Wei Chao-fu

An insight on drivers of land use change at regional scale

The studies of driving forces of regional land use change (LUC) are to reveal the real motivation behind the LUC and its interacting mechanism, so as to simulate and predict the process of LUC. Presently, studies rooting from different natural and socio-economic backgrounds and from different scales have deepened the people’s understanding and cognition to driving forces of regional LUC. Biophysical driving forces are relatively stable, and have the cumulating effects. Human driving forces are relatively active, and are main driving forces of short-term regional LUC. Existing regional LUC models can answer the three main problems: which contribution (why), which location (where) and what rate (when). But, regional land use system is defined as the self-organized system, usually affected by the critical value area and sudden change, and controlled by different stages. To reduce the impact of critical threshold and break on land use system, the studies of LUC driving forces will aim at following priority areas: data linkage between remote sensing and no-remote sensing data; underlying driving force identification; driving factor quantification; driving factor scale dependence; and driving process integration simulation.

Effects of conservation tillage on soil organic matter in paddy rice cultivation

Abstract In this study, the effect of conservation tillage on soil organic matter (SOM) in paddy rice cultivation after 10 yr was investigated. Four treatments, disk till-fallow (DTF), disk till-wheat (DTW), conservation till-fallow (CTF) and conservation till-wheat (CTW) were used. The results indicated that the combinative application of no-tillage, ridge culture and wheat cultivation was a sound conservation practice in paddy rice cultivation. It not only significantly increased the concentration of SOM in the topsoil, but also affected optical and pyrolysis characteristics of humic acids (HA) through changing the composition and structure of SOM. At 0–10 cm, the greatest SOM content was in CTW, but declined sharply with depth, while in DTF, DTW and CTF the SOM content was not as high at the surface as in CTW, but did not decline as fast as in CTW. The oxidation stabilization of SOM was generally greater in no-tillage and ridge culture than that in disk till. The HA optical density in CTW at wavelength 665 nm and 465 nm was 0.122 and 0.705, while in DTF was 0.062 and 0.321, respectively. E 4 /E 6 ratio in CTW was higher than that in the other treatments. The enthalpy capacity of the exothermal peak (360–365°C) for the HA DTA curve in no-tillage and ridge culture was lower than that in disk till, while the HA absorption peaks in 1000–1050 cm −1 presented the reverse trend. The oxidation stabilization coefficient of HA in no-tillage and ridge culture was higher than that in disk till, indicating that the polycondensation degree and aromatization of HA were stronger. These findings suggest that it may be possible to manipulate paddy soil through conservational tillage and crop practices, and thereby maintain adequate SOM concentrations, and mitigate soil organic carbon loss from soil to atmosphere.

Shear strength features of soils developed from purple clay rock and containing less than two-millimeter rock fragments

Soil shear strength is an important indicator of engineering design and an essential parameter of soil precision tillage and agricultural machinery and equipment design. Although numerous studies have investigated the characteristics of different soil shear strengths, only a few of these works have paid attention to soils containing considerable quantities of rock fragments. To date, most studies on the effects of rock fragments on the shear strength have paid attention to the role of rock fragments with sizes >2 mm. The effects of rock fragments <2 mm in soil are generally ignored. Similar to rock fragments >2 mm, the presence of rock fragments <2 mm could also change the mechanical properties of soils. Thus, in the present study we evaluated the potential influence of <2 mm rock fragments on soil shear strength via an unconsolidated undrained (UU) triaxial compression test. Our results were as follows: (1) A certain quantity of <2 mm rock fragments presented in purple soils developed from clay rocks; and an appropriate quantity of <2 mm rock fragments could improve the shear strength of soils. (2) The different PSDs of soils containing <2 mm rock fragments mainly caused variations in the internal friction angle of soils. (3) The shear strengths of the two mudstone-developed red-brown and gray-brown purple soils was more sensitive to water than that of the shale-developed coarse-dark purple soil. As the soil water content increased from 9% to 23%, the changes in the cohesion, internal friction angle, shear strength, and the maximum principal stress difference were smaller in the coarse dark purple soil than in the two other soils. We therefore concluded that <2 mm rock fragments in purple soils exerted important effects on soil shear strength. A better understanding of the differences among the shear strength features of purple soils could help improve the design of agricultural machinery and equipment.

