The seaweed industry in the Pacific islands

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Hybrid Satellite-Terrestrial Communication Networks for the Maritime Internet of Things: Key Technologies, Opportunities, and Challenges

With the rapid development of marine activities, there has been an increasing number of maritime mobile terminals, as well as a growing demand for high-speed and ultra-reliable maritime communications to keep them connected. Traditionally, the maritime Internet of Things (IoT) is enabled by maritime satellites. However, satellites are seriously restricted by their high latency and relatively low data rate. As an alternative, shore & island-based base stations (BSs) can be built to extend the coverage of terrestrial networks using fourth-generation (4G), fifth-generation (5G), and beyond 5G services. Unmanned aerial vehicles can also be exploited to serve as aerial maritime BSs. Despite of all these approaches, there are still open issues for an efficient maritime communication network (MCN). For example, due to the complicated electromagnetic propagation environment, the limited geometrically available BS sites, and rigorous service demands from mission-critical applications, conventional communication and networking theories and methods should be tailored for maritime scenarios. Towards this end, we provide a survey on the demand for maritime communications, the state-of-the-art MCNs, and key technologies for enhancing transmission efficiency, extending network coverage, and provisioning maritime-specific services. Future challenges in developing an environment-aware, service-driven, and integrated satellite-air-ground MCN to be smart enough to utilize external auxiliary information, e.g., sea state and atmosphere conditions, are also discussed

Occupational changes in the organ of hearing and equilibrium in sailors and fisherman

Prophylactic examination in persons engaged in fishing industry and in sailors of ocean-going ships demonstrated occupational cochlear neuritis, resulting from the action of noise and vibration. Five hundred and fifty three sailors and fishermen working under conditions of noise were studied. A total of 233 persons 43.7% were found to be suffering from changes of the auditory analyzer typically resulting from the action of noise and vibration. The most pronounced changes of hearing were revealed in fishermen, in 44.8% of the persons examined, the percentage also being the highest among the engine room workers (63%). The incidence of cochlear neuritis in sailors of the ocean-going steamship line and in personnel of research ocean-going ships was almost equal (39.9-40%). These indices differed in the engine room workers (42-46%). Vestibular function was investigated by caloric and rotation tests with the use of electronystagmography. The data obtained point to diminution of the vestibular analyzer excitability with increase of the length of navigation service

The Common Oceanographer: Crowdsourcing the Collection of Oceanographic Data

5 page(s