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Multi-drug combinations to treat bacterial populations are at the forefront of approaches for infection control and prevention of antibiotic resistance. Although the evolution of antibiotic resistance has been theoretically studied with mathematical population dynamics models, extensions to spatial dynamics remain rare in the literature, including in particular spatial evolution of multi-drug resistance. In this study, we propose a reaction-diffusion system that describes the multi-drug evolution of bacteria based on a drug-concentration rescaling approach. We show how the resistance to drugs in space, and the consequent adaptation of growth rate, is governed by a Price equation with diffusion, integrating features of drug interactions and collateral resistances or sensitivities to the drugs. We study spatial versions of the model where the distribution of drugs is homogeneous across space, and where the drugs vary environmentally in a piecewise-constant, linear and nonlinear manner. Although in many evolution models, per capita growth rate is a natural surrogate for fitness, in spatially-extended, potentially heterogeneous habitats, fitness is an emergent property that potentially reflects additional complexities, from boundary conditions to the specific spatial variation of growth rates. Applying concepts from perturbation theory and reaction-diffusion equations, we propose an analytical metric for characterization of average mutant fitness in the spatial system based on the principal eigenvalue of our linear problem, λ1. This enables an accurate translation from drug spatial gradients and mutant antibiotic susceptibility traits to the relative advantage of each mutant across the environment. Our approach allows one to predict the precise outcomes of selection among mutants over space, ultimately from comparing their λ1 values, which encode a critical interplay between growth functions, movement traits, habitat size and boundary conditions. Such mathematical understanding opens new avenues for multi-drug therapeutic optimization. Author summary: In this study we develop a framework to model multi-drug resistance evolution in space by combining drug-rescaling arguments with a reaction-diffusion type model. In response to multi-drug environmental gradients, each independent mutant can grow and diffuse following an individual spatially-varying growth function and diffusion rate. Applying concepts from perturbation theory and reaction-diffusion models, we propose an analytical metric to quantify average mutant fitness in the spatial system and to predict the outcome of selection. Our findings highlight that in spatially-extended habitats fitness is an emergent property that potentially integrates many complexities, from boundary conditions to environmental variation, as well as individual growth and diffusion traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Path integration is a powerful navigational mechanism whereby individuals continuously update their distance and angular vector of movement to calculate their position in relation to their departure location, allowing them to return along the most direct route even across unfamiliar terrain. While path integration has been investigated in several terrestrial animals, it has never been demonstrated in aquatic vertebrates, where movement occurs through volumetric space and sensory cues available for navigation are likely to differ substantially from those in terrestrial environments. By performing displacement experiments with Lamprologus ocellatus, we show evidence consistent with fish using path integration to navigate alongside other mechanisms (allothetic place cues and route recapitulation). These results indicate that the use of path integration is likely to be deeply rooted within the vertebrate phylogeny irrespective of the environment, and suggests that fish may possess a spatial encoding system that parallels that of mammals. By performing displacement experiments with Lamprologus ocellatus, we show evidence consistent with fish using path integration to navigate alongside other mechanisms: allothetic place cues and route recapitulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Searching for objects is a common task in daily life and work. For augmented reality (AR) devices without spatial perception systems, the image of the object's last appearance serves as a common search assistance. Compared to using only images as visual cues, videos capturing the process of object placement can provide procedural guidance, potentially enhancing users' search efficiency. However, complete video playback capturing the entire object placement process as visual cues can be excessively lengthy, requiring users to invest significant viewing time. To explore whether segmented or accelerated video playback can still assist users in object retrieval tasks effectively, we conducted a user study. The results indicated that when video playback is covering the first appearance of the object's destination to the object's final appearance (referred to as the destination appearance, DA) and playing at normal speed, search time and cognitive load were significantly reduced. Subsequently, we designed a second user study to evaluate the performance of video playback compared to image cues in object retrieval tasks. The results showed that combining the DA playback starting point with images of the object's last appearance further reduced search time and cognitive load. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and inflammation are the key problems that impede diabetic wound healing. In particular, dressings with ROS scavenging capacity play a crucial role in the process of chronic wound healing. Herein, Zr-based large-pore mesoporous metal–organic frameworks (mesoMOFs) were successfully developed for the construction of spatially organized cascade bioreactors. Natural superoxide dismutase (SOD) and an artificial enzyme were spatially organized in these hierarchical mesoMOFs, forming a cascade antioxidant defense system, and presenting efficient intracellular and extracellular ROS scavenging performance. In vivo experiments demonstrated that the SOD@HMUiO-MnTCPP nanoparticles (S@M@H NPs) significantly accelerated diabetic wound healing. Transcriptomic and western blot results further indicated that the nanocomposite could inhibit fibroblast senescence and ferroptosis as well as the stimulator of interferon genes (STING) signaling pathway activation in macrophages mediated by mitochondrial oxidative stress through ROS elimination. Thus, the biomimetic multi-enzyme cascade catalytic system with spatial ordering demonstrated a high potential for diabetic wound healing, where senescence, ferroptosis, and STING signaling pathways may be potential targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most vigorously debated issues in attention labs concerns the nature of the coupling between the sensory-motor system and covert spatial attention. Proponents of the Premotor Theory of Attention (PToA) claim that attention should be accounted for in terms of motor preparation for goal-directed actions such as eye or hand movements. For others, it is a supramodal psychological entity that is independent of our sensorimotor machinery. Both parties also seek to articulate this controversy in terms of cognitive science as a question of whether attention is embodied or disembodied cognition. The PToA is thought to advocate the embodiment of attention. We, however, are inclined to think that a more nuanced view of this conceptual framework is needed to yield some insights into how radical it actually is in terms of embodied cognition (EC). We argue that PToA still seems to bear some features of weak embodiment. Yet we suggest that it has the potential to build a stronger concept of attention as EC, but somewhat paradoxically this would require giving attention deflationary treatment and reconstructing it in other terms. We propose that the notion of pre-reflective intentionality might serve as an inspiration to this end. