Estimation of Site Effects on Stations in the Capital Circle Region Using the Generalized Inversion Method

Generalized Inversion Method has been used to estimate the spatial variation of site effects,using the digital data of SH-waves recorded by 63 stations in the Capital Circle Region of China from 2001 to 2006.We gained the site effects of all stations participating in the calculation.We found that the site effect of rock was stabile and about 1.0 from 1.0Hz to 10.0Hz,while the site effect of deposit was high in low frequencies,about 3 ～ 7 from 1.0Hz to 8.0Hz,and the site effect was protuberant at about 5.0Hz,then fell as the frequency increased.The result shows the shape and intensity of station site effects are mainly influenced by the lithology below the station,and possibly also by the local geological structure.

Impact of Holocene environmental change on temporal-spatial distribution of Neolithic sites in Huaihe River Basin, Anhui Province

The Huaihe River basin of Anhui is not only a transitional zone of physical geography, but also a convergent area of many cultures in China. It is one of the sensitive ecotones to global changes and the birthplace of Chinese civilization. Using the field archaeological data and the sporo-pollens and the age data of the drilling cores, we analysed Neolithic cultural development and environmental evolution in the Huaihe River basin of Anhui. According to the combination of some research results in archaeology with environmental evolution research, this paper discusses the relationship between culture and environment in the Huaihe River basin of Anhui. The Neolithic cultural development was strongly impacted by the environmental change. The primitive culture （Shishanzi） was developed in the beginning of the Holocene Megathermal Period with distinct regional feature of the culture. From 6.5 kaBP to 5.5 kaBP, the climate changed warmer and wetter. The frequent occurrence of flood and waterlog due to such a climate regime and high sea level caused the earth＇s surface environment deteriorated in the Huaihe River basin of Anhui and the interruption of the Neolithic cultural development, hence a lack of archaeological sites. From 5.5 kaBP to 4.0 kaBP, the climate changed from wet to dry, the natural environment was propitious to human survival. Dawenkou Culture and Longshan Culture flourished in this period. The Neolithic cultural development, the number of the sites and their distribution characteristics of the sites in the study area differed apparently from those in Central China and Shandong Province.

Joint processing and analysis of seismic gravity measurements in Capital Circle area

In Capital Circle area, there are three groups of repeated gravity measurements observed by different institutes using different instruments or methods. The simultaneous adjustment of absolute and relative measurements and the elimination of systematic error among the relative measurements have been carded out in this paper. Thus an unified temporal gravity change system with absolute reference has been established. On the basis of this, the crustal subsidence effect on gravity, which belongs to non-tectonic factor, is analyzed and the station displacement corrections are carried out, so that the long-wave disturbance is eliminated. So far our following aims are realized： the advantages of the absolute and relative measurement methods are complementary to each other; the contradiction and environment disturbance are eliminated; the amounts of information are enlarged; the sampling interval of time domain is compressed. In a word, the ability of identifying the tectonic activity process is enhanced. The results show that： there are systematic errors between the two groups of relative measurements and within the data of 10 campaigns ; the uneven local crustal subsidence in the southeast of the study area results in a linear rise of gravity value at 10 stations; they can be corrected by the regression analysis. The maps of revised temporal gravity change can obviously and integrally reflect the Ms=5.0 earthquake in Guye on October 6, 1995.

A Study on Foreign Capital M&A of Agribusiness

After joining the WTO,Chinese government has gradually fulfilled various promises,such as cancellation of restrictions on foreign capital share ratio,and opening up of foreign investment areas. There are new changes in foreign merchants' direct investment in China,and it shifts from " green investment" featured by high risk and long period of return on investment to cross-border M&A. Since Coca-Cola failed to complete M&A of Huiyuan Juice in 2009,people have paid close attention to foreign capital M&A of domestic agribusiness. New changes and features appear in both scale and industrial areas,and M&A incidents have mushroomed in the industries of meat processing,wine,dairy and beverage,and the related industries have become the hot areas of cross-border M&A. Through the study of M&A incidents in China's agriculture-related areas in recent years,this paper aims to offer an overview of current foreign capital M&A of China's agribusiness in terms of scale and industry.

