Sloping land use affects the complexity of soil moisture and temperature changes in the loess hilly region of China

Various land use types have been implemented by the government in the loess hilly region of China to facilitate sustainable land use. Understanding the variability in soil moisture and temperature under various sloping land use types can aid the ecological restoration and sustainable utilization of sloping land resources. The objective of this study was to use approximate entropy (ApEn) to reveal the variations in soil moisture and temperature under different land use types, because ApEn only requires a short data series to obtain robust estimates, with a strong anti-interference ability. An experiment was conducted with four typical land use scenarios (i.e., soybean sloping field, maize terraced field, jujube orchard, and grassland) over two consecutive plant growing seasons (2014 and 2015), and the time series of soil moisture and temperature within different soil depth layers of each land use type were measured in both seasons. The results showed that the changing amplitude, degree of variation, and active layer of soil moisture in the 0–160 cm soil depth layer, as well as the changing amplitude and degree of variation of soil temperature in the 0–100 cm soil layer increased in the jujube orchard over the two growing seasons. The changing amplitude, degree of variation, and active layer of soil moisture all decreased in the maize terraced field, as did the changing amplitude and degree of variation of soil temperature. The ApEn of the soil moisture series was the lowest in the 0–160 cm soil layer in the maize terraced field, and the ApEn of the soil temperature series was the highest in the 0–100 cm layer in the jujube orchard in the two growing seasons. Finally, the jujube orchard soil moisture and temperature change process were more variable, whereas the changes in the maize terraced field were more stable, with a stable soil moisture and temperature. This work highlights the usefulness of ApEn for revealing soil moisture and temperature changes and to guide the management and development of sloping fields.

Excavated farmland with plastic mulching as a strategy in saving water and controlling soil salinization in dryland agricultural areas

Water shortage and soil salinization in gully farmland comprising sediment deposited farmland (SF) and excavated farmland (EF) have become a widespread concern in the loess hilly region. A two-year field experiment was conducted to assess the soil water content (SWC) and salt content (SSC) and their effect on the spring maize yield and water use efficiency in SF and EF. Eight treatments comprising flat cropping without mulching (1), ridge planting without mulching (2), ridge planting with plastic mulching (3), and ridge planting with straw mulching (4) were tested in the SF and EF plots, respectively. The results showed that the yield was higher in SF than EF, whereas the water use efficiency was significantly higher in EF because the bottom water flux was 117.4% higher in SF than EF (P < 0.01). A significant positive correlation was found between the average SWC and yield (P < 0.01), thereby indicating that the yield was severely limited by the SWC. Thus, the higher water use efficiency in EF has important implications for alleviating water scarcity during agricultural production in this region. The risk of soil salinization was decreased greatly by treatment 3 where the SSC was decreased in EF and SF were 0.09 g kg–1 and 0.08 g kg–1, respectively. In addition, treatment 3 had the most significant impacts on the yield and water use efficiency. Our study provided appropriate land type and effective tillage measure for the sustainable development in dryland agricultural areas.

Spatial Patterns and Driving Factors of Rural Population Loss under Urban–Rural Integration Development: A Micro-Scale Study on the Village Level in a Hilly Region

Under the background of urban–rural integration, balanced development between urban and rural areas has been increasingly advocated. Rural population loss (RPL) is not only due to the laws of social and economic development but also the comprehensive action of natural, social, and economic factors. Taking 774 administrative villages in Laiyang County, which is in a hilly region, as our research area, we comprehensively used spatial analysis and geographic detectors to explore the spatial characteristics and driving factors of RPL, which was significantly correlated with rural planning. The research demonstrated that: (1) The rural population in Laiyang County generally had a low level of RPL (1.9%), but each village varied greatly. The village with the greatest RPL had a rate of 56%. The RPL between urban and rural areas, towns and streets, and villages and villages were unbalanced, and rural population flow mainly occurred between urban and rural areas. (2) RPL in Laiyang County was generally low in the central urban area and high in the northern and southern areas. Population loss presents agglomeration globally and high–low agglomeration locally. (3) The distance from village to county, elevation, cultivated land quantity, collective economic income, village area, and ecological service value were the key factors influencing RPL in Laiyang County. When comparing the dominant factors, the interaction between collective income and elevation was the strongest. Exploring the spatial characteristics and influencing factors of RPL provided us with ideas for the classified promotion of rural revitalization, preparation of rural development planning, and promotion of the integrated development of urban and rural areas.

