ALBERT

Description: This study proposes a site location assessment model for citrus cropland using multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) and the combination of a set of factors for suitability mapping and delineating the suitable areas for citrus production in Ramsar, Iran. It defines an incorporated method for the suitability mapping of the most appropriate sites for citrus cultivars with an emphasis on the multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) process. The combination of geographic information system (GIS) and a modified version of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based on the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) technique is also emphasized. The OWA is based on two principles, namely: the weights of relative criterion significance and the order weights. Therefore, the participatory technique was employed to outline the set of standards and the important criterion. The results derived from the GIS–OWA technique indicate that the cultivation of citrus is feasible only in limited areas, which make up 6.7% of the total area near the Caspian Sea. This investigation has shown that the GIS–OWA model can be integrated into MCDA to select the optimal site for citrus production. The present research highlights how multi-criteria in GIS can play a considerable role in decision making for evaluating the suitability of selected sites for citrus production.

Description: This paper proposes a traffic-flow evolutionary model under a dual updating mechanism that describes the day-to-day (DTD) dynamics of traffic flow and travel cost. To illustrate the concept, a simple two-route network is considered. Based on the nonlinear dynamic theory, the equilibrium stability condition of the system is derived and the condition for the division between the bifurcation and chaotic states of the system is determined. The characteristics of the DTD dynamic evolution of network traffic flow are investigated using numerical experiments. The results show that the system is absolutely stable when the sensitivity of travelers toward the route cost parameter (θ) is equal to or less than 0.923. The bifurcation appears in the system when θ is larger than 0.923. For values of θ equal to or larger than 4.402, the chaos appears in the evolution of the system. The results also show that with the appearance of chaos, the boundary and interior crises begin to appear in the system when θ is larger than 6.773 and 10.403, respectively. The evolution of network traffic flow is always stable when the proportion of travelers who do not change the route is 84% or greater.

Description: The study aims to clarify the relationship between soil organic carbon (SOC) and human activity under arid conditions, in the east area of the Nile Delta, Egypt. SOC is one of the critical factors in food production and plays an important role in the climate change because it affects the physio-chemical soil characteristics, plant growth, and contributes to sustainable development on global levels. For the purpose of our investigations, 120 soil samples (0–30 cm) were collected throughout different land uses and soil types of the study area. Multiple linear regressions (MLR) were used to investigate the spatiotemporal relationship of SOC, soil characteristics, and environmental factors. Remote sensing data acquired from Landsat 5 TM in July 1995 and operational land imager (OLI) in July 2018 were used to model SOC pool. The results revealed significant variations of soil organic carbon pool (SOCP) among different soil textures and land-uses. Soil with high clay content revealed an increase in the percentage of soil organic carbon, and had mean SOCP of 6.08 ± 1.91 Mg C ha−1, followed by clay loams and loamy soils. The higher values of SOCP were observed in the northern regions of the study area. The phenomenon is associated with the expansion of the human activity of initiating fish ponds that reflected higher values of SOC that were related to the organic additions used as nutrients for fish. Nevertheless, the SOC values decreased in southeast of the study area with the decrease of soil moisture contents and the increase in the heavy texture profiles. As a whole, our findings pointed out that the human factor has had a significant impact on the variation of soil organic carbon values in the Eastern Nile Delta from 1995 to 2018. As land use changes from agricultural activity to fish ponds, the SOCP significantly increased. The agriculture land-use revealed higher SOCP with 60.77 Mg C ha−1 in clay soils followed by fish ponds with 53.43 Mg C ha−1. The results also showed a decrease in SOCP values due to an increasing in land surface temperature (LST) thus highlighting that influence of temperature and ambient soil conditions linked to land-use changes have a marked impact on surface SOCP and C sequestration.

Description: This paper proposes a traffic-flow evolutionary model under a dual updating mechanism that describes the day-to-day (DTD) dynamics of traffic flow and travel cost. To illustrate the concept, a simple two-route network is considered. Based on the nonlinear dynamic theory, the equilibrium stability condition of the system is derived and the condition for the division between the bifurcation and chaotic states of the system is determined. The characteristics of the DTD dynamic evolution of network traffic flow are investigated using numerical experiments. The results show that the system is absolutely stable when the sensitivity of travelers toward the route cost parameter (θ) is equal to or less than 0.923. The bifurcation appears in the system when θ is larger than 0.923. For values of θ equal to or larger than 4.402, the chaos appears in the evolution of the system. The results also show that with the appearance of chaos, the boundary and interior crises begin to appear in the system when θ is larger than 6.773 and 10.403, respectively. The evolution of network traffic flow is always stable when the proportion of travelers who do not change the route is 84% or greater.

Description: This study proposes a site location assessment model for citrus cropland using multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) and the combination of a set of factors for suitability mapping and delineating the suitable areas for citrus production in Ramsar, Iran. It defines an incorporated method for the suitability mapping of the most appropriate sites for citrus cultivars with an emphasis on the multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) process. The combination of geographic information system (GIS) and a modified version of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) based on the ordered weighted averaging (OWA) technique is also emphasized. The OWA is based on two principles, namely: the weights of relative criterion significance and the order weights. Therefore, the participatory technique was employed to outline the set of standards and the important criterion. The results derived from the GIS–OWA technique indicate that the cultivation of citrus is feasible only in limited areas, which make up 6.7% of the total area near the Caspian Sea. This investigation has shown that the GIS–OWA model can be integrated into MCDA to select the optimal site for citrus production. The present research highlights how multi-criteria in GIS can play a considerable role in decision making for evaluating the suitability of selected sites for citrus production.