Search Results (34)

Amidst global concerns for linguistic diversity, this systematic review synthesizes six decades (1965–2025) of research on Tanka, a critically endangered language spoken by the boat people along Southeast China. Analyzing 42 studies identified through the PRISMA framework, the review reveals significant sociolinguistic and epistemological imbalances. Research output disproportionately focuses on phonetics and phonology (50%), while neglecting grammar, lexicon, and sociolinguistic vitality. Linguistically, Tanka demonstrates substantial contact-induced convergence with Cantonese or Pinghua within multilingual ecologies; nevertheless, it retains distinctive phonological shifts, a unique maritime lexicon, and grammatical innovations, reflecting both regional alignment and endogenous community practices. Its heterogeneous genetic affiliation highlights local sociohistorical contact dynamics. Rapid intergenerational language shift is documented across communities, driven by intersecting pressures, including state-led urbanization, Mandarin-centric education policies, demographic shifts, occupational change, and enduring social stigmatization. Therefore, community attitudes often prioritize socio-economic mobility through dominant languages over heritage maintenance. Persistent gaps include limited syntactic and discourse analysis, minimal use of quantitative and computational methods (e.g., AI-assisted documentation), insufficient geographic coverage, and a lack of longitudinal shift studies. The field thus urgently requires enhanced international engagement via English publications and a decisive shift towards collaborative, community-centered revitalization frameworks that address power asymmetries and harness cultural resilience. Full article

This paper considers the multiple path planning problem to cover a region of interest using vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) drones. Drones are used not only to explore unknown areas but also to view areas from the air that are difficult for people to approach by cars, boats, etc. Hence, the coverage path planning for drones should work regardless of whether the drone is inside or outside the region of interest. The proposed algorithm starts by adjusting the region of interest based on the capturing area. Once the region of interest is determined, multiple path plans are created based on the pre-derived rules for generating an optimal path under the general case and the drone’s performance, such as speed, maximum flight time, etc. The aim is to minimize the time to cover the whole region of interest. Hence, the following criteria are applied to determine the appropriateness of the generated paths: (1) whether the start and end points of the path are located as close as possible to the drone’s position, (2) whether the number of generated paths is appropriate, and (3) whether the makespan differences between the paths are small. The performance of the proposed algorithm is verified by numerous simulations. Full article

When COVID-19 data on Asian Americans are available, they are frequently aggregated, concealing community-specific concerns. Consequently, there is limited COVID-19 literature on Vietnamese Americans. In this study, we investigated the association between health insurance coverage and non-medical challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, in Vietnamese Americans in Texas. The NIH Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Common Survey 2 was administered electronically in English and Vietnamese and contained 23 questions about non-medical drivers of health, COVID-19 vaccination, and research participation. Vietnamese American adults in Texas were recruited between September 2021 and March 2022 via partnerships with community organizations. Responses were compared and analyzed using logistic regression. Of 217 respondents, 23 (11%) were uninsured. Of the uninsured participants, 43% lost health insurance coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic. Uninsured individuals had significantly higher odds of experiencing non-medical challenges, including obtaining housing (OR = 6.10, p < 0.001), food (OR = 6.41, p < 0.001), and medications (OR = 3.45, p < 0.05) than insured individuals. Uninsured individuals had a significantly longer time-lapse since seeing a healthcare provider (ordinal OR = 0.20, p < 0.05) than insured individuals. Thus, lack of insurance is strongly associated with non-medical challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic among Vietnamese Americans in Texas. Disaggregating data can address non-medical drivers of health, advancing equity for marginalized communities. Full article

