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Unlike in developed countries, most public toilets in China do not provide toilet paper onsite and users must bring their toilet paper. Moreover, an open waste bin is placed in each user's cubicle to collect used toilet paper and tissues. Such practices, which are common in East Asia and central America, have induced a dilemma of toilet paper disposal because some municipalities have removed waste bins from public toilets to prevent virus transmission by fecal matter. As a consequence, users were forced to flush down their used toilet paper and tissues. Yet, it is unknown whether standard toilet paper can be flushed easily without causing issues in sewer operations. Here, we surveyed the conditions of toilets in university campus and other public facilities in different regions across China. We also evaluated the disintegration characteristics of toilet paper products both by conducting online surveys and by physical disintegration experiments. We found that only 15% of toilets provided toilet paper, while open waste bins occurred at nearly all sites. Further, our survey indicated that 82% of toilet paper products sold in China did not give any indication on their flushability, whereas 77% of US products did. Disintegration results showed that none of the five popular, best-selling toilet paper products passed the flushability standard. We propose strategies to solve the current toilet paper dilemma in developing communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Japan's construction of fortifications throughout its history has been a subject of scholarly interest. Japan has been building fortifications for generations, from Muzuki and stone fortifications at home to Japanese fortifications on the Korean peninsula. While it is commonly believed that the need for castle building in Japan emerged after the Battle of Baekgang, this paper suggests that Japan's sense of external tensions predates this event. Specifically, this paper examines the construction of defensive fortifications at Itojo and Onojo during the Tang Dynasty and its implications for Japan's relations with East Asia. Through an analysis of historical records and archeological evidence, this paper argues that the construction of Onojo may have begun as early as around AD 650, challenging the prevailing view in academic circles, which holds that Onojo was built after the defeat of Baekgang. By examining the development of Japan's relations with East Asia during this period, this paper sheds light on the geopolitical significance of Japan's construction of defensive fortifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper expands the research on how shared prosperity is achieved in East Asian countries (regions). Based on welfare production regime theory, this paper advances a theoretical framework to link economic growth to income distribution. The main argument is that the match between the skills developed by social protection systems and the needs of product market strategies is key to economic progress. The skills and the social protection systems could also influence income allocation through distribution and redistribution. The net effect of the two channels determines the result of income equality. A longitudinal exploration of Japan, Taiwan and Korea in the export-led growth period (1961–1979) and the knowledge economy period (1980–1996) supports the argument. A policy implication of the argument is that China could strategically adjust its welfare production regime to achieve shared prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a thorough evaluation of health outcomes linked to water-related challenges in Islamic nations across East Asia and Central Asia from 2020 to 2030. It has been examined carefully that the trajectory of deaths and disability-adjusted life years associated with unsafe water sources, lack of sanitation, and absence of handwashing facilities is showing a potential rise in negative health impacts due to water pollution. The direct health influences of water-related problems are thoughtful. The increase in deaths and DALYs due to poor water quality and sanitation leads to a higher occurrence of waterborne diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, and dysentery. These conditions not only cause instant health disasters but also subsidize to long-term health issues which include chronic gastrointestinal disorders and malnutrition that is particularly among susceptible populations like children and the elderly. Employing various predictive models including autoregressive integrated moving average, exponential smoothing, support vector machines, and neural networks. The study evaluates their predictive capabilities by using mean absolute percentage error. Support vector machines is found to be the most accurate in forecasting deaths and disability-adjusted life years which is outperforming autoregressive integrated moving average, exponential smoothing, and neural networks. This research aims to inform stakeholders by providing insights into effective strategies for improving water resource management and public health interventions in the targeted regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a description of the Olenekian–Anisian sections in South Primorye, Far East Russia, containing reptile remains. The paper describes important ammonoid Flexoptychites cf. rifunus (Yabe et Shimizu), as well as Flexoptychites cf. compressus (Yabe et Shimizu), which are stratigraphically significant. New Anisian reptile remains were discovered from four stratigraphic levels in South Primorye: (1) the upper part of the middle Anisian Acrochordiceraskiparisovae Zone (Ichthyopterigia indet. A), (2) the middle part of the upper Anisian Flexoptychites cf. rifunus Beds (Reptilia indet. cf. Ichthyopterygia A), (3) the upper part of the upper Anisian Flexoptychites cf. rifunus Beds (Ichthyoterygia indet. B), and (4) the uppermost part of the upper Anisian Flexoptychites cf. rifunus Beds (Reptilia indet. cf. Ichthyopterygia B). The Anisian stage is marked by an abundance of medium- to large-sized ichthyopterygians and a comparatively limited number of gigantic forms, particularly in the eastern Panthalassic and western Tethyan provinces. Our recent discovery has unveiled the presence of medium- to large-sized reptiles, seemingly ichthyopterygians, in the western Panthalassic province during the late Anisian (Flexoptychites cf. rifunus Chrone). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the third mission of universities to promote innovation and economic development, the popularity of science and technology parks (STPs) as a policy tool is increasing. The co-location of innovative companies and universities should be conducive to knowledge exchange between universities and industry, thus leading to more innovation. However, STPs have evolved in different contexts and to serve different purposes. Furthermore, the research on them has evolved mainly through case studies of individual parks and it is scattered across different disciplinary conversations. Building on 1,711 articles published from 1985 onwards, this study presents a systematic literature review of research on STPs and their relationships with universities. We find three different phases in the evolution of this literature: a formation phase (before 2000), where the focus was on the creation of STPs; a geographical expansion phase (2000–2010) reflecting the geographical expansion of STPs to East Asia and other emerging economies, with heavy focus on high-technology firms mainly in ICT; and a topical expansion phase (2011 onwards) when the literature expands to cover a diversity of new topics, including open innovation and sustainability, reflecting broader changes in the understanding of innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The treatment landscape for gastric cancer (GC) is constantly evolving with therapies affecting all aspects of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) which need careful monitoring. While there are HRQoL measures designed specifically to capture issues relevant to patients with GC, these might be outdated and only relevant to patients in westernised cultures. This review identifies the patient-reported measures used to assess HRQoL of patients with GC and compares the HRQoL measures used across cultures including East Asia, where GC is more prevalent. We conducted a systematic review of publications between January 2001 and January 2021. A total of 267 papers were identified; the majority (66%) of studies involved patients from East Asian countries. Out of the 24 HRQoL questionnaires captured, the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Core Cancer measure (QLQ-C30) was the most widely used (60% of all studies and 62% of those involving patients from East Asian countries), followed by its gastric cancer-specific module (QLQ-STO22, 34% of all studies and 41% from East Asia). Eight questionnaires were developed within East Asian countries and, of the 20 studies including bespoke questions, 16 were from East Asia. There were six qualitative studies. HRQoL issues captured include diarrhoea, constipation, reflux, abdominal