A geographical information system model to define COVID-19 problem areas with an analysis in the socio-economic context at the regional scale in the North of Spain

ABSTRACT: The work presented concerns the spatial behaviour of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) at the regional scale and the socio-economic context of problem areas over the 2020-2021 period. We propose a replicable geographical information systems (GIS) methodology based on geocodification and analysis of COVID-19 microdata registered by health authorities of the Government of Cantabria, Spain from the beginning of the pandemic register (29th February 2020) to 2nd December 2021. The spatial behaviour of the virus was studied using ArcGIS Pro and a 1x1 km vector grid as the homogeneous reference layer. The GIS analysis of 45,392 geocoded cases revealed a clear process of spatial contraction of the virus after the spread in 2020 with 432 km2 of problem areas reduced to 126.72 km2 in 2021. The socio-economic framework showed complex relationships between COVID-19 cases and the explanatory variables related to household characteristics, socio-economic conditions and demographic structure. Local bivariate analysis showed fuzzier results in persistent hotspots in urban and peri-urban areas. Questions about ?where, when and how? contribute to learning from experience as we must draw inspiration from, and explore connections to, those confronting the issues related to the current pandemic

Dynamic Maps: Representations of Change in Geospatial Modeling and Visualization

By coining the descriptive phrase ―user-centric geographic cosmology, Goodchild (1998), challenges the geographically oriented to address GIS in the broadest imaginable context: as interlocutor between persons and geo-phenomena. This investigation responds both in a general way, and more specifically, to the representations of change in GIS modeling and visualization leading to dynamic mapping. The investigation, consisting of a report and a series of experiments, explores and demonstrates prototype workarounds that enhance GIS capabilities by drawing upon ideas, techniques, and components from agent-based modeling and visualization software, and suggests shifts at the conceptual, methodological, and technical levels. The workarounds and demonstrations presented here are four-dimensional visualizations, representing changes and behaviors of different types of entities such as living creatures, mobile assets, features, structures, and surfaces, using GIS, agent-based modeling and animation techniques. In a typical case, a creature begins as a point feature in GIS, becomes a mobile and interactive object in agent-based modeling, and is fleshed out to three dimensions in an animated representation. In contrast, a land surface remains much the same in all three stages. The experiments address change in location, orientation, shape, visual attributes, viewpoint, scale, and speed in applications representing predator-prey, search and destroy, sense and locate and urban sprawl. During the experiments, particular attention is paid to factors of modeling and visualization involved in engaging human sensing and cognitive abilities

Analysing spatiotemporal patterns of antibiotics prescriptions

Ponencias, comunicaciones y pósters presentados en el 17th AGILE Conference on Geographic Information Science "Connecting a Digital Europe through Location and Place", celebrado en la Universitat Jaume I del 3 al 6 de junio de 2014.The emergence of antibiotic resistances due to antibiotic residues in urban sewage systems is becoming an increasingly important issue. This paper presents a model for the spatiotemporal analysis of antibiotic inputs to derive spatiotemporal distribution patterns which are the basis for later predictions of future antibiotic inputs into the sewer system. To identify spatiotemporal distribution patterns of antibiotic prescriptions data statistical and GIS methods like time series and spatial cluster analysis are used. In order to find possible interrelationships the prescription data is combined with other influencing parameters (e.g. cases of respiratory infections) and tested for statistical correlations. Results show a pronounced seasonal course for three antibiotics of the macrolide group which also show high correlations with cases of respiratory infections in the study area. Further, results show that weekly data of respiratory infections by Google Flu Trends may be used as predictor variable to derive forecasts of future antibiotic inputs into the sewer system

Transient spatiotemporal chaos in a diffusively and synaptically coupled Morris-Lecar neuronal network

