Advanced Materials Research Vol. 905

Abstract: The land use changes are analyzed based on the interpretation of remote sensing image in the year of 1983, 1995, and 2009, and then an evaluation index system is established on the basis of “Hazard-State-Immune” model in Pingdingshan City, China. The entropy-weight method is used to determine the weights of index; the comprehensive index is used to evaluate the land ecological security in the study area. The results of the study show that the land ecological security is trending to obvious improvement after the gradual development (Common - Common – Good) in the past 30 years. And they also reveal the temporal-spatial distribution of land ecological security in this study area, which provides a foundation of ecological construction and the improvement of land ecological security.

Abstract: This study aims to propose sustainable environmental management for a national park. Recently, visitors to the national park have increased due to a rapid increase in demand for forest-based recreation. However, the integrity of the ecosystem in the park has been severely compromised or destroyed by visitors and their activities and has caused a loss of animal habitat and of plant species along with pollution, soil erosion at the summit, and waste problems. Therefore strategies for environmental-friendly park management practices are necessary. This study targets Hallasan National Park on Jeju Island, Korea. The sustainability of the park plays a significant role in environmental preservation of Jeju Island because the total area of the park is 4.5% of the whole island area. Many travelers visit the island, a tourist attraction in Korea, because it is easily accessible from major big cities of the Korean Peninsula, Japan, China, and Russia. As a result, environment management for sustainability of Hallasan National Park is to restrict the number of visitors and activities, to make strong regulations, and to plan strategy of environment-friendly awareness for visitors and residents.

Abstract: pH plays an important roles in retting process of kenaf. The aim of this study is to see the changes of retting water pH in the kenaf retting process with and without the use of Bacillus cereus. The retting process duration was one week. The pH of the water was taken daily during the retting period. The results were then compared at the end of retting period.

Abstract: House prices across cities may form long-term relations. Geographic barriers could lead to lack of short-term dynamics. The paper aims to investigate the long-run equilibrium and/or short-run dynamics betweenmetropolitan house pricesin China. The study introduced two cointegration tests and various small-sample corrections. We conductedthe Toda-Yamamoto Granger causality tests. House prices betweencitiesin most regional markets did notshow long-term relations as well as short-term dynamics. Therefore, geographies andtransport costs between cities could reducethe centrifugal forces of city growth. Metropolitan housing markets are typically local.

Abstract: This paper reviews the physical models that had been used in order to conduct the experiment of estuarine salinity intrusion into rivers. Several studies used the physical models to get a better understanding of the estuary salinity mixing process and salt-wedge estuary characteristics along the flume. Besides, the laboratory investigations using the physical model also useful for verification purposes as discussed by previous researchers.

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to propose a simplified environmental impact assessment method based on selection of major building materials for school buildings in Korea. To accomplish this, environmental impact of 2 school buildings constructed in Korea was assessed according to the procedure of life cycle assessment. In addition, major building materials of school buildings were selected from the perspective of 6 environmental impact categories based on the assessment result, and a method of simplified environmental impact assessment was suggested. On one hand, case analysis verified applicability of the simplified environmental impact assessment method proposed in this study by showing similar value within 10% compared to the assessment result from existing detailed assessment.

Abstract: The carrying capacity of water resources is one of the focuses in water resources research, and it has an important significance in measuring the effects of water resources on regional development. Wuhan City is selected as an example in this study. Eight indexes are selected to assess the carrying capacity of water resources in Wuhan City in recent three years based on the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method. The results show that the degree of exploitation and utilization of water resources is relative high, and the potential of carrying capacity is relatively small. In addition, the contradiction between supply and demand of water resources is outstanding, and it tends to overload. The fundamental measures are put forward to improve water resources carrying capacity such as improving the utilization efficiency of water resources and enhancing the capacity of water saving from the perspective of promoting economic and social development

