Lessons and prospects of Sino-Russian Arctic cooperation

The strategic partnership between China and Russia is creating solid ground for the cooperative development of the Arctic. These two states’ joint development of the Northern Sea Route will not only provide additional impulse to the export-oriented economy of China and allow further diversification of supply routes to China, but will also promote investment into the infrastructure and economic growth of Russian northern territories. Climate change in the Arctic has forced China and Russia to acknowledge the sustainable use of the Arctic. On the one hand, exploration of the region should not harm indigenous people’s rights and should help this population improve their standard of living by providing qualified healthcare and opportunities for commercial fulfillment of traditional crafts. On the other hand, this exploration should also include elimination of harmful anthropogenic impact and provide support for environment self-restoration. Sino-Russian Arctic cooperation will help humans discover eco-friendly approaches to use Arctic resources, promote rational use of the Arctic and inspire sustainable development of the region

The post-Paris approach to mitigating Arctic warming—perspectives from shipping emissions reduction

The availability of increased Arctic shipping as a consequence of sea ice decline is a regional issue that is closely linked with international climate governance and global governance of the maritime industry. Sea ice decline creates favorable circumstances for the development of merchant shipping, but is accompanied by increases in greenhouse gas emissions. Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the shipping industry is of utmost importance to prevent the destruction of the fragile Arctic ecosystem. This paper focuses on the core content of the Paris Agreement and suggests that the International Maritime Organization could guide the shipping industry to reach a fair agreement with states that includes market-based measures, capacity building, and voluntary actions of shipping companies as non-state actors

The evolution of China’s policies on marine and coastal ecosystems in climate change adaptation

Marine and coastal ecosystems play a crucial role in adjusting the process of climate change. Mitigation and adaptation activities involve interdependent carbon and water cycles. Excessive carbon emissions burden the carbon storage capacity of the ocean and then affect the balance and stability of marine ecosystems, leading to global ocean issues such as ocean acidification and the calcification of marine life. While many studies have been conducted on this issue, there is a lack of policy analysis on how countries deal with climate change, particularly in the area of marine and coastal ecosystems’ policies. In 1992, China ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and China actively participated in the governance of marine and coastal ecosystems adapting to climate change. This article reviews and textually analyses China’s policies related to the adaptation of marine and coastal ecosystems to climate change in 1992–2023. It adopts policy-oriented jurisprudence to illustrate natural and social factors which drive the evolution of China’s policies on marine and coastal ecosystems in climate change adaptation. To achieve the optimal policy results, this article recommends further enhancing the mechanism of policy implementation and management, innovating the system of policy incentives and supervision, and optimizing the framework of policy effectiveness evaluation on the basis of further policy goals

Changes in grassland soil types lead to different characteristics of bacterial and fungal communities in Northwest Liaoning, China

IntroductionSoil microbial communities are critical in regulating grassland biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem functions, but the mechanisms of how environmental factors affect changes in the structural composition and diversity of soil microbial communities in different grassland soil types is not fully understood in northwest Liaoning, China.MethodsWe investigated the characteristics and drivers of bacterial and fungal communities in 4 grassland soil types with 11 sites across this region using high-throughput Illumina sequencing.Results and DiscussionActinobacteria and Ascomycota were the dominant phyla of bacterial and fungal communities, respectively, but their relative abundances were not significantly different among different grassland soil types. The abundance, number of OTUs, number of species and diversity of both bacterial and fungal communities in warm and temperate ecotone soil were the highest, while the warm-temperate shrub soil had the lowest microbial diversity. Besides, environmental factors were not significantly correlated with soil bacterial Alpha diversity index. However, there was a highly significant negative correlation between soil pH and Shannon index of fungal communities, and a highly significant positive correlation between plant cover and Chao1 index as well as Observed species of fungal communities. Analysis of similarities showed that the structural composition of microbial communities differed significantly among different grassland soil types. Meanwhile, the microbial community structure of temperate steppe-sandy soil was significantly different from that of other grassland soil types. Redundancy analysis revealed that soil total nitrogen content, pH and conductivity were important influencing factors causing changes in soil bacterial communities, while soil organic carbon, total nitrogen content and conductivity mainly drove the differentiation of soil fungal communities. In addition, the degree of connection in the soil bacterial network of grassland was much higher than that in the fungal network and soil bacterial and fungal communities were inconsistently limited by environmental factors. Our results showed that the microbial community structure, composition and diversity of different grassland soil types in northwest Liaoning differed significantly and were significantly influenced by environmental factors. Microbial community structure and the observation of soil total nitrogen and organic carbon content can predict the health changes of grassland ecosystems to a certain extent

