Hasil untuk "Geography. Anthropology. Recreation"

Sávio Luís Oliveira da Silva, Rafael Carvalho da Silva Mocarzel, Bruna Medeiros Neves

INTRODUÇÃO: A prática regular de atividade física é fundamental para a promoção da saúde, autonomia e qualidade de vida de pessoas com deficiência física. Entretanto, barreiras arquitetônicas ainda limitam o acesso e a permanência desse público em espaços destinados à prática de exercícios físicos, como academias de ginástica. OBJETIVO: Analisar as condições de acessibilidade arquitetônica para pessoas que utilizam cadeira de rodas em academias do município de Maricá, Rio de Janeiro. MÉTODOS: Trata-se de um estudo observacional, exploratório e transversal, realizado em 23 academias do município, por meio da aplicação de um checklist adaptado da NBR 9050. A análise dos dados foi de natureza descritiva, com apresentação de frequências e percentuais, complementada por análise qualitativa interpretativa. RESULTADOS: Os resultados indicaram que nenhuma das academias avaliadas apresentou acessibilidade arquitetônica plena. Observou-se ausência ou inadequação de rotas acessíveis, sinalização, mobiliário, equipamentos e sanitários adaptados, em desacordo com os parâmetros normativos vigentes. CONCLUSÃO: Conclui-se que as academias investigadas apresentam importantes limitações estruturais, evidenciando a necessidade de adequações arquitetônicas e de ações sistemáticas de fiscalização para garantir o direito de acesso à prática de atividade física por pessoas que utilizam cadeira de rodas.

Mihail Arabadji, Porter Morgan

Let $R$ be a closed, oriented topological 4-manifold whose Euler characteristic and signature are denoted by $e$ and $σ$. We show that if $R$ has order two $π_1$, odd intersection form, and $2e + 3σ\geq 0$, then for all but seven $(e, σ)$ coordinates, $R$ admits an irreducible smooth structure. We accomplish this by performing a variety of operations on irreducible simply-connected 4-manifolds to build 4-manifolds with order two $π_1$. These techniques include torus surgeries, symplectic fiber sums, rational blow-downs, and numerous constructions of Lefschetz fibrations, including a new approach to equivariant fiber summing.

Yingying Xu, Qiying Yu, Chengshuai Liu et al.

Study region: Typical basin in humid areas in the Huaihe River Study focus: Accurate flood forecasting is essential for making timely decisions regarding flood control and disaster reduction. The theory of watershed runoff generation and convergence serves as a crucial foundation for flood forecasting, while the calculation of runoff is necessary to simulate flood discharge. Identifying watershed runoff generation mechanisms has been a challenging task, particularly under complex underlying surface conditions. To improve the accuracy of flood simulation, this study examines the underlying surface information in the watershed, such as particle composition and content, soil bulk density, geological slope, land use, and other spatial attributes, aiming to analyze the mechanisms of runoff generation. In the study of sub-watersheds, various combinations of runoff generation mechanisms are identified to determine the patterns of runoff. Subsequently, a semi-distributed hydrological model is developed, which incorporates both saturation-excess and infiltration-excess runoff, utilizing the information obtained from the underlying surface. The model is validated using rainfall-runoff data from 14 events at the Xiagushan watershed. New hydrological insights for the region: The analysis of the fundamental physical conditions of the underlying surface of the watershed revealed that 69.70% of the area is prone to saturation-excess runoff, with an additional 30.30% of the area being susceptible to infiltration-excess runoff. The model considers the spatial distribution of runoff patterns by incorporating complex underlying surface information and demonstrates high accuracy in simulating flood events (NSE= 0.87, Epeak = 12.08%, Wpeak = 13.16%, Tpeak = 0.14 h, R2 = 0.90). The model is straightforward, practical, and exhibits promising potential in terms of timeliness and applicability, thus lending itself well to further application in other watersheds, contributing to the scientific foundation of flood warning and forecasting efforts.

Manpreet Kaur, Avtar Kaur Sidhu, Jagbir Singh Kirti

The genus Talbotia Bernardi, 1958 is a member of the subfamily Pierinae within the family Pieridae. It consists of a single species, Talbotia naganum (Moore, 1884), commonly known as Naga White, which is a highly uncommon species in India. In order to examine its morphological characteristics, including its genital attributes, a male specimen of Talbotia naganum (Moore) was analyzed from the collections held at the National Museum of Lepidoptera, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata. The various male genital attributes of this species have been thoroughly studied, illustrated, and compared in detail for the first time with the commonly found pierid butterfly P. brassicae (Linnaeus).

