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Holocaust and Gulag studies are witnessing the belated emergence of the Soviet experience of Jewish escapees from Nazi-occupied Poland as a lieu de mémoire in its own right. Although not commemorated in official ritual, museum spaces, or memorial sites, the sheer mass of published testimonies by survivors of this experience far outweighs the previous lack of attention to the refugees' story. It was the agency of the refugee survivors themselves which subsequently put their Soviet experience on the mnemonic map of World War II. This article discusses both the reasons for that lack of attention and the current growing interest in their accounts. It proposes a typology based on questions of victimhood and perpetratorship, analyzed through the contrast between the way the Jewish exiles in the USSR interpreted their experiences and how those who experienced the Holocaust directly interpreted theirs. The article thus asks, whose victims did the refugees consider themselves, the Germans' or the Soviets'? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations have announced 17 Sustainable Development Goals and 169 targets, which are indivisible and integrated, and which balance the economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. This indicates that the performance of successful nations is generally good across many sustainability indicators. Our results, based on multi-criteria and statistical analysis across 173 countries, suggest an interconnection between a country's sustainability 12 indicators and success. This article focuses on the Country Success and Sustainability (CSS) Maps and Models of the World, which show that improvements in environmental, social, and economic sustainability indicators lead to improvements in the country's success, and vice versa. The CSS Models explain 98.2% of national success and 80.8% of the three dimensions of average sustainability dispersions. When a nation's success increases by 1%, the 12 indicators of the three dimensions of sustainability improve by 0.85% on average. The human development index and GDP per capita were the success variables with the most substantial impact on 12 sustainability indicators in 173 countries. Calculations made using equal and different weights of 17 criteria show a deviation of 5.34% for the priorities of these 173 countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Featured Application: This paper presents a real implementation at the national level of a Geographic Information System (GIS)-based expert system used for historic cultural record keeping and archeological heritage protection. The project is publicly available at www.archterr.ro and was supported by a grant from the Romanian Ministry of Research and Innovation. This paper presents the results of an experimental-demonstrative research project summarizing three integrated products: an interactive digital map; a reference and record keeping database system; and a set of procedures to enforce the unified application of archaeological heritage protection legislation in Romania. The web-based application constitutes a permanent working tool available to the Romanian Ministry of Culture territorial branch offices, and is freely accessible to specialists and other entities involved in the protection of archaeological heritage, and even to private investors interested in development on land areas having archaeological heritage. The application brings together the organization, systematization, and digitization of all available information about archaeological sites at the national level. This information is otherwise difficult to access because it is structured differently in terms of quantity and quality of data, and stored using different media and formats in several types of non-interconnected institutions. The ArchTerr application significantly reduces the time required to inform, verify, and communicate a decision regarding the presence or absence of archaeological heritage on a particular site. The application ensures the dynamic and automatic real-time bidirectional conversion of geospatial information (Stereo70 and WGS84), and access to unitary and level-structured information, and provides interoperability with other information systems. High-resolution maps allow the non-professional user/investor to access detailed geospatial information about a delimited area, in a timely manner and without the need for field travel, which is a unique feature not found in other European record systems concerning archeological sites. The functionalities of the application developed within the research project, the technical decisions taken, and their implementation method are generally valid. They can be applied in any geographical region because the open source maps used by the technical team cover the world map and the coordinate system used for representation is international. The testing and validation of these functionalities were undertaken using real archaeological data from Romania (data already included in the national heritage representing archaeological sites). