady National Park (BG: 19~ 35' E, 49~ 35' N) to 32.06 in in Bieszczady National Park (B: 22~ 40' E, 49~ lo' N). In 3 out of 4 investigated parks, Magura National Park (M: 21025' E, 49~ 30' N), Gorce National Park (G: 20~ lo' E, 49~ 35' N), B) recreation carrying capacity was not exceeded, whether or not the strictly protected area is taken into account. Only in BG was the recreation carrying capacity exceeded by nearly 24%, or by 85% if the strictly protected area isexcluded from tourism-related exploitation. The presented procedure for monitoring access to mountain forests in national parks, from the viewpoint of natural resources conservation, can be applied in other mountainous areas covered with forests and exposed to tourist and recreational traffic, and in forests facing particular risk of recreational damage, e.g. in urban and suburban forests growing in areas with varied orography.
基金Under the auspices of Key Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 40830741)
文摘After 1995, Tibet entered the stage of accelerated urbanization. The large floating population fi'om outside Tibet has become the driving force for urban expansion and the rising of urbanization rate. After analyzing the changes of urban functions and spatial structure of urban system in Tibet, this paper argues that before 1995 the urbanization in Tibet was mainly driven by administrative function, resulting in certain population migration, whereas in the past decade economic function has become the key factor accelerating urban expansion with the market mechanism creating large-scale inflow of population. The floating population-based urbanization and high population growth in the agricultural and pastoral areas of Tibet has promoted the regional economic prosperity, but exerted resources and environmental pressure and brought some problems for Tibetan culture protection at the same time. The conflicts and contradictions between urbanization and the sustainability of natural resources, environment and social development have been intensified. Addressing these problems, this paper proposes some countermeasures for improving the sustainability of Tibetan urbanization.
基金Under the auspices of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.40635028,40801066)State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology of China (No.2008-KF-04)
文摘As natural ecosystems provide the material basis and fundamental support for regional sustainable devel-opment,the sustainability of natural ecosystems is an important prerequisite and a viable approach for the achievement of regional sustainable development.It is also the final criteria to assess whether sustainable development paradigm is successful.Along with the increasing impacts of human activities on natural ecosystems,the evaluation of regional ecological sustainability has become one of the key issues for research on macro ecology and sustainable development.Based on different unit of indicators,this study firstly groups the evaluation frameworks of regional ecological sus-tainability into three major types:comprehensive index evaluation with dimensionless unit,monetary valuation,and biophysical quantity measurement.We then discuss and compare these types in terms of basic principles,scope of ap-plications,advantages and shortcomings.Finally,drawn on the discussion about characteristics of ecological sustain-ability,we outline the current trend and future directions of regional ecological sustainability evaluation,for instance,transition from sustainable development evaluation to sustainability science,integration of goal-oriented and problem-solving approaches,combination of spatial pattern analysis and ecological sustainability evaluation,and en-hancement of ecological sustainability evaluation at landscape scale.
文摘Many of those involved in the ecological movement have found inspiration and parallels within the Buddhist tradition. The Buddhist philosophy of karmic causality and dependent origination (pratitya-samutpada) convey the notion of interdependence of humans and nature. Today, especially in the United States, there are many movements, such as the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, to promote eco-living and sustainable communities, which call for humans to be mindful of the environment and make conscientious choices for the benefit of all sentient beings and non-sentient entities. Just as humans have been the cause of the gradual deterioration of Nature, we can also be the solution towards an coo-conscious living, which not only fosters a healthy environment, but also enables us to build good merit. The core Buddhist teaching, which must be embraced by all eco-minded practitioners is the notion of interdependence, which has been expounded by notable Japanese Buddhist figures in the eighth century, such as Kukai (774-835) of the Shingon School and Dogen (1200-1253) of the Soto Zen sect, who both viewed that non-living life forms--trees, plants, and the earth--could also achieve enlightenment. Their view is based on the ontological notions of Buddha-nature (tathagata-garbha) and Indra's Jewel Net, which is a powerful image found in Huayen's (Jpn. Kegon) Avatamsaka Sutra. This paper examines Buddhist teachings and sutras, which support eco-friendly and sustainable movements in our society and world today.
基金Supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. NS2012093)
文摘In this paper, we propose a new method that combines collage error in fractal domain and Hu moment invariants for image retrieval with a statistical method - variable bandwidth Kernel Density Estimation (KDE). The proposed method is called CHK (KDE of Collage error and Hu moment) and it is tested on the Vistex texture database with 640 natural images. Experimental results show that the Average Retrieval Rate (ARR) can reach into 78.18%, which demonstrates that the proposed method performs better than the one with parameters respectively as well as the commonly used histogram method both on retrieval rate and retrieval time.
