This paper presents a method to optimise the calibration of parameters and land use transition rules of a cellular automata (CA) urban growth model using a self-adaptive genetic algorithm (SAGA). Optimal calibration is achieved through an algorithm that minimises the difference between the...

Pan-Turkism is the nationalism political trend of thought in recent years, meanwhile, it also a kind of extreme nationalism movement related close with Turkey. In the long period of historical evolution, Pan-Turkism, Pan-Islamism, ultranationalism, and East-Turkistan interweave together with...

The distribution of Chinese family names is investigated based on data of the fifth national census of China in 2000, including 7329 Chinese family names and 1.28 billion people. The cumulative distribution function (CDF) of family name in multiple scales is presented and the correlation between...

Hybrid energy systems (HES) facilitate the efficient utilization of renewable resources and sustainable energy, and they are expected to be more prevalent in the future. With ground source heat pump (GSHP) as the main body and core technology, the hybrid ground source heat pump (HGSHP) system is...

The developmental situation of the farming system in Shandong Province is introduced. At present, Shandong Province is at the semi-intensive, semi-commercial and semi-sufficiency level of farming system. Eastern coast and central Shandong agricultural zones are moving in the direction of modern...

This paper reviews Latvia’s efforts to manage the increase in debt distress resulting from the unwinding of the 2000-07 credit boom and spillovers from the global financial crisis. The authorities have designed a strategy that strengthens incentives for marked-based debt resolution by...

A lack of adequate land use planning can contribute to severe soil erosion and increased sediment yield, creating major environmental problems and threatening the sustainable development of economies and societies. The objectives of this study were to model the effects of land use change on...

In this paper, a variable gain design approach for the high-gain disturbance observer, called Proportional-Integral-Observer (PI-Observer), is proposed to solve the problem of choosing suitable observer gains. The high-gain PI-Observer is successfully applied to estimate unknown inputs of...

Lignocellulosic biomass, microalgae and sewage sludge have distinct compositions and structures to each other. To understand the effect of feedstock differences on biomass liquefaction process, the liquefaction characteristics of rice straw (lignocellulosic biomass), Spirulina (microalgae) and...

The private non-financial sector in Europe is facing increased challenges in meeting its debt servicing obligation. In response, governments are revisiting legal tools and—in some cases—institutional arrangements to deal with over-indebtedness. For households, where the problem in...