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Photovoltaics (PV) and Solar Thermal (ST) collectors are sometimes competitors, as investment capacity, energy demand, and roof space are limited. Therefore, a ratio that quantifies the difference in annual energy output between ST and PV for different locations is useful. A market survey assessing the average price and performance both in 2013 and 2021 was conducted, showing a factor of 3 cell price decrease combined with a 20% efficiency increase, while ST showed negligible variation. Winsun simulations were conducted, and the results were plotted on the world map. Despite variations due to local climate, the ratio of energy production (ST/PV) increases at lower latitudes mainly due to (a) higher air temperature increasing ST output but decreasing the PV output; (b) solar radiation reducing ST efficiency to zero while having a minor impact on PV efficiency. The ratio was calculated for several ST operating temperatures. For latitudes lower than 66°, the ratio of a flat plate at 50 °C to a PV module ranges from 1.85 to 4.46, while the ratio between a vacuum tube at 50 °C and a PV module ranges from 3.05 to 4.76. This ratio can support the decision between installing ST or PV while combining different factors such as energy value, system complexity, and installation cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noma (cancrum oris) is a severely debilitating orofacial disease. The global annual incidence and prevalence figures of noma are outdated and were not based on epidemiological studies. Therefore, we systematically reviewed the scientific literature about the prevalence, incidence, and reported global distribution of noma. We searched ten databases and Google Scholar from 1950 up to Sept 23, 2020. We used an adapted Newcastle-Ottawa scale for quality assessment of the studies we included. Epidemiological data could be extracted from eight publications. Because of the differences in quality and the limited geographical range of the studies, no new estimate of the global incidence and prevalence of noma could be calculated. Our updated world map indicates that patients with noma were diagnosed in at least 23 countries in the past decade. Additionally, we identified a strong focality, with most cases being reported from only a few countries in west Africa. This systematic review has identified a striking scarcity of research and surveillance programmes considering noma. We argue that a first step to noma elimination should be the inclusion of noma in the WHO list of neglected tropical diseases, followed by broad-based integrated control programmes aiming at noma elimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automated agricultural operations must be planned and organized to reduce risk and failure potential while optimizing productivity and efficiency. However, the diversity of natural outdoor environments and the varied data types and volumes required to represent an agricultural setting comprise critical challenges for the deployment of fully automated agricultural operations. In this regard, this study develops an integrated system for enabling an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) supported route planning system for unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) in the semi-structured environment of orchards. The research focus is on the underpinning planning system components (i.e., world representation or map generation or perception and path planning). In particular, the system comprises a digital platform that receives as input a geotagged depiction of an orchard, which is obtained by a UAV. The pre-processed data define the agri-field's tracks that are transformed into a grid-based map capturing accessible areas. The grid map is then used to generate a topological path planning solution. Subsequently, the solution is translated into a sequence of coordinates that define the calculated optimal path for the UGV to traverse. The applicability of the developed system was validated in routing scenarios in a walnuts' orchard using a UGV. The contribution of the proposed system entails noise reduction techniques for the accurate representation of a semi-deterministic agricultural environment for enabling accuracy in the route planning of utilized automated machinery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to map the landscape of risk faced by each country with respect to the presence and prosperity of informal fund transfer (IFT) systems. This study constructed a composite indicator to assess IFT risks of the 121 countries. The IFT risk that this study intended to gauge is not crime risk(s) that IFT systems cause but risk that IFT systems operate and prosper in given countries. The IFT risk indicator was developed with eleven variables extracted from public domain datasets regarding migration, access to formal financial institutions, AML/CFT measures, and societal attitudes towards informality. Routine activity theory was used to derive the factors associated with IFT risk. This study found that the level of IFT risk is associated with their levels of economic development. The main advantage of the IFT risk indicator is that it can gauge 'nuanced' differences in IFT risks among countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate