Impact of Land Use Change on Ecosystem Services Values in Danjiangkou Reservoir Area,China in the Context of National Water Network Project Construction

Investigating the ecological impact of land use change in the context of the construction of national water network project is crucial,as it is imperative for achieving the sustainable development goals of the national water network and guaranteeing regional ecological stability.Using the Danjiangkou Reservoir Area(DRA),China as the study area,this paper first examined the spatiotemporal dynamics of natural landscape patterns and ecosystem service values(ESV)in the DRA from 2000 to 2018 and then investigated the spatial clustering characteristics of the ESV using spatial statistical analysis tools.Finally,the patch-generating land use simulation(PLUS)model was used to simulate the natural landscape and future changes in the ESV of the DRA from 2018 to 2028 under four different development scenarios:business as usual(BAU),economic development(ED),ecological protection(EP),and shoreline protection(SP).The results show that:during 2000-2018,the construction of water facilities had a significant impact on regional land use/land cover(LULC)change,with a 24830 ha increase in watershed area.ESV exhibited an increasing trend,with a significant and growing spatial clustering effect.The transformation of farmland to water bodies led to accelerated ESV growth,while the transformation of forest land to farmland led to a decrease in the ESV.Normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI)had the strongest effect on the ESV.ESV exhibited a continuous increase from 2018 to 2028 under all the simulation scenarios.The EP scenario had the greatest increase in ESV,while the ED scenario had the smallest increase.The findings suggest that projected land use patterns under different scenarios have varied impacts on ecosystem services(ESs)and that the management and planning of the DRA should balance social,economic,ecological,and security benefits.nomic,ecological,and security benefits.

Risk measurement of international oil and gas projects based on the Value at Risk method

International oil and gas projects feature high capital-intensity, high risks and contract diversity. Therefore, in order to help decision makers make more reasonable decisions under uncertainty, it is necessary to measure the risks of international oil and gas projects. For this purpose, this paper constructs a probabilistic model that is based on the traditional economic evaluation model, and introduces value at risk(VaR) which is a valuable risk measure tool in finance, and applies Va R to measure the risks of royalty contracts, production share contracts and service contracts of an international oil and gas project. Besides, this paper compares the influences of different risk factors on the net present value(NPV) of the project by using the simulation results. The results indicate:(1) risks have great impacts on the project's NPV, therefore, if risks are overlooked, the decision may be wrong.(2) A simulation method is applied to simulate the stochastic distribution of risk factors in the probabilistic model. Therefore, the probability is related to the project's NPV, overcoming the inherent limitation of the traditional economic evaluation method.(3) VaR is a straightforward risk measure tool, and can be applied to evaluate the risks of international oil and gas projects. It is helpful for decision making.

Perceived Benefits of Using Value Engineering on Road Projects in Ghana

The need for Optimum Value benefit realization on Road Projects in developing countries has become topical. While the traditional Cost Control project management process only aligns actual costs with budgeted costs, Value Engineering (VE) is a sustainable and systematic innovative methodology for establishing the best functional balance among desired features of a project. A Value Engineering (VE) study was conducted with the aim of examining the benefits associated with its use on Road Projects in Ghana. This study employed a two-stage research procedure: desk study and field research. The literature review identified the Optimum Value benefits associated with VE road project management technique as increased Confidence Level in Contract Compliance, reliable Implementation Level of Construction Delivery and enhanced Effectiveness Level of Project Sustainability. A quantitative survey research design based on a purposive sampling technique of selecting respondents was adopted. Employing closed-ended questions, 40 sets of questionnaires were issued to professionals in Road Infrastructure and Support Agencies (RISA) under the Ministry of Roads and Highways (MRH) in the Eastern Region of Ghana. At a response rate of 85%, descriptive statistical analysis (Means, Standard Deviations and Variances) and inferential statistical analysis of variance (ANOVA) test were used to process the data and determine whether there was any significant difference between VE benefit parameters and the groups of respondents. The results revealed that road professionals are familiar with the VE process but solely use Cost Control project management technique. Road professionals recognized the high Optimum Value benefits of professionally ethical Contract Compliance, efficient Construction Delivery and functionally viable Project Sustainability on VE road project management process.

