Mapping crop phenology using NDVI time-series derived from HJ-1 A/B data

With the availability of high frequent satellite data, crop phenology could be accurately mapped using time-series remote sensing data. Vegetation index time-series data derived from AVHRR, MODIS, and SPOT-VEGETATION images usually have coarse spatial resolution. Mapping crop phenology parameters using higher spatial resolution images (e.g., Landsat TM-like) is unprecedented. Recently launched HJ-1 A/B CCD sensors boarded on China Environment Satellite provided a feasible and ideal data source for the construction of high spatio-temporal resolution vegetation index time-series. This paper presented a comprehensive method to construct NDVI time-series dataset derived from HJ-1 A/B CCD and demonstrated its application in cropland areas. The procedures of time-series data construction included image preprocessing, signal filtering, and interpolation for daily NDVI images then the NDVI time-series could present a smooth and complete phenological cycle. To demonstrate its application, TIMESAT program was employed to extract phenology parameters of crop lands located in Guanzhong Plain, China. The small-scale test showed that the crop season start/end derived from HJ-1 A/B NDVI time-series was comparable with local agro-metrological observation. The methodology for reconstructing time-series remote sensing data had been proved feasible, though forgoing researches will improve this a lot in mapping crop phenology. Last but not least, further studies should be focused on field-data collection, smoothing method and phenology definitions using time-series remote sensing data

Applications of satellite ‘hyper-sensing’ in Chinese agriculture:Challenges and opportunities

Ensuring adequate food supplies to a large and increasing population continues to be the key challenge for China. Given the increasing integration of China within global markets for agricultural products, this issue is of considerable significance for global food security. Over the last 50 years, China has increased the production of its staple crops mainly by increasing yield per unit land area. However, this has largely been achieved through inappropriate agricultural practices, which have caused environmental degradation, with deleterious consequences for future agricultural productivity. Hence, there is now a pressing need to intensify agriculture in China using practices that are environmentally and economically sustainable. Given the dynamic nature of crops over space and time, the use of remote sensing technology has proven to be a valuable asset providing end-users in many countries with information to guide sustainable agricultural practices. Recently, the field has experienced considerable technological advancements reflected in the availability of ‘hyper-sensing’ (high spectral, spatial and temporal) satellite imagery useful for monitoring, modelling and mapping of agricultural crops. However, there still remains a significant challenge in fully exploiting such technologies for addressing agricultural problems in China. This review paper evaluates the potential contributions of satellite ‘hyper-sensing’ to agriculture in China and identifies the opportunities and challenges for future work. We perform a critical evaluation of current capabilities in satellite ‘hyper-sensing’ in agriculture with an emphasis on Chinese sensors. Our analysis draws on a series of in-depth examples based on recent and on-going projects in China that are developing ‘hyper-sensing’ approaches for (i) measuring crop phenology parameters and predicting yields; (ii) specifying crop fertiliser requirements; (iii) optimising management responses to abiotic and biotic stress in crops; (iv) maximising yields while minimising water use in arid regions; (v) large-scale crop/cropland mapping; and (vi) management zone delineation. The paper concludes with a synthesis of these application areas in order to define the requirements for future research, technological innovation and knowledge exchange in order to deliver yield sustainability in China

Spatial epidemiology in zoonotic parasitic diseases: insights gained at the 1st International Symposium on Geospatial Health in Lijiang, China, 2007

The 1st International Symposium on Geospatial Health was convened in Lijiang, Yunnan province, People's Republic of China from 8 to 9 September, 2007. The objective was to review progress made with the application of spatial techniques on zoonotic parasitic diseases, particularly in Southeast Asia. The symposium featured 71 presentations covering soil-transmitted and water-borne helminth infections, as well as arthropod-borne diseases such as leishmaniasis, malaria and lymphatic filariasis. The work made public at this occasion is briefly summarized here to highlight the advances made and to put forth research priorities in this area. Approaches such as geographical information systems (GIS), global positioning systems (GPS) and remote sensing (RS), including spatial statistics, web-based GIS and map visualization of field investigations, figured prominently in the presentation

New Mexico Daily Lobo, Volume 080, No 39, 10/14/1976

New Mexico Daily Lobo, Volume 080, No 39, 10/14/1976https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/daily_lobo_1976/1111/thumbnail.jp