urban morphology provided by Local Climate Zones (LCZ), a universal surface classification scheme, offers opportunities for studies of urban heat risk, urban ventilation, and transport planning. In recent years, researchers have attempted to generate LCZ maps worldwide with the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT). However, the accuracy of LCZ mapping is not satisfactory and cannot fulfill the quality demands of practical usage. Here, we constructed a high-quality sample dataset from Chinese cities and presented a patch-based classification framework that employs chessboard segmentation and multi-seasonal images for LCZ mapping. Compared with the latest WUDAPT method, the overall accuracy for all LCZ types (OA) and urban LCZ types (OAu) of our framework increased by about 10% and 9%, respectively. Furthermore, based on the analysis of population distribution, we first gave the population density of different built-up LCZs of Chinese cities and found a hierarchical effect of population density among built-up LCZs in different size cities. In summary, this study could serve as a valuable reference for producing high-quality LCZ maps and understanding population distribution patterns in built-up LCZ types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the Cameron Aquatic Projection, a novel concept designed to depict the world's surface hydrosphere as it is, a continuous unbroken unit including oceans and rivers. After a review of related past projections, the paper will describe the parameters of the projection, according to the existing layout of surface water on Planet Earth. This description of the design principles is followed by the mathematical realization of the proposal. The article concludes with completed examples of the projection and suggests future applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates a phenomenon observed in parent–infant psychotherapy (PIP). Metaphors emerge in the analyst and, once voiced, they can become tools for understanding the present predicament of mother and/or child. The article contains vignettes from work with a mother and her son, four weeks old when PIP started. They are followed by a vignette of an adult analysand. In both settings, the analyst found himself in an impasse, until he came up with a metaphor expressed to the mother and the analysand, respectively. The paper investigates why PIP experiences might inspire an analyst to suggest metaphors to adult patients as well and thence to understand their suffering better. Aspects of linguistic theory underlining the infantile roots of metaphors are submitted as well as other analysts' views of using metaphors at work. It describes how the validity of a metaphor – whether it expresses something essential about the patient's internal world – should be assessed by following up his/her response to it. It defends the position that metaphor, if used with parsimony and sobriety, is a valuable tool in enabling the patient to map their internal world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Debris flows, and landslides in general, are worldwide catastrophic phenomena. As world population and urbanization grow in magnitude and geographic coverage, the need exists to extend focus, research, and modeling to a continental and global scale. Although debris flow behavior and parameters are local phenomena, sound generalizations can be applied to debris flow susceptibility analyses at larger geographic extents based on these criteria. The focus of this research is to develop a global debris flow susceptibility map by modeling at both a continental scale for all continents and by a single global model and determine whether a global model adequately represents each continent. Probability Density, Conditional Probability, Certainty Factor, Frequency Ratio, and Maximum Entropy statistical models were developed and evaluated for best model performance using fourteen environmental factors generally accepted as the most appropriate debris flow predisposing factors. Global models and models for each continent were then developed and evaluated against verification data. The comparative analysis demonstrates that a single global model performs comparably or better than individual continental models for a majority of the continents, resulting in a debris flow susceptibility map of the world useful for in-depth research, international planning, and future debris flow susceptibility modeling and determining societal impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues for a moderate form of essentialism about indexical thought (also known as de se, first-person, or egocentric thought). According to this moderate essentialism, there is a significant category of intentional action that necessarily involves indexical thought. This category of action is navigation, that is, intentionally moving from one location to another by using public information about the world such as a map or a set of directions. It is shown that anti-essentialists face a challenge in accounting for this kind of action without accepting the involvement of indexical thought or something equivalent. The conclusion that navigation necessarily requires