Forecasting Loss of Ecosystem Service Value Using a BP Network: A Case Study of the Impact of the South-to-north Water Transfer Project on the Ecological Environmental in Xiangfan, Hubei Province, China

Objective To recognize and assess the impact of the South-to-north Water Transfer Project (SNWTP) on the ecological environment of Xiangfan, Hubei Province, situated in the water-out area, and develop sound scientific countermeasures. Methods A three-layer BP network was built to simulate topology and process of the eco-economy system of Xiangfan. Historical data of ecological environmental factors and socio-economic factors as inputs, and corresponding historical data of ecosystem service value (ESV) and GDP as target outputs, were presented to train and test the network. When predicted input data after 2001 were presented to trained network as generalization sets, ESVs and GDPs of 2002, 2003, 2004... till 2050 were simulated as output in succession. Results Up to 2050, the area would have suffered an accumulative total ESV loss of RMB 104.9 billion, which accounted for 37.36% of the present ESV. The coinstantaneous GDP would change asynchronously with ESV, it would go through an up-to-down process and finally lose RMB89.3 billion, which accounted for 18.71% of 2001. Conclusions The simulation indicates that ESV loss means damage to the capability of socio-economic sustainable development, and suggests that artificial neural networks (ANNs) provide a feasible and effective method and have an important potential in ESV modeling.

A Review on the Role of Risk Management (RM) and Value Engineering (VE) Tools for Project Successful Delivery

Both in developed and in developing countries, the construction industry is regarded as an economic investment activity without forgetting its significant relationship with national economic development due to its great contributions to the national gross domestic product (GDP) of the country. Concerning construction processes, both risk management (RM) and value engineering (VE) techniques have commonalities from the beginning up to the completion of the project due to enhancing the project value/quality, meeting the project deadline, and reducing overall project cost. VE includes resolving the uncertainty of project objectives and ensuring that the project is delivered in a value for money way. The key point of RM is to solve the uncertainty of the project itself and its results to ensure that the specifications are achieved within the prescribed time, cost, and quality constraints. This review work is comparatively and collectively focused on assessing the role of RM and VE tools for project successful delivery. It studies the points of difference and common features of the two aspects in terms of construction project delivery. So, this study concluded that in construction RM tool cannot be the chief aim of the all parties involved in the project execution because sometimes it produces itself negative results and reduces project management success. Therefore, RM needs a strong combination with VE due to the dependence of the target in identifying and assessing risks by considering the highest performance and lowest cost. The integration of RM and VE combination in a single study would avoid duplication of work and deliver better value for money thereby leading to better project outcomes.

Consensus Control With a Constant Gain for Discrete-time Binary-valued Multi-agent Systems Based on a Projected Empirical Measure Method

This paper studies the consensus control of multiagent systems with binary-valued observations.An algorithm alternating estimation and control is proposed.Each agent estimates the states of its neighbors based on a projected empirical measure method for a holding time.Based on the estimates,each agent designs the consensus control with a constant gain at some skipping time.The states of the system are updated by the designed control,and the estimation and control design will be repeated.For the estimation,the projected empirical measure method is proposed for the binary-valued observations.The algorithm can ensure the uniform boundedness of the estimates and the mean square error of the estimation is proved to be at the order of the reciprocal of the holding time(the same order as that in the case of accurate outputs).For the consensus control,a constant gain is designed instead of the stochastic approximation based gain in the existing literature for binary-valued observations.And,there is no need to make modification for control since the uniform boundedness of the estimates ensures the uniform boundedness of the agents’states.Finally,the systems updated by the designed control are proved to achieve consensus and the consensus speed is faster than that in the existing literature.Simulations are given to demonstrate the theoretical results.

Value judgment and reflection on the customer relationship management in domestic tourism projects

From the concept of the customer relationship, this article analyzes the current difticulties, and puts forward the value judg- ment and the optimal path of the customer relationship management in the domestic tourism projects. In order to make the discussion more concrete, this paper will take the ＂rural tourism projects in Phoenix City＂ as the object of study. Through the heterogeneity and coordina- tion, establish the value judgment, and the optimization measures under the reflection on the current situation can be constructed from four aspects.

OPTIONAL AND PREDICTABLE PROJECTIONS OF SET-VALUED MEASURABLE PROCESSES

In this paper,the optional and predictable projections of set-valued measurable processes are studied.The existence and uniqueness of optional and predictable projections of set-valued measurable processes are proved under proper circumstances.

Application of Earned Value Method in Project Cost Management and Schedule Management

At present,with the rapid development of China's economy,the development of the construction industry has made a new breakthrough.Project management requires the construction industry to continuously play its role and value in improving the ability of project management.Earned value method,which is an important way in the field of project management,enables whole project management to rise to a new height.The specific principle of earned value method will be elaborated by fully introducing the specific role of earned value method in engineering projects to provide a reference and basis for practitioners to improve their management ability.

