Landmark use has been demonstrated in a variety of organisms, yet the manner in which landmarks are encoded and subsequently used appears to vary between and sometimes within species, even when faced ...with identical landmark arrays. In the present experiments, orangutans and human children were shown a square array of identical landmarks and were trained to locate a hidden goal in the centre of the array. In Experiments 1 and 2, the search space appeared to be discrete, with white gridlines dividing up the space, and in Experiments 3a and 3b, the search space was uniformly coloured, making it appear continuous. In all experiments, following training, subjects were given a single expansion test, to determine their landmark strategy use, based on peak search activity. The orangutans appeared to use absolute directional vectors from individual landmarks, with peak search activities on the inner corners of the square array, and they used this strategy persistently. In contrast, human children showed two landmark-based strategies, absolute directional vectors and a relational or “middle” strategy, with the majority of children starting their search in the middle region. Although some children, especially young children, persistently used one strategy like the orangutans, many changed strategies when the original one failed to yield the hidden goal.
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Since the spatial structure of each region and equilibrium amount of urban system represents the physical reflection of social and economical structures of the region, the current Academic ...models such as Rank-size, Entropy, Herfindahl and ... , despite the simplicity and quantifiable values, do not have sufficient capacity. Because these models ignore the social, economical, administrative and physical indicators, and just focus on the population of cities. The aim of the research is the application of -Hilhorst systemic approach for explaining the regional spatial planning strategy for Guilan region and the research method is systemic analytical method, with documentary data and information , through the application of models as Rank - size, Gini coefficient, the urban Primacy indicator. Case study is Gilan Province as functional planning region. Hilhorst systemic approach analyzes four factors (extent of favorable ecological zones, mineral resources capacity, a regional economic performance, management concentration), then evaluates their reflections on the two spatial components (marginal zone extent, Urban system). Subsequently, the regions will be divided into four categories and based on national position of each region ,the optimal Spatial strategy of the region will be developed. According to the findings, Gilan region has extensive and appropriate ecological zones, lack of mineral resources, the economical, agricultural and tourism performance, Centralized administrative system and first urban primacy index, but the relative extent of marginal area is small. Gilan region was considered as "old agricultural area" the appropriate strategy of the area was determined as “consolidation distributed" or "Fixed spread” and finally the axes and fields of investment were determined.
Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) seeks to better integrate environmental considerations into the preparation and decision-making process of plans and programmes with a view to promoting ...sustainable development. Further to application of the European Directive 2001/42/EC (SEA Directive) in 2004, the body of practical SEA experience, and parallel research, has increased steadily. Yet there is a crucial element of SEA which cannot build on much experience but whose importance will grow over time — namely that of SEA monitoring.
The paper explores the application of SEA monitoring for English Regional Spatial Strategies (RSSs). It briefly introduces the role of SEA monitoring and its legal requirements, the English approach of integrating SEA into Sustainability Appraisal (SA) and the nature of the current English Regional Planning context. The main part presents the research findings and discusses how practitioners cope with the challenges of SEA/SA monitoring — with guiding questions: why, what, who, how, when, and with what outcomes? Reflecting that monitoring is just about to start, the paper draws on measures envisaged for monitoring in the SA reports prepared for RSS, and on expert interviews. It identifies monitoring trends and highlights workable approaches as well as shortcomings. For a critical reflection the findings are mirrored briefly with SEA monitoring approaches of German Regional Plans. Although it is still early days for such monitoring, the findings indicate that there is a danger that some of the specific requirements and objectives of SEA/SA monitoring are not fully met, mainly due to insufficient databases, inappropriate institutional conditions and limited personnel and financial resources. Some recommendations are offered in conclusion.
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Two experiments using an immersive virtual reality foraging environment determined the spatial strategies spontaneously deployed by people in a foraging task and the effects on immediate serial ...recall of trajectories though the foraging space, which could conform or violate specific organisational constraints. People benefitted from the use of organised search patterns when attempting to monitor their travel though either a clustered “patchy” space or a matrix of locations. The results are discussed within a comparative framework.
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This paper examines how cumulative effects assessment (CEA) has been considered in Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEA) of regional and local plans in a number of case studies in the UK. ...Initially, the paper presents the legislative and regulatory requirements for assessing cumulative effects in plans and programmes in the UK. The two approaches for assessing plans in the UK, Sustainability Appraisal (SA) and SEA are discussed and in most cases, a combined SA and SEA process is undertaken by Regional and Local Planning Authorities. The strengths and weaknesses of this approach are explored, as well as their usefulness in decision making. There are problems relating to baseline, establishing trends and predicting cumulative effects at the strategic level. The issues in assessing cumulative effects within this SA/SEA framework are discussed and recommendations for improvements are made.