Application of 3S Technology in Dynamic Monitoring of Capital Farmland

Firstly,this paper introduces current situations of protection of capital farmland. According to current situations,it analyzes significance in protecting capital farmland and significance and functions of application of 3S technology in dynamic monitoring of capital farmland. With the aid of examples,it discusses functions of remote sensing and GIS in dynamic monitoring of capital farmland. It is believed that 3S technology not only can provide accurate parcel data of capital farmland changes for reviewing land change survey,but also can provide data for monitoring development situations of capital farmland,as well as provide basic current information for decision-making department.

Nomenclature for lunar features at the Chang＇e-3 landing site

Nomenclatures for lunar features always accompany the progresses of human lunar exploration,which has an important dual meaning in culture and science. The naming of lunar features not only can commemorate the outstanding contributions of academics,masters in various fields, and popularize the traditional cultures of ethnic groups all over the world, but also have a critical function of providing accurate indicative information on features with special morphology, origin, nature and scientific value. However, nomenclature for features at the Chang'e-3 landing site, which has a more arbitrary form without many constrains posed by a uniformed system, is unlike the features for other morphological units.This paper originated from the actual needs for the description of scientific exploration activities, interpretation of scientific research and dissemination of scientific results. Some prominent morphological units with great scientific importance and identification purpose were chosen from the images taken by the terrain camera, panorama cameras and landing camera onboard the Chang'e lander and Yutu rover. A nomenclature system was established under the three enclosures, four quadrants and twenty-eight lunar lodges' system of the Chinese ancient sky division method. Finally, a standard feature names set waspublished after some necessary approval procedures by the International Astronomical Union.

The Principle of Authenticity and the Protection and Renewal of the Qujiang Site in Ancient Chang'an

In order to explore the protection and renewal law of historic sites in the process of contemporary urban construction, combined with the protection and renewal practice of Qujiang garden cultural landscape heritage sites in ancient Chang'an, this paper analyzed the authenticity in the protection and renewal of different historic sites, and explored the possibility of flexible use of the concept of authenticity in the process of protection and renewal of historic sites.

Green Energy: Examining Their Effects on Heritage Sites and Climate Change Mitigation

The damage which is brought about by global warming and climate change to heritage sites is more or less immutable. However, further deterioration could be slowed, if not stopped, with the patronization of green energy. Three sources of green energy, namely solar power, wind power, and hydropower were discussed in this research. Their indirect roles in preserving heritage sites were examined and their cumulative effects on mitigating climate change were also cited. Results showed that the climate might have been continually changing for the past thousands of years. The effects of climate change and global warming on the arctic ice, carbon dioxide concentration, sea levels, global surface temperature and land ice status were undeniable. These factors greatly contributed to the deterioration of the preservation of world heritage sites.

Climate Change vs Cultural Heritage: An Adaptation Strategy for the Archaeological Site of Ancient Messene

This article examines the effects of climate change on archaeological sites, using as a case study the archaeological site of Ancient Messene in Greece, and proposes an integrated adaptation strategy. In order to determine the site’s most significant risks, a climate data analysis was conducted, taking into account three different climate emission scenarios (Representative Concentration Pathways) and two future periods (2031-2060, 2071-2100). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) vulnerability assessment methodology was adopted to assess the vulnerability of the archaeological site to the effects of climate change. This is the first time such a methodology has been followed in Greece. The analysis revealed that the site’s critical hazards are fire, desertification, and flooding. The geographical location of the site in an intensely dry microclimate and the lack of safe and functional electromechanical and road infrastructure increase its vulnerability. The materials of the monuments are indirectly and directly impacted by climate change, whereas the vegetation is negatively impacted by the frequency of extreme events, especially wildfires. Based on the analysis results, a five-axis adaptation strategy was developed.

Environmental archaeology on Longshan Culture （4500-4000 aBP） at Yuhuicun Site in Bengbu, Anhui Province

