Land-cover classification of China: integrated analysis of AVHRR imagery and geophysical data

Over last two decades, numerous studies have used remotely sensed data from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) sensors to map land use and land cover at large spatial scales, but achieved only limited success. In this paper, we employed an approach that combines both AVHRR images and geophysical datasets (e.g. climate, elevation). Three geophysical datasets are used in this study: annual mean temperature, annual precipitation, and elevation. We first divide China into nine bio-climatic regions, using the long-term mean climate data. For each of nine regions, the three geophysical data layers are stacked together with AVHRR data and AVHRR-derived vegetation index (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) data, and the resultant multi-source datasets were then analysed to generate land-cover maps for individual regions, using supervised classification algorithms. The nine land-cover maps for individual regions were assembled together for China. The existing land-cover dataset derived from Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images was used to assess the accuracy of the classification that is based on AVHRR and geophysical data. Accuracy of individual regions varies from 73% to 89%, with an overall accuracy of 81% for China. The results showed that the methodology used in this study is, in general, feasible for large-scale land-cover mapping in China.

Analysis of arable land loss and its impact on rural sustainability in Southern Jiangsu Province of China

Rapid urbanization and industrialization in southern Jiangsu Province have consumed a huge amount of arable land. Through comparative analysis of land cover maps derived from TM images in 1990, 2000 and 2006, we identified the trend of arable land loss. It is found that most arable land is lost to urbanization and rural settlements development. Urban settlements, rural settlements, and industrial park-mine-transport land increased, respectively, by 87 997 ha (174.65%), 81 041 ha (104.52%), and 12 692 ha (397.99%) from 1990 to 2006. Most of the source (e.g., change from) land covers are rice paddy fields and dryland. These two covers contributed to newly urbanized areas by 37.12% and 73.52% during 1990-2000, and 46.39% and 38.86% during 2000-2006. However, the loss of arable land is weakly correlated with ecological service value, per capita net income of farmers, but positively with grain yield for some counties. Most areas in the study site have a low arable land depletion rate and a high potential for sustainable development. More attention should be directed at those counties that have a high depletion rate but a low potential for sustainable development. Rural settlements should be controlled and rationalized through legislative measures to achieve harmonious development between urban and rural areas, and sustainable development for rural areas with a minimal impact on the ecoenvironment. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Probabilistic modelling of soil moisture dynamics of irrigated cropland in the North China Plain

A probabilistic soil moisture dynamic model is used to estimate the soil moisture probability distribution and plant water stress of irrigated cropland in the North China Plain. Soil moisture and meteorological data during the period of 1998 to 2003 were obtained from an irrigated cropland ecosystem with winter wheat and maize in the North China Plain to test the probabilistic soil moisture dynamic model. Results showed that the model was able to capture the soil moisture dynamics and estimate long-term water balance reasonably well when little soil water deficit existed. The prediction of mean plant water stress during winter wheat and maize growing season quantified the suitability of the wheat-maize rotation to the soil and climate environmental conditions in North China Plain under the impact of irrigation. Under the impact of precipitation fluctuations, there is no significant bimodality of the average soil moisture probability density function.

Persistent organic pollutant residues in the sediments and mollusks from the Bohai Sea coastal areas, North China: An overview

The Bohai Sea costal area is one of the most developed zones of China and the sewage water from populous and developed cities, including Beijing, Tianjin. Qinhuangdao and Dalian is discharged into the Bohai Sea. Additionally, its semi-enclosed characteristic restricts water exchange, which leads to high accumulation of pollutants in the environment. This overview presents the residues of 6 classes of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). including PAHs, DDTs. HCHs, PCBs and PCDD/Fs. in the sediments and mollusks of the Bohai Sea through analyzing previous literatures. In the sediments. the highest PAH concentrations were detected in the vicinities of Qinhuangdao, while the northeast corner of the Bohai Bay possessed the highest levels of DDTs and PCBs. The investigations on HCHs and PCDD/Fs distributions on the whole sea scale have not been reported. In mollusks, PAH concentrations were in the same order of magnitude in the whole Bohai Sea, so were DDTs. HCHs and PCBs, while the outlier maximum values of PCDDs and PCDFs occurred in Yingkou. In general, the POPs residues in mollusks collected from Shandong Province were higher than the other areas. The compositions of DDTs, HCHs and PCBs in sediments indicated their recent usage. By comparing POP concentrations in sediments with the recommended criterions, it was shown that some individual PAH compounds occasionally associated with adverse biological effects in the vicinities of the Liaodong Bay and Qinhuangdao, and the Liaohe River Estuary were heavily contaminated with DDTs, but PCBs were all below the thresholds. In order to reveal the transference and transformation of POPs in the environment, further studies concerning with their behavior, fate and bioaccumulation in the different trophic levels should be programmed. Moreover, laws and regulations should be enforced to ban the illegal usage of POPs-containing pesticides to guarantee health of the environment and human. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of spatial variation on areal evapotranspiration simulation in Haibei, Tibet plateau, China

