Spatial Description Research Articles

Parcel-level mapping of apple orchard in smallholder agriculture areas based on feature-level fusion of VHR image and time-series images

ABSTRACT Accurate and reliable parcel-level apple orchard mapping is required for many precise agriculture application models, including planting suitability evaluation, standardized production, and personal agricultural operation loan approval. However, in hilly areas where smallholder management predominates, the highly fragmented and heterogeneous agricultural landscape means that fine parcel-level apple orchard mapping remains challenging. This paper proposes a parcel-level apple orchard mapping method based on feature-level spatiotemporal data fusion, which is suitable for hilly areas where smallholder management predominates. First, a hierarchical strategy that simulates human image cognition processing was used to extract redundant candidate parcels from a very high spatial resolution (VHR) image (Google Earth image with a spatial resolution of 0.6 m). Second, deep learning models, including a Depth-wise Asymmetric Bottleneck Network (DABNet) and long short-term memory (LSTM), were used to extract implicit spatial and time series features of the parcels. Third, the implicit features extracted by the deep learning models were formatted into meta-features, which then formed the feature space together with the morphological and geographical features of the parcel. Fourth, based on the constructed parcel feature space, a random forests (RF) model was used to classify candidate parcels. The experiment was carried out in the town of Guanli, southwest of Qixia city, Shandong Province, China: 21,123 apple orchard parcels were extracted from 31,235 candidate parcels. The overall accuracy (OA) of the parcel-level mapping result was 0.919. The parcel features were combined according to their types, and the performance of different feature combinations for parcel classification was further compared, demonstrating that the proposed meta-features had a stronger spatial information description capability than traditional features. Moreover, the mean decrease in the accuracy (MDA) index was used to evaluate the importance of each feature. And spatial-information-related meta-features were revealed to play the most important role in parcel classification. This method provides methodological references for parcel-level orchard mapping in hilly areas where smallholder management predominates and can be applied to improve the monitoring of orchards in such areas.

The influence of inclusive deformation mapping on the kinematic equations of nonlinear elasticity

A model of continuum is often used in statics and dynamics modeling with material and spatial description. In this paper, we describe body deformation using an innovative approach employing embedding. The mapping ϕ maps a domain from the space Rn to the image of space Rm , where the dimensions of the spaces m and n are necessarily different, usually n < m. Due to the different dimensions m and n, the determinant of the mapping is not defined, nor is the mapping reversible. This complicates the calculation of the fundamental kinematic quantities, the determinant J of the displacement gradient F, the transposed inverse of F, which occur in the Nanson’s equation for deformed surface. In this paper, we derive terms for these quantities. The usage of the Moore-Penrose generalized inverse is essential here. This approach is a generalization of the established approach and thus opens up new possibilities in describing deformation. Displacements often appear as one of the basic unknowns, especially when using the finite element method. In the teaching of nonlinear mechanics, we found that the displacements are not adequately defined. In the paper, we therefore attempt to rectify this shortcoming.

User Gaze-Driven Adaptation of Omnidirectional Video Delivery Using Spatial Tiling and Scalable Video Encoding

Omnidirectional video is becoming increasingly popular among viewers, but its delivery requires considerable amount of network bandwidth. Today’s streaming services are transmitting the full spatial angle of omnidirectional videos, although most of the transmitted content is not utilized. Due to both limited bandwidth availability and its dynamic fluctuations, adaptive delivery solutions play a key role in supporting high user quality streaming of omnidirectional videos. This paper describes research which extends the MPEG-DASH Spatial Relationship Description by adding scalable video encoding to spatial tiling. It proposes a novel tile-layering based gaze adaptation algorithm for omnidirectional video delivery and employs it in conjunction with multiple tiling schemes. The benefits of the proposed algorithm with diverse tiling schemes are evaluated objectively in terms of bandwidth savings and adaptation latency. The results show a reduction of network bandwidth requirements to about 30% of the original bandwidth value with a low processing latency of 70.87ms.

In search of lost space

Abstract This paper analyzes the semantics of the French and Spanish prepositions en from the point of view of diachrony. We focus on the spatial variation of their usage in both languages. Our methodological approach is based on a corpus analysis. We draw on comparable ancient texts and analyze some semantic categories that are fundamental for the spatial description. Our results reveal a fairly active evolution of prepositions with increases and decreases of usage where we did not expect them.