Enteropathy-associated T cell lymphoma subtypes are characterized by loss of function of SETD2

Enteropathy-associated T cell lymphoma (EATL) is a lethal, and the most common, neoplastic complication of celiac disease. Here, we defined the genetic landscape of EATL through whole-exome sequencing of 69 EATL tumors. SETD2 was the most frequently silenced gene in EATL (32% of cases). The JAK-STAT pathway was the most frequently mutated pathway, with frequent mutations in STAT5B as well as JAK1 , JAK3 , STAT3 , and SOCS1 . We also identified mutations in KRAS , TP53 , and TERT . Type I EATL and type II EATL (monomorphic epitheliotropic intestinal T cell lymphoma) had highly overlapping genetic alterations indicating shared mechanisms underlying their pathogenesis. We modeled the effects of SETD2 loss in vivo by developing a T cell–specific knockout mouse. These mice manifested an expansion of γδ T cells, indicating novel roles for SETD2 in T cell development and lymphomagenesis. Our data render the most comprehensive genetic portrait yet of this uncommon but lethal disease and may inform future classification schemes

IMO’s Marine Environmental Regulatory Governance and China’s Role: An Empirical Study of China’s Submissions

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) plays a significant role in global marine environmental governance, providing a forum of regulatory oversight for member states. Member states are the main actors of the IMO and exert considerable influence on the process of lawmaking. Among these member states, China is unique due to its multiple identities. There are various factors influencing interests behind China’s multiple identities, which fully engage the country in various shipping and maritime trade activities. This article examines China’s role in the IMO marine environmental regulatory governance. It identifies the impact of China on global ocean governance and indicates the development and reforms in the global governance system. China enacted the China Ocean Agenda 21 for its strategy of ocean development. Thus, China is the object of study in this examination of empirical research that collects submissions from 2001 to 2020 related to marine environmental governance. The findings reveal that the extent to which China participates in such governance has considerably increased, and although the contribution of China’s submissions is still in development, its role in the IMO is no longer merely that of a follower, and the efforts of the country have had a positive influence on the IMO’s marine environmental regulatory governance, including its legal instruments

History in Points, Lines and Polygons: Time Depth in the Landscape of Guangdong Province, Southern China

Change and persistence are often richly entangled facets of landscapes. While many studies use land use/land cover (depicted as polygons) to illustrate landscape evolution, this paper draws on approaches from landscape archaeology to investigate how lines and points can also be used to examine landscape morphologies. The study uses three distinct spatial elements: points (graves), lines (field boundaries), and polygons (land use) to represent landscape transformations and reflect time depth in the landscape. The paper aims to identify the most enduring landscape elements within the region and uncover the underlying mechanisms of persistence. It is suggested that the time depth exhibited in field boundaries surpasses that of land use in this case. Field boundaries provide a useful way to examine agricultural intensification, whereas land use is more sensitive to agricultural commercialization and urbanization. In addition, the Chinese Feng Shui funeral culture emerges as a stabilizing force that encourages landscape persistence. This cultural driver ensures the persistence of field patterns surrounding graves, making these fields the most ancient plots within the study area. In conclusion, representing the time depth of landscapes through linear features and points can serve as an important supplement to the study of landscape change based on land use

Generating Game Levels of Diverse Behaviour Engagement

Recent years, there has been growing interests in experience-driven procedural level generation. Various metrics have been formulated to model player experience and help generate personalised levels. In this work, we question whether experience metrics can adapt to agents with different personas. We start by reviewing existing metrics for evaluating game levels. Then, focusing on platformer games, we design a framework integrating various agents and evaluation metrics. Experimental studies on \emph{Super Mario Bros.} indicate that using the same evaluation metrics but agents with different personas can generate levels for particular persona. It implies that, for simple games, using a game-playing agent of specific player archetype as a level tester is probably all we need to generate levels of diverse behaviour engagement

Traditional Coastal Settlements of Chaoshan Area Adapted to The Sand Ridge Landform

Sand ridge landform is a kind of typical coastal natural landform in Chaoshan area. Through data review, historical satellite image collection, field interviews, archives search and other methods, the relevant data of the sand ridge landform area were collected, and comparative research methods were used to analyze the influence of such terrain on the Traditional settlement mode. A types of settlement patterns is summarized: the evolutionary pattern of settlements which are built on high ground and spread out to sea and that are adapted to the development of sand ridges landform. Through this case study, we hope to have a better understanding of the characteristics of the Chaoshan traditional settlements