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Angelica gigas Nakai (A. gigas) is used as a traditional medicine in Korea and China. The root of A. gigas is most commonly prepared by decocting with water, and is used as a blood tonic, for the treatment of gynecological diseases, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and laxative. Thus, this paper presents a detailed review of the phytochemistry, botanical origin and pharmacological activities of A. gigas. Eleven monocoumarins, ten furocoumarins, eleven pyranocoumarins, nine volatile oils, nine flavonoids and six other constituents of A. gigas were summarized and discussed. The major chemical constituents of A. gigas , decursin and decursinol angelate, have also been detailed for their anti-inflammatory, anticancer, analgesic and sedative effects. This review aims to provide a reference for the future development and use of A. gigas. • The phytochemistry, and pharmacology of Angelica gigas Nakai were reviewed. • Fifty-six compounds from A. gigas were classified, and discussed. • Decursin, decursinol angelate, and decursinol are the main components. • The pharmacological effects of decursin and decursinol angelate were summarized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to offshore fishing, high sea fishing has become another important supply channel for seafood. The pelagic catches of China, Japan, and Korea (CJK) account for 60% of the global total, and an analysis of their activities adds essential clarity regarding global fishery resources. This paper develops a framework for analyzing the activities of HSF vessels based on satellite AIS data from 2019, which is used to study the spatial-temporal characteristics of the lengths, speeds, trajectories, and trajectory densities of HSF vessels, the numbers of active vessels, and their average fishing times. The analysis results show that: 1) Chinese HSF vessels are mostly small, relative to Japanese and Korean ships; 2) The speed of Japanese HSF vessels is consistently the highest; 3) All HSF vessels mainly fish in the Northwest Pacific, Western Central Pacific, Eastern Central Pacific, Southeast Pacific, Eastern Central Atlantic, Southeast Atlantic, and Western Indian Oceans; 4) The trajectory distribution of Chinese and Japanese vessels are similar, and both are more widely distributed than Korean vessels; 5) Chinese and Korean HSF vessels mostly enter the Atlantic through the Drake Passage, while Japanese ships mostly enter through the Panama Canal; 6) Chinese HSF vessels fish in Antarctic fisheries all year, while Korean ships aim to fish in Antarctic fisheries in the Spring, Summer, and Winter; 7) China has the largest number of HSF vessels in all fisheries, but their average fishing time is the shortest; 8) The average fishing time of all HSF vessels in Spring and Summer is short, increases during the Autumn, and continues to rise in some fisheries during Winter. This study is not only of great significance for the management and conservation of marine resources, but is also a valuable reference for the promotion of international cooperation in safeguarding marine fisheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the frequent coastal activities of human beings, tens of thousands of tons of floating marine plastics pose a serious threat to marine ecosystems and human survival. This paper studies the feasibility of regional marine plastic garbage management, taking the Northwest Pacific as the research object. According to the Cobb-Douglas utility function of the costs and benefits of plastic processing in China, Japan and South Korea, the Shapley value method was used to analyze it. The study found that the data were substituted into the Shapley value model of cooperative game for calculation, and the results showed that any country joining the triple alliance U would create greater benefits, and obtain higher benefits than the sub alliance. It is a triple win situation for China, Japan and the South Korea to jointly manage marine plastic in the Northwest Pacific. The results of the model confirm that the three countries are willing to maintain long-term cooperation on marine plastic governance, this method can be used to solve the trans-national marine governance innovatively and promote regional ocean cooperation governance. At the same time, by comparing the Northwest Pacific Plan with other action plans, China, Japan and South Korea should abandon political controversy, seeking common ground while putting aside differences, to cooperate fully to curb the growing trend of plastic waste problem in the Northwest Pacific, and contribute to the sustainable development of regional marine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tested the relation among macroeconomic variables such as economic growth, current account balance, energy imports and non-economic variable as militarization for the selected countries by employing Markov Switching-Bayesian Vector Auto Regressive approach for China, Israel and South Korea. These countries have high rate of export and import of weapons, the current account surplus, and higher rate of energy imports. The results showed that the relation between the selected variables differs in these countries with respect to their energy and weapon import levels. According to Markov-Switching Bayesian Granger Causality results, if the governments determine the polices in the context of the results of the traditional causality test, it will be impossible to obtain the estimated impacts from the policies. Results determined that Militarization, energy imports, economic growth and current account balance relate to each other for all countries. Energy imports increase in the effect of militarization races and economic growth. The current account of the selected countries are vulnerable to the negative energy shocks and militarization. • Markov-Switching Bayesian Granger Causality test and traditional Granger causality test were applied. • Militarization, energy imports, economic growth and current account balance relate to each other. • Energy imports increase in the effect of militarization races and economic growth. • The current account balances are vulnerable to the negative energy shocks and militarization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve PM 2.5 predictions in Northeast Asia, we estimated a new background error covariance matrix (BEC) for aerosol data assimilation using surface PM 2.5 observations. In contrast to the conventional method of BEC estimation that uses perturbations in meteorological data, this method additionally considered the perturbations using two different emission inventories. By taking the emission uncertainty into account, we found that the standard deviations in the BEC were significantly increased. The standard deviations became around three times larger than those in the conventional method at the surface. The impacts of the new BEC were then tested for the prediction of surface PM 2.5 over Northeast Asia using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model initialized by three-dimensional variational method (3D-VAR). The surface PM 2.5 data measured at 154 sites in South Korea and 1535 sites in China were assimilated every 6 h during the campaign period of the Korea-United States Air Quality Study (KORUS-AQ) (1 May–14 June 2016). The data assimilation with the new BEC showed better agreement with the surface PM 2.5 observations than with the BEC from the conventional method. Our method was also more consistent with the observations in 24-h PM 2.5 predictions than the conventional method (specifically, with a ∼44% reduction of negative biases). We concluded that increased standard deviations, together with updated horizontal and vertical length scales in the new BEC, improved the data assimilation and short-term predictions of the surface PM 2.5. This paper also suggests several research efforts to further improve the BEC for better short-term PM 2.5 predictions in Northeast Asia. [Display omitted] • A new background error covariance (BEC) for PM 2.5 predictions was developed. • The new BEC considers the uncertainties in anthropogenic emissions. • Two different emission inventories were used to account for the uncertainty. • 24-h PM 2.5 predictions were improved with ∼44% fewer negative biases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]