Pathfinding method for an indoor drone based on a BIM-semantic model

The application of the drone in construction monitoring, anti-terrorism investigation, and emergency response in large buildings is the development trend of indoor navigation in the future. At present, the indoor three-dimensional (3D) map model based on Building Information Modeling (BIM) is mainly used for indoor pathfinding for pedestrians and ground mobile devices. However, it lacks the spatial description of the vertical dimension, which cannot meet the needs of the navigation application of an indoor drone. Therefore, we propose a pathfinding method for an indoor drone based on a BIM-semantic model. First, the semantic and geometric information in the BIM model is extracted and mapped to voxels to generate an indoor 3D map model called BI3DM. The model subdivides voxel types, which are suitable for subsequent pathfinding for a drone and even pedestrian. Then, a BI3DM-based pathfinding algorithm for an indoor drone is proposed. The algorithm optimizes the path for starting and target locations near the ground, and imports the drone size into the algorithm, which can obtain a more reasonable path. Finally, three types of BIM models are experimented with to verify the effectiveness of the study and its compatibility with pedestrians and ground mobile devices.

Light-field image watermarking based on geranion polar harmonic Fourier moments

Light-field images provide a spatial and angular description of the light, and they can capture rich visual information in the natural world. In recent years, the research on light-field imaging has achieved many fruitful results. As more and more people are now focusing their attention to light-field imaging, the copyright protection of light-field images has become an urgent problem that needs to be addressed. Digital watermarking can effectively protect the copyright ownership of light-field images. Currently, there exists no light-field image watermarking scheme that can resist various geometric attacks. In this work, relying on geranion theory and polar harmonic Fourier moments (PHFMs), geranion polar harmonic Fourier moments (GPHFMs) are constructed and utilized for light-field image watermarking. The geranion represents a hypercomplex number containing one real part and thirty-one imaginary parts, and the imaginary parts of geranion can be used to encode multiple image color components while maintaining the correlation between each component. GPHFMs are stable image features, with good image reconstruction ability and stability. Essentially, the light-field image watermarking based on GPHFMs offers good imperceptibility and robustness, can resist various attacks, and effectively solves the problem of current watermarking schemes related to their inability of resisting geometric attacks. Furthermore, it is verified through experiments that the proposed scheme is more robust than the previously reported schemes.

An object detection and classification method for underwater visual images based on the bag-of-words model

In this study, an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) detection technique was used as the background to investigate the target classification method for underwater visual images. The target classification method is based on the bag-of-words model, with reduced classification accuracy when the edges of underwater objects are blurred, and when there are many noise points. To solve this problem, an improved visual dictionary generation method was proposed based on the bag-of-words model. The proposed method includes a step on decomposing the complete contour of the target before extracting the features. The DCE (discrete contour evolution) algorithm was used to decompose the complete contour into segments of different lengths, and the SC (shape context) method was applied to extract the features of the contour segments. The FCM (Fuzzy C-Means) algorithm was then used to generate a visual dictionary. To address the classification accuracy problem that causes the underwater targets to decrease after adding spatial location information to the bag-of-words model instead of increasing, an improved spatial location information description method was proposed. The contour segments with the nearest-neighbor relationship were represented as visual phrases, constituting the spatial information of the bag-of-words model. Additionally, for the problem of the shape information of contour segments with different shapes, and the relative position information between the contour segments having different contributions to the target classification, a method was developed to balance the contributions of the two using the optimal weight selected from the experiments. The experimental results demonstrated that the proposed method can effectively improve the classification accuracy of underwater target images.

An anisotropic localizing gradient damage approach for failure analysis of fiber reinforced composites

This article presents an anisotropic gradient-enhanced continuum damage model developed within the finite element method framework to address complex fracture phenomena in anisotropic layered materials with unidirectional fiber-reinforced composites as the primary material examples. The main objective of the work is to model damage anisotropy due to progressive intra-laminar fracture at mesoscale in transversally isotropic composite laminae using distinct damage variables associated with different in-plane failure modes. Departing from the conventional gradient enhancements, the model adopts an improved spatial nonlocal description to ensure correct localized damage bandwidths using a single internal length scale. The coupled system of equations is decoupled using an operator-split (staggered) methodology to ensure a robust and straightforward computational implementation without compromising accuracy using lower order finite elements. The proposed damage model is tested on experimental results of fracture response in a single-edge notched tension, center notched tension, and open-hole tension fiber-reinforced composite laminae, where the numerical results were consistent with experimental observations.