The China-Hongkong relationship in telecommunications: a pluralistic analysis of mutual influences.

by Yan Zhaoxu.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1992.Includes bibliographical references.LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES --- p.iiiABBREVIATIONS --- p.vINTRODUCTION --- p.1Chapter CHAPTER 1 --- TOWARD A PLURALISTIC APPROACH TO TELECOMMUNICATIONS --- p.10Chapter 1.1 --- "A Synthetic Review of Technological, Economic and Political Inquiries into Telecommunications" --- p.11Chapter 1.2 --- Toward a Pluralistic Approach to Telecommunications --- p.24Chapter CHAPTER 2 --- THE ANALYTIC FRAMEWORK OF THE CHINA-HONGKONG RELATIONSHIP IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS --- p.29Chapter 2.1 --- "Technological, Economic and Political Interdependence in International Telecommunications: An Extension of the Pluralistic Approach" --- p.30Chapter 2.2 --- The Analytic Framework of the China-Hongkong Relationship in Telecommunications --- p.37Chapter CHAPTER 3 --- TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENVIRONMENT IN CHINA： A POLICY-DRIVEN MODEL --- p.41Chapter 3.1 --- Policy Perspective --- p.41Chapter 3.2 --- Technology Perspective --- p.46Chapter 3.3 --- Market Perspective --- p.48Chapter 3.4 --- Changing Environment --- p.50Chapter CHAPTER 4 --- TELECOMMUNICATIONS ENVIRONMENT IN HONGKONG: A MARKET-DRIVEN MODEL --- p.61Chapter 4.1 --- Policy Perspective --- p.61Chapter 4.2 --- Technology Perspective --- p.66Chapter 4.3 --- Market Perspective --- p.70Chapter 4.4 --- Changing Environment --- p.73Chapter CHAPTER 5 --- THE CHINA´ؤHONGKONG RELATIONSHIP IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS I: A HISTORICAL BACKGROUND --- p.78Chapter CHAPTER 6 --- THE CHINA-HONGKONG RELATIONSHIP IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS II: THE HONGKONG INFLUENCES --- p.86Chapter 6.1 --- Trade with China in Telecommunications --- p.86Chapter 6.2 --- Direct Investment in and Technology Transfer to China's Telecommunications --- p.91Chapter 6.3 --- Political influence from Hongkong --- p.97Chapter 6.4 --- Assessing the Hongkong Influence --- p.100Chapter CHAPTER 7 --- THE CHINA-HONGKONG RELATIONSHIP IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS III: THE CHINA INFLUENCES --- p.104Chapter 7.1 --- Trade with Hongkong in Telecommunications --- p.104Chapter 7.2 --- Direct Investment in and Technology Transfer to Hongkong's Telecommunications --- p.107Chapter 7.3 --- Political Influence from China --- p.112Chapter 7.4 --- Assessing the China Influence --- p.116CONCLUSION --- p.122APPENDIX --- p.131BIBLIOGRPHY --- p.13

The Chinese Space Programme in the Public Conversation About Space

This study is the product of a long view of space exploration and the conversations about space in China. It locates the multiple conversations about space exploration and utilisation as they are in the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC), within other conversations about space culture in the world. China is viewed by Western researchers though many lenses which are examined here critically. In previous studies, writers explain away China‘s space programme with the easy answers of a “Space Race” and a “China Threat”, in which the space programme is seen as merely an example of global competition, or threat, but this thesis challenges those barriers to Western understanding of the Chinese public conversation of space culture. In this study, critical theory and an underlying epistemology within a post-Enlightenment cultural frame are applied to official, archival and ephemeral texts and images. The manner of the critical application is distinguished from derivate techniques operationalised as Open Source Intelligence. The concept of Place, and within that, Foucault’s linguistic concept of “Heterotopia”, is significant both in understanding the Chinese overseas space bases on Earth and the temporal and spatial dislocations experienced in space missions. In acknowledging the interpretative approach, an empirical study, a “Q-sort” has been carried out, which demonstrates that the key factor in the Chinese conversation is Science, within the context of modernisation, tempered by Chinese cultural affirmation and international co-operation. The thesis concludes by providing general principles in future work for successful research into the popular culture of space exploration