pain and abdominal fulness or bloating, difficulty swallowing, restricted eating, and weight loss. Psychosocial issues related to these problems were also assessed. Issues relating to the compatibility of some of the westernised measures within East Asian cultures were highlighted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bilingualism and multilingualism are common in almost all communities worldwide today. Research studies on the psycholinguistics of bilingualism and multilingualism in East Asia region has developed tremendously in the past 20 years. Along with the new methodologies, innovative approaches, and the development of those state-of-the-art technologies (Altarriba and Heredia (eds) in An introduction to bilingualism: principles and processes, Routledge, 2018), a lot of new research findings on this line of research have been reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue, entitled "Paleolimnology and Paleoecology in a Rapidly Changing Asia," was initiated during the third China Workshop on Lake Paleoecology that was held in Kunming, China, in December, 2019. Here, we summarize some of the key findings from the 10 papers that are included in this issue. The papers present sediment surveys of lakes from different parts of East Asia, and studies that spanned a variety of timescales, through multi-proxy analyses of modern samples, short cores and Holocene records. Overall, this special issue provides an up-to-date research snapshot in the fields of paleolimnology and paleoecology from rapidly changing regions of Asia, with a focus on the sediment signals of lake development, ecological shifts and anthropogenic forcing in the context of continuing climatic and societal changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an introduction to the special issue of the Annals of Regional Science, titled "Impacts of Air Pollution on Regional Economies in East Asia: Methodology and Empirical Evidence." Pollution impact studies have played a critical role in raising public awareness of socioeconomic damage from pollution and are well within the realm of regional science from an academic perspective. Focusing on East Asia, all five papers contained in this special issue demonstrate how broadly air pollution may affect regional, national, and local economies and how conventional scientific methods can be extended for such impact assessment. The coverage of this special issue on the topic, however, is far from complete, in terms of impact area, method, and spatial focus, and we hope that this small collection can encourage various follow-up and complementary studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unemployment is one of the biggest macroeconomic issues, and economists and policymakers have provided various options to tackle this menace. Financial inclusion and remittances are an important part of any economy and help increase the level of employment. However, despite extensive research, several gaps and issues in understanding the intricate relationship between financial inclusion, workers' remittances, and the unemployment rate in Asian economies persist. This paper seeks to bridge these gaps and address the issues by examining the relationship between financial inclusion, workers' remittances, and the unemployment rate in Asian economies using rigorous econometric methodologies, such as two-stage least squares (2SLS) and generalized method of moments (GMM) methods. The findings of 2SLS and GMM demonstrate that ATM, remittances, internet users, GDP, and financial globalization adversely influence the unemployment levels in Asia, Central Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, West & Middle East Asia, and South Asia in 2SLS and GMM models. However, the influence of inflation on the unemployment level is favourable in some regions. Therefore, it is important to give priority to policies that encourage financial inclusion, such as increasing underprivileged populations' access to banking services, credit, and insurance. Moreover, reducing transaction costs, streamlining money transfers, and promoting formal remittance channels can boost remittances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents results of long-term (for seven years) monitoring and analysis of the formation of rainwater acidity in Primorsky Krai, southern Russian Far East. These results reveal the variability in the concentrations of both of total dissolved solids (TDS) and individual elements. Two groups of years were distinguished in the general dataset during which the character of the atmospheric circulation played an important role in the ionic balance of the rainwater. The study area was shown to be characterized by predominantly acidic precipitation, with the pH of the water rarely exceeding 5.3 even at low concentrations of strong acid anions. In order to identify the factors that form the acidity of rainwater, the paper proposes to rank the initial dataset according to the value of fractional acidity. In the course of this separation, data blocks with a high and low degree of neutralization of the acid potential are distinguished. Within each data block, the relationships between the pH value and the concentrations of the major ions are defined. During the analysis, it was found that the mechanism of acid rain generation is determined by the mutual influence of natural and human-made sources. It was shown that compounds of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) were involved in both acidification and neutralization of rainwater. The results obtained indicate the predominance of natural rain acidification factors. However, during periods of cyclonic activity, even a slight increase in anthropogenic load leads to an increase in the acidity of atmospheric precipitation to critical values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns of equity with respect to the community college model in East Asia persist in educational research. In this study, we described and analysed students' "lived experience" in community colleges in Hong Kong in terms of the "warming up" or "cooling out" of their educational desire. Semistructured interviews with 14 graduates of community colleges in Hong Kong were conducted to determine how their experiences at community colleges affected their educational expectations and the extent to which community colleges help students reconsider their educational disadvantages in a competitive, meritocratic and massified higher education system. The qualitative interview data were inductively thematised into four aspects of college experience in relation to their educational expectations. The data revealed that Hong Kong's community colleges help some students develop their capabilities and change their educational expectations through democratic admissions, liberal pedagogic environments, learner-centred formative assessment and student services for strategic university articulation. Rather than cooling-out students' educational desire (characterised by gradual disengagement, objective denial, alternative achievement), community colleges in Hong Kong provide a second chance for failing and disadvantaged students to pursue a university education, but this warming-up function applies only to students who benefitted from the liberal mode of assessment and discovered and developed their academic capabilities in their college experience. The paper ends with a critical analysis of the problem of such warming up of educational desire and the extent to which community colleges can empower disadvantaged students for a good life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to improve service quality of international freight forwarders and explore practical business solutions to enhance customer service level. Freight forwarder usually acts as an agent to source logistics service for shipper and work closely with carriers such as shipping line and airline companies. This business is characterized by lower capital investment and entry barrier comparing with carriers, and most of their major customers are small or medium size manufactures or traders. Providing high quality service to enhance customer satisfaction is the key mission since competition is extremely severe. This paper empirically investigates the leading freight forwarders to find important customer requirements in East Asian region such as Japan, Korea and Taiwan. Furthermore, the feature of the study by using quality function deployment approach would not only identify key technical measures but also explore meaningful business solutions as direction of quality improvement. The finding reveals key customer requirements are cheaper agency fees, door to door ability and instant response, and the key technical measures are customer relationship management, overall information system, service point and network. We would further discuss the empirical result and conclude managerial meaning for decision makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The onset of the South China Sea summer monsoon (SCSSM) implies the transition of East Asian monsoon circulation from winter to summer, which affects not only the local weather and climate near the South China