A Sketch-based Language for Representing Uncertainty in the Locations of Origin of Herbarium Specimens

Uncertainty fields have been suggested as an appropriate model for retrospective georeferencing of herbarium specimens. Previous work has focused only on automated data capture methods, but techniques for manual data specification may be able to harness human spatial cognition skills to quickly interpret complex spatial propositions. This paper develops a formal modeling language by which location uncertainty fields can be derived from manually sketched features. The language consists of low-level specification of critical probability isolines from which a surface can be uniquely derived, and high-level specification of features and predicates from which low-level isolines can be derived. In a case study, five specimens of Kolsteletzkya pentacarpos housed in the Ted Bradley Herbarium at George Mason University are retrospectively georeferenced, and locational uncertainties of error distance, possibility region and uncertainty field representations are compared

Consciousness as Recursive, Spatiotemporal Self-Location

At the phenomenal level, consciousness arises in a consistently coherent fashion as a singular, unified field of recursive self-awareness (subjectivity) with explicitly orientational characteristics—that of a subject located both spatially and temporally in an egocentrically-extended domain. Understanding these twin elements of consciousness begins with the recognition that ultimately (and most primitively), cognitive systems serve the biological self-regulatory regime in which they subsist. The psychological structures supporting self-located subjectivity involve an evolutionary elaboration of the two basic elements necessary for extending self-regulation into behavioral interaction with the environment: an orientative reference frame which consistently structures ongoing interaction in terms of controllable spatiotemporal parameters, and processing architecture that relates behavior to homeostatic needs via feedback. Over time, constant evolutionary pressures for energy efficiency have encouraged the emergence of anticipative feedforward processing mechanisms, and the elaboration, at the apex of the sensorimotor processing hierarchy, of self-activating, highly attenuated recursively-feedforward circuitry processing the basic orientational schema independent of external action output. As the primary reference frame of active waking cognition, this recursive self-locational schema processing generates a zone of subjective self-awareness in terms of which it feels like something to be oneself here and now. This is consciousness-as-subjectivity

If Alonso was Right: Residual Land Price, Accessibility and Urban Attraction

This study investigates whether accessibility shapes the attractiveness of residential land as predicted by theory. A spatial hedonic analysis is conducted for the metropolitan area of Berlin, Germany, using a large set of georeferenced property transactions and micro-level data. We find that the nuclei of residential land price and employment density gradients are separated by approx. 10 km, which essentially contradicts theoretical implications. Also, environmental externalities arising from the residential composition or the building structure and density in the neighborhood are more important determinants than access to the city center, which, if at all, impacts negatively on residential land prices. Moreover, a new gravity-based accessibility indicator is employed that incorporates the effective distribution of employment as well as the rapid transit network architecture in order to disentangle the effects of proximity to employment opportunities from a more general urban attraction effect. After controlling for accessibility, we find a negative effect of urban attraction, respectively an effect of urban repulsion, indicating a relatively higher attractiveness of peripheral locations. This effect is partially counterbalanced by the benefits arising from access to employment opportunities that are, although relatively dispersed, more concentrated within downtown areas. In the tension between both forces, the land price gradient tends to be, if at all significant, positive. After all, we conclude that if transport costs are very low, commuting costs lose their role as the most striking determinant of land price. These results are robust to spatial dependency.Accessibility, gradient inversion, land price, urban attraction, Berlin

Theta-modulated place-by-direction cells in the hippocampal formation in the rat

We report the spatial and temporal properties of a class of cells termed theta-modulated place-by-direction (TPD) cells recorded from the presubicular and parasubicular cortices of the rat. The firing characteristics of TPD cells in open-field enclosures were compared with those of the following two other well characterized cell classes in the hippocampal formation: place and head-direction cells. Unlike place cells, which code only for the animal's location, or head-direction cells, which code only for the animal's directional heading, TPD cells code for both the location and the head direction of the animal. Their firing is also strongly theta modulated, firing primarily at the negative-to-positive phase of the locally recorded theta wave. TPD theta modulation is significantly stronger than that of place cells. In contrast, the firing of head-direction cells is not modulated by theta at all. In repeated exposures to the same environment, the locational and directional signals of TPD cells are stable. When recorded in different environments, TPD locational and directional fields can uncouple, with the locational field shifting unpredictably ("remapping"), whereas the directional preference remains similar across environments

Investigating the dynamics of, and interactions between, Shanghai office submarkets

The Shanghai office market has developed rapidly over the past two decades. As a consequence of this development, two, apparently distinct, office submarkets, Puxi and Pudong have developed in central Shanghai. This raises the issue as to whether the Shanghai office market can be viewed as a homogeneous entity or whether there is imperfect substitutability across office locations within the city. The latter case raises the possibility of the existence of office submarkets. In this paper, we examine intra-metropolitan rental dynamics in the Puxi and Pudong submarkets, identifying any interrelationships between these markets, and consider whether they form distinct office submarkets. We find no interaction between the two submarkets. Further, we find no evidence of lead-lag relationships between the two submarkets. Finally, when we test for convergence in rental performance between the two submarkets, the tests reveal that we can reject the null of no convergence