Application of Gaofen-6 Images in the Downscaling of Land Surface Temperatures

The coarse resolution of land surface temperatures (LSTs) retrieved from thermal-infrared (TIR) satellite images restricts their usage. One way to improve the resolution of such LSTs is downscaling using high-resolution remote sensing images. Herein, Gaofen-6 (GF-6) and Landsat-8 images were used to obtain original and retrieved LSTs (Landsat-8- and GF-6-retrieved-LSTs) to perform LST downscaling in the Ebinur Lake Watershed. Downscaling model was constructed, and the regression kernel was explored. The results of downscaling LST using the GF-6 normalized difference vegetation index with red-edge band 2, ratio built-up index, normalized difference sand index, and normalized difference water index as multi-remote sensing indices with multiple remote sensing indices with random forest regression method provided optimal downscaling results, with R2 of 0.836, 0.918, and 0.941, root mean square difference of 1.04 K, 2.06 K, and 1.80 K, and the number of pixels with LST errors between −1 K and +1 K of 87.2%, 76.4%, and 81.9%, respectively. The expression of spatial distribution of 16 m-LST downscaling results corresponded with that of Landsat-8- and GF-6-retrieved-LST, and provided additional details spatial description of LST variations, which was absent in the Landsat-8- and GF-6-retrieved LSTs. The results of downscaling LST could satisfy the application requirements of LST spatial resolution.

Combined Spatial-Spectral Hyperspectral Image Classification Based on Adaptive Guided Filtering

Hyperspectral image classification has a low accuracy in the face of a small training set. To solve the problem, this paper proposes a combined spatial-spectral hyperspectral image classification approach based on adaptive guided filtering. From coarse to fine classification, the local binary pattern (LBP) histogram features were improved, the spatial contrast description was enhanced, and enhanced spatial-spectral features were prepared through Gabor transform of different scales and directions, combined with super pixel blocks. Then, the pre-classification was completed by the support vector machine (SVM) classifier. To reduce noise interference, the pre-classification results were filtered again by a guided filter based on the adaptive regularization factor. To verify its effectiveness, the proposed approach was compared with the state-of-the-arts approaches through repeated experiments. The comparison shows that our approach achieved a high classification accuracy, while suppressing noise interference. This research provides a new tool for hyperspectral image classification with a small training set.

Songbird parents coordinate offspring provisioning at fine spatio-temporal scales.

For parents, rearing offspring together is far from a purely cooperative exercise, as a conflict of interest (‘sexual conflict’) exists over their optimum level of care. Recent theory emphasizes that sexual conflict can be evolutionarily resolved, and complete parental cooperation can occur, if parents directly respond (‘negotiate’) to each other and coordinate their level of care. Despite numerous experiments showing that parents are responsive to each other, we still lack empirical evidence of the behavioural mechanisms by which this negotiation occurs.In this study, we investigated the spatio‐temporal coordination of parental provisioning behaviour as a possible mechanism of negotiation over parental care.We deployed an automated radiotracking technology to track the provisioning activity of wild great tit Parus major pairs during chick rearing. Our analyses represent the first detailed spatial and temporal description of foraging coordination in songbird parents in a natural context.We demonstrate that the foraging behaviour of the two parents is highly coordinated in space and time, with parents changing their foraging locations in conjunction with their partners' movements.Therefore, foraging coordination could be a mechanism by which parents directly monitor and respond to each other's level of investment.

L’expression spatiale en oroqen

Oroqen is an endangered language, this article aims to present the properties of spatial description in oroqen and to contribute in a humble way to the description and linguistic analysis of this endangered language. In this research we have found that the relations of coincidence are in general topological and deictic in oroqen, which joins the findings of linguistic works on the semantic spatial typology. The Oroqens mobilize more or less all the reference systems: intrinsic, relative, and absolute, in their spatial description. We have seen that conceptualization in this filed is very strongly linked to environment and culture.

