Using GIS and Multi-criteria Decision Analysis for Conflict Resolution in Land Use Planning

AbstractBased on the principles of sustainable development, land use planning often requires the compromise between economic development and environmental conservation while advocating social justice. Given that ideas, values, and attitudes vary among the stakeholders involved, land use planning inevitably incurs a variety of conflicts. The conflicts in land use planning can be described from the perspective of the conflicts among land use types and the conflicts among stakeholders. Accordingly, land use planning can be conceived as the process of dealing with conflicts among different land use types through resolving the conflicts among stakeholders. This study centers around two important issues in land use planning: land use allocation and specific land use proposal deliberation. A Conflict Resolution Framework was proposed based on GIS and Multi-criteria Decision Analysis techniques. A Consensus Building Model was established to address the conflicts among different stakeholders with competing interests in the process of land use allocation. A Spatial Conflict Resolution Strategy was developed to help stakeholders and planners formulate specific land use proposals through an iterative modification process. The both models were tested and evaluated in the context of Lantau, Island Hong Kong. Moreover, the challenges of this research and future work are also covered in this paper

Technical note: Characterization of key volatile odorants in rabbit meat using gas chromatography mass spectrometry with simultaneous distillation extraction

[EN] This study explored the key volatile compounds in both male and female rabbit meat. Simultaneous distillation extraction with dichloromethane was adopted to extract the volatile compounds in Hyla rabbit meat. A total of 35 volatile compounds were identified by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry and quantified with 2, 4, 6-thimethylpyridine as internal standard. Seventeen volatile aldehydes, 4 alcohols, 2 ketones, 2 acids, 1 heterocyclic compound, 2 alkanes and 7 esters were detected. Hexanal, heptanal, octanal, nonanal, (E, E)-2, 4-decadienal, 1-octen-3-ol and (Z)-2-decenal were the key odorant compounds, with high relative odour activity value. Furthermore, the concentration of volatile compounds in male rabbit meat was higher than that in female rabbit meat.This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31671787), the Chinese Rabbit Industry System of Education Ministry (100030-40305411) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (XDJK2014D042).Xie, Y.; He, Z.; Zhang, E.; Li, H. (2016). Technical note: Characterization of key volatile odorants in rabbit meat using gas chromatography mass spectrometry with simultaneous distillation extraction. World Rabbit Science. 24(4):313-320. https://doi.org/10.4995/wrs.2016.4464SWORD31332024

Phylogeography of a widespread terrestrial vertebrate in a barely-studied Palearctic region: green toads (Bufo viridis subgroup) indicate glacial refugia in Eastern Central Asia.

The phylogeography of western Palearctic species is relatively well studied, but data on Eastern Central Asia are scarce. We present one of the first data sets from a widespread terrestrial vertebrate (Bufo pewzowi) inhabiting Eastern Central Asian mountains and deserts to gain knowledge on its phylogeography in this region. We applied combined phylogenetic and demographic analyses to understand the evolutionary history using mitochondrial DNA D-loop variation of toads from 37 locations. Genetic structure of Bufo pewzowi is strongly affected by landscape: we found three haplotype groups in eastern Kazakhstan, Dzungaria and Tarim Basin, divided by the Tian Shan and Dzungarian Alatau ranges. A vicariant hypothesis may explain divergence among groups. The divergence time of the three major clades was estimated about 0.9 million years ago (confidence interval 0.5-1.4), and is discussed with respect to Quaternary uplifting and glaciation in the Tian Shan. Demographic analyses provided evidence for both historical bottlenecks and population expansions and suggested Pleistocene signatures. Glacial refugia were inferred in the Tarim Basin (around the Turpan depression), in southern Dzungaria (Urumqui region), at the northern foot of the Tian Shan (Gongnaisi) and perhaps at the Altai range (Terekti). Regional Post-Last Glacial Maximum dispersal patterns are proposed. A taxonomic hypothesis is presented. This study provides a detailed history of how a widespread terrestrial vertebrate responded to geological change and Quaternary glacial events in Eastern Central Asia and may have significance for future phylogeographic research in this understudied region

Effect of B2O3 and P2O5 on fluorosilicic mica glass-ceramic sintering process

To study the effect of B2O3 and P2O5 on fluorosilicic mica glass-ceramic sintering process, six sets of K2O-MgO-SiO2-F glasses were prepared by using B2O3 and P2O5 as sintering aid, respectively. Green bodies of the glass powder were formed by gel casting and sintered at 800, 850, 900, 950, 1000oC for 6 hours, resectively. The sintering and crystallization behavior were studied by thermal shrinkage , X-ray diffraction and SEM. The results showed that the shrinkage rate of the glass with 2wt% B2O3 and P2O5 was highest, while the rate of the glass with 5wt% P2O5 was lowest. An additional crystal other than fluorosilicic mica was precipitated in the glass ceramics generated by sintering of glass powder. The present results confirmed that the glass powder of pure K2O-MgO-SiO2-Fsystem had poor sinterability, while glass powder with minor addition of P2O5 and/or B2O3 showed good sinterability. This result was also verified by SEM

