Protected Space Research Articles

Reliable and Accurate Implicit Neural Representation of Multiple Swept Volumes with Application to Safe Human–Robot Interaction

In automated production using collaborative robots in a manufacturing cell, a crucial aspect is to avoid collisions to ensure the safety of workers and robots in human–robot interaction. One approach for detecting collisions is using the swept volume (SV) to identify safe protective space for operation. We learn an accurate and reliable signed distance function (SDF) network from raw point clouds of a pre-computed SV to represent a class of linear joint motion trajectories. The network requires only a set of parameters and constant execution time, thus reducing the computational time and memory of collision checking due to the complexity of explicit geometry during task execution. The distance of collision danger foresaw by the learned SDF is exploited to reduce the frequency of collision detection calls in the dynamic environment and reduce the computational cost further. We assess the relative merits of the implicit neural representation of multiple SVs in terms of F1-score, error distance from the surface of the truth geometry, and 3D visualization by comparing favorably with a binary voxel network for learning a single SV with similar inference time. All the predicted errors of the geometry lie within a distance of 4 voxels from the surface of the truth geometry, and most reconstruction errors are within 3 voxels. A simulation of pick-and-place task execution in the human–robot interaction scenarios by leveraging the learned SDF as an efficient continuous collision detector is performed. The improvement in execution time and collision detection number is validated in the simulation.

The prohibition of recreational hunting of wild ungulates in Spanish National Parks: Challenges and opportunities

A new regulation has led to the prohibition of recreational hunting on estates located within Spanish National Parks (NPs). Before the ban, eleven NPs in Spain had already reported negative ecological consequences associated with high densities of wild ungulates. The new situation that has occurred after the ban signifies that policies with which to control populations of wild ungulates in NPs, most of which do not have a sufficient natural capacity to regulate populations, depend exclusively on the parks' authorities. The banning of recreational hunting implies a series of social, ecological, economic and logistic challenges. The control of wild ungulate populations in NPs requires: i) the legal basis for culling; ii) social acceptance as regards removing animals and the extractive procedures employed in NPs; iii) the long-term monitoring of wild ungulates and the damages that they cause, and iv) sufficient financial and human resources. A more integrated management and policy plan is, therefore, required, which should be supported by two pillars: i) the sustainability of natural resources and the conservation of functional environments, and ii) providing society with explanations regarding the need to manage wild ungulates. In order to bridge the potential gap between these key pillars, it is important to involve stakeholders in the decision-making processes concerning wild ungulate management. The forthcoming changes in Spanish NPs provide a promising opportunity to make a substantial improvement to wild ungulate management in these protected areas. This management approach could, moreover, serve as an example and be transferred to other protected spaces.

Cultivating Pearls of Wisdom: Creating Protected Niche Spaces for Inner Transformations amidst the Metacrisis

The impetus for this paper emerges from the growing interest in leveraging inner transformations to support a global shift in ways of seeing and being. We caution that without sufficient individual and systemic maturity, inner transformations will be unable to hold the whole story and that attempts to drive paradigmatic shifts in ill-prepared systems will lead to insidious harms. As such, interventions for inner change will not have sufficient protected niche space to move beyond the boundaries of best practices towards wise practices. Drawing on Indigenous trans-systemics, we offer the metaphor of pearls as an invitation to recontextualize how inner transformations are conceived and approached in the metacrisis. To further develop this notion, we share a story of Wendigo and Moloch as a precautionary tale for the blind pursuit of inner and outer development. Weaving together metaphor, story, and scientific inquiry, we bring together Anishinaabe and Western knowledge systems for the purposes of healing and transformation. We hope that this paper will create space for wise practices—gifts from Creator to help sustain both Self and the World—to emerge, establish, and flourish. We invite readers on an exploration into the whole system of systems that are endemic to Anishinaabe cosmology, and a journey of reimagining new stories for collective flourishing amidst the metacrisis.

