Spatial Outlier Detection of CO2 Monitoring Data Based on Spatial Local Outlier Factor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liu Xin

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Spatial local outlier factor (SLOF algorithm was adopted in this study for spatial outlier detection because of the limitations of the traditional static threshold detection. Based on the spatial characteristics of CO2 monitoring data obtained in the carbon capture and storage (CCS project, the K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN graph was constructed using the latitude and longitude information of the monitoring points to identify the spatial neighbourhood of the monitoring points. Then SLOF was adopted to calculate the outlier degrees of the monitoring points and the 3σ rule was employed to identify the spatial outlier. Finally, the selection of K value was analysed and the optimal one was selected. The results show that, compared with the static threshold method, the proposed algorithm has a higher detection precision. It can overcome the shortcomings of the static threshold method and improve the accuracy and diversity of local outlier detection, which provides a reliable reference for the safety assessment and warning of CCS monitoring.

Movement Induces the Use of External Spatial Coordinates for Tactile Localization in Congenitally Blind Humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Heed, Tobias; Möller, Johanna; Röder, Brigitte

2015-01-01

To localize touch, the brain integrates spatial information coded in anatomically based and external spatial reference frames. Sighted humans, by default, use both reference frames in tactile localization. In contrast, congenitally blind individuals have been reported to rely exclusively on anatomical coordinates, suggesting a crucial role of the visual system for tactile spatial processing. We tested whether the use of external spatial information in touch can, alternatively, be induced by a movement context. Sighted and congenitally blind humans performed a tactile temporal order judgment task that indexes the use of external coordinates for tactile localization, while they executed bimanual arm movements with uncrossed and crossed start and end postures. In the sighted, start posture and planned end posture of the arm movement modulated tactile localization for stimuli presented before and during movement, indicating automatic, external recoding of touch. Contrary to previous findings, tactile localization of congenitally blind participants, too, was affected by external coordinates, though only for stimuli presented before movement start. Furthermore, only the movement's start posture, but not the planned end posture affected blind individuals' tactile performance. Thus, integration of external coordinates in touch is established without vision, though more selectively than when vision has developed normally, and possibly restricted to movement contexts. The lack of modulation by the planned posture in congenitally blind participants suggests that external coordinates in this group are not mediated by motor efference copy. Instead the task-related frequent posture changes, that is, movement consequences rather than planning, appear to have induced their use of external coordinates.

Spatial Outlier Detection of CO2 Monitoring Data Based on Spatial Local Outlier Factor

OpenAIRE

Liu Xin; Zhang Shaoliang; Zheng Pulin

2015-01-01

Spatial local outlier factor (SLOF) algorithm was adopted in this study for spatial outlier detection because of the limitations of the traditional static threshold detection. Based on the spatial characteristics of CO2 monitoring data obtained in the carbon capture and storage (CCS) project, the K-Nearest Neighbour (KNN) graph was constructed using the latitude and longitude information of the monitoring points to identify the spatial neighbourhood of the monitoring points. Then ...

Local multiplicity adjustment for the spatial scan statistic using the Gumbel distribution.

Science.gov (United States)

Gangnon, Ronald E

2012-03-01

The spatial scan statistic is an important and widely used tool for cluster detection. It is based on the simultaneous evaluation of the statistical significance of the maximum likelihood ratio test statistic over a large collection of potential clusters. In most cluster detection problems, there is variation in the extent of local multiplicity across the study region. For example, using a fixed maximum geographic radius for clusters, urban areas typically have many overlapping potential clusters, whereas rural areas have relatively few. The spatial scan statistic does not account for local multiplicity variation. We describe a previously proposed local multiplicity adjustment based on a nested Bonferroni correction and propose a novel adjustment based on a Gumbel distribution approximation to the distribution of a local scan statistic. We compare the performance of all three statistics in terms of power and a novel unbiased cluster detection criterion. These methods are then applied to the well-known New York leukemia dataset and a Wisconsin breast cancer incidence dataset. © 2011, The International Biometric Society.

Task demands affect spatial reference frame weighting during tactile localization in sighted and congenitally blind adults.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonathan T W Schubert

Full Text Available Task demands modulate tactile localization in sighted humans, presumably through weight adjustments in the spatial integration of anatomical, skin-based, and external, posture-based information. In contrast, previous studies have suggested that congenitally blind humans, by default, refrain from automatic spatial integration and localize touch using only skin-based information. Here, sighted and congenitally blind participants localized tactile targets on the palm or back of one hand, while ignoring simultaneous tactile distractors at congruent or incongruent locations on the other hand. We probed the interplay of anatomical and external location codes for spatial congruency effects by varying hand posture: the palms either both faced down, or one faced down and one up. In the latter posture, externally congruent target and distractor locations were anatomically incongruent and vice versa. Target locations had to be reported either anatomically ("palm" or "back" of the hand, or externally ("up" or "down" in space. Under anatomical instructions, performance was more accurate for anatomically congruent than incongruent target-distractor pairs. In contrast, under external instructions, performance was more accurate for externally congruent than incongruent pairs. These modulations were evident in sighted and blind individuals. Notably, distractor effects were overall far smaller in blind than in sighted participants, despite comparable target-distractor identification performance. Thus, the absence of developmental vision seems to be associated with an increased ability to focus tactile attention towards a non-spatially defined target. Nevertheless, that blind individuals exhibited effects of hand posture and task instructions in their congruency effects suggests that, like the sighted, they automatically integrate anatomical and external information during tactile localization. Moreover, spatial integration in tactile processing is, thus, flexibly

Task demands affect spatial reference frame weighting during tactile localization in sighted and congenitally blind adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Schubert, Jonathan T W; Badde, Stephanie; Röder, Brigitte; Heed, Tobias

2017-01-01

Task demands modulate tactile localization in sighted humans, presumably through weight adjustments in the spatial integration of anatomical, skin-based, and external, posture-based information. In contrast, previous studies have suggested that congenitally blind humans, by default, refrain from automatic spatial integration and localize touch using only skin-based information. Here, sighted and congenitally blind participants localized tactile targets on the palm or back of one hand, while ignoring simultaneous tactile distractors at congruent or incongruent locations on the other hand. We probed the interplay of anatomical and external location codes for spatial congruency effects by varying hand posture: the palms either both faced down, or one faced down and one up. In the latter posture, externally congruent target and distractor locations were anatomically incongruent and vice versa. Target locations had to be reported either anatomically ("palm" or "back" of the hand), or externally ("up" or "down" in space). Under anatomical instructions, performance was more accurate for anatomically congruent than incongruent target-distractor pairs. In contrast, under external instructions, performance was more accurate for externally congruent than incongruent pairs. These modulations were evident in sighted and blind individuals. Notably, distractor effects were overall far smaller in blind than in sighted participants, despite comparable target-distractor identification performance. Thus, the absence of developmental vision seems to be associated with an increased ability to focus tactile attention towards a non-spatially defined target. Nevertheless, that blind individuals exhibited effects of hand posture and task instructions in their congruency effects suggests that, like the sighted, they automatically integrate anatomical and external information during tactile localization. Moreover, spatial integration in tactile processing is, thus, flexibly adapted by top

Spatially Localized Particle Energization by Landau Damping in Current Sheets

Science.gov (United States)

Howes, G. G.; Klein, K. G.; McCubbin, A. J.

2017-12-01

Understanding the mechanisms of particle energization through the removal of energy from turbulent fluctuations in heliospheric plasmas is a grand challenge problem in heliophysics. Under the weakly collisional conditions typical of heliospheric plasma, kinetic mechanisms must be responsible for this energization, but the nature of those mechanisms remains elusive. In recent years, the spatial localization of plasma heating near current sheets in the solar wind and numerical simulations has gained much attention. Here we show, using the innovative and new field-particle correlation technique, that the spatially localized particle energization occurring in a nonlinear gyrokinetic simulation has the velocity space signature of Landau damping, suggesting that this well-known collisionless damping mechanism indeed actively leads to spatially localized heating in the vicinity of current sheets.

Spatially localized, temporally quasiperiodic, discrete nonlinear excitations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cai, D.; Bishop, A.R.; Gronbech-Jensen, N.

1995-01-01

In contrast to the commonly discussed discrete breather, which is a spatially localized, time-periodic solution, we present an exact solution of a discrete nonlinear Schroedinger breather which is a spatially localized, temporally quasiperiodic nonlinear coherent excitation. This breather is a multiple-soliton solution in the sense of the inverse scattering transform. A discrete breather of multiple frequencies is conceptually important in studies of nonlinear lattice systems. We point out that, for this breather, the incommensurability of its frequencies is a discrete lattice effect and these frequencies become commensurate in the continuum limit. To understand the dynamical properties of the breather, we also discuss its stability and its behavior in the presence of an external potential. Finally, we indicate how to obtain an exact N-soliton breather as a discrete generalization of the continuum multiple-soliton solution

The impact of spatial concentration on enterprise performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalia Borisovna Davidson

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The objective of this paper is to reveal the impact of spatial concentration of business in the Russian cities on enterprise productivity. The hypotheses are the following: urbanization level and home market potential positively affect enterprise performance; localization economies are positive and start decreasing after some point due to congestion and excessive competition; regional transport infrastructure, business climate and human capital positively affect enterprise performance. We use firm level data augmented with city and regional data. Fixed effects are applied in order to deal with endogeneity. Agglomeration economies are considered in the light of opportunities for knowledge spillovers, input sharing and labor market pooling. Our results confirm that agglomeration economies and home market potential are important for the enterprise performance. We find positive urbanization and diversity economies, while localization economies have an inverted U shape. Results can be used to improve regional policy. For instance, significance of home market potential emphasizes the importance of transport infrastructure. Significance of agglomeration effects implies that if a sufficiently large number of firms work in a city, performance of each firm improves.

Hadoop-GIS: A High Performance Spatial Data Warehousing System over MapReduce.

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Aji, Ablimit; Wang, Fusheng; Vo, Hoang; Lee, Rubao; Liu, Qiaoling; Zhang, Xiaodong; Saltz, Joel

2013-08-01

Support of high performance queries on large volumes of spatial data becomes increasingly important in many application domains, including geospatial problems in numerous fields, location based services, and emerging scientific applications that are increasingly data- and compute-intensive. The emergence of massive scale spatial data is due to the proliferation of cost effective and ubiquitous positioning technologies, development of high resolution imaging technologies, and contribution from a large number of community users. There are two major challenges for managing and querying massive spatial data to support spatial queries: the explosion of spatial data, and the high computational complexity of spatial queries. In this paper, we present Hadoop-GIS - a scalable and high performance spatial data warehousing system for running large scale spatial queries on Hadoop. Hadoop-GIS supports multiple types of spatial queries on MapReduce through spatial partitioning, customizable spatial query engine RESQUE, implicit parallel spatial query execution on MapReduce, and effective methods for amending query results through handling boundary objects. Hadoop-GIS utilizes global partition indexing and customizable on demand local spatial indexing to achieve efficient query processing. Hadoop-GIS is integrated into Hive to support declarative spatial queries with an integrated architecture. Our experiments have demonstrated the high efficiency of Hadoop-GIS on query response and high scalability to run on commodity clusters. Our comparative experiments have showed that performance of Hadoop-GIS is on par with parallel SDBMS and outperforms SDBMS for compute-intensive queries. Hadoop-GIS is available as a set of library for processing spatial queries, and as an integrated software package in Hive.

Visuo-Spatial Performance in Autism: A Meta-analysis

OpenAIRE

Muth, Anne; Honekopp, Johannes; Falter, Christine

2014-01-01

Visuo-spatial skills are believed to be enhanced in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This meta-analysis tests the current state of evidence for Figure Disembedding, Block Design, Mental Rotation and Navon tasks in ASD and neurotypicals. Block Design (d = 0.32) and Figure Disembedding (d = 0.26) showed superior performance for ASD with large heterogeneity that is unaccounted for. No clear differences were found for Mental Rotation. ASD samples showed a stronger local processing preference for...

Localization of Waves in Fractals : Spatial Behavior

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vries, Pedro de; Raedt, Hans De; Lagendijk, Ad

1989-01-01

Localization of a quantum particle on two-dimensional percolating networks is investigated numerically. Solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for particular initial wave packets we study the spatial behavior of eigenstates for two tight-binding models: the quantum percolation model and the

Explaining local-scale species distributions: relative contributions of spatial autocorrelation and landscape heterogeneity for an avian assemblage.

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Brady J Mattsson

Full Text Available Understanding interactions between mobile species distributions and landcover characteristics remains an outstanding challenge in ecology. Multiple factors could explain species distributions including endogenous evolutionary traits leading to conspecific clustering and endogenous habitat features that support life history requirements. Birds are a useful taxon for examining hypotheses about the relative importance of these factors among species in a community. We developed a hierarchical Bayes approach to model the relationships between bird species occupancy and local landcover variables accounting for spatial autocorrelation, species similarities, and partial observability. We fit alternative occupancy models to detections of 90 bird species observed during repeat visits to 316 point-counts forming a 400-m grid throughout the Patuxent Wildlife Research Refuge in Maryland, USA. Models with landcover variables performed significantly better than our autologistic and null models, supporting the hypothesis that local landcover heterogeneity is important as an exogenous driver for species distributions. Conspecific clustering alone was a comparatively poor descriptor of local community composition, but there was evidence for spatial autocorrelation in all species. Considerable uncertainty remains whether landcover combined with spatial autocorrelation is most parsimonious for describing bird species distributions at a local scale. Spatial structuring may be weaker at intermediate scales within which dispersal is less frequent, information flows are localized, and landcover types become spatially diversified and therefore exhibit little aggregation. Examining such hypotheses across species assemblages contributes to our understanding of community-level associations with conspecifics and landscape composition.

Spatially resolved measurements of the magnetocaloric effect and the local magnetic field using thermography

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Dennis; Bjørk, Rasmus; Nielsen, Kaspar Kirstein

2010-01-01

The magnetocaloric effect causes a magnetic material to change temperature upon application of a magnetic field. Here, spatially resolved measurements of the adiabatic temperature change are performed on a plate of gadolinium using thermography. The adiabatic temperature change is used to extract...... the corresponding change in the local magnetic field strength. The measured temperature change and local magnetic field strength are compared to results obtained with a numerical model, which takes demagnetization into account and employs experimental data....

Multi-scale spatial modeling of human exposure from local sources to global intake

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wannaz, Cedric; Fantke, Peter; Jolliet, Olivier

2018-01-01

Exposure studies, used in human health risk and impact assessments of chemicals are largely performed locally or regionally. It is usually not known how global impacts resulting from exposure to point source emissions compare to local impacts. To address this problem, we introduce Pangea......, an innovative multi-scale, spatial multimedia fate and exposure assessment model. We study local to global population exposure associated with emissions from 126 point sources matching locations of waste-to-energy plants across France. Results for three chemicals with distinct physicochemical properties...... occur within a 100 km radius from the source. This suggests that, by neglecting distant low-level exposure, local assessments might only account for fractions of global cumulative intakes. We also study ~10,000 emission locations covering France more densely to determine per chemical and exposure route...

Water-safety strategies and local-scale spatial quality

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nillesen, A.L.

2013-01-01

Delta regions throughout the world are subject to increasing flood risks. For protection, regional water safety strategies are being developed. Local-scale spatial qualities should be included in their evaluation. An experimental methodology has been developed for this purpose. This paper

Comparison of congruence judgment and auditory localization tasks for assessing the spatial limits of visual capture.

Science.gov (United States)

Bosen, Adam K; Fleming, Justin T; Brown, Sarah E; Allen, Paul D; O'Neill, William E; Paige, Gary D

2016-12-01

Vision typically has better spatial accuracy and precision than audition and as a result often captures auditory spatial perception when visual and auditory cues are presented together. One determinant of visual capture is the amount of spatial disparity between auditory and visual cues: when disparity is small, visual capture is likely to occur, and when disparity is large, visual capture is unlikely. Previous experiments have used two methods to probe how visual capture varies with spatial disparity. First, congruence judgment assesses perceived unity between cues by having subjects report whether or not auditory and visual targets came from the same location. Second, auditory localization assesses the graded influence of vision on auditory spatial perception by having subjects point to the remembered location of an auditory target presented with a visual target. Previous research has shown that when both tasks are performed concurrently they produce similar measures of visual capture, but this may not hold when tasks are performed independently. Here, subjects alternated between tasks independently across three sessions. A Bayesian inference model of visual capture was used to estimate perceptual parameters for each session, which were compared across tasks. Results demonstrated that the range of audiovisual disparities over which visual capture was likely to occur was narrower in auditory localization than in congruence judgment, which the model indicates was caused by subjects adjusting their prior expectation that targets originated from the same location in a task-dependent manner.

Comparison of Congruence Judgment and Auditory Localization Tasks for Assessing the Spatial Limits of Visual Capture

Science.gov (United States)

Bosen, Adam K.; Fleming, Justin T.; Brown, Sarah E.; Allen, Paul D.; O'Neill, William E.; Paige, Gary D.

2016-01-01

Vision typically has better spatial accuracy and precision than audition, and as a result often captures auditory spatial perception when visual and auditory cues are presented together. One determinant of visual capture is the amount of spatial disparity between auditory and visual cues: when disparity is small visual capture is likely to occur, and when disparity is large visual capture is unlikely. Previous experiments have used two methods to probe how visual capture varies with spatial disparity. First, congruence judgment assesses perceived unity between cues by having subjects report whether or not auditory and visual targets came from the same location. Second, auditory localization assesses the graded influence of vision on auditory spatial perception by having subjects point to the remembered location of an auditory target presented with a visual target. Previous research has shown that when both tasks are performed concurrently they produce similar measures of visual capture, but this may not hold when tasks are performed independently. Here, subjects alternated between tasks independently across three sessions. A Bayesian inference model of visual capture was used to estimate perceptual parameters for each session, which were compared across tasks. Results demonstrated that the range of audio-visual disparities over which visual capture was likely to occur were narrower in auditory localization than in congruence judgment, which the model indicates was caused by subjects adjusting their prior expectation that targets originated from the same location in a task-dependent manner. PMID:27815630

Assessing implicit odor localization in humans using a cross-modal spatial cueing paradigm.

Science.gov (United States)

Moessnang, Carolin; Finkelmeyer, Andreas; Vossen, Alexandra; Schneider, Frank; Habel, Ute

2011-01-01

Navigation based on chemosensory information is one of the most important skills in the animal kingdom. Studies on odor localization suggest that humans have lost this ability. However, the experimental approaches used so far were limited to explicit judgements, which might ignore a residual ability for directional smelling on an implicit level without conscious appraisal. A novel cueing paradigm was developed in order to determine whether an implicit ability for directional smelling exists. Participants performed a visual two-alternative forced choice task in which the target was preceded either by a side-congruent or a side-incongruent olfactory spatial cue. An explicit odor localization task was implemented in a second experiment. No effect of cue congruency on mean reaction times could be found. However, a time by condition interaction emerged, with significantly slower responses to congruently compared to incongruently cued targets at the beginning of the experiment. This cueing effect gradually disappeared throughout the course of the experiment. In addition, participants performed at chance level in the explicit odor localization task, thus confirming the results of previous research. The implicit cueing task suggests the existence of spatial information processing in the olfactory system. Response slowing after a side-congruent olfactory cue is interpreted as a cross-modal attentional interference effect. In addition, habituation might have led to a gradual disappearance of the cueing effect. It is concluded that under immobile conditions with passive monorhinal stimulation, humans are unable to explicitly determine the location of a pure odorant. Implicitly, however, odor localization seems to exert an influence on human behaviour. To our knowledge, these data are the first to show implicit effects of odor localization on overt human behaviour and thus support the hypothesis of residual directional smelling in humans. © 2011 Moessnang et al.

Assessing implicit odor localization in humans using a cross-modal spatial cueing paradigm.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carolin Moessnang

Full Text Available Navigation based on chemosensory information is one of the most important skills in the animal kingdom. Studies on odor localization suggest that humans have lost this ability. However, the experimental approaches used so far were limited to explicit judgements, which might ignore a residual ability for directional smelling on an implicit level without conscious appraisal.A novel cueing paradigm was developed in order to determine whether an implicit ability for directional smelling exists. Participants performed a visual two-alternative forced choice task in which the target was preceded either by a side-congruent or a side-incongruent olfactory spatial cue. An explicit odor localization task was implemented in a second experiment.No effect of cue congruency on mean reaction times could be found. However, a time by condition interaction emerged, with significantly slower responses to congruently compared to incongruently cued targets at the beginning of the experiment. This cueing effect gradually disappeared throughout the course of the experiment. In addition, participants performed at chance level in the explicit odor localization task, thus confirming the results of previous research.The implicit cueing task suggests the existence of spatial information processing in the olfactory system. Response slowing after a side-congruent olfactory cue is interpreted as a cross-modal attentional interference effect. In addition, habituation might have led to a gradual disappearance of the cueing effect. It is concluded that under immobile conditions with passive monorhinal stimulation, humans are unable to explicitly determine the location of a pure odorant. Implicitly, however, odor localization seems to exert an influence on human behaviour. To our knowledge, these data are the first to show implicit effects of odor localization on overt human behaviour and thus support the hypothesis of residual directional smelling in humans.

Interactions between the spatial and temporal stimulus factors that influence multisensory integration in human performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Stevenson, Ryan A; Fister, Juliane Krueger; Barnett, Zachary P; Nidiffer, Aaron R; Wallace, Mark T

2012-05-01

In natural environments, human sensory systems work in a coordinated and integrated manner to perceive and respond to external events. Previous research has shown that the spatial and temporal relationships of sensory signals are paramount in determining how information is integrated across sensory modalities, but in ecologically plausible settings, these factors are not independent. In the current study, we provide a novel exploration of the impact on behavioral performance for systematic manipulations of the spatial location and temporal synchrony of a visual-auditory stimulus pair. Simple auditory and visual stimuli were presented across a range of spatial locations and stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs), and participants performed both a spatial localization and simultaneity judgment task. Response times in localizing paired visual-auditory stimuli were slower in the periphery and at larger SOAs, but most importantly, an interaction was found between the two factors, in which the effect of SOA was greater in peripheral as opposed to central locations. Simultaneity judgments also revealed a novel interaction between space and time: individuals were more likely to judge stimuli as synchronous when occurring in the periphery at large SOAs. The results of this study provide novel insights into (a) how the speed of spatial localization of an audiovisual stimulus is affected by location and temporal coincidence and the interaction between these two factors and (b) how the location of a multisensory stimulus impacts judgments concerning the temporal relationship of the paired stimuli. These findings provide strong evidence for a complex interdependency between spatial location and temporal structure in determining the ultimate behavioral and perceptual outcome associated with a paired multisensory (i.e., visual-auditory) stimulus.

Systematic studies of the gas humidification effects on spatial PEMFC performance distributions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reshetenko, Tatyana V.; Bender, Guido; Bethune, Keith; Rocheleau, Richard

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► We investigated impacts of gases humidification on a local PEMFC performance. ► The spatial performance and EIS were studied by a segmented cell system. ► The data were analyzed in the terms of voltage losses. ► A reduction in anode/cathode gases humidification decreased a PEMFC performance. ► A decrease of humidification led to non-uniform performances and voltage losses distributions. - Abstract: The overall current density that is measured in a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) represents the average of the local reaction rates. The overall and local PEMFC performances are determined by several primary loss mechanisms, namely activation, ohmic, and mass transfer. Spatial performance and loss variabilities are significant and depend on the cell design and operating conditions. A segmented cell system was used to quantify different loss distributions along the gas channel to understand the effects of gas humidification. A reduction in the reactant stream humidification decreased cell performance and resulted in non-uniform distributions of overpotentials and performance along the flow field. Activation and ohmic overpotentials increased with a relative humidity decrease due to insufficient membrane and catalyst layer hydration. The relative humidity of the cathode had a strong impact on the mass transfer overpotential due to a lower oxygen permeability through the dry Nafion film covering the catalyst surface. The mass transfer loss distribution was non-uniform, and the mass transfer overpotential increased for the outlet segments due to the oxygen consumption at the inlet segments, which reduced the oxygen concentration downstream, and a progressive water accumulation from upstream segments. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and an equivalent electric circuit (EEC) facilitated the analysis and interpretation of the segmented cell data.

Identification of spatially-localized initial conditions via sparse PCA

Science.gov (United States)

Dwivedi, Anubhav; Jovanovic, Mihailo

2017-11-01

Principal Component Analysis involves maximization of a quadratic form subject to a quadratic constraint on the initial flow perturbations and it is routinely used to identify the most energetic flow structures. For general flow configurations, principal components can be efficiently computed via power iteration of the forward and adjoint governing equations. However, the resulting flow structures typically have a large spatial support leading to a question of physical realizability. To obtain spatially-localized structures, we modify the quadratic constraint on the initial condition to include a convex combination with an additional regularization term which promotes sparsity in the physical domain. We formulate this constrained optimization problem as a nonlinear eigenvalue problem and employ an inverse power-iteration-based method to solve it. The resulting solution is guaranteed to converge to a nonlinear eigenvector which becomes increasingly localized as our emphasis on sparsity increases. We use several fluids examples to demonstrate that our method indeed identifies the most energetic initial perturbations that are spatially compact. This work was supported by Office of Naval Research through Grant Number N00014-15-1-2522.

Effect of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism on digital working memory and spatial localization in a healthy Chinese Han population.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Pingyuan; Zheng, Anyun; Chen, Dongmei; Ge, Wanhua; Lv, Changchao; Zhang, Kejin; Gao, Xiaocai; Zhang, Fuchang

2009-07-01

Cognitive abilities are complex human traits influenced by genetic factors. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a unique polypeptide growth factor, has an influence on the differentiation and survival of neurons in the nervous system. A single-nucleotide polymorphism (rs6265) in the human gene, resulting in a valine to methionine substitution in the pro-BDNF protein, was thought to associate with psychiatric disorders and might play roles in the individual difference of cognitive abilities. However, the specific roles of the gene in cognition remain unclear. To investigate the relationships between the substitution and cognitive abilities, a healthy population-based study and the PCR-SSCP method were performed. The results showed the substitution was associated with digital working memory (p = 0.02) and spatial localization (p = 0.03), but not with inhibition, shifting, updating, visuo-spatial working memory, long-term memory, and others (p > 0.05) among the compared genotype groups analyzed by general linear model. On the other hand, the participants with BDNF (GG) had higher average performance in digital working memory and spatial localization than the ones with BDNF (AA). The findings of the present work implied that the variation in BDNF might play positive roles in human digital working memory and spatial localization.

Local governance of energy. Clarification of stakes and illustration by spatial planning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saujot, Mathieu; Ruedinger, Andreas; Guerry, Anais

2014-01-01

As energy transition implies important societal transformations, the authors developed an analysis framework about the main questions raised by local governance: role of the different levels of local communities in the definition and implementation of strategies, key stakes of the sharing of skills between the State and communities, and stakes regarding spatial planning in this context. The authors first address the issue of relevance of the different territorial scales in a context of evolution of energy policies. They propose an overview of this issue with reference to the debate on local governance of transition. They discuss the return on experience of decentralisation in other fields of action of local policies, notably urban planning and spatial planning

Measuring streetscape complexity based on the statistics of local contrast and spatial frequency.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

André Cavalcante

Full Text Available Streetscapes are basic urban elements which play a major role in the livability of a city. The visual complexity of streetscapes is known to influence how people behave in such built spaces. However, how and which characteristics of a visual scene influence our perception of complexity have yet to be fully understood. This study proposes a method to evaluate the complexity perceived in streetscapes based on the statistics of local contrast and spatial frequency. Here, 74 streetscape images from four cities, including daytime and nighttime scenes, were ranked for complexity by 40 participants. Image processing was then used to locally segment contrast and spatial frequency in the streetscapes. The statistics of these characteristics were extracted and later combined to form a single objective measure. The direct use of statistics revealed structural or morphological patterns in streetscapes related to the perception of complexity. Furthermore, in comparison to conventional measures of visual complexity, the proposed objective measure exhibits a higher correlation with the opinion of the participants. Also, the performance of this method is more robust regarding different time scenarios.

Landscape characterization integrating expert and local spatial knowledge of land and forest resources.

Science.gov (United States)

Fagerholm, Nora; Käyhkö, Niina; Van Eetvelde, Veerle

2013-09-01

In many developing countries, political documentation acknowledges the crucial elements of participation and spatiality for effective land use planning. However, operative approaches to spatial data inclusion and representation in participatory land management are often lacking. In this paper, we apply and develop an integrated landscape characterization approach to enhance spatial knowledge generation about the complex human-nature interactions in landscapes in the context of Zanzibar, Tanzania. We apply an integrated landscape conceptualization as a theoretical framework where the expert and local knowledge can meet in spatial context. The characterization is based on combining multiple data sources in GIS, and involves local communities and their local spatial knowledge since the beginning into the process. Focusing on the expected information needs for community forest management, our characterization integrates physical landscape features and retrospective landscape change data with place-specific community knowledge collected through participatory GIS techniques. The characterization is established in a map form consisting of four themes and their synthesis. The characterization maps are designed to support intuitive interpretation, express the inherently uncertain nature of the data, and accompanied by photographs to enhance communication. Visual interpretation of the characterization mediates information about the character of areas and places in the studied local landscape, depicting the role of forest resources as part of the landscape entity. We conclude that landscape characterization applied in GIS is a highly potential tool for participatory land and resource management, where spatial argumentation, stakeholder communication, and empowerment are critical issues.

Multiple Vehicle Cooperative Localization with Spatial Registration Based on a Probability Hypothesis Density Filter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Feihu Zhang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper studies the problem of multiple vehicle cooperative localization with spatial registration in the formulation of the probability hypothesis density (PHD filter. Assuming vehicles are equipped with proprioceptive and exteroceptive sensors (with biases to cooperatively localize positions, a simultaneous solution for joint spatial registration and state estimation is proposed. For this, we rely on the sequential Monte Carlo implementation of the PHD filtering. Compared to other methods, the concept of multiple vehicle cooperative localization with spatial registration is first proposed under Random Finite Set Theory. In addition, the proposed solution also addresses the challenges for multiple vehicle cooperative localization, e.g., the communication bandwidth issue and data association uncertainty. The simulation result demonstrates its reliability and feasibility in large-scale environments.

Local energy developments based on spatial and systemic approaches

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Manickam, Anu

Local energy developments from a spatial and systemic approach are highlighted using examples from a Dutch case study. Developments in energy systems included interconnectedness of contextual factors and systems responses. The need to explore both the contextual factors and systemic aspects are

Spatial planning via extremal optimization enhanced by cell-based local search

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sidiropoulos, Epaminondas

2014-01-01

A new treatment is presented for land use planning problems by means of extremal optimization in conjunction to cell-based neighborhood local search. Extremal optimization, inspired by self-organized critical models of evolution has been applied mainly to the solution of classical combinatorial optimization problems. Cell-based local search has been employed by the author elsewhere in problems of spatial resource allocation in combination with genetic algorithms and simulated annealing. In this paper it complements extremal optimization in order to enhance its capacity for a spatial optimization problem. The hybrid method thus formed is compared to methods of the literature on a specific characteristic problem. It yields better results both in terms of objective function values and in terms of compactness. The latter is an important quantity for spatial planning. The present treatment yields significant compactness values as emergent results

The Conceptual Approaches to Strategic Management of Region Using the Spatially Localized Agrarian Economic Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Petrenko Natalia О.

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The article is aimed at improving the theoretical and methodical provisions of the cluster approach to development of the spatially localized systems of the agricultural sector of Ukrainian economy at the regional level. Based on generalizing the relevant theoretical provisions, the identified characteristics of formation and development of the spatially localized systems, it has been found that, originating in the form of economic growth zones, they have been transformed into clustered and subclustered forms. It has been indicated that a prospective form of further development of the spatially localized systems is formation of subclustered structures that take account of the established specialization of localities, appropriate infrastructure, resource availability. The possibility of creating a project of developing a cluster formation was discussed on the example of the Central Economic Area. A complex of basic requirements for the intended localization of the cluster has been formulated. Proceeding from the results of the study, practical proposals for strategic management of region have been developed on the basis of development of cluster formations, using the spatially localized agrarian economic systems.

Chromatic and Achromatic Spatial Resolution of Local Field Potentials in Awake Cortex.

Science.gov (United States)

Jansen, Michael; Li, Xiaobing; Lashgari, Reza; Kremkow, Jens; Bereshpolova, Yulia; Swadlow, Harvey A; Zaidi, Qasim; Alonso, Jose-Manuel

2015-10-01

Local field potentials (LFPs) have become an important measure of neuronal population activity in the brain and could provide robust signals to guide the implant of visual cortical prosthesis in the future. However, it remains unclear whether LFPs can detect weak cortical responses (e.g., cortical responses to equiluminant color) and whether they have enough visual spatial resolution to distinguish different chromatic and achromatic stimulus patterns. By recording from awake behaving macaques in primary visual cortex, here we demonstrate that LFPs respond robustly to pure chromatic stimuli and exhibit ∼2.5 times lower spatial resolution for chromatic than achromatic stimulus patterns, a value that resembles the ratio of achromatic/chromatic resolution measured with psychophysical experiments in humans. We also show that, although the spatial resolution of LFP decays with visual eccentricity as is also the case for single neurons, LFPs have higher spatial resolution and show weaker response suppression to low spatial frequencies than spiking multiunit activity. These results indicate that LFP recordings are an excellent approach to measure spatial resolution from local populations of neurons in visual cortex including those responsive to color. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press.

A Spatial Frequency Account of the Detriment that Local Processing of Navon Letters Has on Face Recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Hills, Peter J.; Lewis, Michael B.

2009-01-01

Five minutes of processing the local features of a Navon letter causes a detriment in subsequent face-recognition performance (Macrae & Lewis, 2002). We hypothesize a perceptual after effect explanation of this effect in which face recognition is less accurate after adapting to high-spatial frequencies at high contrasts. Five experiments were…

Using Participatory Approach to Improve Availability of Spatial Data for Local Government

Science.gov (United States)

Kliment, T.; Cetl, V.; Tomič, H.; Lisiak, J.; Kliment, M.

2016-09-01

Nowadays, the availability of authoritative geospatial features of various data themes is becoming wider on global, regional and national levels. The reason is existence of legislative frameworks for public sector information and related spatial data infrastructure implementations, emergence of support for initiatives as open data, big data ensuring that online geospatial information are made available to digital single market, entrepreneurs and public bodies on both national and local level. However, the availability of authoritative reference spatial data linking the geographic representation of the properties and their owners are still missing in an appropriate quantity and quality level, even though this data represent fundamental input for local governments regarding the register of buildings used for property tax calculations, identification of illegal buildings, etc. We propose a methodology to improve this situation by applying the principles of participatory GIS and VGI used to collect observations, update authoritative datasets and verify the newly developed datasets of areas of buildings used to calculate property tax rates issued to their owners. The case study was performed within the district of the City of Požega in eastern Croatia in the summer 2015 and resulted in a total number of 16072 updated and newly identified objects made available online for quality verification by citizens using open source geospatial technologies.

Comparative analysis of elements and models of implementation in local-level spatial plans in Serbia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefanović Nebojša

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Implementation of local-level spatial plans is of paramount importance to the development of the local community. This paper aims to demonstrate the importance of and offer further directions for research into the implementation of spatial plans by presenting the results of a study on models of implementation. The paper describes the basic theoretical postulates of a model for implementing spatial plans. A comparative analysis of the application of elements and models of implementation of plans in practice was conducted based on the spatial plans for the local municipalities of Arilje, Lazarevac and Sremska Mitrovica. The analysis includes four models of implementation: the strategy and policy of spatial development; spatial protection; the implementation of planning solutions of a technical nature; and the implementation of rules of use, arrangement and construction of spaces. The main results of the analysis are presented and used to give recommendations for improving the elements and models of implementation. Final deliberations show that models of implementation are generally used in practice and combined in spatial plans. Based on the analysis of how models of implementation are applied in practice, a general conclusion concerning the complex character of the local level of planning is presented and elaborated. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. TR 36035: Spatial, Environmental, Energy and Social Aspects of Developing Settlements and Climate Change - Mutual Impacts and Grant no. III 47014: The Role and Implementation of the National Spatial Plan and Regional Development Documents in Renewal of Strategic Research, Thinking and Governance in Serbia

Spatial sparsity based indoor localization in wireless sensor network for assistive healthcare.

Science.gov (United States)

Pourhomayoun, Mohammad; Jin, Zhanpeng; Fowler, Mark

2012-01-01

Indoor localization is one of the key topics in the area of wireless networks with increasing applications in assistive healthcare, where tracking the position and actions of the patient or elderly are required for medical observation or accident prevention. Most of the common indoor localization methods are based on estimating one or more location-dependent signal parameters like TOA, AOA or RSS. However, some difficulties and challenges caused by the complex scenarios within a closed space significantly limit the applicability of those existing approaches in an indoor assistive environment, such as the well-known multipath effect. In this paper, we develop a new one-stage localization method based on spatial sparsity of the x-y plane. In this method, we directly estimate the location of the emitter without going through the intermediate stage of TOA or signal strength estimation. We evaluate the performance of the proposed method using Monte Carlo simulation. The results show that the proposed method is (i) very accurate even with a small number of sensors and (ii) very effective in addressing the multi-path issues.

Probing spatial locality in ionic liquids with the grand canonical adaptive resolution molecular dynamics technique

Science.gov (United States)

Shadrack Jabes, B.; Krekeler, C.; Klein, R.; Delle Site, L.

2018-05-01

We employ the Grand Canonical Adaptive Resolution Simulation (GC-AdResS) molecular dynamics technique to test the spatial locality of the 1-ethyl 3-methyl imidazolium chloride liquid. In GC-AdResS, atomistic details are kept only in an open sub-region of the system while the environment is treated at coarse-grained level; thus, if spatial quantities calculated in such a sub-region agree with the equivalent quantities calculated in a full atomistic simulation, then the atomistic degrees of freedom outside the sub-region play a negligible role. The size of the sub-region fixes the degree of spatial locality of a certain quantity. We show that even for sub-regions whose radius corresponds to the size of a few molecules, spatial properties are reasonably reproduced thus suggesting a higher degree of spatial locality, a hypothesis put forward also by other researchers and that seems to play an important role for the characterization of fundamental properties of a large class of ionic liquids.

Cluster Detection Tests in Spatial Epidemiology: A Global Indicator for Performance Assessment.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aline Guttmann

Full Text Available In cluster detection of disease, the use of local cluster detection tests (CDTs is current. These methods aim both at locating likely clusters and testing for their statistical significance. New or improved CDTs are regularly proposed to epidemiologists and must be subjected to performance assessment. Because location accuracy has to be considered, performance assessment goes beyond the raw estimation of type I or II errors. As no consensus exists for performance evaluations, heterogeneous methods are used, and therefore studies are rarely comparable. A global indicator of performance, which assesses both spatial accuracy and usual power, would facilitate the exploration of CDTs behaviour and help between-studies comparisons. The Tanimoto coefficient (TC is a well-known measure of similarity that can assess location accuracy but only for one detected cluster. In a simulation study, performance is measured for many tests. From the TC, we here propose two statistics, the averaged TC and the cumulated TC, as indicators able to provide a global overview of CDTs performance for both usual power and location accuracy. We evidence the properties of these two indicators and the superiority of the cumulated TC to assess performance. We tested these indicators to conduct a systematic spatial assessment displayed through performance maps.

Cluster Detection Tests in Spatial Epidemiology: A Global Indicator for Performance Assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Guttmann, Aline; Li, Xinran; Feschet, Fabien; Gaudart, Jean; Demongeot, Jacques; Boire, Jean-Yves; Ouchchane, Lemlih

2015-01-01

In cluster detection of disease, the use of local cluster detection tests (CDTs) is current. These methods aim both at locating likely clusters and testing for their statistical significance. New or improved CDTs are regularly proposed to epidemiologists and must be subjected to performance assessment. Because location accuracy has to be considered, performance assessment goes beyond the raw estimation of type I or II errors. As no consensus exists for performance evaluations, heterogeneous methods are used, and therefore studies are rarely comparable. A global indicator of performance, which assesses both spatial accuracy and usual power, would facilitate the exploration of CDTs behaviour and help between-studies comparisons. The Tanimoto coefficient (TC) is a well-known measure of similarity that can assess location accuracy but only for one detected cluster. In a simulation study, performance is measured for many tests. From the TC, we here propose two statistics, the averaged TC and the cumulated TC, as indicators able to provide a global overview of CDTs performance for both usual power and location accuracy. We evidence the properties of these two indicators and the superiority of the cumulated TC to assess performance. We tested these indicators to conduct a systematic spatial assessment displayed through performance maps. PMID:26086911

The role of diffusive architectural surfaces on auditory spatial discrimination in performance venues.

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Philip W; Pätynen, Jukka; Lokki, Tapio; Jang, Hyung Suk; Jeon, Jin Yong; Xiang, Ning

2013-06-01

In musical or theatrical performance, some venues allow listeners to individually localize and segregate individual performers, while others produce a well blended ensemble sound. The room acoustic conditions that make this possible, and the psycho-acoustic effects at work are not fully understood. This research utilizes auralizations from measured and simulated performance venues to investigate spatial discrimination of multiple acoustic sources in rooms. Signals were generated from measurements taken in a small theater, and listeners in the audience area were asked to distinguish pairs of speech sources on stage with various spatial separations. This experiment was repeated with the proscenium splay walls treated to be flat, diffusive, or absorptive. Similar experiments were conducted in a simulated hall, utilizing 11 early reflections with various characteristics, and measured late reverberation. The experiments reveal that discriminating the lateral arrangement of two sources is possible at narrower separation angles when reflections come from flat or absorptive rather than diffusive surfaces.

Spatial knowledge dynamics of innovation processes: local and non-local aspects of buzz and collective learning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tanner, Anne Nygaard

2014-01-01

learning processes and require face-to-face contact. In sum, the innovation biography method contributes in uncovering innovation processes and how these rely on many different configurations of spatial knowledge dynamics, including buzz, local ties and global pipelines. The findings imply that policy...

Assessment of damage localization based on spatial filters using numerical crack propagation models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deraemaeker, Arnaud

2011-01-01

This paper is concerned with vibration based structural health monitoring with a focus on non-model based damage localization. The type of damage investigated is cracking of concrete structures due to the loss of prestress. In previous works, an automated method based on spatial filtering techniques applied to large dynamic strain sensor networks has been proposed and tested using data from numerical simulations. In the simulations, simplified representations of cracks (such as a reduced Young's modulus) have been used. While this gives the general trend for global properties such as eigen frequencies, the change of more local features, such as strains, is not adequately represented. Instead, crack propagation models should be used. In this study, a first attempt is made in this direction for concrete structures (quasi brittle material with softening laws) using crack-band models implemented in the commercial software DIANA. The strategy consists in performing a non-linear computation which leads to cracking of the concrete, followed by a dynamic analysis. The dynamic response is then used as the input to the previously designed damage localization system in order to assess its performances. The approach is illustrated on a simply supported beam modeled with 2D plane stress elements.

MEG source localization of spatially extended generators of epileptic activity: comparing entropic and hierarchical bayesian approaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Chowdhury, Rasheda Arman; Lina, Jean Marc; Kobayashi, Eliane; Grova, Christophe

2013-01-01

Localizing the generators of epileptic activity in the brain using Electro-EncephaloGraphy (EEG) or Magneto-EncephaloGraphy (MEG) signals is of particular interest during the pre-surgical investigation of epilepsy. Epileptic discharges can be detectable from background brain activity, provided they are associated with spatially extended generators. Using realistic simulations of epileptic activity, this study evaluates the ability of distributed source localization methods to accurately estimate the location of the generators and their sensitivity to the spatial extent of such generators when using MEG data. Source localization methods based on two types of realistic models have been investigated: (i) brain activity may be modeled using cortical parcels and (ii) brain activity is assumed to be locally smooth within each parcel. A Data Driven Parcellization (DDP) method was used to segment the cortical surface into non-overlapping parcels and diffusion-based spatial priors were used to model local spatial smoothness within parcels. These models were implemented within the Maximum Entropy on the Mean (MEM) and the Hierarchical Bayesian (HB) source localization frameworks. We proposed new methods in this context and compared them with other standard ones using Monte Carlo simulations of realistic MEG data involving sources of several spatial extents and depths. Detection accuracy of each method was quantified using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis and localization error metrics. Our results showed that methods implemented within the MEM framework were sensitive to all spatial extents of the sources ranging from 3 cm(2) to 30 cm(2), whatever were the number and size of the parcels defining the model. To reach a similar level of accuracy within the HB framework, a model using parcels larger than the size of the sources should be considered.

MEG source localization of spatially extended generators of epileptic activity: comparing entropic and hierarchical bayesian approaches.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rasheda Arman Chowdhury

Full Text Available Localizing the generators of epileptic activity in the brain using Electro-EncephaloGraphy (EEG or Magneto-EncephaloGraphy (MEG signals is of particular interest during the pre-surgical investigation of epilepsy. Epileptic discharges can be detectable from background brain activity, provided they are associated with spatially extended generators. Using realistic simulations of epileptic activity, this study evaluates the ability of distributed source localization methods to accurately estimate the location of the generators and their sensitivity to the spatial extent of such generators when using MEG data. Source localization methods based on two types of realistic models have been investigated: (i brain activity may be modeled using cortical parcels and (ii brain activity is assumed to be locally smooth within each parcel. A Data Driven Parcellization (DDP method was used to segment the cortical surface into non-overlapping parcels and diffusion-based spatial priors were used to model local spatial smoothness within parcels. These models were implemented within the Maximum Entropy on the Mean (MEM and the Hierarchical Bayesian (HB source localization frameworks. We proposed new methods in this context and compared them with other standard ones using Monte Carlo simulations of realistic MEG data involving sources of several spatial extents and depths. Detection accuracy of each method was quantified using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC analysis and localization error metrics. Our results showed that methods implemented within the MEM framework were sensitive to all spatial extents of the sources ranging from 3 cm(2 to 30 cm(2, whatever were the number and size of the parcels defining the model. To reach a similar level of accuracy within the HB framework, a model using parcels larger than the size of the sources should be considered.

Performance Competition in Local Media Markets

OpenAIRE

Revelli Federico

2008-01-01

This paper investigates the impact of tax and public service performance on English local government popularity by using data on local property taxes, service performance ratings and local election results after the introduction of a system of evaluation of local government performance (Comprehensive Performance Assessment). The evidence emerging from estimation of a reelection equation offers a somewhat more rounded portrait of the voter than the conventional fiscal conservative icon, by hig...

Task demands affect spatial reference frame weighting during tactile localization in sighted and congenitally blind adults

OpenAIRE

Heed, Tobias; Roeder, Brigitte; Badde, Stephanie; Schubert, Jonathan

2017-01-01

Task demands modulate tactile localization in sighted humans, presumably through weight adjustments in the spatial integration of anatomical, skin-based, and external, posture-based information. In contrast, previous studies have suggested that congenitally blind humans, by default, refrain from automatic spatial integration and localize touch using only skin-based information. Here, sighted and congenitally blind participants localized tactile targets on the palm or back of one hand, while i...

Instantaneous local wave vector estimation from multi-spacecraft measurements using few spatial points

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. D. Carozzi

2004-07-01

Full Text Available We introduce a technique to determine instantaneous local properties of waves based on discrete-time sampled, real-valued measurements from 4 or more spatial points. The technique is a generalisation to the spatial domain of the notion of instantaneous frequency used in signal processing. The quantities derived by our technique are closely related to those used in geometrical optics, namely the local wave vector and instantaneous phase velocity. Thus, this experimental technique complements ray-tracing. We provide example applications of the technique to electric field and potential data from the EFW instrument on Cluster. Cluster is the first space mission for which direct determination of the full 3-dimensional local wave vector is possible, as described here.

Spatial Information in local society's cultural conservation and research

Science.gov (United States)

Jang, J.-J.; Liao, H.-M.; Fan, I.-C.

2015-09-01

Western parade, called " raojing " , the main spirit is passing through of these ranges in the process, to reach the people within bless range, many scholars and academic experts's folk research are dependent on such spatial information. 2012, GIS center applied WebGIS and GPS to gather raojing activities spatial information in cooperation with multi-units, aggregated seven sessions, 22 days, 442 temples had pass through . The atlas also published named "Atlas of the 2012 Religious Processions in the Tainan Region" in 2014. we also applied national cultural resources data form relevant government authorities, through the metadata design and data processing(geocoding), established cultural geospatial and thematic information ,such as 800 monuments, 1,100 historic buildings and 4,300 old trees data. In recent years, based on CRGIS technology and operational concepts, different domain experts or local culture-ahistory research worker/team had to cooperate with us to establish local or thematic material and cultural resources. As in collaboration with local culture-history research worker in Kinmen County in 2012, build Kinmen intangible cultural assets - Wind Lion God ,set metadata and build 122 wind lion god `s attribute data and maps through field survey, it is worth mention such fieldwork data integrity is more than the official registration data form Kinmen National Park, the number of is wind lion god more than 40; in 2013,we were in cooperation with academic experts to establish property data and map of the theatre during the Japanese colonial era in Taiwan, a total of 170 theatres ; we were in cooperation with Japanese scholars, used his 44 detaile field survey data of sugar refineries during the Japanese colonial era in Taiwan ,to produce a sugar refineries distribution map and extend to a thematic web(http://map.net.tw/) [The Cultural Heritage Maps of Taiwan Suger Factories in a Century]site according to CRGIS independent cultural concept. Deployment and operation

Performing a local barrier operation

Science.gov (United States)

Archer, Charles J; Blocksome, Michael A; Ratterman, Joseph D; Smith, Brian E

2014-03-04

Performing a local barrier operation with parallel tasks executing on a compute node including, for each task: retrieving a present value of a counter; calculating, in dependence upon the present value of the counter and a total number of tasks performing the local barrier operation, a base value, the base value representing the counter's value prior to any task joining the local barrier; calculating, in dependence upon the base value and the total number of tasks performing the local barrier operation, a target value of the counter, the target value representing the counter's value when all tasks have joined the local barrier; joining the local barrier, including atomically incrementing the value of the counter; and repetitively, until the present value of the counter is no less than the target value of the counter: retrieving the present value of the counter and determining whether the present value equals the target value.

Local loss and spatial homogenization of plant diversity reduce ecosystem multifunctionality

Science.gov (United States)

Experimental studies show that local plant species loss decreases ecosystem functioning and services, but it remains unclear how other changes in biodiversity, such as spatial homogenization, alter multiple processes (multifunctionality) in natural ecosystems. We present a global analysis of eight ...

Macroecological factors shape local-scale spatial patterns in agriculturalist settlements.