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2014Transient spatiotemporal chaos was reported in models for chemical reactions and in experiments for turbulence in shear flow. This study shows that transient spatiotemporal chaos also exists in a diffusively coupled Morris-Lecar (ML) neuronal network, with a collapse to either a global rest state or to a state of pulse propagation. Adding synaptic coupling to this network reduces the average lifetime of spatiotemporal chaos for small to intermediate coupling strengths and almost all numbers of synapses. For large coupling strengths, close to the threshold of excitation, the average lifetime increases beyond the value for only diffusive coupling, and the collapse to the rest state dominates over the collapse to a traveling pulse state. The regime of spatiotemporal chaos is characterized by a slightly increasing Lyapunov exponent and degree of phase coherence as the number of synaptic links increases. In contrast to the diffusive network, the pulse solution must not be asymptotic in the presence of synapses. The fact that chaos could be transient in higher dimensional systems, such as the one being explored in this study, point to its presence in every day life. Transient spatiotemporal chaos in a network of coupled neurons and the associated chaotic saddle provide a possibility for switching between metastable states observed in information processing and brain function. Such transient dynamics have been observed experimentally by Mazor, when stimulating projection neurons in the locust antennal lobe with different odors

Distributed Technology-Sustained Pervasive Applications

Technology-sustained pervasive games, contrary to technology-supported pervasive games, can be understood as computer games interfacing with the physical world. Pervasive games are known to make use of 'non-standard input devices' and with the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT), pervasive applications can be expected to move beyond games. This dissertation is requirements- and development-focused Design Science research for distributed technology-sustained pervasive applications, incorporating knowledge from the domains of Distributed Computing, Mixed Reality, Context-Aware Computing, Geographical Information Systems and IoT. Computer video games have existed for decades, with a reusable game engine to drive them. If pervasive games can be understood as computer games interfacing with the physical world, can computer game engines be used to stage pervasive games? Considering the use of non-standard input devices in pervasive games and the rise of IoT, how will this affect the architectures supporting the broader set of pervasive applications? The use of a game engine can be found in some existing pervasive game projects, but general research into how the domain of pervasive games overlaps with that of video games is lacking. When an engine is used, a discussion of, what type of engine is most suitable and what properties are being fulfilled by the engine, is often not part of the discourse. This dissertation uses multiple iterations of the method framework for Design Science for the design and development of three software system architectures. In the face of IoT, the problem of extending pervasive games into a fourth software architecture, accommodating a broader set of pervasive applications, is explicated. The requirements, for technology-sustained pervasive games, are verified through the design, development and demonstration of the three software system architectures. The ...Comment: 64 pages, 13 figure

Why are events important and how to compute them in geospatial research?

Geospatial research has long centered around objects. While attention to events is growing rapidly, events remain objectified in spatial databases. This paper aims to highlight the importance of events in scientific inquiries and overview general event-based approaches to data modeling and computing. As machine learning algorithms and big data become popular in geospatial research, many studies appear to be the products of convenience with readily adaptable data and codes rather than curiosity. By asking why events are important and how to compute events in geospatial research, the author intends to provoke thinking into the rationale and conceptual basis of event-based modeling and to emphasize the epistemological role of events in geospatial information science. Events are essential to understanding the world and communicating the understanding, events provide points of entry for knowledge inquiries and the inquiry processes, and events mediate objects and scaffold causality. We compute events to improve understanding, but event computing and computability depend on event representation. The paper briefly reviews event-based data models in spatial databases and methods to compute events for site understanding and prediction, for spatial impact assessment, and for discovering events\u27 dynamic structures. Concluding remarks summarize key arguments and comment on opportunities to extend event computability