The Brazilian Amazon has one of the largest river networks in the world, connecting riverine communities, many of which have no roadways. The use of high-speed vessels, including those that are locally made, is necessary for the transportation of people to perform their day-to-day activities. However, regional news and social media data have shown that these vessels are involved in accidents. This work describes some of the key challenges to improving the sustainability and safety of regional high-speed vessels. Field research was performed in the state of Amazonas to document regional vessels and provide graphic evidence of the possible risk factors that could cause accidents as the path to prevent them. Some risk mitigation alternatives were discussed. Cameras and a drone were used to capture information either from the shore or from small boats. The main challenges are related to the adequate management of seasonal changes in river depths; wave and wind behavior; wave wash effects; the interaction of vessels with rocks, sand banks, mud, and vegetation; embarkation and disembarkation activities; the monitoring and regulation of safety requirements and dangerous operations; and the slowness in implementing technological advances that would improve vessels’ safety. It is hoped that the work in this paper will contribute to improving the sustainability of marine activities in the Amazon and similar regions worldwide. Full article

Water navigation is crucial for the movement of people and goods in many locations, including the Amazon region. It is essential for the flow of inputs and outputs, and for certain Amazon cities, boat access is the only option. Fuel consumption accounts for over 25% of a vessel’s total operational costs. Shipping companies are therefore seeking procedures and technologies to reduce energy consumption. This research aimed to develop a fuel consumption prediction model for vessels operating in the Amazon region. Machine learning techniques such as Decision Tree, Random Forest, Extra Tree, Gradient Boosting, Extreme Gradient Boosting, and CatBoost can be used for this purpose. The input variables were based on the main design characteristics of the vessels, such as length and draft. Through metrics like mean, median, and coefficient of determination (R²), six different algorithms were assessed. CatBoost was identified as the model with the best performance and suitability for the data. Indeed, it achieved an R² value higher than 91% in predicting and optimizing fuel consumption for vessels operating in the Amazon and similar regions. Full article

Autographics illustrating refugee and migrant experiences are frequently published, proof of the power of comics to engage with representations of trauma and vulnerability. Thi Bui’s graphic memoir The Best We Could Do tells the story of the author and her family as “boat people”, before and after migrating from Việt Nam to the US in the so-called second “wave” of refugees (1978–1980). If, as Judith Butler argues, vulnerable lives are more grievable when exposed and acknowledged, then self-representation of vulnerable lives might offer a site of resistance against precarity. Thi Bui’s graphic memoir is no exception, since she deals with common themes in Vietnamese American literature such as PTSD, inherited family trauma or everyday bordering, inscribing herself and her family in the counterhistory of the US regarding the Vietnam War, while also addressing themes and motifs recurrent in Asian American comics. The author follows a thematic concern present in Vietnamese American narratives, which tends to present the refugee experience from a heroic perspective, but this is limited and antagonised by Bui’s personal story, who feels estranged from her parents, their past in Việt Nam and the war. As this article shows, the recording and commemoration of her parents’ memories help her to identify with the family legacy of heroic vulnerability in her role as a mother. Full article

Illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing, including that of sharks, poses a significant threat to marine ecosystems and individual species. I use data from the media, tourists, and artisan fishermen to gain insight into the trade in the world’s largest fish, the whale shark (Rhincodon typus). I focus on the Indonesian island of Java where, along its south coast, whale sharks are landed and butchered on the beach in view of hundreds of people and local media. Whale sharks are typically caught in fishing nets and dragged alongside boats to the shallows, where they are butchered. The meat and oil (valued at ~USD 2000 per shark) are sold and distributed within the community. I document 58 landings of mainly immature whale sharks (2002–2022). Artisanal fishermen see the landing of whale sharks as a fortuitous event, but the species is protected, and Indonesia is a signatory to various international agreements that preclude the fishing of whale sharks. It is imperative for the conservation of whale sharks that the various parties in Indonesia adhere better to their own rules and regulations protecting this species. Full article