Chasing gravity's rainbow: Kwajalein and US ballistic missile testing

The international regime for controlling the spread of weapons of mass destruction is at a cross-roads. The existing Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty regime is inadequate to the task of controlling ballistic missile development, and these missiles are capable of delivering nuclear, as well as chemical and biological weapons. The superpowers are developing their ballistic missiles qualitatively even as they negotiate cuts in numbers in the START 1 agreement. Export controls on ballistic missile technology have not halted missile proliferation: many small and medium-sized states are developing their own ballistic missiles; space is quickly becoming accessible to many states for military purposes. This report is the product of phase one of a project conducted by Nautilus Pacific Research, to promote a Ballistic Missile Test Ban Treaty and to support international controls on ballistic missile development. It describes how ballistic missiles are tested, earlier ballistic missile testing in the Pacific area, US facilities for testing ballistic missiles (the USAKA installation on Kwajalein Atoll and the Western Test Range), the organisational links, and the implications for other programs, particularly the Strategic Defence Initiative. Finally, it discusses the various missile test ban proposals

From ideological antagonism to 'strategic partnership' Saudi-Chinese relationships (1949-2006)

This study attempts to offer the first full-length account of the major dynamics and factors that contributed to shaping the Saudi-Chinese relationship during the period between (1949-2006). The Riyadh-Beijing relationship offers an unusual example in International Relations field since it has undergone various phases that started by a mutual political enmity and went through an extended process of confidence building with a reciprocal drive to construct a complementary strategic partnership. These phases have been divided throughout this study into eight distinctive periods. This study argues that Sino-Saudi relationships during the 57-year period were subject to the influence of various factors including those of systemic-security, normative ideological and economic complementary nature. It has been argued that the 41-year Saudi-Chinese political rupture was a product of a combination of systemic-security and identity-ideological factors that worked together to prevent Saudi Arabia and China from having diplomatic relations between (1949-1990). It has been, also, argued also that the reforms of 1978 as well as the pragmatisation of China's foreign policy, the improvement of the conditions of Chinese Muslims along with the resumption of Chinese hajj missions, and the indirect Sino-Saudi cooperation in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union and then the arms deal in 1986 have played an important role in normalising Riyadh-Beijing political relationship. It has been emphasised that the emergence of the potential strategic partnership between the two countries was a natural outcome of their economic, political and security complementary relationship that surfaced since the middle 1990s and that such relationship has benefited from the deterioration of US-Saudi relationship in the aftermaths of 9/11. Saudi-Chinese relationship in the 21'' century, it was argued, offers a comprehensive strategic partnership in all fields after two sides have found that what combines them is far more than what divides them and that they could be of much importance for each other in the years to come. This promising relationship would probably enhance China's political and strategic presence and role in the Middle East and might negatively influence the Western traditional predominant position in this important region

Missouri S&T Magazine Spring 2006

https://scholarsmine.mst.edu/alumni-magazine/1045/thumbnail.jp

CHINESE MARITIME TRANSFORMATION AND SEA POWER: A NET ASSESSMENT

Chinese Communist Party (CCP) grand strategy is undergoing a sweeping reorientation toward maritime power. Its leaders have declared becoming a “maritime great power” a vital objective. Its naval modernization has produced the largest navy in the world, and its investments in ostensibly civilian assets such as foreign ports and sensors able to track ship movements proliferate across the Indo-Pacific region. To what end? Prior efforts to explain the CCP’s bid for sea power and assess the threat it poses to the United States tend to extrapolate CCP intentions from observed capabilities. These explanations do not align with the CCP’s stated intentions and have not been predictive of its current fleets. This thesis uses a net assessment approach to align CCP capabilities with its intent over a span of decades to arrive at a different characterization of the threat CCP maritime transformation poses to U.S. interests. It finds that the CCP has been engaged in unannounced strategic competition with the United States since before the turn of the century, and its object in this competition is to displace U.S.-led security architecture in pursuit of national rejuvenation. The accumulation and exertion of sea power plays a critical role in strategies to meet this objective; as a result, the CCP has undertaken significant efforts to accumulate and exert sea power to great effect against the United States. Continentalist interests in the CCP bureaucracy have imposed necessary modifications to how the CCP’s sea power manifests, giving rise to potential vulnerabilities in how the CCP builds and uses sea power