Geographical Problems Research Articles

Who Eats, Where, What, and How? COVID-19, Food Security, and Canadian Foodscapes

Who Eats, Where, What, and How? COVID-19, Food Security, and Canadian Foodscapes

Editorial Notes

Editorial Notes Craig S. Revels Welcome to the eighty-fourth volume of the Yearbook of the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers. As always, it remains a privilege to bring you the research and perspectives of our members as evidence of how vibrant and wide-ranging our Association continues to be. This year's issue also includes the welcome return of the abstracts, awards, and various reports from our 2021 annual meeting in San Diego, which itself was a celebrated achievement after the pandemic-related cancellation of the previous year. The resumption of our annual meetings provides the opportunity to lead off the Yearbook once again with the APCG Presidential Address. In his wide-ranging essay, Michael Pretes shares with us his enthusiasm for the dedications, notes, and letters found in the books of several storied geographers. In particular, he shares with us the ways these often-overlooked snippets can reveal the personalities of the authors as well as provide new insights into the history of geography itself. Tate Pashibin, Geoff Buckley, and Yolonda Youngs consider the contentious process surrounding the creation of Canyonlands National Park in the 1960s. This process, they argue, was a key moment in the debate over multiple-use agreements in protected landscapes. The final form of the park, one that rejected multiple-use concepts, reflects the compromises and inherent contradictions that continue to shape resource management issues in the western United States. At the San Diego meeting, Dan Arreola brought together a group of former students and like-minded geographers to offer their reflections on Donald Meinig's Southwest as well as their own experiences with the volume and their relationship with Meinig himself. We find their thoughts gathered here in this volume as an appreciation of both the work and the scholar, reminding us of the pervasive influence of well-written regional geography and the sometimes unexpected but always rewarding ways our personal relationships with students and colleagues help shape our own geographical perspectives. Mark Bjelland and Madelyn Vander Veen take us from arid climes to the much different world of the Pacific Northwest. Here, they survey the evolution of Portland's post-industrial neighborhoods, examining key social and economic variables to tell the story of these renewed urban landscapes and provide perspective on the evolving nature of cities themselves. [End Page 9] Finally, Soheil Boroushaki illustrates the complexities of spatial analysis and GIS, exploring the theoretical underpinnings of a multicriteria decision-making algorithm and demonstrating its application in identification of disadvantaged communities in the San Fernando Valley. His article is a reminder that there are increasingly refined and innovative ways to improve the tools and processes we use to approach geographical problems. Though the articles in this volume of the Yearbook are few, I believe they illustrate the breadth and far-reaching interests of both our Association and discipline. As we move away from the constraints on research and travel created by the pandemic, I look forward to sharing an increasing number of our collective interests, ideas, and explorations. The resumption of our annual meetings is a welcome return to the collegiality and support our Association provides its members, and I encourage those presenting to consider the Yearbook as a venue for your research. To the APCG membership at large, I offer the same exhortation, and look forward to including your essays, perspectives, and reviews in future volumes. Every year, the Yearbook represents a collective achievement, and I offer sincere thanks to all who contributed their work to this volume, those who generously offered their time to review manuscripts, and everyone else who helped this volume see the light of day. Thanks also to Dave Deis for his work on yet another cover of the Yearbook. And as always, my sincere thanks and appreciation to Rick Cooper for pulling everything together to craft the final volume, and also for helping me keep the bus from going completely over the proverbial cliff. [End Page 10] Craig S. Revels Central Washington University Copyright © 2022 Association of Pacific Coast Geographers

A Novel Parallel Algorithm with Map Segmentation for Multiple Geographical Feature Label Placement Problem

Multiple geographical feature label placement (MGFLP) is an NP-hard problem that can negatively influence label position accuracy and the computational time of the algorithm. The complexity of such a problem is compounded as the number of features for labeling increases, causing the execution time of the algorithms to grow exponentially. Additionally, in large-scale solutions, the algorithm possibly gets trapped in local minima, which imposes significant challenges in automatic label placement. To address the mentioned challenges, this paper proposes a novel parallel algorithm with the concept of map segmentation which decomposes the problem of multiple geographical feature label placement (MGFLP) to achieve a more intuitive solution. Parallel computing is then utilized to handle each decomposed problem simultaneously on a separate central processing unit (CPU) to speed up the process of label placement. The optimization component of the proposed algorithm is designed based on the hybrid of discrete differential evolution and genetic algorithms. Our results based on real-world datasets confirm the usability and scalability of the algorithm and illustrate its excellent performance. Moreover, the algorithm gained superlinear speedup compared to the previous studies that applied this hybrid algorithm.