Infrared images can rely on the thermal radiation of objects for imaging, independent of lighting conditions. Furthermore, because the thermal radiation produced by targets such as people, vehicles, and boats differs greatly from the background, it is able to distinguish objects from their environment as well. These characteristics of infrared can be complemented with visible images, which are rich in color information but vulnerable to lighting conditions. Therefore, the fusion of IR and visible images can provide a better perception of the environment. In this paper, we propose a new infrared–visible fusion algorithm. It consists of three parts: feature extraction, fusion, and reconstruction. The attention mechanism is introduced into the feature extraction to better extract features and we propose a new way of describing the fusion task. The relationship between the two inputs is balanced by introducing a fused image obtained by summing the infrared and visible images. It is also optimized for sky layering and water surface ripples, which are common in water environments. The edge information is enhanced in the loss function and noise reduction is performed. Through comparison experiments, our algorithm achieves better results. Full article

In the efforts to mitigate the ongoing humanitarian crisis at the European sea borders, this work builds detection capabilities to help find refugee boats in distress. For this paper, we collected dual-pol and quad-pol synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data over a 12 m rubber inflatable in a test-bed lake near Berlin, Germany. To consider a real scenario, we prepared the vessel so that its backscattering emulated that of a vessel fully occupied with people. Further, we collected SAR imagery over the ocean with different sea states, categorized by incidence angle and by polarization. These were used to emulate the conditions for a vessel located in ocean waters. This setup enabled us to test nine well-known vessel-detection systems (VDS), to explore the capabilities of new detection algorithms and to benchmark different combinations of detectors (detector fusion) with respect to different sensor and scene parameters (e.g., the polarization, wind speed, wind direction and boat orientation). This analysis culminated in designing a system that is specifically tailored to accommodate different situations and sea states. Full article

In this study, we aimed to understand the influence of ecotourism on the distribution of Oncomelania hupensis and to provide a scientific basis for formulating effective snail control methods in tourism development areas. Poyang Lake National Wetland Park was selected as the pilot area, and sampling surveys were conducted based on comprehensive and detailed investigations of all historical and suspected snail environments according to map data to determine the snail distribution and analyze the impact of tourism development. The results showed that from 2011 to 2021, the positive rates of blood tests and fecal tests tended to decrease among residents of the Poyang Lake area. The positive rates of blood tests and fecal tests in livestock also tended to decrease. The average density of O. hupensis snails decreased, and no schistosomes were detected during infection monitoring in Poyang Lake. The local economy rapidly grew after the development of tourism. The development of ecotourism projects in Poyang Lake National Wetland Park increased the transfer frequency of boats, recreational equipment, and people, but it did not increase the risk of schistosomiasis transmission or the spread of O. hupensis snails. Prevention and monitoring only need to be strengthened in low-endemic schistosomiasis areas to effectively promote economic development due to tourism activities without affecting the health of residents. Full article

Economic development and community revitalization can benefit from youth entrepreneurship; however, insufficient guidance for youths may weaken this beneficial effect. The Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China organized entrepreneurship events in China’s tertiary education institutes. With the aim of helping youths at university to clearly perceive social–entrepreneurship value and steadily form moral business motives, events were guided by the core of the Red Boat Spirit (RBS) and through the specific program Youth Red Dream Building Journey (YRDBJ). Youths have been part of the nation’s evolution via their contributions to various fields, including initiatives to improve the appearance of the countryside; modern innovations in agriculture; providing health and medicine supplies to alleviate poverty; and the cultural spread of RBS. Ten million university students have joined the program since 2017. Incorporating RBS and Social Entrepreneurship Education (SEE) into the special Ideological and Political Education (IPE) in China’s tertiary education, the program, YRDBJ, significantly influenced the Chinese youth in terms of social entrepreneurship at university. With this analytical approach, this study employed Marxist theories to analyze the relevant theoretical literature on entrepreneurship in order to discover the mechanism underlying the success of the program. This paper reveals the theoretical framework of YRDBJ and analyzes the factors that favorably formed the framework; moreover, it also proposes a new conceptual model bound with YRDBJ, which enriches the theoretical development of IPE and SEE. This paper also notes the limitations of YRDBJ and subjects it to scrutiny; then, we provide new ideas to improve the relationship between SEE and YRDBJ. Full article