indexical thought is neutral on the strong essentialist claim that there is a special class of indexical propositional attitudes that mandate rejecting standard theories of propositional attitudes. The conclusion is also neutral on the strong essentialist claim that any kind of intentional action necessarily requires indexical thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main thesis in this article is that the Axis of Resistance, at the center of which is the Palestinian struggle for liberation against the settler-colonial entity (Zionist entity) in Palestine, leads the fight against imperialism in West Asia. This struggle must be situated in its regional and global context. West Asia (and North Africa) is a region in which rivalry and animosity among regional and global state and non-state actors have accelerated since the beginning of the twenty-first century. The US, in collaboration with NATO, has sought to dominate the region, beginning with the demise of the USSR in 1990, but increasingly so since 2000. A critical point in the discussion is the organic relationship between the US and the Zionist entity in Palestine, which was created to keep the Arab East and West Asia, in general, within the Western imperialist fold. Multiple wars, uprisings and instability have transpired that can best be explained in the context of global capitalism dominated by the US as a singular player leading a pliable Europe and more often than not succeeding in arranging the political map of the world in its own image. Challenges to a unilateral globalizing world soon followed complicating the international scene militarily, politically, and economically. A consequence of this development has been an increasingly unstable international situation. This confluence of events compelled state and non-state actors in West Asia that belong to the Axis of Resistance to tread gingerly and weigh their moves so as not to come, at least prematurely, into direct conflict with US hegemony. In this milieu, the Zionist entity in Palestine stepped up the oppression of the Palestinian people and ramped up their ethnic cleansing and confiscation of Palestinian lands. While the Palestinian liberation movement had benefited from the relationship between it and the regional front against US global hegemony, considerations and calculations of this front often compelled it to readjust its tactical (and sometimes strategic) considerations to maintain the global alliance opposing US hegemony. Taking advantage of this reality the Zionist entity continues to increase the pressure on the Palestinians while attempting to degrade the capabilities of the Resistance front in clear support of US regional strategy. In May 2021 the Palestinian Resistance forced the settler-colonial entity to temporarily retreat from effecting its settler-colonial machinations in Palestine. In May 2022 the Palestinians, building on the successes of their confrontation with the existential enemy have thwarted imperialist, Zionist, and reactionary Arab calculations to defeat them. A plethora of recent examples demonstrated this point. Currently, facts on the ground show that the Palestinian Resistance has opposed regional compromise and capitulation to Western imperialism by some state actors. This opposition to US imperial strategy is the sine qua non for a dynamic confrontation by the Axis of Resistance in West Asia to defeat the US hegemon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The map of the world made by Lopo Homem in 1519 depicts the world Ocean, under the names OCCEANUS MERIDIONALIS and INDICUM MARE, enclosed by the three classical continents, Europe, Asia and Africa, and the New World including the austral TERRA INCOGNITA. This configuration was apparently drawn from the description of the world given by Duarte Pacheco Pereira in 1508 and set out in his since lost map. Other world maps of this type are that shown on the 1525 tapestry by Bernaert van Orley and Georg Wezeler, and on the 1513 world map of Piri Reis. It is argued here that Homem's map represented a stage in cartographical history when Ptolemy's enclosed Indian Ocean was enlarged to become an enclosed world Ocean until, following Magellan's expedition, it was recognized that the Ocean was much larger than the authority of the Biblical Fourth Book of Esdras had ascribed to it, and that indeed it did surround the continental parts of the Earth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Studies about Language / Kalbu Studijos is the property of Studies about Language / Kalbu Studijos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Wind-induced loads and motions play a critical role in designing tall buildings and their lateral structural systems. Building configuration represented by its outer shape is a key parameter in determining these loads and structural responses. However, contemporary architecture trends towards creating taller buildings with more complex geometrical shapes to offer unique designs that become a signature on the map of the world. As a result, evaluating wind-induced motions on such structures becomes more challenging to be evaluated and predicted. This paper presents a computational performance-based