Agriculture's environmental footprint is expanding and one of its most critical impacts in China is the over-exploitation of surface water and groundwater from aquifers. This study investigated an approach for estimating the physical dimensions of the environmental externalities from a maize...

Excessive irrigation and nitrogen applications result in substantial nitrate leaching into groundwater in intensively cropped oases in desert areas of Alxa, Inner Mongolia. An integrated modelling approach was developed and applied to compare policy incentives to reduce nitrate leaching. The...

Heavy rainfall and irrigations during the summer months in the North China Plain may cause losses of nitrogen because of nitrate leaching. The objectives of this study were to characterize the leaching of accumulated N in soil profiles, and to determine the usefulness of Br- as a tracer of...

The over-exploited groundwater resources on the North China Plain have caused ecological problems, including lowering of the groundwater table, enlarging the depression zone and land subsidence. The contingent valuation method, a technique that reveals peoples’ preferences, is applied to...

The questions of profit maximization -- Why profit maximization is moral -- The objective value of goods and services -- The virtues of businessmen -- Clarifying confusions about profit maximization -- Incomplete defenses of profit maximization -- The inconvenient truth about corporate social...

A parametric hurricane wind model has been developed based on the asymmetric Holland-type vortex model. The model creates a two-dimensional surface wind field based on the National Hurricane Center forecast (or observed) hurricane wind and track data. Three improvements have been made to retain...

Water scarcity and nitrate contamination in groundwater are serious problems in desert oases in Northwest China. Field and 15N microplot experiments with traditional and improved water and nitrogen management were conducted in a desert oasis in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Water movement,...

Understanding how a technology system impacted on human development is a challenge and of important implications for societal transition towards sustainability. This study aims to understand the impacts of the scale and structure of a technology system on human development, using the...