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A plant's response to external and internal nitrogen signals/status relies on sensing and signaling mechanisms that operate across spatial and temporal dimensions. From a comprehensive systems biology perspective, this involves integrating nitrogen responses in different cell types and over long distances to ensure organ coordination in real time and yield practical applications. In this prospective review, we focus on novel aspects of nitrogen (N) sensing/signaling uncovered using temporal and spatial systems biology approaches, largely in the model Arabidopsis. The temporal aspects span: transcriptional responses to N-dose mediated by Michaelis-Menten kinetics, the role of the master NLP7 transcription factor as a nitrate sensor, its nitrate-dependent TF nuclear retention, its "hit-and-run" mode of target gene regulation, and temporal transcriptional cascade identified by "network walking." Spatial aspects of N-sensing/signaling have been uncovered in cell type-specific studies in roots and in root-to-shoot communication. We explore new approaches using single-cell sequencing data, trajectory inference, and pseudotime analysis as well as machine learning and artificial intelligence approaches. Finally, unveiling the mechanisms underlying the spatial dynamics of nitrogen sensing/signaling networks across species from model to crop could pave the way for translational studies to improve nitrogen-use efficiency in crops. Such outcomes could potentially reduce the detrimental effects of excessive fertilizer usage on groundwater pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. This review focuses on the novel aspects of nitrogen sensing/signaling as uncovered by temporal and spatial systems biology approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern China, industrialization has formed a critical foundation for the transition to modernization. However, the spatiotemporal evolution patterns and driving mechanisms of urban industrial development in Nanjing from 1840 to 1949 remain unclear. Based on textual historical sources, this study examined the spatiotemporal patterns of urban industrial development in Nanjing from 1840 to 1949 by using spatial analysis methods, GeoDetector, regression models and industrial structure indices. The results reveal the following: (1) The overall spatial distribution pattern of the industry in modern Nanjing exhibited a "one main, one secondary" dual-center "ladle-shaped" arrangement. Over time, industry has expanded from the urban center toward the east and north. (2) The modernization level of different industries was uneven, exhibiting a "center-periphery" spatial pattern. (3) At the micro level, transportation and population density were the primary influencing factors for industrial location, whereas at the macro level, government intervention mainly affected the industrialization pattern. (4) The industrial development pattern in modern Nanjing, in alignment with the "pole-axis" spatial system, serves as a microcosm of China's urban modernization transition. This study represents the application of GIS methods in the humanities and provides valuable insights for urban planning and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Neuro-oncology care in Ontario, Canada has been historically centralized, at times requiring significant travel on the part of patients. Toward observing the goal of patient-centered care and reducing patient burden, 2 additional regional cancer centres (RCC) capable of neuro-oncology care delivery were introduced in 2016. This study evaluates the impact of increased regionalization of neuro-oncology services, from 11 to 13 oncology centers, on healthcare utilization and travel burden for glioblastoma (GBM) patients in Ontario. Methods We present a cohort of GBM patients diagnosed between 2010 and 2019. Incidence of GBM and treatment modalities were identified using provincial health administrative databases. A geographic information system and spatial analysis were used to estimate travel time from patient residences to neuro-oncology RCCs. Results Among the 5242 GBM patients, 79% received radiation as part of treatment. Median travel time to the closest RCC was higher for patients who did not receive radiation as part of treatment than for patients who did (P  = .03). After 2016, the volume of patients receiving radiation at their local RCC increased from 62% to 69% and the median travel time to treatment RCCs decreased (P  = .0072). The 2 new RCCs treated 35% and 41% of patients within their respective catchment areas. Receipt of standard of care, surgery, and chemoradiation (CRT), increased by 11%. Conclusions Regionalization resulted in changes in the healthcare utilization patterns in Ontario consistent with decreased patient travel burden for patients with GBM. Focused regionalization did not come at the cost of decreased quality of care, as determined by the delivery of a standard of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does the mind rely on similar systems of spatial representation for both perception and action? Here, we assessed the format of location representations in two simple spatial localization tasks. In one task, participants simply remembered the location of an item based solely on visual input. In another, participants remembered the location of a point in space based solely on kinesthetic input. Participants' recall errors were more consistent with the use of polar coordinates than Cartesian coordinates in both tasks. Moreover, measures of spatial bias and performance were correlated across modalities. In a subsequent study, we tested the flexibility with which people use polar coordinates to represent space; we show that the format in which the information is presented to participants influences how that information is encoded and the errors that are made as a result. We suggest that polar coordinates may be a common means of representing location information across visual and motor modalities, but that these representations are also flexible in form. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the political transformation initiated in 1989, there has been a continuous discussion in Poland on the directions of reforming the spatial planning system and the principles of shaping space. It has been accompanied by numerous statutory changes. Despite this, the issue of the quality of local space and the importance of urban composition in the spatial policy remain an unresolved, pressing problem requiring new regulations. In the search for these solutions, the historic Ordinance on the Law of Building and Development of Settlements of 1928, which created the system framework in the spatial development of the country reborn after World War I, is of particular importance. 95 years after the promulgation of this regulation, the system solutions adopted at that time as crucial to Poland's spatial development were analyzed. The aim of the study was to identify tools introduced in 1928 for shaping space at the local level, in the nature of operational urban planning instruments. The identified regulations were confronted with contemporary solutions. The results indicate a strongly marginalized range of tools of real space shaping in the current legislation and the need for changes, referring to the solutions identified in the study as a forgotten legacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] We hypothesize that pre-assembled lithographic Brownian seven-fold quasi-crystals (QCs) of colloidal tiles at high densities can exhibit a heptatic liquid quasi-crystal (LQC) phase upon release; such heptatic LQCs can undergo heterogeneous dynamics at different length scales, reflecting the underlying symmetry, corrugation, and hierarchy of local sets of tiles. We design, fabricate, and release a seven-fold QC composed of three differently shaped rhombic tiles using the method of lithographically pre-assembled monolayers (litho-PAMs). High resolution optical microscopy enables spatio-temporal particle tracking of Brownian fluctuations of many tiles in a large area over a long time. We develop an edge-proximity tessellation method for analyzing nearest neighboring particles that can be applied to assemblies and dense systems of complex shapes. A fluctuating heptatic LQC phase is identified at high tile area fractions. Heterogenous dynamics and order at different length scales indicate diverse, hierarchical motif structures. We show that certain motifs can collectively rotate without any cage breaking, leading to alterations of the local tile-structure reminiscent of phason-flips in atomic QCs; this rotation causes a slow decline in the system's spatial order. We anticipate that edge-proximity tessellation will help elucidate phase transitions of other systems made of diverse building blocks having significant geometrical complexity at multiple length scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this