Projected subgradient method for non-Lipschitz set-valued mixed variational inequalities

A projected subgradient method for solving a class of set-valued mixed variational inequalities （SMVIs） is proposed when the mapping is not necessarily Lipschitz. Under some suitable conditions, it can be proven that the sequence generated by the method can strongly converge to the unique solution to the problem in the Hilbert spaces.

Research on the Low-carbon-high-value Agriculture Technology in the Comprehensive Improvement of Intra-county Environment Pollution——Taking the Development of Cultivation and Breeding Industry in the Ecological Cyclic Agricultural Garden in Shaoshan Irri

The comprehensive improvement strategy of intra-county environment pollution in the city and countryside was searched.By the research method which combined the microscopic view,the macroscopic view with the dynamic perspective,the seriousness of rural water quality,soil and atmospheric pollution in Xiangxiang,Xiangtan and the surrounding areas in Shaoshan irrigated area was revealed.The control measure which was 'four-dimensional pollution in the city and countryside'—— low-carbon-high-value agriculture and the technology innovation was proposed.The low-carbon-high-value technology innovation industrialization demonstration in three parts which included the pre-production,mid-production and post-production deep-processing of cultivation and breeding industry in the ecological cyclic agricultural garden in Shaoshan irrigated area was the driving force.We tried to propel the low-carbon ecological cultivation and breeding industry which included the paddy rice,grass,tree,medicinal herbs and pig,cow,chick,duck,fish.We wanted to relieve the structural unbalance of previous cultivation and breeding industry,'cheap grain hurting the farmers' and the short-leg problem of social-economic-ecological benefit.The results showed that the low-carbon-high-value agricultural system was a poly-generation technology system which promoted the multi-level and grading utilization,saved the energy,reduced the consumption and cleaned the production based on the ecology.

基于优化DRASTIC模型的地下水污染风险评价研究-以山东省辖南水北调区域为例

基于南水北调工程对沿线区域提出的水质保障要求及生态可持续发展的需要,对地下水的污染防范和治理已成为研究重点。为查明山东省辖南水北调沿线地区的地下水污染风险,通过对地下水污染源荷载、生态脆弱性以及功能价值三个方面的评价构建地下水污染风险评价体系。通过污染物毒性、排放量及排放可能性对污染荷载进行定量、定性的分析;引入土地利用、土壤氧气含量等数据优化DRASTIC体系,构建DRASTOL模型;利用InVEST模拟的生境质量、夜间灯光系数以及研究区敏感的地下水F-、SO42-等评价因子评估地下水功能价值。发现研究区地下水污染荷载结果整体较低,脆弱性中等偏高,功能价值中等偏低。叠加处理3个结果得到地下水污染风险数据分布状态,整体中等偏下。其中较高、高等级污染风险区域总面积约为7444.88 km^(2),占比约为20.17%,主要分布在菏泽市中部,济宁市中部、西南部,枣庄市西北部,泰安市中部、东部,钢城区南部,该区域地下水位埋深较浅,自然环境下较大的降水易携带地表污染物渗入地下;富水性强、工业及采矿用地密集且排放的污染物毒性较强;高强度的社会经济活动易产生较多污染物,多因素综合影响导致该区域地下水的污染风险指数较高。

REFINEMENTS OF THE NORM OF TWO ORTHOGONAL PROJECTIONS

In this paper,some refinements of norm equalities and inequalities of combination of two orthogonal projections are established.We use certain norm inequalities for positive contraction operator to establish norm inequalities for combination of orthogonal projections on a Hilbert space.Furthermore,we give necessary and sufficient conditions under which the norm of the above combination of o`rthogonal projections attains its optimal value.

ON THE SINGULAR DIRECTIONS OF VALUE DISTRIBUTION OF HOLOMORPHIC CURVES IN P^n(C)

This article proves the existence of singular directions of value distribution theory for some transcendental holomorphic curves in the n-dimensional complex projective space P^n（C）.. An example is given to complement these results.

