Monitoring Vegetation Cover Changes by Sentinel-1 Radar Images Using Random Forest Classification Method

Vietnam is an Asian country with hot and humid tropical climate throughout the year. Forestsaccount for more than 40% of the total land area and have a very rich and diverse vegetation.Monitoring the changes in the vegetation cover is obviously important yet challenging, considering suchlarge varying areas and climatic conditions. A traditional remote sensing technique to monitor thevegetation cover involves the use of optical satellite images. However, in presence of the cloud cover,the analyses done using optical satellite image are not reliable. In such a scenario, radar images are auseful alternative due to the ability of radar pulses in penetrating through the clouds, regardless of day ornight. In this study, we have used multi temporal C band satellite images to monitor vegetation coverchanges for an area in Dau Tieng and Ben Cat districts of Binh Duong province, Mekong Delta,Vietnam. With a collection of 46 images between March 2015 and February 2017, the changes of fiveland cover types including vegetation loss and replanting in 2017 were analyzed by selecting two cases,using 9 images in the dry season of 3 years 2015, 2016 and 2017 and using all of 46 images to conductRandom Forest classifier with 100, 200, 300 and 500 trees respectively. The result in which the modelwith nine images and 300 trees gave the best accuracy with an overall accuracy of 98.4% and a Kappaof 0.97. The results demonstrated that using VH polarization, Sentinel-1 gives quite a good accuracy forvegetation cover change. Therefore, Sentinel-1 can also be used to generate reliable land cover mapssuitable for different applications.

Sustainable Practices Through Competitive Capabilities in the Apparel Industry: Sri Lankan Experience

The study aims to explore competitive capabilities that enable sustainability practices in the Apparel Industry in the Sri Lankan context. It employs an exploratory approach using the case study method. The study discloses six competitive capabilities: organizational climate, operational flexibility, technological competency, alliance and partnership, knowledge sharing, and learning capabilities which drives twenty-four sustainable practices explored in ten categories: water conservation, energy conservation, carbon footprint reduction, fabric waste management, use of environment-friendly materials, controlling mechanism for suppliers, controlling mechanism for leasing/sub-contracting manufacturing plants, reduce the polluted air release, transportation, and ensuring the well-being of the people. Companies in the apparel industry should inculcate a supportive organizational climate, maintain operational flexibility, invest in required technology, maintain healthy relationships in the supply chain, share knowledge and encourage learning to adopt sustainable practices in the Apparel Industry. This study is the first to explore the specific competitive capabilities that bring respective sustainable practices in the Apparel Industry in a South Asian country.

Perceived fear of COVID-19 among Nepali older adults

Although coronavirus-disease-2019 (COVID-19) impacted everyone in some ways, it disproportionally impacted the older population. Given their increased vulnerability to severe illness and mortality, the ongoing pandemic has created greater distress, anxiety, and fear among the older population. In Nepal, a South Asian country nestled in the Himalayas between India and China, most stories of older adults are untold ̶ both in the pre-COVID-19 and the COVID-19 era. This study aimed to explore the perceived fear of COVID-19 among Nepali older adults. A cross-sectional study was conducted between July-September 2020 among 847 older adults (≥60years) residing in three districts of eastern Nepal. The seven-item Fear of COVID-19 Scale assessed the perceived fear of COVID-19; higher scores on the scale (ranges 7 to 35 indicated greater fear. A sizeable proportion of the participants' reported being afraid (35%), anxious (32%), uncomfortable (24%), clammy (14%), and sleepless (12%), while 28% were fearful of losing their life due to COVID-19. In adjusted regression analysis, older age group, Dalit (minority) ethnicity, and remoteness to the health facility were associated with greater fear of COVID-19. Surprisingly, pre-existing health conditions were inversely associated with fear of COVID-19. Greater fear of COVID-19 amidst the pandemic, although anticipated, urges us to reflect on the most vulnerable groups' psychological needs not just during COVID-19 but in the future events of pandemics and public health emergencies. Fear during emergencies could be battled with accurate and effective information as well as better preparedness and psychosocial interventions.

Visualization analysis of research “hot spots”: self-management in breast cancer patients†

Objective To identify the research on “hot spots” and frontiers of self-management in patients with breast cancer. Methods We searched the Web of Science database for articles associated with keywords, and used CiteSpaceIII to analyze the data. Results A total of 958 documents were included. High-frequency keywords covered “quality of life (QOL),” “randomized controlled trial,” “depression,” “fatigue,” and “meta-analysis.” Research on self-management by patients with breast cancer has mainly been conducted in the United States of American (USA) and other western countries, whereas the Asian country, China ranked eighth among the top 10 countries. Conclusions The analysis revealed research on “hot spots” particularly research on psychological health and QOL. Promoting clinical research, encouraging evidence-based practice, and developing nursing specialization may improve research on self-management interventions for patients with breast cancer.

rise of China

A new world emerges to the detriment of the unipolar world led so far by the United States. In this context, what the new global order will look like, due to China's growing influence in the international arena, is a major topic of discussion for internationalists. The debate is mainly based on two alternative standpoints: China will adapt itself to the international system or China will build a new one according to its own values and norms. The aim of this research is to trace the line between (1) the narratives and debates on China's rise, and (2) the civilizational differences between the Asian country and the West, thus providing a framework for identifying possible ways in which China could impact the international system.