Sea (SCS) but also other regions through remote teleconnection. In this paper, the interdecadal variability characteristics of the SCSSM onset are analyzed by using various datasets as well as its possible mechanisms. The results show that there is a significant interdecadal delay in the onset date of the SCSSM after 2010. The onset is early around May 13th during 1994–2009. However, the onset is significantly later during 2010–2020 with an average of May 30th. Besides, the air and ocean conditions in SCS in May also took a significant decadal shift around 2010 and manifested itself in atmospheric forcing on the ocean, thus the SCSSM onset is mainly remotely influenced by the tropical Ocean instead of local SST. It is found that the interdecadal variation of the SCSSM onset is mainly caused by the decadal warming/cooling of the tropical central Pacific SST. The SCSSM onset's relationship with the tropical central Pacific SST seems more binding and stable relative to that with the tropical eastern Pacific SST. Their correlation is stable and still reaches the significant test in recent years. Therefore, the warming of the tropical central Pacific SST during 2010–2020 tends to postpone the SCSSM onset by means of related anomalous anticyclones and weakened activity of low-frequency Oscillation and tropical cyclones. On the contrary, its cooling led to early SCSSM onset during 1994–2009. Therefore, more and special attention should be paid to the tropical central Pacific SST anomaly, it will help us to monitor and predict the SCSSM onset effectively, and improve the seasonal prediction of East Asia summer monsoon greatly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geological and hydrogeological conditions of 19 occurrences of thermal waters in the southern Russian Far East are considered in this paper. Radon concentrations were measured in waters, and uranium and thorium concentrations were determined in host rocks and secondary minerals. The results were compared with the chemical composition of waters and gases in the mineral springs. It is established that water-bearing rocks are classified into rocks of low and normal radioactivity. The contents of uranium (<0.56 μg/L) and thorium (<0.1 μg/L) in the waters are low. Measurements of radon concentrations in mineral water springs in Primorye indicate that most of them are weakly radioactive (0.2–1.5 kBq/L), whereas two are moderately radioactive (1.5–7.5 kBq/L). From a medical-balneological point of view, waters in 7 of 19 springs were defined as radon waters, with 4 of them classified as nitrogen thermal water and 3 as CO2-rich mineral waters. The CO2-rich mineral waters of the Shetukha Group exhibit the highest level of radioactivity. Such natural objects reflect the state of the geological environment and can be utilized both for medical purposes and for monitoring a wide range of hydrogeochemical parameters. Based on the analysis of geological conditions and geochemical features of thermal water occurrences, the factors that determine the radioactivity level were identified and general schemes for the radon transport to the surface in different geological and hydrogeological conditions were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An analysis is made of the variability of the acidity index of precipitation and fluxes of wet sulfur and nitrogen deposition on the territory of the Far Eastern Federal District of the Russian Federation (FEFD). The analysis uses data of Roshydromet (Hydrometeorological Service of Russia). It is found that alkaline precipitation is characteristic for most of the FEFD (Yakutia and Transbaikalia). However, an increase in the acidity of precipitation is observed in the southeast of the region during the period under consideration. The average annual pH values of precipitation in Primorskii krai dropped below 5.6 in the first decade of the 21st century to reach 4.6–4.7 in particular years at some of the monitoring stations. It is pointed out that the ever-increasing use of nitrogen fertilizers in East Asian countries leads to an increase in the flux of atmospheric nitrogen deposition, which negatively affects forest vegetation. The annual flux of wet deposition at the EANET Primorskaya international monitoring station between 2006 and 2015 was 6.37 kg/ha per year for S deposition and 6.3 kg/ha per year for N (nitrate + ammonium). Similar values were obtained by averaging data from all stations in Primorskii krai. In 2018, this flux exceeded a critical value of 10 kg/ha per year. The Ternei monitoring station located in the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve observed twice as few nitrogen fluxes as that at the Primorskaya station, but an order of magnitude higher than the values recorded in the western part of FEFD. The determining factor for an increase in the acidity of precipitation and for the high levels of nitrogen depositions in the south-east of FEFD is the transboundary atmospheric transport of pollutants from the centers of anthropogenic emissions in East Asia. The analysis of data made in this paper is in agreement with reports of Roshydromet on the state and pollution of the environment of the Russian Federation and supplements and details them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the author's fieldwork in China and Japan, literature research and the study of specimen materials and video data on weddings of ROK, Japan and China, which are collected by the Japan National Museum of Ethnology (or Minpaku), this paper attempts to explore the cultural symbolic significance that humans bestow on food, and to further reveal the cultural diversity in East Asia and the common structure of human mind by comparing the flow of food and the ways and scopes in which the wedding foods are consumed in East Asia. In East Asia wedding customs, expectations through food for the bride's fertility and her belonging to her husband's patrilineal family are very common. However, the food and eating behaviors that express expectations for the groom are rare, only slightly visible in the dry bonito at the time of engagement in Japan and the 12 bowls of rice that the groom will eat on the day of the Yao wedding in China. Dried bonito signifies virility and victory of men, reflecting the features of Japanese maritime culture and the influence of samurai culture in history. East Asian wedding rituals are diverse in form, but the commonality among them can also be seen, that is, human beings find cultural meanings in different natural environments that correspond to human society, and then internalize the natural attributes through homophonic pun, imitation and other ways. Food is used in weddings to express people's best wishes for the happiness of the newlyweds' families, to have descendants and longevity of their marriage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we studied the response of the lower and upper ionosphere to the passage of Typhoon Faxai 2019 using the regional network of ultralong-wave radio translucence stations in the Far East region of Russia and measurements of electron density perturbations using the SWARM mission satellites. The presented experimental data clearly demonstrate wave perturbations of the amplitude and phase of the ULW signal, as well as the electron density during the active stage of the typhoon. The parameters of wave perturbations correspond to atmospheric internal gravity waves. The maximum spectral density of wave perturbations in the lower ionosphere corresponds to 16–20 min. A mechanism for the impact of internal waves on the ionosphere, which is due to polarization fields arising from the wave motion of plasma in the lower part of the F-region, is proposed. These fields projected along the geomagnetic field lines make it possible to interpret the observed variations in the phase of the ULW signal and variations in the electron density in the upper ionosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In early summer 2020, eastern China was hit by record-breaking Meiyu rainfall. The anomalous western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) played a crucial role in this event. This paper exposes the abnormal features of the WPSH and its related vertical circulations and reveals its dynamical causes in this period, from the perspective of the three-pattern decomposition of global atmospheric circulation (3P-DGAC). Analyzing the anomalous spatial patterns of the three stream functions R, H, and W of the horizontal, meridional, and zonal circulations defined by the 3P-DGAC, we discovered that the WPSH described by R at 850 hPa was intensified and westward from the horizontal circulation. For the vertical circulations, the local meridional circulation along East Asia expressed by H manifested an abnormal downdraft at 20° N, which was beneficial to strengthening the WPSH. The zonal circulation in the tropical Pacific represented by W was anomalously far to the west, which was related to the westward extension of the WPSH. Then, to uncover the causes of the anomalous WPSH from the dynamics, we used the vorticity equation based on the 3P-DGAC and found that the negative relative vorticity advection anomaly over the western Pacific