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Tingting; Abades, Sebastián; Teng, Shuqing; Huang, Zheng Y X; Reino, Luís; Chen, Bin J W; Zhang, Yong; Xu, Chi; Svenning, Jens-Christian

2017-11-15

Macro-scale patterns of human systems ranging from population distribution to linguistic diversity have attracted recent attention, giving rise to the suggestion that macroecological rules shape the assembly of human societies. However, in which aspects the geography of our own species is shaped by macroecological factors remains poorly understood. Here, we provide a first demonstration that macroecological factors shape strong local-scale spatial patterns in human settlement systems, through an analysis of spatial patterns in agriculturalist settlements in eastern mainland China based on high-resolution Google Earth images. We used spatial point pattern analysis to show that settlement spatial patterns are characterized by over-dispersion at fine spatial scales (0.05-1.4 km), consistent with territory segregation, and clumping at coarser spatial scales beyond the over-dispersion signals, indicating territorial clustering. Statistical modelling shows that, at macroscales, potential evapotranspiration and topographic heterogeneity have negative effects on territory size, but positive effects on territorial clustering. These relationships are in line with predictions from territory theory for hunter-gatherers as well as for many animal species. Our results help to disentangle the complex interactions between intrinsic spatial processes in agriculturalist societies and external forcing by macroecological factors. While one may speculate that humans can escape ecological constraints because of unique abilities for environmental modification and globalized resource transportation, our work highlights that universal macroecological principles still shape the geography of current human agricultural societies. © 2017 The Author(s).

A robust spatial filtering technique for multisource localization and geoacoustic inversion.

Science.gov (United States)

Stotts, S A

2005-07-01

Geoacoustic inversion and source localization using beamformed data from a ship of opportunity has been demonstrated with a bottom-mounted array. An alternative approach, which lies within a class referred to as spatial filtering, transforms element level data into beam data, applies a bearing filter, and transforms back to element level data prior to performing inversions. Automation of this filtering approach is facilitated for broadband applications by restricting the inverse transform to the degrees of freedom of the array, i.e., the effective number of elements, for frequencies near or below the design frequency. A procedure is described for nonuniformly spaced elements that guarantees filter stability well above the design frequency. Monitoring energy conservation with respect to filter output confirms filter stability. Filter performance with both uniformly spaced and nonuniformly spaced array elements is discussed. Vertical (range and depth) and horizontal (range and bearing) ambiguity surfaces are constructed to examine filter performance. Examples that demonstrate this filtering technique with both synthetic data and real data are presented along with comparisons to inversion results using beamformed data. Examinations of cost functions calculated within a simulated annealing algorithm reveal the efficacy of the approach.

A Socio-spatial Dimension of Local Creative Industry Development in Semarang and Kudus Batik Clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Nugroho, P.

2018-02-01

Creative industries existence is inseparable from the underlying social construct which provides sources for creativity and innovation. The working of social capital in a society facilitates information exchange, knowledge transfer and technology acquisition within the industry through social networks. As a result, a socio-spatial divide exists in directing the growth of the creative industries. This paper aims to examine how such a socio-spatial divide contributes to the local creative industry development in Semarang and Kudus batik clusters. Explanatory sequential mixed methods approach covering a quantitative approach followed by a qualitative approach is chosen to understand better the interplay between tangible and intangible variables in the local batik clusters. Surveys on secondary data taken from the government statistics and reports, previous studies, and media exposures are completed in the former approach to identify clustering pattern of the local batik industry and the local embeddedness factors which have shaped the existing business environment. In-depth interviews, content analysis, and field observations are engaged in the latter approach to explore reciprocal relationships between the elements of social capital and the local batik cluster development. The result demonstrates that particular social ties have determined the forms of spatial proximity manifested in forward and backward business linkages. Trust, shared norms, and inherited traditions are the key social capital attributes that lead to such a socio-spatial divide. Therefore, the intermediating roles of the bridging actors are necessary to encouraging cooperation among the participating stakeholders for a better cluster development.

Educational Mismatch and Spatial Flexibility in Italian Local Labour Markets

Science.gov (United States)

Croce, Giuseppe; Ghignoni, Emanuela

2015-01-01

According to recent literature, this paper highlights the relevance of spatial mobility as an explanatory factor of the individual risk of job-education mismatch. To investigate this causal link, we use individual information about daily home-to-work commuting time and choices to relocate in a different local area to get a job. Our model takes…

Spatial localization of the first and last enzymes effectively connects active metabolic pathways in bacteria.

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Pablo; Cecchi, Guillermo; Stolovitzky, Gustavo

2014-12-14

Although much is understood about the enzymatic cascades that underlie cellular biosynthesis, comparatively little is known about the rules that determine their cellular organization. We performed a detailed analysis of the localization of E.coli GFP-tagged enzymes for cells growing exponentially. We found that out of 857 globular enzymes, at least 219 have a discrete punctuate localization in the cytoplasm and catalyze the first or the last reaction in 60% of biosynthetic pathways. A graph-theoretic analysis of E.coli's metabolic network shows that localized enzymes, in contrast to non-localized ones, form a tree-like hierarchical structure, have a higher within-group connectivity, and are traversed by a higher number of feed-forward and feedback loops than their non-localized counterparts. A Gene Ontology analysis of these enzymes reveals an enrichment of terms related to essential metabolic functions in growing cells. Given that these findings suggest a distinct metabolic role for localization, we studied the dynamics of cellular localization of the cell wall synthesizing enzymes in B. subtilis and found that enzymes localize during exponential growth but not during stationary growth. We conclude that active biochemical pathways inside the cytoplasm are organized spatially following a rule where their first or their last enzymes localize to effectively connect the different active pathways and thus could reflect the activity state of the cell's metabolic network.

Critical location identification and vulnerability analysis of interdependent infrastructure systems under spatially localized attacks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ouyang, Min

2016-01-01

Infrastructure systems are usually spatially distributed in a wide area and are subject to many types of hazards. For each type of hazards, modeling their direct impact on infrastructure components and analyzing their induced system-level vulnerability are important for identifying mitigation strategies. This paper mainly studies spatially localized attacks that a set of infrastructure components located within or crossing a circle shaped spatially localized area is subject to damage while other components do not directly fail. For this type of attacks, taking interdependent power and gas systems in Harris County, Texas, USA as an example, this paper proposes an approach to exactly identify critical locations in interdependent infrastructure systems and make pertinent vulnerability analysis. Results show that (a) infrastructure interdependencies and attack radius largely affect the position of critical locations; (b) spatially localized attacks cause less vulnerability than equivalent random failures; (c) in most values of attack radius critical locations identified by considering only node failures do not change when considering both node and edge failures in the attack area; (d) for many values of attack radius critical locations identified by topology-based model are also critical from the flow-based perspective. - Highlights: • We propose a method to identify critical locations in interdependent infrastructures. • Geographical interdependencies and attack radius largely affect critical locations. • Localized attacks cause less vulnerability than equivalent random failures. • Whether considering both node and edge failures affects critical locations. • Topology-based critical locations are also critical from flow-based perspective.

Efficient Top-k Locality Search for Co-located Spatial Web Objects

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qu, Qiang; Liu, Siyuan; Yang, Bin

2014-01-01

In step with the web being used widely by mobile users, user location is becoming an essential signal in services, including local intent search. Given a large set of spatial web objects consisting of a geographical location and a textual description (e.g., online business directory entries of re...

Spatial Information in local society’s cultural conservation and research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J.-J. Jang

2015-09-01

similar to Western parade, called " raojing " , the main spirit is passing through of these ranges in the process, to reach the people within bless range, many scholars and academic experts's folk research are dependent on such spatial information. 2012, GIS center applied WebGIS and GPS to gather raojing activities spatial information in cooperation with multi-units, aggregated seven sessions, 22 days, 442 temples had pass through . The atlas also published named "Atlas of the 2012 Religious Processions in the Tainan Region" in 2014. we also applied national cultural resources data form relevant government authorities, through the metadata design and data processing(geocoding, established cultural geospatial and thematic information ,such as 800 monuments, 1,100 historic buildings and 4,300 old trees data. In recent years, based on CRGIS technology and operational concepts, different domain experts or local culture-ahistory research worker/team had to cooperate with us to establish local or thematic material and cultural resources. As in collaboration with local culture-history research worker in Kinmen County in 2012, build Kinmen intangible cultural assets - Wind Lion God ,set metadata and build 122 wind lion god ‘s attribute data and maps through field survey, it is worth mention such fieldwork data integrity is more than the official registration data form Kinmen National Park, the number of is wind lion god more than 40; in 2013,we were in cooperation with academic experts to establish property data and map of the theatre during the Japanese colonial era in Taiwan, a total of 170 theatres ; we were in cooperation with Japanese scholars, used his 44 detaile field survey data of sugar refineries during the Japanese colonial era in Taiwan ,to produce a sugar refineries distribution map and extend to a thematic web(http://map.net.tw/ [The Cultural Heritage Maps of Taiwan Suger Factories in a Century]site according to CRGIS independent cultural concept. Deployment and

Spatial Modulation Improves Performance in CTIS

Science.gov (United States)

Bearman, Gregory H.; Wilson, Daniel W.; Johnson, William R.

2009-01-01

Suitably formulated spatial modulation of a scene imaged by a computed-tomography imaging spectrometer (CTIS) has been found to be useful as a means of improving the imaging performance of the CTIS. As used here, "spatial modulation" signifies the imposition of additional, artificial structure on a scene from within the CTIS optics. The basic principles of a CTIS were described in "Improvements in Computed- Tomography Imaging Spectrometry" (NPO-20561) NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 24, No. 12 (December 2000), page 38 and "All-Reflective Computed-Tomography Imaging Spectrometers" (NPO-20836), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 26, No. 11 (November 2002), page 7a. To recapitulate: A CTIS offers capabilities for imaging a scene with spatial, spectral, and temporal resolution. The spectral disperser in a CTIS is a two-dimensional diffraction grating. It is positioned between two relay lenses (or on one of two relay mirrors) in a video imaging system. If the disperser were removed, the system would produce ordinary images of the scene in its field of view. In the presence of the grating, the image on the focal plane of the system contains both spectral and spatial information because the multiple diffraction orders of the grating give rise to multiple, spectrally dispersed images of the scene. By use of algorithms adapted from computed tomography, the image on the focal plane can be processed into an image cube a three-dimensional collection of data on the image intensity as a function of the two spatial dimensions (x and y) in the scene and of wavelength (lambda). Thus, both spectrally and spatially resolved information on the scene at a given instant of time can be obtained, without scanning, from a single snapshot; this is what makes the CTIS such a potentially powerful tool for spatially, spectrally, and temporally resolved imaging. A CTIS performs poorly in imaging some types of scenes in particular, scenes that contain little spatial or spectral variation. The computed spectra of

Spatial localization of nanoparticle growth in photoinduced nanocomposites

Science.gov (United States)

Smirnov, Anton A.; Pikulin, Alexander; Bityurin, Nikita

2018-02-01

Photoinduced nanocomposites are the polymer materials where the nanoparticles can be generated by the light irradiation. The single atoms of metal are formed due to the photoreduction of the metal-containing precursor added to the polymer matrix. Then the atoms precipitate into the nanoparticles (NPs). Similarly, semiconductor NPs are assembled from the monomer species such as CdS, which can be released due to the photodestruction of the appropriate precursor. We analyze theoretically the possibility of spatial confinement of growing nanoparticles in a domain where the elementary species are generated by a three-dimensionally localized source. It is shown that the effective confinement can be achieved only if the size of the generation domain exceeds some critical spatial scale determined by the parameters of the system. The confinement is provided by the trapping of the diffusing elementary species by the growing nanoparticles. The proposed model considers the irreversible particle growth, typical for the noble metals. Both the nucleation and the particle growth processes are suggested to be diffusion controlled.

Spatial and temporal patterns of locally-acquired dengue transmission in northern Queensland, Australia, 1993-2012.

Science.gov (United States)

Naish, Suchithra; Dale, Pat; Mackenzie, John S; McBride, John; Mengersen, Kerrie; Tong, Shilu

2014-01-01

Dengue has been a major public health concern in Australia since it re-emerged in Queensland in 1992-1993. We explored spatio-temporal characteristics of locally-acquired dengue cases in northern tropical Queensland, Australia during the period 1993-2012. Locally-acquired notified cases of dengue were collected for northern tropical Queensland from 1993 to 2012. Descriptive spatial and temporal analyses were conducted using geographic information system tools and geostatistical techniques. 2,398 locally-acquired dengue cases were recorded in northern tropical Queensland during the study period. The areas affected by the dengue cases exhibited spatial and temporal variation over the study period. Notified cases of dengue occurred more frequently in autumn. Mapping of dengue by statistical local areas (census units) reveals the presence of substantial spatio-temporal variation over time and place. Statistically significant differences in dengue incidence rates among males and females (with more cases in females) (χ(2) = 15.17, d.f.  = 1, pQueensland. Tropical areas are potential high-risk areas for mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue. This study demonstrated that the locally-acquired dengue cases have exhibited a spatial and temporal variation over the past twenty years in northern tropical Queensland, Australia. Therefore, this study provides an impetus for further investigation of clusters and risk factors in these high-risk areas.

Auditory Spatial Perception: Auditory Localization

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-01

body movements that affect localization performance are tipping the chin toward the chest, tilting the body, or pivoting the head toward one or the... Compensatory Strategies . Brain 2002, 125, 1039–1053. Lee, P. L.; Wang, J. H. The Simulation of Binaural Hearing Caused by a Moving Sound Source...during the listening task changes the listener’s 140 listening plane. With a tilted head , the listener is pointing in an oblique plane that

Finite-volume effects due to spatially non-local operators arXiv

CERN Document Server

Briceño, Raúl A.; Hansen, Maxwell T.; Monahan, Christopher J.

Spatially non-local matrix elements are useful lattice-QCD observables in a variety of contexts, for example in determining hadron structure. To quote credible estimates of the systematic uncertainties in these calculations, one must understand, among other things, the size of the finite-volume effects when such matrix elements are extracted from numerical lattice calculations. In this work, we estimate finite-volume effects for matrix elements of non-local operators, composed of two currents displaced in a spatial direction by a distance $\\xi$. We find that the finite-volume corrections depend on the details of the matrix element. If the external state is the lightest degree of freedom in the theory, e.g.~the pion in QCD, then the volume corrections scale as $ e^{-m_\\pi (L- \\xi)} $, where $m_\\pi$ is the mass of the light state. For heavier external states the usual $e^{- m_\\pi L}$ form is recovered, but with a polynomial prefactor of the form $L^m/|L - \\xi|^n$ that can lead to enhanced volume effects. These ...

DETERMINATION OF SPATIAL INTEGRATION AND SUBSTITUTION OF FOREIGN RICE FOR LOCAL RICE IN GHANA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Philip Kofi ADOM

2014-11-01

Full Text Available This study tested for spatial integration in the rice market and the substitution of imported rice for local rice in Ghana. It is established that the markets for domestic imported rice are well-integrated, but not complete. The imperfect spatial integration of domestic foreign rice markets implies that the market provides opportunities for arbitrage. Price leadership roles are found to be determined by the kind of sub-inter-regional-trade network defined. However, in all, the Accra market emerged as a dominant market leader in the domestic foreign rice market. There is evidence of significant regional substitution of foreign rice for local rice in the long run, but the result is mixed in the short run. The result that local rice is not a perfect substitute for imported rice implies that price disincentive measures such as increasing the import tariffs on foreign rice will only produce a mild effect on increasing the producer price faced by local rice farmers, but aggravate the burden on households’ budget.

Spatial transformation abilities and their relation to later mathematics performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Frick, Andrea

2018-04-10

Using a longitudinal approach, this study investigated the relational structure of different spatial transformation skills at kindergarten age, and how these spatial skills relate to children's later mathematics performance. Children were tested at three time points, in kindergarten, first grade, and second grade (N = 119). Exploratory factor analyses revealed two subcomponents of spatial transformation skills: one representing egocentric transformations (mental rotation and spatial scaling), and one representing allocentric transformations (e.g., cross-sectioning, perspective taking). Structural equation modeling suggested that egocentric transformation skills showed their strongest relation to the part of the mathematics test tapping arithmetic operations, whereas allocentric transformations were strongly related to Numeric-Logical and Spatial Functions as well as geometry. The present findings point to a tight connection between early mental transformation skills, particularly the ones requiring a high level of spatial flexibility and a strong sense for spatial magnitudes, and children's mathematics performance at the beginning of their school career.

Compositional divergence and convergence in local communities and spatially structured landscapes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tancredi Caruso

Full Text Available Community structure depends on both deterministic and stochastic processes. However, patterns of community dissimilarity (e.g. difference in species composition are difficult to interpret in terms of the relative roles of these processes. Local communities can be more dissimilar (divergence than, less dissimilar (convergence than, or as dissimilar as a hypothetical control based on either null or neutral models. However, several mechanisms may result in the same pattern, or act concurrently to generate a pattern, and much research has recently been focusing on unravelling these mechanisms and their relative contributions. Using a simulation approach, we addressed the effect of a complex but realistic spatial structure in the distribution of the niche axis and we analysed patterns of species co-occurrence and beta diversity as measured by dissimilarity indices (e.g. Jaccard index using either expectations under a null model or neutral dynamics (i.e., based on switching off the niche effect. The strength of niche processes, dispersal, and environmental noise strongly interacted so that niche-driven dynamics may result in local communities that either diverge or converge depending on the combination of these factors. Thus, a fundamental result is that, in real systems, interacting processes of community assembly can be disentangled only by measuring traits such as niche breadth and dispersal. The ability to detect the signal of the niche was also dependent on the spatial resolution of the sampling strategy, which must account for the multiple scale spatial patterns in the niche axis. Notably, some of the patterns we observed correspond to patterns of community dissimilarities previously observed in the field and suggest mechanistic explanations for them or the data required to solve them. Our framework offers a synthesis of the patterns of community dissimilarity produced by the interaction of deterministic and stochastic determinants of community

Small-angle scattering theory revisited: Photocurrent and spatial localization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Basse, N.P.; Zoletnik, S.; Michelsen, Poul

2005-01-01

In this paper theory on collective scattering measurements of electron density fluctuations in fusion plasmas is revisited. We present the first full derivation of the expression for the photocurrent beginning at the basic scattering concepts. Thereafter we derive detailed expressions for the auto......- and crosspower spectra obtained from measurements. These are discussed and simple simulations made to elucidate the physical meaning of the findings. In this context, the known methods of obtaining spatial localization are discussed and appraised. Where actual numbers are applied, we utilize quantities from two...

Real Estate as a Subject of Spatial Conflict Among Central and Local Authorities

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Źróbek-Różańska Alina

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Currently, real estate located in rural areas neighboring cities are under pressure to become a location for the realization of urban and metropolitan projects. Thus, spatial conflicts are an inherent characteristic of modern urban development. Such conflicts vary in terms of the scope, intensity and course they take. An interesting case illustrating the given issue can be the conflict over real estate owned by the State Treasury (central authority and localized within the power of local authorities (gminas. Such a situation requires mediating and producing an outcome that satisfies the goals of both sides. The authors based the deliberations on the topic of spatial conflicts on the example of the relation between the Agricultural Property Agency division in Olsztyn (APA Olsztyn and the smallest local administration units (gminas located within the borders of the Warmia-Masuria (Województwo Warmińsko-Mazurskie and Podlasie (Województwo Podlaskie Provinces. The aim of the research was to describe the background for potential conflict and to study its proceedings. The aim was achieved through studies of relevant literature and data analysis.

Scaling local species-habitat relations to the larger landscape with a hierarchical spatial count model

Science.gov (United States)

Thogmartin, W.E.; Knutson, M.G.

2007-01-01

Much of what is known about avian species-habitat relations has been derived from studies of birds at local scales. It is entirely unclear whether the relations observed at these scales translate to the larger landscape in a predictable linear fashion. We derived habitat models and mapped predicted abundances for three forest bird species of eastern North America using bird counts, environmental variables, and hierarchical models applied at three spatial scales. Our purpose was to understand habitat associations at multiple spatial scales and create predictive abundance maps for purposes of conservation planning at a landscape scale given the constraint that the variables used in this exercise were derived from local-level studies. Our models indicated a substantial influence of landscape context for all species, many of which were counter to reported associations at finer spatial extents. We found land cover composition provided the greatest contribution to the relative explained variance in counts for all three species; spatial structure was second in importance. No single spatial scale dominated any model, indicating that these species are responding to factors at multiple spatial scales. For purposes of conservation planning, areas of predicted high abundance should be investigated to evaluate the conservation potential of the landscape in their general vicinity. In addition, the models and spatial patterns of abundance among species suggest locations where conservation actions may benefit more than one species. ?? 2006 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.

Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Locally-Acquired Dengue Transmission in Northern Queensland, Australia, 1993–2012

Science.gov (United States)

Naish, Suchithra; Dale, Pat; Mackenzie, John S.; McBride, John; Mengersen, Kerrie; Tong, Shilu

2014-01-01

Background Dengue has been a major public health concern in Australia since it re-emerged in Queensland in 1992–1993. We explored spatio-temporal characteristics of locally-acquired dengue cases in northern tropical Queensland, Australia during the period 1993–2012. Methods Locally-acquired notified cases of dengue were collected for northern tropical Queensland from 1993 to 2012. Descriptive spatial and temporal analyses were conducted using geographic information system tools and geostatistical techniques. Results 2,398 locally-acquired dengue cases were recorded in northern tropical Queensland during the study period. The areas affected by the dengue cases exhibited spatial and temporal variation over the study period. Notified cases of dengue occurred more frequently in autumn. Mapping of dengue by statistical local areas (census units) reveals the presence of substantial spatio-temporal variation over time and place. Statistically significant differences in dengue incidence rates among males and females (with more cases in females) (χ2 = 15.17, d.f. = 1, pQueensland. Conclusions Tropical areas are potential high-risk areas for mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue. This study demonstrated that the locally-acquired dengue cases have exhibited a spatial and temporal variation over the past twenty years in northern tropical Queensland, Australia. Therefore, this study provides an impetus for further investigation of clusters and risk factors in these high-risk areas. PMID:24691549

A novel segmentation method for uneven lighting image with noise injection based on non-local spatial information and intuitionistic fuzzy entropy

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Haiyan; Fan, Jiulun

2017-12-01

Local thresholding methods for uneven lighting image segmentation always have the limitations that they are very sensitive to noise injection and that the performance relies largely upon the choice of the initial window size. This paper proposes a novel algorithm for segmenting uneven lighting images with strong noise injection based on non-local spatial information and intuitionistic fuzzy theory. We regard an image as a gray wave in three-dimensional space, which is composed of many peaks and troughs, and these peaks and troughs can divide the image into many local sub-regions in different directions. Our algorithm computes the relative characteristic of each pixel located in the corresponding sub-region based on fuzzy membership function and uses it to replace its absolute characteristic (its gray level) to reduce the influence of uneven light on image segmentation. At the same time, the non-local adaptive spatial constraints of pixels are introduced to avoid noise interference with the search of local sub-regions and the computation of local characteristics. Moreover, edge information is also taken into account to avoid false peak and trough labeling. Finally, a global method based on intuitionistic fuzzy entropy is employed on the wave transformation image to obtain the segmented result. Experiments on several test images show that the proposed method has excellent capability of decreasing the influence of uneven illumination on images and noise injection and behaves more robustly than several classical global and local thresholding methods.

Predicting space telerobotic operator training performance from human spatial ability assessment

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Andrew M.; Oman, Charles M.; Galvan, Raquel; Natapoff, Alan

2013-11-01

Our goal was to determine whether existing tests of spatial ability can predict an astronaut's qualification test performance after robotic training. Because training astronauts to be qualified robotics operators is so long and expensive, NASA is interested in tools that can predict robotics performance before training begins. Currently, the Astronaut Office does not have a validated tool to predict robotics ability as part of its astronaut selection or training process. Commonly used tests of human spatial ability may provide such a tool to predict robotics ability. We tested the spatial ability of 50 active astronauts who had completed at least one robotics training course, then used logistic regression models to analyze the correlation between spatial ability test scores and the astronauts' performance in their evaluation test at the end of the training course. The fit of the logistic function to our data is statistically significant for several spatial tests. However, the prediction performance of the logistic model depends on the criterion threshold assumed. To clarify the critical selection issues, we show how the probability of correct classification vs. misclassification varies as a function of the mental rotation test criterion level. Since the costs of misclassification are low, the logistic models of spatial ability and robotic performance are reliable enough only to be used to customize regular and remedial training. We suggest several changes in tracking performance throughout robotics training that could improve the range and reliability of predictive models.

Sex and cultural differences in spatial performance between Japanese and North Americans.

Science.gov (United States)

Sakamoto, Maiko; Spiers, Mary V

2014-04-01

Previous studies have suggested that Asians perform better than North Americans on spatial tasks but show smaller sex differences. In this study, we evaluated the relationship between long-term experience with a pictorial written language and spatial performance. It was hypothesized that native Japanese Kanji (a complex pictorial written language) educated adults would show smaller sex differences on spatial tasks than Japanese Americans or North Americans without Kanji education. A total of 80 young healthy participants (20 native Japanese speakers, 20 Japanese Americans-non Japanese speaking, and 40 North Americans-non Japanese speaking) completed the Rey Complex Figure Test (RCFT), the Mental Rotations Test (MRT), and customized 2D and 3D spatial object location memory tests. As predicted, main effects revealed men performed better on the MRT and RCFT and women performed better on the spatial object location memory tests. Also, as predicted, native Japanese performed better on all tests than the other groups. In contrast to the other groups, native Japanese showed a decreased magnitude of sex differences on aspects of the RCFT (immediate and delayed recall) and no significant sex difference on the efficiency of the strategy used to copy and encode the RCFT figure. This study lends support to the idea that intensive experience over time with a pictorial written language (i.e., Japanese Kanji) may contribute to increased spatial performance on some spatial tasks as well as diminish sex differences in performance on tasks that most resemble Kanji.

The effect of unemployment, aggregate wages, and spatial contiguity on local wages: An investigation with German district level data

OpenAIRE

Thiess Buettner

1999-01-01

Despite spatial rigidity of collectively negotiated wages the local unemployment rate is found to have a significant negative impact on wages. This impact is shown to be consistent with both the wage-curve hypothesis and modern Phillips-curve modelling. Spatial contiguity effects are found in wages and unemployment and their neglect leads to an underestimation of the effect of local unemployment. Yet, the impact of local unemployment on wages turns out to be quite low as compared to studies f...

Spatial Interpolation of Daily Rainfall Data for Local Climate Impact Assessment over Greater Sydney Region

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Xihua Yang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents spatial interpolation techniques to produce finer-scale daily rainfall data from regional climate modeling. Four common interpolation techniques (ANUDEM, Spline, IDW, and Kriging were compared and assessed against station rainfall data and modeled rainfall. The performance was assessed by the mean absolute error (MAE, mean relative error (MRE, root mean squared error (RMSE, and the spatial and temporal distributions. The results indicate that Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW method is slightly better than the other three methods and it is also easy to implement in a geographic information system (GIS. The IDW method was then used to produce forty-year (1990–2009 and 2040–2059 time series rainfall data at daily, monthly, and annual time scales at a ground resolution of 100 m for the Greater Sydney Region (GSR. The downscaled daily rainfall data have been further utilized to predict rainfall erosivity and soil erosion risk and their future changes in GSR to support assessments and planning of climate change impact and adaptation in local scale.

Optimal Audiovisual Integration in the Ventriloquism Effect But Pervasive Deficits in Unisensory Spatial Localization in Amblyopia.

Science.gov (United States)

Richards, Michael D; Goltz, Herbert C; Wong, Agnes M F

2018-01-01

Classically understood as a deficit in spatial vision, amblyopia is increasingly recognized to also impair audiovisual multisensory processing. Studies to date, however, have not determined whether the audiovisual abnormalities reflect a failure of multisensory integration, or an optimal strategy in the face of unisensory impairment. We use the ventriloquism effect and the maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE) model of optimal integration to investigate integration of audiovisual spatial information in amblyopia. Participants with unilateral amblyopia (n = 14; mean age 28.8 years; 7 anisometropic, 3 strabismic, 4 mixed mechanism) and visually normal controls (n = 16, mean age 29.2 years) localized brief unimodal auditory, unimodal visual, and bimodal (audiovisual) stimuli during binocular viewing using a location discrimination task. A subset of bimodal trials involved the ventriloquism effect, an illusion in which auditory and visual stimuli originating from different locations are perceived as originating from a single location. Localization precision and bias were determined by psychometric curve fitting, and the observed parameters were compared with predictions from the MLE model. Spatial localization precision was significantly reduced in the amblyopia group compared with the control group for unimodal visual, unimodal auditory, and bimodal stimuli. Analyses of localization precision and bias for bimodal stimuli showed no significant deviations from the MLE model in either the amblyopia group or the control group. Despite pervasive deficits in localization precision for visual, auditory, and audiovisual stimuli, audiovisual integration remains intact and optimal in unilateral amblyopia.

Effects of propylene, methyl methacrylate and isopropanol poisoning on spatial performance of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

Science.gov (United States)

Reshetenko, Tatyana V.; St-Pierre, Jean

2018-02-01

This paper studies the effects of propylene, methyl methacrylate (MMA) and isopropanol (IPA) in air on the spatial performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs). The introduction of 100 ppm C3H6 into the oxidant stream resulted in a performance decrease of 130 mV at 1.0 A cm-2, whereas 20 ppm MMA caused a voltage loss of 80 mV. A moderate performance decline of 60 mV was detected in the presence of 5.3ṡ103 ppm IPA in air. Spatial electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) data showed an increase in charge and mass transfer resistances under exposure to C3H6 and MMA, although IPA did not affect the impedance. The observed PEMFC performances, local current redistributions and EIS data can be explained by the adsorption of contaminants on the Pt surface, their subsequent transformations, and their impacts on the electrochemical surface area and oxygen reduction mechanism. It was assumed that the studied contaminants were oxidized mainly to CO2 via electrochemical and chemical pathways under the operating conditions and at the cathode potential. Self-recovery of PEMFC performance was observed for each contaminant after halting its introduction into the air. Possible contaminant oxidation/reduction mechanisms and their correlations with spatial performance and EIS are presented and discussed.

Spatially continuous dataset at local scale of Taita Hills in Kenya and Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania

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Sizah Mwalusepo

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Climate change is a global concern, requiring local scale spatially continuous dataset and modeling of meteorological variables. This dataset article provided the interpolated temperature, rainfall and relative humidity dataset at local scale along Taita Hills and Mount Kilimanjaro altitudinal gradients in Kenya and Tanzania, respectively. The temperature and relative humidity were recorded hourly using automatic onset THHOBO data loggers and rainfall was recorded daily using GENERALR wireless rain gauges. Thin plate spline (TPS was used to interpolate, with the degree of data smoothing determined by minimizing the generalized cross validation. The dataset provide information on the status of the current climatic conditions along the two mountainous altitudinal gradients in Kenya and Tanzania. The dataset will, thus, enhance future research. Keywords: Spatial climate data, Climate change, Modeling, Local scale

A novel spatial performance metric for robust pattern optimization of distributed hydrological models

Science.gov (United States)

Stisen, S.; Demirel, C.; Koch, J.

2017-12-01

Evaluation of performance is an integral part of model development and calibration as well as it is of paramount importance when communicating modelling results to stakeholders and the scientific community. There exists a comprehensive and well tested toolbox of metrics to assess temporal model performance in the hydrological modelling community. On the contrary, the experience to evaluate spatial performance is not corresponding to the grand availability of spatial observations readily available and to the sophisticate model codes simulating the spatial variability of complex hydrological processes. This study aims at making a contribution towards advancing spatial pattern oriented model evaluation for distributed hydrological models. This is achieved by introducing a novel spatial performance metric which provides robust pattern performance during model calibration. The promoted SPAtial EFficiency (spaef) metric reflects three equally weighted components: correlation, coefficient of variation and histogram overlap. This multi-component approach is necessary in order to adequately compare spatial patterns. spaef, its three components individually and two alternative spatial performance metrics, i.e. connectivity analysis and fractions skill score, are tested in a spatial pattern oriented model calibration of a catchment model in Denmark. The calibration is constrained by a remote sensing based spatial pattern of evapotranspiration and discharge timeseries at two stations. Our results stress that stand-alone metrics tend to fail to provide holistic pattern information to the optimizer which underlines the importance of multi-component metrics. The three spaef components are independent which allows them to complement each other in a meaningful way. This study promotes the use of bias insensitive metrics which allow comparing variables which are related but may differ in unit in order to optimally exploit spatial observations made available by remote sensing

Influence of age, spatial memory, and ocular fixation on localization of auditory, visual, and bimodal targets by human subjects.

Science.gov (United States)

Dobreva, Marina S; O'Neill, William E; Paige, Gary D

2012-12-01

A common complaint of the elderly is difficulty identifying and localizing auditory and visual sources, particularly in competing background noise. Spatial errors in the elderly may pose challenges and even threats to self and others during everyday activities, such as localizing sounds in a crowded room or driving in traffic. In this study, we investigated the influence of aging, spatial memory, and ocular fixation on the localization of auditory, visual, and combined auditory-visual (bimodal) targets. Head-restrained young and elderly subjects localized targets in a dark, echo-attenuated room using a manual laser pointer. Localization accuracy and precision (repeatability) were quantified for both ongoing and transient (remembered) targets at response delays up to 10 s. Because eye movements bias auditory spatial perception, localization was assessed under target fixation (eyes free, pointer guided by foveal vision) and central fixation (eyes fixed straight ahead, pointer guided by peripheral vision) conditions. Spatial localization across the frontal field in young adults demonstrated (1) horizontal overshoot and vertical undershoot for ongoing auditory targets under target fixation conditions, but near-ideal horizontal localization with central fixation; (2) accurate and precise localization of ongoing visual targets guided by foveal vision under target fixation that degraded when guided by peripheral vision during central fixation; (3) overestimation in horizontal central space (±10°) of remembered auditory, visual, and bimodal targets with increasing response delay. In comparison with young adults, elderly subjects showed (1) worse precision in most paradigms, especially when localizing with peripheral vision under central fixation; (2) greatly impaired vertical localization of auditory and bimodal targets; (3) increased horizontal overshoot in the central field for remembered visual and bimodal targets across response delays; (4) greater vulnerability to

Performative Microforests: Investigating the potential benefits of integrating spatial vegetation environments into buildings, in regards to the performance of buildings, their occupants + local ecosystems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giancarlo Mangone

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The design of office buildings can substantially improve the building, social, and ecological performance of office building projects. However, existing research on improving the performance of work environments has primarily focused on identifying and evaluating methods to make work environments less bad, rather than focusing on how to develop work environments that are positively performing. Moreover, the potential of building projects to perform positively, in terms of economic, social, and ecological performance, remains relatively unexplored in existing research and building projects. To this end, this PhD research project is focused on exploring the positive economic, social, and ecological performance potential of buildings. Specifically, this research project identifies and evaluates the potential economic, social, and ecological performance benefits of integrating microforests into office buildings. Microforests are defined in this book as dynamic, stimulating, cohesive spatial environments that are composed of vegetation and soil layers that mimic the structural, perceptual, and ecological composition of a forest ecosystem, yet are not large enough to reliably provide the myriad of functions of a robust, mature forest ecosystem. This design research focus is based on findings from existing literature that suggest that natural environments and stimuli can provide a diverse range of economic, social, and ecological performance benefits. The Design Research Methodology [DRM], an established research methodology that facilitates the use of diverse research methods in a rigorous, effective manner, is used in this research project to explore and evaluate the performance potential of microforests, by investigating the following sub research questions: • How can microforests improve the performance of office buildings? • How can microforests improve employee performance + comfort? • How can microforests improve the ecological performance

Relationship between Academic Performance, Spatial Competence, Learning Styles and Attrition

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Marianela Noriega Biggio

2013-04-01

Full Text Available This paper discusses the results of research on factors affecting academic performance and attrition in a sample of 1,500 freshman students majoring in architecture, design and urbanism at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina [University of Buenos Aires, Argentina] who were enrolled in a drafting course. The hypotheses we tested concern the mediating role of learning styles on the relationship between spatial competence and academic performance, learning-style differences by gender and cohort, and the relationship between attrition, spatial competence level and learning style. Statistical analysis of the data was performed and spatial competence enhanced by motivational profile was found to predict final achievement. Educational implications are identified, highlighting the need to promote in students those academic behaviors that characterize a self-regulated learning style and encourage the use of specific intellectual abilities.

Human and ecological determinants of the spatial structure of local breed diversity.

Science.gov (United States)

Colino-Rabanal, Victor J; Rodríguez-Díaz, Roberto; Blanco-Villegas, María José; Peris, Salvador J; Lizana, Miguel

2018-04-24

Since domestication, a large number of livestock breeds adapted to local conditions have been created by natural and artificial selection, representing one of the most powerful ways in which human groups have constructed niches to meet their need. Although many authors have described local breeds as the result of culturally and environmentally mediated processes, this study, located in mainland Spain, is the first aimed at identifying and quantifying the environmental and human contributions to the spatial structure of local breed diversity, which we refer to as livestock niche. We found that the more similar two provinces were in terms of human population, ecological characteristics, historical ties, and geographic distance, the more similar the composition of local breeds in their territories. Isolation by human population distance showed the strongest effect, followed by isolation by the environment, thus supporting the view of livestock niche as a socio-cultural product adapted to the local environment, in whose construction humans make good use of their ecological and cultural inheritances. These findings provide a useful framework to understand and to envisage the effects of climate change and globalization on local breeds and their livestock niches.

Spatial clustering and local risk of leprosy in São Paulo, Brazil.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antônio Carlos Vieira Ramos

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Although the detection rate is decreasing, the proportion of new cases with WHO grade 2 disability (G2D is increasing, creating concern among policy makers and the Brazilian government. This study aimed to identify spatial clustering of leprosy and classify high-risk areas in a major leprosy cluster using the SatScan method.Data were obtained including all leprosy cases diagnosed between January 2006 and December 2013. In addition to the clinical variable, information was also gathered regarding the G2D of the patient at diagnosis and after treatment. The Scan Spatial statistic test, developed by Kulldorff e Nagarwalla, was used to identify spatial clustering and to measure the local risk (Relative Risk-RR of leprosy. Maps considering these risks and their confidence intervals were constructed.A total of 434 cases were identified, including 188 (43.31% borderline leprosy and 101 (23.28% lepromatous leprosy cases. There was a predominance of males, with ages ranging from 15 to 59 years, and 51 patients (11.75% presented G2D. Two significant spatial clusters and three significant spatial-temporal clusters were also observed. The main spatial cluster (p = 0.000 contained 90 census tracts, a population of approximately 58,438 inhabitants, detection rate of 22.6 cases per 100,000 people and RR of approximately 3.41 (95%CI = 2.721-4.267. Regarding the spatial-temporal clusters, two clusters were observed, with RR ranging between 24.35 (95%CI = 11.133-52.984 and 15.24 (95%CI = 10.114-22.919.These findings could contribute to improvements in policies and programming, aiming for the eradication of leprosy in Brazil. The Spatial Scan statistic test was found to be an interesting resource for health managers and healthcare professionals to map the vulnerability of areas in terms of leprosy transmission risk and areas of underreporting.

Spatial clustering and local risk of leprosy in São Paulo, Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramos, Antônio Carlos Vieira; Yamamura, Mellina; Arroyo, Luiz Henrique; Popolin, Marcela Paschoal; Chiaravalloti Neto, Francisco; Palha, Pedro Fredemir; Uchoa, Severina Alice da Costa; Pieri, Flávia Meneguetti; Pinto, Ione Carvalho; Fiorati, Regina Célia; Queiroz, Ana Angélica Rêgo de; Belchior, Aylana de Souza; Dos Santos, Danielle Talita; Garcia, Maria Concebida da Cunha; Crispim, Juliane de Almeida; Alves, Luana Seles; Berra, Thaís Zamboni; Arcêncio, Ricardo Alexandre

2017-02-01

Although the detection rate is decreasing, the proportion of new cases with WHO grade 2 disability (G2D) is increasing, creating concern among policy makers and the Brazilian government. This study aimed to identify spatial clustering of leprosy and classify high-risk areas in a major leprosy cluster using the SatScan method. Data were obtained including all leprosy cases diagnosed between January 2006 and December 2013. In addition to the clinical variable, information was also gathered regarding the G2D of the patient at diagnosis and after treatment. The Scan Spatial statistic test, developed by Kulldorff e Nagarwalla, was used to identify spatial clustering and to measure the local risk (Relative Risk-RR) of leprosy. Maps considering these risks and their confidence intervals were constructed. A total of 434 cases were identified, including 188 (43.31%) borderline leprosy and 101 (23.28%) lepromatous leprosy cases. There was a predominance of males, with ages ranging from 15 to 59 years, and 51 patients (11.75%) presented G2D. Two significant spatial clusters and three significant spatial-temporal clusters were also observed. The main spatial cluster (p = 0.000) contained 90 census tracts, a population of approximately 58,438 inhabitants, detection rate of 22.6 cases per 100,000 people and RR of approximately 3.41 (95%CI = 2.721-4.267). Regarding the spatial-temporal clusters, two clusters were observed, with RR ranging between 24.35 (95%CI = 11.133-52.984) and 15.24 (95%CI = 10.114-22.919). These findings could contribute to improvements in policies and programming, aiming for the eradication of leprosy in Brazil. The Spatial Scan statistic test was found to be an interesting resource for health managers and healthcare professionals to map the vulnerability of areas in terms of leprosy transmission risk and areas of underreporting.

Microtheories for Spatial Data Infrastructures - Accounting for Diversity of Local Conceptualizations at a Global Level

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Duce, Stephanie; Janowicz, Krzysztof

The categorization of our environment into feature types is an essential prerequisite for cartography, geographic information retrieval, routing applications, spatial decision support systems, and data sharing in general. However, there is no a priori conceptualization of the world and the creation of features and types is an act of cognition. Humans conceptualize their environment based on multiple criteria such as their cultural background, knowledge, motivation, and particularly by space and time. Sharing and making these conceptualizations explicit in a formal, unambiguous way is at the core of semantic interoperability. One way to cope with semantic heterogeneities is by standardization, i.e., by agreeing on a shared conceptualization. This bears the danger of losing local diversity. In contrast, this work proposes the use of microtheories for Spatial Data Infrastructures, such as INSPIRE, to account for the diversity of local conceptualizations while maintaining their semantic interoperability at a global level. We introduce a novel methodology to structure ontologies by spatial and temporal aspects, in our case administrative boundaries, which reflect variations in feature conceptualization. A local, bottom-up approach, based on non-standard inference, is used to compute global feature definitions which are neither too broad nor too specific. Using different conceptualizations of rivers and other geographic feature types, we demonstrate how the present approach can improve the INSPIRE data model and ease its adoption by European member states.

High spatial correspondence at a columnar level between activation and resting state fMRI signals and local field potentials.

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Shi, Zhaoyue; Wu, Ruiqi; Yang, Pai-Feng; Wang, Feng; Wu, Tung-Lin; Mishra, Arabinda; Chen, Li Min; Gore, John C

2017-05-16

Although blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI has been widely used to map brain responses to external stimuli and to delineate functional circuits at rest, the extent to which BOLD signals correlate spatially with underlying neuronal activity, the spatial relationships between stimulus-evoked BOLD activations and local correlations of BOLD signals in a resting state, and whether these spatial relationships vary across functionally distinct cortical areas are not known. To address these critical questions, we directly compared the spatial extents of stimulated activations and the local profiles of intervoxel resting state correlations for both high-resolution BOLD at 9.4 T and local field potentials (LFPs), using 98-channel microelectrode arrays, in functionally distinct primary somatosensory areas 3b and 1 in nonhuman primates. Anatomic images of LFP and BOLD were coregistered within 0.10 mm accuracy. We found that the point spread functions (PSFs) of BOLD and LFP responses were comparable in the stimulus condition, and both estimates of activations were slightly more spatially constrained than local correlations at rest. The magnitudes of stimulus responses in area 3b were stronger than those in area 1 and extended in a medial to lateral direction. In addition, the reproducibility and stability of stimulus-evoked activation locations within and across both modalities were robust. Our work suggests that the intrinsic resolution of BOLD is not a limiting feature in practice and approaches the intrinsic precision achievable by multielectrode electrophysiology.

Spatial Representations in Local Field Potential Activity of Primate Anterior Intraparietal Cortex (AIP.

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Sebastian J Lehmann

Full Text Available The execution of reach-to-grasp movements in order to interact with our environment is an important subset of the human movement repertoire. To coordinate such goal-directed movements, information about the relative spatial position of target and effector (in this case the hand has to be continuously integrated and processed. Recently, we reported the existence of spatial representations in spiking-activity of the cortical fronto-parietal grasp network (Lehmann & Scherberger 2013, and in particular in the anterior intraparietal cortex (AIP. To further investigate the nature of these spatial representations, we explored in two rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta how different frequency bands of the local field potential (LFP in AIP are modulated by grip type, target position, and gaze position, during the planning and execution of reach-to-grasp movements. We systematically varied grasp type, spatial target, and gaze position and found that both spatial and grasp information were encoded in a variety of frequency bands (1-13Hz, 13-30Hz, 30-60Hz, and 60-100Hz, respectively. Whereas the representation of grasp type strongly increased towards and during movement execution, spatial information was represented throughout the task. Both spatial and grasp type representations could be readily decoded from all frequency bands. The fact that grasp type and spatial (reach information was found not only in spiking activity, but also in various LFP frequency bands of AIP, might significantly contribute to the development of LFP-based neural interfaces for the control of upper limb prostheses.

Selected Economic Aspects Of Adopting A Local Spatial Development Plan Exemplified By The Commune Of Tomice In Malopolskie Province

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Gawroński Krzysztof

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The object of this article is to analyze and asses the legal and economic consequences arising from the adoption (or change of a local spatial development plan. The paper also presents, based on the example of the rural commune of Tomice in the Malopolska Province of Poland, how to estimate income to the commune budget from the collected planning fees. The analyses are based on planning studies, including the local spatial development plan from 2004, and the study of conditions and directions of spatial development from 2012. The council of Tomice Commune adopted the local spatial plan due to the increasing demand for residential areas. According to the plan, over 930 acres of land have been allocated for investment purposes, which is approx. 22.4% of the total area of 4,155 ha. The local plan was developed for all the six cadastral units of the commune, with one hundred percent surface coverage. The physiographic conditions and the location of Tomice Commune encourage the settlement of the urban population (from Wadowice or Krakow, which entails the need for housing investment areas. In 2012, the Tomice Commune adopted a change in the study of conditions and directions of spatial development. The proposed re-zoning of the area is in line with the policy of transitioning from an agricultural character towards the sustainable and multifunctional development of the commune. It is worth noting that the provisions of the plan of 2004 take into account the collection of a one-time fee for the sale of real estate whose value has increased as a result of the adoption of the plan. The amount of this fee for investment areas was set at the level of 30% of the increase in value, in accordance with the provisions of the Polish Act on Spatial Planning and Management. Due to the fact that the currently valid local plan has been in effect for 10 years, it can be assumed that the commune will proceed to make some changes to it. The article estimates the

Discrimination performance in aging is vulnerable to interference and dissociable from spatial memory

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Johnson, Sarah A.; Sacks, Patricia K.; Turner, Sean M.; Gaynor, Leslie S.; Ormerod, Brandi K.; Maurer, Andrew P.; Bizon, Jennifer L.

2016-01-01

Hippocampal-dependent episodic memory and stimulus discrimination abilities are both compromised in the elderly. The reduced capacity to discriminate between similar stimuli likely contributes to multiple aspects of age-related cognitive impairment; however, the association of these behaviors within individuals has never been examined in an animal model. In the present study, young and aged F344×BN F1 hybrid rats were cross-characterized on the Morris water maze test of spatial memory and a dentate gyrus-dependent match-to-position test of spatial discrimination ability. Aged rats showed overall impairments relative to young in spatial learning and memory on the water maze task. Although young and aged learned to apply a match-to-position response strategy in performing easy spatial discriminations within a similar number of trials, a majority of aged rats were impaired relative to young in performing difficult spatial discriminations on subsequent tests. Moreover, all aged rats were susceptible to cumulative interference during spatial discrimination tests, such that error rate increased on later trials of test sessions. These data suggest that when faced with difficult discriminations, the aged rats were less able to distinguish current goal locations from those of previous trials. Increasing acetylcholine levels with donepezil did not improve aged rats’ abilities to accurately perform difficult spatial discriminations or reduce their susceptibility to interference. Interestingly, better spatial memory abilities were not significantly associated with higher performance on difficult spatial discriminations. This observation, along with the finding that aged rats made more errors under conditions in which interference was high, suggests that match-to-position spatial discrimination performance may rely on extra-hippocampal structures such as the prefrontal cortex, in addition to the dentate gyrus. PMID:27317194

Developing spatial inequalities in carbon appropriation: a sociological analysis of changing local emissions across the United States.

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Elliott, James R; Clement, Matthew Thomas

2015-05-01

This study examines an overlooked dynamic in sociological research on greenhouse gas emissions: how local areas appropriate the global carbon cycle for use and exchange purposes as they develop. Drawing on theories of place and space, we hypothesize that development differentially drives and spatially decouples use- and exchange-oriented emissions at the local level. To test our hypotheses, we integrate longitudinal, county-level data on residential and industrial emissions from the Vulcan Project with demographic, economic and environmental data from the U.S. Census Bureau and National Land Change Database. Results from spatial regression models with two-way fixed-effects indicate that alongside innovations and efficiencies capable of reducing environmentally harmful effects of development comes a spatial disarticulation between carbon-intensive production and consumption within as well as across societies. Implications for existing theory, methods and policy are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

High-precision spatial localization of mouse vocalizations during social interaction.

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Heckman, Jesse J; Proville, Rémi; Heckman, Gert J; Azarfar, Alireza; Celikel, Tansu; Englitz, Bernhard

2017-06-07

Mice display a wide repertoire of vocalizations that varies with age, sex, and context. Especially during courtship, mice emit ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) of high complexity, whose detailed structure is poorly understood. As animals of both sexes vocalize, the study of social vocalizations requires attributing single USVs to individuals. The state-of-the-art in sound localization for USVs allows spatial localization at centimeter resolution, however, animals interact at closer ranges, involving tactile, snout-snout exploration. Hence, improved algorithms are required to reliably assign USVs. We develop multiple solutions to USV localization, and derive an analytical solution for arbitrary vertical microphone positions. The algorithms are compared on wideband acoustic noise and single mouse vocalizations, and applied to social interactions with optically tracked mouse positions. A novel, (frequency) envelope weighted generalised cross-correlation outperforms classical cross-correlation techniques. It achieves a median error of ~1.4 mm for noise and ~4-8.5 mm for vocalizations. Using this algorithms in combination with a level criterion, we can improve the assignment for interacting mice. We report significant differences in mean USV properties between CBA mice of different sexes during social interaction. Hence, the improved USV attribution to individuals lays the basis for a deeper understanding of social vocalizations, in particular sequences of USVs.

Spatial distribution of limited resources and local density regulation in juvenile Atlantic salmon.