The problem which face agriculture of seeds and vegetables in Anbar province and suggestive solutions for them

This study aim to give clear image about the problems which Face agriculture of seeds and vegetables in study area and to find number of treatments in the future for these constrains . Also this study depends on analyzing and descriptive method and fielded lookups to limit these constrains . This study gets number of geographic problem some deals with nature side like climate circumstances and soil salting with weeds spreading and agricultural diseases . Another problems deals with manned – side like Urban creep and Backward irrigations with decreasing in production supplies and weakness of agricultural politics .This study shows difference between affection of seed and vegetables with manned and natural factors ,that manned factors effect more than natural factors on agricultural production because of the humans are the main reason with incidences, like soil salting as a result of wrong irrigation and decreasing of production with agricultural areas , because of urban creep on agricultural areas and weakness of agricultural planning .This study gets a number of suggestive solutions which leads to enlarge the agricultural areas with increasing of agricultural production and to achieve optimal independence for agricultural areas through following scientific methods and correct agricultural politics

История создания Памирского тракта и его значение для организации систем искусственного орошения в Средней Азии в конце XIX – начале XX в.

Appearing the Pamir Highway made the lands of Central Asia accessible for scientific expeditions. Arid and empty territories could not have been used in agriculture and industry without irrigation, and development of the region depended on this. At the end of the XIX century. Many scientists studied the geographic features and problems of artificial irrigation in the arid territories of Central Asia. In scientific works, they considered the opportunities of improving the land, arranging new systems of artificial irrigation, building dams and hydroelectric power stations. By the middle of the XIX century, the reclamation of agricultural lands was for the first time included in the list of the most important directions of state activities, the first state reclamation law in Russia was adopted. The railway and the communication routes connected with it enabled the development of agriculture and industry in the Turkestan Territory. The region acquired a connection with shopping centers and provinces of Russia, the expansion of markets for products, the growth of cities, the settlement and development of the regions of Central Asia began, and roads were laid there in the late XIX – early XX centuries.

Spatial thinking in cartography teaching for schoolchildren

ABSTRACT We present data and analyses on school teaching practises that relate spatial thinking with the learning of maps from a cartographic education perspective. This study intends to support further research in the field of school cartography, given the increasing availability of digital cartographic resources in both the formal and the informal environments frequented by the individual. This increase in information demands a careful and critical reading of the cartographic data, although this requires a clear understanding of cartographic elements on the part of the individual. This reinforces the role of teachers in the classroom, given that they can contribute to the development of critical reasoning though the analysis of current geographic problems during learning activities in school cartography. The results presented here emphasize the importance of these contributions, but also demand substantial and consistent teacher training, in particular on the theories of spatial thinking.

GEOGRAPHICAL RESEARCH OF ECOLOGICALLY DEPENDENT DISEASE IN THE TERRITORIES OF OLD AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT (CHERKASY REGION)