Quantification of areal evapotranspiration from remote sensing data requires the determination of surface energy balance components with support of field observations. Much attention should be given to spatial resolution sensitivity to the physics of surface heterogeneity. Using the Priestley-Taylor model, we generated evapotranspiration maps at several spatial resolutions for a heterogeneous area at Haibei, and validated the evapotranspiration maps with the flux tower data. The results suggested that the mean values for all evapotranspiration maps were quite similar but their standard deviations decreased with the coarsening of spatial resolution. When the resolution transcended about 480 m, the standard deviations drastically decreased, indicating a loss of spatial structure information of the original resolution evapotranspiration map. The absolute values of relative errors of the points for evapotranspiration maps showed a fluctuant trend as spatial resolution of input parameter data layers coarsening, and the absolute value of relative errors reached minimum when pixel size of map matched up to measuring scale of eddy covariance system. Finally, based on the analyses of the semi-variogram of the original resolution evapotranspiration map and the shapes of spatial autocorrelation indices of Moran and Geary for evapotranspiration maps at different resolutions, an appropriate resolution was suggested for the areal evapotranspiration simulation in this study area.

Phylogenetic relationships of five pika species (genus Ochotona) based on mitochondrial DNA restriction maps

Restriction site mapping of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) with 16 restriction endonucleases was used to examine the phylogenetic relationships of Ochotona cansus, O. huangensis, O. thibetana, O. curzoniae and O. erythrotis. A 1-kb length variation between O. erythrotis of subgenus Pika and other four species of subgenus Ochotona was observed, which may be a useful genetic marker for identifying the two subgenera. The phylogenetic tree constructed using PAUP based on 61 phylogenetically informative sites suggests that O. erythrotis diverged first, followed by O. cansus, while O. curzoniae and O. huangensis are sister taxa related to O. thibetana, The results indicate that both O. cansus and O. huangensis should be treated as independent species. If the base substitution rate of pikas mtDNA was 2% per million years, then the divergence time of the two subgenera, Pika and Ochotana, is about 8.8 Ma ago of late Miocence, middle Bao-dian of Chinese mammalian age, and the divergence of the four species in subgenus Ochotona would have occurred about 2.5 - 4.2 Ma ago, Yushean of Chinese mammalian age. This calculation appears to be substantiated by the fossil record.

Whole genome sequencing identifies circulating Beijing-lineage Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains in Guatemala and an associated urban outbreak.

Limited data are available regarding the molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) strains circulating in Guatemala. Beijing-lineage Mtb strains have gained prevalence worldwide and are associated with increased virulence and drug resistance, but there have been only a few cases reported in Central America. Here we report the first whole genome sequencing of Central American Beijing-lineage strains of Mtb. We find that multiple Beijing-lineage strains, derived from independent founding events, are currently circulating in Guatemala, but overall still represent a relatively small proportion of disease burden. Finally, we identify a specific Beijing-lineage outbreak centered on a poor neighborhood in Guatemala City.

From Beijing with love: The global dimension of Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor

Famous for being the first foreign feature film that obtained permission to shoot in the Forbidden City, The Last Emperor (1987) is also one of the most ambitious and expensive independent productions of its time, awarded four Golden Globes and nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. In addition, The Last Emperor can be considered as one of the first attempts of cinematic collaboration between West and East, in a period of cultural and economic transformations witnessed by China. This article aims to offer an overview of the production history of The Last Emperor, focusing on the co-production collaborations and the outcomes of a western auteur’s gaze on Chinese history. Questions of Orientalism, travel narrative and critical reception are taken into account in order to engage with the transnational implications of Bertolucci’s film and the western fascination with China.

Water quality in lakes and reservoirs in China

Dissertation elaborated for the partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Master Degree in Civil Engineering in the Speciality Area of Hydarulics

The Implementations of Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) in Beijing and Ontario Schools

Since the knowledge-based economy has become a fashion over the last few decades, the concept of the professional learning community (PLC) has started being accepted by educational institutions and governments as an effective framework to improve teachers’ collective work and collaboration. The purpose of this research was to compare and contrast the implementations of PLCs between Beijing schools and Ontario schools from principals’ personal narratives. In order to discover the lessons and widen the scope to understand the PLC, this research applied qualitative design to collect the data from two principal participants in each location by semistructured interviews. Four themes emerged: (a) structure and technology, (b) identity and climate, (c) task and support, and (d) change and challenge. This research found that the root of the characteristics of the PLCs in Beijing and Ontario was the different existing teaching and learning systems as well as the test systems. Teaching Research Groups (TRGs) is one of the systems that help Chinese to organize routine time and input resources to improve teachers’ professional development. However, Canadian schools lack a similar system that guarantees the time and resources. Moreover, standardized test plays different roles in China and Canada. In China, standardized tests, such as the college entrance examination, are regarded as the important purpose of education, whereas Ontario principals saw the Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) as a tool rather than a primary purpose. These two main differences influenced principals’ beliefs, attitudes, strategies, and practices. The implications based on this discovery provide new perspectives for principals, teachers, policy makers, and scholars to widen and deepen the research and practice of the PLC.