played a key role in this event. Due to the positive sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly and enhanced convection over the Maritime Continent (MC), local vertical circulations at low latitudes were significantly activated. The intense local meridional circulation along East Asia carried the relative vorticity from the MC to the western Pacific and strengthened the WPSH. The ascending branch of the zonal circulation in the tropical Pacific moved westward, which may favor the westward extension of the WPSH. This study represents a promising step in revealing the three-dimensional (3D) structure and internal dynamics of anomalous WPSH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the interannual variation of winter cold surges (CSs) over East Asia (EA) from the perspective of the cold air path and its relationship with autumn Barents Sea ice concentration (BSIC). Flexible particle dispersion model for large-scale atmospheric transport process simulation is used to track the cold air path of 301 CSs in EA in winters from 1979 to 2017, and the probability density distribution of cold air path is calculated by kernel density estimation. The cold air mainly originates from the Ural Mountains, and is continuously cooled by the impact of cold land, then accumulates and strengthens near the Lake Baikal, and finally invades EA under the guidance of the northwest airflow. The autumn BSIC has a significant negative correlation with CSs over EA. The decreased autumn BSIC hinders the spread of zonal warm advection over Eurasia and makes the soil temperature near Lake Baikal drop, and the negative anomaly of soil temperature persists from autumn to winter, strengthening cold source therein, which provides suitable thermal conditions for occurring more CSs over EA. Moreover, the decreased autumn BSIC can also persist to winter, which leads to the positive anomaly of the geopotential height over the polar region. Through the propagation of Rossby wave, the negative geopotential height anomaly over EA is excited and provides the appropriate dynamic conditions for forming more CSs in EA. The simulations from the Community Atmosphere Model version 5.3 (CAM5.3) further confirm the proposed possible mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are many types of atmospheric heat engines in land-air systems. The accurate definition, calculation and interpretation of the efficiency of atmospheric heat engines are key to understanding energy transfer and transformation of land-air systems. The atmosphere over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) in summer can be regarded as a positive heat engine. The study of the heat engine efficiency is helpful to better understand land-air interaction and thermal-dynamic processes on the QTP. It also provides a new perspective to explain the impact of the QTP on the climate of China, East Asia and even the world. In this paper, we used MOD08 and ERA5 reanalysis data to calculate the atmospheric heat engine efficiency, surface heat source and atmospheric heat source on the QTP in summer (May to September) from 2000 to 2020. The average atmospheric heat engine efficiency on the QTP in summer from 2000 to 2020 varies between 1.2% and 1.5%, which is less than 1.6%; the heat engine efficiency in summer is higher than that in June, July and August; the Qaidam Basin is the region with the highest atmospheric heat engine efficiency, followed by the western QTP. The mean surface heat source on the QTP in summer from 2000 to 2020 is 96.0 W m−2, the atmospheric heat source is 90.7 W m−2, and the release of precipitation condensation latent heat is the most important component of the atmospheric heat source on the QTP in summer. There is a strong and significant positive correlation between the atmospheric heat engine efficiency and the surface heat source on the QTP in summer. The precipitation con densation latent heat is the most important component of the atmospheric heat source in summer and can reflect the precipitation process. There is a strong and significant negative correlation between the atmospheric heat engine efficiency and the atmo spheric heat source on the QTP in summer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Study relevance. Russian forests have the largest pool of carbon C among terrestrial ecosystems, and they are subject to periodic fires. Combustion products remain in soils for thousands of years and are now the longest term pool of carbon. However, the size of this pool in soils is still not understood very well in terms of knowledge about the C reserve structure in Russian forests. Study objectives. Our objectives are to determine the content and structure of pools of total and highly stable forms of pyrogenic carbon (PyC), estimate the proportions of various PyC forms within the soil C, and study the relationship between the PyC and the stand characteristics and soil properties of periodically burning larch forests of the Upper Amur region. Study objects and methods. This paper presents data from the first field assessment of the total and highly stable forms of pyrogenic C pools in the soils of regularly burning larch forests of the Upper Amur region along a 500-km transect from north to south. Total and stable forms of pyrogenic carbon have been studied; the reserves and thickness of litter, as well as soil density, moisture, pH, and content of Corg and N, have been determined. Study results. In the upper soil layer, the total concentration of PyC varies from 1 to 2.2%, and the stock reaches 3.3 t/ha. The proportion of total PyC in the soil organic C pool reaches 21%, while the proportion of highly resistant PyC forms does not exceed 4%. A principal component analysis revealed that the concentration and stock of total PyC in soils do not depend on soil properties, but tend to increase towards the north. At the same time, the content and reserves of highly stable PyC, which mirrored the high-intensity fires, positively and significantly correlate with the proportion of larch in the forest stand. Conclusions. Our results indicate the predominance of low-intensity surface fires, which do not result in the formation of a large number of highly stable forms of PyC. The fire strength is likely to correlate positively with the larch regeneration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the synergistic effect of the preceding winter positive Northern Hemisphere annular mode (pNAM) and spring negative tropical North Atlantic (nTNA) sea surface temperature anomaly (SSTA) on spring extreme cold events in the mid-high latitudes of East Asia (MHEA) is investigated. The results show that the co-occurrence of the two factors is unfavorable for extreme cold events during spring in the MHEA via the snow cover and atmospheric bridges. Over the Atlantic, the spring nTNA SSTA can lead to an atmospheric response that is similar to the North Atlantic Oscillation, which enhances the persistence of the pNAM and in turn amplifies the negative spring Eurasian snow cover extent (EASCE) anomaly caused by the preceding winter pNAM. Meanwhile, the spring EASCE is closely related to the spring MHEA anomalous anticyclone. In addition to storing its signal in the spring EASCE, the spring nTNA SSTA can also lead to the spring MHEA anomalous anticyclone via the eastward Rossby wave train. The evidence shows that the Rossby wave energy can propagate eastward to the MHEA as a result of the enhanced negative spring EASCE anomaly and Rossby wave induced by the spring nTNA SSTA, and the two factors have an obvious synergistic effect on the spring MHEA anomalous anticyclone. This anomalous MHEA anticyclone becomes a barrier that can hinder the intrusion of cold air from the polar region and can increase the thickness of the atmospheric layer. The anomalous sinking motion of the spring MHEA anomalous anticyclone can also lead to an increase in net radiation received at the surface and increase the air temperature through the vertical motion of air. The southerly wind over the west side of the spring MHEA anomalous anticyclone leads to horizontal warm advection. All of the above processes favor an increase in air temperature and dampen extreme cold events, implying the synergistic effect of the preceding winter pNAM and spring nTNA SSTA on spring extreme cold events in the MHEA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents changes in three villages of the Ponoy River region, Murmansk, Russia between 2006 and 2020. Two keystone species—the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and northern pike (Esox lucius) as well as an introduced species, the pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha), were studied to determine changes to fish and fisheries. Oral histories, community-based observations and literature data are used to establish key messages on river health from the 1800s to 2020, including temperature data from 1864 to present. Climate change becomes increasingly evident and impacts the Ponoy River system from 1980s onwards with system-relevant changes becoming more pronounced in late 2010s. This coincides with proliferation of pink salmon from 2006 onwards. The species was introduced from the Russian