The dependence of morbidity on the environment has always been part of the subject area of geographical science. But recently, especially against the backdrop of the corona virus pandemic, this problem is gradually moving into the interests of Earth sciences, as it clearly marks the "relationship and interaction of terrestrial geospheres." The problem of the spread of ecologically dependent diseases of the population has long been in the interests of not only scientists and medical workers, but also geographers. The latter focused on establishing links between the quality of the natural environment of human life and the types of morbidity. V.O. Shevchenko, V.M. Gutsulyak, O. Y. Romaniv, I.M. Dudnyk, M. Petrovska, K.P. Mukha, N.I. Mezentseva, К.В. Mezentseva, T. Shovkun, D. Shiyan and others dealt with these issues.
 In geographical science, traditionally more attention has been paid to the study of morbidity in either industrialized or urban regions. The development of ecologically dependent pathology in rural areas is no less urgent, both due to the long history of agricultural development of Ukraine and due to the significant intensification (using pathogenic agrochemicals) of agriculture in market conditions. At the same time, economic development of soils in the study area, as a result of long-term agricultural activity, in fact, was aimed at their destruction. The last 70-80 years have been carried out by deep plowing, application of mineral fertilizers and pesticides. In Cherkasy region in all areas there is an excess, compared to the natural background, the content of certain chemicals in the natural environment, which are manifested through the content of heavy metals in soils, natural waters, bottom sediments of reservoirs.
 Against the background of more widespread data on the state of health of the population in industrialized regions, the situation with environmentally caused diseases in rural areas is insufficiently studied. Given the intensification of agricultural technologies in recent years, the risk of environmentally dependent disease in the regions of old agricultural development is becoming quite significant.
 Among the areas of development of such technologies are the use of heavy tillage equipment, which leads to the development of planar soil erosion (deflation), which in turn causes dusting of the air. However, the natural biodiversity of agroecosystems is significantly depleted, making them less resistant to external influences and, consequently, increasing the risks of adverse natural and anthropogenic factors affecting human health.
 To a large extent, the degree of disturbance of natural ecosystems by certain branches of agriculture depends on its specialization, which with different levels of intensity affects the environment, which provokes an overall increase in the incidence of respiratory diseases in Cherkasy region with negative dynamics.
 The main task of the article was to analyze the theoretical features of the study of medical and geographical problems and morbidity in geography, including coverage of the health of the rural population of Cherkasy region and the relationship of respiratory diseases with the development of intensive technologies in agriculture. deterioration of the ecological state of the environment.
 And the aim of the article is to identify the main spatial trends in the spread of environmentally dependent diseases (including respiratory diseases) in the regions of old agricultural development (on the example of Cherkasy region).
 Mapping the main indicators of morbidity and further comparing them with different levels of intensity of agriculture will establish a general relationship between the deterioration of the incidence of respiratory diseases and the state of agricultural landscapes affected by long-term agricultural activities.
 Establishing closer links between the occurrence of respiratory diseases and the state of the environment of Cherkasy region requires the use of special research methods (monitoring and medical-statistical direction).
 Key words: morbidity, ecological, specialization, agriculture, spatial, Cherkasy region.

GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM (GISy) IMPLEMENTATION WITHOUT GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SCIENCE (GISc) FUNDAMENTAL

This article reviews the use of Geographical Information System (GIS) has been primarily applied in spatial decision making from simple to complex geospatial problems. GIS is usually referred to as a computer system used explicitly to store, manage, analyze, manipulate, and visualize geospatial data. GIS can produce meaningful information for a better understanding of solving related geographic/spatial problems. With the technology, hardware, and software assistance, GIS is at its progressive pace even though GIS starts with a simple and straightforward question of geographic features/event location. This rapid development has made GIS and spatial data becoming a critical commodity today. However, without the basic knowledge and GIS understanding, the actual GIS capabilities, such as understanding geographical concepts, managing geographic phenomena, and solving geographical problems, become limited. To become worse, GIS is was seen as a tool to facilitate map display and simple spatial analysis. Furthermore, the market's professional training emphasizes simple GIS components such as hardware, software, geospatial data mapping, extracting geographical data from tables (tabular data), simple queries or display, and spatial data editing mastered using GIS manuals in training. Thus, this article highlights the impact of implementing GIS without sufficient GIS fundamental knowledge, resulting in complicated spatial decision planning issues.

