A Sand Control and Development Model in Sandy Land Based on Mixed Experiments of Arsenic Sandstone and Sand: A Case Study in Mu Us Sandy Land in China

Serious desertification caused by human activity and climate change,in addition to water loss and soil erosion related to arsenic sandstone in the Mu Us Sandy Land,lead to severe scarcity of soil and water resources,which causes worse local agricultural conditions accordingly.Many physical properties of arsenic sandstone is complementary with that of sand,arsenic sandstone is therefore supposed to be blended to enhance water productivity and arability of sandy land.Container experiments are carried out to study the enhancement of water holding capacity of the mixture,the blending ratio of arsenic sandstone and sand,and the proper size of the arsenic sandstone particles,respectively.The results of the experiments show that particle size of 4 cm with a ratio of 1∶2 between arsenic sandstone and sand are the proper parameters on blending.Both water content and fertility increase after blending.Water use efficiency in the mixture is 2.7 times higher than that in sand by the water release curves from experiments.Therefore,a new sand control and development model,including arsenic sandstone blending with sand,efficient water irrigation management and reasonable farming system,is put forward to control and develop sandy land so that water-saving agriculture could be developed.Demonstration of potato planting about 153.1 ha in area in the Mu Us Sandy Land in China indicates that water consumption is 3018 m3/ha in the whole growth period.It means that about 61%of irrigation water can be saved compared with water use in coarse sand without treatment.Recycle economic mode and positive feedback of sand resource-crop planting-soil resource are constructed,which changes sand into arable soil and make it possible to develop water-saving agriculture on it.The proposed model will be helpful for soil-water resources utilization and management in the Mu Us Sandy Land.

Gα_s signaling controls intramembranous ossification during cranial bone development by regulating both Hedgehog and Wnt/β-catenin signaling

How osteoblast cells are induced is a central question for understanding skeletal formation. Abnormal osteoblast differentiation leads to a broad range of devastating craniofacial diseases. Here we have investigated intramembranous ossification during cranial bone development in mouse models of skeletal genetic diseases that exhibit craniofacial bone defects. The GNAS gene encodes Gαs that transduces GPCR signaling. GNAS activation or loss-of-function mutations in humans cause fibrous dysplasia(FD) or progressive osseous heteroplasia(POH) that shows craniofacial hyperostosis or craniosynostosis, respectively. We find here that, while Hh ligand-dependent Hh signaling is essential for endochondral ossification, it is dispensable for intramembranous ossification, where Gαsregulates Hh signaling in a ligand-independent manner. We further show that Gαscontrols intramembranous ossification by regulating both Hh and Wnt/β-catenin signaling. In addition, Gαsactivation in the developing cranial bone leads to reduced ossification but increased cartilage presence due to reduced cartilage dissolution, not cell fate switch. Small molecule inhibitors of Hh and Wnt signaling can effectively ameliorate cranial bone phenotypes in mice caused by loss or gain of Gnas function mutations, respectively. Our work shows that studies of genetic diseases provide invaluable insights in both pathological bone defects and normal bone development, understanding both leads to better diagnosis and therapeutic treatment of bone diseases.

Computerised Development Control and Approval System for City Hall of Kuala Lumpur

This paper will discuss the computerised developm en t control and approval system being developed for the Planning and Development C ontrol Department, City Hall of Kuala Lumpur, with stress on the GIS architectur e developed within the system. The prospects and challenges towards implementati on of the system are also discussed.

DEVELOPMENT AND USAGE OF SIGNAL PR OCESSING AND SOUND SITIMULATING SYSTEM CONTROLLED BY COMPUTER

In hearing physiological experiments and clinic tests,we need not only a signal processing system,but also a synchronous sound stimulator’ Most of stimulators we are now using are function generators which are independent to processing units,and can be controlled only by hand. Although some of them have ports through which they can be controlled by computer,but as they are designed for industrial aims,not for hearing research,most of them can’t generate the special waveforms we need. We use the TDT signal processing system and develop a software package have both usage. On the interface of the program we can control the sampling parameters and generate stimulating waveforms’

Analysis of the Determinants of Floods in Numan Town, Nigeria

This study aimed at investigating the causes of floods in Numan Town with particular reference to the 2012 floods. Three residential areas： Gangare, Gwadda Mallam and Green Village were selected for the study. Hydrological, SRTM （shuttle radar topography mission） digital elevation model, secondary and primary data were utilized. A total of 180 questionnaires were administered to the residents in equal proportion using systematic random sampling. ArcGIS 10.0 and Excel were used for the analysis. The study revealed that the major causes of flood in the area include discharge of water from the Lagdo dam in Cameroon and Kiri dam in Adamawa State. Others include heavy rainfall, topography, and lack of adherence to development control provisions which resulted in construction of residential areas on flood plains. Many of the residents do not have legal title to their plots and this constitutes a very serious constraint to provision of drainages and solid waste disposal services. To ameliorate the devastating effects of floods, the study recommends relocation of residents of flood prone areas, provision of solid waste management services, and construction of more drainages. In addition, the town planning authorities and community leaders should collaborate to ensure that houses are built in flood plains.