Review on Seismic Analysis of Multistoried Building in Hilly Region

Due to sloping land and high seismically active zones, designing and construction of multistory buildings in hilly regions is always a challenge for structural engineers. This review paper focuses to establish a review study on the Possible Types of building frame configuration in the hilly region and he behavior of Such building frames under seismic loading conditions, and (3) The recent research and developments to make such frames less vulnerable to earthquakes. This paper concludes that the dynamics characteristics of such buildings are significantly different in both horizontal and vertical directions, resulting in the center of mass and center of stiffness having eccentricity at point of action and not vertically aligned for different floors. When such frames are subjected to lateral loads, due to eccentricity it generates torsion in the frame. Most of the studies agree that the buildings resting on slanting ground have higher displacement and base shear compared to buildings resting on plain ground and the shorter column attracts more forces and undergoes damage when subjected to earthquake. Keywords: Building frame configuration, Seismic behavior, Dynamic characteristics, Response spectrum analysis, time history analysis.

Status, Distribution, and Threats of Striped Hyena (Hyaena hyaena Linnaeus, 1758) in Nepal: A Review

Striped hyena (Hyaena hyaena) is a member of the Hyaenidae family distributed globally from Africa to Central Tanzania, the Arabian Peninsula, Turkey, Central Asia, and the Indian subcontinent including Nepal. Only a few documented studies have been carried out at a national as well as international level regarding their habit, habitat, threats, and conservation measures. Various open access works of literature including articles, reports, and books published from 1941 to 2021 were assessed through Google scholar and Research gate for this study. We searched, refined, and selected 42 pieces of literature for the study purpose. We found that striped hyenas were recorded from five national parks of lowland Terai regions and they were recorded in six districts lying outside the protected area in Central and Western Terai as well as the hilly region of Nepal. Habitat degradation, decreased prey population, retaliatory killing by poisoning, poaching and road kills are found to be the major threats to these endangered scavengers that require immediate conservation initiatives We believe that this manuscript can fulfill the knowledge gap on this species and suggests conservation initiatives, which could be a landmark for conducting further research and conservation of striped hyenas.

Gardens of Vranyczany’s Manor Houses in Hrvatsko Zagorje in the Age of Historicism

The Vranyczany-Dobrinović family (short: Vranyczany) is an aristocratic family that rose to power in Croatia in the second half of the 19th century. Members of the family possessed five manor houses surrounded by gardens with historicist features from the late 19th and early 20th century. All five are located in the hilly region of Hrvatsko Zagorje, which boasts the highest density of castles and manor houses in Croatia, built in continuity from the 17th until the beginning of the 20th century. The aim is to determine the features of the gardens of the explored castles, on the basis of photographs from the beginning of the 20th century as well as cartographic sources. A wealth of photographic documents from the beginning of the 20th century shows carefully landscaped and kept gardens and parks, with a full life flourishing in them. Vranyczany’s manor houses’ gardens are based on the Biedermeier and romantic tradition of garden culture. Towards the end of the 19th century, many gardeners trained in Vienna, Prague and other Central European cities, lived in Zagreb and the surrounding area. They passed down ideas related to the historicist garden culture and competed in artistic and horticultural gardening.

Practicability Assessment of Smart Village Project: A Case of Sandakpur Rural Municipality, Ilam Nepal

Purpose: Villages are the backbone of the nation and a smart village means such a village that can provide various services needed in day-to-day life to the villagers effectively and efficiently. The overall objective of this research is to assess the practicability of the smart village in the hilly region of Nepal with the case of a Sandakpur Rural Municipality (SRM). Design/Methodology/Approach: The study covered the area within Maipokhari and Sulubung village of Sandakpur Rural Municipality. Ontology and Epistemology philosophy of research was used as positivism. This research was intended to propose the model of smart village examined through a scheduled questionnaire in village sample of SRM, literature reviews related to smart village, and smart rural. This research proposed the smart village with the characteristics as Smart Utilization of Resources, Smart Living, Smart Governance, Smart Village Services, Smart Technology, Smart Tourism, and Gender Equity and Women Equity which can comply with some of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Five points Likert scale was used on ranking smart village feature and Chi-Square test is done to determine the significance of respondent’s opinions for the variables from the collected data. After the analysis of data with the Five-Point Likert Scale, ratings on smart features were given as Fair (2.82), Fair (3.02), Fair (2.93), Fair (3.17), Fair (3.2), Good (2.42), and Poor (3.46) respectively. Findings/Result: The chi-square test showed that the majority of respondents supported the perspective toward Smart Village features as fair. Smart villages can only be possible with long-term planning, strategy and investment. With the adoption of features of the smart village, the study area can be converted into a smart village but it may take time to incorporate these features completely The Smart village model is expected to be applied to villages in other regions by adjusting the characteristics of each region as every village has their own characteristics. Originality/Value: It is action research to analyze the practicability of smart village development. It will be a method universal acceptable for assessing the feasibility of smart cities. The new concept will be fruitful for policymakers, Professionals, and nations for systematic development. Paper Type: Ex-Post Facto Research.