Artificial Landscapes Research Articles

Landscape Character Classification with a Deep Neural Network: A Case Study of the Jianghan Plain

Grounded in the theoretical and methodological frameworks of landscape character identification from the European Landscape Map (LANMAP) and landscape character assessment (LCA), this study developed an AI-based tool for landscape character analysis to classify the Jianghan Plain’s landscape more effectively. The proposed method leveraged a deep learning model, the artificial intelligence-based landscape character (AI-LC) classifier, along with specific naming and coding rules for the unique landscape character of the Jianghan Plain. Experimental results showed a significant improvement in classification accuracy, reaching 89% and 86% compared to traditional methods. The classifier identified 10 macro-level and 18 meso-level landscape character types within the region, which were further categorized into four primary zones—a lake network river basin, a hillfront terrace, surrounding mountains, and a lake network island hill—based on natural and social features. These advancements contributed to the theoretical framework of landscape character assessment, offering practical insights for landscape planning and conservation while highlighting AI’s transformative potential in environmental research and management.

Effects of artemisinin sustained-release algaecides on in-situ cyanobacterial inhibition and microbes-floating plants dominated ecosystem functions in artificial landscape lake

The artemisinin sustained-release algaecides (ASAs) have been proven to be a safe and effective mean of inhibiting cyanobacteria in laboratory experiments. However, their effectiveness and impacts on ecosystem functions (EF) in natural waters are still unclear. In this study, the in-situ inhibitory effect of ASAs on cyanobacteria in natural waters was investigated over a period of 110 days to assess EF impacts dominated by microbes and floating plants. The results indicated that ASAs had a long-term inhibitory effect on cyanobacteria. ASAs did not affect sediment but increased TOC and TP in the water column in 2–10 days. Microbial diversity and network analyses indicated that ASAs enhanced bacterial diversity, network complexity, and hub-bacteria in networks. Metabolic pathway predictions and CCA analysis showed that ASAs maintained the stability of EF by enhancing the metabolic capacities of bacteria, and the relationships between metabolic microorganisms and environmental factors. PLS-PM revealed that ASAs primarily drove bacterial resistance to cyanobacteria, which was the key mechanism for its long-term inhibition of cyanobacteria. However, the early outbreak of floating plants was not conducive to the long-term inhibition of cyanobacteria by ASAs. This study provides new insights into the mechanisms and ecological impacts of cyanobacterial inhibition by ASAs in complex aquatic environments.

Coastlines violate the Schramm–Loewner Evolution

Mandelbrot’s empirical observation that the coast of Britain is fractal has been confirmed by many authors, but it can be described by the Schramm–Loewner Evolution? Since the self-affine surface of our planet has a positive Hurst exponent, one would not expect a priori any critical behavior. Here, we investigate numerically the roughness and fractal dimension of the isoheight lines of real and artificial landscapes. Using a novel algorithm to take into account overhangs, we find that the roughness exponent of isoheight lines is consistent with unity regardless of the Hurst exponent of the rough surface. Moreover, the effective fractal dimension of the iso-height lines decays linearly with the Hurst exponent of the surface. We perform several tests to verify if the complete and accessible perimeters would follow the Schramm–Loewner Evolution and find that the left passage probability test is clearly violated, implying that coastlines violate SLE.

Grassland restoration on linear landscape elements – comparing the effects of topsoil removal and topsoil transfer

Artificial linear landscape elements, including roads, pipelines, and drainage channels, are main sources of global habitat fragmentation. Restoration of natural habitats on unused linear landscape elements can increase habitat quality and connectivity without interfering with agricultural or industrial development. Despite that topsoil removal and transfer are widely applied methods in restoration projects, up to our knowledge these were previously not compared in the same study system. To address this knowledge gap, we compared spontaneous vegetation recovery after the elimination of positive (embankments) and negative landscape scars (drainage channels) in lowland alkaline landscapes in South Hungary. The novelty of our study is that we compared the fine-scale and landscape-scale results of both methods. At the fine scale, we monitored the spontaneous vegetation development on the created open surfaces in the first, second and fourth year after restoration in 160 permanent plots per year. For characterizing the habitat changes on the landscape scale, we prepared habitat maps and assigned naturalness scores to each patch before and after the restoration activities. Both restoration methods resulted in a rapid vegetation recovery at the fine scale, progressing toward the reference state. In the topsoil removal treatment, a large part of the soil seed bank was removed; therefore, the colonization of the bare surface was a slower process. Seeds of halophytes, including the endemic and protected Suaeda pannonica, were probably present in the deeper soil layers, and these species became established in the restored surfaces, despite being absent in the surrounding vegetation. For restoring vegetation cover, topsoil transfer was a more rapid option; however, vegetation closure and competition by generalist species and weeds hampered the establishment of target species. The removal of the landscape scars by both methods made the sites accessible for grazing. At the landscape scale, the two methods had different effects: there was a slight increase in the habitat naturalness in the topsoil removal site, and a slight decrease in the topsoil transfer site because of weed encroachment. Spreading an upper layer of nutrient-poor soil with low amounts of weed seeds, direct propagule transfer, and targeted grazing regimes could enhance restoration success.