Based on the samples collected from the west wall of the ABYT2004 at Yuhuicun Site in Bengbu, Anhui Province, the multi-environmental substitute indexes such as the grain-size, Rb/Sr, zircon crystal morphology and magnetic susceptibility were analyzed. The age of archaeological strata was determined by AMS^14C dating. According to the results, combined with the information of the ancient human activities and the cultural heritage data obtained from the Longshan cultural archaeological strata, it can be concluded that （1） Before 4500 aBP, the climate was humid and water level was high in the Huaihe River and its tributaries, the drainage basin and its surrounding areas were even flooded, so the site area was submerged and there were no human activities around the site. （2） About 4500 aBP, the climate began to become drier and water level of the Huaihe River and its tributaries began to decline, thus floodplain gradually appeared, Yuhuicun Site and Longshan Culture began to appear. （3） Around 4100 aBP, the climate was humid and rainfall was abundant, which resulted in frequent flood disasters in the whole Huaihe River Basin. （4） After 4100 aBP, the climate gradually transited to be cold and dry, agricultural production was constrained to reduce the food source, Yuhuicun Site was almost abandoned. （5） The environmental information in sedimentary strata and historical records based on ancient books agree with each other. In addition, Yuhuicun Site was related to Dayu Zhishui （Yu the Great in taming the floods） in ancient books.

Mapping the potential distribution suitability of 16 tree species under climate change in northeastern China using Maxent modelling

Knowledge on the potential suitability of tree species to the site is very important for forest management planning.Natural forest distribution provides a good reference for afforestation and forest restoration.In this study,we developed species distribution model(SDM)for 16 major tree species with 2,825 permanent sample plots with natural origin from Chinese National Forest Inventory data collected in Jilin Province using the Maxent model.Three types of environmental factors including bioclimate,soil and topography with a total of 33 variables were tested as the input.The values of area under the curve(AUC,one of the receiver operating characteristics of the Maxent model)in the training and test datasets were between 0.784 and 0.968,indicating that the prediction results were quite reliable.The environmental factors affecting the distribution of species were ranked in terms of their importance to the species distribution.Generally,the climatic factors had the greatest contribution,which included mean diurnal range,annual mean temperature,temperature annual range,and iosthermality.But the main environmental factors varied with tree species.Distribution suitability maps under current(1950-2000)and future climate scenarios(CCSM4-RCP 2.6 and RCP 6.0 during 2050)were produced for 16 major tree species in Jilin Province using the model developed.The predicted current and future ranges of habitat suitability of the 16 tree species are likely to be positively and negatively affected by future climate.Seven tree species were found to benefit from future climate including B etula costata,Fraxinus mandshurica,Juglans mandshurica,Phellodendron amurense,Populus ussuriensis,Quercus mongolica and Ulmus pumila;five tree species will experience decline in their suitable habitat including B.platyphylla,Tilia mongolica,Picea asperata,Pinus sylvestris,Pinus koraiensis;and four(Salix koreensis,Abies fabri,Pinus densiflora and Larix olgensis)showed the inconsistency under RCP 2.6 and RCP 6.0 scenarios.The maps of the habitat suitability can be used as a basis for afforestation and forest restoration in northeastern China.The SDMs could be a potential tool for forest management planning.

Landfill Sitting by Two Methods in Al-Qasim, Babylon, Iraq and Comparing Them Using Change Detection Method

The selecting of a site for landfill is considered as a difficult process because many criteria should be involved. The main aim of establishing a landfill is to protect the human and environment. Al-Qasim district is considered as the study area in this work. It is one of the main districts in Babylon Governorate, Iraq. There is no systematic site as landfill that fulfil the environmental and scientific criteria in this area. Therefore, the most important fifteen criteria that suited the environmental requirements were selected in the current study.?These criteria are: groundwater depth, urban centers, rivers, villages, soil types, elevation, roads agricultural land use, slope, land use, archaeological sites, power lines, gas pipelines, oil pipelines and railways. Two methods of multi criteria decision making AHP (analytical hierarchy process) and SRS (straight rank sum) were applied to obtain the weights of criteria in dissimilar styles. The raster maps of the selected criteria were prepared and analyzed within the GIS software. Then, the change detection method was implemented to compare the two output raster maps resulted from AHP and SRS methods. Two appropriate candidate sites for landfill were selected to accommodate the cumulative solid waste until the year 2030 in Qasim district. The areas of these sites were 2.766 km2 and 2.055 km2 respectively.