Far East in the 1930s. Very few long-term community-based observation processes have taken place in the Russian North and this paper corrects this to certain extent. Ponoy River and region are important as the last major roadless wilderness area of the European North. Societal and climate changes are rapidly impacting the river and its catchment area as well as the available biological resources and consequently the local culture. This study shows the value of local communities to determine base lines and highlight ongoing changes when establishing climate change impacts and impacts of an alien species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving the global benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) will require international cooperation on many areas of governance and ethical standards, while allowing for diverse cultural perspectives and priorities. There are many barriers to achieving this at present, including mistrust between cultures, and more practical challenges of coordinating across different locations. This paper focuses particularly on barriers to cooperation between Europe and North America on the one hand and East Asia on the other, as regions which currently have an outsized impact on the development of AI ethics and governance. We suggest that there is reason to be optimistic about achieving greater cross-cultural cooperation on AI ethics and governance. We argue that misunderstandings between cultures and regions play a more important role in undermining cross-cultural trust, relative to fundamental disagreements, than is often supposed. Even where fundamental differences exist, these may not necessarily prevent productive cross-cultural cooperation, for two reasons: (1) cooperation does not require achieving agreement on principles and standards for all areas of AI; and (2) it is sometimes possible to reach agreement on practical issues despite disagreement on more abstract values or principles. We believe that academia has a key role to play in promoting cross-cultural cooperation on AI ethics and governance, by building greater mutual understanding, and clarifying where different forms of agreement will be both necessary and possible. We make a number of recommendations for practical steps and initiatives, including translation and multilingual publication of key documents, researcher exchange programmes, and development of research agendas on cross-cultural topics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We found an unintentional error in the calculation of monthly anomalies used in our previous paper (Arai and Kimoto 2008). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific and public interest in acid deposition and its ecological impacts have increased throughout 1990s in East Asia (Northeast and Southeast Asia). After being established in 2001, the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET) celebrates the 20th anniversary in 2021, and is now being expanded in scope reflecting the shifting social concern from acid deposition to broader air quality and climate change in recent years. This paper reviews the past 30 years of development of scientific research and policy related to acid deposition in East Asia. Since the onset of the twenty-first century, East Asia has had the highest SO2 and NOx emissions in the world by continents, with substantial economic developmental inequality among countries. An overview of studies on sulfur and nitrogen deposition, the acidification of inland water and forest soil, and forest decline reveal that although limited acidification of inland water and forest soils have been documented, no decline in the populations of fish and other aquatic biota has been reported in East Asia. After a review of policy-oriented modeling studies on source receptor relationships and the critical loads of sulfur and nitrogen in East Asia, the history of EANET and its success and challenges are discussed. Finally, the importance of epistemic communities as the interface between science and policy in the region is discussed. Regional governance and cooperation are essential for reducing the emission of greenhouse gases, especially short-lived climate pollutants and atmospheric pollutants to realize the co-benefits of global climate change mitigation and improved air quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a new simultaneous retrieval result of aerosol and ocean color using the SIRAW algorithm of Shi et al. (IEEE Trans Geosci Remote Sens 58:1–12, 2020) applied to multi-spectral radiance data of the Second generation GLobal Imager (SGLI) onboard the GCOM-C satellite. Satellite-retrieved Aerosol Optical Thickness (AOT), normalized water-leaving radiance (nLw), and chlorophyll-a concentration (Chl-a) are then compared with those of the AERONET-OC observation at three sites in the coastal areas in East Asia. Results demonstrate that both the AOT and ocean color parameters from SIRAW and SGLI products are consistent with validation data, particularly with a significantly better performance of retrieved AOT from SIRAW. Due to the simultaneous correction of wind speed and use of coupled atmosphere–ocean radiative transfer model, SIRAW is promising to provide a better retrieval of nLw in sun glint contamination and avoids the negative values of nLw. We then apply the present algorithm to 250 m radiance data of SGLI to obtain aerosol and ocean color distributions in the three coastal areas and find that the present algorithm gives wider retrievable areas with more plausible AOTs than those of the standard algorithm. We also find high contrast patterns between coastline and off-shore areas and characteristic plume-type patterns of aerosol and ocean depending on the topographic structure of each area. It will be a promising future work to study spatial and temporal trends of these two characteristic patterns to understand the transportation of atmospheric and ocean color substances in the areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Our aim was to systematically review published evidence on the construct validity, test-retest reliability and responsiveness of generic preference-based measures (PBMs) used in East and South-East Asia.Methods: This systematic review was guided by the COSMIN guideline. A literature search on the MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and PubMed databases up to August 2019 was conducted for measurement properties validation papers of the EuroQol-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D), Short Form-6 Dimensions (SF-6D), Health Utilities Index (HUI), Quality of Well-Being (QWB), 15-Dimensional (15D) and Assessment of Quality of Life (AQOL) in East and South-East Asian countries. Included papers were disaggregated into individual studies whose results and quality of design were rated separately. The population-specific measurement properties (construct validity, test-retest reliability and responsiveness) of each PBM were assessed separately using relevant studies. The overall methodological quality of the studies used in each of the assessments was also rated.Results: A total of 79 papers containing 1504 studies were included in this systematic review. The methodological quality was 'very good' or 'adequate' for the majority of the construct validity studies (99%) and responsiveness studies (61%), but for only a small portion of the test-retest reliability studies (23%). EQ-5D was most widely assessed and was found to have 'sufficient' construct validity and responsiveness in many populations, while the SF-6D and EuroQol-Visual Analog Scale (EQ-VAS) exhibited 'inconsistent' construct validity in some populations. Scarce evidence was available on HUI and QWB, but current evidence supported the use of HUI.Conclusions: This systematic review provides a summary of the quality of existing generic PBMs in Asian populations. The current evidence supports the use of EQ-5D as the preferred choice when a generic PBM is needed, and continuous testing of all PBMs in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate and climate change have always been a research focus of atmospheric sciences. This paper summaries research efforts, achievements and international contributions of the Chinese scientific community on climate and climate change over the past 70 years. The review is based on papers published officially in national or international scientific journals, and is organized to cover six aspects: (1) general climate studies; (2) impact of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau; (3) impact of the East Asian monsoon; (4) influences of teleconnection oscillation and westerlies; (5) climate dynamics and development of climate models; and (6) climate change. It is, however, to be noted that the present review can not be considered as an exhaustive one, since there is a huge body of literature in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the results of the mineralogical and chemical study of sandstones and U–Pb isotope dating of detrital zircons from the Paleozoic–Early Mesozoic deposits of the Laoeling–Grodekovo terrane in western Primorye. It is shown that the sandstones of different age of the terrane differ markedly in