L’art de mettre à part. Autour d’un affect guerrier

This article explores a certain type of affect that accompanied the post-1945 European dream: the feeling that an impassable distance separates us from worlds at war. Starting with the interplay between protected spaces and devastated territories, the article seeks to trace the operations that give life to this affect of distance. How does this distance play a part in our ways of being at war? And what kind of agentivity is at work, which makes it possible not to feel involved? Drawing on Martha Rosler’s montages of images and a fragment of Simone Weil, the article unravels the tortuous mechanisms that allow us to be at war, while at the same time setting war apart.

They don’t owe you their story: conceptualizing racialized queer care through protective spaces

Guided by a love politic and centrifugal intersectionality we demonstrate how whiteness, homonormative whiteness, and white heteronormativity alienates racialized queer students in both 2SLGBTQ + and racialized counterspaces within the university. The tensions experienced by racialized queer students, do not stem from the existence of these spaces, rather they are rooted within institutional notions of diversity. It is through this examination that we present our conceptualization of protective space. Protective space builds from the reconceptualization of safe spaces as defined by the Roestone Collective. Protective spaces are rooted in a love politic and involves moving forward from guilt to meaningful action embedded in accountability to create love-centered solutions. These principles can be used in both individual action and collective organizing. The conceptualization mainly builds on the experiences of sexually diverse identities; therefore, we encourage researchers and practitioners to expand and build upon this work.

Proposte di intreccio tra natura e cultura nelle aree protette: il festival Musica in Quota

Abstract Proposals for Intertwining Nature and Culture in Protected Areas: the Musica in Quota Festival In a context where nature and culture always appear separate, this contribution aims to overcome this dichotomy, proposing a musical festival as an example. Musica in Quota takes place among mountains and protected areas of the Verbano Cusio Ossola province, in the northwest of Piedmont. In the various events of the traveling exhibition, nature becomes the theatre of musical performances. The particular attention to the environmental, social, and economic needs of the local context makes it a virtuous case of programming able to promote the reappropriation of protected spaces through sustainable and participatory cultural practices that translate into active conservation.

Estimation for Refined Carbon Storage of Urban Green Space and Minimum Spatial Mapping Scale in a Plain City of China

Current cities are not concrete jungles and deserts with sparse vegetation. Urban green space (UGS) appears widely in human activity areas and plays an important role in improving the human living environment and accumulates carbon storage. However, given the scattered distribution of UGS, studies on both the refined spatial estimation of carbon storage and appropriate mapping scale are still lacking. Taking the downtown area of Kaifeng, China, as the study area, this study verified the i-Tree Eco model on the basis of a field survey and accurately estimated the spatial carbon storage of UGS by combining it with remote sensing data, and finally, we obtained the minimum spatial mapping scale of UGS carbon storage by scaling. The results showed that (1) the total area of UGS in study area was 26.41 km2, of which the proportion of total area of residential area and park green spaces was about 50%. The area of UGS per capita in the study area is 40.49 m2. (2) Within the 123 survey samples, the proportion of communities with tree–shrub–herbs structure was the highest, 51.22%. The average carbon density was 5.89 kg m−2, among which the park, protective and square green spaces had the highest carbon density in all land use types. (3) The total carbon storage of UGS in the study area was 114,389.17 t, and the carbon storage of UGS per capita was 175.39 kg. Furthermore, the scaling analysis showed that 0.25 km spatial resolution was the minimum spatial scale for UGS carbon storage mapping. This study improves our understanding of urban carbon storage, highlights the role and potential of UGS in carbon neutrality, and clarifies the importance of estimating urban carbon storage at appropriate scales. This study is also of great significance for rationally understanding the terrestrial carbon cycle in urban areas and improving regional climate simulations.

