Concentrations of Potentially Toxic Elements in Groundwater and Surface Water in Ruashi and Annexe Municipalities of Lubumbashi City, Southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Groundwater and surface water contamination by PTE(Potentially Toxic Elements)was assessed in Ruashi and Annexe municipalities of Lubumbashi city.Analyses of seventy water samples collected from six drilled wells,eight spade-sunk wells,one river and one spring in both municipalities in 2017 and 2018 were carried out by ICP-SF-MS(Inductively Coupled Plasma-Sector Field Mass Spectrometry).Twenty PTEs including aluminum,arsenic,barium,bismuth,cadmium,cesium,chromium,cobalt,copper,iron,lead,manganese,molybdenum,nickel,strontium,thallium,tungsten,uranium,vanadium and zinc were detected at various concentrations in each one of the samples.Many samples had concentrations and mean concentrations of PTEs,such as aluminum,cadmium,copper,iron,lead,manganese,nickel and zinc,higher than the respective acceptable limits set for drinking water by the EU(European Union),the USEPA(United States Environmental Protection Agency),and the WHO(World Health Organization)standards.Most PTEs being deleterious to human health even at very low concentrations,people who use the groundwater and surface water to meet their water needs in both Ruashi and Annexe municipalities are at risk.

Application Strategies of Spatial Refinement Design in Ancient Cities Supported by Digital Te-Zhaoyu Ancient City in Qixian County as an Example

Digital technology provides a method of quantitative investigation and data analysis for contemporary landscape spatial analysis,and related research is moving from image recognition to digital algorithmic analysis,providing a more scientific and macroscopic way of research.The key to refinement design is to refine the spatial design process and the spatial improvement strategy system.Taking the ancient city of Zhaoyu in Qixian County,Shanxi Province as an example,(1)based on obtaining the integrated data of the ancient city through the drone tilt photography,the style and landscape of the ancient city are modeled;(2)the point cloud data with spatial information is imported into the point cloud analysis platform and the data analysis is carried out from the overall macroscopic style of the ancient city to the refinement level,which results in the formation of a more intuitive landscape design scheme,thus improving the precision and practicability of the landscape design;(3)Based on spatial big data,it starts from the spatial aggregation level,spatial distribution characteristics and other evaluation index system to achieve the refinement analysis of the site.Digital technology and methods are used throughout the process to explore the refined design path.

Research on Landscape Ecology Mode of New Resources-based Cities—A Case Study of Yulin City of Shaanxi Province in China

Based on the overall understanding of new cities developing based on resources,by taking Yulin City of Shaanxi Province for example and combining with relevant statistical data,main problems existing in resources development have been pointed out,covering simple resources industrial structure and serious wastes in resources development;insufficient intensive processing of products and low level of resources integrated utilization;and deteriorative regional eco-environment.On this basis,a new mode of landscape ecology of resource-based cities have been proposed,emphasizing constructing new green energy industrial development mode from the perspective of microscopic view;ecological industrial park of circular economy from the perspective of mesoscopic view;and the overall ecological recovery mode of the mining area from the perspective of macroscopic view.It hopes to give a vital inspiration to the sustainable development of new resources-based cities.

Planning and construction of Xiong’an New Area(city of over 5 million people):Contributions of China’s geologists and urban geology

China established Xiong’an New Area in Hebei Province in 2017,which is planned to accommodate about 5 million people,aiming to relieve Beijing City of the functions non-essential to its role as China’s capital and to expedite the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.From 2017 to 2021,the China Geological Survey(CGS)took the lead in multi-factor urban geological surveys involving space,resources,environments,and disasters according to the general requirements of“global vision,international standards,distinctive Chinese features,and future-oriented goals”in Xiong’an New Area,identifying the engineering geologic conditions and geologic environmental challenges of this area.The achievements also include a 3D engineering geological structure model for the whole area,along with“one city proper and five clusters”,insights into the ecology and the background endowment of natural resources like land,geothermal resources,groundwater,and wetland of the area before engineering construction,a comprehensive monitoring network of resources and environments in the area,and the“Transparent Xiong’an”geological information platform that is open,shared,dynamically updated,and three-dimensionally visualized.China’s geologists and urban geology have played a significant role in the urban planning and construction of Xiong’an New Area,providing whole-process geological solutions for urban planning,construction,operation and management.The future urban construction of Xiong’an New Area will necessitate the theoretical and technical support of earth system science(ESS)from various aspects,and the purpose is to enhance the resilience of the new type of city and to provide support for the green,low-carbon,and sustainable development of this area.