their mineralogical and geochemical parameters and, hence, were derived from different sources. The sandstones of the Kordonka Formation are made up of fragments of basic and intermediate volcanic rocks of the oceanic island arc, as well as igneous and sedimentary rock associations of the oceanic island-arc basement. Eroded stable cratons and uplifted blocks representing crystalline basement inliers that are either flanked by rift zones or occurring along transform faults exerted a strong effect on the accumulation of sandstones of the Reshetnikovka, Barabash and Mangugai formations. The main suppliers of detritus were felsic igneous rocks with minor input from ancient sedimentary rocks. The rift margins and the eroded ensialic arc provided clastic material for the rocks of the Talmi Formation. The U–Pb geochronological studies of detrital zircons made it possible to constrain the age and possible position of igneous complexes that supplied clastic material to the sedimentary basins of the terrane. The sandstones were found to contain detrital zircons with concordant ages from 2553 to 205 Ma, which are dominated by Paleozoic zircons divided into several age groups. The zircons of Precambrian and Triassic ages are far fewer. In general, the revealed age ranges of detrital zircons from sandstones of the Laoeling–Grodekovo terrane agree fairly well with the known stages of granitoid magmatism in the eastern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arctic routes represent changes to the exsisting liner network for container shipping between Asia, Europe and North America, because they have significant potential for commercial navigation. It is necessary to analyse the changes in shipping networks under the influence of Arctic routes. This paper focuses on the analysis of the evolution of shipping networks that are affected by Arctic routes, based on building an improved complex growth network model. This model is verified by its applications to existing shipping networks. This model is applied to the shipping networks with Arctic routes, and the main findings obtained are as follows: (1) The network nodes gradually increase and the average degree of network nodes shows an upward trend. In addition, the closeness of internal links in the maritime network increase, the network tends to be in an orderly state, and the network scale is even more uneven. (2) The hub ports of the existing shipping network, which are located in East Asia, Northwest Europe and North America, show that the effects of the Arctic routes are more important. The states of some of the other ports are improved because of their superior geographical locations. (3) Then, the network in which the ports are indirectly connected to the Arctic routes is extracted. The extracted network has the largest number of ports in East Asia and Northwest Europe. In the network, from the perspective of the ports along the Arctic routes, the value of the Northeast Passage ports are generally higher than those of the Northwest Passage ports. The ports of Murmansk, Sabetta, and Reykjavik in the Northeast Passage have the highest values, and the port of Iqaluit is the Northwest Passage port with the largest value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The western part of Guizhou is located in the second step of East Asia. Although the area is stratigraphically continuous and the surface is dominated by hard limestone and sandstone, catastrophic landslides often occur, seriously threatening residents' lives and the safety of property. Accurate identification of landslides and analysis of their developmental patterns are vital to prevent and reduce the threat of geological disasters. No active landslide survey data cover this region, so this paper identifies the active landslides in the western part of Guizhou by combining surface deformation information, multitemporal optical remote sensing images, geological lithology, and geomorphic features to obtain deformation information from multisource synthetic aperture radar surface data. This process increases the accuracy and reliability of identifying unstable slopes in areas with dense vegetation and steep terrain. By processing 283 Sentinel-1 and PALSAR-2 synthetic aperture radar data, 578 active landslides, 18 of which are high-risk large-scale landslides (landslide groups), are delineated for the first time in a range of 4.64 × 104 km2 in the study area. The active landslides mainly include natural landslides, reservoir landslides, and mining-induced landslides, accounting for 2.4%, 4.2 %, and 93.4%, respectively. The spatial distribution of landslides is banded along the cuesta at the edge of an outcrop of coal strata. Landslides are mainly distributed at elevations of 1800–2000 m, with an elevation difference of 50 ~ 100 m and a slope range of 35° ~ 40°. The landslides are characterized by steep slopes, small scales, mass occurrences, and no dominant slope direction, classifying them as cuesta landslides induced by mining disturbance. Furthermore, nuanced remote sensing interpretation of the disaster elements, such as cuesta cliff, tensile cracks, deep and sizeable tensile channels, isolated rock masses, and collapse debris, and their processes of change, reveals that coal mining-disturbed landslides in this region have experienced four primary stages: natural unloading, mining disturbance, displacement acceleration, and slope failure. This is of great significance for understanding the genetic mechanism and developmental patterns, as well as the risk assessment, of this region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMCG) have been growing in almost every nation in the world. Men across the world are forming new clubs using the Hells Angels' model of outlaw clubs. East Asia is seeing exponential growth of clubs and the arrival of foreign clubs. But these events are not uniform across the region. Nonetheless, it is strange that a very American model of social deviance could become popular in the communitarian cultures of East Asia. The expansion of the culture presents the possibility of local adoption of the criminogenic culture of Western OMCG. This paper tracked the rise of locally formed clubs in each nation of East Asia as well as the arrival of international clubs with chapters in the region. It compared club growth to GDP per capita, the gender inequality index and authoritarianism of governments, to determine if there were correlations. The study found 310 locally formed clubs in East Asia, most of which have formed in the last two decades. No substantial correlations were found to club growth by local clubs or arrival of international clubs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings from a diagnostic and modeling analysis that investigates the impacts of the boreal late-spring soil moisture anomalies over North Eurasia on the summer rainfall over northern East Asia (NEA). The soil moisture in May from the Kara-Laptev Sea coasts to Central Siberian Plateau is found to be negatively correlated with the summer rainfall from Mongolia to Northeast China. The atmospheric circulation anomalies associated with the anomalously dry soil are characterized by a pressure dipole with the high-pressure center located over North Eurasia and low-pressure center over NEA, where an anomalous water vapor convergence occurs, favoring rainfall formation. Diagnoses and modeling experiments demonstrate that the effects of the spring lower soil moisture over North Eurasia may persist into the following summer, then increase the low-level air temperature at higher latitudes through modulating local surface latent and sensible heat fluxes, and effectively reduce the meridional temperature gradient north of NEA. The weakened temperature gradient could induce the decreased vertical shear of zonal wind and generate an anomalously cyclonic center over NEA by affecting the baroclinicity around 60° N, associated with a favorable condition of local synoptic activity to increase rainfall. The above relationships and mechanisms are vice versa for the prior wetter North Eurasian soil and decreased NEA rainfall. These findings suggest that the soil moisture anomalies at higher latitudes may act as a new precursor providing an additional predictability source for better predicting the summer rainfall in NEA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The state of the natural environment of the marginal seas of the Northwest Pacific is largely controlled by the interaction of the atmospheric and hydrophysical processes. Tropical cyclones (typhoons), originating in the tropical zone of the Northwest Pacific and over the South China Sea basin, occupy a special place among atmospheric processes. The main destructive impact of typhoons falls on Southeast Asia. However, a significant number of are moving to the Russian Far East. The region of the South China Sea plays a significant role in the formation of tropical cyclones. This determines the importance of studying hydrometeorological processes not only in the Far East, but also in the South China Sea, and the need for cooperation between Vietnamese and Russian scientists. The main hydrodynamic structure of the western South China