Correlational Analysis of the Availability and Usage of Geographic Information Systems by Students and Lecturers an Higher Educational Institutions

There has been a rapid development of Information and communication Technologies (ICTs) globally, and this includes the Geographic Information Systems (GISs) which has evolved over the years and aimed at solving many geographic problems as fast and efficiently as possible. The importance of GIS to students and lecturers in higher educational institutions is it’s ability to easily analyse locations together with the conventional database systems. This paper assessed the correlation between the availability and use of GIS in Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs). The study is exploratory in nature and employed the use of questionnaires as instrument to collect data. Simple random sampling technique was used to select one hundred and ten (110) lecturers one thousand five hundred and seventy-nine (1579) students from a university. Findings revealed that GIS for analysis is still at its lowest ebb and hence calls for an action to motivate or encourage lecturers and students to use it. Though there are indications that GIS will be of great value in schools, students and lecturers they will be happy to use it for their teaching and learning. The study also revealed availability of GIS was not tied to its usage.

Integration of Voxel Models with GeoSOT-3D Grids based on Coordinate Matching

Virtual Geographic Environments (VGEs) are proposed as a new generation of geographic analysis tool to contribute to human understanding of the geographic world and assist in solving geographic problems at a deeper level. Aiming at providing virtual scenarios that correspond to the physical world, it is of vital importance to implement geographic modeling and simulations in a proper way. Voxel model is one of widely used raster model for VGEs but generally described in local coordinate system which makes it difficult to be integrated with real geographic locations. To solve this problem, we proposed a method to integrate voxel model with a global grid model GeoSOT so as to establish the correlation between the voxel models and the real geographic locations. The space geometry relationship between voxel and GeoSOT grid was defined and the formula for transforming voxel models into GeoSOT grid was designed. A 3D visualization prototype system was developed based on the proposed method with a 3D building point cloud dataset as modelling objects. Experimental results showed that our method can implement the positioning, meshing expression and visualization of voxel models and verifies the effectiveness of the method proposed. Our method will provide an alternative solution for virtual geographic modeling.

Issues in Border Security of Nepal

Cross border is a major threat to the internal and external security of Nepal. To maintain peace and security and neutralize illicit trade, smuggling, and cross-border crimes, the Government of Nepal has deployed Security forces at the border. The Indo-Nepal border comparatively is challenging due to its open border status. This paper analyses the field issues faced by security personnel at border areas of Nepal. The study uses both primary and secondary data for analysis and interpretation. The findings show geographical problems, socio-economic similarities, operational problems, border laws, values, and ethics. These issues are faced by security forces daily. The study outcome suggests a need for a collaborative approach of stakeholders on strengthening border security.

A Survey of Mental Health Chatbots using NLP

Due to recent technological advancements, there has been a rise in digital interventions aimed at either supplementing or replacing face-to-face mental health services which include the advent of mental health chatbots, that claim to provide assistive care using a therapeutic approach. These innovations are driven by Natural Language Processing (NLP). A chatbot can be described as a computer program capable of providing smart responses to user inputs by understanding natural language using one or more NLP techniques. In this study, we discuss the application of NLP in psychotherapy and also a general analysis of existing systems was performed by comparing the responses given by the chatbot against a set of predefined user inputs pertaining to queries related to wellbeing and mental health. The general methodology involved in the creation of such chatbots includes the underlying NLP techniques like word embeddings, sentiment analysis, Models like Sequence-to-Sequence model and attention mechanism. We also propose MentalEase, a mobile application which uses NLP techniques to provide not only conversational aid but also a toolbox of helpful features to keep mental health in place. By integrating mental health assessment tools into the chatbot interface, along with regular therapy it can help patients deal with mild anxiety and depression. This can also overcome certain barriers in mental health, such as waiting lists and geographical problems that hinder attendance at face-to-face counselling appointments.