The Thursina Creative Islamic Boarding School Landscape Design with an Ecological Approach

Abstract The Thursina Sukamakmur Creative Islamic Boarding School is a boarding school under the State Electricity Company Baitul Mal Foundation (YBM-PLN) ’s management in Sukamakmur Village, Bogor Regency. Education at this Islamic boarding school has the theme of agriculture, where students learn about rice farming and goat and chicken farming. This Islamic boarding school has an area of 16,610 m2 with sloping to steep terrain (more than 25%) and consists of Islamic boarding school buildings, livestock areas, and rain-fed rice fields. The pesantren is surrounded by rain-fed rice fields and is located on a hillside, so it has problems in hydrology when it rains, and strong winds blow from the hill towards the valley. Therefore, a master plan was prepared using an ecological approach, in which the solutions offered minimize artificial landscape elements and optimize the function of vegetation as a wind barrier. The wind barrier is made of pine trees with three layers of thickness. With this ecological approach, it is hoped that the management of the building and environment of the Thursina Creative Islamic Boarding School can be sustainable.

The importance of rodents to a specialist carnivore in an industrialized site

Abstract Specialist carnivores are often among the first species disappearing from transformed, human-dominated landscapes. However, some carnivore species can exploit abundant food sources in human-dominated landscapes. In this study, we investigated the diet of a specialist carnivore, the serval (Leptailurus serval), inhabiting artificial and natural landscapes surrounding a petrochemical plant in the Highveld of Mpumalanga, South Africa. From 2013 to 2018, for each year, we collected and analysed a total of 264 scat samples. We found that rodent species dominated the serval diet, while other prey items like birds, insects, and unidentified prey contributed little to the diet. In terms of biomass consumed, Otomys sp (56.94 %), Mastomys sp (19.12 %), and Rhabdomys sp (8.68 %) were the most important rodent prey. We further found that biomass consumed is only affected by species, not season or species–season interactions. Our results concur with previous studies that serval is primarily a rodent specialist and that specialisation holds even in human-altered landscapes.

The impact mechanism of human activities on the evolution of coastal wetlands in the Liaohe River Delta

IntroductionThis study aims to investigate the impact of human activities on the evolution of coastal wetlands in the Liaohe River Delta. Understanding these impacts is crucial for the management, protection, and sustainable development of the ecological environment in the region.MethodsQuantitative analysis of the evolution of coastal wetlands along the Liaohe River from 1995 to 2020 using Landsat series remote sensing images. This study examines the changes in different landscapes and explores the impact of human activities on wetlands through methods such as land transfer matrix, landscape pattern index, and human activity hotspots.ResultsThe results show that the area of coastal wetlands in the Liaohe River Delta exhibited a fluctuating downward trend from 1995 to 2020. The eastern and western parts of the delta experienced greater disturbance to wetland landscapes due to human activities, while the northern and southern parts were mostly waters and reed lands with a smaller degree of human disturbance. Human activities have led to significant changes in farmland, ponds, rice paddies, construction land, and reed fields, thereby promoting the evolution of coastal wetlands.DiscussionThis article discusses the characteristics of landscape pattern evolution in the study area, as well as the impact of human interference, economy, policies, and other factors on it, and compares it with the evolution patterns of other coastal wetlands in China. The changes in the landscape pattern of the study area are mainly reflected in the reduction and fragmentation of natural wetland areas, which are closely related to human activities, especially the development of construction and agriculture. The main economic manifestation is that the increase in land demand due to economic and urban development has led to the transformation of natural wetlands into construction land and other artificial landscapes. The implementation of regulations such as the Wetland Protection Law has contributed to the rational use and ecological restoration of wetlands, and also reflects the influence of policy factors. Compared with other studies, coastal wetlands in China generally face issues of degradation and loss, mainly caused by human activities, but also affected by natural factors such as rising sea levels, changes in coastlines, and climate change.