aerodynamic optimization with minor imposed modifications that have little to no impact on architectural and structural design intent. The developed tool aims to assist both architects and engineers to seek a sustainable optimal design decision at the early stage of design by employing different computational technological tools in an automated manner. A computational optimization methodology consisting of a computational fluid dynamic coupled with finite element analysis and embedded within a radial basis function surrogate model is proposed to mitigate wind-induced loads on tall buildings. In addition, a numerical example implementing the proposed methodology on selected case study is presented and discussed. The proposed approach was able to achieve a minimization of 13.83% and 23.12% for along-wind and across-wind loads, respectively, which is translated to a reduction in structural response by 12.95% and 14.31% in maximum deflection for along-wind and across-wind directions, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My laboratory's research on lipids has focused on phospholipases and lipidomics and in many ways has evolved in parallel to the evolution of the lipid field over the past half century. I have reviewed our research elsewhere. Herein, I describe the "side stories" or "outtakes" that parallel the main story that focuses on our laboratory's research. I will emphasize the importance of community activities and describe how I came to initiate and lead the international effort on the Lipid Metabolites and Pathways Strategy (LIPID MAPS). Several of these side activities had a significant effect on discoveries in my laboratory research and its evolution as well as contributing significantly to the development of the LIPID MAPS initiative. These included experience and influences from serving as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Lipid Research and Chair and President of the Keystone Symposia on Cell and Molecular Biology as well as other experiences in organizing lipid conferences, teaching on lipid structure and mechanism, and earlier formative administrative and leadership experiences. The relevant influences are summarized herein. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CONCLUSION We singled out a special category, Borgesian maps, and contrasted it with Carrollian maps and ordinary maps, projections, and GPS assisted navigation devices. Were foreshadowed by Carrollian maps, but differ from these in an important sense. [Colour figure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com] gl USEFUL BORGESIAN MAPS The world's cities contain Borgesian maps of laws that regulate space. [Extracted from the article]

Promoting active and healthy aging in urban spaces requires environments with diverse, age-friendly characteristics. This scoping review investigated the associations between urban characteristics and active and healthy aging as identified by citizen science (CS) and other participatory approaches. Using a systematic scoping review procedure, 23 articles employing a CS or participatory approach (participant age range: 54–98 years) were reviewed. An inductive and deductive thematic analysis was completed to (a) identify local urban barriers and facilitators and (b) map them against the World Health Organization (WHO) Checklist of Essential Features of Age-Friendly Cities. A new Citizen Science Appraisal Tool (CSAT) was developed to evaluate the quality of CS and other participatory approaches included in the reviewed articles. A range of interconnected urban barriers and facilitators was generated by residents across the personal (e.g. perceived safety), environmental (e.g. unmaintained infrastructure), socio-cultural (e.g. cross-cultural activities), economic (e.g. affordable housing) and political (e.g. governmental support to migrant communities) domains. Mapping the barriers and facilitators to the WHO age-friendly checklist underscored the checklist's relevance and elucidated the need to explore barriers for migrant and cross-cultural communities and neighborhood development and alterations. The CSAT demonstrated strengths related to active engagement of residents and study outcomes leading to real-world implications. To advance the potential of CS to enrich our understanding of age-friendly environments, employing co-production to enhance relevance and sustainability of outcomes is an important strategy. Overall, employing CS highlighted the value of systematically capturing the experiences of older adults within studies aimed at promoting active and healthy aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an in-depth situation in the Kranj District at the height of the Information Bureau dispute between 1948 and 1953. The conflict between the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia caused turmoil on the world political map. The consequences of the conflict were not only global but also hit organizations at the very bottom of the party hierarchy. The party organizations in the Kranj District were determined to search for possible "undesirable elements" more carefully. However, at the same time, at least at the beginning, they did not want to turn too sharply