Street-level labour inspection in China and the implementation of ILO Convention No.155 concerning occupational safety and health

Les relations de travail et d'emploi sont devenues des enjeux importants en Chine. La Chine a ratifié 25 conventions internationales du travail et a travaillé en étroite collaboration avec l'OIT pour améliorer la sécurité et la santé au travail. Malgré ces efforts, la Chine est souvent critiquée pour des violations du travail. Face à ces problèmes, un système législatif d'administration de travail a été développé au niveau national. Mais l’application de ces règlements demeure problématique.. En particulier, les difficultés rencontrées par les inspecteurs du travail dans l'application de ces lois constituent un élément clé du problème. Notre mémoire s'intéresse essentiellement au rôle de l'inspecteur du travail dans l'administration publique de la sécurité du travail en Chine. Ces fonctionnaires jouent un rôle important et peuvent parfois exercer leur discrétion en tant qu'acteurs de première ligne, faisant d'eux de vrais décideurs politiques. Par conséquent, la compréhension de leur rôle et de leur discrétion dans l'application des normes du travail en Chine est cruciale. Notre mémoire est centré sur une étude de cas qualitative d'un bureau d'inspection du travail dans la région de Beijing. Dans le cadre de notre recherche nous avons examiné le rôle des inspecteurs du travail au moyen d’entretiens semi-structurés, d’une recherche documentaire ainsi qu’à l’occasion d’une brève observation des inspecteurs sur lors de la visite d’un lieu de travail. Les résultats démontrent que la définition du pouvoir discrétionnaire des inspecteurs du travail de première ligne en Chine est un enjeu très complexe. L’étude de cas permet cependant d’élaborer un cadre permettant l’identification des facteurs critiques déterminants pour l'évaluation et la compréhension de la nature du pouvoir discrétionnaire de l'inspecteur du travail en application de la loi.

Use of digital camera to assess nitrogen status of winter wheat in the Northern China Plain

The most widely used methods to assess the nitrogen (N) status of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) are the determination of plant total N by combustion, the testing of nitrate in the leaf tissue and the use of SPAD readings. However, due to their labor requirements or high costs these methods can hardly be applied to the huge wheat growing areas of the Northern China Plain. This study therefore examined an alternative method to measure the N status of wheat by using a digital camera to record the visible green light reflected from the plant canopy. The experiment was conducted near Beijing in a multi-factorial field trial with three levels of N. The intensity of green light reflected from the wheat canopy was compared to the total N concentration, to the nitrate concentration of the basal stem, and to the SPAD readings of leaves. The results show significant inverse relationships between greenness intensity, canopy total N, and SPAD readings at booting and flowering. At booting, sap nitrate <2000mgL^-1 was inversely related to greenness intensity and to sap nitrate concentration in the basal stem. At sap nitrate ~2000mgL^-1, the greenness intensity reached a plateau. At booting and flowering, significant inverse relationships between greenness intensity and shoot biomass were found. The results show the potential of the new method to assess the N status of winter wheat.

La cooperación militar entre China y Rusia y su incidencia en la seguridad de Asia Central durante el periodo 2001-2008

Durante los últimos diez años, la cooperación militar entre China y Rusia ha buscado proteger los intereses nacionales de ambos Estados, los cuales se encuentran estrechamente relacionados con las dinámicas en materia de seguridad de Asia Central.

"Un mundo un sueño": los juegos olimpicos y su incidencia en la consolidación del proyecto político de china

Ante la mirada atónita del mundo, la República Popular China realizó los Juegos Olímpicos (J.J.O.O.), Beijing 2008, que no sólo han sido los más costosos de toda la historia con una explosiva demostración de modernización sino fueron un éxito para los intereses del Partido Comunista Chino (PCCh). De esta manera, los argumentos principales de la estrategia de Deng Xiaoping y del PCCh y la incidencia política de los J.J.O.O. contribuyeron a la consolidación del proyecto político chino, la economía socialista de mercado, y la articulación de este proceso a la consecución de los objetivos del PCCh en cuanto a la restauración de la continuidad del régimen comunista chino, la integridad territorial, su prestigio, liderazgo y poder en el contexto internacional que le ha permitido la construcción de la imagen de la `Nueva China del siglo XXI´.