Bivariate Analysis of Pollutants Monthly Maxima in Mexico City Using Extreme Value Distributions and Copula

In the present work, we are interested in studying the joint distributions of pairs of the monthly maxima of the pollutants used by the environmental authorities in Mexico City to classify the air quality in the metropolitan area. In order to obtain the joint distributions a copula will be considered. Since we are analyzing the monthly maxima, the extreme value distributions of Weibull and Fréchet are taken into account. Using these two distributions as marginal distributions in the copula a Bayesian inference was made in order to estimate the parameters of both distributions and also the association parameters appearing in the copula model. The pollutants taken into account are ozone, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter with diameters smaller than 10 and 2.5 microns obtained from the Mexico City monitoring network. The estimation was performed by taking samples of the parameters generated through a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm implemented using the software OpenBugs. Once the algorithm is implemented it is applied to the pairs of pollutants where one of the coordinates of the pair is ozone and the other varies on the set of the remaining pollutants. Depending on the pollutant and the region where they were collected, different results were obtained. Hence, in some cases we have that the best model is that where we have a Fréchet distribution as the marginal distribution for the measurements of both pollutants and in others the most suitable model is the one assuming a Fréchet for ozone and a Weibull for the other pollutant. Results show that, in the present case, the estimated association parameter is a good representation to the correlation parameters between the pair of pollutants analyzed. Additionally, it is a straightforward task to obtain these correlation parameters from the corresponding association parameters.

The Distribution of Surnames in Xiantao City through Isonymy

The population migration in Hubei Province was frequent in history,accompanied by the migration of surnames,so it is important to study their population surnames.We take Xiantao City as an example to explore the isonymic structure of small and medium-sized cities in Hubei.The surname distributions of 223327 residents registered in 2013 were analyzed in 5 towns and 105 villages of Xiantao.The number of different surnames found was 422.As for surnames,theα-value reflects the influence of ethnic composition on the abundance of surnames.The correlation between the isonymic distance and the geographic distance between villages was calculated and indicated that Euclidean distance was weakly correlated with the geographic distance(r=0.177±0.012),and the isonymic distance increased with the geographical distance.Furthermore,the dendrogram and PCA built from the matrix of Euclidean distances between villages identified a main surname differentiation between the urban and rural areas.

Utilization and Living Inheritance of Red Tourism Resources in Nanxiong City under the Background of"Baiqianwan Project"

Under the work deployment of"Double Hundred Action",Huizhou Engineering Vocational College,Nanxiong Municipal People's Government and Shaoguan College have formulated a series of plans and projects to promote the local development of Nanxiong through cooperation and in-depth research,which strengthens the role of vocational education in rural revitalization,and promotes the effective use of red tourism resources in Nanxiong City,promoted the development of local tourism and economy,provides new impetus and direction for rural revitalization,and demonstrates the positive prospects and vitality of rural revitalization,as well as the important value and potential of vocational education in rural revitalization.

Analysis on the situation and countermeasures of water resources supply and demand in the cities of small and medium-sized river basins along southeast coast of China-taking Xiamen City as an example

The small and medium-sized river basins along southeast coast of China hold comparatively abundant water resources.However,the rapid resources urbanization in recent years has produced a series of water problems such as deterioration of river water quality,water shortage and exacerbated floods,which have constrained urban economic development.By applying the principle of triple supply-demand equilibrium,this paper focuses on the estimation of levels of water supply and demand in 2030 at different guarantee probabilities,with a case study of Xiamen city.The results show that water shortage and inefficient utilization are main problems in the city,as the future water supply looks daunting,and a water shortage may hit nearly 2×10^(8)m^(3)in an extraordinarily dry year.Based on current water supply-demand gap and its trend,this paper proposes countermeasures and suggestions for developing and utilizing groundwater resources and improving the utilization rate of water resources,which can supply as a reference for other southeast middle-to-small-sized basin cities in terms of sustainable water resources and water environment protection.