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC0402304 and 2017YFC1502504)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51639007 and 51579163)
文摘The influence of vegetation and sediment on flow characteristics in open channels cannot be neglected. To study the flow variability under the effects of the instream natural vegetation and sediment supply, experiments were conducted with varied water and sediment supply in a movable bed of a river prototype. The instantaneous threedimensional velocities near two types of vegetation patches(the shrub and the weed) and along the centerline of the main channel with vegetation belts were measured using a 3-D side-looking acoustic Doppler velocimetry. The experimental results show that both the instream vegetation and sediment supply strongly affect the flow and turbulence characteristics. In the case of vegetation patches, both the shrub and weed have a considerable influence on the distribution of the streamwise velocity and turbulence intensity of their surrounding water. The streamwise velocity distribution followed as J-shape and linear shape around the weed and shrub under different experimental conditions. The turbulence intensity was large at the top of the weed and shrub;the shrub had its greatest influence on the downstream water flow. In the case of vegetation belts,the streamwise velocity along the centerline of the main channel exhibited an S-shape, J-shape and linear shape at different locations under varied water,vegetation structures and riverbed configurations.The turbulence intensity along the centerline of the main channel ranged from 0.0 to 0.1. The upstream turbulence intensity was affected considerably by a sediment supply, while the downstream turbulence intensity changed with the varied vegetation characteristics and riverbed topography. The second flow coefficient M-value increased longitudinally and was almost positive along the centerline of the main channel, implying that the rotational direction of the secondary current cell was clockwise.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21336004)the State Key Research Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology(2013BAC12B03)
文摘The issues of reducing CO_2 emissions, sustainably utilizing natural mineral resources, and dealing with industrial waste offer challenges for sustainable development in energy and the environment. We propose an efficient methodology via the co-reaction of K-feldspar and phosphogypsum for the extraction of soluble potassium salts and recovery of SO_2 with reduced CO_2 emission and energy consumption. The results of characterization and reactivity evaluation indicated that the partial melting of K-feldspar and phosphogypsum in the hightemperature co-reaction significantly facilitated the reduction of phosphogypsum to SO_2 and the exchange of K^+(K-feldspar) with Ca^(2+)(CaSO_4 in phosphogypsum). The reaction parameters were systematically investigated with the highest sulfur recovery ratio of ~ 60% and K extraction ratio of ~ 87.7%. This novel methodology possesses an energy consumption reduction of ~ 28% and CO_2 emission reduction of ~ 55% comparing with the present typical commercial technologies for utilization of K-feldspar and the treatment of phosphogypsum.
文摘For decades, Africa has undergone many crisis, affecting economy, climate, food, politics as well as society with irreparable consequences on the environment. The protection of the latter, being one of the cornerstones of sustainable development, is only possible if it's based on a reliable and rigorous diagnosis and inventory. This study suggests a method to characterize natural resources, in particular agricultural ones, by showing their landscape context. In this perspective and in the absence of any pre-existing mapping, as it is often the case in Africa, this work provides a simple and reproducible approach that merely uses Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) (free) images, with the only constraint of the cross-checking of several images at different times of the plant cycle.
文摘Natural cocoa butter is expensive but a major ingredient used for the manufacture of chocolate. The search for alternative cheaper cocoa butter substitute with the similar physical properties, fatty acid and triglyceride content has been proposed. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential ofcbeaper and processed (fractionated- or deodorized-) shea butter (FSB or DSB) to partly substitute 5% and 7.5% cocoa butter in chocolate production. The proximate composition, microbiological and sensory qualities, as well as estimated cost of the formulated chocolate products were determined and compared with that of the 100% cocoa butter chocolate as control. Results showed that all the shea butter substituted chocolate samples varying in percentages of incorporation had acceptable proximate composition and microbial quality according to the international standards. Also, there were no significant differences (P 〉 0.05) among all the five samples in terms of flavour, after-taste and texture except for the 7.5% FSB substituted chocolate which differed significantly (P 〈 0.05) from the other samples in terms of overall acceptability, thus 7.5% FSB was less preferred by consumers. FSB is cheaper than DSB based on the world market price quotes. Thus the current study recommends the use of FSB for chocolate confectioneries at 5% substitution rate for cocoa butter could help reduce the cost of chocolate production and increase turnovers.
基金the BMZ/GIZ “Green Rubber” (Project No. Project No. 13.1432.7-001.00)the CGIAR (Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research) Research Program 6: Forests, Trees and Agroforestry+2 种基金financially supported by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germanyfunded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 31450110067) the Chinese Academy of Science funded the Chinese Academy of Science funded the post-doc fellowship for Stefanie Goldberg (Grant No. 2013Y2SB0007)
文摘Soil respiration is a key component of the global carbon cycle, and even small changes in soil respiration rates could result in significant changes in atmospheric CO_2 levels. The conversion of tropical forests to rubber plantations in SE Asia is increasingly common, and there is a need to understand the impacts of this land-use change on soil respiration in order to revise CO_2 budget calculations. This study focused on the spatial variability of soil respiration along a slope in a natural tropical rainforest and a terraced rubber plantation in Xishuangbanna, Southwest(SW) China. In each land-use type, we inserted 105 collars for soil respiration measurements.Research was conducted over one year in Xishuangbanna during May, June, July and October 2015(wet season) and January and March 2016(dry season). The mean annual soil respiration rate was 30% higher in natural forest than in rubber plantation and mean fluxes in the wet and dry season were 15.1 and 9.5 Mg C ha^(-1) yr^(-1) in natural forest and 11.7 and 5.7 Mg C ha^(-1) yr^(-1) in rubber plantation. Using a linear mixedeffects model to assess the effect of changes in soil temperature and moisture on soil respiration, we found that soil temperature was the main driver of variation in soil respiration, explaining 48% of its seasonal variation in rubber plantation and 30% in natural forest. After including soil moisture, the model explained 70% of the variation in soil respiration in natural forest and 76% in rubber plantation. In the natural forest slope position had a significant effect on soil respiration, and soil temperature and soil moisture gradients only partly explained this correlation. In contrast, soil respiration in rubber plantation was not affected by slope position, which may be due to the terrace structure that resulted in more homogeneous environmental conditions along the slope. Further research is needed to determine whether or not these findings hold true at a landscape level.