Soil Geochemistry Changes Induced by a Foreign Soil Reconstruction Project in Three Gorges Reservoir Region of China

Fertile topsoil was added onto the surface of barren slope land in Three Gorges Reservoir region of China in an anthropogenic process known as the foreign soil reconstruction project. The main goal of this paper was to reveal the influence of anthropogenic activities on pedogenic processes and soil classifications. Chemical weathering indices and comparative analysis were applied to discuss changes in geochemical compositions and weathering features of purplish soils (Cambisols) before and after the project. Results showed that: (l) The foreign soil reconstruction project slightly altered the major element composition of topsoil and improved the soil structure. Although the distributions of major elements in the original topsoil, original subsoil, foreign topsoil and newly constructed topsoil were all similar to that in upper continental crust, newly constructed topsoil was the most similar soil. (2) The chemical index of alteration was more sensitive than the weathering index of Parker at indicating chemical weathering status of purplish soil. The chemical weathering status of newly constructed topsoil was higher than that of the original topsoil and lower than that of foreign topsoil. (3) Anthropogenic activities may provide a promising new thought for the anthropogenic soil classification system. The scope and subgroups of Anthrosols should be extended and strengthened. Or there may be a need to combine Anthrosols and Technosols orders to create a new soil order. The results may be used for optimizing soil mellowing engineering activities and enriching the soil classification system.

Notice of Retraction Water trading and its impact in Australia

Water has become the most important restricting factors for social and economic development. As one of the efficient tool for water allocation, water trading plays an essential role in places with intense water supply situations like Australia. This paper first gave a short introduction of water trading in Australia;, then the construction and operation of water trading system was described; finally the impacts of water trading on environmental, social and economic aspects were evaluated.

Design and Evaluation of a Multi-agent System for Web Intelligent Tutoring

With the rapid growth of information technology, the e-learning has become a major trend in the computer assisted teaching and learning field. Previously, many researchers put efforts into e-learning system with emphasizing the application of multimedia elements; they often neglected the importance of three crucial elements-personalization, contextual understanding and platform-independent standardized learning materials, which are rather important for students of diverse disciplines background and learning abilities. To build a system for better implementing Web-based learning, the paper proposes using agents to design an intelligent tutoring system implemented for Web tutoring by combining learning theory. Evaluation results indicate that applying our system can efficiently help students increase learning efficiency while receiving traditional classroom instruction.

Integrated Indicators-based Gradation of Cultivated Land Quality in Mountainous Region of Southwestern China

The gradation of cultivated land is to assess the suitability of cultivated land for agricultural production in terms of natural and economic properties of land. It can be used to evaluate sustainability of land use and soil management practices. Formal and informal surveys, Delphi and comprehensive index method are adopted to identify appropriate integrated indicators, and measure the gradation of cultivated land quality. The determination of integrated indicators presents three basic features of cultivated land quality: stable plant productivity, social acceptability and maintenance of environmental quality. Pronounced concentration-dissipation law of total function score value occurs in paddy field units, with three ranges, i.e., 79∼68.5, 68.5∼59 and 59∼51. Total function score value in dryland units mainly ranges from 40 to 70, but slight concentration-dissipation law of each unit is still observed, with four ranges, i.e., 79∼68, 68∼51, 51∼37 and 37∼15. Paddy field quality is divided into three gradations, and the scales are 18 220.9 ha, 5410.6 ha and 2890.9 ha. Dryland quality is classified into four gradations, and the scales are 1548.6 ha, 8153.8 ha, 3316.3 ha and 685.2 ha. The total function score value of every gradation unit is conformed to the results of farmers’ assessment. Research results meet with the needs of accurate degree of the gradation of cultivated land quality. Integrated indicators-based gradation of cultivated land assessment accords with the characteristics of land resources and human preference in the mountains of southwestern China. This study will be useful to promote the monitoring of cultivated land quality, and to supply fine ground and knowledge for establishing appropriate cultivated land management practices in Southwestern China.