Impact of coupling coordination development of port and city environments on urban economic competitiveness:Evidence from the coastal port cities in eastern China

Promoting the coupling coordination development of port and its hinterland city environments is an important way to improve urban economic competitiveness.Based on relevant data of 13 coastal port cities in eastern China from 2000 to 2018,this study explores the coupling coordination development of port and city environments and its impact on urban economic competitiveness by constructing the coupling coordination degree model and the panel threshold model.The research results show that:(1)In terms of the coupling coordination development of port and city environments,most coastal ports and their hinterland cities are in a state of moderate or serious disorder.Overall,the degree of coupling coordination of port and city environments needs to be further improved;(2)The coupling coordination degree of port and city environments has a significant impact on urban economic competitiveness,and this effect gradually increases with the development of the ports and the urban economy.Among the variables that impact the urban economic competitiveness,fixed assets investment and foreign trade are significant factors that can enhance urban economic competitiveness.(3)At present,there is a“U-shaped”relationship between the coupling coordination degree of port-city environments and the urban economic competitiveness.This relationship lies on the right side of the inflection point of the“U-shaped”curve.Therefore,following the concept of assigning priority to ecological development,expanding fixed assets investment and actively developing foreign trade can further enhance the urban economic competitiveness.

Leveraging AI for Energy-Efficient Smart Cities: Architectural and Urban Planning Solutions for Sustainable Growth - A Comparative Case Study of Amman City and International Examples

As cities worldwide face increasing energy demands and environmental sustainability challenges,the need for innovative solutions becomes more urgent.Smart cities,driven by advances in Artificial Intelligence(AI),offer promising avenues for enhancing energy efficiency,optimizing urban planning,and improving overall urban living conditions.This research explores how AI can be leveraged to develop energy-efficient smart cities by focusing on architectural and urban planning solutions that promote sustainable growth.The study includes a comprehensive literature review on the role of AI in managing energy consumption,optimizing transportation systems,and aiding urban planning efforts.A critical component of this research is the comparative analysis of case studies from both Jordan and international cities,such as Singapore,Barcelona,and Copenhagen,to evaluate the potential of AI-driven solutions in local contexts.This paper presents a case study applying an AI-driven smart city model to Amman,Jordan,where the city's urban infrastructure,energy management,and transportation systems are analyzed using AI-powered simulations.By integrating real-time data from IoT devices,geographic information systems(GIS),and digital twin technologies,the study simulates energy-saving interventions,improved traffic flow,and optimized urban designs.The research also compares the outcomes from Jordanian developments like Abdali Boulevard and Saraya Aqaba with international examples,revealing valuable insights into the progress and challenges of implementing smart city solutions in Jordan.Key outcomes include a reduction in energy consumption,carbon emissions,traffic congestion,and overall cost savings,demonstrating how AI can contribute to the sustainable development of modern cities.The findings from the case study provide a framework for the application of AI in other urban environments facing similar sustainability challenges,with a focus on enhancing local policy frameworks,infrastructure,and capacity to enable the successful integration of AI solutions.

Heritage Communities in Consumer Contexts Spatial Production of Tourism Research-Take Qixian Zhao Yu Historical City as an Example

Taking Zhaoyu Historical City in Qixian County as an example,this paper explores the production process of tourism space in Zhaoyu Historical City in the context of consumption,based on Lefebvre's triadic dialectic theory.The study reveals that,driven by the development of tourism,subjects such as the government and planners possess absolute dominance over spatial representations,while residents demonstrate receptive and adaptive action strategies and social relations are reproduced,presenting a harmonious state.Further exploring the tourism community in the environmental performance of the subject of action,social relations,consumption demand,daily life practice,cultural capital,etc.,the daily life practice of the tourism community has transcended the original logic of tourism spatial production and has a certain extension.The mechanism analysis in this paper can help guide the healthy development of tourism space in the neighboring historical cities or communities and achieve the dual purpose of promoting the economic development of the community and heritage protection.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SERIOUSLY POLLUTED CITIES IN CHINA——Taking Benxi City as an Example

The environmental problems in the seriously polluted cities in China have been paid attention to by policy makers and foreign and domestic scholars. However, it is very difficult to improve the environmental quality fundamentally due to its complexity, for example the formation of the seriously deteriorated environment. It is considered that the terminal harnessing is an important way,but the spread of high level terminal treatment is restricted by the limit of funds and technological level. Therefore, the way for a sustainable development of the seriously polluted cities should be multiple sided, which is to correlate the operation of environmental protection with the operation of city construction. To achieve an identity of these opposites, measures should be taken during economic development and environmental protection in every developing stage. In this paper, the authors take Benxi City as a case study.