Uncertainty Theory Based Novel Multi-Objective Optimization Technique Using Embedding Theorem with Application to R &D Project Portfolio Selection

This paper introduces a novice solution methodology for multi-objective optimization problems having the coefficients in the form of uncertain variables. The embedding theorem, which establishes that the set of uncertain variables can be embedded into the Banach space C[0, 1] × C[0, 1] isometrically and isomorphically, is developed. Based on this embedding theorem, each objective with uncertain coefficients can be transformed into two objectives with crisp coefficients. The solution of the original m-objectives optimization problem with uncertain coefficients will be obtained by solving the corresponding 2 m-objectives crisp optimization problem. The R & D project portfolio decision deals with future events and opportunities, much of the information required to make portfolio decisions is uncertain. Here parameters like outcome, risk, and cost are considered as uncertain variables and an uncertain bi-objective optimization problem with some useful constraints is developed. The corresponding crisp tetra-objective optimization model is then developed by embedding theorem. The feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by a real case study with the consideration that the uncertain variables are triangular in nature.

Optimal Shape Factor and Fictitious Radius in the MQ-RBF:Solving Ill-Posed Laplacian Problems

To solve the Laplacian problems,we adopt a meshless method with the multiquadric radial basis function(MQRBF)as a basis whose center is distributed inside a circle with a fictitious radius.A maximal projection technique is developed to identify the optimal shape factor and fictitious radius by minimizing a merit function.A sample function is interpolated by theMQ-RBF to provide a trial coefficient vector to compute the merit function.We can quickly determine the optimal values of the parameters within a preferred rage using the golden section search algorithm.The novel method provides the optimal values of parameters and,hence,an optimal MQ-RBF;the performance of the method is validated in numerical examples.Moreover,nonharmonic problems are transformed to the Poisson equation endowed with a homogeneous boundary condition;this can overcome the problem of these problems being ill-posed.The optimal MQ-RBF is extremely accurate.We further propose a novel optimal polynomial method to solve the nonharmonic problems,which achieves high precision up to an order of 10^(−11).

IT Project Evaluation and Investment Decision

There are many kinds of real options,which are valuable,in each phase of the lifetime of an information technology(IT)project.However,in the current IT investment decision theory,real options that embedded in IT projects are not considered. In this paper, the process of IT project decision and implementation is fully analyzed, the real options that may be embedded in an IT project are identified, and a real option analysis (ROA) method is proposed for evaluation of an IT project under uncertain business environment. ROA employs Black-Scholes expansion model and cancels the assumption that the cost of project is certain. The numerical example manifests that the ROA can better evaluate IT project and select the IT investment alternative. Finally, a road map is provided to help selecting the suitable evaluation method to make IT investment decision.

A NOTE ON SINGULAR VALUE DECOMPOSITION FOR RADON TRANSFORM IN R^n

The singular value decomposition is derived when the Radon transform is restricted to functions which are square integrable on the unit ball in R-n with respect to the weight W-lambda(x). It fulfilles mainly by means of the projection-slice theorem. The range of the Radon transform is spanned by products of Gegenbauer polynomials and spherical harmonics. The inverse transform of the those basis functions are given. This immediately leads to an inversion formula by series expansion and range characterizations.

Evaluation on Environmental Resource Value of Artificial Seabuckthorn Forest in Sandstone Area during 1999-2008

China Seabuckthorn Ecological Project has been implemented for a decade (from 1999 to 2008) with an increasing seabuckthorn area of 1642.83 km2 in?the Sandstone Areas of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia—the most serious soil erosion area in China. The vast artificial seabuckthorn forest’s value in environmental resource is assessed via 7 indicators on first-level, 15 indicators on secondary level and 35 indicators on third level in this research. As of 2008, the seabuckthorn environmental resource value is 10.017 billion RMB Yuan, which equals to 37.1 times of the project’s total investment of 0.27 billion RMB Yuan. It is proposed in this research that the external economical values such as soil and water conservation, windbreak and sand-fixation can be realized through relative national policies and taxes. Carbon-fixation and oxygen-producing value can be achieved through the international carbon trade.

Relative Ecological Value of Major Plants in Minqin Desert Area

This paper analyzed relative ecological value of several major plants in Minqin desert grassland using layered projection of plant canopy. The results showed that ecological functions of natural Nitraria tangutorum and Ephedra sinica woods of a unit area were much better than those of artifi cial Haloxylon ammodendron woods, relative ecological value of N. tangutorum, E. sinica and Artemisia desertorum were much higher than that of artifi cial H. ammodendron woods. Layered projection explains clearly the ecological functions and relative ecological value of desert vegetation of the same coverage. It is inaccurate to indicate wind prevention and sand fi xation of desert vegetation in deserts using ecological function service value and ecological niche calculated on the basis of two-dimensional vegetation coverage, but three-dimensional projection degree should be applied to indicate ecological functions and relative ecological value of vegetation. Application of layered projection of plants in calculating ecological functions and relative ecological value of desert plants(vegetation) is the innovation point of this research.