ИСТОКИ БОТАНИКИ В ПЕТРОВСКОЙ (ТИМИРЯЗЕВСКОЙ) АКАДЕМИИ

The paper examines scientific and pedagogical activities of the prominent Russian botanists of the 19th – early 20th centuries, who laid the foundation for teaching this subject in the Petrovskaya (Timiryazev) Academy and founded their own scientific schools. The authors present brief biographies of N.I. Zheleznov, N.N. Kauffman, K.A. Timiryazev, S.I. Rostovtsev, and V.I. Taliev, as well as assess their contribution to national and world science. The creative works of many abovementioned scientists featured exceptional breadth and versatility. They not only did leave a noticeable mark in various branches of botany, but also contributed in every way to popularizing their favourite science. The paper shows some experience in teaching botany, forming and maintaining botanical collections. With regard to the popularization of science, the personality of K.A. Timiryazev is presented as a scientist-democrat, social activist and a person who had a heart for people. K.A. Timiryazev believed that science is the property of the entire humanity; therefore, its popularization is nothing more than fulfilling the scientist’s civic duty to the people. The information provided about the first botanists of the Petrovskaya (Timiryazev) Academy has not only cognitive and historical, but also practical significance. Thus, the study of energy regulations associated with photosynthesis performed by K.A. Timiryazev was of great importance in rationalizing the doctrine of the unity and connection of living and nonliving matter in the process of the circulation of substances and energy in nature. Flora-related works by N.N. Kauffman raised a number of important botanical and geographical problems. The studies of the ontogenetic morphogenesis of plants by N.I. Zheleznov and S.I. Rostovtsev laid the foundation for the development of plant morphology in Russia. Scientific works of V.I. Taliev provided for better understanding of the problem of interaction between plants and humans. The continuity of scientific schools and research directions is shown to prove its extreme importance in the context of present-day Russia.

Multi-Objective Multi-Dimensional Transportation: A Case Study to the Flow of the Commodities of the Main Roads to Main Nodes in the North Western Coastal Strip of Egypt

The distribution of merchandises and commodities from source towns to final destinations is a vital issue. The job of transporter’s decisions can be optimized by reformulating the transportation problem as generalization of the classical transportation problems. Multiobjective multi-dimensional transportation network is considered the extension of conventional two-dimensional transportation network and is convenient for dealing with transportation systems with multiple supply nodes, multiple demand nodes, as well as diverse modes of transportation demands or delivering multiple kinds of merchandises. In this study, we implement an improved Biogeography based optimization IBBO to the flow of the commodities of the main roads to main nodes in the North Western Coastal Strip of Egypt, where there are four main roads and three nodes. The proposed algorithm incorporates the dominance criteria to handle multiple objective functions which enable the decision maker to cover all the Pareto frontier of the problem which have a large-scale size. Numerical results were reported in order to establish the real computational burden of the proposed algorithm and to assess its convergence performances for solving real geographical problem.

Application of geodata for operational study of population placement and movement

The aim of this article is to develop a methodology for compiling population density and mobility maps based on the data (geographic data) obtained from mobile operators in Irkutsk. Before its development, Russian and world experience in compiling maps based on mobile phones data was analysed. To achieve the aim, the author uses the data received from mobile operators (CDR), with which it was possible to identify information about the location of the device at any time. Based on the geographical location of base stations, one can analyse the density of users at a particular time and place. Based on the results of spatial data analysis, we obtained the signal density at a particular time. The results obtained now clearly demonstrate that geographic data from user devices and geographic information systems represent a very effective symbiosis of technologies, which serves for solving geographical problems. Such studies assess the general mobility of population for a particular region. Data on the location of a mobile phone can reveal the spatiotemporal distribution of urban residents at macro-and meso-levels in administrative districts of the city.

Some Theoretical and Practical Issues of Medical Geographical Research

In the context of globalization of global economy and intense competition and steady increase in population, mortality rates among people with infectious and parasitic diseases are increasing. International organizations are also paying much attention to fighting these problems and their consequences. In particular, the UN Sustainable Development Program up to 2030 emphasizes “issues related to the elimination of immunodeficiency, tuberculosis and malaria epidemics in the period up to 2030, as well as measures to combat hepatitis and other waterborne infections”. Successful implementation of these tasks requires stabilization of nosocheological and nosogeographic situations in arid climates. Medical geographical situation in the regions is one of the most important factors determining the development of society and the way of life of the population. Addressing medical geographical problems and improving public health, reducing morbidity and increasing life expectancy are of vital scientific and practical importance.