A Web-Based Pilot Implementation of the Africanized Land Administration Domain Model for Kenya—A Case Study of Nyeri County

Kenya has amassed a wealth of paper based land information records collected over the duration of more than a century. The National Land Commission (NLC) having the mandate to develop a National Land Information Management System (NLIMS) for Kenya partnered with the Dedan Kimathi University of Technology on a project to develop a pilot LIMS for Nyeri County. A pilot Land Administration System (LAS) has been developed in this work and utilizes an Africanized Land Administration Domain Model (A-LADM) fitted to the Kenyan context. Various processes involved in land administration that required to be automated were identified. Informed by the numbers of applications made for the change of User service, it was picked as the first workflow to be automated. The key outputs of this work were the A-LADM and pilot LAS. The pilot solution uses a webcentric solution, with the data stored and managed centrally from a PostGIS database backend, using the Python Django framework to implement the server side and client side frontend. This solution demonstrates the importance of automating processes and supporting standards based software development. Stakeholder participation is key when implementing systems and 2 workshops are held to capture requirements and validate the developed solution.

Genomic basis for light control of plant development

Light is one of the key environmental signals regulating plant growth and development.Therefore,understanding the mechanisms by which light controls plant development has long been of great interest to plant biologists.Traditional genetic and molecular approaches have successfully identified key regulatory factors in light signaling,but recent genomic studies have revealed massive reprogramming of plant transcriptomes by light,identified binding sites across the entire genome of several pivotal transcription factors in light signaling,and discovered the involvement of epigenetic regulation in light-regulated gene expression.This review summarizes the key genomic work conducted in the last decade which provides new insights into light control of plant development.

Receptor-like protein kinases:Key regulators controlling root hair development in Arabidopsis thaliana

Root hairs are tubular outgrowths specifically differentiated from epidermal cells in a differentiation zone. The formation of root hairs greatly increases the surface area of a root and maximizes its ability to absorb water and inorganic nutrients essential for plant growth and development. Root hair development is strictly regulated by intracellular and intercellular signal communications. Cell surface-localized receptor-like protein kinases （P, LKs） have been shown to be important components in these cellular processes, tn this review, the functions of a number of key P, LKs in regulating Arabidopsis root hair development are discussed, especially those involved in root epidermal cell fate determination and root hair tip growth.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF TCM AND QUALITY CONTROL OF TCM HERBS AND HERBAL PREPARATIONS IN TAIWAN

Traditional Chinese Medicine has been very popular in Taiwan in the past.TCM was incorporated in the National Insurance since 1995.Starting 2012,all new TCM physicians had to be graduated from TCM Department in Medical University.Currently,there are 6,442 TCM physicians practiced in 3,372 clinics and 95 hospitals.TCM only accounts for less than 4%of total National Health

DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL HPLC METHOD FOR QUALITY CONTROL OF SAFFRON(CROCUS SATIVUS L.)

Saffron,the dried stigma of Crocus sativus L.,findsnumerous applications in TCM.Here,a novel HPLC protocol was established and applied for the analysis of saffron samples,not only from different places of origin but also from several harvest seasons.One of the main active constituents of saffron,crocin,is also contained in

Dynamic design of green stormwater infrastructure

This paper compares ongoing research results on hydrologic performance to common design and crediting criteria, and recommends a change in direction from a static to a dynamic perspective to fully credit the performance of green infrastructure. Examples used in this article are primarily stormwater control measures built for research on the campus of Villanova University [1,2]. Evidence is presented demonstrating that the common practice of crediting water volume based on soil and surface storage underestimates the performance potential, and suggests that the profession move to a more dynamic approach that incorporates exfiltration and evapotranspiration. The framework for a dynamic approach is discussed, with a view to broaden our design focus by including climate, configuration and the soil surroundings. The substance of this work was presented as a keynote speech at the 2016 international Low Impact Development Conference in Beijing China [3].