Human activities are intensifying the spatial variation of landslides in the Yellow River Basin

Human activities are a triggering factor for landslides in the Yellow River Basin (YRB, China). However, the extent to which the spatial distribution of landslides is affected by human activities is unclear. We constructed a human activity intensity index (HAII) based on nighttime light data and land cover data. Regression and dominance analyses were used to compare the effects of the HAII, precipitation, distance to river, distance to fault, topographic relief and slope on the landslides spatial density (LSD). The results showed that in the YRB, the HAII, as a dominance influencing factor, had a significant positive influence on the LSD. Moreover, regional differences in the human disturbance of nature intensify the spatial variation of LSD. To quantify the intensity of human disturbance to nature, a human-nature conflict index (HNCI) is constructed by quantifying the difference between the slope distributions of artificial and natural landscapes. The results show that in the middle section of the YRB, humans are developing more steep mountainous areas, leading to more dense landslides. This study provides a reference for landslide risk management and land use planning in the YRB.

아파트 가격에 영향을 미치는 3가지 환경 요인 분석

The purpose and significance of this study is to analyze the impact of complex environmental factors on apartment prices across the country based on actual transaction prices. For this, based on the actual transaction prices of apartments in four complexes within △△ district in ○○-si, Gyeongsangnam-do, which are all affected by three environmental factors: exposure to open spaces (neighborhood parks and natural mountainous areas), exposure to Nimby facility (livestock barn), and exposure to traffic noise. The influence of each factor was estimated through three-pair two-apartment correlation analysis and hedonic modeling. Three pairs of two apartments were selected for correlation analysis, and they have the same or similar physical factors such as exclusive use area, construction year, construction company, and orientation. However, the first pair of two apartments differs only in exposure to open space. The second pair of two apartments differs only in exposure to Nimby facilities. and the final pair of two apartments differs in simultaneous exposure to both open space and traffic noise. In addition, the actual transaction prices of 300 apartments in 4 complexes were investigated to estimate the impact of exposure to open space, to Nimby facility, and to traffic noise through a hedonic model. As a result of correlation analysis, the impact due to exposure to avoided facilities was -6.7%, the impact due to exposure to open space was +5.0%, and the impact due to noise exposure was -11.2%. From the results of the hedonic modelling, the impacts due to exposure to open space, Nimby facility and traffic noise were estimated to be 182,357 won/m 2 , -170,437 won/m 2 , and -195,141 won/m 2 , respectively. Although it was confirmed that traffic noise has the greatest impact on apartment prices, there is a limit in that the size of the analysis of the impact due to exposure to open space and exposure to nimby facilities was derived differently from correlation analysis and hedonic model analysis. Future research should be conducted to analyze the impact of open spaces by further subdividing them into natural landscapes such as mountains and rivers and artificial landscapes such as neighborhood parks.

Construction and Optimization Strategy of Ecological Security Pattern in County-Level Cities under Spatial and Temporal Variation of Ecosystem Services: Case Study of Mianzhu, China

Climate change and human activities are seriously affecting the ecological level and economic development of county-level cities. Mianzhu City is a typical county-level city located within the Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Circle and the Yangtze River Economic Belt. The study selected primary ecological sources by analyzing high-level ecosystem service functions over time, using Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA). Ecological resistance surfaces were constructed using natural factors to address ecological risks associated with future urbanization. The construction of the ecological security pattern (ESP) followed the source–corridor–node paradigm, incorporating changes in ecosystem service risks. From 2010 to 2020, ecosystem service functions and values in Mianzhu City declined overall, with significant spatial variations. Human activities increased in ecologically fragile areas, aggravating exposure to ecological risks from climate change and urban expansion. Ecological protection and restoration zones were identified, with nature reserves in the north and the southern center as the core. In 2020, 19 ecological sources and 46 ecological corridors were identified, with a spatial distribution pattern of “more length and short resistance in the north, less length and long resistance in the south”. Additionally, 41 ecological pinch points and 16 ecological barrier points were determined. Considering the spatial distribution of the core areas of ecosystem services and lands with human-intensive activities, setting up the general idea of the ecological restoration pattern centered on forests, river corridors, and natural and artificial landscapes. The study provides new insights into constructing and optimizing the ESP, offering crucial references for the rapid urbanization of ecological restoration and development planning in urban regions.

