Suitability Evaluation of Rural Settlements Based on Accessibility of Production and Living： A Case Study of Tingzu Town in Hubei Prov- ince of China

Rural settlements are the main carriers of agriculture, rural areas and farmers; thus, optimizing the production and living space of rural settlements is highly significant to rural development. Taking the effective allocation of resources as the starting point, a suitability evaluation system of rural settlements, based on accessibility of production and living, was proposed in this study to provide scientific basis for the optimization of production and living space. The accessibility of production and living was measured by an im- proved two-step floating catchment area method, which considered proximity and availability based on the inclination of rural residents. The suitability evaluation system consisted of traditional suitability evaluation and newly proposed limiting factor identification based on the loss score proportion of suitability. Tingzu Town of Hubei Province, China, was chosen as the case study area. Based on the re- suits of the suitability evaluation system, corresponding suggestions on rural land consolidation, industry division, as well as the layout of health care and education facilities were proposed to optimize the production and living space of rural settlements in Tingzu Town. It is found that the suitability evaluation based on accessibility of production and living is more scientific and accurate than the traditional ones which significantly overestimate production and living convenience. Moreover, the limiting factor identification can help us put forward suggestions according to local conditions and bring about the highly targeted optimization of production and living space of rural settlements.

Alteration of certain soil microbiological and biochemical indices of a paddy soil under anthropogenic stress

A 21-day laboratory incubation experiment was conducted to investigate the impact of pesticides (insecticide, herbicide, fungicide) on paddy field soil health under controlled moisture (flooded soil) and temperature (25 ℃) environment. The electron transport system (ETS)/Dehydrogenase activity showed negative correlation with pesticides concentrations, decreased with increase of pesticide concentration. The higher doses(5 to 10 times field rates) of pesticides significantly inhibited ETS activity, while lower rates failed to produce any significant reducing effect on the control. The toxicity of pesticides in decreasing the ETS activity was in the order: insecticide > fungicide > herbicide, irrespective of their rates of application. The pesticides increased the soil phenol content, which increased with increasing concentration of agrochemicals. The pesticide application did not produce any significant change in soil protein content. The response of biomass phospholipid content was nearly similar to that of ETS activity. The phospholipid content decreased with the addition of pesticides in the order insecticide > fungicide > herbicide and the toxicity was in the order: 10 FR (field rate) > 5 FR > 1.0 FR > 0.5 FR > control.

Forgiveness as the Guiding Principle for Individual Rebirth and Modern Universal Renaissance

In this paper, I first create new frameworks for a reflection on “human” and “humanism” in the time of globalization. As our intellectual perception of the world is becoming more universal and all-inclusive, so should also our hearts. The heart is the inner most core of being human, to become able to expand in unprecedented dimensions of human existence. In this context, I propose forgiveness as the guiding principle of expansion and inclusion, and consequently of becoming more human. If memory helps us to survive, forgetting allows us to go on living. The practice of forgetting, and consequently of reconciliation, is the distinctive and complex moment of human existence, when the human agent makes him/herself open and available to the present moment, and lives fully in the present moment. Once doing so, the present moment becomes the space in which s/he can reconcile with his/her past and shape his/her future. In the second part, I check possible impediments on our way to expansion and inclusion, as well as in our process of forgiveness and reconciliation. Pata？jali, in his instructions to yogis talks about kleshas, i.e. impediments or afflictions, which are weakening our way of thinking and acting. These kleshas include ignorance, ego, attachment, aversion, and the clinging to life. I take these kleshas also as afflictions on our way to becoming more human, or as impediments in our process of forgiveness and reconciliation. Finally, I reflect on the human urge to become more human. In our time of globalization, we are challenged to look at this urge from a universal perspective. This urge, bound with an inevitable process of forgiveness and reconciliation, challenges each religion and its dogmatic teaching, and represents the evaluative criterion. The spirituality, or religion, that which promulgates and lives forgiveness and reconciliation will automatically excel because it will succeed, without losing its own identity, to integrate and include otherness of the other.

Monitoring Biosignals with Low Cost Wearable Sensors

With the increase of aging population, we have been witnessing a decline in the quality of life influenced by numerous social, cultural and economic factors. Several studies have addressed these facts and some emerging technologies are capable of monitoring and anticipating these problems. With the advance in the development of smart textiles, it＇s possible to use these technologies in the acquisition of biosignals, which allows obtaining a better comfort regarding the use of smart clothes over traditional Ag/AgCI electrodes. In this way, it is possible to monitor for longer periods reducing the discomfort to the user. This paper reports the development of a low cost sensor with the capability of monitoring the electrical activity of the heart, measuring the heart rate and body temperature and is applied in the scenario： health ＆ wellbeing, targeting the continuous measurement of vital signs.

Life in Kazuo Ishiguro＇s Never Let Me Go

With the announcement of the sheep clone Dolly as the breakthrough in the biotechnology in news media around the turn of the twenty-first century, the rising issue of human clones in its development and the controversially bioethical issues ensued, Kazuo Ishiguro in Never Let Me Go （2005） focuses his attention, in the area of cell therapy, on how human clones, since produced, lead their model lives and face their deaths, in order that his readers may better understand the meanings of life and death, and that they may stay in a far closer relationship with their family and friends than ever. In this essay, I examine, in two worlds, the normals＇ and the clones＇, paralleling each other, the true meanings of being human and their lives through the perspective of Jacques Derrida＇s deconstruction; and I argue that Ishiguro misspeaks to his readers the true meanings of life and death especially through the clones＇ perspective and brings them to his readers＇ hearts further realistically. In Derrida＇s nature-culture structurality of the clones, it is Kathy H. who comes as center into which the other clones come as freeplay in the structurality of the real world, where it is normals who come as center into which clones come as freeplay under the structurality of power in the institutions where the clones＇ culture comes as center into which Miss Emily＇s ruling comes as freeplay by the structurality of authorship where the author comes as center into which the novel comes as freeplay.