A group of Chinese researchers issued a data map of the soil organic carbon (SOC) content for global black soil areas,     1     (reveal) the quantification of agroecosystems and global food security, according to the recent issue of the journal Remote Sensing of Environment.

Research has shown that carbon cycle is     2     (significant) influenced by agricultural soils. The accuracy mapping of SOC content can help to clarify the carbon sequestration capacity (碳汇能力), quantify agroecosystem and contribute     3    global food security. But it is still challenging to acquire     4     (rely) SOC content databasets.

The study     5     (publish) in the journal was done by researchers from the Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences. According to the journal, the researchers     6     (collect) more than 191,000 scenes of remote sensing images and elevation model data, and used meta-learning convolutional neural network model     7     (generate) high-resolution data map for global black soil regions.

The data in the study indicates that the SOC content in the global black soil regions shows a decreasung trend, which can be divided into the significant decrease phase from 1984 to 2000,     8     the moderate decrease phase from 2001 to 2021.

The result from the study also shows that the four major black soil     9     (region) in the world have different rates of SOC decline. The SOC decline rates of the Russian-Ukrainian Plain and the Pampas Plain of South America are higher than     10     of the northeast China and the Mississippi River Basin in North America.

Delivery drones, as the name suggests,     1     (use) to deliver goods. At the moment, delivery drones are mainly used for military action and disaster     2     (relieve), like the distribution of medicines during emergencies, especially to places that are hard     3     (reach) by other means of transport.     4     can be predicted that before long many people will be using drones to deliver daily supplies     5     food and drink. Some companies are also developing passenger drones,     6     carry people in crowded cities. Just enter a destination,     7     the drones will fly the passengers where they want to go. This could not only save time, but also     8     (great) decrease road traffic. We can assume that with     9     (improve) technology in passenger drones, we will be entering the age of personal flying vehicles. There are also many other exciting new ways to use this technology. Whatever     10     (happen), we’ll all be interacting with drones on a daily basis. There can be no denying that the technology will have a huge impact on everyday life.

A skywell, or “tian jing” in Mandarin, is a typical feature of a traditional home in southern and eastern China.     1     (expose) less to the outdoor environment, a skywell is different from a northern Chinese courtyard. Skywells are     2     (relative) common in historic residences in large areas of southern and eastern China.

In today’s rapidly urbanising China, fewer and fewer people live in skywell dwellings,     3     a revival of interest in traditional Chinese architecture is leading some of historic buildings with skywells     4     (restore) for modern times. Meanwhile, some architects are drawing     5     (inspire) from skywells to help keep new buildings cooler, which is a method     6     (combine) design and technology to cool a building without the use of power.

However, there are some     7     (challenge) for bringing skywells into modern designs. The mechanisms of courtyards facilitating natural lighting, ventilation (通风) and rain collection are well known, but applying these principles     8     (need) to be site-specific. Because traditional skywells had different shapes, sizes and features, which were highly dependent     9     their natural surroundings. Adding skywells into modern buildings requires designers to be sensitive to their project’s context and situation, making it difficult to apply them as     10     universal solution.