against the Soviet Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modeling the hemispherical night sky brightness of anthropogenic origin is a demanding computational challenge, due to the intensive calculations required to produce all-sky maps with fine angular resolution including high-order scattering effects. We present in this letter a physically consistent, semi-analytic two-parameter model of the all-sky radiance produced by an artificial light source that encodes efficiently the spectral radiance in all directions of the sky above the observer. The two parameters of this function are derived from the state of the atmosphere, the distance to the observer, and the source's angular and spectral emission pattern. The anthropogenic all-sky radiance at any place on Earth can be easily calculated by adding up the contributions of the surrounding artificial sources, using the information available from nighttime satellite imagery and ground-truth lighting inventories. This opens the way for the elaboration of a global world map of the artificial all-sky brightness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Interdisciplinary Studies of Literature is the property of Interdisciplinary Studies of Literature Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Listeria monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, and people with hypoimmunity such as pregnant women, infants and fetuses are at high risk of invasive infection. Although the incidence of listeriosis is low, the fatality rate is high. Therefore, continual surveillance and rapid epidemiological investigation are crucial for addressing L. monocytogenes. Because of the popularity of next-generation sequencing, obtaining the whole-genome sequence of a bacterium is easy. Several genome-based typing methods are available, and core-genome multilocus sequence typing (cgMLST) is the most recognized methods. Using cgMLST typing to compare L. monocytogenes whole-genome sequences (WGS) with those obtained across distinct regions is beneficial. However, the concern is how to incorporate the powerful cgMLST method into investigations, such as by using source tracing. Herein, we present an easy-to-use web service called–LmTraceMap (http://lmtracemap.cgu.edu.tw/hua%5fmap/test/upload.php; http://120.126.17.192/hua%5fmap/test/upload.php) that can help public-health professionals rapidly trace closely related isolates worldwide and visually inspect them in search results on a world map with labeled epidemiological data. We expect the proposed service to improve the convenience of public health investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban growth, typified by conversion from natural to built-up impervious surfaces, is known to cause warming and associated adverse impacts. Local climate zones present a standardized technique for evaluating the implications of urban land use and surface changes on temperatures of the overlying atmosphere. In this study, long term changes in local climate zones of the Bulawayo metropolitan city were used to assess the influence of the city's growth on its thermal characteristics. The zones were mapped using the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tool (WUDAPT) procedure while Landsat data were used to determine temporal changes. Data were divided into 1990 to 2005 and 2005 to 2020 temporal splits and intensity analysis used to characterize transformation patterns at each interval. Results indicated that growth of the built local climate zones (LCZ) in Bulawayo was faster in the 1990 to 2005 interval than the 2005 to 2020. Transition level intensity analysis showed that growth of built local climate zones was more prevalent in areas with water, low plants and dense forest LCZ in both intervals. There was a westward growth of light weight low rise built LCZ category than eastern direction, which could be attributed to high land value in the latter. Low plants land cover type experienced a large expansion of light weight low rise buildings than the compact low rise, water, and open low-rise areas. The reduction of dense forest was mainly linked to active expansion of low plants in the 2005 to 2020 interval, symbolizing increased deforestation and vegetation clearance. In Bulawayo's growth, areas where built-up LCZs invade vegetation and wetlands have increased anthropogenic warming (i.e., Surface Urban Heat Island intensities) in the city. This study demonstrates the value of LCZs in among others creating a global urban land use land cover database and assessing the influence of urban growth pattern on urban thermal characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, discontinuities and major tectonic boundaries are interpreted in and around Türkiye by Bouguer gravity anomaly. The World Gravity Map 2012 is used for the interpretation of major tectonic features in the Anatolia Region. Radial average power spectrum (RAPS) and band-pass filter are used for long and short wavelength separation. For the whole study area, four depth segments are detected. Moreover, the radial average depths of these depth segments are 54.9 km, 32.2 km, 21.9 km and 8.0 km. In order to conduct better interpretation, the study area was divided into three subareas from the west to the east (area 1 to area 3). In area 1 (41.4 km, 21.2 km and 7.8 km) and area 2 (48.1 km, 20.0 km and 6.6 km), three depth sources are detected. Furthermore, four various depth segments are analysed in area 3 (54.3 km, 29.8 km, 20.8 km and 8.6 km). The interpretation of the whole study area, area 1, area 2 and area 3 showed that depth of the sediment accumulation in the Western Anatolia is estimated as 7.8 km. