The Late Quaternary Coastal Geo-Environment Evolution and Modern Process of Bohai Bay,China

Paleoenvironmental reconstruction is fundamental to understand the modern environmental changes and to predict future environment, which is especially critical to understand the evolution of land and sea during geological periods. However, the basic geological research on China＇s muddy coastal zone is not enough to provide quantitative data to compare with global changes. Therefore, in 2011, China Geological Survey deployed the ＂Late Quaternary geo-environmental evolution and modern process of China＂ project, and focused on the muddy coastal zones of the Liaodong Bay, Bohai Bay, the Yellow River Delta, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta （Fig. 1）. Next we will briefly introduce our latest results in the Bohai Bay.

Research progress and prospect of interaction between rock engineering and geo-environments

In recent years, a large number of geotechnical engineering projectshave been completed or under construction in China, such asthe Three Gorges Dam Project, Expressway Network Plan, South-to-North Water Diversion Project, West-to-East Gas Pipeline Project,etc. （Wang, 2003; Li, 2010; Huang, 2011; She and Lin, 2014）. Theconstruction of large-scale geotechnical engineering not onlybrings huge economic benefits, but also causes large interferenceto the lithosphere and hydrosphere that we rely on for survival（Wang et al., 2005）. This paper focuses on the interaction mechanismof rock engineering and geo-environments in the fields of urbanunderground space utilization, natural gas hydrate exploitationand high-level radioactive waste disposal.

From Country-specific Review to Universal Periodic Review:A Fairer International Human Rights Mechanism

In the Country-specific by the Commission on Human Rights,developed countries lead selective supervision and review the human rights conditions in developing countries,contributing to the inequality in the roles of developed and developing countries and highlighting the unfairness and unreasonableness of the international human rights mechanism.In the Universal Periodic Review by the Human Rights Council,developed countries and developing countries are procedurally equal when evaluating the human rights conditions of other countries,and the evaluation of human rights conditions has transitioned from selective to universal.The development from the Country-specific Review to the Universal Periodic Review system is the result of China and other developing countries working together to optimize the internal governance structure of the Human Rights Council to rationalize its operational logic.Although the Universal Periodic Review system cannot immediately change the predominant status of the Western human rights discourse,it provides a mechanism for all countries to express their human rights values on an equal footing.It is an important manifestation of a fairer and more reasonable international human rights mechanism.

Investment Requirements in Extension to Achieve Zero Hunger and Adapt to Climate Change

The study reflects on previous World Bank and FAO reports that made the general recommendation to set both research and extension investment targets in developing countries at 1% of agricultural gross domestic product （AgGDP）. In order to define proxies for country-specific extension investment targets, authors developed an extension investment model （EIM） based on socio-economic macro-indicators （poverty, undernourishment, access to information and population density） and a method to define estimates for cost increases related to climate change. These parameters helped estimating the demand for agricultural extension and investments required for it. Results showed that about half of the 94 developing and emerging countries should spend more than 1% of their respective share of GDP derived from agriculture and about a quarter of the countries, mostly in Africa and South East Asia, need to spend more than 2% of their AgGDP. The paper reveals significant differences in average investment requirements in different regions and shows the additional extension costs related to climate change and other areas that currently lack investment.

Does Intellectual Capital Affect Business Performance？

The aim of this paper is to assess the impact of intellectual capital （IC） on firms＇ financial performance with reference to a sample of companies operating in the European Union （EU） area during the period from 2006 to 2013. The analyses are further differentiated by country of domicile, industry sector, and historical period （pre-crisis and crisis）. We investigate whether the value of the components of IC is a relevant factor that influences firms＇ performance, proposing and testing a modified version of the value added intellectual capital （VAICTM） model which also considers country-specific differences in terms of default risk. The empirical results evidence the relevance of the information on IC disclosed by companies. Differences arise depending on the reference country, industry, and historical period examined. The main limitations of the research are the unbalanced structure of the sample among countries and industries and the specificity of the examined sample （listed firms applying IAS/IFRS system）. The main implication of the study is that, since we demonstrate the value relevance of IC, our findings could be of interest for standard setters for defining a standard （qualitative and quantitative） level of information on human resources to be disclosed by companies in their financial statements. Our contribution to the literature is the proposal of some relevant modifications to the original VAICTM model and providing new evidence on the influence that IC had in recent years on business performance in the EU.

The Latest Development of Ethical Literary Criticism in the World

The series A Study on Ethical Literary Criticism exhibits key achievements in the major program of national social sciences by scholars headed by Professor Nie Zhenzhao,who are devoted to the research of foreign literatures,studies in philosophy and social sciences,and interdisciplinary study of world literature,who dedicated themselves to the construction of the ethical literary critical theory and methodology with the application of ethical literary criticism in practice.This series organically combine the generality of ethical literary criticism with the individuality of specific writers and combine the theoretical guidance with realistic practicality in academic research,which will be conducive to the development of world literary criticism and region and country-specific studies in the new era.