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Urban growth management has become a common term to circumscribe strategies and tools to regulate urban land use in metropolitan areas. It is particularly used to counteract negative impacts of urban ...sprawl but also to frame future urban development. We discuss recent challenges of urban growth in 6 European and 2 US American city-regions. The paper compares the urban development focusing on a quantification of drivers and effects of urban growth and a qualitative analysis of the applied urban growth management tools. We build our analysis on findings from the EU-FP6 project PLUREL. The cities have different success in dealing with urban growth pressure - some can accommodate most growth in existing urban areas and densify, others expand or sprawl. Urban growth management is no guarantee to contain urban growth, but the case studies offer some innovative ways how to deal with particular challenges.
The present study aimed to investigate whether different spatial abilities and strategies sustain perspective-taking (PT) performance in males and females. The PT task used was the Object Perspective ...Test (OPT, Kozhevnikov and Hegarty in Mem Cogn 29:745–756,
2001
; Hegarty and Waller in Intelligence 32:175–191,
2004
). A sample of 40 males and 40 females completed the OPT and several other visuo-spatial tasks and questionnaires. Multiple regression analysis showed that OPT performance was predicted positively by a spatial imagery preference and negatively by the specific use of mental rotation strategy (i.e. turning the sheet of paper). Gender interacted with the Embedded Figure Test (EFT), a spatial visualization task, since high EFT scores only positively predicted the OPT results in males. Overall, our results show that OPT performance is sustained by specific spatial abilities and strategies modulated, at least in part, by gender.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
: This paper draws on an empirical example in Oaxaca, Mexico to understand how space is (re)constructed through material and metaphorical practice. Our research on the ways in which the ...Zoque‐speaking Indians of Chimalapas—a forest region of the state—have sought to reframe space through the formation of buffer villages to prevent encroachment on communally held land is motivated by two broad theoretical concerns. The first is to draw attention to a region of Mexico not widely addressed in geographic literature where there exist very active indigenous struggles. A second motivation relates to the continued decoupling of binaries, in particular the construct of “powerful vs powerless”. We argue that the strategies of the marginalized are enacted through the reconfiguration of spatiality and power relations predicated in part on the differentially situated subjects within a social group. Our concern is to hint at the multiplicities involved in subordination tangibly and materially within a population that often is categorized unproblematically and scripted as ‘powerless’. In examining the intricacies of the spatial strategies employed by members of the Zoque minority we show how unities and stabilities are produced against a backdrop of conflict.
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This essay aims to be a study of the phenomenology of violence and its staging in a concrete play by the Argentinean writer Griselda Gambaro, Información para extranjeros. Crónica en 20 escenas, ...which dates from 1973. The essay deals with the analysis of a particular thematic aspect related to the plot. However, our purpose goes beyond this issue. The visual and auditory perception of violence constitutes the nucleus of this drama, which is usually perceived in a diffuse way by readers at first sight. But, in fact, it harbours a unitary and precise sense. We are trying to study this subject in depth on the following pages. And apart from this, we are going to go deep into the digital universe, through a study of the contact points between the spatial strategies used here, and the typical ones in video games.
Animals commonly use feature and spatial strategies when remembering places of interest such as food sources or hiding places. We conducted three experiments with great apes to investigate strategy ...preferences and factors that may shape them. In the first experiment, we trained 17 apes to remember 12 different food locations on the floor of their sleeping room. The 12 food locations were associated with one feature cue, so that feature and spatial cues were confounded. In a single test session, we brought the cues into conflict and found that apes, irrespective of species, showed a preference for a feature strategy. In the second experiment, we used a similar procedure and trained 25 apes to remember one food location on a platform in front of them. On average, apes preferred to use a feature strategy but some individuals relied on a spatial strategy. In the final experiment, we investigated whether training might influence strategy preferences. We tested 21 apes in the platform set-up and found that apes used both, feature and spatial strategies irrespective of training. We conclude that apes can use feature and spatial strategies to remember the location of hidden food items, but that task demands (e.g. different numbers of search locations) can influence strategy preferences. We found no evidence, however, for the role of training in shaping these preferences.
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