Norma González Ruda, Ibette Alfonso Pérez, Raquel Bermúdez Morris

La orientación educativa en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de la educación superior puede coadyuvar al cumplimiento de las exigencias en la formación de profesionales en el siglo XXI.  No obstante, este espacio no constituye aún, un ámbito privilegiado para programar acciones de orientación educativa, los profesores no cuentan con una guía para realizar esta labor.  El objetivo del trabajo se centra en reflexionar sobre los fundamentos teórico-metodológicos para realizar la orientación educativa en el PEA de la educación superior.  Para estudiar este particular se desarrolló una investigación que permitió la revisión, interpretación y contrastación de diversas fuentes bibliográficas mediante los métodos histórico-lógico, analítico-sintético y el inductivo-deductivo.  Estos métodos permitieron el análisis de la información obtenida y la elaboración de síntesis conclusivas en el plano teórico.  Los resultados obtenidos en el análisis de los modelos estudiados evidencian que la orientación educativa debe ser realizada por un personal especializado o que ha sido preparado para cumplir con esta labor.  Aunque se reconoce en los modelos más actuales al profesor como agente orientador, no quedan esclarecidos los fundamentos teórico-metodológicos para la orientación que debe realizar este agente educativo en el PEA de la educación superior.  Se hace necesario entonces, integrar los fundamentos que aportan los modelos de orientación educativa con los fundamentos de la Didáctica, de manera que se ofrezca una base conceptual y metodológica para la orientación educativa en el PEA de la educación superior. 

Ruizhe Wang, Chunliang Hua, Tomakayev Shingys et al.

The photorealistic reconstruction and rendering of architectural scenes have extensive applications in industries such as film, games, and transportation. It also plays an important role in urban planning, architectural design, and the city's promotion, especially in protecting historical and cultural relics. The 3D Gaussian Splatting, due to better performance over NeRF, has become a mainstream technology in 3D reconstruction. Its only input is a set of images but it relies heavily on geometric parameters computed by the SfM process. At the same time, there is an existing abundance of raw 3D models, that could inform the structural perception of certain buildings but cannot be applied. In this paper, we propose a straightforward method to harness these raw 3D models to guide 3D Gaussians in capturing the basic shape of the building and improve the visual quality of textures and details when photos are captured non-systematically. This exploration opens up new possibilities for improving the effectiveness of 3D reconstruction techniques in the field of architectural design.

Yichen Wang, Hao Yin, Yifan Yang et al.

Freight truck-related crashes pose significant challenges, leading to substantial economic losses, injuries, and fatalities, with pronounced spatial disparities across different regions. This study adopts a transport geography perspective to examine spatial justice concerns by employing deep counterfactual inference models to analyze how socioeconomic disparities, road infrastructure, and environmental conditions influence the geographical distribution and severity of freight truck crashes. By integrating road network datasets, socioeconomic attributes, and crash records from the Los Angeles metropolitan area, this research provides a nuanced spatial analysis of how different communities are disproportionately impacted. The results reveal significant spatial disparities in crash severity across areas with varying population densities, income levels, and minority populations, highlighting the pivotal role of infrastructural and environmental improvements in mitigating these disparities. The findings offer insights into targeted, location-specific policy interventions, suggesting enhancements in road infrastructure, lighting, and traffic control systems, particularly in low-income and minority-concentrated areas. This research contributes to the literature on transport geography and spatial equity by providing data-driven insights into effective measures for reducing spatial injustices associated with freight truck-related crashes.

Jiahao Yuan, Zixiang Di, Shangzixin Zhao et al.

