An Innovative Framework on Spatial Boundary Optimization of Multiple International Designated Land Use

The continuous improvement of international protection awareness has dramatically increased the number of protection organizations and promoted various reserve-naming methods. However, the existing global natural reserves have either fully or partially overlapped, thereby allowing the same region to hold various international titles, resulting in serious issues, which are especially manifested in the boundary delimitation process of natural reserves. Therefore, delimiting the titles of reserve borders will become an enormous challenge in protected-area governance worldwide. This study conducted an in-depth investigation of the technical methods for delineating the spatial boundaries of natural reserves. Taking Jiangshan Nature Reserve in China as the case object, the Candidate Area–Natural background–Heritage Resource–Construction (C-NHC) framework was constructed, and the boundaries of the new reserves were delineated. This study has changed the status quo of the spatial overlap of the reserve through the quantitative evaluation of the conflict patches and the triple optimization of the boundary of the reserve. The area of the new reserve is 150.524 km2, which is 6.682 km2 larger than the original one. The original reserves are all included within the scope of the new one. This study provides guidance and new insights into the boundary delineation of integrated nature reserves worldwide.

Application of GIS to assess the accessibility of urban streets in Baghdad city

Accessibility has an important impact on shaping human activity patterns on all of the spatial scales. This study presented an evaluation of accessibility levels with private to commercial centers for three selected routes in Baghdad city. The study involved more than 45 days transport survey for private vehicles in Baghdad city using Global Positioning System (GPS) probe for recording indicators of traffic performance. Gravity model was used to measure accessibility index as an implementation of GIS-based model by using link geography and the spatial boundary of analysis in order to build route networks at three routes in Baghdad City, Bayaa intersection - Bab Al-Muatham intersection (Route 1), Bayaa intersection - Bab Al-Muatham intersection (Route 2) and 14 Ramadan Street - Bab Al-Muatham intersection (Route 3). It was found that Route 1 has the high accessibility index with 0.67 in compare with Route 2 and 3 (0.58 and 0.59), respectively. The reason that Route 1 had the highest accessibility index due to the high access point and low traffic volume as compared with the other two routes.

Applying Geographic Information System Methodologies to Estimate the Catchment Area Accessibility of Park-and-Ride Facilities

Park and Ride (P&R) systems play a potentially important role in transportation planning to decrease the undesirable effects of private cars in the Central Business District (CBD). In order to achieve this objective, an essential component to be investigated is the catchment areas of these P&R facilities. However, a limited number of studies have applied the Geographic Information System (GIS) to study the spatial boundary accessibility of the catchment areas of P&R. This study aims to analyze the spatial boundary accessibility of the catchment areas of P&R facilities using three GIS methods. The first method uses geometric shapes to analyze the catchment areas of P&R facilities according to regular shapes, such as parabolas or circles. The market area is the second method used to analyze travel time via the tool ArcGIS Network Analyst to determine the catchment area of P&Rs. Finally, the dynamic accessibility method determines how accessible a facility can be through a study of the spatial boundary accessibility of P&Rs based on the travel time and distance between zones and P&R. The result shows that the static methods identify the spatial boundary accessibility through the calculation of the size of the shape of each P&R separately, while the dynamic method identifies the level of accessibility in detail for all P&R and also the accessibility of each zone to reach a facility. In conclusion, the dynamic accessibility method presents better accuracy than static methods in order to estimate the spatial boundary accessibility of the catchment area of P&Rs.

Legal space of the state: constitutional and legal aspect

The article considers the features of the category "legal space". The author cites the views of scholars engaged in the study of this legal concept. By linking the category of "legal space" to constitutional law, a conclusion is made about space as a constitutional-legal category. It is indicated that the development and assertion of Ukraine's own path and place in the geopolitical environment, its inclusion in European and world integration processes are inextricably linked with the organization of rule-making and law enforcement activities of public authorities and local governments, which would meet modern trends and international standards. in this area. New trends in the constitutional and legal construction of the country, the formation of civil society institutions, optimization and reform of public administration determine the new conditions for the implementation of state power, a prerequisite for effective operation of which is the unity of the legal space. It is established that legal space as a constitutional-legal category is a specific functional category of the science of constitutional law, which reflects certain spatial boundaries of the origin and development of any constitutional-legal action, the constitutional process, constitutional norm, state or event. Thus, space is a spatial boundary established by the Constitution, which can overcome itself and be replaced by more progressive in the implementation of constitutional and legal reform. They also simultaneously form a certain boundary, beyond which begin to develop constitutional relations.

A Comprehensive Analysis of Hurricane Damage across the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic Coasts Using Geospatial Big Data

(1) Background: Hurricane events are expected to increase as a consequence of climate change, increasing their intensity and severity. Destructive hurricane activities pose the greatest threat to coastal communities along the U.S. Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Coasts in the conterminous United States. This study investigated the historical extent of hurricane-related damage, identifying the most at-risk areas of hurricanes using geospatial big data. As a supplement to analysis, this study further examined the overall population trend within the hurricane at-risk zones. (2) Methods: The Sea, Lake, and Overland Surges from Hurricanes (SLOSH) model and the HURRECON model were used to estimate the geographical extent of the storm surge inundation and wind damage of historical hurricanes from 1950 to 2018. The modeled results from every hurricane were then aggregated to a single unified spatial surface to examine the generalized hurricane patterns across the affected coastal counties. Based on this singular spatial boundary coupled with demographic datasets, zonal analysis was applied to explore the historical population at risk. (3) Results: A total of 777 counties were found to comprise the “hurricane-prone coastal counties” that have experienced at least one instance of hurricane damage over the study period. The overall demographic trends within the hurricane-prone coastal counties revealed that the coastal populations are growing at a faster pace than the national average, and this growth puts more people at greater risk of hurricane hazards. (4) Conclusions: This study is the first comprehensive investigation of hurricane vulnerability encompassing the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts stretching from Texas to Maine over a long span of time. The findings from this study can serve as a basis for understanding the exposure of at-risk populations to hurricane-related damage within the coastal counties at a national scale.