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Finstad, Anders G; Einum, Sigurd; Ugedal, Ola; Forseth, Torbjørn

2009-01-01

1. Spatial heterogeneity of resources may influence competition among individuals and thus have a fundamental role in shaping population dynamics and carrying capacity. In the present study, we identify shelter opportunities as a limiting resource for juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.). Experimental and field studies are combined in order to demonstrate how the spatial distribution of shelters may influence population dynamics on both within and among population scales. 2. In closed experimental streams, fish performance scaled negatively with decreasing shelter availability and increasing densities. In contrast, the fish in open stream channels dispersed according to shelter availability and performance of fish remaining in the streams did not depend on initial density or shelters. 3. The field study confirmed that spatial variation in densities of 1-year-old juveniles was governed both by initial recruit density and shelter availability. Strength of density-dependent population regulation, measured as carrying capacity, increased with decreasing number of shelters. 4. Nine rivers were surveyed for spatial variation in shelter availability and increased shelter heterogeneity tended to decrease maximum observed population size (measured using catch statistics of adult salmon as a proxy). 5. Our studies highlight the importance of small-scale within-population spatial structure in population dynamics and demonstrate that not only the absolute amount of limiting resources but also their spatial arrangement can be an important factor influencing population carrying capacity.

Benchmarking the financial performance of local councils in Ireland

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Robbins Geraldine

2016-05-01

Full Text Available It was over a quarter of a century ago that information from the financial statements was used to benchmark the efficiency and effectiveness of local government in the US. With the global adoption of New Public Management ideas, benchmarking practice spread to the public sector and has been employed to drive reforms aimed at improving performance and, ultimately, service delivery and local outcomes. The manner in which local authorities in OECD countries compare and benchmark their performance varies widely. The methodology developed in this paper to rate the relative financial performance of Irish city and county councils is adapted from an earlier assessment tool used to measure the financial condition of small cities in the US. Using our financial performance framework and the financial data in the audited annual financial statements of Irish local councils, we calculate composite scores for each of the thirty-four local authorities for the years 2007–13. This paper contributes composite scores that measure the relative financial performance of local councils in Ireland, as well as a full set of yearly results for a seven-year period in which local governments witnessed significant changes in their financial health. The benchmarking exercise is useful in highlighting those councils that, in relative financial performance terms, are the best/worst performers.

Predicting detection performance with model observers: Fourier domain or spatial domain?

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Chen, Baiyu; Yu, Lifeng; Leng, Shuai; Kofler, James; Favazza, Christopher; Vrieze, Thomas; McCollough, Cynthia

2016-02-27

The use of Fourier domain model observer is challenged by iterative reconstruction (IR), because IR algorithms are nonlinear and IR images have noise texture different from that of FBP. A modified Fourier domain model observer, which incorporates nonlinear noise and resolution properties, has been proposed for IR and needs to be validated with human detection performance. On the other hand, the spatial domain model observer is theoretically applicable to IR, but more computationally intensive than the Fourier domain method. The purpose of this study is to compare the modified Fourier domain model observer to the spatial domain model observer with both FBP and IR images, using human detection performance as the gold standard. A phantom with inserts of various low contrast levels and sizes was repeatedly scanned 100 times on a third-generation, dual-source CT scanner at 5 dose levels and reconstructed using FBP and IR algorithms. The human detection performance of the inserts was measured via a 2-alternative-forced-choice (2AFC) test. In addition, two model observer performances were calculated, including a Fourier domain non-prewhitening model observer and a spatial domain channelized Hotelling observer. The performance of these two mode observers was compared in terms of how well they correlated with human observer performance. Our results demonstrated that the spatial domain model observer correlated well with human observers across various dose levels, object contrast levels, and object sizes. The Fourier domain observer correlated well with human observers using FBP images, but overestimated the detection performance using IR images.

Performance-oriented Architecture and the Spatial and Material Organisation Complex. Rethinking the Definition, Role and Performative Capacity of the Spatial and Material Boundaries of the Built Environment

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Michael Ulrich Hensel

2011-03-01

Full Text Available This article is based on the proposition that performance-oriented design is characterised by four domains of ‘active agency’: the human subject, the spatial and material organisation complex and the environment (Hensel, 2010. While these four domains are seen to be interdependent and interacting with one another, it is nevertheless necessary to examine each in its own right. However, the spatial and material organisation complex contains both the spatial and material domains, which are interdependent to such a degree that these need to be examined in relation to one another and also in relation to the specific environment they are set within and interacting with. To explore this combined domain within the context of performance-oriented design is the aim of this article, in particularly in relation to the question of the definition and performative capacity of spatial and material boundaries. The various sections are accompanied by research by design efforts undertaken in specified academic contexts, which are intended as examples of modes and areas of inquiry relative to the purpose of this article.

The Padanian LiMeS. Spatial Interpretation of Local GHG Emission Data

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Michèle Pezzagno

2015-04-01

Full Text Available The relevant role of spatial planning in the enforcement of climate change mitigation, managing the development of new low-carbon infrastructures and increasing system-wide efficiencies across sectors, has been addressed at global level (IPCC, 2014 WGIII. In this context, local GHG inventories appear a relevant tool toward the definition of a coherent, inter-sectorial background for local planning, mitigation, and adaptation policies.Taking advantage of consistent GHG emissions data availability in the Lombard context, local maps of direct GHG emissions have been linked with geographic data, including municipal boundaries, population data, and land-use information, produced and organized within the research PRIN 2007 From metropolitan city to metropolitan corridor: the case of the Po Valley Corridor.The results of this mapping exercise have been evaluated on the background of consolidated knowledge about northern Italy urban patterns, including the Linear Metropolitan System – LiMeS – and preliminary observations about characteristics, potential, and limits of the tool are proposed.

Urban Spatial Ecological Performance Based on the Data of Remote Sensing of Guyuan

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Ren, X.-J.; Chen, X.-J.; Ma, Q.

2018-04-01

The evolution analysis of urban landuse and spatial ecological performance are necessary and useful to recognizing the stage of urban development and revealing the regularity and connotation of urban spatial expansion. Moreover, it lies in the core that should be exmined in the urban sustainable development. In this paper, detailed information has been acquired from the high-resolution satellite imageries of Guyuan, China case study. With the support of GIS, the land-use mapping information and the land cover changes are analyzed, and the process of urban spatial ecological performance evolution by the hierarchical methodology is explored. Results demonstrate that in the past 11 years, the urban spatial ecological performance show an improved process with the dramatic landcover change in Guyuan. Firstly, the landuse structure of Guyuan changes significantly and shows an obvious stage characteristic. Secondly, the urban ecological performance of Guyuan continues to be optimized over the 11 years. Thirdly, the findings suggest that a dynamic monitoring mechanism of urban land use based on high-resolution remote sensing data should be established in urban development, and the rational development of urban land use should be guided by the spatial ecological performance as the basic value orientation.

Primacy Performance of Normal and Retarded Children: Stimulus Familiarity or Spatial Memory?

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Swanson, Lee

1978-01-01

Explores the effect of stimulus familiarity on the spatial primacy performance of normal and retarded children. Assumes that serial recall tasks reflect spatial memory rather than verbal rehearsal. (BD)

Using a "time machine" to test for local adaptation of aquatic microbes to temporal and spatial environmental variation.

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Fox, Jeremy W; Harder, Lawrence D

2015-01-01

Local adaptation occurs when different environments are dominated by different specialist genotypes, each of which is relatively fit in its local conditions and relatively unfit under other conditions. Analogously, ecological species sorting occurs when different environments are dominated by different competing species, each of which is relatively fit in its local conditions. The simplest theory predicts that spatial, but not temporal, environmental variation selects for local adaptation (or generates species sorting), but this prediction is difficult to test. Although organisms can be reciprocally transplanted among sites, doing so among times seems implausible. Here, we describe a reciprocal transplant experiment testing for local adaptation or species sorting of lake bacteria in response to both temporal and spatial variation in water chemistry. The experiment used a -80°C freezer as a "time machine." Bacterial isolates and water samples were frozen for later use, allowing transplantation of older isolates "forward in time" and newer isolates "backward in time." Surprisingly, local maladaptation predominated over local adaptation in both space and time. Such local maladaptation may indicate that adaptation, or the analogous species sorting process, fails to keep pace with temporal fluctuations in water chemistry. This hypothesis could be tested with more finely resolved temporal data. © 2014 The Author(s). Evolution © 2014 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Evaluation of spatial variability of metal bioavailability in soils using geostatistics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Owsianiak, Mikolaj; Hauschild, Michael Zwicky; Rosenbaum, Ralph K.

2012-01-01

Soil properties show signifficant spatial variability at local, regional and continental scales. This is a challenge for life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) of metals, because fate, bioavailability and effect factors are controlled by environmental chemistry and can vary orders of magnitude...... is performed using ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst. Results show that BFs of copper span a range of 6 orders of magnitude, and have signifficant spatial variability at local and continental scales. The model nugget variance is signifficantly higher than zero, suggesting the presence of spatial variability...

Spatial abilities and technical skills performance in health care: a systematic review.

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Langlois, Jean; Bellemare, Christian; Toulouse, Josée; Wells, George A

2015-11-01

The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis of the relationship between spatial abilities and technical skills performance in health care in beginners and to compare this relationship with those in intermediate and autonomous learners. Search criteria included 'spatial abilities' and 'technical skills'. Keywords related to these criteria were defined. A literature search was conducted to 20 December, 2013 in Scopus (including MEDLINE) and in several databases on EBSCOhost platforms (CINAHL Plus with Full Text, ERIC, Education Source and PsycINFO). Citations were obtained and reviewed by two independent reviewers. Articles related to retained citations were reviewed and a final list of eligible articles was determined. Articles were assessed for quality using the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network-50 assessment instrument. Data were extracted from articles in a systematic way. Correlations between spatial abilities test scores and technical skills performance were identified. A series of 8289 citations was obtained. Eighty articles were retained and fully reviewed, yielding 36 eligible articles. The systematic review found a tendency for spatial abilities to be negatively correlated with the duration of technical skills and positively correlated with the quality of technical skills performance in beginners and intermediate learners. Pooled correlations of studies were -0.46 (p = 0.03) and -0.38 (95% confidence interval [CI] -0.53 to -0.21) for duration and 0.33 (95% CI 0.20-0.44) and 0.41 (95% CI 0.26-0.54) for quality of technical skills performance in beginners and intermediate learners, respectively. However, correlations between spatial abilities test scores and technical skills performance were not statistically significant in autonomous learners. Spatial abilities are an important factor to consider in selecting and training individuals in technical skills in health care. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Experience-Dependency of Reliance on Local Visual and Idiothetic Cues for Spatial Representations Created in the Absence of Distal Information

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Fabian Draht

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Spatial encoding in the hippocampus is based on a range of different input sources. To generate spatial representations, reliable sensory cues from the external environment are integrated with idiothetic cues, derived from self-movement, that enable path integration and directional perception. In this study, we examined to what extent idiothetic cues significantly contribute to spatial representations and navigation: we recorded place cells while rodents navigated towards two visually identical chambers in 180° orientation via two different paths in darkness and in the absence of reliable auditory or olfactory cues. Our goal was to generate a conflict between local visual and direction-specific information, and then to assess which strategy was prioritized in different learning phases. We observed that, in the absence of distal cues, place fields are initially controlled by local visual cues that override idiothetic cues, but that with multiple exposures to the paradigm, spaced at intervals of days, idiothetic cues become increasingly implemented in generating an accurate spatial representation. Taken together, these data support that, in the absence of distal cues, local visual cues are prioritized in the generation of context-specific spatial representations through place cells, whereby idiothetic cues are deemed unreliable. With cumulative exposures to the environments, the animal learns to attend to subtle idiothetic cues to resolve the conflict between visual and direction-specific information.

Experience-Dependency of Reliance on Local Visual and Idiothetic Cues for Spatial Representations Created in the Absence of Distal Information.

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Draht, Fabian; Zhang, Sijie; Rayan, Abdelrahman; Schönfeld, Fabian; Wiskott, Laurenz; Manahan-Vaughan, Denise

2017-01-01

Spatial encoding in the hippocampus is based on a range of different input sources. To generate spatial representations, reliable sensory cues from the external environment are integrated with idiothetic cues, derived from self-movement, that enable path integration and directional perception. In this study, we examined to what extent idiothetic cues significantly contribute to spatial representations and navigation: we recorded place cells while rodents navigated towards two visually identical chambers in 180° orientation via two different paths in darkness and in the absence of reliable auditory or olfactory cues. Our goal was to generate a conflict between local visual and direction-specific information, and then to assess which strategy was prioritized in different learning phases. We observed that, in the absence of distal cues, place fields are initially controlled by local visual cues that override idiothetic cues, but that with multiple exposures to the paradigm, spaced at intervals of days, idiothetic cues become increasingly implemented in generating an accurate spatial representation. Taken together, these data support that, in the absence of distal cues, local visual cues are prioritized in the generation of context-specific spatial representations through place cells, whereby idiothetic cues are deemed unreliable. With cumulative exposures to the environments, the animal learns to attend to subtle idiothetic cues to resolve the conflict between visual and direction-specific information.

Analysis of Local Government Performance and Leadership in Nigeria

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Ada Uche

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the quality of local government leaderships in Nigeria. It explores how local governments’ inefficiency and poor leadership have been a major challenge facing the development process in Nigeria. The paper has two objectives. The first is to identify the professionalism of a sample of Nigerian local government chairpersons. The second is to examine whether there are systematic correlations between local government chairpersons’ professionalism, political partisanship, local characteristics, and performance. The paper argues that the quality of local government chairpersons has significant policy implications because of their vital role in policy making and implementation. The concluding section provides some policy recommendations on how local government leaders could improve performance.

Chew on this: No support for facilitating effects of gum on spatial task performance.

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Nader, Ingo W; Gittler, Georg; Waldherr, Karin; Pietschnig, Jakob

2010-09-01

To determine whether chewing of gum facilitates spatial task performance in healthy participants, two behavioral experiments were performed. In the first experiment, spatial task performance of 349 men and women preceding and after treatment administration (saccharated chewing gum, sugar-free chewing gum, no chewing gum) was assessed using effect modeling by means of Item Response Theory. In the second experiment, another 100 participants were either administered sugar-free chewing gum or no chewing gum during spatial task performance. Effects of gum in the second study were assessed by standard means of data analysis. Results indicated no significant effects of either chewing gum or sugar on spatial task performance in either experiment. Our findings are consistent with recent studies investigating the influences of chewing gum on various memory functions, extending them by another measure of cognitive ability. Thus, further doubt is cast on enhancing effects of chewing gum on cognitive task performance. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Architecture of the local spatial data infrastructure for regional climate change research

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Titov, Alexander; Gordov, Evgeny

2013-04-01

Georeferenced datasets (meteorological databases, modeling and reanalysis results, etc.) are actively used in modeling and analysis of climate change for various spatial and temporal scales. Due to inherent heterogeneity of environmental datasets as well as their size which might constitute up to tens terabytes for a single dataset studies in the area of climate and environmental change require a special software support based on SDI approach. A dedicated architecture of the local spatial data infrastructure aiming at regional climate change analysis using modern web mapping technologies is presented. Geoportal is a key element of any SDI, allowing searching of geoinformation resources (datasets and services) using metadata catalogs, producing geospatial data selections by their parameters (data access functionality) as well as managing services and applications of cartographical visualization. It should be noted that due to objective reasons such as big dataset volume, complexity of data models used, syntactic and semantic differences of various datasets, the development of environmental geodata access, processing and visualization services turns out to be quite a complex task. Those circumstances were taken into account while developing architecture of the local spatial data infrastructure as a universal framework providing geodata services. So that, the architecture presented includes: 1. Effective in terms of search, access, retrieval and subsequent statistical processing, model of storing big sets of regional georeferenced data, allowing in particular to store frequently used values (like monthly and annual climate change indices, etc.), thus providing different temporal views of the datasets 2. General architecture of the corresponding software components handling geospatial datasets within the storage model 3. Metadata catalog describing in detail using ISO 19115 and CF-convention standards datasets used in climate researches as a basic element of the

Eliciting local spatial knowledge for community - based disaster risk management : working with Cybertracker in Georgian Caucasus

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Spanu, V.; McCall, M.K.

2013-01-01

CyberTracker (CT) participatory field data collection software is used as an element of Participatory GIS for acquiring, geo-referencing, storing and transferring local spatial knowledge. It has been developed initially for animal tracking, ecological surveys and conservation management activities,

Evaluating Middle School Students' Spatial-scientific Performance in Earth-space Science

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Wilhelm, Jennifer; Jackson, C.; Toland, M. D.; Cole, M.; Wilhelm, R. J.

2013-06-01

Many astronomical concepts cannot be understood without a developed understanding of four spatial-mathematics domains defined as follows: a) Geometric Spatial Visualization (GSV) - Visualizing the geometric features of a system as it appears above, below, and within the system’s plane; b) Spatial Projection (SP) - Projecting to a different location and visualizing from that global perspective; c) Cardinal Directions (CD) - Distinguishing directions (N, S, E, W) in order to document an object’s vector position in space; and d) Periodic Patterns - (PP) Recognizing occurrences at regular intervals of time and/or space. For this study, differences were examined between groups of sixth grade students’ spatial-scientific development pre/post implementation of an Earth/Space unit. Treatment teachers employed a NASA-based curriculum (Realistic Explorations in Astronomical Learning), while control teachers implemented their regular Earth/Space units. A 2-level hierarchical linear model was used to evaluate student performance on the Lunar Phases Concept Inventory (LPCI) and four spatial-mathematics domains, while controlling for two variables (gender and ethnicity) at the student level and one variable (teaching experience) at the teacher level. Overall LPCI results show pre-test scores predicted post-test scores, boys performed better than girls, and Whites performed better than non-Whites. We also compared experimental and control groups’ by spatial-mathematics domain outcomes. For GSV, it was found that boys, in general, tended to have higher GSV post-scores. For domains CD and SP, no statistically significant differences were observed. PP results show Whites performed better than non-Whites. Also for PP, a significant cross-level interaction term (gender-treatment) was observed, which means differences in control and experimental groups are dependent on students’ gender. These findings can be interpreted as: (a) the experimental girls scored higher than the

Spatial and Numerical Predictors of Measurement Performance: The Moderating Effects of Community Income and Gender

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Casey, Beth M.; Dearing, Eric; Vasilyeva, Marina; Ganley, Colleen M.; Tine, Michele

2011-01-01

Spatial reasoning and numerical predictors of measurement performance were investigated in 4th graders from low-income and affluent communities. Predictors of 2 subtypes of measurement performance (spatial-conceptual and formula based) were assessed while controlling for verbal and spatial working memory. Consistent with prior findings, students…

Provincial corruption and local development bank performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Murharsito Murharsito

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the effect of provincial corruption on the performance of local development bank, specifically to the profitability and credit quality. We use the data of 26 local development banks in 2012 and 2013. For the provincial corruption measurement we use “Public Institution Openness Index”. Results of this study are first, corruption significantly has a negative effect on the profitability of local development bank. Second, corruption doesn’t affect the credit quality of local development bank. These results are expected to enrich the within country corruption effect to the economic studies, particularly to the local development bank which is infrequently investigated.

Built-Up Area Detection from High-Resolution Satellite Images Using Multi-Scale Wavelet Transform and Local Spatial Statistics

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Y.; Zhang, Y.; Gao, J.; Yuan, Y.; Lv, Z.

2018-04-01

Recently, built-up area detection from high-resolution satellite images (HRSI) has attracted increasing attention because HRSI can provide more detailed object information. In this paper, multi-resolution wavelet transform and local spatial autocorrelation statistic are introduced to model the spatial patterns of built-up areas. First, the input image is decomposed into high- and low-frequency subbands by wavelet transform at three levels. Then the high-frequency detail information in three directions (horizontal, vertical and diagonal) are extracted followed by a maximization operation to integrate the information in all directions. Afterward, a cross-scale operation is implemented to fuse different levels of information. Finally, local spatial autocorrelation statistic is introduced to enhance the saliency of built-up features and an adaptive threshold algorithm is used to achieve the detection of built-up areas. Experiments are conducted on ZY-3 and Quickbird panchromatic satellite images, and the results show that the proposed method is very effective for built-up area detection.

Mixed model with spatial variance-covariance structure for accommodating of local stationary trend and its influence on multi-environmental crop variety trial assessment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Negash, A. W.; Mwambi, H.; Zewotir, T.; Eweke, G.

2014-06-01

The most common procedure for analyzing multi-environmental trials is based on the assumption that the residual error variance is homogenous across all locations considered. However, this may often be unrealistic, and therefore limit the accuracy of variety evaluation or the reliability of variety recommendations. The objectives of this study were to show the advantages of mixed models with spatial variance-covariance structures, and direct implications of model choice on the inference of varietal performance, ranking and testing based on two multi-environmental data sets from realistic national trials. A model comparison with a {chi}{sup 2}-test for the trials in the two data sets (wheat data set BW00RVTI and barley data set BW01RVII) suggested that selected spatial variance-covariance structures fitted the data significantly better than the ANOVA model. The forms of optimally-fitted spatial variance-covariance, ranking and consistency ratio test were not the same from one trial (location) to the other. Linear mixed models with single stage analysis including spatial variance-covariance structure with a group factor of location on the random model also improved the real estimation of genotype effect and their ranking. The model also improved varietal performance estimation because of its capacity to handle additional sources of variation, location and genotype by location (environment) interaction variation and accommodating of local stationary trend. (Author)

Local and non-local deficits in amblyopia: acuity and spatial interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Bonneh, Yoram S; Sagi, Dov; Polat, Uri

2004-12-01

Amblyopic vision is thought to be limited by abnormal long-range spatial interactions, but their exact mode of action and relationship to the main amblyopic deficit in visual acuity is largely unknown. We studied this relationship in a group (N=59) of anisometropic (N=21) and strabismic (or combined, N=38) subjects, using (1) a single and multi-pattern (crowded) computerized static Tumbling-E test with scaled spacing of two pattern widths (TeVA), in addition to an optotype (ETDRS chart) acuity test (VA) and (2) contrast detection of Gabor patches with lateral flankers (lateral masking) along the horizontal and vertical axes as well as in collinear and parallel configurations. By correlating the different measures of visual acuity and contrast suppression, we found that (1) the VA of the strabismic subjects could be decomposed into two uncorrelated components measured in TeVA: acuity for isolated patterns and acuity reduction due to flanking patterns. The latter comprised over 60% of the VA magnitude, on the average and accounted for over 50% of its variance. In contrast, a slight reduction in acuity was found in the anisometropic subjects, and the acuity for a single pattern could account for 70% of the VA variance. (2) The lateral suppression (contrast threshold elevation) in a parallel configuration along the horizontal axis was correlated with the VA (R2=0.7), as well as with the crowding effect (TeVA elevation, R2=0.5) for the strabismic group. Some correlation with the VA was also found for the collinear configuration in the anisometropic group, but less suppression and no correlation were found for all the vertical configurations in all the groups. The results indicate the existence of a specific non-local component of the strabismic deficit, in addition to the local acuity deficit in all amblyopia types. This deficit might reflect long-range lateral inhibition, or alternatively, an inaccurate and scattered top-down attentional selection mechanism.

A two-stage approach to estimate spatial and spatio-temporal disease risks in the presence of local discontinuities and clusters.

Science.gov (United States)

Adin, A; Lee, D; Goicoa, T; Ugarte, María Dolores

2018-01-01

Disease risk maps for areal unit data are often estimated from Poisson mixed models with local spatial smoothing, for example by incorporating random effects with a conditional autoregressive prior distribution. However, one of the limitations is that local discontinuities in the spatial pattern are not usually modelled, leading to over-smoothing of the risk maps and a masking of clusters of hot/coldspot areas. In this paper, we propose a novel two-stage approach to estimate and map disease risk in the presence of such local discontinuities and clusters. We propose approaches in both spatial and spatio-temporal domains, where for the latter the clusters can either be fixed or allowed to vary over time. In the first stage, we apply an agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm to training data to provide sets of potential clusters, and in the second stage, a two-level spatial or spatio-temporal model is applied to each potential cluster configuration. The superiority of the proposed approach with regard to a previous proposal is shown by simulation, and the methodology is applied to two important public health problems in Spain, namely stomach cancer mortality across Spain and brain cancer incidence in the Navarre and Basque Country regions of Spain.

Spatial epidemiological techniques in cholera mapping and analysis towards a local scale predictive modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Rasam, A. R. A.; Ghazali, R.; Noor, A. M. M.; Mohd, W. M. N. W.; Hamid, J. R. A.; Bazlan, M. J.; Ahmad, N.

2014-02-01

Cholera spatial epidemiology is the study of the spread and control of the disease spatial pattern and epidemics. Previous studies have shown that multi-factorial causation such as human behaviour, ecology and other infectious risk factors influence the disease outbreaks. Thus, understanding spatial pattern and possible interrelationship factors of the outbreaks are crucial to be explored an in-depth study. This study focuses on the integration of geographical information system (GIS) and epidemiological techniques in exploratory analyzing the cholera spatial pattern and distribution in the selected district of Sabah. Spatial Statistic and Pattern tools in ArcGIS and Microsoft Excel software were utilized to map and analyze the reported cholera cases and other data used. Meanwhile, cohort study in epidemiological technique was applied to investigate multiple outcomes of the disease exposure. The general spatial pattern of cholera was highly clustered showed the disease spread easily at a place or person to others especially 1500 meters from the infected person and locations. Although the cholera outbreaks in the districts are not critical, it could be endemic at the crowded areas, unhygienic environment, and close to contaminated water. It was also strongly believed that the coastal water of the study areas has possible relationship with the cholera transmission and phytoplankton bloom since the areas recorded higher cases. GIS demonstrates a vital spatial epidemiological technique in determining the distribution pattern and elucidating the hypotheses generating of the disease. The next research would be applying some advanced geo-analysis methods and other disease risk factors for producing a significant a local scale predictive risk model of the disease in Malaysia.

Spatial epidemiological techniques in cholera mapping and analysis towards a local scale predictive modelling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rasam, A R A; Ghazali, R; Noor, A M M; Mohd, W M N W; Hamid, J R A; Bazlan, M J; Ahmad, N

2014-01-01

Cholera spatial epidemiology is the study of the spread and control of the disease spatial pattern and epidemics. Previous studies have shown that multi-factorial causation such as human behaviour, ecology and other infectious risk factors influence the disease outbreaks. Thus, understanding spatial pattern and possible interrelationship factors of the outbreaks are crucial to be explored an in-depth study. This study focuses on the integration of geographical information system (GIS) and epidemiological techniques in exploratory analyzing the cholera spatial pattern and distribution in the selected district of Sabah. Spatial Statistic and Pattern tools in ArcGIS and Microsoft Excel software were utilized to map and analyze the reported cholera cases and other data used. Meanwhile, cohort study in epidemiological technique was applied to investigate multiple outcomes of the disease exposure. The general spatial pattern of cholera was highly clustered showed the disease spread easily at a place or person to others especially 1500 meters from the infected person and locations. Although the cholera outbreaks in the districts are not critical, it could be endemic at the crowded areas, unhygienic environment, and close to contaminated water. It was also strongly believed that the coastal water of the study areas has possible relationship with the cholera transmission and phytoplankton bloom since the areas recorded higher cases. GIS demonstrates a vital spatial epidemiological technique in determining the distribution pattern and elucidating the hypotheses generating of the disease. The next research would be applying some advanced geo-analysis methods and other disease risk factors for producing a significant a local scale predictive risk model of the disease in Malaysia

Allocentric spatial learning and memory deficits in Down syndrome.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pamela A Banta Lavenex

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Studies have shown that persons with Down Syndrome (DS exhibit relatively poor language capacities, and impaired verbal and visuoperceptual memory, whereas their visuospatial memory capacities appear comparatively spared. Individuals with DS recall better where an object was previously seen than what object was previously seen. However, most of the evidence concerning preserved visuospatial memory comes from tabletop or computerized experiments which are biased towards testing egocentric (viewpoint-dependent spatial representations. Accordingly, allocentric (viewpoint-independent spatial learning and memory capacities may not be necessary to perform these tasks. Thus, in order to more fully characterize the spatial capacities of individuals with DS, allocentric processes underlying real-world navigation must also be investigated. We tested 20 participants with DS and 16 mental age-matched, typically developing (TD children in a real-world, allocentric spatial memory task. During local cue (LC trials, participants had to locate three rewards marked by local color cues, among 12 locations distributed in a 4 m X 4 m arena. During allocentric spatial (AS trials, participants had to locate the same three rewards, in absence of local cues, based on their relations to distal environmental cues. All TD participants chose rewarded locations in LC and AS trials at above chance level. In contrast, although all but one of the participants with DS exhibited a preference for the rewarded locations in LC trials, only 50% of participants with DS chose the rewarded locations at above chance level in AS trials. As a group, participants with DS performed worse than TD children on all measures of task performance. These findings demonstrate that individuals with DS are impaired at using an allocentric spatial representation to learn and remember discrete locations in a controlled environment, suggesting persistent and pervasive deficits in hippocampus

Spatial Variation in School Performance, a Local Analysis of Socio ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Poor pass rates of matric learners at secondary schools in South Africa has been a concern for quite some time. Despite large government spending on education, research has shown that the South African schooling system is struggling to convert resources to student performances and failing to promote social equity.

ANALYSIS OF THE POSSIBILITY OF USING HYDROLOGICAL MODELS IN STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF LOCAL SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariusz Sojka

2014-10-01

Full Text Available The paper presents the possibility of application of the hydrological model HEC-HMS in the development of a strategic environmental assessment of local spatial development plans on surface water. The practical possibility of using simulation models of catchment response to high intensity precipitation is shown on the example of the Różany Potok watercourse catchment which is subject to rapid urbanization process. The area of Różany Potok catchment is 8.1 km2 and a stream length is 5.57 km. In the years 1992–2012 there was a significant increase in impervious areas in the catchment of about 5.2 to 16%. In addition, new local spatial development plans are prepared within the catchment area. The implementation of their records may contribute to the increase in the proportion of impervious areas to over 20%. The increase in the share of impervious areas in the catchment area and traditional approach of precipitation water management can lead to doubling flood flows and increase the risk of local flooding.

Visuo-Spatial Performance in Autism: A Meta-Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Muth, Anne; Hönekopp, Johannes; Falter, Christine M.

2014-01-01

Visuo-spatial skills are believed to be enhanced in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). This meta-analysis tests the current state of evidence for Figure Disembedding, Block Design, Mental Rotation and Navon tasks in ASD and neurotypicals. Block Design (d = 0.32) and Figure Disembedding (d = 0.26) showed superior performance for ASD with large…

Local introduction and heterogeneous spatial spread of dengue-suppressing Wolbachia through an urban population of Aedes aegypti.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tom L Schmidt

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Dengue-suppressing Wolbachia strains are promising tools for arbovirus control, particularly as they have the potential to self-spread following local introductions. To test this, we followed the frequency of the transinfected Wolbachia strain wMel through Ae. aegypti in Cairns, Australia, following releases at 3 nonisolated locations within the city in early 2013. Spatial spread was analysed graphically using interpolation and by fitting a statistical model describing the position and width of the wave. For the larger 2 of the 3 releases (covering 0.97 km2 and 0.52 km2, we observed slow but steady spatial spread, at about 100-200 m per year, roughly consistent with theoretical predictions. In contrast, the smallest release (0.11 km2 produced erratic temporal and spatial dynamics, with little evidence of spread after 2 years. This is consistent with the prediction concerning fitness-decreasing Wolbachia transinfections that a minimum release area is needed to achieve stable local establishment and spread in continuous habitats. Our graphical and likelihood analyses produced broadly consistent estimates of wave speed and wave width. Spread at all sites was spatially heterogeneous, suggesting that environmental heterogeneity will affect large-scale Wolbachia transformations of urban mosquito populations. The persistence and spread of Wolbachia in release areas meeting minimum area requirements indicates the promise of successful large-scale population transformation.

Non-local spatial frequency response of photopolymer materials containing chain transfer agents: I. Theoretical modelling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo, Jinxin; Gleeson, Michael R; Liu, Shui; Sheridan, John T

2011-01-01

The non-local photopolymerization driven diffusion (NPDD) model predicts that a reduction in the non-local response length within a photopolymer material will improve its high spatial frequency response. The introduction of a chain transfer agent reduces the average molecular weight of polymer chains formed during free radical polymerization. Therefore a chain transfer agent (CTA) provides a practical method to reduce the non-local response length. An extended NPDD model is presented, which includes the chain transfer reaction and most major photochemical processes. The addition of a chain transfer agent into an acrylamide/polyvinyl alcohol photopolymer material is simulated and the predictions of the model are examined. The predictions of the model are experimentally examined in part II of this paper

Sound localization and speech identification in the frontal median plane with a hear-through headset

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hoffmann, Pablo F.; Møller, Anders Kalsgaard; Christensen, Flemming

2014-01-01

signals can be superimposed via earphone reproduction. An important aspect of the hear-through headset is its transparency, i.e. how close to real life can the electronically amplied sounds be perceived. Here we report experiments conducted to evaluate the auditory transparency of a hear-through headset...... prototype by comparing human performance in natural, hear-through, and fully occluded conditions for two spatial tasks: frontal vertical-plane sound localization and speech-on-speech spatial release from masking. Results showed that localization performance was impaired by the hear-through headset relative...... to the natural condition though not as much as in the fully occluded condition. Localization was affected the least when the sound source was in front of the listeners. Different from the vertical localization performance, results from the speech task suggest that normal speech-on-speech spatial release from...

Quantifying spatial scaling patterns and their local and regional correlates in headwater streams: Implications for resilience

Science.gov (United States)

Gothe, Emma; Sandin, Leonard; Allen, Craig R.; Angeler, David G.

2014-01-01

The distribution of functional traits within and across spatiotemporal scales has been used to quantify and infer the relative resilience across ecosystems. We use explicit spatial modeling to evaluate within- and cross-scale redundancy in headwater streams, an ecosystem type with a hierarchical and dendritic network structure. We assessed the cross-scale distribution of functional feeding groups of benthic invertebrates in Swedish headwater streams during two seasons. We evaluated functional metrics, i.e., Shannon diversity, richness, and evenness, and the degree of redundancy within and across modeled spatial scales for individual feeding groups. We also estimated the correlates of environmental versus spatial factors of both functional composition and the taxonomic composition of functional groups for each spatial scale identified. Measures of functional diversity and within-scale redundancy of functions were similar during both seasons, but both within- and cross-scale redundancy were low. This apparent low redundancy was partly attributable to a few dominant taxa explaining the spatial models. However, rare taxa with stochastic spatial distributions might provide additional information and should therefore be considered explicitly for complementing future resilience assessments. Otherwise, resilience may be underestimated. Finally, both environmental and spatial factors correlated with the scale-specific functional and taxonomic composition. This finding suggests that resilience in stream networks emerges as a function of not only local conditions but also regional factors such as habitat connectivity and invertebrate dispersal.

A high-performance spatial database based approach for pathology imaging algorithm evaluation.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Fusheng; Kong, Jun; Gao, Jingjing; Cooper, Lee A D; Kurc, Tahsin; Zhou, Zhengwen; Adler, David; Vergara-Niedermayr, Cristobal; Katigbak, Bryan; Brat, Daniel J; Saltz, Joel H

2013-01-01

Algorithm evaluation provides a means to characterize variability across image analysis algorithms, validate algorithms by comparison with human annotations, combine results from multiple algorithms for performance improvement, and facilitate algorithm sensitivity studies. The sizes of images and image analysis results in pathology image analysis pose significant challenges in algorithm evaluation. We present an efficient parallel spatial database approach to model, normalize, manage, and query large volumes of analytical image result data. This provides an efficient platform for algorithm evaluation. Our experiments with a set of brain tumor images demonstrate the application, scalability, and effectiveness of the platform. The paper describes an approach and platform for evaluation of pathology image analysis algorithms. The platform facilitates algorithm evaluation through a high-performance database built on the Pathology Analytic Imaging Standards (PAIS) data model. (1) Develop a framework to support algorithm evaluation by modeling and managing analytical results and human annotations from pathology images; (2) Create a robust data normalization tool for converting, validating, and fixing spatial data from algorithm or human annotations; (3) Develop a set of queries to support data sampling and result comparisons; (4) Achieve high performance computation capacity via a parallel data management infrastructure, parallel data loading and spatial indexing optimizations in this infrastructure. WE HAVE CONSIDERED TWO SCENARIOS FOR ALGORITHM EVALUATION: (1) algorithm comparison where multiple result sets from different methods are compared and consolidated; and (2) algorithm validation where algorithm results are compared with human annotations. We have developed a spatial normalization toolkit to validate and normalize spatial boundaries produced by image analysis algorithms or human annotations. The validated data were formatted based on the PAIS data model and

SPATIAL DISTRIBUTIONS OF ABSORPTION, LOCAL SUPPRESSION, AND EMISSIVITY REDUCTION OF SOLAR ACOUSTIC WAVES IN MAGNETIC REGIONS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chou, D.-Y.; Yang, M.-H.; Zhao Hui; Liang Zhichao; Sun, M.-T.

2009-01-01

Observed acoustic power in magnetic regions is lower than the quiet Sun because of absorption, emissivity reduction, and local suppression of solar acoustic waves in magnetic regions. In the previous studies, we have developed a method to measure the coefficients of absorption, emissivity reduction, and local suppression of sunspots. In this study, we go one step further to measure the spatial distributions of three coefficients in two active regions, NOAA 9055 and 9057. The maps of absorption, emissivity reduction, and local suppression coefficients correlate with the magnetic map, including plage regions, except the emissivity reduction coefficient of NOAA 9055 where the emissivity reduction coefficient is too weak and lost among the noise.

Defining ecologically relevant scales for spatial protection with long-term data on an endangered seabird and local prey availability.

Science.gov (United States)

Sherley, Richard B; Botha, Philna; Underhill, Les G; Ryan, Peter G; van Zyl, Danie; Cockcroft, Andrew C; Crawford, Robert J M; Dyer, Bruce M; Cook, Timothée R

2017-12-01

Human activities are important drivers of marine ecosystem functioning. However, separating the synergistic effects of fishing and environmental variability on the prey base of nontarget predators is difficult, often because prey availability estimates on appropriate scales are lacking. Understanding how prey abundance at different spatial scales links to population change can help integrate the needs of nontarget predators into fisheries management by defining ecologically relevant areas for spatial protection. We investigated the local population response (number of breeders) of the Bank Cormorant (Phalacrocorax neglectus), a range-restricted endangered seabird, to the availability of its prey, the heavily fished west coast rock lobster (Jasus lalandii). Using Bayesian state-space modeled cormorant counts at 3 colonies, 22 years of fisheries-independent data on local lobster abundance, and generalized additive modeling, we determined the spatial scale pertinent to these relationships in areas with different lobster availability. Cormorant numbers responded positively to lobster availability in the regions with intermediate and high abundance but not where regime shifts and fishing pressure had depleted lobster stocks. The relationships were strongest when lobsters 20-30 km offshore of the colony were considered, a distance greater than the Bank Cormorant's foraging range when breeding, and may have been influenced by prey availability for nonbreeding birds, prey switching, or prey ecology. Our results highlight the importance of considering the scale of ecological relationships in marine spatial planning and suggest that designing spatial protection around focal species can benefit marine predators across their full life cycle. We propose the precautionary implementation of small-scale marine protected areas, followed by robust assessment and adaptive-management, to confirm population-level benefits for the cormorants, their prey, and the wider ecosystem, without

Quantitative protein localization signatures reveal an association between spatial and functional divergences of proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Loo, Lit-Hsin; Laksameethanasan, Danai; Tung, Yi-Ling

2014-03-01

Protein subcellular localization is a major determinant of protein function. However, this important protein feature is often described in terms of discrete and qualitative categories of subcellular compartments, and therefore it has limited applications in quantitative protein function analyses. Here, we present Protein Localization Analysis and Search Tools (PLAST), an automated analysis framework for constructing and comparing quantitative signatures of protein subcellular localization patterns based on microscopy images. PLAST produces human-interpretable protein localization maps that quantitatively describe the similarities in the localization patterns of proteins and major subcellular compartments, without requiring manual assignment or supervised learning of these compartments. Using the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model system, we show that PLAST is more accurate than existing, qualitative protein localization annotations in identifying known co-localized proteins. Furthermore, we demonstrate that PLAST can reveal protein localization-function relationships that are not obvious from these annotations. First, we identified proteins that have similar localization patterns and participate in closely-related biological processes, but do not necessarily form stable complexes with each other or localize at the same organelles. Second, we found an association between spatial and functional divergences of proteins during evolution. Surprisingly, as proteins with common ancestors evolve, they tend to develop more diverged subcellular localization patterns, but still occupy similar numbers of compartments. This suggests that divergence of protein localization might be more frequently due to the development of more specific localization patterns over ancestral compartments than the occupation of new compartments. PLAST enables systematic and quantitative analyses of protein localization-function relationships, and will be useful to elucidate protein

The role of spatial heterogeneity in the evolution of local and global infections of viruses.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Koich Saeki

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Viruses have two modes spread in a host body, one is to release infectious particles from infected cells (global infection and the other is to infect directly from an infected cell to an adjacent cell (local infection. Since the mode of spread affects the evolution of life history traits, such as virulence, it is important to reveal what level of global and local infection is selected. Previous studies of the evolution of global and local infection have paid little attention to its dependency on the measures of spatial configuration. Here we show the evolutionarily stable proportion of global and local infection, and how it depends on the distribution of target cells. Using an epidemic model on a regular lattice, we consider the infection dynamics by pair approximation and check the evolutionarily stable strategy. We also conduct the Monte-Carlo simulation to observe evolutionary dynamics. We show that a higher local infection is selected as target cells become clustered. Surprisingly, the selected strategy depends not only on the degree of clustering but also the abundance of target cells per se.

Automated leak localization performance without detailed demand distribution data

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Moors, Janneke; Scholten, L.; van der Hoek, J.P.; den Besten, J.

2018-01-01

Automatic leak localization has been suggested to reduce the time and personnel efforts needed to localize
(small) leaks. Yet, the available methods require a detailed demand distribution model for successful
calibration and good leak localization performance. The main aim of this work was

Spatial Ability Mediates the Gender Difference in Middle School Students' Science Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Ganley, Colleen M.; Vasilyeva, Marina; Dulaney, Alana

2014-01-01

Prior research has demonstrated a male advantage in spatial skills and science achievement. The present research integrated these findings by testing the potential role of spatial skills in gender differences in the science performance of eighth-grade students (13-15 years old). In "Study 1" (N = 113), the findings showed that mental…

Infrared and visual image fusion method based on discrete cosine transform and local spatial frequency in discrete stationary wavelet transform domain

Science.gov (United States)

Jin, Xin; Jiang, Qian; Yao, Shaowen; Zhou, Dongming; Nie, Rencan; Lee, Shin-Jye; He, Kangjian

2018-01-01

In order to promote the performance of infrared and visual image fusion and provide better visual effects, this paper proposes a hybrid fusion method for infrared and visual image by the combination of discrete stationary wavelet transform (DSWT), discrete cosine transform (DCT) and local spatial frequency (LSF). The proposed method has three key processing steps. Firstly, DSWT is employed to decompose the important features of the source image into a series of sub-images with different levels and spatial frequencies. Secondly, DCT is used to separate the significant details of the sub-images according to the energy of different frequencies. Thirdly, LSF is applied to enhance the regional features of DCT coefficients, and it can be helpful and useful for image feature extraction. Some frequently-used image fusion methods and evaluation metrics are employed to evaluate the validity of the proposed method. The experiments indicate that the proposed method can achieve good fusion effect, and it is more efficient than other conventional image fusion methods.

A high-performance spatial database based approach for pathology imaging algorithm evaluation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fusheng Wang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Algorithm evaluation provides a means to characterize variability across image analysis algorithms, validate algorithms by comparison with human annotations, combine results from multiple algorithms for performance improvement, and facilitate algorithm sensitivity studies. The sizes of images and image analysis results in pathology image analysis pose significant challenges in algorithm evaluation. We present an efficient parallel spatial database approach to model, normalize, manage, and query large volumes of analytical image result data. This provides an efficient platform for algorithm evaluation. Our experiments with a set of brain tumor images demonstrate the application, scalability, and effectiveness of the platform. Context: The paper describes an approach and platform for evaluation of pathology image analysis algorithms. The platform facilitates algorithm evaluation through a high-performance database built on the Pathology Analytic Imaging Standards (PAIS data model. Aims: (1 Develop a framework to support algorithm evaluation by modeling and managing analytical results and human annotations from pathology images; (2 Create a robust data normalization tool for converting, validating, and fixing spatial data from algorithm or human annotations; (3 Develop a set of queries to support data sampling and result comparisons; (4 Achieve high performance computation capacity via a parallel data management infrastructure, parallel data loading and spatial indexing optimizations in this infrastructure. Materials and Methods: We have considered two scenarios for algorithm evaluation: (1 algorithm comparison where multiple result sets from different methods are compared and consolidated; and (2 algorithm validation where algorithm results are compared with human annotations. We have developed a spatial normalization toolkit to validate and normalize spatial boundaries produced by image analysis algorithms or human annotations. The

Measuring urban forms from inter-building distances: Combining MST graphs with a Local Index of Spatial Association

OpenAIRE

Caruso , Geoffrey; Hilal , Mohamed; Thomas , Isabelle

2017-01-01

A new method is proposed for characterising local urban patterns at the scale of a large urban region. The approach overcomes the difficulties of surface-based representations of built-up morphologies and provides an efficient way to account for the proximity of built and non-built land. The strength of the approach resides in the direct use of the coordinates of each building, a very parsimonious input of external parameters, and a local spatial statistical perspective. The method consists i...

Quantifying spatial scaling patterns and their local and regional correlates in headwater streams: implications for resilience

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emma Göthe

2014-09-01

Full Text Available The distribution of functional traits within and across spatiotemporal scales has been used to quantify and infer the relative resilience across ecosystems. We use explicit spatial modeling to evaluate within- and cross-scale redundancy in headwater streams, an ecosystem type with a hierarchical and dendritic network structure. We assessed the cross-scale distribution of functional feeding groups of benthic invertebrates in Swedish headwater streams during two seasons. We evaluated functional metrics, i.e., Shannon diversity, richness, and evenness, and the degree of redundancy within and across modeled spatial scales for individual feeding groups. We also estimated the correlates of environmental versus spatial factors of both functional composition and the taxonomic composition of functional groups for each spatial scale identified. Measures of functional diversity and within-scale redundancy of functions were similar during both seasons, but both within- and cross-scale redundancy were low. This apparent low redundancy was partly attributable to a few dominant taxa explaining the spatial models. However, rare taxa with stochastic spatial distributions might provide additional information and should therefore be considered explicitly for complementing future resilience assessments. Otherwise, resilience may be underestimated. Finally, both environmental and spatial factors correlated with the scale-specific functional and taxonomic composition. This finding suggests that resilience in stream networks emerges as a function of not only local conditions but also regional factors such as habitat connectivity and invertebrate dispersal.

Wind energy and spatial planning procedures; La programmation spatiale des projects eoliens

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2002-07-01

Wind turbines projects have been increasing, but some are very conflicted. May be it is a reason why some local authorities have to deal with different point of view, above the only energy question and including local specificity. To give local authorities the possibility to be implicated and to be in control of wind projects in their territory, wind spatial planning should permit to choose suitable areas and to optimize wind power development. In this context this synthesis presents the wind spatial planning in Finistere (France), the french regulation, some international experiences (Danish, Flemish, Walloon region, Dutch) and the different approaches of spatial planning. (A.L.B.)

Spatial variability and parametric uncertainty in performance assessment models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pensado, Osvaldo; Mancillas, James; Painter, Scott; Tomishima, Yasuo

2011-01-01

The problem of defining an appropriate treatment of distribution functions (which could represent spatial variability or parametric uncertainty) is examined based on a generic performance assessment model for a high-level waste repository. The generic model incorporated source term models available in GoldSim ® , the TDRW code for contaminant transport in sparse fracture networks with a complex fracture-matrix interaction process, and a biosphere dose model known as BDOSE TM . Using the GoldSim framework, several Monte Carlo sampling approaches and transport conceptualizations were evaluated to explore the effect of various treatments of spatial variability and parametric uncertainty on dose estimates. Results from a model employing a representative source and ensemble-averaged pathway properties were compared to results from a model allowing for stochastic variation of transport properties along streamline segments (i.e., explicit representation of spatial variability within a Monte Carlo realization). We concluded that the sampling approach and the definition of an ensemble representative do influence consequence estimates. In the examples analyzed in this paper, approaches considering limited variability of a transport resistance parameter along a streamline increased the frequency of fast pathways resulting in relatively high dose estimates, while those allowing for broad variability along streamlines increased the frequency of 'bottlenecks' reducing dose estimates. On this basis, simplified approaches with limited consideration of variability may suffice for intended uses of the performance assessment model, such as evaluation of site safety. (author)

Spatial Processing of Urban Acoustic Wave Fields from High-Performance Computations

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Ketcham, Stephen A; Wilson, D. K; Cudney, Harley H; Parker, Michael W

2007-01-01

.... The objective of this work is to develop spatial processing techniques for acoustic wave propagation data from three-dimensional high-performance computations to quantify scattering due to urban...

Analysis Of Influence Of Spatial Planning On Performance Of Regional Development At Waropen District. Papua Indonesia

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Suwandi

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The various problems in regional spatial planning in Waropen District Papua shows that the Spatial Planning RTRW of Waropen District Papua drafted in 2010 has not had a positive contribution to the settlement of spatial planning problems. This is most likely caused by the inconsistency in the spatial planning. This study tried to observe the consistency of spatial planning as well as its relation to the regional development performance. The method used to observe the consistency of the preparation of guided Spatial Planning RTRW is the analysis of comparative table followed by analysis of verbal logic. In order to determine if the preparation of Spatial Planning RTRW has already paid attention on the synergy with the surrounding regions Inter-Regional Context a map overlay was conducted followed by analysis of verbal logic. To determine the performance of the regional development a Principal Components Analysis PCA was done. The analysis results showed that inconsistencies in the spatial planning had caused a variety of problems that resulted in decreased performance of the regional development. The main problems that should receive more attention are infrastructure development growth economic growth transportation aspect and new properties.

The Effects of Sex Steroids on Spatial Performance: A Review and an Experimental Clinical Investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Liben, Lynn S.; Susman, Elizabeth J.; Finkelstein, Jordan W.; Chinchilli, Vernon M.; Kunselman, Susan; Schwab, Jacqueline; Dubas, Judith Semon; Demers, Laurence M.; Lookingbill, Georgia; D'Arcangelo, M. Rose; Krogh, Holleen R.; Kulin, Howard E.

