A Review of the 4th Forum on Regional Cooperation in the South China Sea——the Symposium on Cross-Strait Cooperation in the South China Sea

张琳萍，厦门大学南海研究院硕士研究生。【中文摘要】2016 年10 月15 日，由厦门大学南海研究院与海南省国际文化 交流中心、海南省南海政策与法律研究中心联合主办的“第四届南海区域合作论 坛暨海峡两岸在南海的合作研讨会”在海南省陵水县成功举办。来自台湾大学、“中 央研究院”、中山大学、海洋大学、政治大学等台湾高校及科研机构的著名学者以 及渔业界的知名业者，以及来自大陆社科院、海南大学、山东大学、西北政法大学、 厦门大学、中国现代国际关系研究院等30余位专家、学者，围绕海峡两岸在南海 进行合作的主旨，就南海诸岛的史料、南海海域及岛屿法律地位、南海渔业管理、 海洋环境保护及南海博弈中的中美日关系以及台湾的角色等议题进行了深入的讨 论。本文为此次研讨会的会议综述。 【Abstract】On 15 October 2016, the 4th Forum on Regional Cooperation in the South China Sea – the Symposium on Cross-Strait Cooperation in the South China Sea, was successfully co-hosted by South China Sea Institute of Xiamen University, Hainan International Culture Exchange Center, and Hainan Provincial Research Center for Policy and Law of the South China Sea in Lingshui, Hainan. More than 30 people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait attended the symposium, including well-known scholars from Taiwan University, “Academia Sinica”, Sun Yat-Sen University (Kaohsiung Taiwan), Taiwan Ocean University and Chengchi University, practitioners in Taiwan’s fishery industry, and experts and scholars from Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Hainan University, Shandong University, Northwest University of Political Science and Law, Xiamen University and China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. With the purport of cross-Strait cooperation in the South China Sea (SCS) in mind, the participants conducted in- depth discussions on the following aspects: historical records and data in respect of the SCS islands, legal status of the SCS waters and islands, fishery management in the SCS, marine environmental protection, the relationship between China, the U.S. and Japan in the SCS game and the role Taiwan plays in this game. Given the significance of this symposium, the author attempts to write a review for it

Robust Stackelberg Equilibria in Extensive-Form Games and Extension to Limited Lookahead

Stackelberg equilibria have become increasingly important as a solution concept in computational game theory, largely inspired by practical problems such as security settings. In practice, however, there is typically uncertainty regarding the model about the opponent. This paper is, to our knowledge, the first to investigate Stackelberg equilibria under uncertainty in extensive-form games, one of the broadest classes of game. We introduce robust Stackelberg equilibria, where the uncertainty is about the opponent's payoffs, as well as ones where the opponent has limited lookahead and the uncertainty is about the opponent's node evaluation function. We develop a new mixed-integer program for the deterministic limited-lookahead setting. We then extend the program to the robust setting for Stackelberg equilibrium under unlimited and under limited lookahead by the opponent. We show that for the specific case of interval uncertainty about the opponent's payoffs (or about the opponent's node evaluations in the case of limited lookahead), robust Stackelberg equilibria can be computed with a mixed-integer program that is of the same asymptotic size as that for the deterministic setting.Comment: Published at AAAI1

Constructing an Urban Population Model for Medical Insurance Scheme Using Microsimulation Techniques

China launched a pilot project of medical insurance reform in 79 cities in 2007 to cover urban nonworking residents. An urban population model was created in this paper for China's medical insurance scheme using microsimulation model techniques. The model made it clear for the policy makers the population distributions of different groups of people, the potential urban residents entering the medical insurance scheme. The income trends of units of individuals and families were also obtained. These factors are essential in making the challenging policy decisions when considering to balance the long-term financial sustainability of the medical insurance scheme

Aluminum impairs rat neural cell mitochondria in vitro.

Exposure to aluminum has been reported to lead to neurotoxicity. Mitochondria are important organelles involved in maintaining cell function. This study investigates the effect of aluminum on mitochondria in rat neural cells. The ultrastructure of mitochondria was observed, and the cell death rate (CDR), reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and 3-[4,5demethyl-2-thiazalyl]-2,-5diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) were measured to investigate the effect of aluminum on the mitochondrial structure and its function in neural cells. Results observed from the mitochondrial ultrastructure show that aluminum may impair the mitochondrial membrane and cristae. Increased CDR, enhanced ROS, decreased MMP, and decreased enzyme activity in mitochondria were observed in the Al-exposed neurons (100 – 500 μM). The present study demonstrates that alteration in the mitochondrial structure and function plays an important role in neurotoxic mechanisms induced by aluminum

SARS-CoV-2 bivalent mRNA vaccine with broad protection against variants of concern