A Latency-Aware and Fault-Tolerant Framework for Resource Scheduling and Data Management in Fog-Enabled Smart City Transportation Systems

Thedeployment of the Internet of Things(IoT)with smart sensors has facilitated the emergence of fog computing as an important technology for delivering services to smart environments such as campuses,smart cities,and smart transportation systems.Fog computing tackles a range of challenges,including processing,storage,bandwidth,latency,and reliability,by locally distributing secure information through end nodes.Consisting of endpoints,fog nodes,and back-end cloud infrastructure,it provides advanced capabilities beyond traditional cloud computing.In smart environments,particularly within smart city transportation systems,the abundance of devices and nodes poses significant challenges related to power consumption and system reliability.To address the challenges of latency,energy consumption,and fault tolerance in these environments,this paper proposes a latency-aware,faulttolerant framework for resource scheduling and data management,referred to as the FORD framework,for smart cities in fog environments.This framework is designed to meet the demands of time-sensitive applications,such as those in smart transportation systems.The FORD framework incorporates latency-aware resource scheduling to optimize task execution in smart city environments,leveraging resources from both fog and cloud environments.Through simulation-based executions,tasks are allocated to the nearest available nodes with minimum latency.In the event of execution failure,a fault-tolerantmechanism is employed to ensure the successful completion of tasks.Upon successful execution,data is efficiently stored in the cloud data center,ensuring data integrity and reliability within the smart city ecosystem.

Research on the Challenges and Solutions for Ethnic Tourism Service Management in Xichang City,Liangshan Prefecture in the Regional Tourism Era

With the advent of the regional tourism era,ethnic tourism service management in Xichang City,Liangshan Prefecture,faces new challenges and opportunities.This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the current state of ethnic tourism service management in Xichang City,identifying existing issues such as uneven service quality,an imperfect management system,and the need for improved professional quality among service personnel.To address these problems,the paper proposes several countermeasures,including establishing a service system oriented toward tourists’needs,enhancing professional training for service personnel,and optimizing the management model for tourism service quality.The study aims to promote the sustainable,rapid,and healthy development of tourism in Xichang City,Liangshan Prefecture,and contribute to the prosperity of tourism in Sichuan Province by improving the management level of ethnic tourism services.

Development of the Greening of Industrial Firms in the Cities along Taihu Lake:A Case Study in Wuxi City,Jiangsu Province

Under the globalization, the coastal China becomes a hot area of the international manufacturing investment due to its priority location, excellent environment, lower labor and land costs, etc. However, the fast industrialization has aroused the great demolishment to the local ecological environment. For example, the heavy water eutrophication in Taihu Lake has affected the source of drinking water for the cities around the lake. Anyway, in order to keep the economic increase and reduce the resource ex- pense and pollution at the same time, it is necessary to encourage the greening of industrial enterprises actively for sustainable de- velopment. On the basis of the investigation of industrial enter- prises in Wuxi city within Taihu Basin, the relatively developed region in coastal China, this paper analyzed the development process of green industry. This article concluded that governmen- tal principal is the main pressure for enterprises to protect envi- ronment while the market factor plays a part role. Moreover, en- terprises in the high technology development zone work better in environmental protection than those in the villages and towns, while the large enterprises work better than those small enterprises.