Sea is the Vietnamese Coastal Current (Western Boundary current), which depends not only on the seasonal monsoons but also on typhoons. The paper presents the results of joint Russian–Vietnamese studies of the dependence of the vertical structure of the Vietnamese Coastal Current on the Pacific tropical cyclones that form in the South China Sea. The study is done with numerical modeling. The period from April to June 1999 was used for modeling, provided with the necessary field data. The simulation results showed that, in general, the structure of water masses depends on the trajectories of tropical cyclones. In all cases considered, the Vietnamese Coastal Current is not a single flow, but represents a zone of eddy structures of different directions. An exception is the only situation in the condition of a tropical cyclone in the central region of the South China Sea when this current acquired the form of a single continuous flow directed from north to south only in the 200-m layer. The general patterns of changes in the dynamic structure of the Vietnamese Coastal Current for all the considered tropical cyclone trajectories include the following: areas with water transport in the northern direction prevail on the surface, while the rest of the water mass continues to flow generally in the southern direction. This transport of surface waters may be due to the influence of the emerging summer monsoon, and the rest of the water mass, which is less exposed to the still weak atmospheric processes of the monsoon type, continues to flow in the winter regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the East Asian (EA) region experienced escalated cost of damages associated with tropical cyclones (TC) during the mature boreal autumn (i.e., September−October). Questions arise whether such increased TC-associated cost of damages are indicative of increasing activity of TCs in EA, particularly during the mature boreal autumn. Here we show evidence of significantly increasing activity of TCs in EA from 1981 to 2019 that is mainly accompanied by an abrupt regime shift in TC passage frequency since 1998. Such trend and shift are robustly linked to the shift of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) to its negative phase in the mid-1990s. Characterized by warm sea surface temperature anomalies in the subtropical North Pacific, a negative PDO phase is related to the weakening of the East Asian subtropical jetstream and the westward displacement of the WNP subtropical high, which initiates a favorable steering environment for increased TC passages into the EA region. Contrasting environmental patterns are associated in a positive PDO phase. Considering the prominence of EA in the global economy, our paper contributes additional insights on long-term tropical cyclone risk reduction and management in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chinese calligraphy is the artistic expression of character writing and is highly valued in East Asia. However, it is a challenge for non-expert users to write visually pleasing calligraphy with his or her own unique style. In this paper, we develop an intelligent system that beautifies Chinese handwriting characters and physically writes them in a certain calligraphy style using a robotic arm. First, we sketch the handwriting characters using a mouse or a touch pad. Then, we employ a convolutional neural network to identify each stroke from the skeletons, and the corresponding standard stroke is retrieved from a pre-built calligraphy stroke library for robotic arm writing. To output aesthetically beautiful calligraphy with the user's style, we propose a global optimization approach to solve the minimization problem between the handwritten strokes and standard calligraphy strokes, in which a shape character vector is presented to describe the shape of standard strokes. Unlike existing systems that focus on the generation of digital calligraphy from handwritten characters, our system has the advantage of converting the user-input handwriting into physical calligraphy written by a robotic arm. We take the regular script (Kai) style as an example and perform a user study to evaluate the effectiveness of the system. The writing results show that our system can achieve visually pleasing calligraphy from various input handwriting while retaining the user's style. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines three of the COVID-19 pandemic's "known" impacts to date: its widespread and fundamental altering of government policy priorities; record low oil prices and its role in further escalating already heightened levels of strategic competition in East Asia and weakening of the existing multilateral order. The paper then uses some of the observed outcomes of these changes under the pandemic so far, in addition to additional evidence and causal linkages drawn from past research, to assess COVID-19's potential, but still unknown, longer term influence on marine plastic pollution and overfishing in the South China Sea, two of East Asia's most pressing marine environmental problems. In addition to flagging potential COVID-19 linked issues of concern in these two important policy areas, this approach also may assist further inquiry into the pandemic's still unknown potential to undermine environmental protection and regulatory efforts in other environmental issue areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) is a cyprinid species, widely living in the freshwater on the plain area of East Asia. The fish has characteristic comb-like pharyngeal teeth, an adaptation to their typical vegetarian feeding habit. This paper deals with fossil pharyngeal teeth that related to grass carp, found from about 20 localities, ranging from the lower Oligocene to Holocene. Based on the morphology of the teeth, we established two new genera and species related to the genus Ctenopharyngodon (Dezaoia saintjaquensis, Eoctenopharyngodon liui) and two new species of Ctenopharyngodon (C. xiejiaensis and C. orientalis). The first recognized C. idella pharyngeal teeth were from the lower Pliocene of Yushe, Shanxi, and many others from 11 Pleistocene to Holocene localities. Judged from the materials and their occurrences, the grass carp may have originated from the western part of China during the early Oligocene. Throughout the Miocene, the grass-carp-like pharyngeal teeth were discovered from a vast area in China, indicating an appropriate atmosphere for the grass carp to develop, although the climate in the western part of China was possibly drier than that in the eastern part. From the beginning of the Pliocene, as the consequence of a considerable uplift of the Tibetan Plateau, the large rivers in East Asia finally formed, created favorable conditions for the Recent grass carp to thrive. Most teeth were collected in association with fossil mammals. Therefore, we are using the associated fossil mammals as the checking reference against which to test our interpretation of the surrounding environment of the water system in which the grass carp lived. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past, most companies in the European apparel industry focused on minimizing manufacturing costs in the design of supply chains in conjunction with long-distance shipping from production sites in the Far East and relatively long production cycles. Today, for some market segments, the speed of production cycles is more important than the cost because short throughput time allows the flexibility to adjust to rapidly changing fashion trends in these market segments. Accordingly, choosing the most beneficial supply chain strategy has become an established research topic. However, apparel markets are complex systems. Therefore, attempts to reduce the underlying complexity in order to model these markets have limited existing research to the consideration of only selected aspects of markets (e.g., considering only homogeneous buyers, a single period, a single product, or a single manufacturer in the absence of competition) rather than taking a more comprehensive view. These limitations can be overcome by applying an agent-based simulation approach—an approach that can account for a wider range of factors, including several competing manufacturers utilizing different supply chain strategies, individual consumer preferences and behavior, word-of-mouth communication, normative social influence, and first-hand experience, as well as advertising. In this paper, the capability potential of such agent-based market simulation is demonstrated by investigating two supply chain strategies (fast fashion vs. traditional fashion) with varying product and communication strategies (product attributes and advertising) in several market scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solubility of Au in silicate melts and fluids governs the enrichment and migration of Au during the formation of magmatic-hydrothermal Au deposits. Large Au deposits require vast amounts of Au to migrate from the upper mantle-lower crust to the shallow crust, and high Au solubility in magma and hydrothermal fluid facilitates the formation of Au-rich magma and fluid in the crust and mantle source and efficient