research paper, we consider a Leslie–Gower Reaction–Diffusion (RD) model with a predator-driven Allee term in the prey population. We derive conditions for the existence of nontrivial solutions, uniform boundedness, local stability at co-existing equilibrium points, and Hopf bifurcation criteria from the temporal system. We identify sufficient conditions for Turing instability with no-flux boundary condition for the spatial system. Our investigation delves into the analysis of diffusion-induced Turing instability, incorporating stability conditions for the constant steady-state in the spatial model. We also investigate the conditions for the existence and nonexistence of nonconstant steady states in the diffusion-induced model. During numerical simulations, we observe that the predator-driven Allee term is essential for the model to generate Turing structures. Our findings reveal intriguing properties within the RD system, demonstrating its ability to produce patterns within the Turing domain. The simulation confirms that cold–hot spots and stripes-like patterns (a mixture of spots and strips) arises for different strengths of the predation parameter and Allee parameter. In contrast, we observe that for the above threshold value of the Allee parameter, the above-mentioned patterns may disappear from the system. Interestingly, we also observe that the stationary system produces patterns for both large and small amplitudes of perturbation in the vicinity of the Turing boundary. Our research may contribute valuable insights into the Allee effect and enhance our understanding of predator–prey interactions in naturalistic environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this work is to use an efficient and accurate numerical technique based on non-polynomial spline for the solution of the PHI-Four and Allen–Cahn equations. A recent discovery suggests that the PHI-Four equation focuses on its implications for particle physics and the behavior of scalar fields in the quantum realm. In materials science, ongoing research involves using the Allen–Cahn equation to understand and predict the evolution of microstructures in various materials as well as in biophysics. It depicts pattern formation in biological systems and the dynamics of spatial organization in tissues. To obtain an approximate solution of both equations, this technique uses forward differences for the time and cubic non-polynomial spline function for spatial descretization. The stability of the suggested technique is addressed using the von Neumann technique. Convergence test is carried out theoretically to show the order of convergence of the scheme. Some numerical tests are carried out to confirm accuracy and efficiency in terms of absolute error  L R . Convergence rates for different test problems are also computed numerically. Numerical results and simulations obtained are compared with the existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To analyze the performance of Global Positioning System (GPS) Precise Point Positioning (PPP) Ambiguity Resolution (AR) under various ionospheric scintillation environments, we selected GPS data of ionospheric scintillation monitoring receivers (ISMR) and geodetic receivers from high-latitude and low-latitude regions during 2021–2023. We conducted GPS Kinematic PPP using Canadian Spatial Reference System (CSRS) PPP and used the maximum and average values of σ φ and S 4 as indicators to characterize the intensity of phase scintillation and amplitude scintillation for ISMRs, while the maximum and average values of Rate of Total Electron Content Index (ROTI) to characterize the intensity of ionospheric scintillation for geodetic receivers. We also used ambiguity resolved percentage (ARP) and the 3-Dimensional Root Mean Square (3D RMS) of positioning errors as performance metrics for PPP-AR and PPP. As the maximum and average values of ionospheric scintillation indices increase, the PPP-ARP for high-latitude ISMRs decreases to 90.0 %, and the 3D RMS can reach 0.204 m. During ionospheric quiet conditions, positioning accuracy of GPS PPP can reach the cm-mm level. As the geomagnetic latitude decreases, the scintillation effects on PPP-AR and PPP become more pronounced for high-latitude ISMRs. Compared with high-latitudes, ISMRs located at low-latitudes are more severely affected by scintillation, with PPP-ARP at the station HNLW in China and the station UFBA in Brazil dropping to 80.0 % and 60.0 %, respectively. The 3D RMS can reach 0.288 m and 0.341 m. The results of geodetic receives are consistent with those of ISMRs, with 3D RMS of positioning errors up to 0.240 m and 0.256 m for CYNE and MAL2, respectively, while PPP-ARP drops to 60.4 % and 79.6 %. Additionally, we observed a strong positive correlation between ionospheric scintillation duration and the maximum values of σ φ , S 4 and ROTI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research proposes a new comprehensive methodology aimed at optimally managing electric vehicle (EV) charging in an unbalanced distribution system with consideration of grid capacity and voltage quality constraints as well as the stochastic driving and charging behaviour of EV users. A data mining algorithm is designed to generate suitable spatial and temporal EV and charger input data for EV scheduling that is decomposed into two subproblems. The lower‐level subproblem identifies the maximum load at each node and time and the upper‐level subproblem allocates charging slots for each EV being charged. Both subproblems are solved by developed particle swarm optimisation (PSO) algorithms. The effectiveness and robustness of the algorithms have been thoroughly validated by conducting rigorous tests on a modified IEEE 37‐bus distribution system with different EV penetration scenarios. The test results have confirmed the algorithms' performance in accommodating the increasing load associated with EV charging and successfully improving the system performance by maximising the system load factor, minimising load unbalance, and reducing the system power loss. All operational constraints on node voltages, and distribution transformer and feeder capacities of the existing power distribution infrastructure are fully respected while maintaining high user satisfaction represented by the average state of charge (SoC) of all EVs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: View planning for the acquisition of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging remains a demanding task in clinical practice. Purpose: Existing approaches to its automation relied either on an additional volumetric image not typically acquired in clinic routine, or on laborious manual annotations of cardiac structural landmarks. This work presents a clinic‐compatible, annotation‐free system for automatic CMR view planning. Methods: The system mines the spatial relationship—more specifically, locates the intersecting lines—between the target planes and source views, and trains U‐Net‐based deep networks to regress heatmaps defined by distances from the intersecting lines. On the one hand, the intersection lines are the prescription lines prescribed by the technologists at the time of image acquisition using cardiac landmarks, and retrospectively identified from the spatial relationship. On the other hand, as the spatial relationship is self‐contained in properly stored data, for example, in the DICOM format, the need for additional manual annotation is eliminated. In addition, the interplay of the multiple target planes predicted in a source view is utilized in a stacked hourglass architecture consisting of repeated U‐Net‐style building blocks to gradually improve the regression. Then, a multiview planning strategy is proposed to aggregate information from the predicted heatmaps for all the source views of a target plane, for a globally optimal prescription, mimicking the similar strategy practiced by skilled human prescribers. For performance evaluation, the retrospectively identified planes prescribed by the technologists are used as the ground truth, and the plane angle differences and localization distances between the planes prescribed by our system and the ground truth are compared. Results: The retrospective experiments include 181 clinical CMR exams, which are randomly split into training, validation, and test sets in the ratio of 64:16:20. Our system yields the mean angular difference and point‐to‐plane distance of 5.68∘$^\circ$ and 3.12 mm, respectively, on the held‐out test set. It not only