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Wildfire is one of the primary natural disturbance agents in the forests of China. The forecast of fire danger is critically important to assist stakeholders to avoid and mitigate wildfire-induced hazards and losses to both human society and natural ecosystems. Currently, fire danger rating methods often focus on fire weather classification based on fixed thresholds, which has shortcomings in generalizability and robustness. Based on historical fire occurrence data and meteorological data of Northeastern China from 2004 to 2015, we proposed a forest fire danger rating classification and forecasting model by combining the advantages of the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI) system and two machine learning models such as the Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network and Random Forest (RF) model. The method is divided into two stages. The first stage is the LSTM-based FWI system indexes prediction. In the first stage, the future FWI system indexes are obtained through the LSTM-based prediction model, and the RMSE and MAE of the prediction results are calculated to verify the prediction performance of the model. The second stage is random forest-based fire danger rating prediction method. In the second stage, we use the random forest method to get the fire danger occurrence probability and present the fire danger rating classification scheme. Then we verify the reliability of the fire danger rating classification scheme by using the forest fire danger data in Qipan Mountain. Our method predicts two randomly selected future intervals, and the prediction accuracy is 87.5%. The experimental results show that our machine learning-based forest fire danger rating classification method can provide a new idea for forest fire danger warnings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is interesting to explore the effects of second language (L2) acquisition on anatomical change in brain at different stages for the neural structural adaptations are dynamic. Short-term Chinese training effects on brain anatomical structures in alphabetic language speakers have been already studied. However, little is known about the adaptations of the gray matter induced by acquiring Chinese language for a relatively long learning period in adult alphabetic language speakers. To explore this issue, we recruited 38 Indian overseas students in China as our subjects. The learned group included 17 participants who had learned Mandarin Chinese for an average of 3.24 years and achieved intermediate Chinese language proficiency. The control group included 21 subjects who had no knowledge about Chinese. None of the participants had any experience in learning logographic and tonal language before Chinese learning. We found that (1) the learned group had significantly greater gray matter volume (GMV) in the left lingual gyrus (LG) compared with the control group; (2) the Chinese characters' reading accuracy was significantly and positively correlated to the GMV in the left LG and fusiform gyrus (FG) across the two groups; and (3) in the learned group, the duration of Chinese learning was significantly and positively correlated with the GMV in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) after correction for multiple comparisons with small volume corrections. Our structural imaging findings are in line with the functional imaging studies reporting increased brain activation induced by Chinese acquisition in alphabetic language speakers. The regional gray matter changes reflected the additional requirements imposed by the more difficult processing of Chinese characters and tones. The present study also show that the biological bases of the adaptations induced by a relatively long period of Chinese learning were limited in the common areas for first and foreign language processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The South China Sea (SCS), located at the junction of the Eurasian Plate, the Philippine Sea Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate, developed as the result of intra-continental rifting and seafloor spreading on the South China margin in the Cenozoic. Faults were developed extensively in the Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB), northern SCS margin, during the post-rift stage, but spatiotemporal evolution characteristics and geodynamics of the faulting were not resolved effectively. In this study, three stages of faulting evolution controlled by different geodynamics since the continental breakup were systematically analyzed and revealed based on the latest high resolution 2D/3D seismic data, the drilling data, the regional tectonic evolution, and the comparison with the previous studies. During Stage I, faulting showed tendency of migration from south to north (Zhu IV Depression to Baiyun Sag) and weak-intensive activities, which was mainly controlled by the southeastward mantle flow stemming from Indo-Eurasian collision. During Stage II, faulting showed tendency of migration from south to north (Baiyun Sag to Zhu I Depression) once again and intensive-weak activities, which was mainly controlled by the continental-ward lower crust flow stemming from the Baiyun Sag due to sedimentary loading. During Stage III, faulting showed tendency of migration from east to west and weak-intensive-weak activities, which was mainly controlled by the collision between the Luzon Arc and the Eurasian continental margin. From Stage I to Stage III, quantities of faults increased from nearly 400 to over 1000, but major lengths showed declined tendency from 3 to 15 km to 0–6 km. Striking of faults showed clockwise rotation from approximately E -W trending with azimuth of N90–100° to NW-SE trending with azimuth of N110–125°, and fault dip angles increased significantly from 35 to 45° to 55–65° and even 70–80°. During Stage I and Stage II, faults were mainly developed in the extension stress field, showing roughly parallel distribution on plan view and were arranged in steps on the sections. During Stage III, faults were mainly developed in the trans-tensional stress field. Many en echelon arrangement, x-conjugate-joint and horsetail-type fault systems were developed on plan view and Y- or composite Y-type, as well as flower-like structure fault systems on the seismic sections. Various geodynamics of the post-rift faulting in the northern SCS margin show transition from the interaction between plates to the west (the Indo-Eurasian Plates) during Stage I and Stage II, to the interaction between plates to the east (Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate) during Stage III. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicosis is an irreversible occupational pulmonary disease that is characterized as progressed pulmonary fibrosis. In this study, we investigated the changes of UFSP2 and the related UFMylation in silica-induced pulmonary injury mice models. The experimental silicosis models were prepared by intratracheal injection of silica particles, and the lung samples were harvested at the first or the seventh day after treatment. We found that the UFSP2 expression in the 1-day models was comparable, whereas it was upregulated in the 7-day models. Consistently, the UFMylation in the lung tissues of the 7-day models was activated. In addition, we observed the CADM2, an adhesion molecule, was reported to associate with epithelial-mesenchymal transition, was upregulated in the lungs of 7-day models. In contrast, it remained comparable in the 1-day models. Our data indicated that the UFSP2/UFMylation pathway and the CADM2 might be involved in the silica-induced pulmonary injury.