Large language models (LLMs) face challenges in aligning with diverse cultural values despite their remarkable performance in generation, which stems from inherent monocultural biases and difficulties in capturing nuanced cultural semantics. Existing methods struggle to adapt to unknown culture after fine-tuning. Inspired by cultural geography across five continents, we propose Cultural Palette, a multi-agent framework that redefines cultural alignment as an adaptive "color-blending" process for country-specific adaptation. Our approach harnesses cultural geography across five continents through three key steps: First, we synthesize the Pentachromatic Cultural Palette Dataset using GPT-4o, refining continental-level dialogues with Hofstede's cultural dimensions to establish foundational cultural representations. Second, five continent-level alignment agents form specialized cultural communities that generate region-specific draft responses. Third, a Meta Agent employs Cultural MoErges to dynamically blend these cultural "colors" through attention-gated parameter merging, akin to mixing pigments on a palette, resolving conflicts while preserving cultural nuances to produce the final culturally-aligned response. Extensive experiments across various countries demonstrate that \textit{Cultural Palette} surpasses existing baselines in cultural alignment.

Luwei Zeng, T. Donna Chen, John S. Miller et al.

Recurrent flooding has increased rapidly in coastal regions due to sea level rise and climate change. A key metric for evaluating transportation system degradation is accessibility, yet the lack of temporally and spatially disaggregate data means that the impact of recurrent flooding on accessibility, and hence transportation system performance: is not well understood. Using crowdsourced WAZE flood incident data from the Hampton Roads region in Virginia, this study (Part 1) examines changes in the roadway network accessibility for travelers residing in 1,113 traffic analysis zones (TAZs) across five time of day periods. Additionally, a social vulnerability index framework is developed to understand the socioeconomic characteristics of TAZs that experience high accessibility reduction under recurrent flooding. Results show that TAZs experience the most accessibility reduction under recurrent flooding during the morning peak period (6 to 9am) with large differences across different zones, ranging from 0 to 49.6 (percentage) for work trips (with population weighted mean reduction of 1.71 percent) and 0 to 87.9 (percentage) for nonwork trips (with population weighted mean reduction of 0.81 percent). Furthermore, the social vulnerability analysis showed that zones with higher percentages of lower socioeconomic status, unemployed, less educated, and limited English proficiency residents experience greater accessibility reduction for work trips. In contrast to previous studies that aggregate the effects of recurrent flooding across a city, these results demonstrate that there exists large spatial and temporal variation in recurrent floodings impacts on accessibility. This study also highlights the need to include social vulnerability analysis in assessing impacts of climate events, to ensure equitable outcomes as investments are made to create resilient transportation infrastructure.

Xiaoke Sun, Cuiyan Zhang

By improving its total factor productivity, China may attain higher quality and more sustainable economic growth. As a key market-based incentive for environmental regulation, does environmental protection tax increase total factor productivity and provide a win-win situation for both economic and environmental performance? It is a debate-worthy topic. Based on data of Chinese listed companies, this paper uses the triple difference method to analyze China’s environmental protection tax reform as a natural experiment. The results show that the environmental protection tax can significantly boost the firm’s total factor productivity by encouraging technological innovation and enhancing resource allocation. Based on analysis of heterogeneity, it appears that state-owned enterprises, larger corporations, and regions with more strict environmental enforcement are more responsive to environmental protection tax policies. This report provides critical empirical evidence for upgrading China’s tax framework to protect the environment.

Luca F. Di Cerbo, Rita Pardini

We discuss an approach towards the Hopf problem for aspherical smooth projective varieties recently proposed by Liu, Maxim, and Wang in [LMW21]. In complex dimension two, we point out that this circle of ideas suggests an intriguing conjecture regarding the geography of aspherical surfaces of general type.

Ali Shirali, Moritz Hardt

ImageNet was famously created from Flickr image search results. What if we recreated ImageNet instead by searching the massive LAION dataset based on image captions alone? In this work, we carry out this counterfactual investigation. We find that the resulting ImageNet recreation, which we call LAIONet, looks distinctly unlike the original. Specifically, the intra-class similarity of images in the original ImageNet is dramatically higher than it is for LAIONet. Consequently, models trained on ImageNet perform significantly worse on LAIONet. We propose a rigorous explanation for the discrepancy in terms of a subtle, yet important, difference in two plausible causal data-generating processes for the respective datasets, that we support with systematic experimentation. In a nutshell, searching based on an image caption alone creates an information bottleneck that mitigates the selection bias otherwise present in image-based filtering. Our explanation formalizes a long-held intuition in the community that ImageNet images are stereotypical, unnatural, and overly simple representations of the class category. At the same time, it provides a simple and actionable takeaway for future dataset creation efforts.

Han Xiao, Han Xiao, Xiaoqian Zhang et al.