achieves superior accuracy to existing approaches including conventional atlas‐based and newer deep‐learning‐based in prescribing the four standard CMR planes but also demonstrates prescription of the first cardiac‐anatomy‐oriented plane(s) from the body‐oriented scout. Conclusions: The proposed system demonstrates accurate automatic CMR view plane prescription based on deep learning on properly archived data, without the need for further manual annotation. This work opens a new direction for automatic view planning of anatomy‐oriented medical imaging beyond CMR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although bioethanol is viewed as a promising alternative to traditional fossil fuels, its commercialization is hindered by high production costs and uncertain policies. This study proposes a novel integrated framework to support decision making in the bioethanol supply‐chain system under complex uncertainties. By considering various geographical, economic, and environmental factors, potentially suitable sites are identified using a geographic information systems‐based (GIS‐based) multi‐criteria decision‐making approach. Then, a two‐stage stochastic, fuzzy, chance‐constrained programming model is developed to determine investment decisions (i.e. site and size of biorefineries) and operational strategies (i.e. production schedule, biomass supply network, etc.) in the face of uncertainties. The proposed research framework is tailored for a case study in Henan Province, China, which suggests the installation of six biorefineries with a total capacity of 679.11 million liters to reduce local carbon emissions by 1.54 million tons. Decision makers with different risk preferences can use this method to find optimal tradeoff strategies between system cost and risk under uncertainties. Sensitivity analysis also reveals that increasing the proportion of bioethanol blending targets is the key exogenous variable to promote the use of local biomass resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cells rely on the ability to sense and respond to small spatial differences in chemoattractant concentrations for survival. There is growing evidence that this is accomplished by setting the signaling system near the threshold for activation in an excitable system and using the spatial heterogeneities to alter the threshold, thereby biasing cell activity in the direction of the gradient. Here we consider a scheme by which the set point is adaptively set near the bifurcation point, but without explicit knowledge of this point. Through simulation, we show that the method would improve chemotactic efficiency of cells. The results of this paper are based on pioneering work by Eduardo Sontag and coworkers, to whom this paper is dedicated in honor of his 70th birthday. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel aerial display system that reconstructs face orientation. The proposed system forms two face images floating in mid‐air. Viewers observe a spatially blended image of the two face images, where the spatial blending ratio depends on the viewing position. Thus, the spatially blended aerial face image is perceived to look in a fixed orientation even if the viewing position is changed within a certain viewing range. We analyze the spatial blending system optical design and show results from our prototype display. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To navigate through the environment, humans must be able to measure both the distance traveled in space, and the interval elapsed in time. Yet, how the brain holds both of these metrics simultaneously is less well known. One possibility is that participants measure how far and how long they have traveled relative to a known reference point. To measure this, we had human participants (n = 24) perform a distance estimation task in a virtual environment in which they were cued to attend to either the spatial or temporal interval traveled while responses were measured with multiband fMRI. We observed that both dimensions evoked similar frontoparietal networks, yet with a striking rostrocaudal dissociation between temporal and spatial estimation. Multivariate classifiers trained on each dimension were further able to predict the temporal or spatial interval traveled, with centers of activation within the SMA and retrosplenial cortex for time and space, respectively. Furthermore, a cross-classification approach revealed the right supramarginal gyrus and occipital place area as regions capable of decoding the general magnitude of the traveled distance. Altogether, our findings suggest the brain uses separate systems for tracking spatial and temporal distances, which are combined together along with dimension-nonspecific estimates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accounting for marine stocks spatiotemporal complexity has become one of the most pressing improvements that should be added to the new generation of stock assessment. Disentangling persistent and dynamic population subcomponents and understanding their main drivers of variation are still stock-specific challenges. Here, we hypothesized that the spatiotemporal variability of density in two adjacent fish stocks is associated with spatially structured environmental processes across multiple spatiotemporal scales. To test this, we applied a generalized empirical orthogonal function and dynamic factor analysis to fishery-independent and -dependent data of red mullet, a highly commercial species, in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Areas with persistent and dynamic high aggregations were detected for both stock units. A large-scale climatic index and local open-ocean convection were associated with both stocks, while other variables exhibited stock-specific effects. We also revealed spatially structured density dynamics within the examined management units. This suggests a metapopulation structure and supports the future implementation of a spatial stock assessment. Considering the common—generally unrealistic—assumptions of panmictic structure and absence of connectivity with neighbouring stock units, our methodology can be applied to other species and systems with putative spatial complexity to inform more accurate population dynamics and structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freshwater habitats display a high degree of heterogeneity in both space and time. This heterogeneity is a result of the hierarchical interplay of hydrology and geomorphology, producing the physical habitat template to which biological communities respond and interact. Thus, it follows that any effort to fully understand the complexity of these systems requires a spatial and temporal perspective of heterogeneity at multiple scales within a hierarchical framework. In this study we 1) test if fish assemblage structure differs between hydrogeomorphically distinct, off-channel patches of the Upper Mississippi River, USA, 2) identify which species are driving differences in assemblages between patch types and, 3) assess which hydrogeomorphic variables are associated with fish assemblages and if these are the same suite of variables responsible for the physical differentiation of patches. Different fish assemblages were associated with hydrogeomorphically distinct patches, importantly, sub-groups of backwaters. Species including the Bluegill Lepomis macrochirus Rafinesque, 1819, the Black Crappie Pomoxis nigromaculatus (Lesueur in Cuvier and Valenciennes, 1829), and the Gizzard Shad Dorosoma cepedianum (Lesueur, 1818) were influential in driving differences in assemblages. Fish assemblages did not respond to the same suite of hydrogeomorphic variables responsible for the physical character of patches, although there was some overlap. Instead, they responded to patch-scale characteristics and long-term hydrology and, in the case of backwaters, which navigation pool they were located in. We suggest that classification of hydrogeomorphic character across multiple spatio-temporal scales is critical. This classification should be done prior to sampling so patches can be targeted based on their physical character to draw out key habitat-assemblage relationships. We also contend that broad classification of habitats (e.g., floodplain lake vs backwater) may be too simplistic. Instead, individual characteristics defining the physical nature of a habitat need to be linked to biological responses across scales. A more nuanced understanding of these relationships is needed to improve restoration and management outcomes