When the Wind Blows: Incumbents’ Sourcing Strategies for Wind Power

While extant research on sustainability transitions discusses how innovations are nurtured in protective market spaces before causing change in established industries, we know less about how characteristics of these protective market spaces, policy, and resource endowments impact incumbents’ sustainability transition pathways for a new technology. We distinguish between incumbents’ choice to embrace innovation by contracting for wind power or direct ownership of windfarms. We contribute to recent calls in the literature to open the “black box” surrounding the heterogeneity in incumbents’ responses to sustainability transitions. In a sample of 801 windfarm transactions over a 14-year-time period (2004–2017), we find that characteristics of protective market spaces affect incumbents’ response: incumbents facing less experienced niche actors (windfarm developers) and acquiring greater capacities of the innovation (wind power) are more likely to own a windfarm than contract for wind power. Moreover, if the innovation has greater physical distance from incumbents’ operations, ownership is the incumbent's likely response to innovation. As policies for the innovation persists, incumbents are more likely to own a windfarm than contract for wind power. However, that relationship is weakened for firms more established in existing technologies. We contribute to the literature by demonstrating that market characteristics and policy impact heterogeneity in incumbents’ sustainability transitions.

Emotional activation in a cognitive behavioral setting: extending the tradition with embodiment.

The neuroscience-based concept of "embodied cognition" or "embodiment" highlights that body and psyche are closely intertwined, i.e., effects of body and psyche are bidirectional and reciprocal. This represents the view that cognitive processes are not possible without the direct participation of the body. Traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) addresses emotional processes on a conceptual level (dysfunctional thoughts, beliefs, attributions, etc.). However recent findings suggest that these processes already start at the level of bodily sensations. This opens up a way of working in therapy that includes the level of bodily sensations, where the development of emotional meaning is supported by bottom-up processes. Bidirectionality of embodiment can be effectively exploited by using body postures and movements associated with certain emotions, which we refer to as embodiment techniques, to deepen the physical experience of poorly felt emotions and support the valid construction of emotional meaning. This embodied approach offers several advantages: Prelinguistic or hard-to-grasp aspects can be identified more easily before being processed verbally. It is also easier to work with clients who have limited access to their emotions. Thus, in this paper we describe a new embodied CBT approach to working on the dysfunctional schema, which is based on three modules: body focus, emotional field, and interaction focus. In addition, using specific zones in the space of the therapy-room allows the embodiment of problematic interactions, as well as of power and powerlessness, closeness and distance, etc. Directly experiencing these processes on one's own body in the protected space of therapy allows faster and deeper insights than would be possible with conversations alone. Finally, the vitalizing power of emotions is used to create coherent action plans and successful interactions. This working method is illustrated by means of a case from practice.

Urban spaces of relation, protection and sharing as care places and common goods: the cases of ‘iMorticelli’ in Salerno and ‘LGBTQIA+ Centre’ in Prato

The theme of care, one of the most significant theoretical models in the late 20th century philosophical thought, is today at the core of national and international debate. The lack of attention towards care activities has generated a serious crisis that highlights the injustices intrinsic to social production processes and the importance of reproductive work. In this conceptual framework, care becomes a practice, a cultural and ethical value on which it is necessary to set up new policies focused on listening, inclusion, production of public space and of proximity democracies, which in turn generate places of care becoming common goods. In this light, the article describes two practices of care and common good which, although not yet fully developed, have given rise to urban relation, protection and sharing spaces: a collective space, iMorticelli in Salerno, aspiring to become a community landmark through collaborative processes and educational, cultural and research activities; a territorial relation and protection space around genderqueer issues, the LGBTQIA+ Centre in Prato.

Enablers and barriers to the construction of motives for learning at the university: The student’s perspective

<span lang="EN-US">The massification of higher education and the migration to online formats imply changes that affect the ways that people learn and their motivation for learning. In this sense, the motivational orientation of the student can make a difference in learning. This article aims to describe the enablers and barriers to </span><span lang="EN-US">students’<em> </em>motivation for learning from the perspective of Chilean University students in the areas of health and education. The study was conducted through virtual group interviews. The analysis was carried out on the participants’ accounts from a constructivist approach to grounded theory. The results showed a valuation of the practical and altruistic motives as a structuring motivational axis. In line with the self-determination theory, the existence of a protected space in the classroom appears as an essential motivational enabler of learning, and virtuality is a critical motivational barrier.</span>

Establishing a Novel Group-based Litigation Peer Support Program to Promote Wellness for Physicians Involved in Medical Malpractice Lawsuits.