Vector Meson Propagator and Baryon Current Conservation

If baryons couple only with $\omega$-mesons, one found the baryon spectral function may be negative. We show this unacceptable result is caused by the $k_\mu k_\nu$-terms in the $\omega$-meson propagator. Their contribution may not vanish in approximate calculations which violate the baryon current conserves. A rule is suggested, by which the calculated baryon spectral function is well behaved.Comment: 9 pages (LaTeX file), 3 figures (PostScript file

Analytic expressions for alpha particle preformation in heavy nuclei

The experimental alpha decay energies and half-lives are investigated systematically to extract the alpha particle preformation in heavy nuclei. Formulas for the preformation factors are proposed. They can be used to guide the microscopic studies on preformation factors and perform accurate calculations of the alpha decay half-lives. There is little evidence for the existence of an island of long stability of superheavy nuclei (SHN)

Coupled Dyson-Schwinger Equations and Effects of Self-Consistency

Using the $\sigma -\omega$ model as an effective tool, the effects of self-consistency are studied in some detail. A coupled set of Dyson-Schwinger equations for the renormalized baryon and meson propagators in the $\sigma -\omega$ model is solved self-consistently according to the dressed Hartree-Fock scheme, where the hadron propagators in both the baryon and meson self-energies are required to also satisfy this coupled set of equations. It is found that the self-consistency affects the baryon spectral function noticeably, if only the interaction with $\sigma$ mesons is considered. However, there is a cancellation between the effects due to the $\sigma$ and $\omega$ mesons and the additional contribution of $\omega$ mesons makes the above effect insignificant. In both the $\sigma$ and $\sigma -\omega$ cases the effects of self-consistency on meson spectral function are perceptible, but they can nevertheless be taken account of without a self-consistent calculation. Our study indicates that to include the meson propagators in the self-consistency requirement is unnecessary and one can stop at an early step of an iteration procedure to obtain a good approximation to the fully self-consistent results of all the hadron propagators in the model, if an appropriate initial input is chosen. Vertex corrections and their effects on ghost poles are also studied.Comment: 20 pages (include 5 tables), 17 figures (PostScript file

Plasmid encoding matrix protein of vesicular stomatitis viruses as an antitumor agent inhibiting rat glioma growth in situ

Aim: Oncolytic effect of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) has been proved previously. Aim of the study is to investigate glioma inhibition effect of Matrix (M) protein of VSV in situ. Materials and Methods: A recombinant plasmid encoding VSV M protein (PM) was genetically engineered, and then transfected into cultured C6 gliomas cells in vitro. C6 transfected with Liposome-encapsulated PM (LEPM) was implanted intracranially for tumorigenicity study. In treatment experiment, rats were sequentially established intracranial gliomas with wild-typed C6 cells, and accepted LEPM injection intravenously. Possible mechanism of M protein was studied by using Hoechst staining, PI-stained flow cytometric analysis, TUNEL staining and CD31 staining. Results: M protein can induce generous gliomas lysis in vitro. None of the rats implanted with LEPM-treated cells developed any significant tumors, whereas all rats in control group developed tumors. In treatment experiment, smaller tumor volume and prolonged survival time was found in the LEPM-treated group. Histological studies revealed that possible mechanism were apoptosis and anti-angiogenesis. Conclusion: VSV-M protein can inhibit gliomas growth in vitro and in situ, which indicates such a potential novel biotherapeutic strategy for glioma treatment.Цель: изучить способность матриксного протеина (М протеина) вируса везикулярного стоматита (ВВС) угнетать рост глиомы in situ. Материалы и методы: сконструирована рекомбинантная плазмида, кодирующая М протеин ВВС, которая затем была трансфецирована в культивированные клетки глиомы С6 in. Клетки глиомы С6, трансфецированные инкапсулированным в липосомы М протеином (ЛИМП), имплантировали интракраниально для изучения туморогенности. В эксперименте крысам с трансплантированной интракраниально глиомой С6 (исходный штамм) внутривенно вводили ЛИМП. Апоптотическое действие М протеина на опухолевые клетки изучали с применением флуоресценцентной микроскопии (окрашивание по Хехсту), проточной цитометрии (окрашивание пропидиумом йодидом), TUNEL васкуляризацию опухоли оценивали гистологически и васкуляризацию опухоли оценивали гистологически и иммуногистохимически с применением анти-CD31 моноклональных антител. 31 моноклональных антител. 31 моноклональных антител. Результаты: М протеин может индуцировать лизис клеток глиомы in. Ни у одного животного с трансплантированными клетками глиомы, обработанными ЛИМП, не возникали опухоли значительного размера, тогда как у всех крыс из контрольной группы опухоли развивались. В группе животных, которым вводили ЛИМП, опухоли были меньшего объема и отмечали увеличение продолжительности жизни животных. Показано, что М протеин проявляет антиангиогенные свойства и обладает способностью индуцировать апоптоз. Выводы: М протеин ВВС ингибирует рост глиомы in и in. На этой основе может быть разработана потенциально новая биотерапевтическая стратегия для лечения пациентов с глиомами