with respect to increasing or maintaining heterogeneity in the landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Rodents in the Alxa desert area (Inner Mongolia, China) face more human disturbance (including grazing, reclamation, excavation of wild medicinal materials, etc.) than in other areas. We used the capture-mark-recapture method to continuously monitor the four main rodent spatial niches from 2017 to 2021. At the same time, we monitored the vegetation, soil, temperature, and humidity in the survey area. The results showed that the spatial niche breadth of rodents was mainly affected by population density (rodents) and shrubs (height and density) in the habitat. The coexistence strategy of the northern three-toed jerboa (Dipus sagitta) with midday gerbil (Meriones meridianus) and desert hamster (Phodopus roborovskii) is based on the difference in body size and foraging strategy. The five-toed jerboa (Orientallactaga sibirica) promotes coexistence through spatial niche separation. Rodents can make a trade-off between foraging efficiency and the cost of travel to achieve coexistence. Resource partitioning may allow species coexistence. Sand dunes in the typical steppe of Alxa Desert Inner Mongolia, China, consisting of desert, shrub, and grass habitats, provide an appropriate system for studies of spatial niche partitioning among small mammals. In this study, the spatial niche characteristics of four rodents, Orientallactaga sibirica, Meriones meridianus, Dipus sagitta, and Phodopus roborovskii, and their responses to environmental changes in the Alxa Desert were studied from 2017 to 2021. Using the capture-mark-recapture method, we tested if desert rodents with different biological characteristics and life history strategies under heterogeneous environmental conditions allocate resources in spatial niches to achieve sympatric coexistence. We investigated the influence of environmental factors on the spatial niche breadth of rodents using random forest and redundancy analyses. We observed that the spatial niche overlap between O. sibirica and other rodents is extremely low (overlap index ≤ 0.14). P. roborovskii had the smallest spatial niche breadth. Spatial niche overlap was observed in two distinct species pairs, M. meridianus and D. sagitta, and P. roborovskii and D. sagitta. The Pielou evenness index of rodent communities is closely related to the spatial distribution of rodents, and the concealment of habitats is a key factor affecting the spatial occupation of rodents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatially homogeneous Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker (FLRW) solutions constitute an infinite dimensional family of explicit solutions of the Einstein–massless Vlasov system with vanishing cosmological constant. Each member expands toward the future at a decelerated rate. These solutions are shown to be nonlinearly future stable to compactly supported spherically symmetric perturbations, in the case that the spatial topology is that of R 3 . The decay rates of the energy momentum tensor components, with respect to an appropriately normalised double null frame, are compared to those around Minkowski space. When measured with respect to their respective t coordinates, certain components decay faster around Minkowski space, while others decay faster around FLRW. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider the local null controllability of a modified Navier–Stokes system where we include nonlocal spatial terms. We generalize a previous work where the nonlocal spatial term is given by the linearization of a Ladyzhenskaya model for a viscous incompressible fluid. Here, the nonlocal spatial term is more general and we consider a control with one vanishing component. The proof of the result is based on a Carleman estimate where the main difficulty consists in handling the nonlocal spatial terms. One key point corresponds to a particular decomposition of the solution of the adjoint system that allows us to overcome regularity issues. With a similar approach, we also show the existence of insensitizing controls for the same system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: A CZT (cadmium zinc telluride) PET (positron emission tomography) system is being developed at Stanford University. CZT has the promise of outperforming scintillator‐based systems in energy and spatial resolution but has relatively poor coincidence timing resolution. Purpose: To supplement GATE (GEANT 4 Application for Emission Tomography) simulations with charge transport and electronics modeling for a high‐resolution CZT PET system. Methods: A conventional GATE simulation was supplemented with electron‐hole transport modeling and experimentally measured single detector energy resolution to improve the system‐level understanding of a CZT high‐resolution PET system in development at Stanford University. The modeling used GATE hits data and applied charge transport in the crystal and RC‐CR processing of the simulated signals to model the electronics, including leading‐edge discriminators and peak pick‐off. Depth correction was also performed on the simulation data. Experimentally acquired data were used to determine energy resolution parameters and were compared to simulation data. Results: The distributions of the coincidence timing, anode energy, and cathode energy are consistent with experimental data. Numerically, the simulation achieved 153 ns FWHM coincidence time resolution (CTR), which is of the same order of magnitude as the raw 210 ns CTR previously found experimentally. Further, the anode energy resolution was found to be 5.9% FWHM (full width at half maximum) at 511 keV in the simulation, which is between the experimental value found for a single crystal of 3% and the value found for the dual‐panel setup of 8.02%, after depth correction. Conclusions: Developing this advanced simulation improves upon the limitations of GATE for modeling semiconductor PET systems and provides a means for deeper analysis of the coincidence timing resolution and other complementary electron‐hole dependent system parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial income disparities have increased in the US since 1980, a pattern linked to major social, economic, and political challenges. Yet, today's spatial inequality, and how it relates to the past, remains insufficiently well understood. The primary contribution of this article is to demonstrate a deep polarization in the American spatial system—yet one whose character differs from that commonly reported on in the literature. The increase in spatial inequality since 1980 is almost entirely driven by a small number of populous, economically important, and resiliently high-income superstar city-regions. But we also show that the rest of the system exhibits a long-run pattern of income convergence over the study period. A secondary contribution is historical: today's superstars have sat durably atop the urban hierarchy since at least 1940. Third, we describe six distinctive pathways of development that regions follow between 1940 and 2019, with certain locations catching up, falling behind, and surging ahead. We explore the role played by initial endowments in driving locations down these pathways, finding population, education, industrial structure, and immigrant attraction to be key distinguishing features. These insights are enabled by a fourth contribution: methodologically, we use group-based trajectory modeling—an approach new to the field that integrates top-down and bottom-up views of the evolving national spatial system. We conclude by exploring implications for the mid-twenty-first century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complex dynamical systems are subject to perturbations across space and time, which can induce a critical transition or tipping in the state of the system. External perturbations are often correlated in time and can interplay with the underlying nonlinearity of the spatial system, affecting the occurrence of critical transitions. Theoretical analysis of the spatial system perturbed by the Ornstein--Uhlenbeck (OU) correlated noise poses challenges beyond the white noise assumptions and is yet to be done.Here, we resort to the mean-field approximation of a spatially extended system perturbed with OU noise and obtain the stationary probability density function deriving the Fokker--Planck equation for the same. This allows us to determine the role of diffusion and noise on the resilience of the spatial