Towards standardised large-scale monitoring of peatland habitats through fine-scale drone-derived vegetation mapping

Northern peatlands provide key climate regulating services by sequestering and storing atmospheric carbon as peat, but also provide habitat for specialised plant and animal species. Ecosystem-wide monitoring of the functions associated with these services is necessary to better inform policy and management and facilitate carbon financing schemes. Mapping peatland vegetation as an ecological indicator of their functions using drones has proven promising herein, yet the absence of standardised methods limits implementation.We developed drone-derived vegetation maps and compared them with two types of field-based ground-reference maps: 1) habitat distribution (ecotopes) and 2) habitat quality (status) for five Irish peatlands (35–124 ha). We also explored spatial transferability of our mapping approach across peatlands. First, orthomosaics and digital terrain models (DTM) were derived from drone imagery, after which plant functional types and microforms were separately classified. Second, ecotope and status maps were classified using the proportions of the fine-scale vegetation and the range in DTM within 20x20m grid cells as input predictor variables.Drone-derived ecotope and status maps captured the overall vegetation zonation of the conventional maps well, with the least mismatches for the peatlands displaying clear concentric zonation. Classification performance ranged between 88% for status and 72% for ecotope maps between peatlands. The lower classification performance for ecotopes was partly an artifact from gridding the conventional polygon-shaped ground-reference maps. Further classification errors resulted from artificial landscape features, variable plant phenology, and inaccuracies in the detrended DTM data at peatland-scale. Spatial transferability of the mapping approach was limited. Particularly, using pooled ground-reference data for classification decreased model performance with 5% for status and 10% for ecotope maps, largely because microform and plant functional type proportions associated with peatland habitat classes in the conventional maps varied between peatlands.Our findings highlight that both fine-scale vegetation patterns and habitats can be classified consistently on the peatland-scale using drone-derived imagery products and machine learning classifications. Yet, status is currently mapped notably more accurately than ecotopes. Also, peatland-specific ground-reference data is required until the conventional vegetation classes are more standardised across a wider variety of peatlands and peatland types.

Passive Restoration Achieved through Natural Processes over 70 Years in the Korean DMZ

The Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is an area where human disturbance has been strictly restrained for about seven decades since 1953. As a result, compared with rural and urban areas in Korea with similar ecological conditions, the landscape structure of the Korean DMZ today shows a big difference in that it has a riparian forest and lacks any of the artificial landscape elements, such as agricultural and residential areas. The vegetation maps made in the 1950s and those made in recent years of a model site that extends throughout the DMZ, the Civilian Control Zone (CCZ), and adjacent rural areas show that successional changes in the DMZ and CCZ areas are remarkable, while changes in the rural areas are not clear. Rice fields have been replaced by riparian forests, whereas young forests in areas previously subjected to excessive use and pine forests have been replaced by broad-leaved forests. Among the three landscape elements that changed, it was found that riparian zones, where natural disturbance is usually frequent, could mitigate the impacts of human disturbance and restore the original features of nature sooner than any other elements. The results of analyses on landscape change that focused on rice fields before the Korean War also showed similar results: most of these fields had turned into riparian vegetation. Stand ordination of riparian vegetation investigated in the CCZ, rural areas, and urban areas showed clear differences in species composition and diversity among regions. In this study, we confirmed the passive restoration of the Korean DMZ and CCZ through natural regeneration processes as a result of restricted human disturbance over a period of about seven decades.

Back to the Village: Assessing the Effects of Naturalness, Landscape Types, and Landscape Elements on the Restorative Potential of Rural Landscapes

Rural landscapes are acknowledged for their potential to restore human health due to natural characteristics. However, modern rural development has degraded these environments, thereby diminishing the restorative potential of rural landscapes. Few studies have systematically analyzed the impact of naturalness, landscape types, and landscape elements on restorativeness using both subjective and objective measurements. This study investigated the restorative effects of various rural landscapes in Guangzhou, employing electroencephalography and eye-tracking technologies to record physiological responses and using the Restorative Components Scale and the Perceived Restorativeness and Naturalness Scale to evaluate psychological responses. The results indicated the following: (1) There was a significant positive correlation between perceived naturalness and restorativeness, surpassing the impact of actual naturalness. (2) Different landscape types had varying impacts on restorativeness at the same level of perceived naturalness. Natural forest landscapes, artificial forest landscapes, and settlement landscapes exhibited the most substantial restorative effects among the natural, semi-natural, and artificial landscapes examined, respectively. (3) Restorative properties varied across landscape elements: trees and water significantly enhanced restorativeness, whereas constructed elements reduced it. Findings from this study can provide support for policymakers to make informed decisions regarding the selection and arrangement of rural landscape types and elements to enhance mental health and well-being.