Forest disturbance monitoring can provide scientific data for the decision making and management of nature reserves. LandTrendr algorithm has been applied to identify forest disturbances on a long-time scale through appropriate segmentation and linear fitting. In this study, 23 nature reserves were detected using LandTrendr during 1987–2020, and the vegetation loss was quantified by years and pixel numbers. The results illustrated that (1) most disturbances occurred in the 1990s and early 21st century. (2) From the spatial distribution of forest loss, the area of forest vegetation disturbance in the coastal zone was larger than the protected area in the internal Hainan Island, the area disturbed in the coastal zone protected area was 97.12 km2, and the area disturbed in the internal area of Hainan Island protected area was 63.02 km2. (3) In terms of different levels of nature reserves, the disturbed area of national nature reserves was 28.39 km2 and the total disturbed area of provincial nature reserves was 131.75 km2. (4) In terms of different types of nature reserves, forest ecological nature reserves had the largest disturbed area of 102.96 km2, followed by marine coastal nature reserves with a disturbed area of 36.99 km2, wildlife nature reserves with a disturbed area of 10.22 km2, and wild plant nature reserves with the smallest disturbed area of 9.96 km2. The results are hoped to provide scientific support and data for the management and planning of nature reserves in Hainan Island.

Victor Koryahin, Zinoviy Mykytyuk, Yaryna Turchyn et al.

The study objective. Substantiation and implementation of the heart rate monitoring tool, developed on the basis of information systems for the rapid registration of cardiac rhythm during exercise.  Material and Methods. The study was implemented at the theoretical and empirical level. The basis of the study is the use of a set of theoretical methods: scientific analysis and synthesis, comparison, systematization, induction and deduction, generalization. The following methods of empirical research were used: description, empirical comparison, technical modeling, sphygmographic method of registration of pulsograms.  Results. According to the results of the search activity, a device designed to monitor heart rate in real time was presented. To implement the new electronic method and heart rate monitor of the functional state of the cardiovascular system, an optical block that eliminates the subjective determination of control results associated with the probability of errors was created. The use of an optical unit provides a fast dynamic picture of heart rate measurement, since the unit uses an optical sensor. Spectral characteristics of blood, which change under the influence of physical activity, were used for heart rate registration. Positive characteristics that ensure the quality of real-time HR monitoring procedures using the developed device in addition to high technical parameters are: high level of sensitivity, wide dynamic range, harmonized frequency response, linearity of conversion, note also non-invasiveness, security in application, low energy consumption signal, and transformations that do not affect or distort the control results.  Conclusions. The use of information systems in heart rate control ensures the accuracy of the measurement information and the correspondence between the degree of scientific reliability and practical value of the obtained results.

Paul Goldsmith-Pinkham, Maxim Pinkovskiy, Jacob Wallace

We use a five percent sample of Americans' credit bureau data, combined with a regression discontinuity approach, to estimate the effect of universal health insurance at age 65-when most Americans become eligible for Medicare-at the national, state, and local level. We find a 30 percent reduction in debt collections-and a two-thirds reduction in the geographic variation in collections-with limited effects on other financial outcomes. The areas that experienced larger reductions in collections debt at age 65 were concentrated in the Southern United States, and had higher shares of black residents, people with disabilities, and for-profit hospitals.

Xuqiang Ji, Ting Wang, Qian Liu et al.

Abstract Renewable‐electricity‐driven N2 reduction is an attractive approach for ambient NH3 synthesis, but active electrocatalysts are needed to enable the N2 reduction reaction. Monolithic electrodes with active components anchored on conductive supports provide many advantages like structural stability, large surface area, and low electrical resistance. Here, a novel “oxidation‐etching” strategy is proposed to carve the surface of Cu foam into structures of particles, cubes, and sheets for N2 reduction electrocatalysis. The optimal catalyst achieves a Faradic efficiency as high as 18% at −0.35 V vs reversible hydrogen electrode (RHE) and a large NH3 yield of 2.45 × 10−10 mol s−1 cm−1 at −0.40 V vs RHE in 0.1 M HCl. Notably, it also shows superior long‐term electrochemical durability, with the preservation of electro‐activity for at least 20 hours.

Steven M. Alexander, Jennifer F. Provencher, Dominique A. Henri et al.