The Taipu River is an important cross-border river in the Yangtze River Delta region and a direct channel connecting Taihu Lake and Huangpu River. Along the main stream of the Taipu River are many sources of water, such as the Wujiang, Dingzha, and Liantang Rivers. Many boats traverse these rivers transporting a wide variety of goods, including large quantities of oil, chemicals, and other dangerous goods. In the event of accidents on these vessels, spilled cargo will directly threaten the drinking water safety of people in the region. Aiming at simulating and assessing the environmental risks of sudden oil spills in rivers in the Yangtze River Delta region, this paper established a two-dimensional oil spill model of the typical transboundary Taipu River based on the MIKE21 water environment numerical simulation software developed by the Danish Institute of Water Conservancy. The established model will improve emergency response and treatment plans as well as our understanding of river oil spill progressions. Full article

Recreational fisheries involve millions of people globally, thus there is a growing recognition of the immense economic, sociocultural and ecological importance of recreational fishing as a significant component of global capture fisheries. However, recreational fishing is still not as controlled nor as well investigated as commercial fishing. Although the difference between commercial and recreational fisheries may be obvious, the definition of recreational fishing is not uniform, and the issue becomes more difficult in the case of sport fishing. The clear distinction between sport and recreational fisheries is vague, in particular due to a lack of definition of what constitutes a “recreational” or “sport” fishery. In this study, sport fisheries is considered as the competition-oriented subcategory of recreational fisheries, involving a subset of recreational fishers that participate in fishing competitions. Obtained results from the Adriatic Sea showed differences between shore and boat angling in terms of the species caught and the CPUE, while a comparison of the results from competition and out-of-competition boat angling revealed different tactics and targets of the recreational fishers, which are more efficient than sport fishers. Thus, there is an urgent need for all-inclusive management in the Mediterranean region, particularly because of the social and economic conflicts that may arise and intensify with the decline of the accessible fish resources. Full article

Seagrass habitats are among the most valuable coastal ecosystems. They provide a wide array of ecosystem services (ES) that support the livelihoods of many people. However, seagrass habitats worldwide are at risk of being lost due to the alteration of coastal areas by many causes. Seagrass meadows around Thailand were assessed to evaluate their ecosystem services and vulnerability (VU) status. The ES and VU analyses could be used as basic tools to assess the status of individual seagrass meadows and to prioritize the action needed among several meadows. From 82 seagrass sites, the ES of seagrass habitats tended to be varied based on the areas of the seagrass beds. The vulnerability of the seagrass habitats was mainly influenced by the threat of boating accidents and the incidence of sedimentation. The final combined analysis suggested that a seagrass site at Ban Don (BD), in Surat Thani Province, should be the priority for intervention due to the importance of the ES provided at the site and the existence of a degree of threat from poor land-use management. This work allows us to understand more about the targeted management of seagrass ecosystems, which is very important for conservation and restoration because of its significant potential carbon offset. Full article

Mobile Ad hoc Networks (MANETs) are intended to work without a fixed framework and provide dependable interchanges to ground vehicles, boats, airplanes, or people and structure a self-mending process that will empower persistent correspondences in any event, when at least one of its nodes are debilitated or briefly expelled from the system. Notwithstanding, MANETs demonstrate themselves to be progressively harder to create for enormous systems with hundreds or thousands more nodes than initially envisioned. In our proposed technique, the node switches its communication mode depending on the connectivity of the adjacent nodes. The transmission power of each node will be calculated with the help of two major scenarios i.e., tree scenario and zone scenario. The autonomous clustering of the nodes among the tree and the zone scenario will be channelized by a comparison of the transmission power (residual energy) among the nodes. The inter and the intra communication of the node is also discussed in the paper. The result will be carried out by the simulation work in various perspectives, such as checking the percentage level of malicious nodes, traffic density, transmission power, and the longevity of nodes. Full article