Diarrhea Incidence in Tanah Bumbu, South Kalimantan, Under A Spatial Approach

Indonesia has seen an increase in diarrhea incidence from 4.5% in 2013 to 6.8% in 2018. South Kalimantan, diarrhea is still a common disease with a relatively high incidence rate. In Tanah Bumbu itself, the incidence of diarrhea from 2014 to 2019 was among the top 10 most common diseases. The percentage of patients served in 2019 was 33.26% of the detection targets. While in infants, only 3.4% of the number of detection targets. This study aims to see the spatial description and influence of the districts’ condition in Tanah Bumbu Regency with the diarrhea incidence. This research took place in the ten districts of Tanah Bumbu Regency. The analysis used in this study was SAR to see the relationship between districts and the incidence of diarrhea and other factors. The results showed that in Tanah Bumbu, factors that affected the incidence of diarrhea include population density (p-value 0.0001), access to quality drinking water (p-value 0.0001), and health facilities (p-value 0.0001).

Grade level influence in middle school students' spatial‐scientific understandings of lunar phases

AbstractThis research with middle school students from Kentucky (KY) and Nevada (NV) provides a snapshot of students' spatial‐scientific understandings as we explored how well students understand lunar‐related content, both spatially and scientifically, after receiving instruction with similar curricular Earth‐Space content. Utilizing a lens of spatial reasoning ability, we further compared the ways middle level grade (sixth vs. eighth) factored into how well students comprehend the complexities of the Earth/Moon/Sun system and the cause of lunar phases. NV teaches Moon phases in eighth grade (age of 13–14) while KY teaches phases in sixth grade (age of 11–12). To be clear, we are not claiming that sixth graders and eighth graders are similar cognitively. Since phases are only taught formally once (at the middle level), we are exploring how well students understand these lunar‐related, spatial‐scientific concepts at the conclusion of their formal instruction. The majority of the states teach lunar phases either in sixth grade or in eighth grade; it is a state's choice. The rationale for this study is to begin the conversation regarding Does grade level matter on science content that requires spatial reasoning ability? This study will begin to shed light on this topic. The research questions specifically investigated for this study were: (1) How do sixth and eighth grade students compare in terms of their spatial ability and lunar knowledge as measured via content surveys? (2) How do sixth and eighth grade students compare in their spatial awareness and description of the Earth/Moon/Sun system as measured via clinical interviews? (3) How do quantitative and qualitative datasets compare/contrast with each other to create a complex snapshot of sixth graders versus eighth graders spatial‐scientific understandings of the Moon and its phases?

Coordinated Development of Logistics Development and Low-Carbon Environmental Economy Base on AHP-DEA Model

With the intensification of global environmental pollution and the overexploitation of resources and energy, low-carbon environmental economy (LCEE) has become the important means for countries in the world to achieve sustainable economic, resource, and environmental development. Therefore, the research on the coordinated development of logistics development and LCEE is very necessary in the development of our country’s LCEE. Firstly, this paper discusses the development level of logistics industry in Hainan Province from five aspects: energy consumption, carbon emission, carbon productivity, economic benefit index, and carbon emission efficiency. Secondly, choose carbon emission intensity to represent the development level of low-carbon economy. Based on the efficiency coefficient method, coefficient of variation method, linear weighting method, spatial description method, and system evolution equation method, the coordination measurement method is adopted. Finally, the coordinated development of logistics development and low-carbon environmental economy in Hainan Province is analyzed. On this basis, this paper puts forward the related promotion strategies for the coordinated development of logistics development and logistics industry in Hainan. The research results show that the system coupling degree in Hainan Province is about 0.9, indicating that the logistics industry and the low-carbon economic subsystem have a relatively high degree of coupling development. Compared with other provinces, Hainan’s level of coupled and coordinated development is at the upstream level.

To the numerical simulation of the correlation picture in Dicke superradiance

The paper discusses some approaches to elucidating the picture of electromagnetic field correlations emerging and developing in the Dicke system of two-level atoms interacting via field. Based on the reduced description method, a set of differential equations for the reduced description parameters including field correlation functions is constructed using different quantum evolution pictures and regarding field-matter interaction as a small parameter. Calculations are based on the electrodynamics of continuous media. Meaningful results are obtained in the second-order in interaction. The material equations are found in the class of generalized functions and the material coefficients are estimated in the dependence of coordinates for applying to the spatial description of correlations. Initial and border conditions are discussed. A simplified form of the set of equations is proposed for the initial stage of the process with the supposition about the fixed orientation of emitters acceptable for a one-dimensional system.