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The propagation of electromagnetic waves in the troposphere is significantly influenced by atmospheric refractivity and atmospheric ducts. Thus, abundant statistics on atmospheric refractivity and ducts are essential for reliable propagation prediction. In this study, we develop novel digital maps of atmospheric refractivity and atmospheric ducts based on the processing of radiosonde observation (RAOB) data and surface observation (SUOB) data collected from 2005 to 2014, including wet term of surface refractivity, refractivity gradients, and atmospheric ducts. The new digital maps, referred to as RADIO maps are defined as RADIOS and RADIOS2 maps. The RADIOS maps, which are world maps of refractivity gradients and atmospheric ducts, are obtained from data collected at radiosonde stations at 892 sites. The RADIOS2 map, which is a world map of the wet term of surface refractivity, is obtained from data collected at radiosonde and surface stations at 3218 sites. To test the consistency between RADIO maps and ITU-R ERAI (International Telecommunication Union Recommendations employing ERA-Interim (European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts Re-Analysis-interim) reanalysis data for 36 years from 1979 to 2014) maps; a comparison is performed with the cumulative distributions of refractivity gradients at two radiosonde stations. The accuracy of RADIO maps is checked through comparisons with the maximum, mean, and standard deviation of the relative errors, which are obtained from observed values and predicted values, between RADIO maps and ITU-R ERAI maps. Our results show that: 1) RADIOS2 map is consistent with the current ITU-R ERAI map with respect to the wet term of surface refractivity; 2) $\Delta N_{65\,\mathrm {m}}$ (50) and $\beta $ obtained from RADIOS maps are larger than those obtained from ITU-R ERAI maps in low-latitude coastal and marine areas; and 3) comparisons between RADIOS and ITU-R radios_duct maps (i.e., the world digital maps obtained from a 20-year (1977–1996) dataset of 661 radiosonde stations released by ITU-R P.453-14) show that ITU-R radios_duct maps predict lower occurrences of surface and elevated ducts at low latitudes. Overall, this study demonstrated that the new maps based on observations over the past ten years provide more accurate and reliable information than other traditional maps in terms of atmospheric refractivity, refractivity gradients, and atmospheric ducts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an Editorial for the Special Issue titled "OpenStreetMap as a multidisciplinary nexus: perspectives, practices and procedures". The Special Issue is largely based on the talks presented in the 2019 and 2020 editions of the Academic Track at the State of the Map conferences. As such, it represents the most pressing and relevant issues and topics considered by the academic community in relation to OpenStreetMap (OSM)—a global project and community aimed to create and maintain a free and editable database and map of the world. In this Editorial, we survey the papers included in the Special Issue, grouping them into three research perspectives: applications of OSM for studies within other disciplines, OSM data quality, and dynamics in OSM. This survey reveals that these perspectives, while being distinct, are also interrelated. This calls for the formalization of an 'OSM science' that will provide the conceptual grounds to advance the scientific study of OSM, not as a set of individualized efforts but as a unified approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper traces the sixteenth-century addition and removal on maps of a bulge on the southern coast of Chile. Abraham Ortelius was primarily responsible for these changes and many cartographers followed his lead. Then, Ortelius rotated the coastline of Chile from northwest to north. Later, he dropped the latitude of the islands of San Pablo and Isla de los Tiburones down six degrees. He named the Amazon River “Río de las amazons.” Finally, he removed the cities with fake Native-American-sounding names along the Pacific coast of North America. The research underlying this paper examined over seven-hundred sixteenth-century maps made by sixdozen cartographers. This paper cites five-dozen maps by four-dozen cartographers. In the traceability section of this paper, this information was condensed into a traceability diagram, which shows the chronological flow of information among a score of cartographers. Using this information, this paper traced the influence of one cartographer on another: it showed who influenced whom. It showed the spread of knowledge. Ortelius was at the center of most of this knowledge explosion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global Power Prediction Systems prototype version 2021 is presented with its system decomposition, scope, geographical/administrative/power grid decompositions, and similar. "Welcome", "sign-up", "log-in", and "non-registered user main" web-interfaces are designed as draft on Quant UX. Map canvas is given as world political map with/without world power grid layers on QGIS 3.16.7-Hannover. Data input file is prepared based on several sources (1971-2018). It includes minimum and maximum values due to source value differences. 