Exploring biodiversity mental constructs of urban residents in an emerging South-East Asian country

Biodiversity loss is occurring at unprecedented rate. Understanding the mental constructs of the public can help implement more effective programs and regulations for decelerating the loss. Although many studies have been conducted to study the biodiversity mental constructs of the public, little is known about those of urban residents in an Asian emerging country, like Vietnam. Employing the Grounded Theory and semi-conducting interview, the current study attempts to explore three biodiversity perceptions of urban residents in two Vietnamese largest cities: i) biodiversity and biodiversity loss, ii) impacts of biodiversity and biodiversity loss on human, and iii) human’s reaction towards biodiversity and biodiversity loss. Besides identifying important conceptual dimensions, we also find the influence of cultural value, the awareness of multistakeholders’ participation, and some misunderstandings in the urban residents’s perceptions. Thus, we recommend policymakers to promote education and public communication of biodiversity-related knowledge, as well as multistakeholders’ cooperation for achieving the 11th cultural progressive value – the environmental-healing element.

Crisis del Capitalismo Global o, Fin du Globe?

En este ensayo he intentado contribuir al fecundo debate sobre la crisis del capitalismo global. La tesis desarrollada se fundamenta en una sucesión de acontecimientos históricos, convergentes y orgánicamente dependientes. La crisis del capitalismo keynesiano de la Segunda Posguerra confluyó –y contribuyó a profundizar– con la crisis del desarrollismo en América Latina y en el continente africano. El auge de la contrarrevolución neoliberal liderada por Thatcher-Reagan, junto a sus discípulos europeos de la Tercera Vía, convergió con el derrumbamiento del Imperio Soviético y el extraordinario ascenso de la China posmaoísta. Durante la era de Deng Xiaoping iniciada en 1978, en el país asiático se desarrolló un capitalismo de Estado que dos décadas después, bajo un control políticamente comunista, se había transformado en un régimen socialista con características chinas y afinidades neoliberales. Las consecuencias de este nuevo orden mundial se analizan en la segunda parte del ensayo como problemas centrales del siglo XXI: la desigualdad existencial global de una ciudadanía sometida por la lógica del capital ficticio a una implacable servidumbre por deudas; la erosión de la política pública; la explotación laboral expresada simultáneamente en las economías posindustriales y en el Sur global a través de la destrucción no tan creativa de las cadenas de valor y otras formas vinculadas a la expansión de la gig economy y al tecnoutopismo del silicio; así como la alteración antropogénica de la biodiversidad terrestre sin precedentes en el registro histórico. In this essay I have tried to contribute to the fruitful debate on the crisis of global capitalism. The thesis developed is based on a succession of historical, convergent and organically dependent events. The crisis of Keynesian capitalism of the second postwar period converged –and contributed to deepen– with the crisis of developmentalism in Latin America and on the African continent. The rise of the neoliberal counterrevolution led by Thatcher-Reagan, along with her European Third Way disciples, converged with the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the extraordinary rise of post-Maoist China. During the Deng Xiaoping era, which began in 1978, a state capitalism developed in the Asian country that two decades later, under politically communist control, had been transformed into a socialist regime with Chinese characteristics and neoliberal affinities. The consequences of this new world order are analyzed in the second part of the essay as central problems of the 21th century: the global existential inequality of a citizenry subjected by the logic of fictitious capital to implacable debt bondage; the erosion of public policy; labor exploitation expressed simultaneously in post-industrial economies and in the global South through the not so creative destruction of value chains and other forms linked to the expansion of the gig economy and silicon techno-utopianism; as well as the anthropogenic alteration, without historical precedent, of terrestrial biodiversity.

Bayesian dynamic network actor models with application to South Korean COVID-19 patient movement data

Motivated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, this article introduces Bayesian dynamic network actor models for the analysis of infected individuals’ movements in South Korea during the first three months of 2020. The relational event data modelling framework makes use of network statistics capturing the structure of movement events from and to several country’s municipalities. The fully probabilistic Bayesian approach allows to quantify the uncertainty associated to the relational tendencies explaining where and when movement events are established and where they are directed. The observed patient movements’ patterns at an early stage of the pandemic can provide interesting insights about the spread of the disease in the Asian country.

A retrospective review of antiphospholipid syndrome from a South Asian country

Objectives: This study aims to investigate clinical presentations, antiphospholipid antibody patterns and their levels, therapeutic regimens, and outcomes in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) admitted to a tertiary care hospital of a South Asian country. Patients and methods: Between January 2009 and December 2019, a total of 216 patients with APS (8 males, 208 females; median age: 35.7±6.9 years; range, 20 to 76 years) who either fulfilled the modified Sydney criteria or those who satisfied only clinical criteria along with positive antiphospholipid antibody on at least one occasion (probable APS) were retrospectively analyzed. Results: The majority of the patients (n=183, 84.7%) had obstetric complications, followed by venous thrombosis in 23 (10.8%) patients. Recurrent early abortions in 126 (58.6%) and deep venous thrombosis in 16 (7.4%) patients were the most prevalent obstetrical and venous events, respectively, whereas limb gangrene in seven (3.3%) and ischemic stroke in seven (3.3%) were the most common arterial events. A total of 190 (88%) patients had primary APS, while 26 (12%) had secondary APS. Systemic lupus erythematosus was the frequent association with secondary APS found in 19 (73%) patients. Immunoglobulin M (IgM) anticardiolipin antibody was present in 173 (65.0%) patients, being the most commonly reported antibody. Probable catastrophic APS was found in four (1.9%) patients. Majority of the patients (n=190, 87.9%) were treated with a combination of acetylsalicylic acid and low-molecular-weight heparin. Single mortality was observed in our study population due to complications related to catastrophic APS. Conclusion: Antiphospholipid syndrome has a wide range of thrombotic and obstetrical manifestations with important variations in different regions of the world. There is a significant morbidity and mortality related to APS, despite treatment with anticoagulation and; therefore, describing prognostic markers and optimal therapeutic interventions is pivotal to prevent complications.