Being named as a defendant in a malpractice lawsuit is known to be a particularly high-stress and vulnerable time for a physician. Medical malpractice stress syndrome (MMSS) is a consequence of being named as a physician defendant in a malpractice lawsuit. Symptoms include depression, anxiety, and insomnia, which may lead to burnout, loss of confidence in clinical decision-making, substance abuse, strain on personal and professional relationships, and suicidal ideation. Although the legal process requires strict confidentiality regarding the specific details of the legal case, discussing the emotional impact of the case is not prohibited. Given that physicians often do not choose formalized therapy with a licensed professional, there is a recognized need to provide physicians with options to support their wellness during a lawsuit. The peer support model is a promising option to address the negative impacts to wellness that physician defendants face during medical malpractice lawsuits. We developed and implemented a peer support program to provide a safe, protected space for discussion of the personal impact of a lawsuit and to normalize this experience among peer physicians. Physicians were receptive to joining a peer support group to discuss the personal impacts of being named in a medical malpractice lawsuit. Participants in this novel group-based program found it helpful and would unanimously recommend it to others who are being sued. To our knowledge, this pilot study is the first to implement and assess a facilitated, group-based peer support model for emergency physicians who are named as defendants in malpractice lawsuits. While group discussions demonstrated that symptoms of acute distress and MMSS were prevalent among physicians who were being sued, in this study physicians were receptive to and felt better after peer support sessions. Despite increasing burnout in the specialty of emergency medicine (EM) during the study time frame, burnout did not worsen in participants. Extrapolating from this pilot program, we hypothesize that formal peer support offered by EM groups can be an effective option to normalize the experience of being sued, promote wellness, and benefit physicians who endure the often long and stressful process of a medical malpractice lawsuit.

Identification of critical ecological restoration and early warning regions in the five-lakes basin of central Yunnan

The scientific determination of crucial regions for ecological land restoration and reasonable early warnings for ecologically weak areas are vital for implementing land ecological restoration. Five major plateau lake basins in central Yunnan (China) are selected as the study area in this research. An ecological security pattern (ESP) is constructed using the source-resistance surface-corridor-pinch point framework to effectively identify crucial areas for ecological restoration. Finally, the land use/cover change (LUCC) in the study region in 2030 is simulated in terms of the natural development prospect (NDP), with priority given to urban development (PUD) and priority given to ecological protection (PEP) scenarios, and identify areas where future urban expansion poses a threat to current ecological source areas and corridors as early warning regions. The results indicate the following: (1) There are 15 ecological source regions in the Five Lakes Basin, mainly forestland and waters, with a total area of 787.54 km2. The ecological corridor spans 245.72 km, with a total area of 439.90 km2. (2) The key ecological restoration areas include 72.87 km2 of ecological pinch points, 70.46 km2 of barrier points of ecological, and 71 breakpoints. (3) The ecological land under the NDP scenario and the PUD scenario were damaged to varying degrees. The ecological land dominated by forestland and water area under the PEP scenario is effectively protected. (4) The seven ecological protection space early warning points are mainly distributed in the eastern part of Dianchi Lake and the northern part of Fuxian Lake, which have good economic development and better habitat quality. The comprehensive analysis identified key ecological restoration areas and identified future ecological stresses due to land use change in the Five-Lakes Basin. Restoration strategies are proposed based on current land use and future scenarios to enhance the ESP in central Yunnan's Five Lakes Basin.