2002-01-01

Investigated the relationship between sex hormones and spatial performance among adolescents treated with sex steroids for delayed puberty. Found that spatial performance varied according to gender but did not vary with levels of actively circulating sex steroids. Reviewed physiological mechanisms, developmental periods, and past empirical work…

Implementation of Localized Corrosion in the Performance Assessment Model for Yucca Mountain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vivek Jain, S.; David Sevougian; Patrick D. Mattie; Kevin G. Mon; Robert J. Mackinnon

2006-01-01

A total system performance assessment (TSPA) model has been developed to analyze the ability of the natural and engineered barriers of the Yucca Mountain repository to isolate nuclear waste over the 10,000-year period following repository closure. The principal features of the engineered barrier system (EBS) are emplacement tunnels (or ''drifts'') containing a two-layer waste package (WP) for waste containment and a titanium drip shield to protect the waste package from seeping water and falling rock, The 20-mm-thick outer shell of the WP is composed of Alloy 22, a highly corrosion-resistant nickel-based alloy. The barrier function of the EBS is to isolate the waste from migrating water. The water and its associated chemical conditions eventually lead to degradation of the waste packages and mobilization of the radionuclides within the packages. There are five possible waste package degradation modes of the Alloy 22: general corrosion, microbially influenced corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, early failure due to manufacturing defects, and localized corrosion. This paper specifically examines the incorporation of the Alloy-22 localized corrosion model into the Yucca Mountain TSPA model, particularly the abstraction and modeling methodology, as well as issues dealing with scaling, spatial variability, uncertainty, and coupling to other sub-models that are part of the total system model

Performance evaluation of spatial compounding in the presence of aberration and adaptive imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Dahl, Jeremy J.; Guenther, Drake; Trahey, Gregg E.

2003-05-01

Spatial compounding has been used for years to reduce speckle in ultrasonic images and to resolve anatomical features hidden behind the grainy appearance of speckle. Adaptive imaging restores image contrast and resolution by compensating for beamforming errors caused by tissue-induced phase errors. Spatial compounding represents a form of incoherent imaging, whereas adaptive imaging attempts to maintain a coherent, diffraction-limited aperture in the presence of aberration. Using a Siemens Antares scanner, we acquired single channel RF data on a commercially available 1-D probe. Individual channel RF data was acquired on a cyst phantom in the presence of a near field electronic phase screen. Simulated data was also acquired for both a 1-D and a custom built 8x96, 1.75-D probe (Tetrad Corp.). The data was compounded using a receive spatial compounding algorithm; a widely used algorithm because it takes advantage of parallel beamforming to avoid reductions in frame rate. Phase correction was also performed by using a least mean squares algorithm to estimate the arrival time errors. We present simulation and experimental data comparing the performance of spatial compounding to phase correction in contrast and resolution tasks. We evaluate spatial compounding and phase correction, and combinations of the two methods, under varying aperture sizes, aperture overlaps, and aberrator strength to examine the optimum configuration and conditions in which spatial compounding will provide a similar or better result than adaptive imaging. We find that, in general, phase correction is hindered at high aberration strengths and spatial frequencies, whereas spatial compounding is helped by these aberrators.

Spatial network surrogates for disentangling complex system structure from spatial embedding of nodes

Science.gov (United States)

Wiedermann, Marc; Donges, Jonathan F.; Kurths, Jürgen; Donner, Reik V.

2016-04-01

Networks with nodes embedded in a metric space have gained increasing interest in recent years. The effects of spatial embedding on the networks' structural characteristics, however, are rarely taken into account when studying their macroscopic properties. Here, we propose a hierarchy of null models to generate random surrogates from a given spatially embedded network that can preserve certain global and local statistics associated with the nodes' embedding in a metric space. Comparing the original network's and the resulting surrogates' global characteristics allows one to quantify to what extent these characteristics are already predetermined by the spatial embedding of the nodes and links. We apply our framework to various real-world spatial networks and show that the proposed models capture macroscopic properties of the networks under study much better than standard random network models that do not account for the nodes' spatial embedding. Depending on the actual performance of the proposed null models, the networks are categorized into different classes. Since many real-world complex networks are in fact spatial networks, the proposed approach is relevant for disentangling the underlying complex system structure from spatial embedding of nodes in many fields, ranging from social systems over infrastructure and neurophysiology to climatology.

E-Government, Audit Opinion, and Performance of Local Government Administration in Indonesia

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Bambang Sutopo

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Local governments (LGs have an important role in providing services to the community. Nevertheless, some local governments still show relatively low performance. Scores of e-government implementation and audit opinions obtained by some local governments are also relatively low. This study examines whether there are relationships between e-government, the dimensions of e-government, and audit opinion and the performance of the local government administration. There are five dimensions of the e-government i.e. policy, institutions, infrastructure, applications, and planning. The sample used in this study includes 246 local governments from 2012 to 2014. Using regression analysis, the results of this study show that e-government has a positive association with the performance of the local government administration. This is supported by the positive association of e-government’s dimensions with performance. The audit opinion is also positively associated with performance as expected. These results suggest that e-government and audit opinion can be used as indicators of the performance of local government administration.

Local topography shapes fine-scale spatial genetic structure in the Arkansas Valley evening primrose, Oenothera harringtonii (Onagraceae).

Science.gov (United States)

Rhodes, Matthew K; Fant, Jeremie B; Skogen, Krissa A

2014-01-01

Identifying factors that shape the spatial distribution of genetic variation is crucial to understanding many population- and landscape-level processes. In this study, we explore fine-scale spatial genetic structure in Oenothera harringtonii (Onagraceae), an insect-pollinated, gravity-dispersed herb endemic to the grasslands of south-central and southeastern Colorado, USA. We genotyped 315 individuals with 11 microsatellite markers and utilized a combination of spatial autocorrelation analyses and landscape genetic models to relate life history traits and landscape features to dispersal processes. Spatial genetic structure was consistent with theoretical expectations of isolation by distance, but this pattern was weak (Sp = 0.00374). Anisotropic analyses indicated that spatial genetic structure was markedly directional, in this case consistent with increased dispersal along prominent slopes. Landscape genetic models subsequently confirmed that spatial genetic variation was significantly influenced by local topographic heterogeneity, specifically that geographic distance, elevation and aspect were important predictors of spatial genetic structure. Among these variables, geographic distance was ~68% more important than elevation in describing spatial genetic variation, and elevation was ~42% more important than aspect after removing the effect of geographic distance. From these results, we infer a mechanism of hydrochorous seed dispersal along major drainages aided by seasonal monsoon rains. Our findings suggest that landscape features may shape microevolutionary processes at much finer spatial scales than typically considered, and stress the importance of considering how particular dispersal vectors are influenced by their environmental context. © The American Genetic Association 2014. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Spatial pattern of diarrhea based on regional economic and environment by spatial autoregressive model

Science.gov (United States)

Bekti, Rokhana Dwi; Nurhadiyanti, Gita; Irwansyah, Edy

2014-10-01

The diarrhea case pattern information, especially for toddler, is very important. It is used to show the distribution of diarrhea in every region, relationship among that locations, and regional economic characteristic or environmental behavior. So, this research uses spatial pattern to perform them. This method includes: Moran's I, Spatial Autoregressive Models (SAR), and Local Indicator of Spatial Autocorrelation (LISA). It uses sample from 23 sub districts of Bekasi Regency, West Java, Indonesia. Diarrhea case, regional economic, and environmental behavior of households have a spatial relationship among sub district. SAR shows that the percentage of Regional Gross Domestic Product is significantly effect on diarrhea at α = 10%. Therefore illiteracy and health center facilities are significant at α = 5%. With LISA test, sub districts in southern Bekasi have high dependencies with Cikarang Selatan, Serang Baru, and Setu. This research also builds development application that is based on java and R to support data analysis.

Seed dispersal increases local species richness and reduces spatial turnover of tropical tree seedlings.

Science.gov (United States)

Wandrag, Elizabeth M; Dunham, Amy E; Duncan, Richard P; Rogers, Haldre S

2017-10-03

Dispersal is thought to be a key process underlying the high spatial diversity of tropical forests. Just how important dispersal is in structuring plant communities is nevertheless an open question because it is very difficult to isolate dispersal from other processes, and thereby measure its effect. Using a unique situation, the loss of vertebrate seed dispersers on the island of Guam and their presence on the neighboring islands of Saipan and Rota, we quantify the contribution of vertebrate seed dispersal to spatial patterns of diversity of tree seedlings in treefall gaps. The presence of vertebrate seed dispersers approximately doubled seedling species richness within canopy gaps and halved species turnover among gaps. Our study demonstrates that dispersal plays a key role in maintaining local and regional patterns of diversity, and highlights the potential for ongoing declines in vertebrate seed dispersers to profoundly alter tropical forest composition.

Local Action Groups and Rural Sustainable Development. A spatial multiple criteria approach for efficient territorial planning

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Palmisano, Giovanni Ottomano; Govindan, M.E., PhD.,, Kannan; Boggia, Antonio

2016-01-01

Local Action Groups in order to promote the objectives of Rural Sustainable Development within rural municipalities. Each Local Action Group applies the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis in order to identify for its own rural municipalities the strategic elements to which...... and a Weakness factors and decision alternatives, as well as impossibility of ranking the decision alternatives. Thus, this research aims to overcome the drawbacks of the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis and to support Local Action Group partnerships in the sustainability evaluation...... of their rural municipalities, and therefore to aid the identification of a common Rural Sustainable Development strategy to allocate the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development budget. This decision problem was tackled by applying a Multiple Criteria Spatial Decision Support System that integrates...

Spatial analysis of binary health indicators with local smoothing techniques The Viadana study.

Science.gov (United States)

Girardi, Paolo; Marcon, Alessandro; Rava, Marta; Pironi, Vanda; Ricci, Paolo; de Marco, Roberto

2012-01-01

When pollution data from a monitoring network is not available, mapping the spatial distribution of disease can be useful to identify populations at risk and to suggest a potential role for suspected emission sources. We aimed at obtaining a continuous spatial representation of the prevalence of symptoms that are potentially associated with the exposure to the pollutants emitted from the wood factories in the children who live in the district of Viadana (Northern Italy). In 2006, all the parents of the children aged 3-14 years residing in the Viadana district (n = 3854), filled in a questionnaire on respiratory symptoms, irritation symptoms of the eyes and skin, use of health services. The children's residential addresses were also collected and geocoded. Generalized additive models and local weighted regression (LOWESS) were used to estimate the distribution of the symptoms, to test for spatial trends of the symptoms' prevalence and to control for potential confounders. Permutation tests were used to identify the areas of significantly increased risk ("hot spots"). The prevalence of respiratory symptoms, eye symptoms and the use of health services showed a statistically significant spatial variation (p big chipboard industries were located. Hot spots were identified fairly near to one of the two chipboard industries in the district. The north-to-south trend in the prevalence of respiratory and eye symptoms, but not of skin symptoms, as well as the location of hot spots, are consistent with the potential exposure to air pollutants both emitted by the wood factories and related to traffic. In these "high risk areas" monitoring of pollution and preventive actions are clearly needed. Crown Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spatial reconstruction of single-cell gene expression

Science.gov (United States)

Satija, Rahul; Farrell, Jeffrey A.; Gennert, David; Schier, Alexander F.; Regev, Aviv

2015-01-01

Spatial localization is a key determinant of cellular fate and behavior, but spatial RNA assays traditionally rely on staining for a limited number of RNA species. In contrast, single-cell RNA-seq allows for deep profiling of cellular gene expression, but established methods separate cells from their native spatial context. Here we present Seurat, a computational strategy to infer cellular localization by integrating single-cell RNA-seq data with in situ RNA patterns. We applied Seurat to spatially map 851 single cells from dissociated zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos, inferring a transcriptome-wide map of spatial patterning. We confirmed Seurat’s accuracy using several experimental approaches, and used it to identify a set of archetypal expression patterns and spatial markers. Additionally, Seurat correctly localizes rare subpopulations, accurately mapping both spatially restricted and scattered groups. Seurat will be applicable to mapping cellular localization within complex patterned tissues in diverse systems. PMID:25867923

Influence of spatial arrangements on performance of a yam-maize ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Influence of spatial arrangements on performance of a yam-maize-pepper intercrop. JA Manu-Aduening, K Boa-Amponsem. Abstract. No Abstract. Ghana Journal of Agricultural Science No. 1, 2005: 29-35. Full Text: EMAIL FULL TEXT EMAIL FULL TEXT · DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT DOWNLOAD FULL TEXT.

Quality of Governance and Local Development: The Case of Top Nine Performing Local Government Units in the Philippines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MA. NIÑA I. ADRIANO

2014-08-01

Full Text Available There is a large body of literature that studies the link between good governance and development in a country level. However, only a few have exploited the same study in the local government unit (LGU setting. This study attempts to establish the relationship between the quality of governance and the state of local development of the Top 9 Performing LGUs in the Philippines (La Union, Albay, Cavite, Ilocos Norte, Makati City Valenzuela City, Taguig City, Davao City and Angeles City as measured by the Local Governance Performance Management System (LGPMS, the nationwide governance performance evaluation and management tool used in the Philippines. I used the data generated by the LGPMS, particularly the state of local governance and the state of local development, to see if there is a relationship between the two variables using Spearman’s correlation coefficient. Results revealed that that there is no relationship between the quality of governance and the state of local development in the consistently top performing LGUs in the Philippines for the period 2009-2011. The findings of this study will be useful to government officials such as public administrators, LGU executives, policy makers, researchers, and students of public administration in addressing the issue of good governance and local development in their respective LGUs.

Comparison of Modeling Grassland Degradation with and without Considering Localized Spatial Associations in Vegetation Changing Patterns

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Yuwei Wang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Grassland ecosystems worldwide are confronted with degradation. It is of great importance to understand long-term trajectory patterns of grassland vegetation by advanced analytical models. This study proposes a new approach called a binary logistic regression model with neighborhood interactions, or BLR-NIs, which is based on binary logistic regression (BLR, but fully considers the spatio-temporally localized spatial associations or characterization of neighborhood interactions (NIs in the patterns of grassland vegetation. The BLR-NIs model was applied to a modeled vegetation degradation of grasslands in the Xilin river basin, Inner Mongolia, China. Residual trend analysis on the normalized difference vegetation index (RESTREND-NDVI, which excluded the climatic impact on vegetation dynamics, was adopted as a preprocessing step to derive three human-induced trajectory patterns (vegetation degradation, vegetation recovery, and no significant change in vegetation during two consecutive periods, T1 (2000–2008 and T2 (2007–2015. Human activities, including livestock grazing intensity and transportation accessibility measured by road network density, were included as explanatory variables for vegetation degradation, which was defined for locations if vegetation recovery or no significant change in vegetation in T1 and vegetation degradation in T2 were observed. Our work compared the results of BLR-NIs and the traditional BLR model that did not consider NIs. The study showed that: (1 both grazing intensity and road density had a positive correlation to vegetation degradation based on the traditional BLR model; (2 only road density was found to positively correlate to vegetation degradation by the BLR-NIs model; NIs appeared to be critical factors to predict vegetation degradation; and (3 including NIs in the BLR model improved the model performance substantially. The study provided evidence for the importance of including localized spatial

Assessing the performance of Dutch local energy companies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blokhuis, Erik; Advokaat, Bart; Schaefer, Wim

2012-01-01

According to binding European Union agreements, the Netherlands has to cover at least 14% of its total energy use with renewable energy sources by 2020. However, the share of renewable energy in the Netherlands is small and hardly increasing. In 2010, renewable energy in the Netherlands accounted for only 3.8% of the national energy use, and has decreased with 0.4% compared to 2009. A cause of the stagnating renewable energy generation in the Netherlands is the absence of a nation-wide, clear and consistent long-term policy on the introduction of renewable energy. In order to overcome the current standstill in renewable energy adoption, several Dutch municipalities take the initiative and establish Local Energy Companies (LECs). However, to date, it is unclear which LEC type performs best. This research aims to compare the performance of existing LECs on three aspects: technology, finance, and organization. Furthermore, the performance of existing LECs is compared with theoretical reference LECs, in order to estimate efficiencies and opportunities for improvements. Finally, the influence of the recent changes in the Dutch subsidy scheme on LEC performance is examined. In order to achieve these aims, the benchmark method Data Envelopment Analysis is employed. - Highlights: ► Dutch Local Energy Companies (LECs) producing heat perform best in cost efficiency. ► Technical efficiency is highest in Dutch Local Energy Companies employing wind energy. ► Theoretical assumptions concerning LEC performance are not yet achieved in practice. ► The self supply model adds to the profitability of LECs, independent from subsidies. ► Recent changes in Dutch subsidy schemes add little to LECs’ financial performance.

The impact of covariance localization on the performance of an ocean EnKF system assimilating glider data in the Ligurian Sea

Science.gov (United States)

Falchetti, Silvia; Alvarez, Alberto

2018-04-01

Data assimilation through an ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) is not exempt from deficiencies, including the generation of long-range unphysical correlations that degrade its performance. The covariance localization technique has been proposed and used in previous research to mitigate this effect. However, an evaluation of its performance is usually hindered by the sparseness and unsustained collection of independent observations. This article assesses the performance of an ocean prediction system composed of a multivariate EnKF coupled with a regional configuration of the Regional Ocean Model System (ROMS) with a covariance localization solution and data assimilation from an ocean glider that operated over a limited region of the Ligurian Sea. Simultaneous with the operation of the forecast system, a high-quality data set was repeatedly collected with a CTD sensor, i.e., every day during the period from 5 to 20 August 2013 (approximately 4 to 5 times the synoptic time scale of the area), located on board the NR/V Alliance for model validation. Comparisons between the validation data set and the forecasts provide evidence that the performance of the prediction system with covariance localization is superior to that observed using only EnKF assimilation without localization or using a free run ensemble. Furthermore, it is shown that covariance localization also increases the robustness of the model to the location of the assimilated data. Our analysis reveals that improvements are detected with regard to not only preventing the occurrence of spurious correlations but also preserving the spatial coherence in the updated covariance matrix. Covariance localization has been shown to be relevant in operational frameworks where short-term forecasts (on the order of days) are required.

Agronomic performance of velvet bean at different spatial arrangement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Silva, Aijanio Gomes de Brito; Goncalves Junior, Murilo; Guerra, Jose Guilherme Marinho; Costa, Janaina Ribeiro; Espindola, Jose Antonio Azevedo; Araujo, Ednaldo da Silva

2011-01-01

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of different plant spatial arrangements on agronomic performance of velvet-bean (Mucuna pruriens var. utilis). The experiment was performed with eight treatments, distributed in a randomized complete block design in a 2x4 factorial arrangement, with four replicates. The treatments were velvet bean sowing at two spacings between furrows (0.5 and 1.0 m) and four plant densities (2, 4, 8 and 16 plants m -1 ). Determinations were made for the soil covering and biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) rates, and for the dry matter yield and N accumulation in the plant shoots. Total soil cover was accomplished at 50 days after sowing at 16 plants m -1 density and 0.5 m spacing between furrows. The combination of 16 plants m -1 1density with the 1.0 m spacing between furrows provided the greatest dry matter yield and accumulated most N in the plant shoots. Irrespective of the plant spatial arrangement, the estimation of BNF in this species shows that about 70% N present in the shoot is derived from the atmosphere. (author)

Improving performances of suboptimal greedy iterative biclustering heuristics via localization.

Science.gov (United States)

Erten, Cesim; Sözdinler, Melih

2010-10-15

Biclustering gene expression data is the problem of extracting submatrices of genes and conditions exhibiting significant correlation across both the rows and the columns of a data matrix of expression values. Even the simplest versions of the problem are computationally hard. Most of the proposed solutions therefore employ greedy iterative heuristics that locally optimize a suitably assigned scoring function. We provide a fast and simple pre-processing algorithm called localization that reorders the rows and columns of the input data matrix in such a way as to group correlated entries in small local neighborhoods within the matrix. The proposed localization algorithm takes its roots from effective use of graph-theoretical methods applied to problems exhibiting a similar structure to that of biclustering. In order to evaluate the effectivenesss of the localization pre-processing algorithm, we focus on three representative greedy iterative heuristic methods. We show how the localization pre-processing can be incorporated into each representative algorithm to improve biclustering performance. Furthermore, we propose a simple biclustering algorithm, Random Extraction After Localization (REAL) that randomly extracts submatrices from the localization pre-processed data matrix, eliminates those with low similarity scores, and provides the rest as correlated structures representing biclusters. We compare the proposed localization pre-processing with another pre-processing alternative, non-negative matrix factorization. We show that our fast and simple localization procedure provides similar or even better results than the computationally heavy matrix factorization pre-processing with regards to H-value tests. We next demonstrate that the performances of the three representative greedy iterative heuristic methods improve with localization pre-processing when biological correlations in the form of functional enrichment and PPI verification constitute the main performance

DT Local Trigger performance in 2015

CERN Document Server

CMS Collaboration

2015-01-01

The Local Trigger system of the CMS Drift Tube chambers (DT) was checked applying similar methods as in the LHC Run 1 (2012). The main variables shown in this note are the trigger efficiency, the trigger quality and the fraction of trigger ghosts. The performance was found to be comparable or better than in Run 1.

Spatial Distribution Of Local Markets In Ife North Local Government Area

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

OMOTOYE-OMISORE Oyelola

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Researches have been carried out in the past by several authors concerning agricultural marketing without the use of geospatial techniques. This research therefore is meant to show the efficacy of Geographical Information System GIS in local market distribution. The role of market place as a man-made feature where goods and services are exchanged for the purpose of satisfying human needs cannot be overemphasized especially in the general development of villages and towns. This study shows the effectiveness of GIS without the use of metrics method to determine the agricultural market locations and closeness of the markets in Ife North Local Government area. Different kinds of people bring their goods from far and near villages for sale and sustainability in this research both primary and secondary data were collected. Primary data includes the use of Global Positioning System GPS receiver to collect coordinate points of the existing markets. It also involves verbal interview with market women. While secondary data were sourced from administrative maps and satellite images of the area of study it was geo-referenced and digitized. Arc Map was used to run average nearest neighbor analysis. Base on the analysis performed the major constraint facing the market people is poor road network which affect majority of the farmers in transporting their goods from remote villages as indicated in this study. As a result new markets sites were proposed with the use of geospatial techniques for easy accessibility.

Spatial environmental heterogeneity affects plant growth and thermal performance on a green roof

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Buckland-Nicks, Michael; Heim, Amy; Lundholm, Jeremy, E-mail: jlundholm@smu.ca

2016-05-15

Green roofs provide ecosystem services, including stormwater retention and reductions in heat transfer through the roof. Microclimates, as well as designed features of green roofs, such as substrate and vegetation, affect the magnitude of these services. Many green roofs are partially shaded by surrounding buildings, but the effects of this within-roof spatial environmental heterogeneity on thermal performance and other ecosystem services have not been examined. We quantified the effects of spatial heterogeneity in solar radiation, substrate depth and other variables affected by these drivers on vegetation and ecosystem services in an extensive green roof. Spatial heterogeneity in substrate depth and insolation were correlated with differential growth, survival and flowering in two focal plant species. These effects were likely driven by the resulting spatial heterogeneity in substrate temperature and moisture content. Thermal performance (indicated by heat flux and substrate temperature) was influenced by spatial heterogeneity in vegetation cover and substrate depth. Areas with less insolation were cooler in summer and had greater substrate moisture, leading to more favorable conditions for plant growth and survival. Spatial variation in substrate moisture (7%–26% volumetric moisture content) and temperature (21 °C–36 °C) during hot sunny conditions in summer could cause large differences in stormwater retention and heat flux within a single green roof. Shaded areas promote smaller heat fluxes through the roof, leading to energy savings, but lower evapotranspiration in these areas should reduce stormwater retention capacity. Spatial heterogeneity can thus result in trade-offs between different ecosystem services. The effects of these spatial heterogeneities are likely widespread in green roofs. Structures that provide shelter from sun and wind may be productively utilized to design higher functioning green roofs and increase biodiversity by providing habitat

Spatial environmental heterogeneity affects plant growth and thermal performance on a green roof

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buckland-Nicks, Michael; Heim, Amy; Lundholm, Jeremy

2016-01-01

Green roofs provide ecosystem services, including stormwater retention and reductions in heat transfer through the roof. Microclimates, as well as designed features of green roofs, such as substrate and vegetation, affect the magnitude of these services. Many green roofs are partially shaded by surrounding buildings, but the effects of this within-roof spatial environmental heterogeneity on thermal performance and other ecosystem services have not been examined. We quantified the effects of spatial heterogeneity in solar radiation, substrate depth and other variables affected by these drivers on vegetation and ecosystem services in an extensive green roof. Spatial heterogeneity in substrate depth and insolation were correlated with differential growth, survival and flowering in two focal plant species. These effects were likely driven by the resulting spatial heterogeneity in substrate temperature and moisture content. Thermal performance (indicated by heat flux and substrate temperature) was influenced by spatial heterogeneity in vegetation cover and substrate depth. Areas with less insolation were cooler in summer and had greater substrate moisture, leading to more favorable conditions for plant growth and survival. Spatial variation in substrate moisture (7%–26% volumetric moisture content) and temperature (21 °C–36 °C) during hot sunny conditions in summer could cause large differences in stormwater retention and heat flux within a single green roof. Shaded areas promote smaller heat fluxes through the roof, leading to energy savings, but lower evapotranspiration in these areas should reduce stormwater retention capacity. Spatial heterogeneity can thus result in trade-offs between different ecosystem services. The effects of these spatial heterogeneities are likely widespread in green roofs. Structures that provide shelter from sun and wind may be productively utilized to design higher functioning green roofs and increase biodiversity by providing habitat

Local Patch Vectors Encoded by Fisher Vectors for Image Classification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuangshuang Chen

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The objective of this work is image classification, whose purpose is to group images into corresponding semantic categories. Four contributions are made as follows: (i For computational simplicity and efficiency, we directly adopt raw image patch vectors as local descriptors encoded by Fisher vector (FV subsequently; (ii For obtaining representative local features within the FV encoding framework, we compare and analyze three typical sampling strategies: random sampling, saliency-based sampling and dense sampling; (iii In order to embed both global and local spatial information into local features, we construct an improved spatial geometry structure which shows good performance; (iv For reducing the storage and CPU costs of high dimensional vectors, we adopt a new feature selection method based on supervised mutual information (MI, which chooses features by an importance sorting algorithm. We report experimental results on dataset STL-10. It shows very promising performance with this simple and efficient framework compared to conventional methods.

Spatial difference in genetic variation for fenitrothion tolerance between local populations of Daphnia galeata in Lake Kasumigaura, Japan.

Science.gov (United States)

Mano, Hiroyuki; Tanaka, Yoshinari

2017-12-01

This study examines the spatial difference in genetic variation for tolerance to a pesticide, fenitrothion, in Daphnia galeata at field sites in Lake Kasumigaura, Japan. We estimated genetic values of isofemale lines established from dormant eggs of D. galeata collected from field sampling sites with the toxicant threshold model applied using acute toxicity. We compared genetic values and variances and broad-sense heritability across different sites in the lake. Results showed that the mean tolerance values to fenitrothion did not differ spatially. The variance in genetic value and heritability of fenitrothion tolerance significantly differed between sampling sites, revealing that long-term ecological risk of fenitrothion may differ between local populations in the lake. These results have implications for aquatic toxicology research, suggesting that differences in genetic variation of tolerance to a chemical among local populations must be considered for understanding the long-term ecological risks of the chemical over a large geographic area.

Spatial effects of Fano resonance in local tunneling conductivity in vicinity of impurity on semiconductor surface

OpenAIRE

Mantsevich, V. N.; Maslova, N. S.

2009-01-01

We present the results of local tunneling conductivity spatial distribution detailed theoretical investigations in vicinity of impurity atom for a wide range of applied bias voltage. We observed Fano resonance in tunneling conductivity resulting from interference between resonant tunneling channel through impurity energy level and direct tunneling channel between the tunneling contact leads. We have found that interference between tunneling channels strongly modifies form of tunneling conduct...

Localization Performance of Multiple Vibrotactile Cues on Both Arms.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dangxiao; Peng, Cong; Afzal, Naqash; Li, Weiang; Wu, Dong; Zhang, Yuru

2018-01-01

To present information using vibrotactile stimuli in wearable devices, it is fundamental to understand human performance of localizing vibrotactile cues across the skin surface. In this paper, we studied human ability to identify locations of multiple vibrotactile cues activated simultaneously on both arms. Two haptic bands were mounted in proximity to the elbow and shoulder joints on each arm, and two vibrotactile motors were mounted on each band to provide vibration cues to the dorsal and palmar side of the arm. The localization performance under four conditions were compared, with the number of the simultaneously activated cues varying from one to four in each condition. Experimental results illustrate that the rate of correct localization decreases linearly with the increase in the number of activated cues. It was 27.8 percent for three activated cues, and became even lower for four activated cues. An analysis of the correct rate and error patterns show that the layout of vibrotactile cues can have significant effects on the localization performance of multiple vibrotactile cues. These findings might provide guidelines for using vibrotactile cues to guide the simultaneous motion of multiple joints on both arms.

Local niche planning and its strategic implications for implementation of energy-efficient technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Quitzau, Maj-Britt; Hoffmann, Birgitte; Elle, Morten

2012-01-01

-management process for enabling transitions. The study outlines the proactive spatial planning of a Danish local authority in order to illustrate how the strategic work performed in this kind of local development project represents a special form of niche management that is able to create room for innovation...... such a gap between policy visions and their implementation in practice specific forms of strategic work is needed, according to new transformative ideas in spatial planning. The aim of this paper is to characterize the transformative capacities of this kind of strategic work at the spatial scale of the town...... in order to assess how such activities engage with sustainable transitions. The theoretical contribution of the paper is to compare strategic work performed in transformative forms of spatial planning with the strategic work intended in strategic niche management, which represent a change...

Spatial localization of speech segments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karlsen, Brian Lykkegaard

1999-01-01

loudspeakers were suspended so that they surrounded the subjects in the horizontal plane. The subjects were required to push a button on a pad indicating where they had localized the target to in the horizontal plane. The response pad had twelve buttons arranged uniformly in a circle and two further buttons so...... that the subjects could indicate if they had not heard the target or if they had heard it, but could not localize it. The model consists of three overall parts. One part assigns directional estimates to time-frequency components on the basis of interaural time difference and front/back templates. Another part does...

Characterization of the spatial structure of local functional connectivity using multi-distance average correlation measures.

Science.gov (United States)

Macia, Didac; Pujol, Jesus; Blanco-Hinojo, Laura; Martínez-Vilavella, Gerard; Martín-Santos, Rocío; Deus, Joan

2018-04-24

There is ample evidence from basic research in neuroscience of the importance of local cortico-cortical networks. Millimetric resolution is achievable with current functional MRI (fMRI) scanners and sequences, and consequently a number of "local" activity similarity measures have been defined to describe patterns of segregation and integration at this spatial scale. We have introduced the use of Iso-Distant local Average Correlation (IDAC), easily defined as the average fMRI temporal correlation of a given voxel with other voxels placed at increasingly separated iso-distant intervals, to characterize the curve of local fMRI signal similarities. IDAC curves can be statistically compared using parametric multivariate statistics. Furthermore, by using RGB color-coding to display jointly IDAC values belonging to three different distance lags, IDAC curves can also be displayed as multi-distance IDAC maps. We applied IDAC analysis to a sample of 41 subjects scanned under two different conditions, a resting state and an auditory-visual continuous stimulation. Multi-distance IDAC mapping was able to discriminate between gross anatomo-functional cortical areas and, moreover, was sensitive to modulation between the two brain conditions in areas known to activate and de-activate during audio-visual tasks. Unlike previous fMRI local similarity measures already in use, our approach draws special attention to the continuous smooth pattern of local functional connectivity.

Spatial environmental heterogeneity affects plant growth and thermal performance on a green roof.

Science.gov (United States)

Buckland-Nicks, Michael; Heim, Amy; Lundholm, Jeremy

2016-05-15

Green roofs provide ecosystem services, including stormwater retention and reductions in heat transfer through the roof. Microclimates, as well as designed features of green roofs, such as substrate and vegetation, affect the magnitude of these services. Many green roofs are partially shaded by surrounding buildings, but the effects of this within-roof spatial environmental heterogeneity on thermal performance and other ecosystem services have not been examined. We quantified the effects of spatial heterogeneity in solar radiation, substrate depth and other variables affected by these drivers on vegetation and ecosystem services in an extensive green roof. Spatial heterogeneity in substrate depth and insolation were correlated with differential growth, survival and flowering in two focal plant species. These effects were likely driven by the resulting spatial heterogeneity in substrate temperature and moisture content. Thermal performance (indicated by heat flux and substrate temperature) was influenced by spatial heterogeneity in vegetation cover and substrate depth. Areas with less insolation were cooler in summer and had greater substrate moisture, leading to more favorable conditions for plant growth and survival. Spatial variation in substrate moisture (7%-26% volumetric moisture content) and temperature (21°C-36°C) during hot sunny conditions in summer could cause large differences in stormwater retention and heat flux within a single green roof. Shaded areas promote smaller heat fluxes through the roof, leading to energy savings, but lower evapotranspiration in these areas should reduce stormwater retention capacity. Spatial heterogeneity can thus result in trade-offs between different ecosystem services. The effects of these spatial heterogeneities are likely widespread in green roofs. Structures that provide shelter from sun and wind may be productively utilized to design higher functioning green roofs and increase biodiversity by providing habitat

Students’ Spatial Performance: Cognitive Style and Sex Differences

Science.gov (United States)

Hanifah, U.; Juniati, D.; Siswono, T. Y. E.

2018-01-01

This study aims at describing the students’ spatial abilities based on cognitive styles and sex differences. Spatial abilities in this study include 5 components, namely spatial perception, spatial visualization, mental rotation, spatial relations, and spatial orientation. This research is descriptive research with qualitative approach. The subjects in this research were 4 students of junior high school, there were 1 male FI, 1 male FD, 1 female FI, and 1 female FI. The results showed that there are differences in spatial abilities of the four subjects that are on the components of spatial visualization, mental rotation, and spatial relations. The differences in spatial abilities were found in methods / strategies used by each subject to solve each component problem. The differences in cognitive styles and sex suggested different choice of strategies used to solve problems. The male students imagined the figures but female students needed the media to solve the problem. Besides sex, the cognitive style differences also have an effect on solving a problem. In addition, FI students were not affected by distracting information but FD students could be affected by distracting information. This research was expected to contribute knowledge and insight to the readers, especially for math teachers in terms of the spatial ability of the students so that they can optimize their students’ spatial ability.

Locality-Aware CTA Clustering For Modern GPUs

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Ang; Song, Shuaiwen; Liu, Weifeng; Liu, Xu; Kumar, Akash; Corporaal, Henk

2017-04-08

In this paper, we proposed a novel clustering technique for tapping into the performance potential of a largely ignored type of locality: inter-CTA locality. We first demonstrated the capability of the existing GPU hardware to exploit such locality, both spatially and temporally, on L1 or L1/Tex unified cache. To verify the potential of this locality, we quantified its existence in a broad spectrum of applications and discussed its sources of origin. Based on these insights, we proposed the concept of CTA-Clustering and its associated software techniques. Finally, We evaluated these techniques on all modern generations of NVIDIA GPU architectures. The experimental results showed that our proposed clustering techniques could significantly improve on-chip cache performance.

Combining satellite data and appropriate objective functions for improved spatial pattern performance of a distributed hydrologic model

Science.gov (United States)

Demirel, Mehmet C.; Mai, Juliane; Mendiguren, Gorka; Koch, Julian; Samaniego, Luis; Stisen, Simon

2018-02-01

Satellite-based earth observations offer great opportunities to improve spatial model predictions by means of spatial-pattern-oriented model evaluations. In this study, observed spatial patterns of actual evapotranspiration (AET) are utilised for spatial model calibration tailored to target the pattern performance of the model. The proposed calibration framework combines temporally aggregated observed spatial patterns with a new spatial performance metric and a flexible spatial parameterisation scheme. The mesoscale hydrologic model (mHM) is used to simulate streamflow and AET and has been selected due to its soil parameter distribution approach based on pedo-transfer functions and the build in multi-scale parameter regionalisation. In addition two new spatial parameter distribution options have been incorporated in the model in order to increase the flexibility of root fraction coefficient and potential evapotranspiration correction parameterisations, based on soil type and vegetation density. These parameterisations are utilised as they are most relevant for simulated AET patterns from the hydrologic model. Due to the fundamental challenges encountered when evaluating spatial pattern performance using standard metrics, we developed a simple but highly discriminative spatial metric, i.e. one comprised of three easily interpretable components measuring co-location, variation and distribution of the spatial data. The study shows that with flexible spatial model parameterisation used in combination with the appropriate objective functions, the simulated spatial patterns of actual evapotranspiration become substantially more similar to the satellite-based estimates. Overall 26 parameters are identified for calibration through a sequential screening approach based on a combination of streamflow and spatial pattern metrics. The robustness of the calibrations is tested using an ensemble of nine calibrations based on different seed numbers using the shuffled complex

Feasibility analysis and performance characteristics investigation of spatial recuperative expander based on organic Rankine cycle for waste heat recovery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Han, Yongqiang; Li, Runzhao; Liu, Zhongchang; Tian, Jing; Wang, Xianfeng; Kang, Jianjian

2016-01-01

Highlights: • A new concept of spatial recuperative expander for waste heat recovery is proposed. • Simulation model of spatial recuperative expander is established and verified. • The performance characteristics of spatial recuperative expander are investigated. • Comparison between spatial recuperative expander and traditional one is performed. • Spatial recuperative expander achieves better performance than traditional one. - Abstract: This paper proposes a new concept of spatial recuperative expander which injects cold refrigerant during exhaust stroke as a measure of direct contact heat transfer. The commercial simulation tool GT-SUIT 7.4 is employed to model and verify the feasibility of spatial recuperative expander. The research contents are comprised of the following aspects: Firstly, the principles and performance characteristics between traditional reciprocating piston expander and spatial recuperative expander have been investigated. Secondly, the potential of spatial recuperation by adjusting cold refrigerant injection timing has been studied. Thirdly, the relation between expander performance and variable expansion ratio under constant operating condition has been discussed. Fourthly, the thermodynamic performance of spatial recuperative expander under various operating conditions has been examined. The simulation results indicate that: Firstly, the torque per unit mass, thermal efficiency, exergetic efficiency, isentropic efficiency and recuperative efficiency of optimum spatial recuperative expander are 51.00%, 6.74%, 20.79%, 5.68% and 11.36% higher than traditional reciprocating piston expander respectively. Secondly, the cold refrigerant injection timing has little influence on recuperative efficiency because the recuperation process can complete within 16.67 ms. Thirdly, different operating conditions correspond to particular optimal expansion ratio. Fourthly, increasing the pump pressure and maintaining appropriate superheated degree

Spatial ecological processes and local factors predict the distribution and abundance of spawning by steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss across a complex riverscape.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeffrey A Falke

Full Text Available Processes that influence habitat selection in landscapes involve the interaction of habitat composition and configuration and are particularly important for species with complex life cycles. We assessed the relative influence of landscape spatial processes and local habitat characteristics on patterns in the distribution and abundance of spawning steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss, a threatened salmonid fish, across ∼15,000 stream km in the John Day River basin, Oregon, USA. We used hurdle regression and a multi-model information theoretic approach to identify the relative importance of covariates representing key aspects of the steelhead life cycle (e.g., site access, spawning habitat quality, juvenile survival at two spatial scales: within 2-km long survey reaches (local sites and ecological neighborhoods (5 km surrounding the local sites. Based on Akaike's Information Criterion, models that included covariates describing ecological neighborhoods provided the best description of the distribution and abundance of steelhead spawning given the data. Among these covariates, our representation of offspring survival (growing-season-degree-days, °C had the strongest effect size (7x relative to other predictors. Predictive performances of model-averaged composite and neighborhood-only models were better than a site-only model based on both occurrence (percentage of sites correctly classified = 0.80±0.03 SD, 0.78±0.02 vs. 0.62±0.05, respectively and counts (root mean square error = 3.37, 3.93 vs. 5.57, respectively. The importance of both temperature and stream flow for steelhead spawning suggest this species may be highly sensitive to impacts of land and water uses, and to projected climate impacts in the region and that landscape context, complementation, and connectivity will drive how this species responds to future environments.

Early visual deprivation prompts the use of body-centered frames of reference for auditory localization.

Science.gov (United States)

Vercillo, Tiziana; Tonelli, Alessia; Gori, Monica

2018-01-01

The effects of early visual deprivation on auditory spatial processing are controversial. Results from recent psychophysical studies show that people who were born blind have a spatial impairment in localizing sound sources within specific auditory settings, while previous psychophysical studies revealed enhanced auditory spatial abilities in early blind compared to sighted individuals. An explanation of why an auditory spatial deficit is sometimes observed within blind populations and its task-dependency remains to be clarified. We investigated auditory spatial perception in early blind adults and demonstrated that the deficit derives from blind individual's reduced ability to remap sound locations using an external frame of reference. We found that performance in blind population was severely impaired when they were required to localize brief auditory stimuli with respect to external acoustic landmarks (external reference frame) or when they had to reproduce the spatial distance between two sounds. However, they performed similarly to sighted controls when had to localize sounds with respect to their own hand (body-centered reference frame), or to judge the distances of sounds from their finger. These results suggest that early visual deprivation and the lack of visual contextual cues during the critical period induce a preference for body-centered over external spatial auditory representations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Towards Building a High Performance Spatial Query System for Large Scale Medical Imaging Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Aji, Ablimit; Wang, Fusheng; Saltz, Joel H

2012-11-06

Support of high performance queries on large volumes of scientific spatial data is becoming increasingly important in many applications. This growth is driven by not only geospatial problems in numerous fields, but also emerging scientific applications that are increasingly data- and compute-intensive. For example, digital pathology imaging has become an emerging field during the past decade, where examination of high resolution images of human tissue specimens enables more effective diagnosis, prediction and treatment of diseases. Systematic analysis of large-scale pathology images generates tremendous amounts of spatially derived quantifications of micro-anatomic objects, such as nuclei, blood vessels, and tissue regions. Analytical pathology imaging provides high potential to support image based computer aided diagnosis. One major requirement for this is effective querying of such enormous amount of data with fast response, which is faced with two major challenges: the "big data" challenge and the high computation complexity. In this paper, we present our work towards building a high performance spatial query system for querying massive spatial data on MapReduce. Our framework takes an on demand index building approach for processing spatial queries and a partition-merge approach for building parallel spatial query pipelines, which fits nicely with the computing model of MapReduce. We demonstrate our framework on supporting multi-way spatial joins for algorithm evaluation and nearest neighbor queries for microanatomic objects. To reduce query response time, we propose cost based query optimization to mitigate the effect of data skew. Our experiments show that the framework can efficiently support complex analytical spatial queries on MapReduce.

The Impact of Early Visual Deprivation on Spatial Hearing: A Comparison between Totally and Partially Visually Deprived Children

Science.gov (United States)

Cappagli, Giulia; Finocchietti, Sara; Cocchi, Elena; Gori, Monica

2017-01-01

The specific role of early visual deprivation on spatial hearing is still unclear, mainly due to the difficulty of comparing similar spatial skills at different ages and to the difficulty in recruiting young blind children from birth. In this study, the effects of early visual deprivation on the development of auditory spatial localization have been assessed in a group of seven 3–5 years old children with congenital blindness (n = 2; light perception or no perception of light) or low vision (n = 5; visual acuity range 1.1–1.7 LogMAR), with the main aim to understand if visual experience is fundamental to the development of specific spatial skills. Our study led to three main findings: firstly, totally blind children performed overall more poorly compared sighted and low vision children in all the spatial tasks performed; secondly, low vision children performed equally or better than sighted children in the same auditory spatial tasks; thirdly, higher residual levels of visual acuity are positively correlated with better spatial performance in the dynamic condition of the auditory localization task indicating that the more residual vision the better spatial performance. These results suggest that early visual experience has an important role in the development of spatial cognition, even when the visual input during the critical period of visual calibration is partially degraded like in the case of low vision children. Overall these results shed light on the importance of early assessment of spatial impairments in visually impaired children and early intervention to prevent the risk of isolation and social exclusion. PMID:28443040

Encouraging Spatial Talk: Using Children's Museums to Bolster Spatial Reasoning

Science.gov (United States)

Polinsky, Naomi; Perez, Jasmin; Grehl, Mora; McCrink, Koleen

2017-01-01

Longitudinal spatial language intervention studies have shown that greater exposure to spatial language improves children's performance on spatial tasks. Can short naturalistic, spatial language interactions also evoke improved spatial performance? In this study, parents were asked to interact with their child at a block wall exhibit in a…

Uniform competency-based local feature extraction for remote sensing images

Science.gov (United States)

Sedaghat, Amin; Mohammadi, Nazila

2018-01-01

Local feature detectors are widely used in many photogrammetry and remote sensing applications. The quantity and distribution of the local features play a critical role in the quality of the image matching process, particularly for multi-sensor high resolution remote sensing image registration. However, conventional local feature detectors cannot extract desirable matched features either in terms of the number of correct matches or the spatial and scale distribution in multi-sensor remote sensing images. To address this problem, this paper proposes a novel method for uniform and robust local feature extraction for remote sensing images, which is based on a novel competency criterion and scale and location distribution constraints. The proposed method, called uniform competency (UC) local feature extraction, can be easily applied to any local feature detector for various kinds of applications. The proposed competency criterion is based on a weighted ranking process using three quality measures, including robustness, spatial saliency and scale parameters, which is performed in a multi-layer gridding schema. For evaluation, five state-of-the-art local feature detector approaches, namely, scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT), speeded up robust features (SURF), scale-invariant feature operator (SFOP), maximally stable extremal region (MSER) and hessian-affine, are used. The proposed UC-based feature extraction algorithms were successfully applied to match various synthetic and real satellite image pairs, and the results demonstrate its capability to increase matching performance and to improve the spatial distribution. The code to carry out the UC feature extraction is available from href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/317956777_UC-Feature_Extraction.

Spatial reconstruction of single-cell gene expression data.

Science.gov (United States)

Satija, Rahul; Farrell, Jeffrey A; Gennert, David; Schier, Alexander F; Regev, Aviv

2015-05-01

Spatial localization is a key determinant of cellular fate and behavior, but methods for spatially resolved, transcriptome-wide gene expression profiling across complex tissues are lacking. RNA staining methods assay only a small number of transcripts, whereas single-cell RNA-seq, which measures global gene expression, separates cells from their native spatial context. Here we present Seurat, a computational strategy to infer cellular localization by integrating single-cell RNA-seq data with in situ RNA patterns. We applied Seurat to spatially map 851 single cells from dissociated zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryos and generated a transcriptome-wide map of spatial patterning. We confirmed Seurat's accuracy using several experimental approaches, then used the strategy to identify a set of archetypal expression patterns and spatial markers. Seurat correctly localizes rare subpopulations, accurately mapping both spatially restricted and scattered groups. Seurat will be applicable to mapping cellular localization within complex patterned tissues in diverse systems.

S4-3: Spatial Processing of Visual Motion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shin'ya Nishida

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Local motion signals are extracted in parallel by a bank of motion detectors, and their spatiotemporal interactions are processed in subsequent stages. In this talk, I will review our recent studies on spatial interactions in visual motion processing. First, we found two types of spatial pooling of local motion signals. Directionally ambiguous 1D local motion signals are pooled across orientation and space for solution of the aperture problem, while 2D local motion signals are pooled for estimation of global vector average (e.g., Amano et al., 2009 Journal of Vision 9(3:4 1–25. Second, when stimulus presentation is brief, coherent motion detection of dynamic random-dot kinematogram is not efficient. Nevertheless, it is significantly improved by transient and synchronous presentation of a stationary surround pattern. This suggests that centre-surround spatial interaction may help rapid perception of motion (Linares et al., submitted. Third, to know how the visual system encodes pairwise relationships between remote motion signals, we measured the temporal rate limit for perceiving the relationship of two motion directions presented at the same time at different spatial locations. Compared with similar tasks with luminance or orientation signals, motion comparison was more rapid and hence efficient. This high performance was affected little by inter-element separation even when it was increased up to 100 deg. These findings indicate the existence of specialized processes to encode long-range relationships between motion signals for quick appreciation of global dynamic scene structure (Maruya et al., in preparation.

Spatially varying coefficient models in real estate: Eigenvector spatial filtering and alternative approaches

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Helbich, M; Griffith, D

2016-01-01

Real estate policies in urban areas require the recognition of spatial heterogeneity in housing prices to account for local settings. In response to the growing number of spatially varying coefficient models in housing applications, this study evaluated four models in terms of their spatial patterns

Study of the spatial and temporal variability of local ecosystems and glaciers of the Antisana Volcano

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauricio Valladares Borja

2014-12-01

Full Text Available (Received: 2014/10/31 - Accepted: 2014/12/15The scientific interest in climate change allowed to uncover evidence demonstrating a general warming trend caused by human activities. Facts such as rising sea levels, extreme weather events and retreat of glaciers, are indicators of the presence of alterations of normal weather patterns. In Ecuador, the Antisana is a stratovolcano of strategic importance affecting the climate of the region, in the functioning of the surrounding ecosystems. It is also a reserve of water for the population of the Metropolitan District of Quito (DMQ. The glaciers of the tropical volcano are also suffering the effects of global warming. Its decline over time is of concern and should be analyzed. The present research work performed a spatial and temporal study based on historical series of aerial photographs taken between 1956 and 2011, through geo-processing capabilities of geographic information systems (GIS. The results show a significant decrease in the glaciers of the Antisana Volcano and significant changes in the surrounding local ecological formations.

Combining satellite data and appropriate objective functions for improved spatial pattern performance of a distributed hydrologic model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. C. Demirel

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Satellite-based earth observations offer great opportunities to improve spatial model predictions by means of spatial-pattern-oriented model evaluations. In this study, observed spatial patterns of actual evapotranspiration (AET are utilised for spatial model calibration tailored to target the pattern performance of the model. The proposed calibration framework combines temporally aggregated observed spatial patterns with a new spatial performance metric and a flexible spatial parameterisation scheme. The mesoscale hydrologic model (mHM is used to simulate streamflow and AET and has been selected due to its soil parameter distribution approach based on pedo-transfer functions and the build in multi-scale parameter regionalisation. In addition two new spatial parameter distribution options have been incorporated in the model in order to increase the flexibility of root fraction coefficient and potential evapotranspiration correction parameterisations, based on soil type and vegetation density. These parameterisations are utilised as they are most relevant for simulated AET patterns from the hydrologic model. Due to the fundamental challenges encountered when evaluating spatial pattern performance using standard metrics, we developed a simple but highly discriminative spatial metric, i.e. one comprised of three easily interpretable components measuring co-location, variation and distribution of the spatial data. The study shows that with flexible spatial model parameterisation used in combination with the appropriate objective functions, the simulated spatial patterns of actual evapotranspiration become substantially more similar to the satellite-based estimates. Overall 26 parameters are identified for calibration through a sequential screening approach based on a combination of streamflow and spatial pattern metrics. The robustness of the calibrations is tested using an ensemble of nine calibrations based on different seed numbers using the

Performance evaluation of packet video transfer over local area networks

OpenAIRE

Lu, Jie

1993-01-01

This research investigates the implementation and performance of packet video transfer over local area networks. A network architecture is defined for packet video such that most of the processing is performed by the higher layers of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model, while the lower layers provide real-time services. Implementation methods are discussed for coding schemes, including data compression, the network interface unit, and the underlying local are...

