A Coupled Model Approach to Reduce Nonpoint-Source Pollution Resulting from Predicted Urban Growth: A Case Study in the Ambos Nogales Watershed

The development of new approaches for understanding processes of urban development and their environmental effects, as well as strategies for sustainable management, is essential in expanding metropolitan areas. This study illustrates the potential of linking urban growth and watershed models to identify problem areas and support long-term watershed planning. Sediment is a primary source of nonpoint-source pollution in surface waters. In urban areas, sediment is intermingled with other surface debris in transport. In an effort to forecast the effects of development on surface-water quality, changes predicted in urban areas by the SLEUTH urban growth model were applied in the context of erosion-sedimentation models (Universal Soil Loss Equation and Spatially Explicit Delivery Models). The models are used to simulate the effect of excluding hot-spot areas of erosion and sedimentation from future urban growth and to predict the impacts of alternative erosion-control scenarios. Ambos Nogales, meaning "both Nogaleses," is a name commonly used for the twin border cities of Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. The Ambos Nogales watershed has experienced a decrease in water quality as a result of urban development in the twin-city area. Population growth rates in Ambos Nogales are high and the resources set in place to accommodate the rapid population influx will soon become overburdened. Because of its remote location and binational governance, monitoring and planning across the border is compromised. One scenario described in this research portrays an improvement in water quality through the identification of high-risk areas using models that simulate their protection from development and replanting with native grasses, while permitting the predicted and inevitable growth elsewhere. This is meant to add to the body of knowledge about forecasting the impact potential of urbanization on sediment delivery to streams for sustainable development, which can be accomplished in a virtual environment.     

农户土地利用行为对退耕还林政策的响应模拟——以陕西省米脂县高渠乡为例

作为中国涉及面最广、群众参与程度最高的一项生态工程,退耕还林对区域土地利用变化产生了重大影响。目前对土地利用变化过程和土地利用主体行为的分析研究不足,不能有效揭示宏观农业土地利用变化的微观机理,难以合理解释农户土地利用行为的变化。本文以陕西省米脂县高渠乡为例进行研究,利用经历权重法定量分析了退耕还林政策结束前后不同农户群体土地利用策略的变化;利用构建的农户群体土地利用决策模型,模拟不同政策情景下农户群体土地利用行为的变化及其对区域土地利用变化的影响。结果表明,该模型可以显示还耕和撂荒两种土地利用行为的变化及其空间配置,能揭示造成这种区域差异的微观机理,为分析农户群体土地利用行为的变化、探讨农业政策与农户行为之间的相互作用,提供了可供借鉴的途径。     

Potential of land consolidation of hollowed villages under different urbanization scenarios in China

There exists great potential of rural land consolidation in China due to the aggravated hollowed villages against the background of rapid rural-urban transformation. The paper aims to investigate the potential of rural land consolidation within four urbanization scenarios: Complete urbanization, Semi-urbanization, Urbanization in batches and prospective urbanization in 2020. Research findings show that, (1) the potentials of rural land consolidation in complete and semi-urbanization are 809.89×10⁴ hm² and 699.19×10⁴ hm² respectively while rural consolidation rates are 50.70% and 43.77%. As for the urbanization in batches and urbanization in 2020, the potentials are 757.89×10⁴ hm² and 992.16×10⁴ hm². (2) Beside Tibet and Ningxia, rural consolidation rates in most provinces are between 40% and 60%, and the land increase rates are between 3% and 12%. Significant correlation between potential of rural land consolidation and the degree of hollowed villages is also found. (3) Evident differences of potential of rural land consolidation exist across provinces. Rural consolidation rates in the East and Central provinces are higher than that in the West provinces. Villages in the developed areas have higher consolidation rates than those in the less developed areas, and villages in the plain areas tend to have higher consolidation rates than those in the mountainous areas.     

云南思小高速公路白花山隧道围岩稳定性研究

根据白花山隧道中导洞开挖过程的实际情况，在隧道开挖期间，采用地质素描法对隧道进行详细的地质描述，同时对地层、岩性、构造、地下水、围岩和边坡的变形破坏现象进行分析，对该隧道的地质条件有了更为详尽和准确地认识，然后提出了合理建议。     

Jeans Stability of a Rotating Medium Capable of Resisting Shearing Stress

Resistance to shearing stress is introduced into a model of a homogeneous, rotating, gravitating medium. It is shown that this eliminates gyroscopic stabilization, both in the presence and in the absence of viscosity. A model of gaseous and rigid media in contact is also considered. Contact with a rigid support also partially eliminates gyroscopic stabilization. This fact may result in some compromise between the theories of density waves and of a self-propagating excitation for explaining the spiral structure of galaxies.     