A Pioneering Use of Early Computers in Weather and Mortality Research: Ellsworth Huntington’s Work with New York Life Insurance Companies in the 1920s

Geographers are familiar with Ellsworth Huntington’s influential, yet frequently derided, claims about climatic determinism, eugenics, and the progress of civilization. His work on weather and mortality in New York City, a study conducted under the auspices of the National Research Council and with the extensive collaboration of New York–based life insurance companies, offers a different insight into Huntington’s approach. Although the results of this 1920s research project had a limited impact on the field, the work that produced it represents one of the earliest examples of using computing technology in the atmospheric sciences. Drawing on archival research at Yale University and the National Academy of Sciences, the article argues that not only can Huntington be considered pioneering in his use of early computers but the use of such machines constrained the research in important ways. The limited funding and processing capabilities of early computers, standardized punch card designs, necessary labor and staff time, and clerks’ learned practices all came to define the research project. This demonstrates that early computers did not simply enable more efficient numerical analysis of geographical problems but rather that they were part of sociotechnical configurations that were coemergent from the situated development of technologies within user communities.

АКСИОЛОГИЧЕСКИ-ИНСТИТУЦИОНАЛЬНОЕ РАЗВИТИЕ СБЕРЕЖЕНИЙ И ПРОБЛЕМА ЧАСТНОЙ СОБСТВЕННОСТИ В УСЛОВИЯХ СТАНОВЛЕНИЯ РЫНОЧНОЙ ЭКОНОМИКИ

Axiological and institutional development of savings and the problem of private property in the formation of a market economy Improving the legal regulation of adaptive sports movement in the Republic of Belarus The article is devoted to the constitution of a scientific discussion about the western and eastern vectors of the development of the saving culture - the most important aspect of the legal intersection of economic and geographical problems. The question of the origin and establishment of the institution of savings banks in the space of the former Russian Empire is being investigated. The specificity of the UkrainianBelarusian legal understanding of property is considered.

Intelligent Group Prediction Algorithm of GPS Trajectory Based on Vehicle Communication

With the rapid development of in-vehicle communication technology and the integration of big data intelligent technology, intelligent algorithms for vehicle communication used to predict traffic flow and location information have been widely used. Aiming at the problem that the gravitational algorithm is difficult to minimize the complex function and easily fall into the local optimum, this paper proposes an improved IGSA algorithm. First, a gridding algorithm is introduced to initialize the population, and under the premise of ensuring the randomness of the initial individuals, improving the ergodicity of the population is conducive to improving the quality of the solution; then, an adaptive location-based update strategy of decreasing inertia weights is proposed. this strategy inherits the advantages of linearly decreasing weights, and adaptively adjusts the weights according to the fitness value to further improve the optimization performance. The optimization simulation of 8 classic test functions shows that the IGSA algorithm is an effective algorithm for solving complex optimization problems. Finally, the IGSA algorithm is used to predict the geographic location problem in the vehicle GPS data. The IGSA algorithm is used to optimize the extreme learning method to optimize the hyperparameters and establish a vehicle GPS data prediction model. Simulation results verify the feasibility of the method.

From reactive towards anticipatory fishing agents

ABSTRACT Governing human-environmental ecosystems is a complex problem. Rule-based fisheries models are faced with several challenges. First, for large geographical problems like oceans, they require considerable time to find satisfactory solutions. Second, they tend to be reactive rather than anticipatory. Behavioural assumptions directly impact fishers’ capacity for adaptation and behaviour, which influences possible management strategies. To capture style and speed of adaptation to changes in the environment, coupled human-environment models must progress toward cognitively and socio-culturally realistic representations of fisher decision-making. In this paper, we implement the erotetic decision-making model in the POSEIDON fisheries model. The agents replicate observed behaviours such as fishing the line of a Marine Protected Area, using Individually Tradable Quotas, and returning to favoured fishing locations, and learning to break rules given harsh constraints. This provides a principled proof that reasons-based cognitive structures allow for anticipatory behavioural adaptation rather than reactive behavioural adaptation.