Facial Expression Recognition from Video Sequences Based on Spatial-Temporal Motion Local Binary Pattern and Gabor Multiorientation Fusion Histogram

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lei Zhao

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes novel framework for facial expressions analysis using dynamic and static information in video sequences. First, based on incremental formulation, discriminative deformable face alignment method is adapted to locate facial points to correct in-plane head rotation and break up facial region from background. Then, spatial-temporal motion local binary pattern (LBP feature is extracted and integrated with Gabor multiorientation fusion histogram to give descriptors, which reflect static and dynamic texture information of facial expressions. Finally, a one-versus-one strategy based multiclass support vector machine (SVM classifier is applied to classify facial expressions. Experiments on Cohn-Kanade (CK + facial expression dataset illustrate that integrated framework outperforms methods using single descriptors. Compared with other state-of-the-art methods on CK+, MMI, and Oulu-CASIA VIS datasets, our proposed framework performs better.

High-spatial-resolution localization algorithm based on cascade deconvolution in a distributed Sagnac interferometer invasion monitoring system.

Science.gov (United States)

Pi, Shaohua; Wang, Bingjie; Zhao, Jiang; Sun, Qi

2016-10-10

In the Sagnac fiber optic interferometer system, the phase difference signal can be illustrated as a convolution of the waveform of the invasion with its occurring-position-associated transfer function h(t); deconvolution is introduced to improve the spatial resolution of the localization. In general, to get a 26 m spatial resolution at a sampling rate of 4×106  s-1, the algorithm should mainly go through three steps after the preprocessing operations. First, the decimated phase difference signal is transformed from the time domain into the real cepstrum domain, where a probable region of invasion distance can be ascertained. Second, a narrower region of invasion distance is acquired by coarsely assuming and sweeping a transfer function h(t) within the probable region and examining where the restored invasion waveform x(t) gets its minimum standard deviation. Third, fine sweeping the narrow region point by point with the same criteria is used to get the final localization. Also, the original waveform of invasion can be restored for the first time as a by-product, which provides more accurate and pure characteristics for further processing, such as subsequent pattern recognition.

Effects of in-vehicle warning information displays with or without spatial compatibility on driving behaviors and response performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Yung-Ching; Jhuang, Jing-Wun

2012-07-01

A driving simulator study was conducted to evaluate the effects of five in-vehicle warning information displays upon drivers' emergent response and decision performance. These displays include visual display, auditory displays with and without spatial compatibility, hybrid displays in both visual and auditory format with and without spatial compatibility. Thirty volunteer drivers were recruited to perform various tasks that involved driving, stimulus-response, divided attention and stress rating. Results show that for displays of single-modality, drivers benefited more when coping with visual display of warning information than auditory display with or without spatial compatibility. However, auditory display with spatial compatibility significantly improved drivers' performance in reacting to the divided attention task and making accurate S-R task decision. Drivers' best performance results were obtained for hybrid display with spatial compatibility. Hybrid displays enabled drivers to respond the fastest and achieve the best accuracy in both S-R and divided attention tasks. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Where spatial capacity building and spatial decision making meet. Publically debating participatory spatial planning via a newspaper.

OpenAIRE

Huybrechts, Liesbeth; Martens, Sarah; Devisch, Oswald

2015-01-01

This article reports on the in-between results of a Participatory Design research process in spatial planning in Godsheide, a small village in the Belgian Region of Limburg. The research explores how the language of newspapers enables citizens, policy makers, property developers and local organisations to build capacities (cfr. spatial capacity building) in ‘scripting’ their reflections on, but also actions in spatial change. In the heads of our participants, there existed a duality between -...

Spatial econometrics using microdata

CERN Document Server

Dubé, Jean

2014-01-01

This book provides an introduction to spatial analyses concerning disaggregated (or micro) spatial data.Particular emphasis is put on spatial data compilation and the structuring of the connections between the observations. Descriptive analysis methods of spatial data are presented in order to identify and measure the spatial, global and local dependency.The authors then focus on autoregressive spatial models, to control the problem of spatial dependency between the residues of a basic linear statistical model, thereby contravening one of the basic hypotheses of the ordinary least squares appr

Meteor localization via statistical analysis of spatially temporal fluctuations in image sequences

Science.gov (United States)

Kukal, Jaromír.; Klimt, Martin; Šihlík, Jan; Fliegel, Karel

2015-09-01

Meteor detection is one of the most important procedures in astronomical imaging. Meteor path in Earth's atmosphere is traditionally reconstructed from double station video observation system generating 2D image sequences. However, the atmospheric turbulence and other factors cause spatially-temporal fluctuations of image background, which makes the localization of meteor path more difficult. Our approach is based on nonlinear preprocessing of image intensity using Box-Cox and logarithmic transform as its particular case. The transformed image sequences are then differentiated along discrete coordinates to obtain statistical description of sky background fluctuations, which can be modeled by multivariate normal distribution. After verification and hypothesis testing, we use the statistical model for outlier detection. Meanwhile the isolated outlier points are ignored, the compact cluster of outliers indicates the presence of meteoroids after ignition.

Humans make efficient use of natural image statistics when performing spatial interpolation.

Science.gov (United States)

D'Antona, Anthony D; Perry, Jeffrey S; Geisler, Wilson S

2013-12-16

Visual systems learn through evolution and experience over the lifespan to exploit the statistical structure of natural images when performing visual tasks. Understanding which aspects of this statistical structure are incorporated into the human nervous system is a fundamental goal in vision science. To address this goal, we measured human ability to estimate the intensity of missing image pixels in natural images. Human estimation accuracy is compared with various simple heuristics (e.g., local mean) and with optimal observers that have nearly complete knowledge of the local statistical structure of natural images. Human estimates are more accurate than those of simple heuristics, and they match the performance of an optimal observer that knows the local statistical structure of relative intensities (contrasts). This optimal observer predicts the detailed pattern of human estimation errors and hence the results place strong constraints on the underlying neural mechanisms. However, humans do not reach the performance of an optimal observer that knows the local statistical structure of the absolute intensities, which reflect both local relative intensities and local mean intensity. As predicted from a statistical analysis of natural images, human estimation accuracy is negligibly improved by expanding the context from a local patch to the whole image. Our results demonstrate that the human visual system exploits efficiently the statistical structure of natural images.

Fine-grained versus categorical: Pupil size differentiates between strategies for spatial working memory performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Starc, Martina; Anticevic, Alan; Repovš, Grega

2017-05-01

Pupillometry provides an accessible option to track working memory processes with high temporal resolution. Several studies showed that pupil size increases with the number of items held in working memory; however, no study has explored whether pupil size also reflects the quality of working memory representations. To address this question, we used a spatial working memory task to investigate the relationship of pupil size with spatial precision of responses and indicators of reliance on generalized spatial categories. We asked 30 participants (15 female, aged 19-31) to remember the position of targets presented at various locations along a hidden radial grid. After a delay, participants indicated the remembered location with a high-precision joystick providing a parametric measure of trial-to-trial accuracy. We recorded participants' pupil dilations continuously during task performance. Results showed a significant relation between pupil dilation during preparation/early encoding and the precision of responses, possibly reflecting the attentional resources devoted to memory encoding. In contrast, pupil dilation at late maintenance and response predicted larger shifts of responses toward prototypical locations, possibly reflecting larger reliance on categorical representation. On an intraindividual level, smaller pupil dilations during encoding predicted larger dilations during late maintenance and response. On an interindividual level, participants relying more on categorical representation also produced larger precision errors. The results confirm the link between pupil size and the quality of spatial working memory representation. They suggest compensatory strategies of spatial working memory performance-loss of precise spatial representation likely increases reliance on generalized spatial categories. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

Local versus Global Environmental Performance of Dairying and Their Link to Economic Performance: A Case Study of Swiss Mountain Farms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nina Repar

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Complying with the carrying capacity of local and global ecosystems is a prerequisite to ensure environmental sustainability. Based on the example of Swiss mountain dairy farms, the goal of our research was firstly to investigate the relationship between farm global and local environmental performance. Secondly, we aimed to analyse the relationship between farm environmental and economic performance. The analysis relied on a sample of 56 Swiss alpine dairy farms. For each farm, the cradle-to-farm-gate life cycle assessment was calculated, and the quantified environmental impacts were decomposed into their on- and off-farm parts. We measured global environmental performance as the digestible energy produced by the farm per unit of global environmental impact generated from cradle-to-farm-gate. We assessed local environmental performance by dividing farm-usable agricultural area by on-farm environmental impact generation. Farm economic performance was measured by work income per family work unit, return on equity and output/input ratio. Spearman’s correlation analysis revealed no significant relationship, trade-offs or synergies between global and local environmental performance indicators. Interestingly, trade-offs were observed far more frequently than synergies. Furthermore, we found synergies between global environmental and economic performance and mostly no significant relationship between local environmental and economic performance. The observed trade-offs between global and local environmental performance mean that, for several environmental issues, any improvement in global environmental performance will result in deterioration of local environmental performance and vice versa. This finding calls for systematic consideration of both dimensions when carrying out farm environmental performance assessments.

Differentiating Spatial Memory from Spatial Transformations

Science.gov (United States)

Street, Whitney N.; Wang, Ranxiao Frances

2014-01-01

The perspective-taking task is one of the most common paradigms used to study the nature of spatial memory, and better performance for certain orientations is generally interpreted as evidence of spatial representations using these reference directions. However, performance advantages can also result from the relative ease in certain…

Evaluating the use of local ecological knowledge to monitor hunted tropical-forest wildlife over large spatial scales

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Luke Parry

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Monitoring the distribution and abundance of hunted wildlife is critical to achieving sustainable resource use, yet adequate data are sparse for most tropical regions. Conventional methods for monitoring hunted forest-vertebrate species require intensive in situ survey effort, which severely constrains spatial and temporal replication. Integrating local ecological knowledge (LEK into monitoring and management is appealing because it can be cost-effective, enhance community participation, and provide novel insights into sustainable resource use. We develop a technique to monitor population depletion of hunted forest wildlife in the Brazilian Amazon, based on the local ecological knowledge of rural hunters. We performed rapid interview surveys to estimate the landscape-scale depletion of ten large-bodied vertebrate species around 161 Amazonian riverine settlements. We assessed the explanatory and predictive power of settlement and landscape characteristics and were able to develop robust estimates of local faunal depletion. By identifying species-specific drivers of depletion and using secondary data on human population density, land form, and physical accessibility, we then estimated landscape- and regional-scale depletion. White-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari, for example, were estimated to be absent from 17% of their putative range in Brazil's largest state (Amazonas, despite 98% of the original forest cover remaining intact. We found evidence that bushmeat consumption in small urban centers has far-reaching impacts on some forest species, including severe depletion well over 100 km from urban centers. We conclude that LEK-based approaches require further field validation, but have significant potential for community-based participatory monitoring as well as cost-effective, large-scale monitoring of threatened forest species.

State determination for composite systems of two spatial qubits

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lima, G; Torres-Ruiz, F A; Neves, L; Delgado, A; Saavedra, C; Padua, S

2007-01-01

In a recent letter [Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 100501 (2005)], we presented a scheme for generating pure entangled states of spatial qudits using transverse correlations of parametric down-converted photons. Here we show how the modication of this scheme can be used to generate mixed states and we investigate the state determination for composite systems of two spatial qubits, motivated by the fact that quantum information protocols may be easier to be implemented for this case. By means of local operations on the twin photons we were able to perform the quantum tomography process to reconstruct the density matrix of a mixed state of two spatial qubits

When local extinction and colonization of river fishes can be predicted by regional occupancy: the role of spatial scales.

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Benjamin Bergerot

Full Text Available Predicting which species are likely to go extinct is perhaps one of the most fundamental yet challenging tasks for conservation biologists. This is particularly relevant for freshwater ecosystems which tend to have the highest proportion of species threatened with extinction. According to metapopulation theories, local extinction and colonization rates of freshwater subpopulations can depend on the degree of regional occupancy, notably due to rescue effects. However, relationships between extinction, colonization, regional occupancy and the spatial scales at which they operate are currently poorly known.And Findings: We used a large dataset of freshwater fish annual censuses in 325 stream reaches to analyse how annual extinction/colonization rates of subpopulations depend on the regional occupancy of species. For this purpose, we modelled the regional occupancy of 34 fish species over the whole French river network and we tested how extinction/colonization rates could be predicted by regional occupancy described at five nested spatial scales. Results show that extinction and colonization rates depend on regional occupancy, revealing existence a rescue effect. We also find that these effects are scale dependent and their absolute contribution to colonization and extinction tends to decrease from river section to larger basin scales.In terms of management, we show that regional occupancy quantification allows the evaluation of local species extinction/colonization dynamics and reduction of local extinction risks for freshwater fish species implies the preservation of suitable habitats at both local and drainage basin scales.

When local extinction and colonization of river fishes can be predicted by regional occupancy: the role of spatial scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Bergerot, Benjamin; Hugueny, Bernard; Belliard, Jérôme

2013-01-01

Predicting which species are likely to go extinct is perhaps one of the most fundamental yet challenging tasks for conservation biologists. This is particularly relevant for freshwater ecosystems which tend to have the highest proportion of species threatened with extinction. According to metapopulation theories, local extinction and colonization rates of freshwater subpopulations can depend on the degree of regional occupancy, notably due to rescue effects. However, relationships between extinction, colonization, regional occupancy and the spatial scales at which they operate are currently poorly known. And Findings: We used a large dataset of freshwater fish annual censuses in 325 stream reaches to analyse how annual extinction/colonization rates of subpopulations depend on the regional occupancy of species. For this purpose, we modelled the regional occupancy of 34 fish species over the whole French river network and we tested how extinction/colonization rates could be predicted by regional occupancy described at five nested spatial scales. Results show that extinction and colonization rates depend on regional occupancy, revealing existence a rescue effect. We also find that these effects are scale dependent and their absolute contribution to colonization and extinction tends to decrease from river section to larger basin scales. In terms of management, we show that regional occupancy quantification allows the evaluation of local species extinction/colonization dynamics and reduction of local extinction risks for freshwater fish species implies the preservation of suitable habitats at both local and drainage basin scales.

On the local field method with the account of spatial dispersion. Application to the optical activity theory

Science.gov (United States)

Tyu, N. S.; Ekhilevsky, S. G.

1992-07-01

For the perfect molecular crystals the equations of the local field method (LFM) with the account of spatial dispersion are formulated. They are used to derive the expression for the crystal polarizability tensor. For the first time within the framework of this method the formula for the gyrotropy tensor of an arbitrary optically active molecular crystal is obtained. This formula is analog of well known relationships of Lorentz-Lorenz.

Performance of Spatial Division Multiplexing MIMO with Frequency Domain Packet Scheduling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wei, Na; Pokhariyal, Akhilesh; Sørensen, Troels Bundgaard

2008-01-01

the performance bounds of SDM-FDPS. To facilitate the analysis, a unified SINR concept is utilized to make a fair comparison of MIMO schemes with different number of spatial streams. The effect of packet scheduling is included in the post-scheduling SINR distribution using an analytical model. Based on that...

Fractional power-law spatial dispersion in electrodynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tarasov, Vasily E.; Trujillo, Juan J.

2013-01-01

Electric fields in non-local media with power-law spatial dispersion are discussed. Equations involving a fractional Laplacian in the Riesz form that describe the electric fields in such non-local media are studied. The generalizations of Coulomb’s law and Debye’s screening for power-law non-local media are characterized. We consider simple models with anomalous behavior of plasma-like media with power-law spatial dispersions. The suggested fractional differential models for these plasma-like media are discussed to describe non-local properties of power-law type. -- Highlights: •Plasma-like non-local media with power-law spatial dispersion. •Fractional differential equations for electric fields in the media. •The generalizations of Coulomb’s law and Debye’s screening for the media

Managing locality in grand challenge applications: a case study of the gyrokinetic toroidal code

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Marin, G; Jin, G; Mellor-Crummey, J [Department of Computer Science, Rice University, Houston, TX 77005 (United States)

2008-07-15

Achieving high performance with grand challenge applications on today's large-scale parallel systems requires tailoring applications for the characteristics of the modern microprocessor architectures. As part of the US Department of Energy's Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program, we studied and tuned the Gyrokinetic Toroidal Code (GTC), a particle-in-cell code for simulating turbulent transport of particles and energy in burning plasma, developed at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. In this paper, we present a performance study of the application that revealed several opportunities for improving performance by enhancing its data locality. We tuned GTC by performing three kinds of transformations: static data structure reorganization to improve spatial locality, loop nest restructuring for better temporal locality, and dynamic data reordering at run-time to enhance both spatial and temporal reuse. Experimental results show that these changes improve execution time by more than 20% on large parallel systems, including a Cray XT4.

Managing locality in grand challenge applications: a case study of the gyrokinetic toroidal code

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marin, G; Jin, G; Mellor-Crummey, J

2008-01-01

Achieving high performance with grand challenge applications on today's large-scale parallel systems requires tailoring applications for the characteristics of the modern microprocessor architectures. As part of the US Department of Energy's Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program, we studied and tuned the Gyrokinetic Toroidal Code (GTC), a particle-in-cell code for simulating turbulent transport of particles and energy in burning plasma, developed at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. In this paper, we present a performance study of the application that revealed several opportunities for improving performance by enhancing its data locality. We tuned GTC by performing three kinds of transformations: static data structure reorganization to improve spatial locality, loop nest restructuring for better temporal locality, and dynamic data reordering at run-time to enhance both spatial and temporal reuse. Experimental results show that these changes improve execution time by more than 20% on large parallel systems, including a Cray XT4

Combining satellite data and appropriate objective functions for improved spatial pattern performance of a distributed hydrologic model

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Demirel, Mehmet C.; Mai, Juliane; Mendiguren Gonzalez, Gorka

2018-01-01

Satellite-based earth observations offer great opportunities to improve spatial model predictions by means of spatial-pattern-oriented model evaluations. In this study, observed spatial patterns of actual evapotranspiration (AET) are utilised for spatial model calibration tailored to target...... and potential evapotranspiration correction parameterisations, based on soil type and vegetation density. These parameterisations are utilised as they are most relevant for simulated AET patterns from the hydrologic model. Due to the fundamental challenges encountered when evaluating spatial pattern performance...

Effect of localized polycrystalline silicon properties on solar cell performance

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, D.; Iles, P. A.; Hyland, S.; Kachare, A.

1984-01-01

Several forms of polycrystalline silicon, mostly from cast ingots, (including UCP, SILSO and HEM) were studied. On typical slices, localized properties were studied in two ways. Small area (about 2.5 sq mm) mesa diodes were formed, and localized photovoltaic properties were measured. Also a small area (about .015 sq mm) light spot was scanned across the cells; the light spot response was calibrated to measure local diffusion length directly. Using these methods, the effects of grain boundaries, or of intragrain imperfections were correlated with cell performance. Except for the fine grain portion of SILSO, grain boundaries played only a secondary role in determining cell performance. The major factor was intra-grain material quality and it varied with position in ingots and probably related to solidification procedure.

Responsibility with accountability: A FAIR governance framework for performance accountability of local governments

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Anwar Shah

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This paper focuses on the role of local governments in bringing about fair, accountable, incoorruptible and responsive (FAIR governance. Local governments around the world have done important innovations to earn the trust of their residents and their comparative performance is of great interest yet a comprehensive framework to provide such benchmarking is not available. This paper attempts to fill this void, by developing a general framework for performance accountability of local governments and by relating real world practices to aspects of this framework. The proposed rating framework requires several types of assessments: (a their compliance with due process and law; (b monitoring of fiscal health for sustainability; (c monitoring of service delivery ; and (d citizens’ satisfaction with local services. The approach yields key indicators useful for benchmarking performance that can be used in selfevaluation and improvement of performance. t From an analysis of practices in local government performance monitoring and evaluation, the paper concludes that ad hoc ad-on self standing monitoring and evaluation systems are more costly and less useful than built-in tools and mechanisms for government transparency, self–evaluation and citizen based accountability such as local government output budgeting and output based fiscal transfers to finance local services.

Time and Frequency Localized Pulse Shape for Resolution Enhancement in STFT-BOTDR

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Linqing Luo

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Short-Time Fourier Transform-Brillouin Optical Time-Domain Reflectometry (STFT-BOTDR implements STFT over the full frequency spectrum to measure the distributed temperature and strain along the optic fiber, providing new research advances in dynamic distributed sensing. The spatial and frequency resolution of the dynamic sensing are limited by the Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR and the Time-Frequency (T-F localization of the input pulse shape. T-F localization is fundamentally important for the communication system, which suppresses interchannel interference (ICI and intersymbol interference (ISI to improve the transmission quality in multicarrier modulation (MCM. This paper demonstrates that the T-F localized input pulse shape can enhance the SNR and the spatial and frequency resolution in STFT-BOTDR. Simulation and experiments of T-F localized different pulses shapes are conducted to compare the limitation of the system resolution. The result indicates that rectangular pulse should be selected to optimize the spatial resolution and Lorentzian pulse could be chosen to optimize the frequency resolution, while Gaussian shape pulse can be used in general applications for its balanced performance in both spatial and frequency resolution. Meanwhile, T-F localization is proved to be useful in the pulse shape selection for system resolution optimization.

Reconstructed Image Spatial Resolution of Multiple Coincidences Compton Imager

Science.gov (United States)

Andreyev, Andriy; Sitek, Arkadiusz; Celler, Anna

2010-02-01

We study the multiple coincidences Compton imager (MCCI) which is based on a simultaneous acquisition of several photons emitted in cascade from a single nuclear decay. Theoretically, this technique should provide a major improvement in localization of a single radioactive source as compared to a standard Compton camera. In this work, we investigated the performance and limitations of MCCI using Monte Carlo computer simulations. Spatial resolutions of the reconstructed point source have been studied as a function of the MCCI parameters, including geometrical dimensions and detector characteristics such as materials, energy and spatial resolutions.

Hi-Res scan mode in clinical MDCT systems: Experimental assessment of spatial resolution performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Cruz-Bastida, Juan P; Gomez-Cardona, Daniel; Li, Ke; Sun, Heyi; Hsieh, Jiang; Szczykutowicz, Timothy P; Chen, Guang-Hong

2016-05-01

The introduction of a High-Resolution (Hi-Res) scan mode and another associated option that combines Hi-Res mode with the so-called High Definition (HD) reconstruction kernels (referred to as a Hi-Res/HD mode in this paper) in some multi-detector CT (MDCT) systems offers new opportunities to increase spatial resolution for some clinical applications that demand high spatial resolution. The purpose of this work was to quantify the in-plane spatial resolution along both the radial direction and tangential direction for the Hi-Res and Hi-Res/HD scan modes at different off-center positions. A technique was introduced and validated to address the signal saturation problem encountered in the attempt to quantify spatial resolution for the Hi-Res and Hi-Res/HD scan modes. Using the proposed method, the modulation transfer functions (MTFs) of a 64-slice MDCT system (Discovery CT750 HD, GE Healthcare) equipped with both Hi-Res and Hi-Res/HD modes were measured using a metal bead at nine different off-centered positions (0-16 cm with a step size of 2 cm); at each position, both conventional scans and Hi-Res scans were performed. For each type of scan and position, 80 repeated acquisitions were performed to reduce noise induced uncertainties in the MTF measurements. A total of 15 reconstruction kernels, including eight conventional kernels and seven HD kernels, were used to reconstruct CT images of the bead. An ex vivo animal study consisting of a bone fracture model was performed to corroborate the MTF results, as the detection of this high-contrast and high frequency task is predominantly determined by spatial resolution. Images of this animal model generated by different scan modes and reconstruction kernels were qualitatively compared with the MTF results. At the centered position, the use of Hi-Res mode resulted in a slight improvement in the MTF; each HD kernel generated higher spatial resolution than its counterpart conventional kernel. However, the MTF along the

Operationalising performance management in local government: The use of the balanced scorecard

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zwelinzima J. Ndevu

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Orientation: Local government forms that part of the public sector closest to citizens and therefore indispensable in its role of providing essential goods and services and developing the local area. Local government has the authority and functions necessary to provide services for the maintenance and promotion of the well-being of all people within their area and should provide access to basic services such as water, electricity and health care. Research purpose: This study examines performance management as a tool in local government effective provision service delivery. The critical question addressed in this paper was how the balanced scorecard (BSC can be used to improve performance in the context of local government and assist in eradicating the current challenges of lack of quality services, poverty and infrastructure development. Motivation for the study: The need for continuous improvement in service delivery at local government compounded by high levels of service delivery protest requires regular review of performance management system. Research approach: To understand the current context and challenges facing local government, the applicable legislative framework including the Constitution, white paper and the National Development Plans were perused to better understand the legal environment in which local government operates. A literature review was undertaken to evaluate theory on organisational effectiveness. Semi-structured interviews were used to solicit expert opinions. Main findings/managerial implications: The BSC approach emerged as the preferred tool because the method offered the authors the opportunity to review non-financial and financial factors to arrive at a balanced conclusion. A BSC tool was developed and applied to the Joe Gqabi District Municipality as a case study. Practical implications: The BSC as a performance management tool enables organisations to clarify their vision and strategy and translate them

Spatial dispersion in atom-surface quantum friction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reiche, D.; Dalvit, D. A. R.; Busch, K.; Intravaia, F.

2017-01-01

We investigate the influence of spatial dispersion on atom-surface quantum friction. We show that for atom-surface separations shorter than the carrier's mean free path within the material, the frictional force can be several orders of magnitude larger than that predicted by local optics. In addition, when taking into account spatial dispersion effects, we show that the commonly used local thermal equilibrium approximation underestimates by approximately 95% the drag force, obtained by employing the recently reported nonequilibrium fluctuation-dissipation relation for quantum friction. Unlike the treatment based on local optics, spatial dispersion in conjunction with corrections to local thermal equilibrium change not only the magnitude but also the distance scaling of quantum friction.

Melatonin administration impairs visuo-spatial performance and inhibits neocortical long-term potentiation in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Soto-Moyano, Rubén; Burgos, Héctor; Flores, Francisco; Valladares, Luis; Sierralta, Walter; Fernández, Victor; Pérez, Hernán; Hernández, Paula; Hernández, Alejandro

2006-10-01

Melatonin has been shown to inhibit long-term potentiation (LTP) in hippocampal slices of rats. Since LTP may be one of the main mechanisms by which memory traces are encoded and stored in the central nervous system, it is possible that melatonin could modulate cognitive performance by interfering with the cellular and/or molecular mechanisms involved in LTP. We investigated in rats the effects of intraperitoneally-administered melatonin (0.1, 1 and 10 mg/kg), its saline-ethanol solvent, or saline alone, on the acquisition of visuo-spatial memory as well as on the ability of the cerebral cortex to develop LTP in vivo. Visuo-spatial performance was assessed daily in rats, for 10 days, in an 8-arm radial maze, 30 min after they received a single daily dose of melatonin. Visual cortex LTP was determined in sodium pentobarbital anesthetized rats (65 mg/kg i.p.), by potentiating transcallosal evoked responses with a tetanizing train (312 Hz, 500 ms duration) 30 min after administration of a single dose of melatonin. Results showed that melatonin impaired visuo-spatial performance in rats, as revealed by the greater number of errors committed and time spent to solve the task in the radial maze. Melatonin also prevented the induction of neocortical LTP. It is concluded that melatonin, at the doses utilized in this study, could alter some forms of neocortical plasticity involved in short- and long-term visuo-spatial memories in rats.

Non-local means denoising of dynamic PET images.

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Joyita Dutta

Full Text Available Dynamic positron emission tomography (PET, which reveals information about both the spatial distribution and temporal kinetics of a radiotracer, enables quantitative interpretation of PET data. Model-based interpretation of dynamic PET images by means of parametric fitting, however, is often a challenging task due to high levels of noise, thus necessitating a denoising step. The objective of this paper is to develop and characterize a denoising framework for dynamic PET based on non-local means (NLM.NLM denoising computes weighted averages of voxel intensities assigning larger weights to voxels that are similar to a given voxel in terms of their local neighborhoods or patches. We introduce three key modifications to tailor the original NLM framework to dynamic PET. Firstly, we derive similarities from less noisy later time points in a typical PET acquisition to denoise the entire time series. Secondly, we use spatiotemporal patches for robust similarity computation. Finally, we use a spatially varying smoothing parameter based on a local variance approximation over each spatiotemporal patch.To assess the performance of our denoising technique, we performed a realistic simulation on a dynamic digital phantom based on the Digimouse atlas. For experimental validation, we denoised [Formula: see text] PET images from a mouse study and a hepatocellular carcinoma patient study. We compared the performance of NLM denoising with four other denoising approaches - Gaussian filtering, PCA, HYPR, and conventional NLM based on spatial patches.The simulation study revealed significant improvement in bias-variance performance achieved using our NLM technique relative to all the other methods. The experimental data analysis revealed that our technique leads to clear improvement in contrast-to-noise ratio in Patlak parametric images generated from denoised preclinical and clinical dynamic images, indicating its ability to preserve image contrast and high

Non-local means denoising of dynamic PET images.

Science.gov (United States)

Dutta, Joyita; Leahy, Richard M; Li, Quanzheng

2013-01-01

Dynamic positron emission tomography (PET), which reveals information about both the spatial distribution and temporal kinetics of a radiotracer, enables quantitative interpretation of PET data. Model-based interpretation of dynamic PET images by means of parametric fitting, however, is often a challenging task due to high levels of noise, thus necessitating a denoising step. The objective of this paper is to develop and characterize a denoising framework for dynamic PET based on non-local means (NLM). NLM denoising computes weighted averages of voxel intensities assigning larger weights to voxels that are similar to a given voxel in terms of their local neighborhoods or patches. We introduce three key modifications to tailor the original NLM framework to dynamic PET. Firstly, we derive similarities from less noisy later time points in a typical PET acquisition to denoise the entire time series. Secondly, we use spatiotemporal patches for robust similarity computation. Finally, we use a spatially varying smoothing parameter based on a local variance approximation over each spatiotemporal patch. To assess the performance of our denoising technique, we performed a realistic simulation on a dynamic digital phantom based on the Digimouse atlas. For experimental validation, we denoised [Formula: see text] PET images from a mouse study and a hepatocellular carcinoma patient study. We compared the performance of NLM denoising with four other denoising approaches - Gaussian filtering, PCA, HYPR, and conventional NLM based on spatial patches. The simulation study revealed significant improvement in bias-variance performance achieved using our NLM technique relative to all the other methods. The experimental data analysis revealed that our technique leads to clear improvement in contrast-to-noise ratio in Patlak parametric images generated from denoised preclinical and clinical dynamic images, indicating its ability to preserve image contrast and high intensity details while

Spatial Theography

OpenAIRE

van Noppen, Jean Pierre

1995-01-01

Descriptive theology («theography») frequently resorts to metaphorical modes of meaning. Among these metaphors, the spatial language of localization and orientation plays an important role to delineate tentative insights into the relationship between the human and the divine. These spatial metaphors are presumably based on the universal human experience of interaction between the body and its environment. It is dangerous, however, to postulate universal agreement on meanings associated with s...

Positron emission tomographic localization of left-sided unilateral spatial agnosia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tagawa, Koichi; Nagata, Ken; Shishido, Fumio; Uemura, Kazuo

1986-01-01

Positron emission tomography (PET) was used to clarify the localization and the underlying mechanisms of left-sided unilateral spatial agnosia (LUSA). Eleven right-handed patients with cerebral infarction in the territory of the right middle cerebral artery who had LUSA were included in this study. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral metabolic rate of oxygen (CMRO 2 ) were measured with PET using 15 O steady state method. Sixteen right-handed patients with cerebral infarction who did not exhibit LUSA served as a control group. The mean local values of CBF and CMRO 2 in the control group were 37.4 ml/100 ml tissue/min and 2.66 ml/100 ml tissue/min, respectively. By contrast, those values of CBF and CMRO 2 in the patients with LUSA were 21.7 ml/100 ml tissue/min and 1.43 ml/100 ml tissue/min, respectively. Both CBF and CMRO 2 in the right posterior parietal region were significantly lower in the patients with LUSA as compared with the control group (p 2 between 1.8 and 2.2 ml/100 ml tissue/min. These ranges of CBF and CMRO 2 in the right parietal region were considered to include the threshold level producing LUSA. The CMRO 2 values were more stabilized in the course of cerebral infarction as compared with the CBF values which may be variable on account of luxury perfusion syndrome. The right posterior parietal CMRO 2 values less than 2.0 ml/100 ml tissue/min was considered to be critical in causing LUSA. The above results may suggest that severe damages of CBF and metabolism in the posterior part of the right parietal lobe play an important role in the occurrence of LUSA. (J.P.N.)

Non-Stationary Dependence Structures for Spatial Extremes

KAUST Repository

Huser, Raphaël

2016-03-03

Max-stable processes are natural models for spatial extremes because they provide suitable asymptotic approximations to the distribution of maxima of random fields. In the recent past, several parametric families of stationary max-stable models have been developed, and fitted to various types of data. However, a recurrent problem is the modeling of non-stationarity. In this paper, we develop non-stationary max-stable dependence structures in which covariates can be easily incorporated. Inference is performed using pairwise likelihoods, and its performance is assessed by an extensive simulation study based on a non-stationary locally isotropic extremal t model. Evidence that unknown parameters are well estimated is provided, and estimation of spatial return level curves is discussed. The methodology is demonstrated with temperature maxima recorded over a complex topography. Models are shown to satisfactorily capture extremal dependence.

Local Cultural Heritage Sites and Spatial Planning for the Bantik Ethnic Community in Indonesia

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Egam, P. P.

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The course of a city’s development has an effect on both spatial and social aspects, and this situation affects ethnic communities. As a result of recent urban developments, the cultural values of a community that are embedded in living arrangements have been disturbed, thus obscuring, or even hiding, the rich cultural heritage therein. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the spatial characteristics of local neighborhoods based on a wealth of cultural heritage objects. This research focuses on the physical cultural heritage of the Bantik settlement in Malalayang. The spatial characteristics of cultural heritage objects are analyzed, based on physical and other characteristics. The results indicate that, although the Bantik ethnic community in Malalayang, Indonesia, has physical cultural heritage sites, it is unable to effectively develop these as significant cultural spaces because of the physical separation of their locations, the declining meaning of these sites to the community, and the lack of support from indigenous organizations. Distance is not the only determinant of the optimization of cultural space. Planning for cultural spaces involves three zones: 1 a promotion zone, 2 a core zone, and 3 a buffer zone. The greatest potential for developing a cultural space is in the vicinity of Minanga Road and the Niopo Stone, with the physical object reinforcement of similar sites. To improve cultural space, it is not enough to only rely on the existence of a physical object, it is necessary to create a close relationship between the object and the community with the support of indigenous organizations.

Adaptation Method for Overall and Local Performances of Gas Turbine Engine Model

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Sangjo; Kim, Kuisoon; Son, Changmin

2018-04-01

An adaptation method was proposed to improve the modeling accuracy of overall and local performances of gas turbine engine. The adaptation method was divided into two steps. First, the overall performance parameters such as engine thrust, thermal efficiency, and pressure ratio were adapted by calibrating compressor maps, and second, the local performance parameters such as temperature of component intersection and shaft speed were adjusted by additional adaptation factors. An optimization technique was used to find the correlation equation of adaptation factors for compressor performance maps. The multi-island genetic algorithm (MIGA) was employed in the present optimization. The correlations of local adaptation factors were generated based on the difference between the first adapted engine model and performance test data. The proposed adaptation method applied to a low-bypass ratio turbofan engine of 12,000 lb thrust. The gas turbine engine model was generated and validated based on the performance test data in the sea-level static condition. In flight condition at 20,000 ft and 0.9 Mach number, the result of adapted engine model showed improved prediction in engine thrust (overall performance parameter) by reducing the difference from 14.5 to 3.3%. Moreover, there was further improvement in the comparison of low-pressure turbine exit temperature (local performance parameter) as the difference is reduced from 3.2 to 0.4%.

Spatial and temporal structure of typhoid outbreaks in Washington, D.C., 1906–1909: evaluating local clustering with the Gi* statistic

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Curtis Andrew

2006-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background To better understand the distribution of typhoid outbreaks in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS conducted four investigations of typhoid fever. These studies included maps of cases reported between 1 May – 31 October 1906 – 1909. These data were entered into a GIS database and analyzed using Ripley's K-function followed by the Gi* statistic in yearly intervals to evaluate spatial clustering, the scale of clustering, and the temporal stability of these clusters. Results The Ripley's K-function indicated no global spatial autocorrelation. The Gi* statistic indicated clustering of typhoid at multiple scales across the four year time period, refuting the conclusions drawn in all four PHS reports concerning the distribution of cases. While the PHS reports suggested an even distribution of the disease, this study quantified both areas of localized disease clustering, as well as mobile larger regions of clustering. Thus, indicating both highly localized and periodic generalized sources of infection within the city. Conclusion The methodology applied in this study was useful for evaluating the spatial distribution and annual-level temporal patterns of typhoid outbreaks in Washington, D.C. from 1906 to 1909. While advanced spatial analyses of historical data sets must be interpreted with caution, this study does suggest that there is utility in these types of analyses and that they provide new insights into the urban patterns of typhoid outbreaks during the early part of the twentieth century.

Subwavelength Localization of Atomic Excitation Using Electromagnetically Induced Transparency

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J. A. Miles

2013-09-01

Full Text Available We report an experiment in which an atomic excitation is localized to a spatial width that is a factor of 8 smaller than the wavelength of the incident light. The experiment utilizes the sensitivity of the dark state of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT to the intensity of the coupling laser beam. A standing-wave coupling laser with a sinusoidally varying intensity yields tightly confined Raman excitations during the EIT process. The excitations, located near the nodes of the intensity profile, have a width of 100 nm. The experiment is performed using ultracold ^{87}Rb atoms trapped in an optical dipole trap, and atomic localization is achieved with EIT pulses that are approximately 100 ns long. To probe subwavelength atom localization, we have developed a technique that can measure the width of the atomic excitations with nanometer spatial resolution.

ENVIRONMENTAL SECURITY IN THE REGION IN THE SERVICE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL SPATIAL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ljiljana Stošić Mihajlović

2016-04-01

Full Text Available A fundamental prerequisite for the existence, growth and development of each social community is environmental safety. In modern conditions of environmental degradation as a global process, it is bound to increase social stratification, ethnic and even religious conflict, conflict and intolerance that threatens the safety of society. It is a notorious fact that the world of Simply is no longer in a position to deal with new shocks. The financial crisis has reduced global economic resilience, while geopolitical tensions and increased social concerns point to the fact that the state and society less able than ever to cope with global challenges, among which is the primary problem of environmental security. In modern countries, political, security and other interests of the citizens' day-to-day modeling, transform, get the content, in accordance with the general civilization changes. In this connection, sustainable local spatial development is crucial conditioned ecological without security region and aims to achieve a balance between current consumption of natural resources and the ability of the system to maintain the level at which future generations will be able to use them. The work represents a contribution to the achievement of environmental security as a new, modern forms of security, and originated from the need to once again draw attention to the evident environmental degradation as an integral part of human security. Ecological security of the region protects the basic components of the environment and determinants of the local spatial development. In fact, safety in the field of protection and preservation of the environment is one of the most important factors Security Council shall contemporary world. In doing so, it is important to emphasize, however, that environmental security has no borders and is a global problem, a task and an obligation.

Local temperatures inferred from plant communities suggest strong spatial buffering of climate warming across Northern Europe

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lenoir, Jonathan; Graae, Bente; Aarrestad, Per

2013-01-01

-change impacts. Is this local spatial buffering restricted to topographically complex terrains? To answer this, we here study fine-grained thermal variability across a 2500-km wide latitudinal gradient in Northern Europe encompassing a large array of topographic complexities. We first combined plant community...... data, Ellenberg temperature indicator values, locally measured temperatures (LmT) and globally interpolated temperatures (GiT) in a modelling framework to infer biologically relevant temperature conditions from plant assemblages within community-inferred temperatures: CiT). We...... temperature indicator values in combination with plant assemblages explained 46-72% of variation in LmT and 92-96% of variation in GiT during the growing season (June, July, August). Growing-season CiT range within 1-km(2) units peaked at 60-65°N and increased with terrain roughness, averaging 1.97 °C (SD = 0...

The spatial patterns of directional phenotypic selection.

Science.gov (United States)

Siepielski, Adam M; Gotanda, Kiyoko M; Morrissey, Michael B; Diamond, Sarah E; DiBattista, Joseph D; Carlson, Stephanie M

2013-11-01

Local adaptation, adaptive population divergence and speciation are often expected to result from populations evolving in response to spatial variation in selection. Yet, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the major features that characterise the spatial patterns of selection, namely the extent of variation among populations in the strength and direction of selection. Here, we analyse a data set of spatially replicated studies of directional phenotypic selection from natural populations. The data set includes 60 studies, consisting of 3937 estimates of selection across an average of five populations. We performed meta-analyses to explore features characterising spatial variation in directional selection. We found that selection tends to vary mainly in strength and less in direction among populations. Although differences in the direction of selection occur among populations they do so where selection is often weakest, which may limit the potential for ongoing adaptive population divergence. Overall, we also found that spatial variation in selection appears comparable to temporal (annual) variation in selection within populations; however, several deficiencies in available data currently complicate this comparison. We discuss future research needs to further advance our understanding of spatial variation in selection. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

The spatial patterns of directional phenotypic selection

KAUST Repository

Siepielski, Adam M.

2013-09-12

Local adaptation, adaptive population divergence and speciation are often expected to result from populations evolving in response to spatial variation in selection. Yet, we lack a comprehensive understanding of the major features that characterise the spatial patterns of selection, namely the extent of variation among populations in the strength and direction of selection. Here, we analyse a data set of spatially replicated studies of directional phenotypic selection from natural populations. The data set includes 60 studies, consisting of 3937 estimates of selection across an average of five populations. We performed meta-analyses to explore features characterising spatial variation in directional selection. We found that selection tends to vary mainly in strength and less in direction among populations. Although differences in the direction of selection occur among populations they do so where selection is often weakest, which may limit the potential for ongoing adaptive population divergence. Overall, we also found that spatial variation in selection appears comparable to temporal (annual) variation in selection within populations; however, several deficiencies in available data currently complicate this comparison. We discuss future research needs to further advance our understanding of spatial variation in selection. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd/CNRS.

Hippocampal development and the dissociation of cognitive-spatial mapping from motor performance [version 2; referees: 2 approved

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bryan D. Devan

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The publication of a recent article in F1000Research has led to discussion of, and correspondence on a broader issue that has a long history in the fields of neuroscience and psychology.  Namely, is it possible to separate the cognitive components of performance, in this case spatial behavior, from the motoric demands of a task?  Early psychological experiments attempted such a dissociation by studying a form of spatial maze learning where initially rats were allowed to explore a complex maze, termed “latent learning,” before reinforcement was introduced.  Those rats afforded the latent learning experience solved the task faster than those that were not, implying that cognitive map learning during exploration aided in the performance of the task once a motivational component was introduced.  This form of latent learning was interpreted as successfully demonstrating that an exploratory cognitive map component was acquired irrespective of performing a learned spatial response under deprivation/motivational conditions.  The neural substrate for cognitive learning was hypothesized to depend on place cells within the hippocampus.  Subsequent behavioral studies attempted to directly eliminate the motor component of spatial learning by allowing rats to passively view the distal environment before performing any motor response using a task that is widely considered to be hippocampal-dependent.  Latent learning in the water maze, using a passive placement procedure has met with mixed results.  One constraint on viewing cues before performing a learned swimming response to a hidden goal has been the act of dynamically viewing distal cues while moving through a part of the environment where an optimal learned spatial escape response would be observed.  We briefly review these past findings obtained with adult animals to the recent efforts of establishing a “behavioral topology” separating cognitive-spatial learning from tasks differing in

Hippocampal development and the dissociation of cognitive-spatial mapping from motor performance [version 1; referees: 2 approved

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bryan D. Devan

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The publication of a recent article in F1000Research has led to discussion of, and correspondence on a broader issue that has a long history in the fields of neuroscience and psychology.  Namely, is it possible to separate the cognitive components of performance, in this case spatial behavior, from the motoric demands of a task?  Early psychological experiments attempted such a dissociation by studying a form of spatial maze learning where initially rats were allowed to explore a complex maze, termed “latent learning,” before reinforcement was introduced.  Those rats afforded the latent learning experience solved the task faster than those that were not, implying that cognitive map learning during exploration aided in the performance of the task once a motivational component was introduced.  This form of latent learning was interpreted as successfully demonstrating that an exploratory cognitive map component was acquired irrespective of performing a learned spatial response under deprivation/motivational conditions.  The neural substrate for cognitive learning was hypothesized to depend on place cells within the hippocampus.  Subsequent behavioral studies attempted to directly eliminate the motor component of spatial learning by allowing rats to passively view the distal environment before performing any motor response using a task that is widely considered to be hippocampal-dependent.  Latent learning in the water maze, using a passive placement procedure has met with mixed results.  One constraint on viewing cues before performing a learned swimming response to a hidden goal has been the act of dynamically viewing distal cues while moving through a part of the environment where an optimal learned spatial escape response would be observed.  We briefly review these past findings obtained with adult animals to the recent efforts of establishing a “behavioral topology” separating cognitive-spatial learning from tasks differing in

Environmentally Friendly Concept in Spatial Regulation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T Taryono

2004-01-01

Full Text Available Spatial order of a region include purpose of structure and interrelatedness of spatial order which as a unity of development mechanism. Spatial order can’t be part from law basic that is UUD’45 and GBHN, in order to the management can be integrated and keep the environment. Spatial order also take note of physical factor and non physical factor. Physical factor consist of soil, water, flora, and fauna. Non physical factors consist of environment, social, economic, and soon. The principle of arrangement of spatial order in a region include national region, regional and local, and a region as an administrative baoundary, that is local government authority, like province, district, subdistrict, and village. The effort for spatial ordering of the environment, for example ordering resource, arrangement of allocation and location, arrangement of environmental aesthetic  and arrangement of environmental quality.

Spatial-Sequential Working Memory in Younger and Older Adults: Age Predicts Backward Recall Performance within Both Age Groups

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Louise A.

2016-01-01

Working memory is vulnerable to age-related decline, but there is debate regarding the age-sensitivity of different forms of spatial-sequential working memory task, depending on their passive or active nature. The functional architecture of spatial working memory was therefore explored in younger (18–40 years) and older (64–85 years) adults, using passive and active recall tasks. Spatial working memory was assessed using a modified version of the Spatial Span subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale – Third Edition (WMS-III; Wechsler, 1998). Across both age groups, the effects of interference (control, visual, or spatial), and recall type (forward and backward), were investigated. There was a clear effect of age group, with younger adults demonstrating a larger spatial working memory capacity than the older adults overall. There was also a specific effect of interference, with the spatial interference task (spatial tapping) reliably reducing performance relative to both the control and visual interference (dynamic visual noise) conditions in both age groups and both recall types. This suggests that younger and older adults have similar dependence upon active spatial rehearsal, and that both forward and backward recall require this processing capacity. Linear regression analyses were then carried out within each age group, to assess the predictors of performance in each recall format (forward and backward). Specifically the backward recall task was significantly predicted by age, within both the younger and older adult groups. This finding supports previous literature showing lifespan linear declines in spatial-sequential working memory, and in working memory tasks from other domains, but contrasts with previous evidence that backward spatial span is no more sensitive to aging than forward span. The study suggests that backward spatial span is indeed more processing-intensive than forward span, even when both tasks include a retention period, and that age predicts

Spatial-sequential working memory in younger and older adults: age predicts backward recall performance within both age groups

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Louise A. Brown

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Working memory is vulnerable to age-related decline, but there is debate regarding the age-sensitivity of different forms of spatial-sequential working memory task, depending on their passive or active nature. The functional architecture of spatial working memory was therefore explored in younger (18-40 years and older (64-85 years adults, using passive and active recall tasks. Spatial working memory was assessed using a modified version of the Spatial Span subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale – Third Edition (WMS-III; Wechsler, 1998. Across both age groups, the effects of interference (control, visual, or spatial, and recall type (forward and backward, were investigated. There was a clear effect of age group, with younger adults demonstrating a larger spatial working memory capacity than the older adults overall. There was also a specific effect of interference, with the spatial interference task (spatial tapping reliably reducing performance relative to both the control and visual interference (dynamic visual noise conditions in both age groups and both recall types. This suggests that younger and older adults have similar dependence upon active spatial rehearsal, and that both forward and backward recall require this processing capacity. Linear regression analyses were then carried out within each age group, to assess the predictors of performance in each recall format (forward and backward. Specifically the backward recall task was significantly predicted by age, within both the younger and older adult groups. This finding supports previous literature showing lifespan linear declines in spatial-sequential working memory, and in working memory tasks from other domains, but contrasts with previous evidence that backward spatial span is no more sensitive to aging than forward span. The study suggests that backward spatial span is indeed more processing-intensive than forward span, even when both tasks include a retention period, and that age

Spatial-Sequential Working Memory in Younger and Older Adults: Age Predicts Backward Recall Performance within Both Age Groups.

Science.gov (United States)

Brown, Louise A

2016-01-01

Working memory is vulnerable to age-related decline, but there is debate regarding the age-sensitivity of different forms of spatial-sequential working memory task, depending on their passive or active nature. The functional architecture of spatial working memory was therefore explored in younger (18-40 years) and older (64-85 years) adults, using passive and active recall tasks. Spatial working memory was assessed using a modified version of the Spatial Span subtest of the Wechsler Memory Scale - Third Edition (WMS-III; Wechsler, 1998). Across both age groups, the effects of interference (control, visual, or spatial), and recall type (forward and backward), were investigated. There was a clear effect of age group, with younger adults demonstrating a larger spatial working memory capacity than the older adults overall. There was also a specific effect of interference, with the spatial interference task (spatial tapping) reliably reducing performance relative to both the control and visual interference (dynamic visual noise) conditions in both age groups and both recall types. This suggests that younger and older adults have similar dependence upon active spatial rehearsal, and that both forward and backward recall require this processing capacity. Linear regression analyses were then carried out within each age group, to assess the predictors of performance in each recall format (forward and backward). Specifically the backward recall task was significantly predicted by age, within both the younger and older adult groups. This finding supports previous literature showing lifespan linear declines in spatial-sequential working memory, and in working memory tasks from other domains, but contrasts with previous evidence that backward spatial span is no more sensitive to aging than forward span. The study suggests that backward spatial span is indeed more processing-intensive than forward span, even when both tasks include a retention period, and that age predicts

Energy performance control of local collectivities. Good practices of european towns; Mesure des performances energetiques des collectivites locales. Bonnes pratiques de villes europeennes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lacassagne, S.; Schilken, P.