Current national nature reserves are insufficient to safeguard the long-term survival of birds and mammals in China

Enhancing the connectivity of protected areas is a global consensus for conserving biodiversity. Yet, it is unclear whether habitats are sufficiently connected within protected areas to efficiently protect wildlife populations for long-term survival. Here we show that, in general, China’s national nature reserves can effectively protect about one-half of the bird and mammal populations within protected areas for long-term survival. However, they can only protect 25% of birds and 13% of terrestrial mammals with high motility. Areas of low conservation effectiveness are highly overlapped with protected areas of small size and high intensity of human activity. Artificial landscapes (arable land and built-up land), which account for less than 2% area of the protected areas, disproportionately cause nearly 40% of the connectivity loss. The results suggest that maintaining high levels of functional connectivity within protected areas is as important as maintaining high connectivity in the national or global protected area networks. Our findings have important implications for improving the management of protected areas in China and beyond.

Exploring the Impact of Campus Landscape Visual Elements Combination on Short-Term Stress Relief among College Students: A Case from China

Although the effect of campus landscape space on stress relief among college students has been confirmed, few existing studies have considered the impact on stress recovery from the perspective of factor combination, and the key visual elements and the most effective combination of visual elements to relieve stress are still unclear. This study attempts to conduct a natural experiment within Chinese campuses, measuring physiological indicators of stress such as heart rate (HR), frequency domain index of heart rate variability (LF/HF), skin conductance level (SCL), skin temperature (SKT), and respiratory rate (RESP) using physiological instruments. It explored the effects of visual elements and their combinations in campus landscape spaces on short-term stress relief among college students through semantic segmentation, multifactorial analysis of variance, and post hoc multiple comparison methods. Research results demonstrate that the presence of water elements in the field of vision can effectively improve the stress relief effects of landscape spaces. Reasonable combinations of natural landscape elements and artificial landscape elements in the design can also effectively promote stress relief among students. Building facade area and sky area, water area and sky area, and plant species and pavement area are three combinations of factors with the strongest interactive effects. “Natural water scenery” and “exquisite artificial” are two campus landscape design patterns most conducive to short-term stress relief.

Complexity, Coordination Dynamics and the Urban Landscape

Similar to living complex systems, cities are composed of a huge number of interacting parts, each with its specific properties, rhythm, etc., that, by means of self-organization, give rise to a functioning complex system. A major challenge is thus to follow the self-organized adaptation process by which the huge number of diverse parts coordinate their action and behavior into a coherent whole. Coordination dynamics, the science of coordination, elaborates on this issue, showing how patterns of coordination form, adapt, persist and change in living things. Recent studies on cities and complexity exposed that human agents differ from other living things in that they adapt not only through behavior but also through the construction of artifacts, thus giving rise to hybrid complex systems (HCSs) and to cities as such. This entails a new challenge regarding the various aspects and roles of artifacts in coordination dynamics. This study introduces the notions of hybrid complex systems and coordination dynamics and then focuses on one aspect that concerns coordination in cities: the ways the artificial urban landscape participates in coordinating the dynamics between the human urban agents.

Zhao Liang's Behemoth (2015) and the Apocalypse of Ecological Visibility

In confronting environmental catastrophes, how can we find a medium that can augment the view of these burning issues? How can we unfold the circularity that the seeming insignificance of particles at the micro level is inextricably, in sedimented spatiotemporal layers, linked to the pattern at the macro level? What if our media are found wanting for this task? These are the conundrums that Zhao Liang unpacks in Behemoth (2015) through its figuration of imbalanced ecology and the quest to interrogate the limit of medial visibility. The minimal discernibility of dust demands the film to instead contemplate mountains, bodies, and breaths to find its settled traces in atmospheric pervasion, anti‐iconic moments, as well as a scalar narratology. Zhao strategizes to pixelate, splice open, abstract, and scale up and down natural and artificial landscapes that are equally under siege in China's industrialization. These tactics are deployed to better reveal the staggering and stagnating atomic magnitude of our living world in crisis.