Cosmopolitan enclaves: An introduction

Cosmopolitan enclaves emerge at the intersection of global dynamics and local contexts as spaces where the cultivation of a cosmopolitan ethos encounters processes of socio-spatial boundary work and segregation. In the introduction to this special issue, we discuss under which circumstances the intention to cultivate open-mindedness goes hand in hand with keeping the local environment at bay. We argue that ethnographic attention to cosmopolitan enclaves may help bridge macro-level observations regarding globalization and its graduated sovereignties with the micro-level understanding of actual day-to-day interactions and boundary work within concrete spaces. We thus address the paradox of the omnipresence of enclaves in a global world and analyse the ambiguous aspirations and expectations derived from cosmopolitan ideals and how they relate to (under)privilege. While cosmopolitan aspirations exist alongside reproductions of postcolonial representations and hierarchies, they may also express the will to resist the politics of exclusion by demarcating an alternative safe haven.

Time for a New 3-D Image for Globus Pallidus Internus Deep Brain Stimulation Targeting and Programming

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective neuromodulatory therapy for Parkinson’s disease (PD). Early studies using globus pallidus internus (GPi) DBS for PD profiled the nucleus as having two functional zones. This concept disseminated throughout the neuromodulation community as the “GPi triangle”. Although our understanding of the pallidum has greatly evolved over the past 20 years, we continue to reference the triangle in our clinical decision-making process. We propose a new direction, termed the spatial boundary hypothesis, to build upon the 2-dimensional outlook on GPi DBS. We believe an updated 3-D GPi model can produce more consistent, positive patient outcomes.

Part 1: Spatially Dispersive Metasurfaces: Zero Thickness Surface Susceptibilities & Extended GSTCs

<div>A simple method to describe spatially dispersive metasurfaces is proposed where the angle-dependent surface susceptibilities are explicitly used to formulate the zero thickness sheet model of practical metasurface structures. It is shown that if the surface susceptibilities of a given metasurface are expressed as a ratio of two polynomials of tangential spatial frequencies, k_||, with complex coefficients, they can be conveniently expressed as spatial derivatives of the difference and average fields around the metasurface in the space domain, leading to extended forms of the standard Generalized Sheet Transition Conditions (GSTCs) accounting for the spatial dispersion. Using two simple examples of a short electric dipole and an all-dielectric cylindrical puck unit cells, which exhibit purely tangential surface susceptibilities and reciprocal/symmetric transmission and reflection characteristics, the proposed concept is numerically confirmed in 2D. A single Lorentzian has been found to describe the spatio-temporal frequency behavior of a short dipole unit cell, while a multi-Lorentzian description is developed to capture the complex multiple angular resonances of the dielectric puck. For both cases, the appropriate spatial boundary conditions are derived.</div>

Part 1: Spatially Dispersive Metasurfaces: Zero Thickness Surface Susceptibilities & Extended GSTCs

<div>A simple method to describe spatially dispersive metasurfaces is proposed where the angle-dependent surface susceptibilities are explicitly used to formulate the zero thickness sheet model of practical metasurface structures. It is shown that if the surface susceptibilities of a given metasurface are expressed as a ratio of two polynomials of tangential spatial frequencies, k_||, with complex coefficients, they can be conveniently expressed as spatial derivatives of the difference and average fields around the metasurface in the space domain, leading to extended forms of the standard Generalized Sheet Transition Conditions (GSTCs) accounting for the spatial dispersion. Using two simple examples of a short electric dipole and an all-dielectric cylindrical puck unit cells, which exhibit purely tangential surface susceptibilities and reciprocal/symmetric transmission and reflection characteristics, the proposed concept is numerically confirmed in 2D. A single Lorentzian has been found to describe the spatio-temporal frequency behavior of a short dipole unit cell, while a multi-Lorentzian description is developed to capture the complex multiple angular resonances of the dielectric puck. For both cases, the appropriate spatial boundary conditions are derived.</div>

Legal space of the state: certain doctrinal principles

The article considers the features of the category "legal space". The author cites the views of scholars engaged in the study of this legal concept. By linking the category of "legal space" to constitutional law, a conclusion is made about space as a constitutional-legal category. It is indicated that the development and assertion of Ukraine's own path and place in the geopolitical environment, its inclusion in European and world integration processes are inextricably linked with the organization of rule-making and law enforcement activities of public authorities and local governments, which would meet modern trends and international standards. in this area. New trends in the constitutional and legal construction of the country, the formation of civil society institutions, optimization and reform of public administration determine the new conditions for the implementation of state power, a prerequisite for effective operation of which is the unity of the legal space. It is established that legal space as a constitutional-legal category is a specific functional category of the science of constitutional law, which reflects certain spatial boundaries of the origin and development of any constitutional-legal action, the constitutional process, constitutional norm, state or event. Thus, space is a spatial boundary established by the Constitution, which can overcome itself and be replaced by more progressive in the implementation of constitutional and legal reform. They also simultaneously form a certain boundary, beyond which begin to develop constitutional relations.