2003-01-01

Some european towns developed a specific energy and environmental policy, function of many factors. Policies are implemented to favorite the energy consumption and the pollutant emission control. The actions of local collectivities in the domain have been analyzed following three axis: the measure of the energy performance of local collectivities, the territorial energy management tools, the energy integration in sectoral policies. This report takes stock on the first axis analysis. (A.L.B.)

Localized and periodic exact solutions to the nonlinear Schroedinger equation with spatially modulated parameters: Linear and nonlinear lattices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Belmonte-Beitia, Juan; Konotop, Vladimir V.; Perez-Garcia, Victor M.; Vekslerchik, Vadym E.

2009-01-01

Using similarity transformations we construct explicit solutions of the nonlinear Schroedinger equation with linear and nonlinear periodic potentials. We present explicit forms of spatially localized and periodic solutions, and study their properties. We put our results in the framework of the exploited perturbation techniques and discuss their implications on the properties of associated linear periodic potentials and on the possibilities of stabilization of gap solitons using polychromatic lattices.

Spatial reasoning with augmented points: Extending cardinal directions with local distances

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Reinhard Moratz

2012-12-01

Full Text Available We present an approach for supplying existing qualitative direction calculi with a distance component to support fully fledged positional reasoning. The general underlying idea of augmenting points with local reference properties has already been applied in the OPRAm calculus. In this existing calculus, point objects are attached with a local reference direction to obtain oriented points and able to express relative direction using binary relations. We show how this approach can be extended to attach a granular distance concept to direction calculi such as the cardinal direction calculus or adjustable granularity calculi such as OPRAm or the Star calculus. We focus on the cardinal direction calculus and extend it to a multi-granular positional calculus called EPRAm. We provide a formal specification of EPRAm including a composition table for EPRA2 automatically determined using real algebraic geometry. We also report on an experimental performance analysis of EPRA2 in the context of a topological map-learning task proposed for benchmarking qualitative calculi. Our results confirm that our approach of adding a relative distance component to existing calculi improves the performance in realistic tasks when using algebraic closure for consistency checking.

Relevance of Spectral Cues for Auditory Spatial Processing in the Occipital Cortex of the Blind

Science.gov (United States)

Voss, Patrice; Lepore, Franco; Gougoux, Frédéric; Zatorre, Robert J.

2011-01-01

We have previously shown that some blind individuals can localize sounds more accurately than their sighted counterparts when one ear is obstructed, and that this ability is strongly associated with occipital cortex activity. Given that spectral cues are important for monaurally localizing sounds when one ear is obstructed, and that blind individuals are more sensitive to small spectral differences, we hypothesized that enhanced use of spectral cues via occipital cortex mechanisms could explain the better performance of blind individuals in monaural localization. Using positron-emission tomography (PET), we scanned blind and sighted persons as they discriminated between sounds originating from a single spatial position, but with different spectral profiles that simulated different spatial positions based on head-related transfer functions. We show here that a sub-group of early blind individuals showing superior monaural sound localization abilities performed significantly better than any other group on this spectral discrimination task. For all groups, performance was best for stimuli simulating peripheral positions, consistent with the notion that spectral cues are more helpful for discriminating peripheral sources. PET results showed that all blind groups showed cerebral blood flow increases in the occipital cortex; but this was also the case in the sighted group. A voxel-wise covariation analysis showed that more occipital recruitment was associated with better performance across all blind subjects but not the sighted. An inter-regional covariation analysis showed that the occipital activity in the blind covaried with that of several frontal and parietal regions known for their role in auditory spatial processing. Overall, these results support the notion that the superior ability of a sub-group of early-blind individuals to localize sounds is mediated by their superior ability to use spectral cues, and that this ability is subserved by cortical processing in

Object-Spatial Visualization and Verbal Cognitive Styles, and Their Relation to Cognitive Abilities and Mathematical Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Haciomeroglu, Erhan Selcuk

2016-01-01

The present study investigated the object-spatial visualization and verbal cognitive styles among high school students and related differences in spatial ability, verbal-logical reasoning ability, and mathematical performance of those students. Data were collected from 348 students enrolled in Advanced Placement calculus courses at six high…

La question locale comme nouvelle frontière socio-spatiale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christophe Gibout

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Partant de l’objet football socialement reconnu et de deux formes de pratique préalablement identifiées – pratiques fédérale et de « pied d’immeuble » – notre travail interroge l’influence et l’importance de la localisation dans la définition formelle des pratiques et la compréhension de leurs logiques identitaires. Parce que les pratiquants déploient des « arts de faire » singuliers sur un territoire jouant le rôle de lien et de liant, notre enquête montre que la dichotomie rural/urbain ne semble plus aujourd’hui heuristiquement pertinente pour comprendre le construit de la pratique sportive. Dès lors émerge la question locale – celle du « chez soi » – comme élément central de la construction sociale de la pratique sportive ; en témoigne la réalité d’une autre forme de football, non exclusive des deux autres : le football « sauvage ».The local question as a new socio-spatial frontierBeyond opposition between urban and rural soccer: the “at home” oneOn the basis of socially recognized football and of two beforehand identified forms of practice – official soccer and football played at the foot of one's building – our work questions the influence and the importance of the localization in the definition of the practices and in the comprehension of their identity logics. Because of the players use « second hand habits » on a territory playing the part of bond and binder, our investigation shows that the rural/urban dichotomy doesn’t seem any more relevant today to understand the construction of sport’s practice. Consequently emerges the local question – the one of « at home » – as central element of the social construction of the sport’s practice as testified to the reality of another form of football, nonexclusive of both others: « wild » football.Lo local como nueva frontera socio-espacialMas allá de la oposición entre el futbol urbano y el futbol rural

Temporal and spatial distribution of human cryptosporidiosis in the west of Ireland 2004-2007.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Callaghan, Mary

2009-01-01

BACKGROUND: Cryptosporidiosis is increasingly recognised as a cause of gastrointestinal infection in Ireland and has been implicated in several outbreaks. This study aimed to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of human cryptosporidiosis in the west of Ireland in order to identify high risk seasons and areas and to compare Classically Calculated (CC) and Empirical Bayesian (EB) incidence rates. Two spatial scales of analysis were used with a view to identifying the best one in assessing geographical patterns of infection. Global Moran\\'s I and Local Moran\\'s I tests of autocorrelation were used to test for evidence of global and local spatial clustering. RESULTS: There were statistically significant seasonal patterns of cryptosporidiosis with peaks in spring and an increasing temporal trend. Significant (p < 0.05) global spatial clustering was observed in CC rates at the Electoral Division (ED) level but not in EB rates at the same level. Despite variations in disease, ED level was found to provide the most accurate account of distribution of cryptosporidiosis in the West of Ireland but required spatial EB smoothing of cases. There were a number of areas identified with significant local clustering of cryptosporidiosis rates. CONCLUSION: This study identified spatial and temporal patterns in cryptosporidiosis distribution. The study also showed benefit in performing spatial analyses at more than one spatial scale to assess geographical patterns in disease distribution and that smoothing of disease rates for mapping in small areas enhances visualisation of spatial patterns. These findings are relevant in guiding policy decisions on disease control strategies.

Spatially heterogeneous ages in glassy dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Castillo, Horacio E.; Chamon, Claudio Chamon; Cugliandolo, Leticia F.; Iguain, Jose Luis; Kennett, Malcolm P.

2003-09-01

We construct a framework for the study of fluctuations in the nonequilibrium relaxation of glassy systems with and without quenched disorder. We study two types of two-time local correlators with the aim of characterizing the heterogeneous evolution in these systems: in one case we average the local correlators over histories of the thermal noise, in the other case we simply coarse-grain the local correlators obtained for a given noise realization. We explain why the noise-averaged correlators describe the fingerprint of quenched disorder when it exists, while the coarse-grained correlators are linked to noise-induced mesoscopic fluctuations. We predict constraints on the distribution of the fluctuations of the coarse-grained quantities. In particular, we show that locally defined correlations and responses are connected by a generalized local out-of-equilibrium fluctuation-dissipation relation. We argue that large size heterogeneities in the age of the system survive in the long-time limit. A symmetry of the underlying theory, namely invariance under reparametrizations of the time coordinates, underlies these results. We establish a connection between the probabilities of spatial distributions of local coarse-grained quantities and the theory of dynamic random manifolds. We define, and discuss the behavior of, a two-time dependent correlation length from the spatial decay of the fluctuations in the two-time local functions. We characterize the fluctuations in the system in terms of their fractal properties. For concreteness, we present numerical tests performed on disordered spin models in finite and infinite dimensions. Finally, we explain how these ideas can be applied to the analysis of the dynamics of other glassy systems that can be either spin models without disorder or atomic and molecular glassy systems. (author)

Performance of the Public Expenditure Management at Local Level in Romania

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ani MATEI

2008-06-01

Full Text Available The current paper aims to analyze the performance of the public expenditure management based on the decrease of the administrative costs. The paper is grounded on the following premises: (1 Romania as an EU Member State is under a continuous process to harmonize its legislation with the EU legislation. (2 The integration of Romania in EU in 2007 has determined a significant change in the administrative expenditure amount. (3 Strengthening local autonomy through the decentralization and the devolution processes emphasizes clearer the need for improving the performance of the expenditure management at local level. (4 Internal order, flows of communication and transfer, synergy of the governance system assume administrative expenditure that can be determined. (5 The performance of public organizations in managing local governance issues depends directly also on the administrative expenditure level**. [** Paper accepted to be presented at the Fourth TransAtlantic Dialogue “The Status of Inter-Governmental Relations and Multi-Level Governance in Europe and the US”, Workshop 5: “Performance measurement and accountability in IGR-MLG”.

Structure in nascent carbon nanotubes revealed by spatially resolved Raman spectroscopy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Landois, Périne [CEA, IRAMIS, SPAM, Laboratoire Francis Perrin (CNRS URA 2453), 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, UMR CNRS 8502, Université Paris Sud 11, 91405 Orsay (France); Pinault, Mathieu [CEA, IRAMIS, SPAM, Laboratoire Francis Perrin (CNRS URA 2453), 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Huard, Mickaël [Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, UMR CNRS 8502, Université Paris Sud 11, 91405 Orsay (France); Reita, Valérie [Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inst NEEL, F-38042 Grenoble (France); CNRS, Inst NEEL, F-38042 Grenoble (France); Rouzière, Stéphan; Launois, Pascale [Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, UMR CNRS 8502, Université Paris Sud 11, 91405 Orsay (France); Mayne-L' Hermite, Martine [CEA, IRAMIS, SPAM, Laboratoire Francis Perrin (CNRS URA 2453), 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette (France); Bendiab, Nedjma, E-mail: nedjma.bendiab@grenoble.cnrs.fr [Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Inst NEEL, F-38042 Grenoble (France); CNRS, Inst NEEL, F-38042 Grenoble (France)

2014-10-01

The understanding of carbon nanotube (CNT) growth is crucial for the control of their production. In particular, the identification of structural changes of carbon possibly occurring near the catalyst particle in the very early stages of their formation is of high interest. In this study, samples of nascent CNT obtained during nucleation step and samples of vertically aligned CNT obtained during growth step are analysed by combined spatially resolved Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction measurements. Spatially resolved Raman spectroscopy reveals that iron-based phases and carbon phases are co-localized at the same position, and indicates that sp{sup 2} carbon nucleates preferentially on iron-based particles during this nucleation step. Depth scan Raman spectroscopy analysis, performed on nascent CNT, highlights that carbon structural organisation is significantly changing from defective graphene layers surrounding the iron-based particles at their base up to multi-walled nanotube structures in the upper part of iron-based particles. - Highlights: • Spatial co-localization of iron and carbon structures in nascent carbon nanotubes • Imaging local carbon structure changes along catalyst particles by Raman spectroscopy. • In nascent nanotubes, significant structural changes occur along catalyst particle.

Testing Local Independence between Two Point Processes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Allard, Denis; Brix, Anders; Chadæuf, Joël

2001-01-01

Independence test, Inhomogeneous point processes, Local test, Monte Carlo, Nonstationary, Rotations, Spatial pattern, Tiger bush......Independence test, Inhomogeneous point processes, Local test, Monte Carlo, Nonstationary, Rotations, Spatial pattern, Tiger bush...

Employment Effects of Spatial Dispersal of Refugees

OpenAIRE

Damm, Anna Piil; Rosholm, Michael

2005-01-01

We argue that spatial dispersal influences labour market assimilation of refugees through two mechanisms: first, the local job offer arrival rate and, second, place utility. Our partial search model with simultaneous job and residential location search predicts that the reservation wage for local jobs decreases with place utility. We argue that spatial dispersal decreases average place utility of refugees which decreases the transition rate into first job due to large local reservation wages....

Motor Asymmetry and Substantia Nigra Volume Are Related to Spatial Delayed Response Performance in Parkinson Disease

Science.gov (United States)

Foster, Erin R.; Black, Kevin J.; Antenor-Dorsey, Jo Ann V.; Perlmutter, Joel S.; Hershey, Tamara

2008-01-01

Studies suggest motor deficit asymmetry may help predict the pattern of cognitive impairment in individuals with Parkinson disease (PD). We tested this hypothesis using a highly validated and sensitive spatial memory task, spatial delayed response (SDR), and clinical and neuroimaging measures of PD asymmetry. We predicted SDR performance would be…

The Role of Global and Local Visual Information during Gaze-Cued Orienting of Attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Munsters, Nicolette M; van den Boomen, Carlijn; Hooge, Ignace T C; Kemner, Chantal

2016-01-01

Gaze direction is an important social communication tool. Global and local visual information are known to play specific roles in processing socially relevant information from a face. The current study investigated whether global visual information has a primary role during gaze-cued orienting of attention and, as such, may influence quality of interaction. Adults performed a gaze-cueing task in which a centrally presented face cued (valid or invalid) the location of a peripheral target through a gaze shift. We measured brain activity (electroencephalography) towards the cue and target and behavioral responses (manual and saccadic reaction times) towards the target. The faces contained global (i.e. lower spatial frequencies), local (i.e. higher spatial frequencies), or a selection of both global and local (i.e. mid-band spatial frequencies) visual information. We found a gaze cue-validity effect (i.e. valid versus invalid), but no interaction effects with spatial frequency content. Furthermore, behavioral responses towards the target were in all cue conditions slower when lower spatial frequencies were not present in the gaze cue. These results suggest that whereas gaze-cued orienting of attention can be driven by both global and local visual information, global visual information determines the speed of behavioral responses towards other entities appearing in the surrounding of gaze cue stimuli.

Spatial planning, infrastructure and implementation: Implications for ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Infrastructure plays key roles in shaping the spatial form of the city at a macro- and a more local scale, and it influences the sustainability, efficiency and inclusiveness of cities and local areas. Linking infrastructure and spatial planning is therefore critical. Wide-ranging sets of knowledge and skills are required to enable ...

Spatial resolution limits for the localization of noise sources using direct sound mapping

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Comesana, D. Fernandez; Holland, K. R.; Fernandez Grande, Efren

2016-01-01

the relationship between spatial resolution, noise level and geometry. The proposed expressions are validated via simulations and experiments. It is shown that particle velocity mapping yields better results for identifying closely spaced sound sources than sound pressure or sound intensity, especially...... extensively been used for many years to locate sound sources. However, it is not yet well defined when two sources should be regarded as resolved by means of direct sound mapping. This paper derives the limits of the direct representation of sound pressure, particle velocity and sound intensity by exploring......One of the main challenges arising from noise and vibration problems is how to identify the areas of a device, machine or structure that produce significant acoustic excitation, i.e. the localization of main noise sources. The direct visualization of sound, in particular sound intensity, has...

Aristotle: A performance Impact Indicator for the OpenCL Kernels Using Local Memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jianbin Fang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Due to the increasing complexity of multi/many-core architectures (with their mix of caches and scratch-pad memories and applications (with different memory access patterns, the performance of many workloads becomes increasingly variable. In this work, we address one of the main causes for this performance variability: the efficiency of the memory system. Specifically, based on an empirical evaluation driven by memory access patterns, we qualify and partially quantify the performance impact of using local memory in multi/many-core processors. To do so, we systematically describe memory access patterns (MAPs in an application-agnostic manner. Next, for each identified MAP, we use OpenCL (for portability reasons to generate two microbenchmarks: a “naive” version (without local memory and “an optimized” version (using local memory. We then evaluate both of them on typically used multi-core and many-core platforms, and we log their performance. What we eventually obtain is a local memory performance database, indexed by various MAPs and platforms. Further, we propose a set of composing rules for multiple MAPs. Thus, we can get an indicator of whether using local memory is beneficial in the presence of multiple memory access patterns. This indication can be used to either avoid the hassle of implementing optimizations with too little gain or, alternatively, give a rough prediction of the performance gain.

Persistent spatial information in the FEF during object-based short-term memory does not contribute to task performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Kelsey L; Noudoost, Behrad; Moore, Tirin

2014-06-01

We previously reported the existence of a persistent spatial signal in the FEF during object-based STM. This persistent activity reflected the location at which the sample appeared, irrespective of the location of upcoming targets. We hypothesized that such a spatial signal could be used to maintain or enhance object-selective memory activity elsewhere in cortex, analogous to the role of a spatial signal during attention. Here, we inactivated a portion of the FEF with GABAa agonist muscimol to test whether the observed activity contributes to object memory performance. We found that, although RTs were slowed for saccades into the inactivated portion of retinotopic space, performance for samples appearing in that region was unimpaired. This contrasts with the devastating effects of the same FEF inactivation on purely spatial working memory, as assessed with the memory-guided saccade task. Thus, in a task in which a significant fraction of FEF neurons displayed persistent, sample location-based activity, disrupting this activity had no impact on task performance.

Independence and interaction of luminance and chromatic contributions to spatial hyperacuity performance.

Science.gov (United States)

Cooper, Bonnie; Lee, Barry B

2014-04-01

Here we test interactions of luminance and chromatic input to spatial hyperacuity mechanisms. First, we tested alignment of luminance and chromatic gratings matched or mismatched in contrast polarity or grating type. Thresholds with matched gratings were low while all mismatched pairs were elevated. Second, we determined alignment acuity as a function of luminance or chromatic contrast alone or in the presence of constant contrast components of the other type. For in-phase components, performance followed the envelope of the more sensitive mechanism. However, polarity reversals revealed an asymmetric effect for luminance and chromatic conditions, which suggested that luminance can override chromatic mechanisms in hyperacuity; we interpret these findings in the context of spatial mechanisms.

Spatial weighting of Doppler reactivity feedback

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carew, J.F.; Diamond, D.J.; Todosow, M.

1977-12-01

The spatial weighting of the local Doppler feedback implicit in the determination of the core Doppler feedback reactivity has been investigated. Using a detailed planar PDQ7-II PWR model with local fuel-temperature feedback, the core Doppler spatial weight factor, S, has been determined for various control patterns and power levels. Assuming power-squared weighting of the local Doppler feedback, a simple analytic expression for S has been derived and, based on comparison with the PDQ7-II results, provides a convenient and accurate representation of the Doppler spatial weight factor. The sensitivity of these results to variations in the fuel rod heat transfer coefficients, fuel loading and the magnitude of the Doppler coefficient has also been evaluated. The dependence of the local Doppler coefficient on moderator temperature, boron concentration and control rod density has been determined and found to be weak. Selected comparisons with vendor analyses have been made and indicate general agreement

Localization of atomic excitation beyond the diffraction limit using electromagnetically induced transparency

Science.gov (United States)

Miles, J. A.; Das, Diptaranjan; Simmons, Z. J.; Yavuz, D. D.

2015-09-01

We experimentally demonstrate the localization of excitation between hyperfine ground states of 87Rb atoms to as small as λ /13 -wide spatial regions. We use ultracold atoms trapped in a dipole trap and utilize electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) for the atomic excitation. The localization is achieved by combining a spatially varying coupling laser (standing wave) with the intensity dependence of EIT. The excitation is fast (150 ns laser pulses) and the dark-state fidelity can be made higher than 94% throughout the standing wave. Because the width of the localized regions is much smaller than the wavelength of the driving light, traditional optical imaging techniques cannot resolve the localized features. Therefore, to measure the excitation profile, we use an autocorrelation-like method where we perform two EIT sequences separated by a time delay, during which we move the standing wave.

Parameter Selection and Performance Comparison of Particle Swarm Optimization in Sensor Networks Localization.

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Huanqing; Shu, Minglei; Song, Min; Wang, Yinglong

2017-03-01

Localization is a key technology in wireless sensor networks. Faced with the challenges of the sensors' memory, computational constraints, and limited energy, particle swarm optimization has been widely applied in the localization of wireless sensor networks, demonstrating better performance than other optimization methods. In particle swarm optimization-based localization algorithms, the variants and parameters should be chosen elaborately to achieve the best performance. However, there is a lack of guidance on how to choose these variants and parameters. Further, there is no comprehensive performance comparison among particle swarm optimization algorithms. The main contribution of this paper is three-fold. First, it surveys the popular particle swarm optimization variants and particle swarm optimization-based localization algorithms for wireless sensor networks. Secondly, it presents parameter selection of nine particle swarm optimization variants and six types of swarm topologies by extensive simulations. Thirdly, it comprehensively compares the performance of these algorithms. The results show that the particle swarm optimization with constriction coefficient using ring topology outperforms other variants and swarm topologies, and it performs better than the second-order cone programming algorithm.

Parameter Selection and Performance Comparison of Particle Swarm Optimization in Sensor Networks Localization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huanqing Cui

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Localization is a key technology in wireless sensor networks. Faced with the challenges of the sensors’ memory, computational constraints, and limited energy, particle swarm optimization has been widely applied in the localization of wireless sensor networks, demonstrating better performance than other optimization methods. In particle swarm optimization-based localization algorithms, the variants and parameters should be chosen elaborately to achieve the best performance. However, there is a lack of guidance on how to choose these variants and parameters. Further, there is no comprehensive performance comparison among particle swarm optimization algorithms. The main contribution of this paper is three-fold. First, it surveys the popular particle swarm optimization variants and particle swarm optimization-based localization algorithms for wireless sensor networks. Secondly, it presents parameter selection of nine particle swarm optimization variants and six types of swarm topologies by extensive simulations. Thirdly, it comprehensively compares the performance of these algorithms. The results show that the particle swarm optimization with constriction coefficient using ring topology outperforms other variants and swarm topologies, and it performs better than the second-order cone programming algorithm.

How does experience modulate auditory spatial processing in individuals with blindness?

Science.gov (United States)

Tao, Qian; Chan, Chetwyn C H; Luo, Yue-jia; Li, Jian-jun; Ting, Kin-hung; Wang, Jun; Lee, Tatia M C

2015-05-01

Comparing early- and late-onset blindness in individuals offers a unique model for studying the influence of visual experience on neural processing. This study investigated how prior visual experience would modulate auditory spatial processing among blind individuals. BOLD responses of early- and late-onset blind participants were captured while performing a sound localization task. The task required participants to listen to novel "Bat-ears" sounds, analyze the spatial information embedded in the sounds, and specify out of 15 locations where the sound would have been emitted. In addition to sound localization, participants were assessed on visuospatial working memory and general intellectual abilities. The results revealed common increases in BOLD responses in the middle occipital gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, precuneus, and precentral gyrus during sound localization for both groups. Between-group dissociations, however, were found in the right middle occipital gyrus and left superior frontal gyrus. The BOLD responses in the left superior frontal gyrus were significantly correlated with accuracy on sound localization and visuospatial working memory abilities among the late-onset blind participants. In contrast, the accuracy on sound localization only correlated with BOLD responses in the right middle occipital gyrus among the early-onset counterpart. The findings support the notion that early-onset blind individuals rely more on the occipital areas as a result of cross-modal plasticity for auditory spatial processing, while late-onset blind individuals rely more on the prefrontal areas which subserve visuospatial working memory.

Review of knee arthroscopy performed under local anesthesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Law Billy

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Local anesthesia for knee arthroscopy is a well documented procedure with diagnostic and therapeutic role. Numerous therapeutic procedures including partial menisectomy, meniscus repair, abrasion chondroplasy, synovectomy, loose body removal can be performed safely and comfortably. Appropriate case selection, anesthetic strategy and technical expertise are the key to smooth and successful surgery.

Vasectomy under local anaesthesia performed free of charge as a ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Vasectomy under local anaesthesia performed free of charge as a family planning service: Complications and results. ... The complication (5.6%) and failure rates (0%) were lowest for the registrar who had performed the smallest number of vasectomies and whose average operation time was longest. Comparing the first ...

ANALYSIS OF THE POSSIBILITY OF USING HYDROLOGICAL MODELS IN STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF LOCAL SPATIAL DEVELOPMENT PLANS

OpenAIRE

Mariusz Sojka; Sadżide Murat-Błażejewska; Rafał Wróżyński

2014-01-01

The paper presents the possibility of application of the hydrological model HEC-HMS in the development of a strategic environmental assessment of local spatial development plans on surface water. The practical possibility of using simulation models of catchment response to high intensity precipitation is shown on the example of the Różany Potok watercourse catchment which is subject to rapid urbanization process. The area of Różany Potok catchment is 8.1 km2 and a stream length is 5.57 km. In...

Effects of Spatial Localization on Microbial Consortia Growth.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael Venters

Full Text Available Microbial consortia are commonly observed in natural and synthetic systems, and these consortia frequently result in higher biomass production relative to monocultures. The focus here is on the impact of initial spatial localization and substrate diffusivity on the growth of a model microbial consortium consisting of a producer strain that consumes glucose and produces acetate and a scavenger strain that consumes the acetate. The mathematical model is based on an individual cell model where growth is described by Monod kinetics, and substrate transport is described by a continuum-based, non-equilibrium reaction-diffusion model where convective transport is negligible (e.g., in a biofilm. The first set of results focus on a single producer cell at the center of the domain and surrounded by an initial population of scavenger cells. The impact of the initial population density and substrate diffusivity is examined. A transition is observed from the highest initial density resulting in the greatest cell growth to cell growth being independent of initial density. A high initial density minimizes diffusive transport time and is typically expected to result in the highest growth, but this expected behavior is not predicted in environments with lower diffusivity or larger length scales. When the producer cells are placed on the bottom of the domain with the scavenger cells above in a layered biofilm arrangement, a similar critical transition is observed. For the highest diffusivity values examined, a thin, dense initial scavenger layer is optimal for cell growth. However, for smaller diffusivity values, a thicker, less dense initial scavenger layer provides maximal growth. The overall conclusion is that high density clustering of members of a food chain is optimal under most common transport conditions, but under some slow transport conditions, high density clustering may not be optimal for microbial growth.

The influence of spatial ability and experience on performance during spaceship rendezvous and docking.

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Xiaoping; Zhang, Yijing; Tian, Yu; Huang, Weifen; Wu, Bin; Zhang, Jingyu

2015-01-01

Manual rendezvous and docking (manual RVD) is a challenging space task for astronauts. Previous research showed a correlation between spatial ability and manual RVD skills among participants at early stages of training, but paid less attention to experts. Therefore, this study tried to explore the role of spatial ability in manual RVD skills in two groups of trainees, one relatively inexperienced and the other experienced operators. Additionally, mental rotation has been proven essential in RVD and was tested in this study among 27 male participants, 15 novices, and 12 experts. The participants performed manual RVD tasks in a high fidelity simulator. Results showed that experience moderated the relation between mental rotation ability and manual RVD performance. On one hand, novices with high mental rotation ability tended to perform that RVD task more successfully; on the other hand, experts with high mental rotation ability showed not only no performance advantage in the final stage of the RVD task, but had certain disadvantages in their earlier processes. Both theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

The Influence of Spatial Ability and Experience on Spacecraft Rendezvous and Docking Operation Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoping eDu

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Manual rendezvous and docking (manual RVD is a challenging space task for astronauts. Previous research showed a correlation between spatial ability and manual RVD skills among participants at early stages of training, but paid less attention to experts. Therefore, this study tried to explore the role of spatial ability in manual RVD skills in two groups of trainees, one relatively inexperienced and the other experienced operators. Additionally, mental rotation has been proven essential in RVD and was tested in this study among 27 male participants, 15 novices and 12 experts. The participants performed manual RVD tasks in a high fidelity simulator. Results showed that experience moderated the relation between mental rotation ability and manual RVD performance. On one hand, novices with high mental rotation ability tended to perform that RVD task more successfully; on the other hand, experts with high mental rotation ability showed not only no performance advantage in the final stage of the RVD task, but had certain disadvantages in their earlier processes. Both theoretical and practical implications were discussed.

The influence of spatial ability and experience on performance during spaceship rendezvous and docking

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Xiaoping; Zhang, Yijing; Tian, Yu; Huang, Weifen; Wu, Bin; Zhang, Jingyu

2015-01-01

Manual rendezvous and docking (manual RVD) is a challenging space task for astronauts. Previous research showed a correlation between spatial ability and manual RVD skills among participants at early stages of training, but paid less attention to experts. Therefore, this study tried to explore the role of spatial ability in manual RVD skills in two groups of trainees, one relatively inexperienced and the other experienced operators. Additionally, mental rotation has been proven essential in RVD and was tested in this study among 27 male participants, 15 novices, and 12 experts. The participants performed manual RVD tasks in a high fidelity simulator. Results showed that experience moderated the relation between mental rotation ability and manual RVD performance. On one hand, novices with high mental rotation ability tended to perform that RVD task more successfully; on the other hand, experts with high mental rotation ability showed not only no performance advantage in the final stage of the RVD task, but had certain disadvantages in their earlier processes. Both theoretical and practical implications were discussed. PMID:26236252

Working-memory performance is related to spatial breadth of attention.

Science.gov (United States)

Kreitz, Carina; Furley, Philip; Memmert, Daniel; Simons, Daniel J

2015-11-01

Working memory and attention are closely related constructs. Models of working memory often incorporate an attention component, and some even equate working memory and attentional control. Although some attention-related processes, including inhibitory control of response conflict and interference resolution, are strongly associated with working memory, for other aspects of attention the link is less clear. We examined the association between working-memory performance and attentional breadth, the ability to spread attention spatially. If the link between attention and working memory is broader than inhibitory and interference resolution processes, then working-memory performance might also be associated with other attentional abilities, including attentional breadth. We tested 123 participants on a variety of working-memory and attentional-breadth measures, finding a strong correlation between performances on these two types of tasks. This finding demonstrates that the link between working memory and attention extends beyond inhibitory processes.

Employment Effects of Spatial Dispersal of Refugees

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Damm, Anna Piil; Rosholm, Michael

We argue that spatial dispersal influences labour market assimilation of refugees through two mechanisms: first, the local job offer arrival rate and, second, place utility. Our partial search model with simultaneous job and residential location search predicts that the reservation wage for local...... by evaluating the employment effects of the Danish spatial dispersal policy carried out 1986-1998....

Statistical model based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) in clinical CT systems. Part II. Experimental assessment of spatial resolution performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Ke; Chen, Guang-Hong, E-mail: gchen7@wisc.edu [Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1111 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705 and Department of Radiology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 600 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53792 (United States); Garrett, John; Ge, Yongshuai [Department of Medical Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1111 Highland Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin 53705 (United States)

2014-07-15

Purpose: Statistical model based iterative reconstruction (MBIR) methods have been introduced to clinical CT systems and are being used in some clinical diagnostic applications. The purpose of this paper is to experimentally assess the unique spatial resolution characteristics of this nonlinear reconstruction method and identify its potential impact on the detectabilities and the associated radiation dose levels for specific imaging tasks. Methods: The thoracic section of a pediatric phantom was repeatedly scanned 50 or 100 times using a 64-slice clinical CT scanner at four different dose levels [CTDI{sub vol} =4, 8, 12, 16 (mGy)]. Both filtered backprojection (FBP) and MBIR (Veo{sup ®}, GE Healthcare, Waukesha, WI) were used for image reconstruction and results were compared with one another. Eight test objects in the phantom with contrast levels ranging from 13 to 1710 HU were used to assess spatial resolution. The axial spatial resolution was quantified with the point spread function (PSF), while the z resolution was quantified with the slice sensitivity profile. Both were measured locally on the test objects and in the image domain. The dependence of spatial resolution on contrast and dose levels was studied. The study also features a systematic investigation of the potential trade-off between spatial resolution and locally defined noise and their joint impact on the overall image quality, which was quantified by the image domain-based channelized Hotelling observer (CHO) detectability index d′. Results: (1) The axial spatial resolution of MBIR depends on both radiation dose level and image contrast level, whereas it is supposedly independent of these two factors in FBP. The axial spatial resolution of MBIR always improved with an increasing radiation dose level and/or contrast level. (2) The axial spatial resolution of MBIR became equivalent to that of FBP at some transitional contrast level, above which MBIR demonstrated superior spatial resolution than

Spatial ability and training in virtual neuroanatomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Plumley, Leah; Armstrong, Ryan; De Ribaupierre, Sandrine; Eagleson, Roy

2013-01-01

Neuroanatomy is one of the most challenging sections of anatomy to learn, partially related to the intricate relation of multiple 3D structures. As part of the medical student curriculum, it is usually taught in 2D using illustrations and plastinated brain section, since the number of hours devoted to anatomy have dropped in the curriculum, making the dissection of brain too time-consuming to be done. In this study we are analyzing the role of innate spatial ability of novices in learning some basic structures and placing them back in a 3D volumetric brain. Two tasks are performed after a short training session: the first one is to localize the ventricular tip as would be required during a temporal lobectomy, and the second task requires that the subject 'reconstruct' 3D anatomical structures within the context of our 3D brain model. We report our findings on the performance scores obtained from a population of subjects of differing backgrounds and spatial abilities.

Local Knowledge and Professional Background Have a Minimal Impact on Volunteer Citizen Science Performance in a Land-Cover Classification Task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Carl Salk

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The idea that closer things are more related than distant things, known as ‘Tobler’s first law of geography’, is fundamental to understanding many spatial processes. If this concept applies to volunteered geographic information (VGI, it could help to efficiently allocate tasks in citizen science campaigns and help to improve the overall quality of collected data. In this paper, we use classifications of satellite imagery by volunteers from around the world to test whether local familiarity with landscapes helps their performance. Our results show that volunteers identify cropland slightly better within their home country, and do slightly worse as a function of linear distance between their home and the location represented in an image. Volunteers with a professional background in remote sensing or land cover did no better than the general population at this task, but they did not show the decline with distance that was seen among other participants. Even in a landscape where pasture is easily confused for cropland, regional residents demonstrated no advantage. Where we did find evidence for local knowledge aiding classification performance, the realized impact of this effect was tiny. Rather, the inherent difficulty of a task is a much more important predictor of volunteer performance. These findings suggest that, at least for simple tasks, the geographical origin of VGI volunteers has little impact on their ability to complete image classifications.

Dissociation of object and spatial visual processing pathways in human extrastriate cortex

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haxby, J.V.; Grady, C.L.; Horwitz, B.; Ungerleider, L.G.; Mishkin, M.; Carson, R.E.; Herscovitch, P.; Schapiro, M.B.; Rapoport, S.I. (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (USA))

1991-03-01

The existence and neuroanatomical locations of separate extrastriate visual pathways for object recognition and spatial localization were investigated in healthy young men. Regional cerebral blood flow was measured by positron emission tomography and bolus injections of H2(15)O, while subjects performed face matching, dot-location matching, or sensorimotor control tasks. Both visual matching tasks activated lateral occipital cortex. Face discrimination alone activated a region of occipitotemporal cortex that was anterior and inferior to the occipital area activated by both tasks. The spatial location task alone activated a region of lateral superior parietal cortex. Perisylvian and anterior temporal cortices were not activated by either task. These results demonstrate the existence of three functionally dissociable regions of human visual extrastriate cortex. The ventral and dorsal locations of the regions specialized for object recognition and spatial localization, respectively, suggest some homology between human and nonhuman primate extrastriate cortex, with displacement in human brain, possibly related to the evolution of phylogenetically newer cortical areas.

Performance evaluation of spatial vector routing protocol for wireless sensor networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Baloch, J.; Jokhio, I.

2012-01-01

WSNs (Wireless Sensor Networks) is an emerging area of research. Researchers worldwide are working on the issues faced by sensor nodes. Communication has been a major issue in wireless networks and the problem is manifolds in WSN s because of the limited resources. The routing protocol in such networks plays a pivotal role, as an effective routing protocol could significantly reduce the energy consumed in transmitting and receiving data packets throughout a network. In this paper the performance of SVR (Spatial Vector Routing) an energy efficient, location aware routing protocol is compared with the existing location aware protocols. The results from the simulation trials show the performance of SVR. (author)

Performance Evaluation of Spatial Vector Routing Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Javed Ali Baloch

2012-10-01

Full Text Available WSNs (Wireless Sensor Networks is an emerging area of research. Researchers worldwide are working on the issues faced by sensor nodes. Communication has been a major issue in wireless networks and the problem is manifolds in WSNs because of the limited resources. The routing protocol in such networks plays a pivotal role, as an effective routing protocol could significantly reduce the energy consumed in transmitting and receiving data packets throughout a network. In this paper the performance of SVR (Spatial Vector Routing an energy efficient, location aware routing protocol is compared with the existing location aware protocols. The results from the simulation trials show the performance of SVR.

Optimal Spatial Subdivision method for improving geometry navigation performance in Monte Carlo particle transport simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Zhenping; Song, Jing; Zheng, Huaqing; Wu, Bin; Hu, Liqin

2015-01-01

Highlights: • The subdivision combines both advantages of uniform and non-uniform schemes. • The grid models were proved to be more efficient than traditional CSG models. • Monte Carlo simulation performance was enhanced by Optimal Spatial Subdivision. • Efficiency gains were obtained for realistic whole reactor core models. - Abstract: Geometry navigation is one of the key aspects of dominating Monte Carlo particle transport simulation performance for large-scale whole reactor models. In such cases, spatial subdivision is an easily-established and high-potential method to improve the run-time performance. In this study, a dedicated method, named Optimal Spatial Subdivision, is proposed for generating numerically optimal spatial grid models, which are demonstrated to be more efficient for geometry navigation than traditional Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) models. The method uses a recursive subdivision algorithm to subdivide a CSG model into non-overlapping grids, which are labeled as totally or partially occupied, or not occupied at all, by CSG objects. The most important point is that, at each stage of subdivision, a conception of quality factor based on a cost estimation function is derived to evaluate the qualities of the subdivision schemes. Only the scheme with optimal quality factor will be chosen as the final subdivision strategy for generating the grid model. Eventually, the model built with the optimal quality factor will be efficient for Monte Carlo particle transport simulation. The method has been implemented and integrated into the Super Monte Carlo program SuperMC developed by FDS Team. Testing cases were used to highlight the performance gains that could be achieved. Results showed that Monte Carlo simulation runtime could be reduced significantly when using the new method, even as cases reached whole reactor core model sizes

Performance Analysis of Multi-Dimensional ESPRIT-Type Algorithms for Arbitrary and Strictly Non-Circular Sources With Spatial Smoothing

Science.gov (United States)

Steinwandt, Jens; Roemer, Florian; Haardt, Martin; Galdo, Giovanni Del

2017-05-01

Spatial smoothing is a widely used preprocessing scheme to improve the performance of high-resolution parameter estimation algorithms in case of coherent signals or if only a small number of snapshots is available. In this paper, we present a first-order performance analysis of the spatially smoothed versions of R-D Standard ESPRIT and R-D Unitary ESPRIT for sources with arbitrary signal constellations as well as R-D NC Standard ESPRIT and R-D NC Unitary ESPRIT for strictly second-order (SO) non-circular (NC) sources. The derived expressions are asymptotic in the effective signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), i.e., the approximations become exact for either high SNRs or a large sample size. Moreover, no assumptions on the noise statistics are required apart from a zero-mean and finite SO moments. We show that both R-D NC ESPRIT-type algorithms with spatial smoothing perform asymptotically identical in the high effective SNR regime. Generally, the performance of spatial smoothing based algorithms depends on the number of subarrays, which is a design parameter and needs to be chosen beforehand. In order to gain more insights into the optimal choice of the number of subarrays, we simplify the derived analytical R-D mean square error (MSE) expressions for the special case of a single source. The obtained MSE expression explicitly depends on the number of subarrays in each dimension, which allows us to analytically find the optimal number of subarrays for spatial smoothing. Based on this result, we additionally derive the maximum asymptotic gain from spatial smoothing and explicitly compute the asymptotic efficiency for this special case. All the analytical results are verified by simulations.

Spatial planning for sustainable rural municipalities

OpenAIRE

Thellbro, Camilla

2017-01-01

Local natural resources (LNRs) are essential for the socioeconomy of rural societies. The United Nations (UN) Agenda 21 and “Our Common Future” state that local spatial planning is central for the prospect of balancing ecological, social and economic sustainable development (SuD). Stakeholder participation in spatial planning enhances acceptance and improves preconditions for successful planning outcomes. Consequently, it is important to increase knowledge about LNRs and the use of them and t...

Evaluation of optical localization in the visible band for ultrasound guidance in radiotherapy using a robotic arm

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Camps, S.M.; Costa, M.; Stevens, E.; Sanches, P.G.; Paiva Fonesca, G.; Bellezzo, M.; Verhaegen, F.

2017-01-01

In many medical fields, spatial localization of devices is of paramount importance to e.g. deliver treatments correctly or to perform accurate diagnostic evaluations. Among the different technologies available, optical localization in the visible band of the spectrum offers many advantages: minimum

Performative Actions in E-Adoption Processes: Strategic Efforts in a Local Government

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjelholt, Morten

2015-01-01

In this paper the concept of performative action is introduced to address how individuals can engage in IT adoption processes. The study investigates how local government employees adopt and localize ideas from a Danish National IT initiative called eDay3. Particularly the actions of a project...... and variance of the specific local government. Second, a feedback loop re-attaching the localized project to the national reform program in order to maintain and protect the newly formed local practices. The study concludes that individuals actively struggle for social positions in IT adoption processes...

Using neuronal populations to study the mechanisms underlying spatial and feature attention

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Marlene R.; Maunsell, John H.R.

2012-01-01

Summary Visual attention affects both perception and neuronal responses. Whether the same neuronal mechanisms mediate spatial attention, which improves perception of attended locations, and non-spatial forms of attention has been a subject of considerable debate. Spatial and feature attention have similar effects on individual neurons. Because visual cortex is retinotopically organized, however, spatial attention can co-modulate local neuronal populations, while feature attention generally requires more selective modulation. We compared the effects of feature and spatial attention on local and spatially separated populations by recording simultaneously from dozens of neurons in both hemispheres of V4. Feature and spatial attention affect the activity of local populations similarly, modulating both firing rates and correlations between pairs of nearby neurons. However, while spatial attention appears to act on local populations, feature attention is coordinated across hemispheres. Our results are consistent with a unified attentional mechanism that can modulate the responses of arbitrary subgroups of neurons. PMID:21689604

Analysis of Spatial Concepts, Spatial Skills and Spatial Representations in New York State Regents Earth Science Examinations

Science.gov (United States)

Kastens, Kim A.; Pistolesi, Linda; Passow, Michael J.

2014-01-01

Research has shown that spatial thinking is important in science in general, and in Earth Science in particular, and that performance on spatially demanding tasks can be fostered through instruction. Because spatial thinking is rarely taught explicitly in the U.S. education system, improving spatial thinking may be "low-hanging fruit" as…

Spatial effects, sampling errors, and task specialization in the honey bee.

Science.gov (United States)

Johnson, B R

2010-05-01

Task allocation patterns should depend on the spatial distribution of work within the nest, variation in task demand, and the movement patterns of workers, however, relatively little research has focused on these topics. This study uses a spatially explicit agent based model to determine whether such factors alone can generate biases in task performance at the individual level in the honey bees, Apis mellifera. Specialization (bias in task performance) is shown to result from strong sampling error due to localized task demand, relatively slow moving workers relative to nest size, and strong spatial variation in task demand. To date, specialization has been primarily interpreted with the response threshold concept, which is focused on intrinsic (typically genotypic) differences between workers. Response threshold variation and sampling error due to spatial effects are not mutually exclusive, however, and this study suggests that both contribute to patterns of task bias at the individual level. While spatial effects are strong enough to explain some documented cases of specialization; they are relatively short term and not explanatory for long term cases of specialization. In general, this study suggests that the spatial layout of tasks and fluctuations in their demand must be explicitly controlled for in studies focused on identifying genotypic specialists.

The "when" and the "where" of single-trial allocentric spatial memory performance in young children: Insights into the development of episodic memory.

Science.gov (United States)

Ribordy Lambert, Farfalla; Lavenex, Pierre; Banta Lavenex, Pamela

2017-03-01

Allocentric spatial memory, "where" with respect to the surrounding environment, is one of the three fundamental components of episodic memory: what, where, when. Whereas basic allocentric spatial memory abilities are reliably observed in children after 2 years of age, coinciding with the offset of infantile amnesia, the resolution of allocentric spatial memory acquired over repeated trials improves from 2 to 4 years of age. Here, we first show that single-trial allocentric spatial memory performance improves in children from 3.5 to 7 years of age, during the typical period of childhood amnesia. Second, we show that large individual variation exists in children's performance at this age. Third, and most importantly, we show that improvements in single-trial allocentric spatial memory performance are due to an increasing ability to spatially and temporally separate locations and events. Such improvements in spatial and temporal processing abilities may contribute to the gradual offset of childhood amnesia. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Local edge detectors: a substrate for fine spatial vision at low temporal frequencies in rabbit retina.

Science.gov (United States)

van Wyk, Michiel; Taylor, W Rowland; Vaney, David I

2006-12-20

Visual acuity is limited by the size and density of the smallest retinal ganglion cells, which correspond to the midget ganglion cells in primate retina and the beta-ganglion cells in cat retina, both of which have concentric receptive fields that respond at either light-On or light-Off. In contrast, the smallest ganglion cells in the rabbit retina are the local edge detectors (LEDs), which respond to spot illumination at both light-On and light-Off. However, the LEDs do not predominate in the rabbit retina and the question arises, what role do they play in fine spatial vision? We studied the morphology and physiology of LEDs in the isolated rabbit retina and examined how their response properties are shaped by the excitatory and inhibitory inputs. Although the LEDs comprise only approximately 15% of the ganglion cells, neighboring LEDs are separated by 30-40 microm on the visual streak, which is sufficient to account for the grating acuity of the rabbit. The spatial and temporal receptive-field properties of LEDs are generated by distinct inhibitory mechanisms. The strong inhibitory surround acts presynaptically to suppress both the excitation and the inhibition elicited by center stimulation. The temporal properties, characterized by sluggish onset, sustained firing, and low bandwidth, are mediated by the temporal properties of the bipolar cells and by postsynaptic interactions between the excitatory and inhibitory inputs. We propose that the LEDs signal fine spatial detail during visual fixation, when high temporal frequencies are minimal.

Detection of auditory signals in quiet and noisy backgrounds while performing a visuo-spatial task

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vishakha W Rawool

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Context: The ability to detect important auditory signals while performing visual tasks may be further compounded by background chatter. Thus, it is important to know how task performance may interact with background chatter to hinder signal detection. Aim: To examine any interactive effects of speech spectrum noise and task performance on the ability to detect signals. Settings and Design: The setting was a sound-treated booth. A repeated measures design was used. Materials and Methods: Auditory thresholds of 20 normal adults were determined at 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 kHz in the following conditions presented in a random order: (1 quiet with attention; (2 quiet with a visuo-spatial task or puzzle (distraction; (3 noise with attention and (4 noise with task. Statistical Analysis: Multivariate analyses of variance (MANOVA with three repeated factors (quiet versus noise, visuo-spatial task versus no task, signal frequency. Results: MANOVA revealed significant main effects for noise and signal frequency and significant noise–frequency and task–frequency interactions. Distraction caused by performing the task worsened the thresholds for tones presented at the beginning of the experiment and had no effect on tones presented in the middle. At the end of the experiment, thresholds (4 kHz were better while performing the task than those obtained without performing the task. These effects were similar across the quiet and noise conditions. Conclusion: Detection of auditory signals is difficult at the beginning of a distracting visuo-spatial task but over time, task learning and auditory training effects can nullify the effect of distraction and may improve detection of high frequency sounds.

How Can It Be More Real? A Case Study to Present the Authenticity of a Local Heritage District from the Perspective of Regional Spatial Morphology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huanxi Zhao

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The discussion of authenticity has become an academic theme of great interest to scholars in the tourism and heritage fields. However, there have been relatively few studies related to the authenticity of the spatial morphology of a historical urban area. This paper is based on the approach of the theory of “constructive authenticity”, and takes a local historical district heritage in Beijing as an example to analyze the authenticity of the spatial morphology of a particular heritage site. This paper takes into account three aspects: (1 overall layout; (2 street landscape; and (3 the pattern inside the courtyards. It then analyzes the Nanluo area from the perspective of the change in spatial patterns from the past to the present, as an aspect of research on the protection and sustainable development of local historic districts. Through the analysis, it can be seen that from the point of view of spatial morphology, the Nanluo area is distant from its shape in the past, and the main differences are reflected in the above three aspects. It also can be seen that in today’s Nanluo area, the authenticity of the layout that is perceived by tourists is a “constructive authenticity” that has been developed over years.

Performance and applications of the ORNL local electrode atom probe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miller, M.K.; Russell, K.F.

2004-01-01

Full text: The commercial introduction in 2003 of the local electrode atom probe (LEAP) developed by Imago Scientific Instruments has made dramatic, orders of magnitude improvements in the data acquisition rate and the size of the analyzed volume compared to previous types of three-dimensional atom probes and other scanning atom probes. This state-of-the-art instrument may be used for the analysis of traditional needle-shaped specimens and specimens fabricated from 'flat' specimens with focused ion beam (FIB) techniques. The advantage of this local electrode configuration is that significantly lower (∼50 %) standing and pulse voltages are required to produce the field strength required to field evaporate ions from the specimen. New high speed (200 kHz) pulse generators coupled with crossed delay line detectors and faster timing systems also enable significantly faster (up to 300 times) data acquisition rates to be achieved. This new design also permits a significantly larger field of view to be analyzed and results in data sets containing up to 10 8 atoms. In the local electrode atom probe, a ∼10-50 μm diameter aperture is typically positioned approximately one aperture diameter in front of the specimen. In order to accurately align the specimen to the aperture in the funnel-shaped electrode, the specimen is mounted on a three axis nanopositioning stage. An approximate alignment is performed while viewing the relative positions of the specimen and the local electrode with a pair of low magnification video cameras and then a pair of higher magnification video cameras attached to long range microscopes. The final alignment is performed with the use of the field evaporated ions from the specimen. A discussion on the alignment of the specimen with the local electrode, the effects of the fields on the specimen, and the effects of aperture size on aperture lifetime will be presented. The performance of the ORNL local electrode atom probe will be described. The

Rapid Online Analysis of Local Feature Detectors and Their Complementarity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shoaib Ehsan

2013-08-01

Full Text Available A vision system that can assess its own performance and take appropriate actions online to maximize its effectiveness would be a step towards achieving the long-cherished goal of imitating humans. This paper proposes a method for performing an online performance analysis of local feature detectors, the primary stage of many practical vision systems. It advocates the spatial distribution of local image features as a good performance indicator and presents a metric that can be calculated rapidly, concurs with human visual assessments and is complementary to existing offline measures such as repeatability. The metric is shown to provide a measure of complementarity for combinations of detectors, correctly reflecting the underlying principles of individual detectors. Qualitative results on well-established datasets for several state-of-the-art detectors are presented based on the proposed measure. Using a hypothesis testing approach and a newly-acquired, larger image database, statistically-significant performance differences are identified. Different detector pairs and triplets are examined quantitatively and the results provide a useful guideline for combining detectors in applications that require a reasonable spatial distribution of image features. A principled framework for combining feature detectors in these applications is also presented. Timing results reveal the potential of the metric for online applications.