Картографирование лесных насаждений Волгоградской области по данным ДЗЗ с использованием индексов BSFI и NDWI

The possibilities of adjusting the results of mapping wood plantations based on the bi-seasonal forest index (BSFI) according to Sentinel-2 data and calculated seasonal composite images of the NDWI index maximum values are presented. It was found out that with using a seasonal composite image of the mentioned values, calculated with the NIR and SWIR2 ranges, the manufacturer`s accuracy in raster cross-validation increases from 82,5 to 92,8 %. At the same time, the initial areas of wood zones decreased by 7 %, and those of false identifications shrank by 67 %. Comparison of mapping results with statistical data showed small differences in areas with a large number of natural forest plantations (in 18 of 33 areas they do not exceed 15 % of the design ones). Moreover, in lands with a large number of protective green spaces, discrepancies can reach up to 210 % of the design values. It is shown that significant distinctions in design and actual mapping materials can be associated with poor preservation, fires, illegal logging, as well as problems of accounting protective forest plantings. A fairly accurate method for adjusting BSFI was proposed (the manufacturer’s accuracy increased from 82,5 to 92,8 %) based on the maximum composite NDWI image calculated using the NIR and SWIR2 bands of the Sentilel-2A and Sentilel-2B satellites in a test area within the Volgograd region

Workers’ right to the subject: The social relations of data production

The use of data to profile and make decisions about data subjects for citizenship, targeted advertising, job recruitment and other reasons, has been eminently normalised, which is an emerging threat to protected spaces for personal subjectivation and identity formation. The ‘right to the subject’; or to agency via personal subject formation outside bilateral profiling; is at stake. This is especially true for workers. Algorithmic management infused with worker control mechanisms occurs in structurally and objectively unequal conditions within subjective, and unequal, social relations. Data harms protections in European privacy and data protection law, despite being heralded as the strongest in the world, are insufficient to protect workers’ right to the subject. Indeed, structural features of inequality within the capitalist data political economy mean that workers experience different power relations to consumers and citizens. Analysing the social relations surrounding policy features of ‘consent’, and ‘risk’, with focus on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the negotiations for the AI Act, it is not difficult to see that these policies do not protect all data subjects’ rights to the subject identically. Indeed, workers never have the capacity to truly consent at work; and the risks workers face are different from that of other data subjects, such as consumers. Data subjects do not, across categories, have equal access to equality, within, and because of, the social relations of data production. From a cross-disciplinary perspective and with contributions to sociology, critical theory, media and policy studies, this article argues that workers’ right to the subject is at stake, in datafied social relations.

Reconstruction of alveolar defects with regenerative properties of adipose-derived stem cells

Introduction: Loss of tissue and dysfunction of body organs due to injuries and diseases have caused serious health problems despite the vast advances in Medicien. Bone repair through tissue engineering is one of the most important areas of attention for specialists in a wide range of de- partments, including orthopedics and maxillofacial surgeries.
 Materials and Methods: This case-series describes efficient clinical applications of adi- pose-derived stem cells (AdSCs) in combination with conventional guided bone regeneration as protected healing space for reconstruction of large alveolar defects after hemi-mandibulectomy.
 Results: As the result, this approach represented a considerable amount of three-dimensional bone formation in presented cases. Regenerating this amount of resected bone tissue rehabilitates the patients and gives clinicians a sufficient amount of bone and opportunity to insert dental implants to retrieve patients’ function and aesthetic.
 Conclusion: The application of AdSCs can be considered as an efficient treatment for bone regeneration in large alveolar bone defects.

Geological timescales' aging effects of lunar glasses.