An Assessment of the Contribution of Municipal Solid Waste Dump Sites Fire to Atmospheric Pollution

Municipal solid waste open dump site operation is an important element of waste management in Nigeria, both today and in the future. Dump site fires are common occurrences in the study area. The contribution of?municipal solid waste dump site fires to atmospheric pollution in the Niger Delta, Nigeria has been assessed experimentally. Five (5) municipal solid waste dump sites where fire incidence is a frequent and regular occurrence were chosen for the study. At each of the identified municipal solid waste dump site, eight (8) air quality monitoring parameters, suspended particulate matter (SPM10), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), sulphur dioxide (SO2), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3) and Hydrogen sulphide (H2S) were determined using a series of hand held air quality monitoring equipment. Results indicate the levels of SPM ranged between 773 and 801 μg/m3 and the levels of CO ranged between 133.7 and 141.6 ppm. The levels of CO2 ranged between 401 ppm and 404.5 ppm while that of NO2 ranged between 21.0 ppm and 27.3 ppm. The levels of SO2 ranged between 27.7 ppm and 37.1 ppm while that of NH3 ranged from 14.7 to 19.5 ppm. The levels of methane in the study area ranged between 2310 ppm and 2771 ppm and within the?vicinity of dump site fires H2S concentration ranges from 3.4 to 7.7 ppm. Levels of SPM, CO, CO2, and CH4 within the vicinity of the dump site fires were above regulatory limits. Dump site fires in the study area could threaten the health of anyone especially the dump site workers that are regularly exposed to the thick smoke and can be implicated in climate change debate. There is a need to develop better practices with regard to municipal solid waste open dump site operation and emission control.

Grain Size Characteristics and Their Paleoenvironmental and Paleoclimatic Significance of Jinsha Site Since 4 ka B.P.

The excavation of Jinsha Site is very important to study Shu civilization.Based on the grain size characteristics and six AMS 14C data,three phrases of paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic changes can be proposed since 4 ka B.P.in this area.PhraseⅠ: 4200-3800 a B.P.,fluviatile deposit altemated with swamping deposit,climate is damper and warmer; PhraseⅡ:3800-3400 a B.P.,flood plain and bank sand deposit,the precipitation increased;PhraseⅢ: 3400 a B.P.,multi-cycle of paleosol

Nest-site fidelity and breeding dispersal by Common Tailorbirds in a tropical forest

Background:Information pertaining to nest-site fidelity and breeding dispersal over successive years can help to better our understanding of how birds respond to nest predation.Methods:By using mist nets and tracking the color banded individuals,we investigated nest-site fidelity and breeding dispersal by Common Tailorbirds(Orthotomus sutorius)throughout a year and between successive years in 2017–2018.Results:The present study showed that Common Tailorbirds could produce up to four clutches per breeding season.When multiple broods were produced within a year,breeding pairs remained together,and the nest rebuilding rate was up to 92.2%,with only four cases(7.8%)in which birds reused their old nests.The dispersal distance between the nests during multiple breeding was found to be 10.0±10.5 m,and nest-site fidelity within the same year was 90.0%.By the second year of breeding,76.2%of individuals remained in the original breeding pairs,while for those that did switch partners,the females remained in the nest from the previous year and paired with new males.The dispersal distance between years was 26.5±41.9 m,and nest-site fidelity between different years was 80.1%.There was no significant difference between within-year and between-year dispersal distances.Moreover,there was no significant difference in the dispersal distance of rebuilt nests between birds that had experienced nest predation and those that had not.Conclusions:Our findings suggest that Common Tailorbirds maintain a high degree of fidelity to mates and nestsites,and nest predation had no significant effect on territorial changes or breeding dispersal distance between each breeding attempt.

Seismic Microzonation Study of South Asian Cities and Its Implications to Urban Risk Resiliency under Climate Change Scenario

In this study, an attempt has been made to review the existing framework of earthquake risk resiliency for the urban agglomerates of South Asian earthquake-prone countries (Afghanistan;Bangladesh;Bhutan, India, and Pakistan) with aim of suggesting a plausible model for earthquake risk resiliency for urban agglomerates of the region under the influence of uncontrollable climate change scenario. We demonstrated that the existing infrastructures can be retrofitted to mitigate and reduce the nature and extent of damages to structures to the greater extent whilst site response based comprehensive seismic microzonation is very much required for new settlements and for long-term sustainable urban planning by adopting multi-disciplinary investigations using integrated tools consisted of geophysical, geological, and geotechnical methodologies, which in turn help understand how and why underneath sub-surface layers get amplified to cause destruction of buildings and severe damages to critical infrastructures of South Asian Cities. It is inferred that implementation of fourth level comprehensive seismic Micro, Nano, Pico and Femto zonation study for almost all strategic cities of South Asia is a need of an hour in particular, and of the seismically prone regions of the world, in general, which would be helpful for generating a series of new parameters for development of multi-dimensional risk resilient building design codes for the safer and sustainable infrastructures of urban settlement. The methodology has wide-scale applicability to different kinds of structures and typology of the buildings.