Assessing decarbonization pathways and their implications for energy security policies in Japan

For countries without sufficient fossil fuel resources such as Japan, climate policies in the mid- to long term need to satisfy requirements not only for decarbonisation but also for energy security in the context of limitations on renewable energies and nuclear power. This study assesses the feasibility of decarbonization pathways to 2050 and their effects on energy security, considering the latest energy and climate policies in Japan using the AIM/Enduse model. The analysis illustrates that deep decarbonization by 2050 is technically feasible even without nuclear power based on three elements: energy efficiency improvements, low-carbon electricity and electrification in end-use sectors. These decarbonization pathways, in the long term, could also contribute to enhanced energy security, reducing import dependency to less than a half of the total primary energy and reducing import bills for fossil fuels by around 70% compared with the current level. Notably, renewable energies could play a strategically significant role in satisfying both climate and energy security requirements. In the mid-term (to 2030), however, although GHG emissions are reduced by 14–20% from 1990 levels, import dependency is relatively stable at today's levels, particularly without the restart of nuclear power. Given the limited potential for renewable energies in the mid-term, it is suggested that the availability of nuclear power will have negative impacts on carbon intensity and energy security, and policies to enhance the security of fossil fuels, including diversification of fuel sources and supply routes, will be required for the foreseeable future.

Policy relevance

Considering the scarcity of indigenous fossil fuel resources and the uncertain availability of nuclear power in Japan, renewable energy could play a strategically significant role in replacing unabated fossil fuels, which would contribute to satisfying both climate and energy security requirements in the long term. However, the renewable energy potential is insufficient to eliminate the requirement for fossil fuels by 2030; therefore the unavailability of nuclear power would affect energy security considerably. Thus, policies in the mid-term would still require enhancement of the energy security of fossil fuels, including the diversification of fuel sources and supply routes, as well as alleviation of the impacts of price volatility.     

To the issue of stabilization of permafrost soil subgrade

This paper summarizes an analysis of consequences of railway subgrade construction and maintenance solutions in northern areas of the Russian Far East. An idea of the natural long-term stabilization of the subgrade-base geotechnical system is presented. Proposals to improve the decision-making of construction and engineering solutions are formulated.     

Freeze-thaw performance of chemically stabilized natural and recycled highway materials

This article provides an overview of several previous studies that investigated the stiffness and strength performance of chemically stabilized roadway materials under winter conditions (freeze-thaw cycling). The objective of this research was to understand the behavior of different materials stabilized with different type of binders when they were subjected to freeze-thaw cycling. Nine different materials including natural soils (organic soil, clay, silt, sand, and road surface gravel), reclaimed pavement material, and recycled asphalt pavement stabilized with nine different binders (five different fly ashes, lime, cement, lime kiln dust, cement kiln dust) were discussed. This article investigated how the volume, resilient modulus and unconfined compressive strength of soils/materials stabilized with different binders change in response to freeze-thaw cycling. Overall, the review results indicate that the stiffness and strength of all stabilized materials decrease somewhat with freeze-thaw cycling. However, the reduced strength and stiffness of stabilized materials after freeze-thaw cycling was still higher than that of unstabilized-unfrozen original soils and materials. In addition, materials stabilized with cement kiln dust provided the best performance against freeze-thaw cycling.     

Projection of PM2.5 and Ozone Concentration Changes over the Jing-Jin-Ji Region in China

Based on GISS-E2-R model simulations, the changes in PM2.5 and ozone concentrations during 2016– 35 are analyzed over the Jing-Jin-Ji region under different future emissions scenarios: 2.6, 4.5, 6.0, 8.5 Representative Concentration Pathways scenarios(RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0, and RCP8.5), compared to the baseline periods of 1851–70(pre-industrial) and 1986–2005(present day). The results show that PM2.5 increases under all emissions scenarios, with the maximum value occurring in the southeastern part of the region under most scenarios. As for ozone, its concentration is projected to increase during 2016–35 under all emissions scenarios, compared to the baseline periods. The temporal evolutions of PM2.5 and ozone show PM2.5 reaching a peak during 2020–40, while ozone will likely increase steadily in the future.