Perception and Challenges for Sustainable Construction in Developing Countries： North Cyprus Case

Sustainable construction, together with sustainability, is a growing concern in developed countries in order to influence construction organizations to make ＂achieving sustainability＂ in their projects a stringent prior objective. North Cyprus is a rapidly developing country with an annual economic growth of 7%. Construction became the leading sector within the economy after the boom in demand for holiday and retirement houses especially from English and German holidaymakers. Due to lack of government policy on sustainability, developers usually use traditional ways of construction, and the lack of an established link with international construction, which would help local developers be aware of the latest technology and sustainable building techniques, is the main challenges for North Cyprus construction sector to develop sustainable construction practices.

Can Emerging Economies Catch-up Sustainably？-An Analysis of BRICS＇ Economic Growth Pattern

The BRICS （Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa） and other emerging economies have become a driving global force for the past twenty years. However, their growth patterns are obsolete, impeding the quality and competitiveness of their economic growth, while simultaneously threatening the sustainability of their economic convergence with developed nations. Transforming the domestic growth pattern-the solution to the middle-income trap-has therefore become a key priority for each of these economies. This paper presents a comparative analysis of how to transform the pattern of economic growth in BRICS and achieve sustainable economic convergence with a comparative analysis of the pattern of economic growth and problems among BRICS countries.

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.

Study on the reform of resource tax and sustainable development of the underdeveloped resource-rich regions in China

The underdeveloped resource-rich region in China refers to the underdeveloped region with abundantnatural resources. The problem for these regions sustainable development cannot be negligible for its particularity innatural resources and environment. This paper mainly examines the issue about resource tax reform and the sustainabledevelopment of underdeveloped resource-rich regions. It first expatiates on regional characteristics of underdevelopedresource-rich regions, then analyzes the effect that resource tax has on the sustainable development of this type of regions,takes Yulin City as example to illuminate the negative influence on the sustainable development of those regions due to thedesign limitation of the existing resource tax, and put forward some suggestions, including to delegate tax legislativepower to lower levels, to increase resource tax rate, to expand its levied scope to give play to the potential main tax to localrevenue, to improve the design of resource tax, to enhance the its function of resource saving and environmentalprotection, to attach importance to regional interest of underdeveloped resource-rich regions and to improve of theinterest distribution system concerning the tax system and resource exploitation.

Water Status in Baghdad

Water is a strategically limited natural resource, and currently Iraq is in the grip of an extended drought period. It is needed to look for alternative water sources and work towards achieving high level of sustainability. Measurements for gray water samples were carried out including pH, EC （electrical conductivity）, TDS （total dissolved solids）, TS （total solids）, TSS （total suspended solids）, DO （dissolved oxygen）, BOD5 （biochemical oxygen demand）, COD （chemical oxygen demand）, alkalinity, chlorides （Cl）, calcium （Ca）, sodium （Na）, magnesium （Mg）, potassium （K）, lead （Pb）, TC （total coliforms）, TF （total fecal coliforms）, and nitrate （NO3）. The goals of this study are to estimate quantities of fresh water consumption and gray water generated in typical Baghdadian households, and to investigate gray water quality （physical, chemical and biological）. The major results can be summarized as follows： （1） The daily water consumption in Baghdad ranged from 75 Lpcd to 176 Lpcd with an average of 116 Lpcd; （2） the maximum daily consumption in Baghdad ranged from 124 Lpcd to 327 Lpcd with an average of 186 Lpcd; （3） the maximum hourly consumption in Baghdad ranged from 154 Lpcd to 900 Lpcd with an average of 308 Lpcd; （4） gray water generation in Baghdad ranged from 34 Lpcd to 139 Lpcd with an average of 68 Lpcd, and that gray water generated constituted 58% to 72% of total consumption.

Study on the Foreign Eco-tourism Environment Protection Act and Its Enlightenment

China, as a power in ecotourism resources, is luxuriant in eco-tourism resources. With the continuous expansion of the ecological tourism market, however, the ecological tourism environment protection problems are becoming acute. Then, the ecological tourism will be in a fatal blow in China if the ecological tourism environment is not being protected. Therefore, improving China＇ s ecological tourism environmental protection legal system is of important practical significance to the sustainable development of tourism on the basis of introducing the experience of developed countries in ecotourism environmental protection act.

企业投资中运用可持续发展的观念进行宏观经济统计分析

可持续发展越来越受社会各界的重视,从可持续发展的内涵出发,联系到企业的宏观经济统计分析,将其与微观经济统计分析对比,认为企业在投资项目决策中应该加强宏观经济统计的分析,并提出有关部门应在引导上的一些建议。