Gender Differences in Climate Change Perception and Adaptation Strategies: The Case of Three Provinces in Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta

The Policy Information and Response Platform on Climate Change and Rice in ASEAN and its Member Countries Project (PIRCCA) is one of the trial projects funded under Flagship 4. PIRCCA has an overarching goal to enable policymakers in ASEAN countries to make informed decisions on (1) food security policies focusing on the supply and availability of rice, (2) climate change adaptation policies, and (3) gender action plans

Bounding the stability and rupture condition of emulsion and foam films

[Abstract]: A scaling law is presented that provides a complete solution to the equations bounding the stability and rupture of thin films. The scaling law depends on the fundamental physicochemical properties of the film and interface to calculate bounds for the critical thickness and other key film thicknesses, the relevant waveforms associated with instability and rupture, and film lifetimes. Critical thicknesses calculated from the scaling law are shown to bound the values reported in the literature for numerous emulsion and foam films. The majority of critical thickness values are between 15 to 40 percent lower than the upper bound critical thickness provided by the scaling law

A non-boundary-fitted-grid method, based on compact integrated-RBF approximations, for solving differential problems in multiply-connected domains

This paper presents a new non-boundary-fitted-grid numerical technique for solving partial differential equations (PDEs) in multi-hole domains. A multiply-connected domain is converted into a simply-connected domain of rectangular or non-rectangular shape that is discretised using a Cartesian grid. Compact radial basis function (RBF) stencils, which are constructed through integration rather than the conventional differentiation, are used to discretise the field variables. The imposition of inner boundary conditions is conducted by means of body forces that are derived from satisfying the governing equations and prescribed boundary conditions in small subregions. Salient features of the proposed method include: (i) simple pre-processing (Cartesian grid), (ii) high rates of convergence of the solution accuracy with respect to grid refinement achieved with compact integrated-RBF stencils, where both nodal function and derivative values are included in the approximations, (iii) the system matrix kept unchanged for the case of moving holes, and (iv) no interpolation between Lagrange and Euler meshes required. Several linear and nonlinear problems, including rotating-cylinder flows and buoyancy-driven flows in eccentric and concentric annuli, are simulated to verify the proposed technique

Large-Scale Preventive Chemotherapy for the Control of Helminth Infection in Western Pacific Countries: Six Years Later

In 2001, Urbani and Palmer published a review of the epidemiological situation of helminthiases in the countries of the Western Pacific Region of the World Health Organization indicating the control needs in the region. Six years after this inspiring article, large-scale preventive chemotherapy for the control of helminthiasis has scaled up dramatically in the region. This paper analyzes the most recent published and unpublished country information on large-scale preventive chemotherapy and summarizes the progress made since 2000. Almost 39 million treatments were provided in 2006 in the region for the control of helminthiasis: nearly 14 million for the control of lymphatic filariasis, more than 22 million for the control of soil-transmitted helminthiasis, and over 2 million for the control of schistosomiasis. In general, control of these helminthiases is progressing well in the Mekong countries and Pacific Islands. In China, despite harboring the majority of the helminth infections of the region, the control activities have not reached the level of coverage of countries with much more limited financial resources. The control of food-borne trematodes is still limited, but pilot activities have been initiated in China, Lao People's Democratic Republic, and Vietnam

Effects of charge doping on Mott insulator with strong spin-orbit coupling, Ba2Na1−xCaxOsO6

The effects of doping on the electronic evolution of the Mott insulating state have been extensively studied in efforts to understand mechanisms of emergent quantum phases of materials. The study of these effects becomes ever more intriguing in the presence of entanglement between spin and orbital degrees of freedom. Here, we present a comprehensive investigation of charge doping in the double perovskite Ba2NaOsO6, a complex Mott insulator where such entanglement plays an important role. We establish that the insulating magnetic ground state evolves from canted antiferromagnet (cAFM) [Lu etal., Nat. Commun. 8, 14407 (2017)] to Néel order for dopant levels exceeding ≈10%. Furthermore, we determine that a broken local point symmetry (BLPS) phase, precursor to the magnetically ordered state, occupies an extended portion of the (H−T) phase diagram with increased doping. This finding reveals that the breaking of the local cubic symmetry is driven by a multipolar order, most likely of the antiferro-quadrupolar type [Khaliullin et al., Phys. Rev. Res. 3, 033163 (2021); Churchill and Kee, Phys. Rev. B 105, 014438 (2022)]. Future dynamical measurements will be instrumental in determination of the precise nature of the identified multipolar order

Effects of charge doping on Mott insulator with strong spin-orbit coupling, Ba2_2NaOsO6_6

The effects of doping on the electronic evolution of the Mott insulating state have been extensively studied in efforts to understand mechanisms of emergent quantum phases of materials. The study of these effects becomes ever more intriguing in the presence of entanglement between spin and orbital degrees of freedom. Here, we present a comprehensive investigation of charge doping in the double perovskite Ba$_2$NaOsO$_6$, a a complex Mott insulator where such entanglement plays an important role. We establish that the insulating magnetic ground state evolves from canted antiferromagnet (cAF)to N\'eel order for dopant levels exceeding ~ 10 %. Furthermore, we determine that a broken local point symmetry (BLPS) phase, precursor to the magnetically ordered state, occupies an extended portion of the (H-T) phase diagram with increased doping. This finding reveals that the breaking of the local cubic symmetry is driven by a multipolar order, most-likely of the antiferro-quadrupolar type

Spin-orbital Jahn-Teller bipolarons

Polarons and spin-orbit (SO) coupling are distinct quantum effects that play a critical role in charge transport and spin-orbitronics. Polarons originate from strong electron-phonon interaction and are ubiquitous in polarizable materials featuring electron localization, in particular 3d transition metal oxides (TMOs). On the other hand, the relativistic coupling between the spin and orbital angular momentum is notable in lattices with heavy atoms and develops in 5d TMOs, where electrons are spatially delocalized. Here we combine ab initio calculations and magnetic measurements to show that these two seemingly mutually exclusive interactions are entangled in the electron-doped SO-coupled Mott insulator Ba2Na1-xCaxOsO6 (0 < x < 1), unveiling the formation of spin-orbital bipolarons. Polaron charge trapping, favoured by the Jahn-Teller lattice activity, converts the Os 5d1 spin-orbital Jeff = 3/2 levels, characteristic of the parent compound Ba2CaOsO6 (BNOO), into a bipolaron 5d2 J(eff )= 2 manifold, leading to the coexistence of different J-effective states in a single-phase material. The gradual increase of bipolarons with increasing doping creates robust in-gap states that prevents the transition to a metal phase even at ultrahigh doping, thus preserving the Mott gap across the entire doping range from d1 BNOO to d(2) Ba2CaOsO6 (BCOO)