Abstract: Lime is widely used as chemical stabilizer in soft soil stabilization. However, lime is reported to be less effective when dealing with organic soil. It is believed that the organic matter in the soil will retard the pozzolanic reaction which is responsible for strength enhancement. The heterogeneity nature of the organic matter in the soil makes the study complicated and reduced the repeatability of the test results. Hence, artificial organic soil with known organic matter and content are preferred by researchers when repeatability of the test results are required in determining the influential effect of each contribution factor. Various factors such as additive contents, effect of aging (curing periods), curing temperature, density of materials and moisture content are reported by previous researchers as the potential contributing factors towards the strength development. It is believed that the interaction of the factors also will contribute to the strength enhancement. Hence, this study is carried out to evaluate the contributing factors and its interactions on strength development of artificial organic soils with known type and contents of organic matter. Statistical design of experiment (DOE) approach was utilized to evaluate the factors and its interaction on the strength development of lime stabilized artificial organic soils by using commercial statistics package. Three main factors were investigated: effect of organic content, effect of curing periods, and effect of additive, while other factors namely curing temperature, molding water content, types of compaction and compactive effort were keep constant through controlled experiments. Processed kaolin (inorganic material) is mixed with humic acid (organic matter) to simulate the organic soil which comprised of inorganic soil and organic matter. The density of the soil specimen and its moisture content were recorded before and after the curing process. General Linear Model (GLM) was utilized to determine the significance of the main factors, two-factor interactions, and three factor interactions. The significance factors and interactions were utilized in multiple regression analysis to develop the strength prediction model which can be utilized to predict the strength of stabilized materials within the inference space defined by the experiment.

Abstract: The estimation of a river discharge by using a mean velocity equation is very convenient and rational. Nevertheless, a research on an equation calculating a mean velocity in a river was not entirely satisfactory after the development of Chezy and Mannings formulas which are uniform equations. In this paper, accordingly, the mean velocity in unsteady flow conditions which are shown loop form properties was estimated by using a new mean velocity formula derived from Chius 2-D velocity formula. The results showed that the proposed method was more accurate in estimating discharge, when compared with the conventional formulas.

Abstract: This study will center on the meteorological impact of clouds and its influence to the urban air temperature. Quantitative assessment over the behavior and temperature pattern was done using a five-year data of meteorological parameters obtain from the local weather and climate bureau. Urban heat island (UHI) is defined as the increased air temperature of the city over its surrounding sub-urban and rural areas and in this case of a five-year summer period of Taipei, Taiwan were heat temperatures are higher and can go beyond 39°C, acting dominant meteorological cloud cover factor is observe for its effect in temperature pattern. Analysis of local heat characteristics suggests the possibility of the believed theory Urban-scaled greenhouse effect that maybe affecting the patterns of the urban air temperature. An urban-scaled greenhouse effect is a theory that implies; when dense cloud covers the city, most of the supposed released long wave radiation or heat energy is trapped and reflected back by the dense clouds, creating a body of conserved heat that is prolonged in the area. The duration of conserved heat (DCH) is measured by the difference of the diurnal maximum and minimum temperature. To assess the value of the theory the daily cloud amount (CA) and its relationship with the DCH was tested with regression analysis. Calm days with the complete cycle of maximum and minimum temperature accordingly were selected and tested. The five-year average (2008 – 2012) resulted in a regression value of R² = 0.072. Although the years 2011 & 2012 showed a higher regression value of R² = 0.265 and R² = 0.104 respectively, certainly enough the data of years 2011 and 2012 revealed a higher ratio of days with less combination of high wind speed and rainfall which created less fluctuations. Trend pattern for the five summers showed similarities. Some days showed fluctuation but no negative trend of correlation was detected. The heat intensity (HI) is another type of temperature pattern that was observed against CA and DCH, it is characterized by the difference of maximum and minimum diurnal temperature. Suggestive with our analysis, all five-year summertime data of HI showed negative correlation with the CA and DCH, attesting a faster release of long wave radiation when clouds are less.