system. While the theoretical analysis guides us on the landscape of tipping thresholds of the system, critical transitions customary to a variety of systems, require a priori prediction. Here, we propose a probabilistic information-based indicator--spatial mutual information--that can successfully forecast tippings, complementing the previously developed spatial indicators. Further, validating its reliability on empirical data, we show that spatial mutual information serves as a robust indicator capturing information characteristic to an imminent tipping reaching peaks in its vicinity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bridge damage detection has attracted much attention recently. Most studies on damage detection of the high-speed railway (HSR) bridge neglect the effect of the interlayer connection between the railway track and bridge. This paper proposes a damage detection method for the HSR bridge using response-based sensitivity analysis of high-speed trains. The HSR bridge is modeled as a spatial track–bridge system, in which the fasteners, sleepers and track slabs are modeled as one viscoelastic layer. The responses of multiple vehicles are merged to overcome the critical issue that the length of response data recorded by a high-speed vehicle moving over the bridge is too short to perform the sensitivity analysis. Numerical studies demonstrate that the proposed method is capable to detect damages of the track–bridge system with different train speed, car-body mass, irregularity grade and the interlayer connection properties. By using the signal merging method and the averaged response from multiple train trips, the proposed method is robust to high speed and measurement noise. The damage on the bridge beam and the interlayer connection can be well-identified. It is also found that increasing the car-body mass, damping ratio of the track–bridge system, damping coefficient of interlayer connection could improve the efficiency of damage detection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an affective-based sensemaking system for grouping and suggesting stories created by the users about the cultural artefacts in a museum. By relying on the ${{\bf{T}}^{{\rm{CL}}}}$ T C L commonsense reasoning framework, the system exploits the spatial structure of the Plutchik's "wheel of emotions" to organize the stories according to their extracted emotions. The process of emotion extraction, reasoning, and suggestion is triggered by an app, called GAMGame, and integrated with the sensemaking engine. Following the framework of Citizen Curation, the system allows classifying and suggesting stories encompassing cultural items able to evoke not only the very same emotions of already experienced or preferred museum objects but also novel items sharing different emotional stances and, therefore, able to break the filter bubble effect and open the users' view toward more inclusive and empathy-based interpretations of cultural content. The system has been designed tested, in the context of the H2020EU SPICE project (Social cohesion, Participation, and Inclusion through Cultural Engagement), in cooperation with the community of the d/Deaf and on the collection of the Gallery of Modern Art (GAM) in Turin. We describe the user-centered design process of the web app and of its components and we report the results concerning the effectiveness of the diversity-seeking, affective-driven, recommendations of stories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of baselines in stable isotope studies to interpret food web structure is essential, but baseline isotope values are often assumed to be spatially homogeneous, even in large aquatic ecosystems. To test this assumption in large lakes, we quantified spatial variation in δ13C, δ15N (deposit‐feeding Oligochaeta and filter‐feeding Dreissena spp.), and δ34S (Dreissena spp. only) and density in Lake Erie between 2014 and 2016. Lake Erie's three distinct basins differ in size, bathymetry, and nutrient loading, making it an excellent system for exploring spatial variation in stable isotopes of baseline organisms. Dreissena spp. densities were highest in the western and lowest in the seasonally hypoxic central basin, while Oligochaeta densities were relatively consistent throughout Lake Erie. Values of δ13C, δ15N, and δ34S exhibited distinct spatial trends that were not related to population densities but followed the west to east direction of water flow within the lake. For both taxa, δ13C was lower in the deeper, oligotrophic east basin than the shallow, mesotrophic west basin, and δ15N and δ34S increased from west to east. Spatial patterns of low δ34S in Dreissena spp. in the western and central basins were likely related to hypoxia, whereas patterns of δ15N in both taxa were probably related to the greater influence of agricultural land uses in the western basin. Spatial trends of stable isotopes in large lake zoobenthos are driven by complex interactions of environmental gradients, which could introduce bias in evaluations of trophic structures within aquatic ecosystems that use stable isotopes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fungicide resistance in foliar fungal pathogens is an increasing challenge to crop production. Yield impacts due to loss of fungicide efficacy may be reduced through effective surveillance and appropriate management intervention. For stubble-borne pathogens, off-season crop residues may be used to monitor fungicide resistance to inform pre-planting decisions; however, appropriate sampling strategies and support sizes for crop residues have not previously been considered. Here, we used Pyrenophora teres f. teres (Ptt) with resistance to demethylase inhibitor fungicides as a model system to assess spatial dependency and to compare the effects of different sampling strategies and support sizes on pathogen density (Ptt DNA concentration) and the frequency of fungicide resistance mutation. The results showed that sampling strategies (hand-picked versus raked) did not affect estimates of pathogen density or fungicide resistance frequency; however, sample variances were lower from raked samples. The effects of differing sample support size, as the size of the collection area (1.2, 8.6, or 60 m2), on fungicide resistance frequency were not evident (P > 0.05). However, measures of pathogen density increased with area size (P < 0.05); the 60 m2 area yielded the highest Ptt DNA concentration and produced the lowest number of pathogenabsent samples. Sample variances for pathogen density and fungicide resistance frequency were generally homogeneous between area sizes. The pattern of pathogen density was spatially independent; however, spatial dependency was identified for fungicide resistance frequency, with a range of 110 m, in one of the two fields surveyed. Collectively, the results inform designs for monitoring of fungicide resistance in stubble-borne pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, the use of future climate projections from the coupled model intercomparison project (CMIP) has become central in biodiversity science. Pre‐packaged datasets containing future projections of the widely used bioclimatic variables, for different times and socio‐economic pathways, have contributed immensely to the study of climate change implications for biodiversity. However, these datasets lack the flexibility to obtain projections to other target years, and the use of raw data requires coding and spatial information systems expertise. The Python tool, 'chelsa‐cmip6', developed by Karger et al., provides the flexibility needed by allowing users to generate bioclimatic variables for the time of their choice provided the selected general circulation model and socioeconomic pathway combination exists. This is a fantastic step forward in bringing flexibility to the use of climate datasets in biodiversity and will allow for more widespread use of data provided by CMIP6. We hope it also will prompt the development of more user‐friendly tools for the study of the effects of climate change on biodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current study, we have formulated an S I epidemic model incorporating the influence of Allee effect on the dynamics of the model system in space and time. During the spread of the disease, inhibition among the susceptible and infected individuals is seen, which is measured using the Crowley–Martin type incidence function. Extensive analysis explores the system's stability and different bifurcation scenarios, including