Spatiotemporal Features of Coastal Waters in Southwest Finland

In coastal waters, physico-chemical and biological properties and constituents vary at different time scales. In the study area of this thesis, within the Archipelago Sea in the northern Baltic Sea, seasonal cycles of light and temperature set preconditions for intra-annual variations, but developments at other temporal scales occur as well. Weather-induced runoffs and currents may alter water properties over the short term, and the consequences over time of eutrophication and global changes are to a degree unpredictable. The dynamic characteristics of northern Baltic Sea waters are further diversified at the archipelago coasts. Water properties may differ in adjacent basins, which are separated by island and underwater thresholds limiting water exchange, making the area not only a mosaic of islands but also one of water masses. Long-term monitoring and in situ observations provide an essential data reserve for coastal management and research. Since the seasonal amplitudes of water properties are so high, inter-annual comparisons of water-quality variables have to be based on observations sampled at the same time each year. In this thesis I compare areas by their temporal characteristics, using both inter-annual and seasonal data. After comparing spatial differences in seasonal cycles, I conclude that spatial comparisons and temporal generalizations have to be made with caution. In classifying areas by the state of their waters, the results may be biased even if the sampling is annually simultaneous, since the dynamics of water properties may vary according to the area. The most comprehensive view of the spatiotemporal dynamics of water properties would be achieved by means of comparisons with data consisting of multiple annual samples. For practical reasons, this cannot be achieved with conventional in situ sampling. A holistic understanding of the spatiotemporal features of the water properties of the Archipelago Sea will have to be based on the application of multiple methods, complementing each other’s spatial and temporal coverage. The integration of multi-source observational data and time-series analysis may be methodologically challenging, but it will yield new information as to the spatiotemporal regime of the Archipelago Sea.Rannikkovesien fysikaalis-kemialliset ja biologiset ominaisuudet vaihtelevat eri ajanjaksoissa. Saaristomerellä veden ominaisuuksia ja aineiden kiertoa säätelee ennen kaikkea valon, lämpötilan ja biologisen toiminnan voimakas vuodenaikaisuus. Sää vaikuttaa lyhytaikaisesti jokien valumiin ja meren virtauksiin, toisaalta ravinteiden ylimäärä on johtanut vedenlaadun pitkäaikaismuutoksiin ja hitaasti etenevät globaalimuutokset vaikuttavat osin tuntemattomalla tavalla. Saaristomeren vesien dynamiikkaan vaikuttavat lisäksivedenalaiset kynnykset ja saaret, jotka ohjaavat vesien kulkeutumista. Saaristomeri ei siis ole pelkästään saarten, vaan myös altaiden ja vesimassojen mosaiikki, jossa harva veden ominaisuus on pysyvä. Vesien tilan pitkäaikaisseuranta tarjoaa taustatietoa monille tutkimusaloille sekä välttämättömän tietovarannon vesien hoidon ohjaamiseksi. Pitkäaikaismuutosten seuraaminen edellyttää vertailukelpoisia, vuosittain samaan aikaan kerättyjä havaintoja. Lyhyeen vuosittaiseen jaksoon perustuva otanta voi kuitenkin johtaa erilaisiin johtopäätöksiin kuin siinä tapauksessa, että alueita vertailtaisiin niiden koko vuoden kehityksen perusteella. Vuodenaikaiskierrossa voi tapahtua muutoksia mm. ajoituksessa ja vaihteluväleissä, eikä näitä muutoksia pystytä seuraamaan muuten kuin ajallisesti riittävän tiheällä näytteenotolla. Väitöskirjani keskeisin kysymys on, miten yleisimpien meriveden ominaisuuksien vuodenaikaiskierrot vertautuvat alueellisesti. Esimerkiksi pintaveden lämpötilan vuoden kierto toistuu samankaltaisena sijainnista riippumatta, sameuden vuodenkiertoon vaikuttavat puolestaan useat tekijät, joiden merkitys vaihtelee alueittain eri aikoina. Yleistyksien tekemisessä on siis oltava varovainen, kun veden ominaisuuksia kuvaavia havaintotietoja käytetään päätöksenteon tai tutkimuksen taustatietoina. Alueiden luokittelu koko vuodenaikaiskehityksen mukaan on osoittautunut haastavaksi tehtäväksi, sillä se mm. edellyttää useiden, toisiaan alueellisesti ja ajallisesti täydentävien aineistolähteiden käyttöä. Vuodenaikaisvaihteluiden kehityskulkujen alueellinen vertailu avaa kuitenkin uusia näkökulmia rannikkovesitutkimukseen, ja se saattaa auttaa selvittämään Saaristomeren vedenlaatuun vaikuttavien tekijöiden syy-seuraus suhteita.Siirretty Doriast