On A Quasi-local Mass

OpenAIRE

Zhang, Xiao

2009-01-01

We modify previous quasi-local mass definition. The new definition provides expressions of the quasi-local energy, the quasi-local linear momentum and the quasi-local mass. And they are equal to the ADM expressions at spatial infinity. Moreover, the new quasi-local energy has the positivity property.

Estimating planktonic diversity through spatial dominance patterns in a model ocean.

Science.gov (United States)

Soccodato, Alice; d'Ovidio, Francesco; Lévy, Marina; Jahn, Oliver; Follows, Michael J; De Monte, Silvia

2016-10-01

In the open ocean, the observation and quantification of biodiversity patterns is challenging. Marine ecosystems are indeed largely composed by microbial planktonic communities whose niches are affected by highly dynamical physico-chemical conditions, and whose observation requires advanced methods for morphological and molecular classification. Optical remote sensing offers an appealing complement to these in-situ techniques. Global-scale coverage at high spatiotemporal resolution is however achieved at the cost of restrained information on the local assemblage. Here, we use a coupled physical and ecological model ocean simulation to explore one possible metrics for comparing measures performed on such different scales. We show that a large part of the local diversity of the virtual plankton ecosystem - corresponding to what accessible by genomic methods - can be inferred from crude, but spatially extended, information - as conveyed by remote sensing. Shannon diversity of the local community is indeed highly correlated to a 'seascape' index, which quantifies the surrounding spatial heterogeneity of the most abundant functional group. The error implied in drastically reducing the resolution of the plankton community is shown to be smaller in frontal regions as well as in regions of intermediate turbulent energy. On the spatial scale of hundreds of kms, patterns of virtual plankton diversity are thus largely sustained by mixing communities that occupy adjacent niches. We provide a proof of principle that in the open ocean information on spatial variability of communities can compensate for limited local knowledge, suggesting the possibility of integrating in-situ and satellite observations to monitor biodiversity distribution at the global scale. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

THE DIGITAL ARCHIVING SYSTEM WITH TWITTER FOR LOCAL TRADITIONAL PERFORMING ARTS BY CITIZEN PARTICIPATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chiho Yoshida

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Local communities in mountainous and coast villages in Japan are facing problems related to aging and depopulation that discourage efforts to keep the traditional performing arts in the local community. The purpose of this study is to design an ―Archive and Community‖ model that creates a relationship between local citizens and non-citizens to keep the traditional performing arts in the local community by combining the traditional archiving system with social media like Twitter. This paper describes the experimental data results and discussions using the ―Archive and Community System‖ prototype.

Fine-grained, local maps and coarse, global representations support human spatial working memory.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad Zia Ul Haq Katshu

Full Text Available While sensory processes are tuned to particular features, such as an object's specific location, color or orientation, visual working memory (vWM is assumed to store information using representations, which generalize over a feature dimension. Additionally, current vWM models presume that different features or objects are stored independently. On the other hand, configurational effects, when observed, are supposed to mainly reflect encoding strategies. We show that the location of the target, relative to the display center and boundaries, and overall memory load influenced recall precision, indicating that, like sensory processes, capacity limited vWM resources are spatially tuned. When recalling one of three memory items the target distance from the display center was overestimated, similar to the error when only one item was memorized, but its distance from the memory items' average position was underestimated, showing that not only individual memory items' position, but also the global configuration of the memory array may be stored. Finally, presenting the non-target items at recall, consequently providing landmarks and configurational information, improved precision and accuracy of target recall. Similarly, when the non-target items were translated at recall, relative to their position in the initial display, a parallel displacement of the recalled target was observed. These findings suggest that fine-grained spatial information in vWM is represented in local maps whose resolution varies with distance from landmarks, such as the display center, while coarse representations are used to store the memory array configuration. Both these representations are updated at the time of recall.

Fine-Grained, Local Maps and Coarse, Global Representations Support Human Spatial Working Memory

Science.gov (United States)

Katshu, Mohammad Zia Ul Haq; d'Avossa, Giovanni

2014-01-01

While sensory processes are tuned to particular features, such as an object's specific location, color or orientation, visual working memory (vWM) is assumed to store information using representations, which generalize over a feature dimension. Additionally, current vWM models presume that different features or objects are stored independently. On the other hand, configurational effects, when observed, are supposed to mainly reflect encoding strategies. We show that the location of the target, relative to the display center and boundaries, and overall memory load influenced recall precision, indicating that, like sensory processes, capacity limited vWM resources are spatially tuned. When recalling one of three memory items the target distance from the display center was overestimated, similar to the error when only one item was memorized, but its distance from the memory items' average position was underestimated, showing that not only individual memory items' position, but also the global configuration of the memory array may be stored. Finally, presenting the non-target items at recall, consequently providing landmarks and configurational information, improved precision and accuracy of target recall. Similarly, when the non-target items were translated at recall, relative to their position in the initial display, a parallel displacement of the recalled target was observed. These findings suggest that fine-grained spatial information in vWM is represented in local maps whose resolution varies with distance from landmarks, such as the display center, while coarse representations are used to store the memory array configuration. Both these representations are updated at the time of recall. PMID:25259601

Convective model of a microwave discharge in a gas at atmospheric pressure in the form of a spatially localized plasma

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skovoroda, A.A.

1997-01-01

Experiments and a theoretical model consistent with them are presented which show that a stationary microwave discharge in a gas at atmospheric pressure under the action of free convection due to the action of the buoyant force on the heated air can be spatially localized, taking a spheroidal shape. Vortex motion inside the spheroid gives this localized plasma formation some of the properties of a material body which are manifested in a distinct material isolation from the surrounding space, in the formation of a narrow thermal boundary layer and flow separation, and in the formation of secondary vortices in the wake region. The characteristic radius of the stationary localized plasma is governed mainly by the wavelength of the microwave radiation a∼0.137λ. Energy balance is established to a significant degree by convective cooling of the microwave-heated structure

Municipal Climate Governance and Formation of Local Transition places

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Søndergård, Bent; Stauning, Inger; Holm, Jesper

for the need of studies of local situated transition arenas and how they by integrating specific local conditions become sites of development of innovative practices. Jesper Holm, Inger Stauning and Jesper Holm, Department of Department of Environmental, Social and Spatial Change, Roskilde University (RUC......Theme: Sustainable spaces Municipal Climate Governance and Formation of Local Transition Places The paper examines how municipalities develop new local governance efforts for climate mitigation and analyses how these efforts contributes to the development of local transition places. It is based...... authorities and policy networks tend to show more willingness for performing experimentation in transition. • Reduction of CO2-emission and transformation of social-technical energy systems has a complexity and a dependency of local context (bio resources, companies, energy systems, technologies, build...

A meta-analysis of local adaptation in plants.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roosa Leimu

Full Text Available Local adaptation is of fundamental importance in evolutionary, population, conservation, and global-change biology. The generality of local adaptation in plants and whether and how it is influenced by specific species, population and habitat characteristics have, however, not been quantitatively reviewed. Therefore, we examined published data on the outcomes of reciprocal transplant experiments using two approaches. We conducted a meta-analysis to compare the performance of local and foreign plants at all transplant sites. In addition, we analysed frequencies of pairs of plant origin to examine whether local plants perform better than foreign plants at both compared transplant sites. In both approaches, we also examined the effects of population size, and of the habitat and species characteristics that are predicted to affect local adaptation. We show that, overall, local plants performed significantly better than foreign plants at their site of origin: this was found to be the case in 71.0% of the studied sites. However, local plants performed better than foreign plants at both sites of a pair-wise comparison (strict definition of local adaption only in 45.3% of the 1032 compared population pairs. Furthermore, we found local adaptation much more common for large plant populations (>1000 flowering individuals than for small populations (<1000 flowering individuals for which local adaptation was very rare. The degree of local adaptation was independent of plant life history, spatial or temporal habitat heterogeneity, and geographic scale. Our results suggest that local adaptation is less common in plant populations than generally assumed. Moreover, our findings reinforce the fundamental importance of population size for evolutionary theory. The clear role of population size for the ability to evolve local adaptation raises considerable doubt on the ability of small plant populations to cope with changing environments.

Effects of local and spatial conditions on the quality of harvested rainwater in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilbers, Gert-Jan; Sebesvari, Zita; Rechenburg, Andrea; Renaud, Fabrice G.

2013-01-01

The objective of this study was to assess the quality of harvested rainwater in the Mekong Delta (MD), Vietnam for local (roof types, storage system and duration) and spatial (proximity of industry, main roads, coastline) conditions. 78 harvested rainwater samples were collected in the MD and analyzed for pH, turbidity, TDS, COD, nutrients (NH 4 , NO 3 , NO 2 , o-PO 4 ), trace metals and coliforms. The results show that thatch roofs lead to an increase of pollutants like COD (max 23.2 mgl −1 ) and turbidity (max 10.1 mgl −1 ) whereas galvanized roofs lead to an increase of Zn (max 2.2 mgl −1 ). The other local and spatial parameters had no or only minor influence on the quality of household harvested rainwater. However, lead (Pb) (max. 16.9 μgl −1 ) and total coliforms (max. 102 500 CFU100 ml −1 ) were recorded at high concentrations, probably due to a variety of household-specific conditions such as rainwater storage, collection and handling practices. -- Highlights: •Rainwater is a main drinking water source in the Mekong Delta. •Harvested rainwater is severely polluted for turbidity, lead and (total) coliforms. •Roof types significantly affect the quality of harvested rainwater. •Effects of household conditions on harvested rainwater quality should be further assessed. •Harvested rainwater is in potential a safe drinking water resource in the Mekong Delta. -- Concentrations of lead and total coliforms in household-harvested rainwater in the Mekong Delta exceed drinking water guidelines in 17% and 92% of the samples, respectively

Encoding audio motion: spatial impairment in early blind individuals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sara eFinocchietti

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The consequence of blindness on auditory spatial localization has been an interesting issue of research in the last decade providing mixed results. Enhanced auditory spatial skills in individuals with visual impairment have been reported by multiple studies, while some aspects of spatial hearing seem to be impaired in the absence of vision. In this study, the ability to encode the trajectory of a 2 dimensional sound motion, reproducing the complete movement, and reaching the correct end-point sound position, is evaluated in 12 early blind individuals, 8 late blind individuals, and 20 age-matched sighted blindfolded controls. Early blind individuals correctly determine the direction of the sound motion on the horizontal axis, but show a clear deficit in encoding the sound motion in the lower side of the plane. On the contrary, late blind individuals and blindfolded controls perform much better with no deficit in the lower side of the plane. In fact the mean localization error resulted 271 ± 10 mm for early blind individuals, 65 ± 4 mm for late blind individuals, and 68 ± 2 mm for sighted blindfolded controls.These results support the hypothesis that i it exists a trade-off between the development of enhanced perceptual abilities and role of vision in the sound localization abilities of early blind individuals, and ii the visual information is fundamental in calibrating some aspects of the representation of auditory space in the brain.

Learning and inference using complex generative models in a spatial localization task.

Science.gov (United States)

Bejjanki, Vikranth R; Knill, David C; Aslin, Richard N

2016-01-01

A large body of research has established that, under relatively simple task conditions, human observers integrate uncertain sensory information with learned prior knowledge in an approximately Bayes-optimal manner. However, in many natural tasks, observers must perform this sensory-plus-prior integration when the underlying generative model of the environment consists of multiple causes. Here we ask if the Bayes-optimal integration seen with simple tasks also applies to such natural tasks when the generative model is more complex, or whether observers rely instead on a less efficient set of heuristics that approximate ideal performance. Participants localized a "hidden" target whose position on a touch screen was sampled from a location-contingent bimodal generative model with different variances around each mode. Over repeated exposure to this task, participants learned the a priori locations of the target (i.e., the bimodal generative model), and integrated this learned knowledge with uncertain sensory information on a trial-by-trial basis in a manner consistent with the predictions of Bayes-optimal behavior. In particular, participants rapidly learned the locations of the two modes of the generative model, but the relative variances of the modes were learned much more slowly. Taken together, our results suggest that human performance in a more complex localization task, which requires the integration of sensory information with learned knowledge of a bimodal generative model, is consistent with the predictions of Bayes-optimal behavior, but involves a much longer time-course than in simpler tasks.

Effects of dynamic range compression on spatial selective auditory attention in normal-hearing listeners.

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, Andrew H; Shinn-Cunningham, Barbara G

2013-04-01

Many hearing aids introduce compressive gain to accommodate the reduced dynamic range that often accompanies hearing loss. However, natural sounds produce complicated temporal dynamics in hearing aid compression, as gain is driven by whichever source dominates at a given moment. Moreover, independent compression at the two ears can introduce fluctuations in interaural level differences (ILDs) important for spatial perception. While independent compression can interfere with spatial perception of sound, it does not always interfere with localization accuracy or speech identification. Here, normal-hearing listeners reported a target message played simultaneously with two spatially separated masker messages. We measured the amount of spatial separation required between the target and maskers for subjects to perform at threshold in this task. Fast, syllabic compression that was independent at the two ears increased the required spatial separation, but linking the compressors to provide identical gain to both ears (preserving ILDs) restored much of the deficit caused by fast, independent compression. Effects were less clear for slower compression. Percent-correct performance was lower with independent compression, but only for small spatial separations. These results may help explain differences in previous reports of the effect of compression on spatial perception of sound.

A spatial multi-objective optimization model for sustainable urban wastewater system layout planning.

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, X; Zeng, S; Chen, J

2012-01-01

Design of a sustainable city has changed the traditional centralized urban wastewater system towards a decentralized or clustering one. Note that there is considerable spatial variability of the factors that affect urban drainage performance including urban catchment characteristics. The potential options are numerous for planning the layout of an urban wastewater system, which are associated with different costs and local environmental impacts. There is thus a need to develop an approach to find the optimal spatial layout for collecting, treating, reusing and discharging the municipal wastewater of a city. In this study, a spatial multi-objective optimization model, called Urban wastewateR system Layout model (URL), was developed. It is solved by a genetic algorithm embedding Monte Carlo sampling and a series of graph algorithms. This model was illustrated by a case study in a newly developing urban area in Beijing, China. Five optimized system layouts were recommended to the local municipality for further detailed design.

Control of cell division and the spatial localization of assembled gene products in Caulobacter crescentus

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nathan, P.D.

1988-01-01

Experiments are described that examine the role of penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) in the regulation of cell division in Caulobacter crescentus; and the spatial localization of methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins (MCPs) in C. crescentus swarmer and predivisional cells. In the analysis of PBP function, in vivo and in vitro assays are used to directly label C. crescentus PBPs with [ 3 H] penicillin G in wild type strain CB15, in a series of conditional cell division mutants and in new temperature sensitive cephalosporin C resistant mutants PC8002 and PC8003. 14 PBPs are characterized and a high molecular weight PBP (PBP 1B) that is required for cell division is identified. PBP 1B competes for β-lactams that induce filament formation and may be a high affinity binding protein. A second high molecular weight PBP (PBP 1C) is also associated with defective cell division. The examination of PBP patterns in synchronous swarmer cells reveals that the in vivo activity of PBP 1B and PBP 1C increases at the time that the cell division pathway is initiated. None of the PBPs, however, appear to be differentially localized in the C. crescentus cell. In the analysis of MCP localization, in vivo and in vitro assays are used to directly label C. crescentus MCPs with methyl- 3 H. MCPs are examined in flagellated and non-flagellated vesicles prepared from cells by immunoaffinity chromatography

Spatially resolved localized vibrational mode spectroscopy of carbon in liquid encapsulated Czochralski grown gallium arsenide wafers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yau, Waifan.

1988-04-01

Substitutional carbon on an arsenic lattice site is the shallowest and one of the most dominant acceptors in semi-insulating Liquid Encapsulated Czochralski (LEC) GaAs. However, the role of this acceptor in determining the well known ''W'' shape spatial variation of neutral EL2 concentration along the diameter of a LEC wafer is not known. In this thesis, we attempt to clarify the issue of the carbon acceptor's effect on this ''W'' shaped variation by measuring spatial profiles of this acceptor along the radius of three different as-grown LEC GaAs wafers. With localized vibrational mode absorption spectroscopy, we find that the profile of the carbon acceptor is relatively constant along the radius of each wafer. Average values of concentration are 8 x 10E15 cm -3 , 1.1 x 10E15 cm -3 , and 2.2 x 10E15 cm -3 , respectively. In addition, these carbon acceptor LVM measurements indicate that a residual donor with concentration comparable to carbon exists in these wafers and it is a good candidate for the observed neutral EL2 concentration variation. 22 refs., 39 figs

Semantic Metadata for Heterogeneous Spatial Planning Documents

Science.gov (United States)

Iwaniak, A.; Kaczmarek, I.; Łukowicz, J.; Strzelecki, M.; Coetzee, S.; Paluszyński, W.

2016-09-01

Spatial planning documents contain information about the principles and rights of land use in different zones of a local authority. They are the basis for administrative decision making in support of sustainable development. In Poland these documents are published on the Web according to a prescribed non-extendable XML schema, designed for optimum presentation to humans in HTML web pages. There is no document standard, and limited functionality exists for adding references to external resources. The text in these documents is discoverable and searchable by general-purpose web search engines, but the semantics of the content cannot be discovered or queried. The spatial information in these documents is geographically referenced but not machine-readable. Major manual efforts are required to integrate such heterogeneous spatial planning documents from various local authorities for analysis, scenario planning and decision support. This article presents results of an implementation using machine-readable semantic metadata to identify relationships among regulations in the text, spatial objects in the drawings and links to external resources. A spatial planning ontology was used to annotate different sections of spatial planning documents with semantic metadata in the Resource Description Framework in Attributes (RDFa). The semantic interpretation of the content, links between document elements and links to external resources were embedded in XHTML pages. An example and use case from the spatial planning domain in Poland is presented to evaluate its efficiency and applicability. The solution enables the automated integration of spatial planning documents from multiple local authorities to assist decision makers with understanding and interpreting spatial planning information. The approach is equally applicable to legal documents from other countries and domains, such as cultural heritage and environmental management.

Quantum measurement information as a key to energy extraction from local vacuums

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hotta, Masahiro

2008-01-01

In this paper, a protocol is proposed in which energy extraction from local vacuum states is possible by using quantum measurement information for the vacuum state of quantum fields. In the protocol, Alice, who stays at a spatial point, excites the ground state of the fields by a local measurement. Consequently, wave packets generated by Alice's measurement propagate the vacuum to spatial infinity. Let us assume that Bob stays away from Alice and fails to catch the excitation energy when the wave packets pass in front of him. Next Alice announces her local measurement result to Bob by classical communication. Bob performs a local unitary operation depending on the measurement result. In this process, positive energy is released from the fields to Bob's apparatus of the unitary operation. In the field systems, wave packets are generated with negative energy around Bob's location. Soon afterwards, the negative-energy wave packets begin to chase after the positive-energy wave packets generated by Alice and form loosely bound states.

Attention, spatial integration, and the tail of response time distributions in Stroop task performance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roelofs, A.P.A.

2012-01-01

A few studies have examined selective attention in Stroop task performance through ex-Gaussian analyses of response time (RT) distributions. It has remained unclear whether the tail of the RT distribution in vocal responding reflects spatial integration of relevant and irrelevant attributes, as

Passive air sampler as a tool for long-term air pollution monitoring: Part 1. Performance assessment for seasonal and spatial variations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klanova, Jana; Kohoutek, Jiri; Hamplova, Lenka; Urbanova, Petra; Holoubek, Ivan

2006-01-01

The potential of passive air sampling devices (polyurethane foam disks) to assess the influence of local sources on the quality of the surrounding environment was investigated. DEZA Valasske Mezirici, a coal tar and mixed tar oils processing plant, and Spolana Neratovice, a chemical factory with the history of high production of organochlorinated pesticides (OCPs), were selected as the point sources of PAHs, and OCPs, respectively. Levels of PCBs, OCPs and PAHs were determined for all sampling sites and sampling periods. The study brought useful data about the air concentrations of POPs in the investigated regions. More important, it provided information on the transport and fate of POPs in the vicinity of local sources of contamination useful for the estimation of their influence. Very good capability of passive samplers to reflect temporal and spatial fluctuation in concentrations of persistent organic pollutants in the ambient air was confirmed which makes them applicable for monitoring on the local scale. - Passive air sampling techniques can indicate seasonal and spatial variations in the ambient concentrations of persistent organic compounds near point sources

The dynamic and indirect spatial effects of neighborhood conditions on land value, spatial panel dynamic econometrics model

Science.gov (United States)

Fitriani, Rahma; Sumarminingsih, Eni; Astutik, Suci

2017-05-01

Land value is the product of past decision of its use leading to its value, as well as the value of the surrounded land. It is also affected by the local characteristic and the spillover development demand of the previous time period. The effect of each factor on land value will have dynamic and spatial virtues. Thus, a spatial panel dynamic model is used to estimate the particular effects. The model will be useful for predicting the future land value or the effect of implemented policy on land value. The objective of this paper is to derive the dynamic and indirect spatial marginal effects of the land characteristic and the spillover development demand on land value. Each effect is the partial derivative of the expected land value based on the spatial dynamic model with respect to each variable, by considering different time period and different location. The results indicate that the instant change of local or neighborhood characteristics on land value affect the local and the immediate neighborhood land value. However, the longer the change take place, the effect will spread further, not only on the immediate neighborhood.

A Measure Based on Beamforming Power for Evaluation of Sound Field Reproduction Performance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ji-Ho Chang

2017-03-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a measure to evaluate sound field reproduction systems with an array of loudspeakers. The spatially-averaged squared error of the sound pressure between the desired and the reproduced field, namely the spatial error, has been widely used, which has considerable problems in two conditions. First, in non-anechoic conditions, room reflections substantially deteriorate the spatial error, although these room reflections affect human localization to a lesser degree. Second, for 2.5-dimensional reproduction of spherical waves, the spatial error increases consistently due to the difference in the amplitude decay rate, whereas the degradation of human localization performance is limited. The measure proposed in this study is based on the beamforming powers of the desired and the reproduced fields. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed measure is less sensitive to room reflections and the amplitude decay than the spatial error, which is likely to agree better with the human perception of source localization.

Evolutionary multimodal optimization using the principle of locality

KAUST Repository

Wong, Kachun; Wu, Chunho; Mok, Ricky; Peng, Chengbin; Zhang, Zhaolei

2012-01-01

The principle of locality is one of the most widely used concepts in designing computing systems. To explore the principle in evolutionary computation, crowding differential evolution is incorporated with locality for multimodal optimization. Instead of generating trial vectors randomly, the first method proposed takes advantage of spatial locality to generate trial vectors. Temporal locality is also adopted to help generate offspring in the second method proposed. Temporal and spatial locality are then applied together in the third method proposed. Numerical experiments are conducted to compare the proposed methods with the state-of-the-art methods on benchmark functions. Experimental analysis is undertaken to observe the effect of locality and the synergy between temporal locality and spatial locality. Further experiments are also conducted on two application problems. One is the varied-line-spacing holographic grating design problem, while the other is the protein structure prediction problem. The numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the methods proposed. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evolutionary multimodal optimization using the principle of locality

KAUST Repository

Wong, Kachun

2012-07-01

The principle of locality is one of the most widely used concepts in designing computing systems. To explore the principle in evolutionary computation, crowding differential evolution is incorporated with locality for multimodal optimization. Instead of generating trial vectors randomly, the first method proposed takes advantage of spatial locality to generate trial vectors. Temporal locality is also adopted to help generate offspring in the second method proposed. Temporal and spatial locality are then applied together in the third method proposed. Numerical experiments are conducted to compare the proposed methods with the state-of-the-art methods on benchmark functions. Experimental analysis is undertaken to observe the effect of locality and the synergy between temporal locality and spatial locality. Further experiments are also conducted on two application problems. One is the varied-line-spacing holographic grating design problem, while the other is the protein structure prediction problem. The numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the methods proposed. © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The Acuity of Echolocation: Spatial Resolution in Sighted Persons Compared to the Performance of an Expert Who Is Blind

Science.gov (United States)

Teng, Santani; Whitney, David

2011-01-01

Echolocation is a specialized application of spatial hearing that uses reflected auditory information to localize objects and represent the external environment. Although it has been documented extensively in nonhuman species, such as bats and dolphins, its use by some persons who are blind as a navigation and object-identification aid has…

The expected performance of local energy visions in Europe : A governance perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van Bueren, E.M.; Dignum, M.; Steenhuisen, B.M.

2015-01-01

This paper offers insights into the expected performance of Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs) as a policy instrument, a local energy vision initiated by the EU and used by municipalities across Europe. How are SEAPs aiming to contribute to the process of local energy transition and how can

Diagnostic performance of computed tomography for parathyroid adenoma localization; a systematic review and meta-analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kluijfhout, Wouter P., E-mail: WPKluijfhout@gmail.com [Department of Surgery, University of California San Francisco (United States); Department of Surgery, University Medical Center Utrecht (Netherlands); Pasternak, Jesse D. [Department of Surgery, University Health Network Toronto (Canada); Beninato, Toni; Drake, Frederick Thurston; Gosnell, Jessica E.; Shen, Wen T.; Duh, Quan-Yang [Department of Surgery, University of California San Francisco (United States); Allen, Isabel E. [Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco (United States); Vriens, Menno R. [Department of Surgery, University Medical Center Utrecht (Netherlands); Keizer, Bart de [Department of Radiology, University Medical Center Utrecht (Netherlands); Hope, Thomas A. [Department of Radiology, University of California San Francisco (United States); Suh, Insoo [Department of Surgery, University of California San Francisco (United States)

2017-03-15

Highlights: • CT performs well in localizing pathological parathyroid glands. • Performance of CT is less in patients with inconclusive ultrasound and sestamibi. • Addition of a third contrast phase seems to have little added value. - Abstract: Abstract purpose: To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis of the sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV) of CT for preoperative parathyroid localization in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT), and subsequently compare the different protocols and their performance in different patient groups. Materials and methods: We performed a search of the Embase, Pubmed and Cochrane Library databases to identify studies published between January 1, 2000 and March 31, 2016 investigating the diagnostic value of CT for parathyroid localization in patients with biochemical diagnosis of pHPT. Performance of CT was expressed in sensitivity and PPV with pooled proportion using a random-effects model. Factors that could have affected the diagnostic performance were investigated by subgroup analysis. Results: Thirty-four studies evaluating a total of 2563 patients with non-familial pHPT who underwent CT localization and surgical resection were included. Overall pooled sensitivity of CT for localization of the pathological parathyroid(s) to the correct quadrant was 73% (95% CI: 69–78%), which increased to 81% (95% CI: 75–87%) for lateralization to the correct side. Subgroup analysis based on the number of contrast phases showed that adding a second contrast phase raises sensitivity from 71% (95% CI: 61–80%) to 76% (95% CI: 71–87%), and that adding a third phase resulted in a more modest additional increase in performance with a sensitivity of 80% (95% CI: 74–86%). Conclusion: CT performs well in localizing pathological glands in patients with pHPT. A protocol with two contrast phases seems to offer a good balance of acceptable performance with limitation of radiation exposure.

Sexual Orientation-Related Differences in Virtual Spatial Navigation and Spatial Search Strategies.

Science.gov (United States)

Rahman, Qazi; Sharp, Jonathan; McVeigh, Meadhbh; Ho, Man-Ling

2017-07-01

Spatial abilities are generally hypothesized to differ between men and women, and people with different sexual orientations. According to the cross-sex shift hypothesis, gay men are hypothesized to perform in the direction of heterosexual women and lesbian women in the direction of heterosexual men on cognitive tests. This study investigated sexual orientation differences in spatial navigation and strategy during a virtual Morris water maze task (VMWM). Forty-four heterosexual men, 43 heterosexual women, 39 gay men, and 34 lesbian/bisexual women (aged 18-54 years) navigated a desktop VMWM and completed measures of intelligence, handedness, and childhood gender nonconformity (CGN). We quantified spatial learning (hidden platform trials), probe trial performance, and cued navigation (visible platform trials). Spatial strategies during hidden and probe trials were classified into visual scanning, landmark use, thigmotaxis/circling, and enfilading. In general, heterosexual men scored better than women and gay men on some spatial learning and probe trial measures and used more visual scan strategies. However, some differences disappeared after controlling for age and estimated IQ (e.g., in visual scanning heterosexual men differed from women but not gay men). Heterosexual women did not differ from lesbian/bisexual women. For both sexes, visual scanning predicted probe trial performance. More feminine CGN scores were associated with lower performance among men and greater performance among women on specific spatial learning or probe trial measures. These results provide mixed evidence for the cross-sex shift hypothesis of sexual orientation-related differences in spatial cognition.

Spatial localization of the first and last enzymes effectively connects active metabolic pathways in bacteria

OpenAIRE

Meyer, Pablo; Cecchi, Guillermo; Stolovitzky, Gustavo

2014-01-01

Background Although much is understood about the enzymatic cascades that underlie cellular biosynthesis, comparatively little is known about the rules that determine their cellular organization. We performed a detailed analysis of the localization of E.coli GFP-tagged enzymes for cells growing exponentially. Results We found that out of 857 globular enzymes, at least 219 have a discrete punctuate localization in the cytoplasm and catalyze the first or the last reaction in 60% of biosynthetic ...

Quantifying spatial and temporal trends in beach-dune volumetric changes using spatial statistics

Science.gov (United States)

Eamer, Jordan B. R.; Walker, Ian J.

2013-06-01

Spatial statistics are generally underutilized in coastal geomorphology, despite offering great potential for identifying and quantifying spatial-temporal trends in landscape morphodynamics. In particular, local Moran's Ii provides a statistical framework for detecting clusters of significant change in an attribute (e.g., surface erosion or deposition) and quantifying how this changes over space and time. This study analyzes and interprets spatial-temporal patterns in sediment volume changes in a beach-foredune-transgressive dune complex following removal of invasive marram grass (Ammophila spp.). Results are derived by detecting significant changes in post-removal repeat DEMs derived from topographic surveys and airborne LiDAR. The study site was separated into discrete, linked geomorphic units (beach, foredune, transgressive dune complex) to facilitate sub-landscape scale analysis of volumetric change and sediment budget responses. Difference surfaces derived from a pixel-subtraction algorithm between interval DEMs and the LiDAR baseline DEM were filtered using the local Moran's Ii method and two different spatial weights (1.5 and 5 m) to detect statistically significant change. Moran's Ii results were compared with those derived from a more spatially uniform statistical method that uses a simpler student's t distribution threshold for change detection. Morphodynamic patterns and volumetric estimates were similar between the uniform geostatistical method and Moran's Ii at a spatial weight of 5 m while the smaller spatial weight (1.5 m) consistently indicated volumetric changes of less magnitude. The larger 5 m spatial weight was most representative of broader site morphodynamics and spatial patterns while the smaller spatial weight provided volumetric changes consistent with field observations. All methods showed foredune deflation immediately following removal with increased sediment volumes into the spring via deposition at the crest and on lobes in the lee

SEMANTIC METADATA FOR HETEROGENEOUS SPATIAL PLANNING DOCUMENTS

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A. Iwaniak

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Spatial planning documents contain information about the principles and rights of land use in different zones of a local authority. They are the basis for administrative decision making in support of sustainable development. In Poland these documents are published on the Web according to a prescribed non-extendable XML schema, designed for optimum presentation to humans in HTML web pages. There is no document standard, and limited functionality exists for adding references to external resources. The text in these documents is discoverable and searchable by general-purpose web search engines, but the semantics of the content cannot be discovered or queried. The spatial information in these documents is geographically referenced but not machine-readable. Major manual efforts are required to integrate such heterogeneous spatial planning documents from various local authorities for analysis, scenario planning and decision support. This article presents results of an implementation using machine-readable semantic metadata to identify relationships among regulations in the text, spatial objects in the drawings and links to external resources. A spatial planning ontology was used to annotate different sections of spatial planning documents with semantic metadata in the Resource Description Framework in Attributes (RDFa. The semantic interpretation of the content, links between document elements and links to external resources were embedded in XHTML pages. An example and use case from the spatial planning domain in Poland is presented to evaluate its efficiency and applicability. The solution enables the automated integration of spatial planning documents from multiple local authorities to assist decision makers with understanding and interpreting spatial planning information. The approach is equally applicable to legal documents from other countries and domains, such as cultural heritage and environmental management.

The Impact of Local Culture on Financial Performance in Property Firms in Bali

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I Putu Astawa

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The research studies local culture reflected through pray, hard work, honesty, tatwamasi and gotong royong influencing property sales and company assets. Fifty companies are qualified as sample of sixty one property companies actively operated in 2013. Data is collected through questionnaire having tested for its reliability and validity before distributed to those fifty companies. The collected data is analyzed with multiple  regression. Result shows that hard work, honesty, tatwamasi and gotong royong culture that well implemented are able to improve property sale and assets ownership. Result of the study has implication that in order to improve financial performance, local culture should be included as variable in performance measurement. Result of the study gives contribution to Schein’s organizational culture (2004 that colored with local culture; therefore, values believed in an organization are able to improve performance.

Effects of social instability stress in adolescence on long-term, not short-term, spatial memory performance.

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Green, Matthew R; McCormick, Cheryl M

2013-11-01

There is evidence that exposure to stressors in adolescence leads to lasting deficits on hippocampal-dependent tasks, but whether medial prefrontal cortical function is also impaired is unknown. We previously found that rats exposed to social instability stress in adolescence (SS; daily 1h isolation and subsequent change of cage partner between postnatal days 30 and 45) had impaired memory performance on a Spatial Object Location test and in memory for fear conditioning context, tasks that depend on the integrity of the hippocampus. Here we investigated whether impaired performance would be evident after adolescent SS in male rats on a different test of hippocampal function, spatial learning and memory in the Morris water maze (MWM) and on a working memory task for which performance depends on the integrity of the medial prefrontal cortex, the Delayed Alternation task (DAT). During MWM testing, SS rats showed greater improvements in performance across trials within days compared to control (CTL) rats, but showed less retention of learning between days (48 h) compared to CTL rats. Similarly, SS rats had impaired long-term memory in the Spatial Object Location test after a long delay (240 min), but not after shorter delays (15 or 60 min) compared to CTL rats. No group differences were observed on the DAT, which assessed working memory across brief delays (5-90 s). Thus, deficits in memory performance after chronic social stress in adolescence may be limited to long-term memory. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Perceptual spatial differentiation of Ljubljana

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Marko Krevs

2004-12-01

Full Text Available Geographical studies of human perception of places at local scale are usually aimed at bet-ter understanding of human spatial perception and knowledge about the places, and of using this knowledge in spatial decision-making or spatial behaviour. Our focus on the first part of these general research aims is presented based on a case study, revealing how residents of the Municipality of Ljubljana perceive and value neighbourhoods of “their” municipality at the beginning of the century1.

Employment Effects of Spatial Dispersal of Refugees

OpenAIRE

Anna Piil Damm; Michael Rosholm

2006-01-01

Spatial dispersal policies may influence labour market integration of refugees through two mechanisms. First, it may affect the local job offer arrival rate, and second, it may affect place utility. We investigate the second mechanism theoretically by formulating a partial search model in which an individual searches simultaneously for a job and for a new residential location. The model predicts that the reservation wage for local jobs is decreasing in place utility. We argue that spatial dis...

On strategic spatial planning

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Tošić Branka

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The goal of this paper is to explain the origin and development of strategic spatial planning, to show complex features and highlight the differences and/or advantages over traditional, physical spatial planning. Strategic spatial planning is seen as one of approaches in legally defined planning documents, and throughout the display of properties of sectoral national strategies, as well as issues of strategic planning at the local level in Serbia. The strategic approach is clearly recognized at the national and sub-national level of spatial planning in European countries and in our country. It has been confirmed by the goals outlined in documents of the European Union and Serbia that promote the grounds of territorial cohesion and strategic integrated planning, emphasizing cooperation and the principles of sustainable spatial development. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 176017

Performance Criteria of Spatial Development Projects Based on Interregional Integration

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Elena Viktorovna Kurushina

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The search of efficient ways for the development of regional socio-economic space is a relevant problem. The authors consider the models of spatial organization according to the Spatial Development Strategy of the Russian Federation until 2030. We conduct the comparative analysis of scenarios for the polarized and diversified spatial growth. Many investigations consider the concepts of polarized and endogenous growth. This study proposes a methodology to assess the development of macroregions and to increase the viability of interregional integration projects. To develop this methodology, we formulate scientific principles and indirect criteria of the project performance conforming to the theory of regional integration. In addition to the territorial community and complementarity of the development potentials, regional integration in the country should be based on the principles of security, networking, limited quantity and awareness of the potential project participants. Integration should ensure synergetic effects and take into account cultural and historical closeness, that manifests in the common mentality and existing economic relations among regions. The calculation results regarding the indirect criteria are obtained using the methods of classification and spatial correlation. This study confirms the hypothesis, that the formation of the Western Siberian and Ural macro-regions is appropriate. We have concluded this on the basis of the criteria of economic development, economic integration, the similarity of regional spaces as habitats, and a number of participants for the subjects of the Ural Federal District. The projection of the patterns of international economic integration to the interregional level allows predicting the highest probability for the successful cooperation among the Western Siberian regions with a high level of economic development. The authors’ method has revealed a high synchronization between the economies of

Precise and fast spatial-frequency analysis using the iterative local Fourier transform.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Sukmock; Choi, Heejoo; Kim, Dae Wook

2016-09-19

The use of the discrete Fourier transform has decreased since the introduction of the fast Fourier transform (fFT), which is a numerically efficient computing process. This paper presents the iterative local Fourier transform (ilFT), a set of new processing algorithms that iteratively apply the discrete Fourier transform within a local and optimal frequency domain. The new technique achieves 210 times higher frequency resolution than the fFT within a comparable computation time. The method's superb computing efficiency, high resolution, spectrum zoom-in capability, and overall performance are evaluated and compared to other advanced high-resolution Fourier transform techniques, such as the fFT combined with several fitting methods. The effectiveness of the ilFT is demonstrated through the data analysis of a set of Talbot self-images (1280 × 1024 pixels) obtained with an experimental setup using grating in a diverging beam produced by a coherent point source.

Visual attention spreads broadly but selects information locally.

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Shioiri, Satoshi; Honjyo, Hajime; Kashiwase, Yoshiyuki; Matsumiya, Kazumichi; Kuriki, Ichiro

2016-10-19

Visual attention spreads over a range around the focus as the spotlight metaphor describes. Spatial spread of attentional enhancement and local selection/inhibition are crucial factors determining the profile of the spatial attention. Enhancement and ignorance/suppression are opposite effects of attention, and appeared to be mutually exclusive. Yet, no unified view of the factors has been provided despite their necessity for understanding the functions of spatial attention. This report provides electroencephalographic and behavioral evidence for the attentional spread at an early stage and selection/inhibition at a later stage of visual processing. Steady state visual evoked potential showed broad spatial tuning whereas the P3 component of the event related potential showed local selection or inhibition of the adjacent areas. Based on these results, we propose a two-stage model of spatial attention with broad spread at an early stage and local selection at a later stage.

The Relative Importance of Spatial and Local Environmental Factors in Determining Beetle Assemblages in the Inner Mongolia Grassland.

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Xiao-Dong Yu

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to increase understanding of the relative importance of the input of geographic and local environmental factors on richness and composition of epigaeic steppe beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae and Tenebrionidae along a geographic (longitudinal/precipitation gradient in the Inner Mongolia grassland. Specifically, we evaluate the associations of environmental variables representing climate and environmental heterogeneity with beetle assemblages. Beetles were sampled using pitfall traps at 25 sites scattered across the full geographic extent of the study biome in 2011-2012. We used variance partitioning techniques and multi-model selection based on the Akaike information criterion to assess the relative importance of the spatial and environmental variables on beetle assemblages. Species richness and abundance showed unimodal patterns along the geographic gradient. Together with space, climate variables associated with precipitation, water-energy balance and harshness of climate had strong explanatory power in richness pattern. Abundance pattern showed strongest association with variation in temperature and environmental heterogeneity. Climatic factors associated with temperature and precipitation variables and the interaction between climate with space were able to explain a substantial amount of variation in community structure. In addition, the turnover of species increased significantly as geographic distances increased. We confirmed that spatial and local environmental factors worked together to shape epigaeic beetle communities along the geographic gradient in the Inner Mongolia grassland. Moreover, the climate features, especially precipitation, water-energy balance and temperature, and the interaction between climate with space and environmental heterogeneity appeared to play important roles on controlling richness and abundance, and species compositions of epigaeic beetles.

A Spatial and Temporal analysis of Labour Market Characteristics

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Pośpiech Ewa

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The use of spatial methods is becoming increasingly common in social and economic research as it emphasizes the relevance of spatiality to the understanding of socio-economic facts. Once embraced, the spatial factor can substantially help explain variations in the properties being examined, thus improving the quality of their description and supporting the development of econometric models. This paper explores some of the characteristics of Poland’s job market, making an inquiry into their spatial dependencies. The study looks at the country’s labour market from a local perspective, examining its properties for spatial autocorrelation (both global and local. Linear econometric models are subsequently built for such variables as the number of persons in employment, the number of women and men in employment. The models are further investigated to assess the applicability of spatial modelling in their development.

Local perturbations perturb—exponentially–locally

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De Roeck, W.; Schütz, M.

2015-01-01

We elaborate on the principle that for gapped quantum spin systems with local interaction, “local perturbations [in the Hamiltonian] perturb locally [the groundstate].” This principle was established by Bachmann et al. [Commun. Math. Phys. 309, 835–871 (2012)], relying on the “spectral flow technique” or “quasi-adiabatic continuation” [M. B. Hastings, Phys. Rev. B 69, 104431 (2004)] to obtain locality estimates with sub-exponential decay in the distance to the spatial support of the perturbation. We use ideas of Hamza et al. [J. Math. Phys. 50, 095213 (2009)] to obtain similarly a transformation between gapped eigenvectors and their perturbations that is local with exponential decay. This allows to improve locality bounds on the effect of perturbations on the low lying states in certain gapped models with a unique “bulk ground state” or “topological quantum order.” We also give some estimate on the exponential decay of correlations in models with impurities where some relevant correlations decay faster than one would naively infer from the global gap of the system, as one also expects in disordered systems with a localized groundstate

Estimating the Impact of Urbanization on Air Quality in China Using Spatial Regression Models

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Chuanglin Fang

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Urban air pollution is one of the most visible environmental problems to have accompanied China’s rapid urbanization. Based on emission inventory data from 2014, gathered from 289 cities, we used Global and Local Moran’s I to measure the spatial autorrelation of Air Quality Index (AQI values at the city level, and employed Ordinary Least Squares (OLS, Spatial Lag Model (SAR, and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR to quantitatively estimate the comprehensive impact and spatial variations of China’s urbanization process on air quality. The results show that a significant spatial dependence and heterogeneity existed in AQI values. Regression models revealed urbanization has played an important negative role in determining air quality in Chinese cities. The population, urbanization rate, automobile density, and the proportion of secondary industry were all found to have had a significant influence over air quality. Per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP and the scale of urban land use, however, failed the significance test at 10% level. The GWR model performed better than global models and the results of GWR modeling show that the relationship between urbanization and air quality was not constant in space. Further, the local parameter estimates suggest significant spatial variation in the impacts of various urbanization factors on air quality.

The effect of local hydrodynamics on the spatial extent and morphology of cold-water coral habitats at Tisler Reef, Norway

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De Clippele, L. H.; Huvenne, V. A. I.; Orejas, C.; Lundälv, T.; Fox, A.; Hennige, S. J.; Roberts, J. M.

2018-03-01

This study demonstrates how cold-water coral morphology and habitat distribution are shaped by local hydrodynamics, using high-definition video from Tisler Reef, an inshore reef in Norway. A total of 334 video frames collected on the north-west (NW) and south-east (SE) side of the reef were investigated for Lophelia pertusa coral cover and morphology and for the cover of the associated sponges Mycale lingua and Geodia sp. Our results showed that the SE side was a better habitat for L. pertusa (including live and dead colonies). Low cover of Geodia sp. was found on both sides of Tisler Reef. In contrast, Mycale lingua had higher percentage cover, especially on the NW side of the reef. Bush-shaped colonies of L. pertusa with elongated branches were the most abundant coral morphology on Tisler Reef. The highest abundance and density of this morphology were found on the SE side of the reef, while a higher proportion of cauliflower-shaped corals with short branches were found on the NW side. The proportion of very small L. pertusa colonies was also significantly higher on the SE side of the reef. The patterns in coral spatial distribution and morphology were related to local hydrodynamics—there were more frequent periods of downwelling currents on the SE side—and to the availability of suitable settling substrates. These factors make the SE region of Tisler Reef more suitable for coral growth. Understanding the impact of local hydrodynamics on the spatial extent and morphology of coral, and their relation to associated organisms such as sponges, is key to understanding the past and future development of the reef.

Performance of the local health system and contingent influences in Northeast-Brazil: breaking vicious and virtuous circles

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Regianne Leila Rolim Medeiros

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Organizational theory has long emphasized the importance of contingent, environmental influences on organizational performance. Similarly, research has demonstrated the importance of local political culture and informal management on the performance of the local health system, establishing vicious and virtuous circles of influence that contribute to increasing inequalities in performance among decentralized local health systems. A longitudinal ethnography studied the relationship between these elements in the same rural municipality in Northeast Brazil after a four-year interval. The second study found the local health system performance much improved. Two main factors appear to have interacted to bring this about: leadership vision and power to implement of one individual; professionalization of the local health system by hiring a significant number of senior health staff. The origins of these influences combine initiatives at local, state and federal levels.

Employment Effects of Spatial Dispersal of Refugees

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Damm, Anna Piil; Rosholm, Michael

Spatial dispersal policies may influence labour market integration of refugees through two mechanisms. First, it may affect the local job offer arrival rate, and second, it may affect place utility. We investigate the second mechanism theoretically by formulating a partial search model in which a...... due to large local reservation wage effects. We investigate both mechanisms empirically and test the predictions of the theoretical model by evaluating the employment effects of the Danish spatial dispersal policy carried out 1986-1998....

Relating Local to Global Spatial Knowledge: Heuristic Influence of Local Features on Direction Estimates

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Daniel W.; Montello, Daniel R.

2015-01-01

Previous research has examined heuristics--simplified decision-making rules-of-thumb--for geospatial reasoning. This study examined at two locations the influence of beliefs about local coastline orientation on estimated directions to local and distant places; estimates were made immediately or after fifteen seconds. This study goes beyond…

Quality of Governance and Local Development: The Case of Top Nine Performing Local Government Units in the Philippines

OpenAIRE

MA. NIÑA I. ADRIANO

2014-01-01

There is a large body of literature that studies the link between good governance and development in a country level. However, only a few have exploited the same study in the local government unit (LGU) setting. This study attempts to establish the relationship between the quality of governance and the state of local development of the Top 9 Performing LGUs in the Philippines (La Union, Albay, Cavite, Ilocos Norte, Makati City Valenzuela City, Taguig City, Davao City and Angeles C...

Spatial and temporal distribution of onroad CO2 emissions at the Urban spatial scale

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Y.; Gurney, K. R.; Zhou, Y.; Mendoza, D. L.

2011-12-01

The Hestia Project is a multi-disciplinary effort to help better understand the spatial and temporal distribution of fossil fuel carbon dioxide (CO2) emission at urban scale. Onroad transportation is an essential source of CO2 emissions. This study examines two urban domains: Marion County (Indianapolis) and Los Angeles County and explores the methods and results associated with the spatial and temporal distribution of local urban onroad CO2 emissions. We utilize a bottom-up approach and spatially distribute county emissions based on the Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) counts provided by local Department of Transportation. The total amount of CO2 emissions is calculated by the National Mobile Inventory Model (NMIM) for Marion County and the EMission FACtors (EMFAC) model for Los Angeles County. The NMIM model provides CO2 emissions based on vehicle miles traveled (VMT) data at the county-level from the national county database (NCD). The EMFAC model provides CO2 emissions for California State based on vehicle activities, including VMT, vehicle population and fuel types. A GIS road atlas is retrieved from the US Census Bureau. Further spatial analysis and integration are performed by GIS software to distribute onroad CO2 emission according to the traffic volume. The temporal allocation of onroad CO2 emission is based on the hourly traffic data obtained from the Metropolitan Planning Orgnizations (MPO) for Marion County and Department of Transportation for Los Angeles County. The annual CO2 emissions are distributed according to each hourly fraction of traffic counts. Due to the fact that ATR stations are unevenly distributed in space, we create Thiessen polygons such that each road segment is linked to the nearest neighboring ATR station. The hourly profile for each individual station is then combined to create a "climatology" of CO2 emissions in time on each road segment. We find that for Marion County in the year 2002, urban interstate and arterial roads have

Cost analysis of injection laryngoplasty performed under local anaesthesia versus general anaesthesia: an Australian perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Chandran, D; Woods, C M; Schar, M; Ma, N; Ooi, E H; Athanasiadis, T

2018-02-01

To conduct a cost analysis of injection laryngoplasty performed in the operating theatre under local anaesthesia and general anaesthesia. The retrospective study included patients who had undergone injection laryngoplasty as day cases between July 2013 and March 2016. Cost data were obtained, along with patient demographics, anaesthetic details, type of injectant, American Society of Anesthesiologists score, length of stay, total operating theatre time and surgeon procedure time. A total of 20 cases (general anaesthesia = 6, local anaesthesia = 14) were included in the cost analysis. The mean total cost under general anaesthesia (AU$2865.96 ± 756.29) was significantly higher than that under local anaesthesia (AU$1731.61 ± 290.29) (p costs. Procedures performed under local anaesthesia in the operating theatre are associated with shorter operating theatre time and length of stay in the hospital, and provide significant cost savings. Further savings could be achieved if local anaesthesia procedures were performed in the office setting.