Hopf, saddle-node, transcritical, and Bogdanov–Takens. We also examine how these bifurcations react to parameter variations within the proposed model. The temporal model has further been extended to a spatial one to investigate the impact of the Allee effect on the formation of patterns for different values of the cross-diffusion coefficient. The well-posedness of the stationary solution and the global stability of the spatial system are derived. Also, the Turing instability, Hopf, and Turing bifurcation are calculated considering the transmission rate as critical parameter. In a heterogeneous environment, the spatial distribution of the susceptible population shows a complex structure with flat tabular surface and a few almost circular holes in surface plots for both strong and weak Allee effects. To further explore the role of Allee effect on pattern development for various cross-diffusion coefficient values, the temporal model has been spatially extended. Additionally, the transmission rate is taken into account while calculating the Turing instability and Hopf and Turing bifurcations. We ran numerical simulations to validate our analytical results for both spatial and nonspatial models. Our current model system can explain the recent occurrence of respiratory distress syndrome in endangered penguin species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methods and models to design, prioritize and evaluate fuel break networks have potential application in many fire-prone ecosystems where major increases in fuel management investments are planned in response to growing incidence of wildfires. A key question facing managers is how to scale treatments into manageable project areas that meet operational and administrative constraints, and then prioritize their implementation over time to maximize fire management outcomes. We developed and tested a spatial modeling system to optimize the implementation of a proposed 3,538 km fuel break network and explore tradeoffs between two implementation strategies on a 0.5 million ha national forest in the western US. We segmented the network into 2,766 treatment units and used a spatial optimization model to compare linear versus radial project implementation geometries. We hypothesized that linear projects were more efficient at intercepting individual fire events over larger spatial domains, whereas radial projects conferred a higher level of network redundancy in terms of the length of the fuel break exposed to fires. We simulated implementation of the alternative project geometries and then examined fuel break-wildfire spatial interactions using a library of simulated fires developed in prior work. The results supported the hypothesis, with linear projects exhibiting substantially greater efficiency in terms of intercepting fires over larger areas, whereas radial projects had a higher interception length given a fire encountered a project. Adding economic objectives made it more difficult to obtain alternative project geometries, but substantially increased net revenue from harvested trees. We discuss how the model and results can be used to further understand decision tradeoffs and optimize the implementation of planned fuel break networks in conjunction with landscape conservation, protection, and restoration management in fire prone regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, to study the frequency and severity of traffic accidents, a combination of geographic information system and spatial analysis has been used. For this purpose, methods of planar and network statistics including kernel density estimation and nearest neighbor distance analysis were applied for three types of accidents including fatal, injury, and material property damages. In addition, drawbacks of the traditional planar point pattern and the benefits of network analysis are offered. The network statistics are executed through SANET version 4 and ArcMap on the Semnan–Garmsar road in Iran. The nearest neighbor output analysis is consist of four curves, and regarding the fact that the amounts for accidents resulting in fatalities, injuries, and damages, the observed value curve is above the 5% confidence interval; accidents in the study region are more clustered than would be expected by random chance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of the rights and interests of the state as the owner of natural resources is pivotal throughout the pilot work of establishing a principal-agent system of national ownership of natural resource assets. It plays a key role in solving the longstanding problems of the law not being implemented in the state ownership system of natural resources, the vacancy of the owner, and the irregular use of resources. Theoretically, it is necessary to clarify the implications of 'the implementation of rights and interests,' that is, the rights and benefits protected by law that the state enjoys from its ownership of natural resource assets. This is reflected in three aspects: implementing the management and protection of natural resource assets, achieving preservation and appreciation, and safeguarding owners' rights and interests. The process of implementing rights and interests should not be profit-oriented and should focus on ensuring the public resource needs of society and the basic resource needs of the public. In terms of implementation strategies, the first step is to clarify rights and responsibilities, which includes the identification of the subject of the rights and interests through a list of rights and responsibilities, the division of labor between the government and the market, and the responsibilities between different levels of government and various functional departments of the government. The marketization of resource allocation is a core link conducive to improving the pricing mechanism and market trading mechanism of resource assets and establishing a resource development and utilization market environment with efficient regulations, fair competition, and adequate supervision. The rationalization of income distribution is a key, whose focus is the improvement of the rights and interests distribution mechanisms between the central government and local governments and between different levels of local governments. The indexation of assessment and evaluation is an important hub, which helps to achieve the implementation of index-based assessment and structured evaluation of rights and interests. The system is a fundamental guarantee for the implementation of rights and interests, and its effective connection with the national territorial spatial planning system is an inherent requirement for the implementation of rights and interests. At present, based on the timely summary of the experience of the pilot work of the principal-agent system, we should focus on the areas of rights and interests attribution, rights and interests value assessment, asset income distribution, and rights and interests assessment and evaluation, strengthen the policy support for the implementation of rights and interests, and promote the central and local legislation of rights and interests implementation in an orderly manner, thus forming a rigorous and scientifically sound system of rights and interests implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the early 21st century global capitalism has gradually been falling into a huge structural crisis, prompting people to rethink the issue of establishing a new world system. The spatial political economy of socialism seeks precisely to explore how to break out of the capitalist world system, to transform the old space of world history, and correspondingly, to create a new space. The spatial political economy of socialism shows that space is an intrinsically important proposition of communism and socialism. Communism logically must inherit the global space of capitalism, while socialism in practice is the product of the uneven spatial development of the capitalist world system. The capitalist world system constitutes the starting point of socialism in practice, while the new world system (communism) is the destination of socialism in practice. Both revolution and construction reflect the law of uneven development of the transition to the world communist system. In the dialectical movement of history, socialism creates the Socialist Regional Economic Union as its instrument of spatial production and expansion, as well as the intermediary to the new world system. The Socialist Regional Economic Union will become an important