Abstract Background The incorporation of multiple types of knowledge (e.g., science, Indigenous knowledge, traditional ecological knowledge) is an important undertaking, which can strengthen the evidence-base for policy advice, decision making, and environmental management. While the benefits of incorporating multiple types of knowledge in environmental research and management are many, successfully doing so has remained a challenge. In response there has been a number of recent reviews that have sought to better understand the what and how, when it comes to bridging Indigenous and science-based knowledge. Yet there continues to be a need for methods, models, and approaches for integrative work. This systematic map seeks to examine the extent, range, and nature of the published literature (i.e., peer-reviewed and grey) that integrates and/or includes Indigenous and science-based knowledge in coastal-marine research, monitoring, or management in Canada. Results from this study can be used to inform new and ongoing research and monitoring efforts and highlight evidence gaps. Methods The systematic map will aim to capture all available studies relevant to the question found in the peer-reviewed and grey literature. Accordingly, the search will leverage four databases focused on peer reviewed publications, carefully selected specialist websites, and two web-based search engines. Reference sections of relevant review articles will also be cross-checked to identify articles that were not found using the search strategy. All searches will be conducted in English. Search results will be reviewed in two stages: (1) title and abstract; and (2) full text. All screening decisions will be included in the database. The systematic map will employ a narrative synthesis approach that will include the use of descriptive statistics, tables (including SM database), and figures (including map with the studies geospatially referenced). In addition, an online version of the map and queryable database will be developed similar to other knowledge mobilization tools.

Wesley Van Wychen, Paris W. Vachon, John Wolfe et al.

Using a case study approach, the utility of synergistic RADARSAT-2 (R2) and Sentinel-1 (S1) synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery is demonstrated for ocean feature signature analysis in the vicinity of the Gulf Stream. The R2 and S1 images considered are either spatially adjacent or spatially overlapping, and were quasi-simultaneously collected (i.e., within minutes of each other). Spatially adjacent R2 and S1 imagery allows ocean feature signatures to be delineated over large spatial areas, while spatially overlapping R2 and S1 imagery collected within short time intervals provides independent ‘looks’ at the same ocean features. This permits determination of the surface displacement of features, potentially leading to improved classification of the origin of ocean feature signatures (quasi-stationary features are likely related to sea surface temperature fronts, while mobile features are likely related to atmospheric conditions). Further, we demonstrate how the use of S1 Level-2 products (i.e. radial velocity datasets) can be leveraged as contextual data to improve the interpretation and classification of ocean feature signatures extracted from R2 imagery. Despite the straight-forward approach taken here, this work demonstrates that there are practical, real-world applications that would benefit from exploiting these on-going imaging opportunities in operational environments.

Navaseltsau Uladzimir, Navaseltsava Dzina, Khaletski Vitali

The construction industry is an important segment of the national economy of the Republic of Belarus. In recent years, strict environmental safety requirements have been imposed on the quality of housing being built. The carbon dioxide content in the classrooms’ air of the university as model objects was investigated by the authors. It has been shown that the content of this pollutant can exceed 2,000 ppm. The use of mechanical ventilation systems, especially with heat recovery, allows to solve the problem of poor air quality in residential premises. However, for the successful functioning of ventilation systems, systematic training of the inhabitants and the implementation of educational programs are required.

Hidayat Ullah, Wanggen Wan, Saqib Ali Haidery et al.

<b> </b>Green parks are vital public spaces and play a major role in urban living and well-being. Research on the attractiveness of green parks often relies on traditional techniques, such as questionnaires and in-situ surveys, but these methods are typically insignificant in scale, time-consuming, and expensive, with less transferable results and only site-specific outcomes. This article presents an investigative study that uses location-based social network (LBSN) data to collect spatial and temporal patterns of park visits in Shanghai metropolitan city. During the period from July 2016 to June 2017 in Shanghai, China, we analyzed the spatiotemporal behavior of park visitors for 157 green parks and conducted empirical research on the impacts of green spaces on the public&#8217;s behavior in Shanghai. Our main findings show (i) the check-in distribution of users in different green spaces; (ii) the seasonal effects on the public&#8217;s behavior toward green spaces; (iii) changes in the number of users based on the hour of the day, the intervals of the day (morning, afternoon, evening), and the day of the week; (iv) interesting user behavior variations that depend on temperature effects; and (v) gender-based differences in the number of green park visitors. These results can be used for the purpose of urban city planning for green spaces by accounting for the preferences of visitors.