70/30 principle is applied for train/test splitting (training/testing sets: 1971-2003/2004-2018). 10 models are prepared on R version 4.1.1 with RStudio 2021.09.0+351. These are R::base(lm), R::base(glm), R::tidymodels::parsnip(engine("lm")), R::tidymodels::parsnip(engine("glmnet")) with lasso regularization, R::tidymodels::parsnip(engine("glmnet")) with ridge regularization, R::forecast(auto.arima) auto autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA), R::forecast(arima) ARIMA(1,1,2), and ARIMA(1,1,8). Electricity demand in kilowatt-hours at the World level zone for up to 500-years (2019-2519) prediction period with only 1-year interval is forecasted. The best model is the auto ARIMA (mean absolute percentage error MAPE and symmetric mean absolute percentage error SMAPE for minimum and maximum electricity consumption respectively 1,1652; 6,6471; 1,1622; 6,9043). Ex-post and ex-ante plots with 80%-95% confidence intervals are prepared in R::tidyverse::ggplot2. There are 3 alternative scripts (long, short, RStudio Cloud). Their respective runtimes are 41,45; 25,44; and 43,33 seconds. Ex-ante 500-year period (2019-2519) is indicative and informative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Very few researches have been carried out on the Spanish influenza pandemic and its consequences in the territory of Slovakia. Objectives: The paper constitutes an attempt to investigate the second wave of the pandemic between September and December 1918. It aims to reflect on the following questions: when did the outbreak of the pandemic occur in this region?; what measures were taken during the second wave of the Spanish flu in autumn 1918?; to what extent and based on what data can the number of infected and fatalities be determined? Methods: The research is based on the study of archival sources, as well as the local press, and the county periodicals, in which the official number of infections and deaths were published. Results: The first part of the paper is dedicated to the historiographical reflections, and outlines the possible reasons why historiography has not, so far, examined this question. Here it is argued that on the one hand the focus of the Hungarian and the Slovak historiographies were put on presenting the larger political, social, and economic context and consequences of the creation of Czechoslovakia and the history of the Peace Treaty in Trianon, while on the other hand, scholars have to face the lack of accurate statistical data. The second part of the study provides a short overview of the course of the pandemic in Slovakia and try to make estimates on the number of infections and fatalities based on contemporary statistics. Conclusions: Partial data suggest that around 0.5% of the population of Slovakia may have fallen victim to the epidemic. However, the study presents only the current status of the research, and data are not available for all regions of Slovakia at the moment. Therefore, further research is required to map the impact of the world pandemic on Slovakia, in regions that are missing in such analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synoptic remote sensing systems have been broadly used within supervised classification methods to map land use and land cover (LULC). Such methods rely on high quality sets of training data that are able to characterize the target classes. Often, training data is manually generated, either by field campaigns and/or by photointerpretation of ancillary remote sensing imagery. Several authors already proposed methodologies to attenuate such labour-intensive task of generating training data. One of the preferred datasets that are used as input training data is OpenStreetMap (OSM), which aims at creating a publicly available vector map of the world with the input of volunteers. However, OSM data is spatially heterogenous (e.g., capital cities and highly populated areas often have high degrees of completion while unpopulated regions often have a lower degree of completion), where there are still large areas without OSM coverage. In this paper we present a set of experiments that aim at assessing the geographical transferability of satellite image-based segmentation models trained with OSM derived data. To this end, we chose two locations with different OSM coverage and disparate landscape (metropolitan region vs natural park region, in different landscape units), and assess how these models behave when trained in a region and applied in the other. The results show that the mapping of some classes is improved when considering a model trained in a different location. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]