Physical aging is a long-lasting research hot spot in the glass community, yet its long-term effects remain unclear because of the limited experimental time. In this study, we discover the extraordinary aging effects in five typical lunar glassy particles with diameters ranging from about 20 to 53 micrometers selected from Chang'e-5 lunar regolith. It is found that geological time scales' aging can lead to unusually huge modulus enhancements larger than 73.5% while much weaker effects on hardness (i.e., varies decoupling evolutions of Young's modulus and hardness during aging) in these lunar glassy samples. Such extraordinary aging effects are primarily attributed to the natural selected complex glassy compositions and structures, consistent with high entropy and minor element doping criteria, prevailing under the special lunar conditions and the extensive aging time for the lunar glasses. This study offers valuable insights for developing high-performance and stable glassy materials for radiation protection and advanced space explorations.

Psychiatry in the GDR as a "niche" - Between adaptation and autonomy

With the help of statements from contemporary witnesses, it shall be deduced, if and to what extent Psychiatry was experienced as a shelter for employees and patients in the state controlled society of the GDR and which effort of adaptation to the authoritarian regime was needed to organize protected and protective spaces, here called "niches". 74 guide-based interviews from subjects including former patients and different staff groups of the East german Psychiatry were analyzed qualitatively. Many quotations show, that Psychiatry in the GDR was experienced as a "niche" for dissenting people and could offer a certain amount of protection for patients. On the other hand, the autonomy of the psychiatric care was often violated by political intrusions regarding individual treatments. Moreover, treatment autonomy was restricted by harsh shortages in supplies. Psychiatrists in the GDR could protect their patients through their actings and so Psychiatry could establish a "niche" for patients and employees. However, establishing such protected spaces required efforts in adaptation. In reverse, Psychiatry has also been politically instrumentalised - either directly through unjustified admissions and exit restrictions or indirectly by a stigmatization of dissenters and removing them from society.

Vacancy analysis and layout optimization of Changdao natural protected area from the perspective of multi-objective collaboration

Research on vacancy analysis and spatial layout of protected natural areas has been carried out for many years around the world, but most of the research objects are land-type protected natural areas, while studies on Marine protected natural areas are relatively rare, and there are few cases to carry out integrated optimization research on spatial layout of protected natural areas. This study will take Changdao in Yantai, Shandong Province, China as an example, from the protection of how much? How representative? Where is it protected? Starting from the three problems, the vacancy analysis is carried out, and the integrated optimization research is carried out based on the existing spatial layout, aiming at the rescue protection, coordinated protection and forward-looking protection. The results show that the integrated and optimized Changdao protected area eliminates the protection vacancy, integrates the overlapping protected areas, optimizes the unreasonable protected space, alleviates the contradiction between protection and development, promotes the coordinated development of ecology and economy and society, and can provide a scientific reference for the integrated and optimized spatial layout of Marine protected areas.

Extracellular vesicles are the main contributor to the non-viral protected extracellular sequence space

Environmental virus metagenomes, commonly referred to as “viromes”, are typically generated by physically separating virus-like particles (VLPs) from the microbial fraction based on their size and mass. However, most methods used to purify VLPs, enrich extracellular vesicles (EVs) and gene transfer agents (GTAs) simultaneously. Consequently, the sequence space traditionally referred to as a “virome” contains host-associated sequences, transported via EVs or GTAs. We therefore propose to call the genetic material isolated from size-fractionated (0.22 µm) and DNase-treated samples protected environmental DNA (peDNA). This sequence space contains viral genomes, DNA transduced by viruses and DNA transported in EVs and GTAs. Since there is no genetic signature for peDNA transported in EVs, GTAs and virus particles, we rely on the successful removal of contaminating remaining cellular and free DNA when analyzing peDNA. Using marine samples collected from the North Sea, we generated a thoroughly purified peDNA dataset and developed a bioinformatic pipeline to determine the potential origin of the purified DNA. This pipeline was applied to our dataset as well as existing global marine “viromes”. Through this pipeline, we identified known GTA and EV producers, as well as organisms with actively transducing proviruses as the source of the peDNA, thus confirming the reliability of our approach. Additionally, we identified novel and widespread EV producers, and found quantitative evidence suggesting that EV-mediated gene transfer plays a significant role in driving horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in the world’s oceans.