Use of nonintrusive sensor-based information and communication technology for real-world evidence for clinical trials in dementia

Cognitive function is an important end point of treatments in dementia clinical trials. Measuring cognitive function by standardized tests, however, is biased toward highly constrained environments (such as hospitals) in selected samples. Patient-powered real-world evidence using information and communication technology devices, including environmental and wearable sensors, may help to overcome these limitations. This position paper describes current and novel information and communication technology devices and algorithms to monitor behavior and function in people with prodromal and manifest stages of dementia continuously, and discusses clinical, technological, ethical, regulatory, and user-centered requirements for collecting real-world evidence in future randomized controlled trials. Challenges of data safety, quality, and privacy and regulatory requirements need to be addressed by future smart sensor technologies. When these requirements are satisfied, these technologies will provide access to truly user relevant outcomes and broader cohorts of participants than currently sampled in clinical trials

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in environmental biology: A Review

Acquiring information about the environment is a key step during each study in the field of environmental biology at different levels, from an individual species to community and biome. However, obtaining information about the environment is frequently difficult because of, for example, the phenological timing, spatial distribution of a species or limited accessibility of a particular area for the field survey. Moreover, remote sensing technology, which enables the observation of the Earth’s surface and is currently very common in environmental research, has many limitations such as insufficient spatial, spectral and temporal resolution and a high cost of data acquisition. Since the 1990s, researchers have been exploring the potential of different types of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for monitoring Earth’s surface. The present study reviews recent scientific literature dealing with the use of UAV in environmental biology. Amongst numerous papers, short communications and conference abstracts, we selected 110 original studies of how UAVs can be used in environmental biology and which organisms can be studied in this manner. Most of these studies concerned the use of UAV to measure the vegetation parameters such as crown height, volume, number of individuals (14 studies) and quantification of the spatio-temporal dynamics of vegetation changes (12 studies). UAVs were also frequently applied to count birds and mammals, especially those living in the water. Generally, the analytical part of the present study was divided into following sections: (1) detecting, assessing and predicting threats on vegetation, (2) measuring the biophysical parameters of vegetation, (3) quantifying the dynamics of changes in plants and habitats and (4) population and behaviour studies of animals. At the end, we also synthesised all the information showing, amongst others, the advances in environmental biology because of UAV application. Considering that 33% of studies found and included in this review were published in 2017 and 2018, it is expected that the number and variety of applications of UAVs in environmental biology will increase in the future

Research in geosciences policy

Various topics related to cases of difficult adaptation to global change are discussed. Topics include patterns in the ratification of global environmental treaties, the effects of global climate change on Southeast Asia, and global change and biodiversity loss

Visual evidence from above : assessing the value of earth observation satellites for supporting human rights

Public access to data collected by remote sensing Earth Observation Satellites has, until recently, been very limited. Now, citizens and rights advocacy groups are increasingly utilising satellite-collected images to interrogate justice issues; to document, prevent and verify rights abuses; and to imagine and propose social change. Yet while other communication technologies have received substantial critical analysis regarding their value as tools of social justice, activism and resistance, satellites have received comparatively scant attention. This article examines the uses of satellite-collected images in human rights contexts including the opportunities, challenges and risks they pose. We conclude this examination by arguing that if satellites are to be used effectively to collect evidence from above by rights advocates, greater attention to and capacity for ensuring accountability from below is required

Irrigation Water Management by Using Remote Sensing and GIS Technology to Maintain the Sustainability of Tourism Potential in Bali

This paper reviews the literature on the potential use of remote sensing and GIS technology in irrigation water management to support the preservation of the Subak irrigation system in Bali. Subak is a system that has survived for a very long time faces challenges in irrigation water management. Remote sensing technology provides an opportunity to get identification, analysis, and monitoring of land use, irrigation area, irrigation infrastructures, water supply source, water use, crop type, water rights, irrigation scheduling, yield estimates, nursery monitoring, crop disease detection, evaluate fruit maturity, and detection of bruises on fruit. The integration of remote sensing technology and GIS is expected to be able to make irrigation infrastructure assets and water management more effective and efficient

Space Cooperation Under Anarchy: Commercialization of Outer Space and Space Security in the Post-Cold War Era

The 20th century brought the most horrific weapons and most devastating wars in the history of human civilization. It also gave us the most breathtaking discoveries and technological breakthroughs, including the opening up of outer space to human reach. The commercialization of outer space is one of the most significant developments of our time, giving us an opportunity to put the richness of this medium to the betterment of human conditions on Earth on an increasingly widening scale. Technological advances have also made space more important militarily. A puzzle now is whether the commercialization of outer space facilitates international cooperation in the security realm or makes interstate relations more competitive in the fourth medium. This study tries to address the issue of outer space security by placing it within the realist-liberal debate on economic interdependence and international conflict and cooperation. It shows that as the post-Cold War transition era drew to its close, security interests of the United States, on the one hand, and Russia and China, on the other, continued to diverge with regard to space security. The sole international intergovernmental organization charged with the negotiations on space security issues failed to bridge the differences and bring about compromises among the major space players. As a result, a new space security regime regulating expanding military uses of space has not emerged. Liberal expectations fail on two important accounts. Firstly, the cost-benefit analysis that lies in the heart of the argument of liberal pacification consists of the costs of fighting a war as well as the opportunity costs of war and the former has not necessarily increased with technological progress and, even with greater commercialization of outer space, the latter may not necessarily offset the trend in the former. Secondly, the liberal expectation that expanding commercial relations between states would gradually lead to progressive de-legitimization of the use force has so far failed to materialize with respect to outer space