Impacts of habitat loss and fragmentation on seed dispersal by an Afrotropical bird community in an anthropogenic landscape: Insights from movement models

Habitat loss and fragmentation can affect seed dispersal by impacting seed dispersers' habitat choices, behavior, and movement patterns. Here we studied seed dispersal by an Afrotropical bird community in an anthropogenic landscape in Kenya. We used telemetry data of six bird species, estimated their habitat choices, behavior, and movement patterns in the forest fragments and the matrix. We then integrated our model estimates into a seed dispersal simulation model with multiple artificial anthropogenic landscapes, experiencing different levels of habitat loss and fragmentation. In our simulations, we included two seed disperser groups: forest specialist and habitat generalist birds that moved in the landscape using a mixture-correlated random walk, and encamped and traveled in the different habitat types. Increased habitat loss diminished seed dispersal distances, where seeds carried by forest specialist dispersers suffered a stronger reduction in dispersal distances compared to habitat generalists, and number of seeds deposited in habitat fragments, where fewer seeds were deposited into the fragments by habitat generalist dispersers compared to forest specialists. The effects of habitat fragmentation were similar to but weaker than that of habitat loss, and most apparent at an intermediate level of habitat loss. Other seed dispersal metrics, including spatial extent of seed rain and nearest neighbor distances among seeds, did not show any strong relationships with either habitat loss or fragmentation. Therefore, movement models offer valuable perspectives on how habitat loss and fragmentation can influence seed dispersal patterns, by reliably estimating habitat choices, behavior, and movement patterns of dispersers, and potentially benefiting efforts to conserve this ecological interaction.

Quantitative Comparison of Chatbots on Common Rhinology Pathologies.

Understanding the strengths and weaknesses of chatbots as a source of patient information is critical for providers in the rising artificial intelligence landscape. This study is the first to quantitatively analyze and compare four of the most used chatbots available regarding treatments of common pathologies in rhinology. The treatment of epistaxis, chronic sinusitis, sinus infection, allergic rhinitis, allergies, and nasal polyps was asked to chatbots ChatGPT, ChatGPT Plus, Google Bard, and Microsoft Bing in May 2023. Individual responses were analyzed by reviewers for readability, quality, understandability, and actionability using validated scoring metrics. Accuracy and comprehensiveness were evaluated for each response by two experts in rhinology. ChatGPT, Plus, Bard, and Bing had FRE readability scores of 33.17, 35.93, 46.50, and 46.32, respectively, indicating higher readability for Bard and Bing compared to ChatGPT (p = 0.003, p = 0.008) and Plus (p = 0.025, p = 0.048). ChatGPT, Plus, and Bard had mean DISCERN quality scores of 20.42, 20.89, and 20.61, respectively, which was higher than the score for Bing of 16.97 (p < 0.001). For understandability, ChatGPT and Bing had PEMAT scores of 76.67 and 66.61, respectively, which were lower than both Plus at 92.00 (p < 0.001, p < 0.001) and Bard at 92.67 (p < 0.001, p < 0.001). ChatGPT Plus had an accuracy score of 4.39 which was higher than ChatGPT (3.97, p = 0.118), Bard (3.72, p = 0.002), and Bing (3.19, p < 0.001). On aggregate of the tested domains, our results suggest ChatGPT Plus and Google Bard are currently the most patient-friendly chatbots for the treatment of common pathologies in rhinology. N/A Laryngoscope, 134:4225-4231, 2024.

Understanding the Ethical Issues of Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs): A Blessing or the Beginning of a Dystopian Future?

In recent years, scientific discoveries in the field of neuroscience combined with developments in the field of artificial intelligence have led to the development of a range of neurotechnologies. Advances in neuroimaging systems, neurostimulators, and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs)are leading to new ways of enhancing, controlling, and "reading" the brain. In addition, although BCIs were developed and used primarily in the medical field, they are now increasingly applied in other fields (entertainment, marketing, education, defense industry). We conducted a literature review following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines to provide background information about ethical issues related to the use of BCIs. Among the ethical issues that emerged from the thematic data analysis of the reviewed studies included questions revolving around human dignity, personhood and autonomy, user safety, stigma and discrimination, privacy and security, responsibility, research ethics, and social justice (including access to this technology). This paper attempts to address the various aspects of these concerns. A variety of distinct ethical issues were identified, which, for the most part, were in line with the findings of prior research. However, we identified two nuances, which are related to the empirical research on ethical issues related to BCIs and the impact of BCIs on international relationships. The paper also highlights the need for the cooperation of all stakeholders to ensure the ethical development and use of this technology and concludes with several recommendations. The principles of bioethics provide an initial guiding framework, which, however, should be revised in the current artificial intelligence landscape so as to be responsive to challenges posed by the development and use of BCIs.