transport This paper reviews recent high-pressure and high-temperature experimental studies on Au species in magmas and hydrothermal fluids, the partitioning behavior of Au between silicate melts and fluids, and the effects of temperature, pressure, oxygen fugacity, sulfur fugacity, silicate melt composition, and volatiles (H2O, CO2, chlorine, and sulfur) on the solubility of Au in magma. We show that the solubility of Au in magma is largely controlled by the volatiles in the magma: the higher the content of reduced sulfur (S2− and HS−) in the magma, the higher the solubility of Au. Under high-temperature, high-pressure, H2O-rich, and intermediate oxygen fugacity conditions, magma can dissolve more reduced sulfur species, thus enhancing the ability of the magma to transport Au. If the ore-forming elements of the Au deposits in the North China Craton originate from mantle-derived magmas and fluids, we can conclude, in terms of massive Au migration, that these deep Au-rich magmas might have been generated under H2O-rich and moderately oxidized conditions (S2− coexists with S6+). The big mantle wedge beneath East Asia was metasomatized by melts and fluids from the dehydration of the Early Cretaceous paleo-Pacific stagnant slab, which not only caused thinning of the North China Craton, but also created physicochemical conditions favorable for massive Au migration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its relevance and importance in the emerging global order, the partnership between South Korea and the Middle East somehow has failed to capture due attention from the pundits of geostrategy and international political economy. In the conventional discourse, the two entities have neither been characterized as natural allies nor have they been considered as equal trade partners. The engagement and interaction between South Korea and the Middle East has been limited to a story revolving around the narrative of energy security and construction assignments. In an effort to provide a more inclusive view on South Korea-Middle East relations, this paper examines the context and catalysts that are shaping the evolving partnership between the two sides and are opening new vistas for further consolidation. The paper argues that even in the current geopolitical constraints, South Korea and the Middle East have a compelling case than ever before to reignite their partnership for mutual prosperity and peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a 115 cm long profile section of lacustrine-swamp sediments from the Langou I Bay (eastern part of Primorsky Krai; 44°25′10.16″ N, 135°54′26.08″ E). According to the produced age model, the sediments are 3900 years old. A multiproxy study involving geochemical, chironomid, diatom, and palynological analysis indicates that the climatic and environmental conditions on the seacoast in the eastern part of Primorsky Krai developed in many respects synchronously with known climatic phases of the Late Holocene. The period from ca. 4200 to 2600 cal years BP corresponds to the first and second warm stages of the Jōmon period and the late Jōmon transgression in Japan. The peak of summer temperatures in the vicinity of the Langou I Bay occurred between 2900 and 2600 cal years BP. The cooling that began after 2600 cal years BP was not as severe in the study area as in Japan (cold Jōmon and Kofun stages): the reconstructed temperatures were 1°C lower than now; in Japan, they were 2–3°C below the current level. The Medieval Climate Optimum (Nara–Heian–Kamakura stage in Japan) reconstructed for the eastern part of Primorsky Krai in the period from 1250 to 750 cal years BP featured a humid climate with summer temperatures ca. 1.5°C higher than at present. The period between 750 and 250 cal years BP correlates with the Little Ice Age: summer temperatures had dropped to 1.5–2°C below the modern one. In the last 200 years, the lake has been shallowing and has nearly dried out. This period is marked by temperature fluctuations amid the trend of climate warming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The East Asia summer monsoon transition zone, a unique area of transition from humid monsoon to arid continental climate, has the most prominent aridification in the world, and has experienced land surface aridification (LSA) in recent years. To investigate the influence of LSA on regional monsoon precipitation, two numerical experiments were run for vegetation degradation over a long period (30 years). Then, precipitation variation of different magnitudes was analyzed. After that, the mechanism of LSA influence on precipitation was studied. The results show that aridification reduced average summer precipitation by 5%. Additionally, LSA considerably changed the frequency of precipitation. Unlike aridification in North Africa caused by albedo variation, LSA in our study area mainly reduced surface thermal capacity, increased surface temperature, sharply increased the transport of surface sensible heat, and raised the atmospheric convective boundary layer. This reduces atmospheric moist static energy, which is not conducive to the generation of precipitation. LSA also increases the surface landscape gradient, local horizontal gradient of land surface turbulent flux, and probability of heavy convective precipitation. This paper reveals the mechanism by which land surface anomalies affect precipitation, which lays a foundation for follow-up studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents data on the comparative assessment of the composition and properties of natural and magnetized zeolite-bearing tuffs (ZBT) from the Kholinsky, Transbaikalia, and Chuguevsky, southern Russian Far East, deposits in Russia. In addition, the composition and properties of magnetite synthesized by two methods and used for ferritization of ZBT were determined. The phase composition of the synthesized magnetically active material and the quantitative phase composition of natural and magnetized samples of the ZBT from the Kholinsky and Chuguevsky deposits were determined by X-ray powder diffraction. The composition of rock-forming minerals of the ZBT from the Kholinsky deposit was refined. The chemical composition of ZBT from the Kholinsky and Chuguevsky deposits and the initial and magnetized samples was analyzed by XRF. Magnetite content on the surface of the ferritized ZBT was demonstrated to be no higher than 5–7% and not to be able to affect the capacity of ZBT and the pH of the solution. Magnetization of the ZBT does not affect the structure and properties of the ZBT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South China Sea (SCS) is a highly semi-enclosed marginal sea located in the East Asian monsoon region. This paper proposes interesting aspects of the unique feature of the SCS waves in response to tropical cyclone's passage when large-scale winter monsoon winds prevail. We use the wave model WaveWatch III to study the wave characteristics of typhoon Durian (2006) passing over the middle of SCS in early December 2006, and state the new understanding acquired in the aspects of the tropical cyclone generated waves in the SCS during winter monsoon surge. In light of this, the role of the large-scale NE monsoon winds on winter typhoon wave field characteristics in the SCS are highlighted by conducting sensitivity experiments with and without the NE monsoon winds. The NE monsoon winds weakly affect the SWH field near the typhoon track and strongly away from the track, especially in the deep water area of the northern SCS where the NE monsoon winds produce high waves. Comparisons between the two experiments show the effect of the NE monsoon winds on the directional wave spectra in the SCS, suggesting that the monsoon-generated swells do not decay and remain throughout the typhoon period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the outbreak of what would become the COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing measures were quickly introduced across East Asia—including drastic shelter-in-place orders in some cities—drawing on experience with the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) almost two decades ago. "Smart City" technologies and other digital tools were quickly deployed for infection control purposes, ranging from conventional thermal scanning cameras to digital tracing in the surveillance of at-risk individuals. Chatbots endowed with artificial intelligence have also been deployed to shift part of healthcare provision away from hospitals and to support a number of programmes for self-management of chronic disease in the community. With the closure of schools and adults working from home, digital technologies have also sustained many aspects of both professional and social life at a pace and scale not considered to be practicable before the outbreak. This paper considers how these new experiences with digital technologies in public health surveillance are spurring digitalization in East Asian societies beyond the conventional public health context. It also considers some of the concerns and challenges that are likely to arise with rapid digitalization, particularly in healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]