element in the study of the spatial political economy of socialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motivated by feedback from firefighters in Normandy, this work aims to provide a simple technique for a set of identical drones to collectively describe an arbitrary planar virtual shape in a 3D space in a decentralized manner. The original problem involved surrounding a toxic cloud to monitor its composition and short-term evolution. In the present work, the pattern is described using Fourier descriptors, a convenient mathematical formulation for that purpose. Starting from a reference point, which can be the center of a fire, Fourier descriptors allow for more precise description of a shape as the number of harmonics increases. This pattern needs to be evenly occupied by the fleet of drones under consideration. To optimize the overall view, the drones must be evenly distributed angularly along the shape. The proposed method enables virtual planar shape description, decentralized bearing angle assignment, drone movement from takeoff positions to locations along the shape, and collision avoidance. Furthermore, the method allows for the number of drones to change during the mission. The method has been tested both in simulation, through emulation, and in outdoor experiments with real drones. The obtained results demonstrate that the method is applicable in real-world contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Perceptual decisions about sensory input are influenced by fluctuations in ongoing neural activity, most prominently driven by attention and neuromodulator systems. It is currently unknown if neuromodulator activity and attention differentially modulate perceptual decisionmaking and/or whether neuromodulatory systems in fact control attentional processes. To investigate the effects of two distinct neuromodulatory systems and spatial attention on perceptual decisions, we pharmacologically elevated cholinergic (through donepezil) and catecholaminergic (through atomoxetine) levels in humans performing a visuo-spatial attention task, while we measured electroencephalography (EEG). Both attention and catecholaminergic enhancement improved decision-making at the behavioral and algorithmic level, as reflected in increased perceptual sensitivity and the modulation of the drift rate parameter derived from drift diffusion modeling. Univariate analyses of EEG data time-locked to the attentional cue, the target stimulus, and the motor response further revealed that attention and catecholaminergic enhancement both modulated pre-stimulus cortical excitability, cue- and stimulus-evoked sensory activity, as well as parietal evidence accumulation signals. Interestingly, we observed both similar, unique, and interactive effects of attention and catecholaminergic neuromodulation on these behavioral, algorithmic, and neural markers of the decision-making process. Thereby, this study reveals an intricate relationship between attentional and catecholaminergic systems and advances our understanding about how these systems jointly shape various stages of perceptual decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial planning is an inherently future-oriented practice charged with future expectations. Strikingly, the productive role of these expectations has received little scholarly attention. We adopted a grounded theory approach to study the participatory planning process for Seelig Park in Breda, the Netherlands. We observed that expectations are flexible, dynamic and diverse and they can be tuned to fit and justify actions and decisions while keeping the planning process in motion. We conclude that expectations become productive as a means for 'recalibration,' reflecting the continuous quest for equilibrium between action and legitimacy in the politically negotiated context of spatial planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial planning system in Poland is undergoing a fundamental reform. It emphasises the digital representation of spatial data. Low performance of geoportals, no Internet access, or poor connectivity can contribute to the exclusion from the spatial planning process, and consequently to the exclusion from a specific part of public life. Considering these developments, the present study seems relevant by pointing out the issue with geoportal performance and availability of quality Internet in rural areas. The primary contribution of the article is (1) results of performance measurements for selected geoportals; (2) presentation of measuring tools and performance indices combined with methods for ad-hoc performance measuring; and (3) presentation of potential actions to improve geoportal performance on the device with which it is used. The article offers case studies where the performance of selected geoportals was tested in rural mountainous areas with limited Internet access. Five geoportals were tested with PageSpeed Insights (PSI), WebPageTest, GTmetrix, Pingdom, and GiftOfSpeed. Core Web Vitals indices were analysed: Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), First Input Delay (FID), Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS), and First Contentful Paint (FCP). The author verified values of the Speed Index and Fully Loaded Time along with other performance indices, like GTmetrix Structure. The study failed to provide unambiguous evidence that radio link users in rural areas could experience problems with geoportal performance, although the results seem to suggest it indirectly. PSI Lab Data and Field Data tests revealed a relatively low performance of the geoportals. The Performance index remained below 50 in most cases, which is 'Poor' according to the PSI scale. The fully loaded time exceeded 10 s for all the geoportals and 20 s in some cases (Lab Data). It means that the perceived performance of the tested geoportals on a radio link in rural areas is most probably even lower. The case studies demonstrated further that the user has limited possibilities to speed up map applications. It is possible to slightly improve the geoportal experience through the optimisation of the device locally, but the responsibility to ensure geoportal performance is mainly the publisher's. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional wavefront sensors suffer from the fundamental limitation of the space‐bandwidth product and have a trade‐off between their spatial sampling interval and dynamic range. Here, nonlocal thin film optical filters with optimized angle‐ and polarization‐dependent responses are leveraged to circumvent the fundamental limitation, and a robust single‐shot wavefront sensing system with a small spatial sampling interval of 6.9 µm and a large angular dynamic range of 15° is realized. The system only requires inserting two multilayer dielectric filters, fabricated using a mature thin film deposition technique, into a conventional 4‐f imaging apparatus. The polarization‐sensitive nonlocal filters are used to map the 2D phase gradients of the incident light field to the intensity variation of the x‐ and y‐polarized light, respectively, thus enabling single‐shot 2D wavefront reconstruction from images taken by a polarization camera. Such a system may be used for a variety of applications, including high‐resolution image aberration correction, surface metrology, and quantitative phase imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Short-term increases in air pollution levels are linked to large adverse effects on health and productivity. However, existing regulatory monitoring systems lack the spatial or temporal resolution needed to capture localized events. This study uses a dense network of over 100 sensors, deployed across the city of Chicago, Illinois, to capture the spread of smoke from short-term structural fire events. Examining all large structural fires that occurred in the city over a year (N = 21), we characterize differences in PM 2.5 concentrations downwind versus upwind of the fires. On average, we observed increases of up to 10.7 μ g/m 3 (95% CI 5.7–15.7) for sensors within 2 km and up to 7.7 μ g/m 3 (95% CI 3.4–12.0) for sensors 2–5 km downwind of fires. Statistically significant elevated concentrations were evident as far as 5 km downwind of the location of the fire and persisted over approximately 2 h on average. This work shows how low-cost sensors can provide insight on local and short-term pollution events, enabling regulators to provide timely warnings to vulnerable populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]