Studying and Estimating Visual Pollution in Irbid City (Centre of Irbid City-Case Study)

Despite the global attention towards pollution,it remains a significant global threat and challenge for both developed and developing countries.Urbanization and economic development influence different types of pollution.Visual pollution is considered a new phenomenon referring to the impact of existing and growing mainstream pollution which impairs an individual’s ability to enjoy visits or views.Recently,Jordanian cities have expanded in response to urbanization and ongoing development.Irbid City has the second largest population in Jordan after the capital Amman City highest population density in Jordan.In the modern era,Irbid City dramatically increased in population and dimension.The growth of the demographic population has been significant and has led to overpopulation,rapid urbanization,and unresolved problems associated with spatial planning and infrastructures leading to different types of pollution including visual pollution.The study area focuses on the city center with the most crowded population through field visits and actual observations.The study technique is descriptive and analytical,with a focus on meticulous monitoring and a follow-up-based questionnaire which is a tool for the study,involving data collection,classification,presentation,analysis,interpretation,and exploration to identify new facts and generalizations that can help solve current issues of visual pollution.The study provides recommendations for Irbid Municipal to eliminate visual pollution,in parallel with stricter supervision from the municipality during the building process to ensure proper implementation of the new rules,adopting an integrated policy for the city with the rest of the social,political,sensory,cultural,economic,and functional aspects,so that this policy is in the short and long term.

A Review on Integration of IoT as an Approach for Energy Saving in Smart Sustainable Cities

Rapid urbanization has been happening around the world,leading to many challenges and difficulties in infrastructure,communication network,transportation,environmental and organizational problems.Proper and responsible management of urban resources plays a significant role in sustainable development.Smart sustainable cities use ICTs(Information and Communication Technologies)to improve quality of life,efficiency of urban operation and services.The latest advancement in communication,technology,data management,and IoT(Internet of Things)provide a tremendous role for practical implementations and adoption of devices and entities.Smart sustainable cities can be intellectualized as an innovative approach of controlling urban resources and valuable components based on the latest advancement in ICT.Our study focuses on reviewing and discussing the literature that states the vital components of IoT associated with smart sustainable cities in general and specifically with green energy.

A Tentative Study on the Combination of Site Protection and City Construction of Xi'an

The protection of relic sites helps determine the culture coordinate of a city or a region,and enhances its cultural image and status.Through analyzing the construction features and technical means of various ruins parks in Xi'an including Daming Palace National Heritage Park,Qujiangchi Ruins Park,Hanyao Ruins Park,Dacien Temple Ruins Park,Tang Dynasty City Wall Ruins Park,Emperor Qin Ⅱ Mausoleum Ruins Park and so on,a new model combining the site protection with city construction is presented.By integrating cultural relics preservation,heritage protection with innovation,a series of ruins parks processed with deep cultural connotation are constructed,which not only protects the relics and refreshes the city construction,but also well reflects the essence of traditional Chinese culture unique charm of ancient oriental civilization.The well combination of site protection and city construction improves the cultural image and status of the city,enhances the charm of public cultural space,promotes the development of heritage protection and secures more funds for urban and rural construction.

The Study on Tourist Destination Tourism Image Perception and Evaluation in Xi'an City

[Objective] The aim was to explore the tourist destination image measurement method, and have an empirical study on Xi＇an City. [Method] With combination of non-structural and structured approach to design questionnaires, tourism image of Xi＇an was explored using the SPSS software from both the qualitative and quantitative analyses. [Result] Xi＇an tourism images serve a heritage historical monuments atmosphere with the Terracotta Warriors, City Wall, Big Wild Goose Pagoda,Huaqing Hot Springs, presenting a positive feeling among tourists in general. In the dissemination of travel, tourism infrastructure construction, tourism transportation,travel services have negative effects on the image of Xi＇an tourism. [Conclusion]The evaluation on the tourism resources is highly spoken of by tourists than the scenic spot, indicating that despite high visibility of tourism resources in Xi＇an, it has not formed strong core competitiveness and a complete tourism industrial chain. It is necessary to take the right marketing strategies to enhance tourist familiarity to Xi＇an. Tourists demands, therefore, should be well considered in developing Xi＇an scenic spots and new tourism products and projects be focused on to improve tourists＇ satisfaction.

Post Occupancy Evaluation on Sociopetal Space of City Opening Park——Taking Jingxiu Park of Baoding as an example

Taking the sociopetal space with high using rate and welcomed by visitors in Jingxiu Park of Baoding as the study object,human demands on spatial characteristics and space factors were evaluated by the method of POE,and modification measures of the sociopetal space in city opening park were put forward,which provided evidence for solving regional problems of city park and creating urban open space.