IntroductionThe severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant has rapidly spread around the globe. With a substantial number of mutations in its Spike protein, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant is prone to immune evasion and led to the reduced efficacy of approved vaccines. Thus, emerging variants have brought new challenges to the prevention of COVID-19 and updated vaccines are urgently needed to provide better protection against the Omicron variant or other highly mutated variants.Materials and methodsHere, we developed a novel bivalent mRNA vaccine, RBMRNA-405, comprising a 1:1 mix of mRNAs encoding both Delta-derived and Omicron-derived Spike proteins. We evaluated the immunogenicity of RBMRNA-405 in BALB/c mice and compared the antibody response and prophylactic efficacy induced by monovalent Delta or Omicron-specific vaccine with the bivalent RBMRNA-405 vaccine in the SARSCoV-2 variant challenge.ResultsResults showed that the RBMRNA-405 vaccine could generate broader neutralizing antibody responses against both Wuhan-Hu-1 and other SARS-CoV-2 variants, including Delta, Omicron, Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. RBMRNA-405 efficiently blocked infectious viral replication and lung injury in both Omicron- and Delta-challenged K18-ACE2 mice.ConclusionOur data suggest that RBMRNA-405 is a promising bivalent SARS-CoV-2 vaccine with broad-spectrum efficacy for further clinical development

Spatio-temporal divergence in the responses of Finland's boreal forests to climate variables

Spring greening in boreal forest ecosystems has been widely linked to increasing temperature, but few studies have attempted to unravel the relative effects of climate variables such as maximum temperature (TMX), minimum temperature (TMN), mean temperature (TMP), precipitation (PRE) and radiation (RAD) on vegetation growth at different stages of growing season. However, clarifying these effects is fundamental to better understand the relationship between vegetation and climate change. This study investigated spatio-temporal divergence in the responses of Finland's boreal forests to climate variables using the plant phenology index (PPI) calculated based on the latest Collection V006 MODIS BRDF-corrected surface reflectance products (MCD43C4) from 2002 to 2018, and identified the dominant climate variables controlling vegetation change during the growing season (May-September) on a monthly basis. Partial least squares (PLS) regression was used to quantify the response of PPI to climate variables and distinguish the separate impacts of different variables. The study results show the dominant effects of temperature on the PPI in May and June, with TMX, TMN and TMP being the most important explanatory variables for the variation of PPI depending on the location, respectively. Meanwhile, drought had an unexpectedly positive impact on vegetation in few areas. More than 50 % of the variation of PPI could be explained by climate variables for 68.5 % of the entire forest area in May and 87.7 % in June, respectively. During July to September, the PPI variance explained by climate and corresponding spatial extent rapidly decreased. Nevertheless, the RAD was found be the most important explanatory variable to July PPI in some areas. In contrast, the PPI in August and September was insensitive to climate in almost all of the regions studied. Our study gives useful insights on quantifying and identifying the relative importance of climate variables to boreal forest, which can be used to predict the possible response of forest under future warming.Peer reviewe

Effects of Funneliformis mosseae on the utilization of organic phosphorus in Camellia oleifera Abel.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi play an important role in the acquisition of phosphorus (P) by plants. The external hyphae of AM fungi function as an extension of plant roots and may downregulate related functions in the roots. It is not clear whether the ability of AM fungi to mineralize organic P affects root phosphatase activities. A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of Funneliformis mosseae on soil organic P mineralization under phytate application and to explore root phosphatase activities, P uptake and growth in Camellia oleifera Abel. The plants and their growth substrates were harvested 4 and 8 months after planting. The results showed that organic P application had no effect on the total dry weight of nonmycorrhizal plants, but differences in dry weight under P application were observed in mycorrhizal plants in both harvests. Inoculation with F. mosseae increased soil acid phosphatase, phytase and alkaline phosphatase activities and reduced the soil organic P content. Mycorrhizal plants had higher root activity, shoot and root P contents and root acid phosphatase and phytase activities than nonmycorrhizal plants irrespective of organic P application. In conclusion, AM fungi enhanced the mineralization of soil organic P, and positively affect root phosphatase activities.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Optimizing the Cargo Location Assignment of Retail E-Commerce Based on an Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm

An efficient storage strategy for retail e-commerce warehousing is important for minimizing the order retrieval time to improve the warehouse-output efficiency. In this paper, we consider a model and algorithm to solve the cargo location problem in a retail e-commerce warehouse. The problem is abstracted into storing cargo on three-dimensional shelves, and the mathematical model is built considering three objectives: efficiency, stability, and classification. An artificial swarm algorithm is designed to solve the proposed models. Computational experiments performed on a warehouse show that the proposed approach is effective at solving the cargo location assignment problem and is significant for the operation and organization of a retail e-commerce warehouse

The Optimization of the Location of the Cargo in Three-Dimension Shelf: Employing the FP-Tree and the Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithms

The allocation issues of the location of the cargo have affected the operational efficiency of retail e-commerce warehouses tremendously. Adjusting the cargo location with the change of the order and the operation of the warehouse is a significant research area. A novel approach employing the FP-Tree and the Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithms is proposed. Firstly, energy consumption and shelf stability are employed for the location-allocation. Secondly, the association rules among product items are obtained by the FP-Tree Algorithm to mine frequent list of items. Furthermore, the frequency and the weight of product items are taken into account to ensure the local stability of the shelf during data mining. Thirdly, another method of the location-allocation is obtained with the objectives of the energy consumption and the overall shelf stability along with the frequent items stored nearby that is conducted by the Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm. Finally, the picking order distance is obtained through two methods of the location-allocation above. The performance and efficiency of the novel introduced method have been confirmed by running the experiment. The outcomes of the simulation suggest that the introduced method has a higher performance concerning criterion called the picking order distance