Climate Change Adaptation and Historic Settlements: Evidence from the Old Town of Corfu

The Old Town of Corfu is an excellent example of a historic town and a World Heritage Site, distinguished by its authentic and unique character, as reflected in its Venetian-era fortifications and extensive historic building stock. Simultaneously, the Old Town of Corfu is also a vibrant modern city vulnerable to various pressures, including climate change. This paper aims to evaluate the effects of climate change on this modern city monument, assess its vulnerability using the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s methodology, and develop a comprehensive set of adaptation proposals. The methodology of this paper is based on the analysis of climate data for the Old Town of Corfu, from which the assessment of the extreme weather events and climate changes that pose the greatest threat to the Old Town and the assessment of its vulnerability to these threats are derived. The dense geometrical characteristics of the city’s structure, the intense pathology observed in the materials and structures of the historic building stock, problems in the existing electromechanical infrastructure, and the poor management of issues such as increased tourism and heavy traffic congestion are the primary factors that make the Old Town of Corfu vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Financial Support Mechanisms and Financing Instruments for Climate Change Adaptation

Extreme weather has been having an increase in frequency and severity because of global warming. Heavy financial burden on governments has been increasing as reconstruction of natural disaster and prevention of public construction spending. Unlike the climate mitigation activities, the main purpose of climate adaptation is to establish climate risk management system. We discuss several types of financing instruments and collect several cases in both developed and developing countries internationally. We find that budget reallocation or government bonds are regularly used for losses from natural disaster in developing countries while both government bonds and insurance penetration are used to against catastrophe risks in the developed countries. Finally, we also find that insurance-related instruments are feasible and have been applied in some middle-income countries with assistance from the World Bank.

Compiling and Mapping an International Climate Change Database: Worlds of Gaps and Unevenness

Daily and weekly reporting events of climate change and impacts on populations, cultures, economies and politics at local, national, regional and international scales suggest the need to construct databases that will be useful in future scientific inquiry and global human/environmental policies. That need is evident in constructing a geographic or locational knowledge base that examines countries, regions and cities. This study constructs a database on the impacts of climate change using Google Scholar entries for 200 countries and capital cities. A series of maps reveal the vast unevenness in the database, especially between Global North and Global South countries. The discussion explores these sharp differences and suggests future research topics for much-needed global, interdisciplinary and international research.

Land Use/Cover and Naturalness Changes for Watershed Environmental Management(Southeastern Brazil)

Driving forces on the landscape require regional management and/or local actions, together with other external factors. To operationalize this approach, this paper carried out a comparative analysis of the naturalness dynamics of the Jacaré-Gua&#231u and Jacaré-Pepira watershed, based on land use/cover changes and a structural indicator of the landscape, over the 10-year (2004-2014), as support opportunities for improving its environmental planning and management. Land use/cover dynamics were obtained based on screen digitizing of LandSat imagery, using polygon manual digitalization. Naturalness scenarios of the watersheds, over the 10-year (2004-2014), were obtained based on Urbanity Indicator, which evaluates how much the natural landscapes are dominated by altered systems. The total area of watersheds showed a predominantly scenario, induced by anthropogenic agricultural and non-agricultural expansion areas, mainly by conversion of other land use/cover types in sugarcane cultivation. Despite the increase in natural vegetation areas, over the 10-year (2004-2014), Jacaré-Gua&#231u and Jacaré-Pepira watersheds are far from a sustainable condition. However Jacaré-Gua&#231u watershed presents a scenario of more committed naturalness due to the increase in Urbanity Index values ≥ 0.7. The historical process of land use occupation for agricultural production remains the main driving force of naturalness changes, occupying more than 70% of the total area of watersheds. These results have significant implications for fast urbanizing municipalities in providing key information about long term land use impact on the watershed structure and function, making it possible for policy makers, scientists and stakeholders to identify land uses which are hindered or enhanced under various scenarios of land use change over the time, and making it possible to explore the trade-offs between them to improve watershed management.