Extended micropolar approach within the framework of 3M theories and variations thereof

As part of his groundbreaking work on generalized continuum mechanics, Eringen proposed what he called 3M theories, namely the concept of micromorphic, microstretch, and micropolar materials modeling. The micromorphic approach provides the most general framework for a continuum with translational and (internal) rotational degrees of freedom (DOF), whilst the rotational DOFs of micromorphic and micropolar continua are subjected to more and more constraints. More recently, an “extended” micropolar theory has been presented by one of the authors: Eringen’s 3M theories were children of solid mechanics based on the concept of the indestructible material particle. Extended micropolar theory was formulated both ways for material systems as well as in spatial description, which is useful when describing fluid matter. The latter opens the possibility to model situations and materials with a continuum point that on the microscale consists no longer of the same elementary units during a physical process. The difference culminates in an equation for the microinertia tensor, which is no longer a kinematic identity. Rather it contains a new continuum field, namely an independent production term and, consequently, establishes a new constitutive quantity. This makes it possible to describe processes of structural change, which are difficult if not impossible to be captured within the material particle model. This paper compares the various theories and points out their communalities as well as their differences.

A County-Level Spatial Study of Serum Selenoprotein P and Keshan Disease.

BackgroundKeshan disease (KD) is strongly associated with selenium deficiency. Selenoprotein P (SELENOP) is a recognized molecular biomarker of selenoproteins and an important indicator of selenium nutrition. This study was aimed at providing geographically precisely visualized evidence of selenium nutrition at molecular level for assessing KD prevention, control, and elimination on the etiological perspective.MethodsWe used spatial ecological design for this study. The serum SELENOP levels of the residents were measured by ELISA. ArcGIS version 9.0 was used for spatial description, spatial autocorrelation analysis of SELENOP levels and spatial regression with per capita disposable income.ResultsThe mean serum SELENOP levels of the 6,382 residents in 1,688 counties were 4.62 ± 1.82 μg/mL. The mean serum SELENOP levels of the residents living in the townships and rural areas of KD endemic counties were not statistically significantly lower than those of the KD non-endemic counties. The mean serum SELENOP levels were globally clustered (Moran's I = 0.03, z = 6.37, and P < 0.0001), and 99.3% (553/557) of the cold spots, identified by local autocorrelation analysis (Getis-Ord-Gi* analysis), were located in the KD endemic provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Hubei, Chongqing, Yunnan, and Sichuan. The serum SELENOP level was positively correlated with per capita disposable income (t = 3.52, P = 0.0004).ConclusionsThe results of this study were the geographically precisely visualized evidence of selenium nutrition at molecular level for assessing KD elimination on the etiological perspective. The cold spot counties found by Getis-Ord-Gi* analysis in the KD endemic provinces should be the high priority of KD precision prevention and control.

Piola transformations in second-gradient continua

Second-gradient continua are defined as those continua whose internal virtual work functionals depend on the first and second-gradient of the virtual displacement. These functionals can be represented either in Lagrangian (referential) or Eulerian (spatial) description thus defining respectively the Piola–Lagrange as well as the Cauchy–Euler stress and double-stress. In this paper, we deduce the Piola transformation formulae, i.e., those relationships between all Lagrangian and Eulerian fields relevant for the formulation of the Principle of Virtual Work. In particular, we derive the Piola transformations of stress and double-stress as well as the Piola transformations for external virtual work functionals compatible with second-gradient internal work functionals. The latter transformations contain in fact the Piola transformations of the contact surface and line forces as well as the contact surface double-forces.

Siri' na pacce: The Local Wisdom of Coastal Community Settlement Patterns and Its Existence amid COVID-19 Pandemic

The handling of some issues due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus has been carried out in various cities, including the coastal city of Makassar. Efforts to break the chain of spread of the virus have been carried out starting from the recommendation to comply with health protocols to the establishment of regulations that limit people's daily movement. On the other hand, some local wisdom rooted in the lives of coastal residents also experienced a shift in meaning during this pandemic. This study aims to examine the meaning of local wisdom siri' na pacce in people's lives in coastal settlements, its manifestation in life during the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts that can be made as disaster mitigations. Methods of data collection were done by observation, interviews and questionnaires. The data collected was then analyzed by spatial analysis and description. This study found that the siri' value was influenced by bad stigma towards people with COVID-19 so that the meaning shifted in a negative direction. The value of pacce still has a positive form. It can be seen from community cooperation to help patients who are in self-isolation. At the end of the study, recommendations for pandemic disaster mitigation were formulated in coastal settlements, such as determining the location of temporary shelters and evacuation points.