Spatial normalization of array-CGH data

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Brennetot Caroline

2006-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Array-based comparative genomic hybridization (array-CGH is a recently developed technique for analyzing changes in DNA copy number. As in all microarray analyses, normalization is required to correct for experimental artifacts while preserving the true biological signal. We investigated various sources of systematic variation in array-CGH data and identified two distinct types of spatial effect of no biological relevance as the predominant experimental artifacts: continuous spatial gradients and local spatial bias. Local spatial bias affects a large proportion of arrays, and has not previously been considered in array-CGH experiments. Results We show that existing normalization techniques do not correct these spatial effects properly. We therefore developed an automatic method for the spatial normalization of array-CGH data. This method makes it possible to delineate and to eliminate and/or correct areas affected by spatial bias. It is based on the combination of a spatial segmentation algorithm called NEM (Neighborhood Expectation Maximization and spatial trend estimation. We defined quality criteria for array-CGH data, demonstrating significant improvements in data quality with our method for three data sets coming from two different platforms (198, 175 and 26 BAC-arrays. Conclusion We have designed an automatic algorithm for the spatial normalization of BAC CGH-array data, preventing the misinterpretation of experimental artifacts as biologically relevant outliers in the genomic profile. This algorithm is implemented in the R package MANOR (Micro-Array NORmalization, which is described at http://bioinfo.curie.fr/projects/manor and available from the Bioconductor site http://www.bioconductor.org. It can also be tested on the CAPweb bioinformatics platform at http://bioinfo.curie.fr/CAPweb.

The Role of Visual-Spatial Abilities in Dyslexia: Age Differences in Children's Reading?

Science.gov (United States)

Giovagnoli, Giulia; Vicari, Stefano; Tomassetti, Serena; Menghini, Deny

2016-01-01

Reading is a highly complex process in which integrative neurocognitive functions are required. Visual-spatial abilities play a pivotal role because of the multi-faceted visual sensory processing involved in reading. Several studies show that children with developmental dyslexia (DD) fail to develop effective visual strategies and that some reading difficulties are linked to visual-spatial deficits. However, the relationship between visual-spatial skills and reading abilities is still a controversial issue. Crucially, the role that age plays has not been investigated in depth in this population, and it is still not clear if visual-spatial abilities differ across educational stages in DD. The aim of the present study was to investigate visual-spatial abilities in children with DD and in age-matched normal readers (NR) according to different educational stages: in children attending primary school and in children and adolescents attending secondary school. Moreover, in order to verify whether visual-spatial measures could predict reading performance, a regression analysis has been performed in younger and older children. The results showed that younger children with DD performed significantly worse than NR in a mental rotation task, a more-local visual-spatial task, a more-global visual-perceptual task and a visual-motor integration task. However, older children with DD showed deficits in the more-global visual-perceptual task, in a mental rotation task and in a visual attention task. In younger children, the regression analysis documented that reading abilities are predicted by the visual-motor integration task, while in older children only the more-global visual-perceptual task predicted reading performances. Present findings showed that visual-spatial deficits in children with DD were age-dependent and that visual-spatial abilities engaged in reading varied across different educational stages. In order to better understand their potential role in affecting reading

Phase transitions in local equation-of-state approximation and anomalies of spatial charge profiles in non-uniform plasma

Science.gov (United States)

Chigvintsev, A. Yu; Zorina, I. G.; Noginova, L. Yu; Iosilevskiy, I. L.

2018-01-01

Impressive appearance of discontinuities in equilibrium spatial charge profiles in non-uniform Coulomb systems is under discussions in wide number of thermoelectrostatics problems. Such discontinuities are considered as peculiar micro-level manifestation of phase transitions and intrinsic macro-level non-ideality effects in local equation of state (EOS), which should be used for description of non-ideal ionic subsystem in frames of local-density (or “pseudofluid”, or “jellium” etc) approximation. Such discontinuities were discussed already by the authors for electronic subsystems. Special emphasis is made in present paper on the mentioned above non-ideality effects in non-uniform ionic subsystems, such as micro-ions profile within screening “cloud” around macro-ion in complex (dusty, colloid etc) plasmas, equilibrium charge profile in ionic traps or (and) in the neighborhood vicinity of “charged wall” etc). Multiphase EOS for simplified ionic model of classical charged hard spheres on uniformly compressible electrostatic compensating background was constructed and several illustrative examples of discussed discontinuous ionic profiles were calculated.

Local Competition-Based Superpixel Segmentation Algorithm in Remote Sensing.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jiayin; Tang, Zhenmin; Cui, Ying; Wu, Guoxing

2017-06-12

Remote sensing technologies have been widely applied in urban environments' monitoring, synthesis and modeling. Incorporating spatial information in perceptually coherent regions, superpixel-based approaches can effectively eliminate the "salt and pepper" phenomenon which is common in pixel-wise approaches. Compared with fixed-size windows, superpixels have adaptive sizes and shapes for different spatial structures. Moreover, superpixel-based algorithms can significantly improve computational efficiency owing to the greatly reduced number of image primitives. Hence, the superpixel algorithm, as a preprocessing technique, is more and more popularly used in remote sensing and many other fields. In this paper, we propose a superpixel segmentation algorithm called Superpixel Segmentation with Local Competition (SSLC), which utilizes a local competition mechanism to construct energy terms and label pixels. The local competition mechanism leads to energy terms locality and relativity, and thus, the proposed algorithm is less sensitive to the diversity of image content and scene layout. Consequently, SSLC could achieve consistent performance in different image regions. In addition, the Probability Density Function (PDF), which is estimated by Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) with the Gaussian kernel, is introduced to describe the color distribution of superpixels as a more sophisticated and accurate measure. To reduce computational complexity, a boundary optimization framework is introduced to only handle boundary pixels instead of the whole image. We conduct experiments to benchmark the proposed algorithm with the other state-of-the-art ones on the Berkeley Segmentation Dataset (BSD) and remote sensing images. Results demonstrate that the SSLC algorithm yields the best overall performance, while the computation time-efficiency is still competitive.

Multi-approaches analysis reveals local adaptation in the emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccoides) at macro- but not micro-geographical scale.

Science.gov (United States)

Volis, Sergei; Ormanbekova, Danara; Yermekbayev, Kanat; Song, Minshu; Shulgina, Irina

2015-01-01

Detecting local adaptation and its spatial scale is one of the most important questions of evolutionary biology. However, recognition of the effect of local selection can be challenging when there is considerable environmental variation across the distance at the whole species range. We analyzed patterns of local adaptation in emmer wheat, Triticum dicoccoides, at two spatial scales, small (inter-population distance less than one km) and large (inter-population distance more than 50 km) using several approaches. Plants originating from four distinct habitats at two geographic scales (cold edge, arid edge and two topographically dissimilar core locations) were reciprocally transplanted and their success over time was measured as 1) lifetime fitness in a year of planting, and 2) population growth four years after planting. In addition, we analyzed molecular (SSR) and quantitative trait variation and calculated the QST/FST ratio. No home advantage was detected at the small spatial scale. At the large spatial scale, home advantage was detected for the core population and the cold edge population in the year of introduction via measuring life-time plant performance. However, superior performance of the arid edge population in its own environment was evident only after several generations via measuring experimental population growth rate through genotyping with SSRs allowing counting the number of plants and seeds per introduced genotype per site. These results highlight the importance of multi-generation surveys of population growth rate in local adaptation testing. Despite predominant self-fertilization of T. dicoccoides and the associated high degree of structuring of genetic variation, the results of the QST - FST comparison were in general agreement with the pattern of local adaptation at the two spatial scales detected by reciprocal transplanting.

The Development of Spatial Configuration Processing of Visual Word Forms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chienhui Kao

2011-05-01

Full Text Available The analysis of spatial relationship, or configuration, among the components of a character is important for visual word form recognition (Kao et al., 2010. We investigated such spatial configuration processing in dyslexics and developing populations. Four types of characters: real- and non-characters and their upside-down versions were used in this study. The task of the observers was to determine whether two characters presented on the display were identical. One group of dyslexic children (Dys and two groups of non-dyslexic controls, one (RL matched Dys in reading performance and the other (CA matched in age, were recruited in this study. Dys performed significantly worse than the control groups for all character types, suggesting a worse visual word form processing in dyslexics. For Dys and CA, the proportional correct response for the upright real characters was better than that for their upside-down versions. RL, (which was younger showed the same effect for the non-characters. Since the non-characters disrupts the global configuration while the inverted characters disrupted both local and global configurations, our results suggest that younger children recognize a word with an analysis of the local configuration while older children, regardless of whether they are dyslexics or not, analyze the global configuration.

Effects on ground motion related to spatial variability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vanmarcke, E.H.

1987-01-01

Models of the spectral content and the space-time correlation structure of strong earthquake ground motion are combined with transient random vibration analysis to yield site-specific response spectra that can account for the effect of local spatial averaging of the ground motion across a rigid foundation of prescribed size. The methodology is presented with reference to sites in eastern North America, although the basic approach is applicable to other seismic regions provided the source and attenuation parameters are regionally adjusted. Parameters in the spatial correlation model are based on data from the SMART-I accelerograph array, and the sensitivity of response spectra reduction factors with respect to these parameters is examined. The starting point of the analysis is the Fourier amplitude spectrum of site displacement expresses as a function of earthquake source parameters and source-to-site distance. The bedrock acceleration spectral density function at a point, derived from the displacement spectrum, is modified to account for anelastic attenuation, and where appropriate, for local soil effects and/or local spatial averaging across a foundation. Transient random vibration analysis yields approximate analytical expressions for median ground motion amplitudes and median response spectra of an earthquake defined in terms of its spectral density function and strong motion duration. The methodology is illustrated for three events characterized by their m b magnitude and epicentral distance. The focus in this paper is on the stochastic response prediction methodology enabling explicit accounting for strong motion duration and the effect of local spatial averaging on response spectra. The numerical examples enable a preliminary assessment of the reduction of response spectral amplitudes attributable to local spatial averaging across rigid foundations of different sizes. 36 refs

Application of spatial and non-spatial data analysis in determination of the factors that impact municipal solid waste generation rates in Turkey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Keser, Saniye; Duzgun, Sebnem; Aksoy, Aysegul

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Spatial autocorrelation exists in municipal solid waste generation rates for different provinces in Turkey. ► Traditional non-spatial regression models may not provide sufficient information for better solid waste management. ► Unemployment rate is a global variable that significantly impacts the waste generation rates in Turkey. ► Significances of global parameters may diminish at local scale for some provinces. ► GWR model can be used to create clusters of cities for solid waste management. - Abstract: In studies focusing on the factors that impact solid waste generation habits and rates, the potential spatial dependency in solid waste generation data is not considered in relating the waste generation rates to its determinants. In this study, spatial dependency is taken into account in determination of the significant socio-economic and climatic factors that may be of importance for the municipal solid waste (MSW) generation rates in different provinces of Turkey. Simultaneous spatial autoregression (SAR) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models are used for the spatial data analyses. Similar to ordinary least squares regression (OLSR), regression coefficients are global in SAR model. In other words, the effect of a given independent variable on a dependent variable is valid for the whole country. Unlike OLSR or SAR, GWR reveals the local impact of a given factor (or independent variable) on the waste generation rates of different provinces. Results show that provinces within closer neighborhoods have similar MSW generation rates. On the other hand, this spatial autocorrelation is not very high for the exploratory variables considered in the study. OLSR and SAR models have similar regression coefficients. GWR is useful to indicate the local determinants of MSW generation rates. GWR model can be utilized to plan waste management activities at local scale including waste minimization, collection, treatment, and disposal. At global

Spatial epidemiology of eastern equine encephalitis in Florida.

Science.gov (United States)

Vander Kelen, Patrick T; Downs, Joni A; Stark, Lillian M; Loraamm, Rebecca W; Anderson, James H; Unnasch, Thomas R

2012-11-05

Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus (EEEV) is an alphavirus with high pathogenicity in both humans and horses. Florida continues to have the highest occurrence of human cases in the USA, with four fatalities recorded in 2010. Unlike other states, Florida supports year-round EEEV transmission. This research uses GIS to examine spatial patterns of documented horse cases during 2005-2010 in order to understand the relationships between habitat and transmission intensity of EEEV in Florida. Cumulative incidence rates of EEE in horses were calculated for each county. Two cluster analyses were performed using density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN). The first analysis was based on regional clustering while the second focused on local clustering. Ecological associations of EEEV were examined using compositional analysis and Euclidean distance analysis to determine if the proportion or proximity of certain habitats played a role in transmission. The DBSCAN algorithm identified five distinct regional spatial clusters that contained 360 of the 438 horse cases. The local clustering resulted in 18 separate clusters containing 105 of the 438 cases. Both the compositional analysis and Euclidean distance analysis indicated that the top five habitats positively associated with horse cases were rural residential areas, crop and pastureland, upland hardwood forests, vegetated non-forested wetlands, and tree plantations. This study demonstrates that in Florida tree plantations are a focus for epizootic transmission of EEEV. It appears both the abundance and proximity of tree plantations are factors associated with increased risk of EEE in horses and therefore humans. This association helps to explain why there is are spatially distinct differences in the amount of EEE horse cases across Florida.

Spatially resolved vertical vorticity in solar supergranulation using helioseismology and local correlation tracking

Science.gov (United States)

Langfellner, J.; Gizon, L.; Birch, A. C.

2015-09-01

Flow vorticity is a fundamental property of turbulent convection in rotating systems. Solar supergranules exhibit a preferred sense of rotation, which depends on the hemisphere. This is due to the Coriolis force acting on the diverging horizontal flows. We aim to spatially resolve the vertical flow vorticity of the average supergranule at different latitudes, both for outflow and inflow regions. To measure the vertical vorticity, we use two independent techniques: time-distance helioseismology (TD) and local correlation tracking of granules in intensity images (LCT) using data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). Both maps are corrected for center-to-limb systematic errors. We find that 8 h TD and LCT maps of vertical vorticity are highly correlated at large spatial scales. Associated with the average supergranule outflow, we find tangential (vortical) flows that reach about 10 m s-1 in the clockwise direction at 40° latitude. In average inflow regions, the tangential flow reaches the same magnitude, but in the anticlockwise direction. These tangential velocities are much smaller than the radial (diverging) flow component (300 m s-1 for the average outflow and 200 m s-1 for the average inflow). The results for TD and LCT as measured from HMI are in excellent agreement for latitudes between -60° and 60°. From HMI LCT, we measure the vorticity peak of the average supergranule to have a full width at half maximum of about 13 Mm for outflows and 8 Mm for inflows. This is larger than the spatial resolution of the LCT measurements (about 3 Mm). On the other hand, the vorticity peak in outflows is about half the value measured at inflows (e.g., 4 × 10-6 s-1 clockwise compared to 8 × 10-6 s-1 anticlockwise at 40° latitude). Results from the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) obtained in 2010 are biased compared to the HMI/SDO results for the same period

Predicting habitat suitability for rare plants at local spatial scales using a species distribution model.

Science.gov (United States)

Gogol-Prokurat, Melanie

2011-01-01

If species distribution models (SDMs) can rank habitat suitability at a local scale, they may be a valuable conservation planning tool for rare, patchily distributed species. This study assessed the ability of Maxent, an SDM reported to be appropriate for modeling rare species, to rank habitat suitability at a local scale for four edaphic endemic rare plants of gabbroic soils in El Dorado County, California, and examined the effects of grain size, spatial extent, and fine-grain environmental predictors on local-scale model accuracy. Models were developed using species occurrence data mapped on public lands and were evaluated using an independent data set of presence and absence locations on surrounding lands, mimicking a typical conservation-planning scenario that prioritizes potential habitat on unsurveyed lands surrounding known occurrences. Maxent produced models that were successful at discriminating between suitable and unsuitable habitat at the local scale for all four species, and predicted habitat suitability values were proportional to likelihood of occurrence or population abundance for three of four species. Unfortunately, models with the best discrimination (i.e., AUC) were not always the most useful for ranking habitat suitability. The use of independent test data showed metrics that were valuable for evaluating which variables and model choices (e.g., grain, extent) to use in guiding habitat prioritization for conservation of these species. A goodness-of-fit test was used to determine whether habitat suitability values ranked habitat suitability on a continuous scale. If they did not, a minimum acceptable error predicted area criterion was used to determine the threshold for classifying habitat as suitable or unsuitable. I found a trade-off between model extent and the use of fine-grain environmental variables: goodness of fit was improved at larger extents, and fine-grain environmental variables improved local-scale accuracy, but fine-grain variables

Transient performance of integrated SOFC system including spatial temperature control

OpenAIRE

Mueller, F; Fardadi, M; Shaffer, B; Brouwer, J; Jabbari, F

2010-01-01

Spatial temperature feedback control has been developed for a simulated integrated non-pressurized simple cycle solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system. The fuel cell spatial temperature feedback controller is based on (1) feed-forward set-points that minimize temperature variation in the fuel cell electrode-electrolyte solid temperature profile for the system operating power range, and (2) decentralized proportional-integral based feedback to maintain the fuel cell spatial temperature profile du...

Localization from near-source quasi-static electromagnetic fields

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mosher, John Compton [Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)

1993-09-01

A wide range of research has been published on the problem of estimating the parameters of electromagnetic and acoustical sources from measurements of signals measured at an array of sensors. In the quasi-static electromagnetic cases examined here, the signal variation from a point source is relatively slow with respect to the signal propagation and the spacing of the array of sensors. As such, the location of the point sources can only be determined from the spatial diversity of the received signal across the array. The inverse source localization problem is complicated by unknown model order and strong local minima. The nonlinear optimization problem is posed for solving for the parameters of the quasi-static source model. The transient nature of the sources can be exploited to allow subspace approaches to separate out the signal portion of the spatial correlation matrix. Decomposition techniques are examined for improved processing, and an adaptation of MUtiple SIgnal Characterization (MUSIC) is presented for solving the source localization problem. Recent results on calculating the Cramer-Rao error lower bounds are extended to the multidimensional problem here. This thesis focuses on the problem of source localization in magnetoencephalography (MEG), with a secondary application to thunderstorm source localization. Comparisons are also made between MEG and its electrical equivalent, electroencephalography (EEG). The error lower bounds are examined in detail for several MEG and EEG configurations, as well as localizing thunderstorm cells over Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center. Time-eigenspectrum is introduced as a parsing technique for improving the performance of the optimization problem.

Regionalisation of a distributed method for flood quantiles estimation: Revaluation of local calibration hypothesis to enhance the spatial structure of the optimised parameter

Science.gov (United States)

Odry, Jean; Arnaud, Patrick

2016-04-01

here is to develop a SHYREG evaluation scheme focusing on both local and regional performances. Indeed, it is necessary to maintain the accuracy of at site flood quantiles estimation while identifying a configuration leading to a satisfactory spatial pattern of the calibrated parameter. This ability to be regionalised can be appraised by the association of common regionalisation techniques and split sample validation tests on a set of around 1,500 catchments representing the whole diversity of France physiography. Also, the presence of many nested catchments and a size-based split sample validation make possible to assess the relevance of the calibrated parameter spatial structure inside the largest catchments. The application of this multi-objective evaluation leads to the selection of a version of SHYREG more suitable for regionalisation. References: Arnaud, P., Cantet, P., Aubert, Y., 2015. Relevance of an at-site flood frequency analysis method for extreme events based on stochastic simulation of hourly rainfall. Hydrological Sciences Journal: on press. DOI:10.1080/02626667.2014.965174 Aubert, Y., Arnaud, P., Ribstein, P., Fine, J.A., 2014. The SHYREG flow method-application to 1605 basins in metropolitan France. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 59(5): 993-1005. DOI:10.1080/02626667.2014.902061

Local Spatial Analysis and Dynamic Simulation of Childhood Obesity and Neighbourhood Walkability in a Major Canadian City.

Science.gov (United States)

Shahid, Rizwan; Bertazzon, Stefania

2015-01-01

Body weight is an important indicator of current and future health and it is even more critical in children, who are tomorrow's adults. This paper analyzes the relationship between childhood obesity and neighbourhood walkability in Calgary, Canada. A multivariate analytical framework recognizes that childhood obesity is also associated with many factors, including socioeconomic status, foodscapes, and environmental factors, as well as less measurable factors, such as individual preferences, that could not be included in this analysis. In contrast with more conventional global analysis, this research employs localized analysis and assesses need-based interventions. The one-size-fit-all strategy may not effectively control obesity rates, since each neighbourhood has unique characteristics that need to be addressed individually. This paper presents an innovative framework combining local analysis with simulation modeling to analyze childhood obesity. Spatial models generally do not deal with simulation over time, making it cumbersome for health planners and policy makers to effectively design and implement interventions and to quantify their impact over time. This research fills this gap by integrating geographically weighted regression (GWR), which identifies vulnerable neighbourhoods and critical factors for childhood obesity, with simulation modeling, which evaluates the impact of the suggested interventions on the targeted neighbourhoods. Neighbourhood walkability was chosen as a potential target for localized interventions, owing to the crucial role of walking in developing a healthy lifestyle, as well as because increasing walkability is relatively more feasible and less expensive then modifying other factors, such as income. Simulation results suggest that local walkability interventions can achieve measurable declines in childhood obesity rates. The results are encouraging, as improvements are likely to compound over time. The results demonstrate that the

Local Spatial Analysis and Dynamic Simulation of Childhood Obesity and Neighbourhood Walkability in a Major Canadian City

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rizwan Shahid

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Body weight is an important indicator of current and future health and it is even more critical in children, who are tomorrow’s adults. This paper analyzes the relationship between childhood obesity and neighbourhood walkability in Calgary, Canada. A multivariate analytical framework recognizes that childhood obesity is also associated with many factors, including socioeconomic status, foodscapes, and environmental factors, as well as less measurable factors, such as individual preferences, that could not be included in this analysis. In contrast with more conventional global analysis, this research employs localized analysis and assesses need-based interventions. The one-size-fit-all strategy may not effectively control obesity rates, since each neighbourhood has unique characteristics that need to be addressed individually. This paper presents an innovative framework combining local analysis with simulation modeling to analyze childhood obesity. Spatial models generally do not deal with simulation over time, making it cumbersome for health planners and policy makers to effectively design and implement interventions and to quantify their impact over time. This research fills this gap by integrating geographically weighted regression (GWR, which identifies vulnerable neighbourhoods and critical factors for childhood obesity, with simulation modeling, which evaluates the impact of the suggested interventions on the targeted neighbourhoods. Neighbourhood walkability was chosen as a potential target for localized interventions, owing to the crucial role of walking in developing a healthy lifestyle, as well as because increasing walkability is relatively more feasible and less expensive then modifying other factors, such as income. Simulation results suggest that local walkability interventions can achieve measurable declines in childhood obesity rates. The results are encouraging, as improvements are likely to compound over time. The results

The effect of egocentric body movements on users' navigation performance and spatial memory in zoomable user interfaces

OpenAIRE

Rädle, Roman; Jetter, Hans-Christian; Butscher, Simon; Reiterer, Harald

2013-01-01

We present two experiments examining the impact of navigation techniques on users’ navigation performance and spatial memory in a zoomable user interface (ZUI). The first experiment with 24 participants compared the effect of egocentric body movements with traditional multi-touch navigation. The results indicate a 47% decrease in path lengths and a 34% decrease in task time in favor of egocentric navigation, but no significant effect on users’ spatial memory immediately after a navigation tas...

Spatial patterns of coral survivorship: impacts of adult proximity versus other drivers of localized mortality

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David A. Gibbs

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Species-specific enemies may promote prey coexistence through negative distance- and density-dependent survival of juveniles near conspecific adults. We tested this mechanism by transplanting juvenile-sized fragments of the brooding corals Pocillopora damicornis and Seriatopora hystrix 3, 12, 24 and 182 cm up- and down-current of conspecific adults and monitoring their survival and condition over time. We also characterized the spatial distribution of P. damicornis and S. hystrix within replicate plots on three Fijian reef flats and measured the distribution of small colonies within 2 m of larger colonies of each species. Juvenile-sized transplants exhibited no differences in survivorship as a function of distance from adult P. damicornis or S. hystrix. Additionally, both P. damicornis and S. hystrix were aggregated rather than overdispersed on natural reefs. However, a pattern of juveniles being aggregated near adults while larger (and probably older colonies were not suggests that greater mortality near large adults could occur over longer periods of time or that size-dependent mortality was occurring. While we found minimal evidence of greater mortality of small colonies near adult conspecifics in our transplant experiments, we did document hot-spots of species-specific corallivory. We detected spatially localized and temporally persistent predation on P. damicornis by the territorial triggerfish Balistapus undulatus. This patchy predation did not occur for S. hystrix. This variable selective regime in an otherwise more uniform environment could be one mechanism maintaining diversity of corals on Indo-Pacific reefs.

The spatial rotator

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmusson, Allan; Hahn, Ute; Larsen, Jytte Overgaard

2013-01-01

This paper presents a new local volume estimator, the spatial rotator, which is based on measurements on a virtual 3D probe, using computer assisted microscopy. The basic design of the probe builds upon the rotator principle which requires only a few manual intersection markings, thus making...

White Matter Microstructure in Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus Associated with Spatial Working Memory Performance in Children

Science.gov (United States)

Vestergaard, Martin; Madsen, Kathrine Skak; Baare, William F. C.; Skimminge, Arnold; Ejersbo, Lisser Rye; Ramsoy, Thomas Z.; Gerlach, Christian; Akeson, Per; Paulson, Olaf B.; Jernigan, Terry L.

2011-01-01

During childhood and adolescence, ongoing white matter maturation in the fronto-parietal cortices and connecting fiber tracts is measurable with diffusion-weighted imaging. Important questions remain, however, about the links between these changes and developing cognitive functions. Spatial working memory (SWM) performance improves significantly…

The modulation of simple reaction time by the spatial probability of a visual stimulus

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Carreiro L.R.R.

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Simple reaction time (SRT in response to visual stimuli can be influenced by many stimulus features. The speed and accuracy with which observers respond to a visual stimulus may be improved by prior knowledge about the stimulus location, which can be obtained by manipulating the spatial probability of the stimulus. However, when higher spatial probability is achieved by holding constant the stimulus location throughout successive trials, the resulting improvement in performance can also be due to local sensory facilitation caused by the recurrent spatial location of a visual target (position priming. The main objective of the present investigation was to quantitatively evaluate the modulation of SRT by the spatial probability structure of a visual stimulus. In two experiments the volunteers had to respond as quickly as possible to the visual target presented on a computer screen by pressing an optic key with the index finger of the dominant hand. Experiment 1 (N = 14 investigated how SRT changed as a function of both the different levels of spatial probability and the subject's explicit knowledge about the precise probability structure of visual stimulation. We found a gradual decrease in SRT with increasing spatial probability of a visual target regardless of the observer's previous knowledge concerning the spatial probability of the stimulus. Error rates, below 2%, were independent of the spatial probability structure of the visual stimulus, suggesting the absence of a speed-accuracy trade-off. Experiment 2 (N = 12 examined whether changes in SRT in response to a spatially recurrent visual target might be accounted for simply by sensory and temporally local facilitation. The findings indicated that the decrease in SRT brought about by a spatially recurrent target was associated with its spatial predictability, and could not be accounted for solely in terms of sensory priming.

Performance of locally formulated feeds for rearing of African catfish ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Fisheries is an important food production sub-sector, providing almost 20% of the world's protein supply; however, the trend in fish production from capture fisheries has reached its limits due to overfishing. A study was conducted to evaluate the performance of two locally formulated feeds as possible replacements for an ...

20 CFR 666.420 - Under what circumstances may a sanction be applied to local areas for poor performance?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... applied to local areas for poor performance? 666.420 Section 666.420 Employees' Benefits EMPLOYMENT AND... sanction be applied to local areas for poor performance? (a) If a local area fails to meet the levels of... achieving poor levels of performance; or (3) Requires other appropriate measures designed to improve the...

Attentional reorienting triggers spatial asymmetries in a search task with cross-modal spatial cueing.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca E Paladini

Full Text Available Cross-modal spatial cueing can affect performance in a visual search task. For example, search performance improves if a visual target and an auditory cue originate from the same spatial location, and it deteriorates if they originate from different locations. Moreover, it has recently been postulated that multisensory settings, i.e., experimental settings, in which critical stimuli are concurrently presented in different sensory modalities (e.g., visual and auditory, may trigger asymmetries in visuospatial attention. Thereby, a facilitation has been observed for visual stimuli presented in the right compared to the left visual space. However, it remains unclear whether auditory cueing of attention differentially affects search performance in the left and the right hemifields in audio-visual search tasks. The present study investigated whether spatial asymmetries would occur in a search task with cross-modal spatial cueing. Participants completed a visual search task that contained no auditory cues (i.e., unimodal visual condition, spatially congruent, spatially incongruent, and spatially non-informative auditory cues. To further assess participants' accuracy in localising the auditory cues, a unimodal auditory spatial localisation task was also administered. The results demonstrated no left/right asymmetries in the unimodal visual search condition. Both an additional incongruent, as well as a spatially non-informative, auditory cue resulted in lateral asymmetries. Thereby, search times were increased for targets presented in the left compared to the right hemifield. No such spatial asymmetry was observed in the congruent condition. However, participants' performance in the congruent condition was modulated by their tone localisation accuracy. The findings of the present study demonstrate that spatial asymmetries in multisensory processing depend on the validity of the cross-modal cues, and occur under specific attentional conditions, i.e., when

Support for distinct subcomponents of spatial working memory: a double dissociation between spatial-simultaneous and spatial-sequential performance in unilateral neglect.

Science.gov (United States)

Wansard, Murielle; Bartolomeo, Paolo; Bastin, Christine; Segovia, Fermín; Gillet, Sophie; Duret, Christophe; Meulemans, Thierry

2015-01-01

Over the last decade, many studies have demonstrated that visuospatial working memory (VSWM) can be divided into separate subsystems dedicated to the retention of visual patterns and their serial order. Impaired VSWM has been suggested to exacerbate left visual neglect in right-brain-damaged individuals. The aim of this study was to investigate the segregation between spatial-sequential and spatial-simultaneous working memory in individuals with neglect. We demonstrated that patterns of results on these VSWM tasks can be dissociated. Spatial-simultaneous and sequential aspects of VSWM can be selectively impaired in unilateral neglect. Our results support the hypothesis of multiple VSWM subsystems, which should be taken into account to better understand neglect-related deficits.

Eco-evolutionary spatial dynamics in the Glanville fritillary butterfly.

Science.gov (United States)

Hanski, Ilkka A

2011-08-30

Demographic population dynamics, gene flow, and local adaptation may influence each other and lead to coupling of ecological and evolutionary dynamics, especially in species inhabiting fragmented heterogeneous environments. Here, I review long-term research on eco-evolutionary spatial dynamics in the Glanville fritillary butterfly inhabiting a large network of approximately 4,000 meadows in Finland. The metapopulation persists in a balance between frequent local extinctions and recolonizations. The genetic spatial structure as defined by neutral markers is much more coarse-grained than the demographic spatial structure determined by the fragmented habitat, yet small-scale spatial structure has important consequences for the dynamics. I discuss three examples of eco-evolutionary spatial dynamics. (i) Extinction-colonization metapopulation dynamics influence allele frequency changes in the phosphoglucose isomerase (Pgi) gene, which leads to strong associations between genetic variation in Pgi and dispersal, recolonization, and local population dynamics. (ii) Inbreeding in local populations increases their risk for extinction, whereas reciprocal effects between inbreeding, population size, and emigration represent likely eco-evolutionary feedbacks. (iii) Genetically determined female oviposition preference for two host plant species exhibits a cline paralleling a gradient in host plant relative abundances, and host plant preference of dispersing females in relation to the host plant composition of habitat patches influences immigration (gene flow) and recolonization (founder events). Eco-evolutionary spatial dynamics in heterogeneous environments may not lead to directional evolutionary changes unless the environment itself changes, but eco-evolutionary dynamics may contribute to the maintenance of genetic variation attributable to fluctuating selection in space and time.

Illumination robust face recognition using spatial adaptive shadow compensation based on face intensity prior

Science.gov (United States)

Hsieh, Cheng-Ta; Huang, Kae-Horng; Lee, Chang-Hsing; Han, Chin-Chuan; Fan, Kuo-Chin

2017-12-01

Robust face recognition under illumination variations is an important and challenging task in a face recognition system, particularly for face recognition in the wild. In this paper, a face image preprocessing approach, called spatial adaptive shadow compensation (SASC), is proposed to eliminate shadows in the face image due to different lighting directions. First, spatial adaptive histogram equalization (SAHE), which uses face intensity prior model, is proposed to enhance the contrast of each local face region without generating visible noises in smooth face areas. Adaptive shadow compensation (ASC), which performs shadow compensation in each local image block, is then used to produce a wellcompensated face image appropriate for face feature extraction and recognition. Finally, null-space linear discriminant analysis (NLDA) is employed to extract discriminant features from SASC compensated images. Experiments performed on the Yale B, Yale B extended, and CMU PIE face databases have shown that the proposed SASC always yields the best face recognition accuracy. That is, SASC is more robust to face recognition under illumination variations than other shadow compensation approaches.

Spatial memory performance in androgen insensitive male rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Bryan A; Watson, Neil V

2005-06-02

Masculinization of the developing rodent brain critically depends on the process of aromatization of circulating testosterone (T) to its estrogenic metabolite 17beta-estradiol, which subsequently interacts with estrogen receptors to permanently masculinize the brain. However, it remains unclear what role other androgenic mechanisms may play in the process of masculinization. A novel way of examining this is through the study of male rats that express the tfm mutation of the androgen receptor (AR) gene; such males are fully androgen insensitive and manifest a female phenotype due to a failure of AR-mediated masculinization of peripheral structures. Because tfm-affected males develop secretory testes and have near-normal T titers during development, aromatization would be expected to proceed normally, and brain mechanisms may be developmentally masculinized despite the feminized periphery. We compared tfm-affected males (X(tfm)Y) with normal males and females in the Morris Water Maze, a task in which males typically perform better than females. Performance of tfm-affected males was intermediate between that of normal males and females. While an overall male superiority was found in the task, the X(tfm)Y group reached male-typical escape latencies faster than females. Furthermore, in the X(tfm)Y group, the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus was significantly larger than in females. These results support the suggestion that that AR mediated mechanisms contribute to the masculinization of spatial behaviours and hippocampal morphology, and this may be independent of estrogenic processes.

Local-scale spatial variation in diversity of social wasps in an Amazonian rain forest in Caxiuanã, Pará, Brazil (Hymenoptera, Vespidae, Polistinae

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Orlando Tobias Silveira

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Polistine wasps are important in Neotropical ecosystems due to their ubiquity and diversity. Inventories have not adequately considered spatial attributes of collected specimens. Spatial data on biodiversity are important for study and mitigation of anthropogenic impacts over natural ecosystems and for protecting species. We described and analyzed local-scale spatial patterns of collecting records of wasp species, as well as spatial variation of diversity descriptors in a 2500-hectare area of an Amazon forest in Brazil. Rare species comprised the largest fraction of the fauna. Close range spatial effects were detected for most of the more common species, with clustering of presence-data at short distances. Larger spatial lag effects could also be identified in some species, constituting probably cases of exogenous autocorrelation and candidates for explanations based on environmental factors. In a few cases, significant or near significant correlations were found between five species (of Agelaia, Angiopolybia, and Mischocyttarus and three studied environmental variables: distance to nearest stream, terrain altitude, and the type of forest canopy. However, association between these factors and biodiversity variables were generally low. When used as predictors of polistine richness in a linear multiple regression, only the coefficient for the forest canopy variable resulted significant. Some level of prediction of wasp diversity variables can be attained based on environmental variables, especially vegetation structure. Large-scale landscape and regional studies should be scheduled to address this issue.

The occipital place area represents the local elements of scenes.

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Kamps, Frederik S; Julian, Joshua B; Kubilius, Jonas; Kanwisher, Nancy; Dilks, Daniel D

2016-05-15

Neuroimaging studies have identified three scene-selective regions in human cortex: parahippocampal place area (PPA), retrosplenial complex (RSC), and occipital place area (OPA). However, precisely what scene information each region represents is not clear, especially for the least studied, more posterior OPA. Here we hypothesized that OPA represents local elements of scenes within two independent, yet complementary scene descriptors: spatial boundary (i.e., the layout of external surfaces) and scene content (e.g., internal objects). If OPA processes the local elements of spatial boundary information, then it should respond to these local elements (e.g., walls) themselves, regardless of their spatial arrangement. Indeed, we found that OPA, but not PPA or RSC, responded similarly to images of intact rooms and these same rooms in which the surfaces were fractured and rearranged, disrupting the spatial boundary. Next, if OPA represents the local elements of scene content information, then it should respond more when more such local elements (e.g., furniture) are present. Indeed, we found that OPA, but not PPA or RSC, responded more to multiple than single pieces of furniture. Taken together, these findings reveal that OPA analyzes local scene elements - both in spatial boundary and scene content representation - while PPA and RSC represent global scene properties. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Magpies can use local cues to retrieve their food caches.

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Feenders, Gesa; Smulders, Tom V

2011-03-01

Much importance has been placed on the use of spatial cues by food-hoarding birds in the retrieval of their caches. In this study, we investigate whether food-hoarding birds can be trained to use local cues ("beacons") in their cache retrieval. We test magpies (Pica pica) in an active hoarding-retrieval paradigm, where local cues are always reliable, while spatial cues are not. Our results show that the birds use the local cues to retrieve their caches, even when occasionally contradicting spatial information is available. The design of our study does not allow us to test rigorously whether the birds prefer using local over spatial cues, nor to investigate the process through which they learn to use local cues. We furthermore provide evidence that magpies develop landmark preferences, which improve their retrieval accuracy. Our findings support the hypothesis that birds are flexible in their use of memory information, using a combination of the most reliable or salient information to retrieve their caches. © Springer-Verlag 2010

Spatial Analysis and Safety Assessment of Social and Economic Development of Small and Medium Cities

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Elena Anatolyevna Orekhova

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the spatial patterns of socio-economic development of small and medium-sized cities in the Volgograd region. We know that small and medium-sized cities as spatial socio-economic systems are not only the support frame of settlement, but the main “engine” of innovative impulses for the surrounding periphery. The scientific novelty of the study consists in the effort to implement a spatial approach to the assessment of the economic security of small and medium-sized cities (SCR. The content of the economic security of cities is determined by two system characteristics of the socio-economic system: economic activity (EA and quality of life (QL of the urban population, or SCR = F (EA; QL. For finding spatial patterns in GIS, great interest is in investigating the environment of each city by calculating the local statistical characteristics of geo-variability which allow assessing trends of spatial variation of the six components of security (human security, technosphere safety, environmental safety, etc., local variations in emissions and their values indicators Ki. The successful solution of these problems is possible with the use of tools of exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA in ARCGIS, and in particular, the Voronoy maps. The spatial approach has allowed to perform an integrated assessment of the economic security and to evaluate safety risks in small and medium-sized cities of the Volgograd region with the security system of indicators.

A Measure Based on Beamforming Power for Evaluation of Sound Field Reproduction Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chang, Ji-ho; Jeong, Cheol-Ho

2017-01-01

This paper proposes a measure to evaluate sound field reproduction systems with an array of loudspeakers. The spatially-averaged squared error of the sound pressure between the desired and the reproduced field, namely the spatial error, has been widely used, which has considerable problems in two...... conditions. First, in non-anechoic conditions, room reflections substantially deteriorate the spatial error, although these room reflections affect human localization to a lesser degree. Second, for 2.5-dimensional reproduction of spherical waves, the spatial error increases consistently due...... to the difference in the amplitude decay rate, whereas the degradation of human localization performance is limited. The measure proposed in this study is based on the beamforming powers of the desired and the reproduced fields. Simulation and experimental results show that the proposed measure is less sensitive...

LiDAR based prediction of forest biomass using hierarchical models with spatially varying coefficients

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Babcock, Chad; Finley, Andrew O.; Bradford, John B.; Kolka, Randall K.; Birdsey, Richard A.; Ryan, Michael G.

2015-01-01

Many studies and production inventory systems have shown the utility of coupling covariates derived from Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data with forest variables measured on georeferenced inventory plots through regression models. The objective of this study was to propose and assess the use of a Bayesian hierarchical modeling framework that accommodates both residual spatial dependence and non-stationarity of model covariates through the introduction of spatial random effects. We explored this objective using four forest inventory datasets that are part of the North American Carbon Program, each comprising point-referenced measures of above-ground forest biomass and discrete LiDAR. For each dataset, we considered at least five regression model specifications of varying complexity. Models were assessed based on goodness of fit criteria and predictive performance using a 10-fold cross-validation procedure. Results showed that the addition of spatial random effects to the regression model intercept improved fit and predictive performance in the presence of substantial residual spatial dependence. Additionally, in some cases, allowing either some or all regression slope parameters to vary spatially, via the addition of spatial random effects, further improved model fit and predictive performance. In other instances, models showed improved fit but decreased predictive performance—indicating over-fitting and underscoring the need for cross-validation to assess predictive ability. The proposed Bayesian modeling framework provided access to pixel-level posterior predictive distributions that were useful for uncertainty mapping, diagnosing spatial extrapolation issues, revealing missing model covariates, and discovering locally significant parameters.

Spatial-attention and emotional evocation: line bisection performance and visual art emotional evocation.

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Drago, Valeria; Finney, Glen R; Foster, Paul S; Amengual, Alejandra; Jeong, Yong; Mizuno, Tomoiuki; Crucian, Gregory P; Heilman, Kenneth M

2008-03-01

Lesion studies demonstrate that the right temporal-parietal region (RTP) is important for mediating spatial attention. The RTP is also involved in emotional experiences that can be evoked by art. Normal people vary in their ability to allocate spatial attention, thus, people who can better allocate attention might also be more influenced by the emotional messages of the paintings (evocative impact). Seventeen healthy participants bisected an unlabeled 100mm line and their performance on this task was used to create two groups, individuals who were more (mALB) and less accurate (lALB). These participants also judged 10 paintings on five qualities, Evocative Impact, Aesthetics, Novelty, Technique, and Closure by marking a 100mm line from 1 (low degree) to 10 (high degree). An ANOVA indicated differences in accuracy on the line bisection (LB) between the two groups. Additional ANOVAs, using the quality ratings as the dependent measure, revealed that the mALB group scored the Evocative Impact greater than the lALB group. These results suggest that the differences in attentional bias between the two groups, as indicated by their LB performance, might influence their evocative impact or reactions and also be a 'barometer' of other RTP functions, including emotional processing.

Localized spin-wave modes in a triangular magnetic element studied by micro-focused Brillouin light scattering

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hwang, S.; Kwon, J.-H. [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 61005 (Korea, Republic of); Grünberg, P. [Grünberg Center for Magnetic Nanomaterials, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 61005 (Korea, Republic of); Cho, B.K., E-mail: chobk@gist.ac.kr [School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST), Gwangju 61005 (Korea, Republic of)

2017-09-01

Highlights: • Direct evidence of localized mode in a triangular nano-magnet using μ-BLS. • Localized regions are identified by the internal field distribution. • The spatially resolved measurement was performed to obtain 2-D intensity map. • Spin modes in same positions can be distinguish comparing with simulated spectrum. • Localized modes were identified by comparing with the simulated spatial profiles. - Abstract: Localized spin-wave modes, which were thermally excited at a specific position in a triangular magnetic element, were investigated using micro-focused Brillouin light scattering in two saturated states, the buckle and Y-states, with an applied magnetic field of 0.24 T parallel and perpendicular to the basal edge, respectively. The measured frequency spectrum at a specific beam spot position, rather than an integrated spectrum, was analyzed by comparing it with the simulation data at a precisely selected position within the beam spot area. The analyzed results were used to plot a two-dimensional intensity map and simulation spatial profile to verify the validity of the analysis. From the analysis process, two localized spin-wave modes in a triangular magnetic element were successfully identified near the apex region in the buckle state and near the basal edge region in the Y-state.

Effects of some dopamine antagonists on spatial memory performance in rats--experimental research.

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Rusu, Gabriela; Popa, Gratiela; Ochiuz, Lacramioara; Nechifor, M; Tartau, Liliana

2014-01-01

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter with an important role in forming long-lasting memories for some time, especially in episodic memory. Literature data show that dopamine receptor stimulation may be detrimental to spatial working memory functions in lab animals. (R)-(+)-7-Chloro-8-hydroxy-3-methyl-1-phenyl-2,3,4,5-tetrahydro-1H-3-benzazepine hydrochloride derivative--SCH-23390 is a synthetic compound that acts as a selective, high-affinity antagonist of D1 receptors. Experimental studies suggest that SCH 23390 may prevent the spatial working memory disturbances induced by the active substances of marijuana. Melperone is an atypic antipsychotic drug presenting also dopaminergic D2 and 5-HT2A receptor antagonistic activity. This neuroleptic agent is used in the treatment of some types of schizophrenia. Experimental research on the effects of two dopamine receptor antagonists on spatial memory performance in rats. The experiment was carried out in white Wistar rats (200-250g), divided into 3 groups of 7 animals each, treated intraperitoneally with the same volume of solution for 14 days, as follows: Group I (Control): saline solution 0.1 ml/10g kbw; Group II (coded SCH): SCH-23390 0.3 mg/kbw; Group III (coded MLP): melperone 2 mg/kbw. The dopaminergic agent spatial memory performance was assessed by recording spontaneous alternation behavior in a single session in Y-maze. Each animal was placed at the end of one arm and allowed to move freely through the maze during an 8 min session. Alternation was defined as a consecutive entry in three different arms. The alternation percentage was computed with the following formula: number of alternations divided by total number of arm visits minus 2. Data were presented as +/- standard deviation and significance was tested by SPSS Statistics for Windows version 13.0 and ANOVA method. P-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant compared to those in the control group. Experimental researches were carried out in

Analyzing Local Government Financial Performance: Evidence from Brazilian Municipalities 2005-2008

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Ricardo Corrêa Gomes

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Municipality size has become an issue since the New Public Management doctrine of disaggregating structures into manageable units. In some countries, this doctrine led to the creation of small-scale agencies relying heavily upon transfers from upper-level governments. This paper aims to contribute to performance management literature by providing empirical evidence about some determinant factors that are likely to endow local governments with superior financial performance. Data came from a sample of Brazilian municipalities and refers to the period 2005-2008. The main conclusion of this investigation is that larger cities are more likely to manage revenue and expenditure better than are smaller cities, which aligns with the discussion of amalgamation versus fragmentation. This conclusion stems from the findings that in small municipalities mayors have fewer conditions to improve financial performance due to the difficulty of raising and collecting taxes and of reducing expenditures, which makes their administrations far more dependent upon external sources of money. Therefore, this dependent relationship can be seen as the cause of poor financial performance to the extent that it lowers mayoral discretion when making decisions. Another contribution this paper proposes to theory and practice relates to the fact that in the strong-mayor form of local government, mayoral qualification is likely to have little effect upon performance.

Spatially-Heterodyned Holography

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Thomas, Clarence E [Knoxville, TN; Hanson, Gregory R [Clinton, TN

2006-02-21

A method of recording a spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram, including spatially heterodyne fringes for Fourier analysis, includes: splitting a laser beam into a reference beam and an object beam; interacting the object beam with an object; focusing the reference beam and the object beam at a focal plane of a digital recorder to form a spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram including spatially heterodyne fringes for Fourier analysis; digital recording the spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram; Fourier transforming axes of the recorded spatially low-frequency heterodyne hologram including spatially heterodyne fringes in Fourier space to sit on top of a heterodyne carrier frequency defined by an angle between the reference beam and the object beam; cutting off signals around an origin; and performing an inverse Fourier transform.

Fluid intellingence and spatial reasoning as predictors of pilot training performance in the South African Air Force (SAAF

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François de Kock

2009-04-01

Full Text Available Pilot selection is a form of high-stakes selection due to the massive costs of training, high trainee ability requirements and costly repercussions of poor selection decisions. This criterion-related validation study investigated the predictive ability of fluid intelligence and spatial reasoning in predicting three criteria of pilot training performance, using an accumulated sample of South African Air Force pilots (N = 108. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses with training grade achieved as criterion were performed for each of the phases of training, namely practical flight training, ground school training, and officers’ formative training. Multiple correlations of 0.35 (p 0.05 and 0.23 (p > 0.05 were obtained for flight, ground school and formative training results, respectively. Spatial ability had incremental validity over fluid intelligence for predicting flight training performance.

Exploring spatial patterns in the associations between local AIDS incidence and socioeconomic and demographic variables in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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Alves, André T J; Nobre, Flavio F; Waller, Lance A

2016-05-01

Access to antiretroviral therapy (ART), universally provided in Brazil since 1996, resulted in a reduction in overall morbidity and mortality due to AIDS or AIDS-related complications, but in some municipalities of Rio de Janeiro, AIDS incidence remains high. Public health surveillance remains an invaluable tool for understanding current AIDS epidemiologic patterns and local socioeconomic and demographic factors associated with increased incidence. Geographically Weighted Poisson Regression (GWPR) explores spatial varying impacts of these factors across the study area focusing attention on local variations in ecological associations. The set of sociodemographic variables under consideration revealed significant associations with local AIDS incidence and these associations varied geographically across the study area. We find the effects of predictors on AIDS incidence are not constant across the state, contrary to assumptions in the global models. We observe and quantify different local factors driving AIDS incidence in different parts of the state. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Spatial infinity in higher dimensional spacetimes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shiromizu, Tetsuya; Tomizawa, Shinya

2004-01-01

Motivated by recent studies on the uniqueness or nonuniqueness of higher dimensional black hole spacetime, we investigate the asymptotic structure of spatial infinity in n-dimensional spacetimes (n≥4). It turns out that the geometry of spatial infinity does not have maximal symmetry due to the nontrivial Weyl tensor (n-1) C abcd in general. We also address static spacetime and its multipole moments P a 1 a 2 ···a s . Contrasting with four dimensions, we stress that the local structure of spacetimes cannot be unique under fixed multipole moments in static vacuum spacetimes. For example, we consider the generalized Schwarzschild spacetimes which are deformed black hole spacetimes with the same multipole moments as spherical Schwarzschild black holes. To specify the local structure of the static vacuum solution we need some additional information, at least the Weyl tensor (n-2) C abcd at spatial infinity

Group social rank is associated with performance on a spatial learning task.

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Langley, Ellis J G; van Horik, Jayden O; Whiteside, Mark A; Madden, Joah R

2018-02-01

Dominant individuals differ from subordinates in their performances on cognitive tasks across a suite of taxa. Previous studies often only consider dyadic relationships, rather than the more ecologically relevant social hierarchies or networks, hence failing to account for how dyadic relationships may be adjusted within larger social groups. We used a novel statistical method: randomized Elo-ratings, to infer the social hierarchy of 18 male pheasants, Phasianus colchicus , while in a captive, mixed-sex group with a linear hierarchy. We assayed individual learning performance of these males on a binary spatial discrimination task to investigate whether inter-individual variation in performance is associated with group social rank. Task performance improved with increasing trial number and was positively related to social rank, with higher ranking males showing greater levels of success. Motivation to participate in the task was not related to social rank or task performance, thus indicating that these rank-related differences are not a consequence of differences in motivation to complete the task. Our results provide important information about how variation in cognitive performance relates to an individual's social rank within a group. Whether the social environment causes differences in learning performance or instead, inherent differences in learning ability predetermine rank remains to be tested.

Performance Analysis of Local Ensemble Kalman Filter

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Tong, Xin T.