Negotiating conservation: the construction of meaningful spaces in a world heritage debate

According to one’s personal biography, social background and the resultant degree of affectedness, a person has certain ideas about the meaning of, in our example, a World Heritage Site (WHS), what he or she can expect from it and what his or her relation to it can and should be. The handling of potentially different meaningful spaces is decisive, when it comes to the negotiation of pathways towards the sustainable development of a WHS region. Due to the fact that – in a pluralistic world – multiple realities exist, they have to be taken seriously and adequately addressed. In this article we identified the ways the Jungfrau-Aletsch- WHS was constructed by exploring the visual and verbal representations of the WHS during the decision-making process (1998-2001). The results demonstrate that in the visual representations (images), the WHS was to a large extent presented as an unspoiled natural environment similar to a touristy promotion brochure. Such a ‘picture-book’-like portrait has no direct link to the population’s daily needs, their questions and anxieties about the consequences of a WHS label. By contrast, the verbal representations (articles, letters-to-the-editor, comments) were dominated by issues concerning the economic development of the region, fears of disappropriation, and different views on nature. Whereas visual and verbal representations to a large extent differ significantly, their combination might have contributed to the final decision of the majority of people concerned to support the application for inscription of the Jungfrau-Aletsch-Bietschhorn region into the World Heritage list. The prominence of economic arguments and narratives about intergenerational responsibility in the verbal representations and their combination with the aesthetic appeal of the natural environment in the visual representations might have built a common meaningful space for one part of the population.

Non-water-suppressed proton MR spectroscopy improves spectral quality in the human spinal cord

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy enables insight into the chemical composition of spinal cord tissue. However, spinal cord magnetic resonance spectroscopy has rarely been applied in clinical work due to technical challenges, including strong susceptibility changes in the region and the small cord diameter, which distort the lineshape and limit the attainable signal to noise ratio. Hence, extensive signal averaging is required, which increases the likelihood of static magnetic field changes caused by subject motion (respiration, swallowing), cord motion, and scanner-induced frequency drift. To avoid incoherent signal averaging, it would be ideal to perform frequency alignment of individual free induction decays before averaging. Unfortunately, this is not possible due to the low signal to noise ratio of the metabolite peaks. In this article, frequency alignment of individual free induction decays is demonstrated to improve spectral quality by using the high signal to noise ratio water peak from non-water-suppressed proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy via the metabolite cycling technique. Electrocardiography (ECG)-triggered point resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) localization was used for data acquisition with metabolite cycling or water suppression for comparison. A significant improvement in the signal to noise ratio and decrease of the Cramér Rao lower bounds of all metabolites is attained by using metabolite cycling together with frequency alignment, as compared to water-suppressed spectra, in 13 healthy volunteers.

Evaluation and quantification of spectral information in tissue by confocal microscopy

A confocal imaging and image processing scheme is introduced to visualize and evaluate the spatial distribution of spectral information in tissue. The image data are recorded using a confocal laser-scanning microscope equipped with a detection unit that provides high spectral resolution. The processing scheme is based on spectral data, is less error-prone than intensity-based visualization and evaluation methods, and provides quantitative information on the composition of the sample. The method is tested and validated in the context of the development of dermal drug delivery systems, introducing a quantitative uptake indicator to compare the performances of different delivery systems is introduced. A drug penetration study was performed in vitro. The results show that the method is able to detect, visualize and measure spectral information in tissue. In the penetration study, uptake efficiencies of different experiment setups could be discriminated and quantitatively described. The developed uptake indicator is a step towards a quantitative assessment and, in a more general view apart from pharmaceutical research, provides valuable information on tissue composition. It can potentially be used for clinical in vitro and in vivo applications.

Issues of spectral quality in clinical 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy and a gallery of artifacts

In spite of the facts that magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is applied as clinical tool in non-specialized institutions and that semi-automatic acquisition and processing tools can be used to produce quantitative information from MRS exams without expert information, issues of spectral quality and quality assessment are neglected in the literature of MR spectroscopy. Even worse, there is no consensus among experts on concepts or detailed criteria of quality assessment for MR spectra. Furthermore, artifacts are not at all conspicuous in MRS and can easily be taken for true, interpretable features. This article aims to increase interest in issues of spectral quality and quality assessment, to start a larger debate on generally accepted criteria that spectra must fulfil to be clinically and scientifically acceptable, and to provide a sample gallery of artifacts, which can be used to raise awareness for potential pitfalls in MRS.

Spectral biases in tree-ring climate proxies

External forcing and internal dynamics result in climate system variability ranging from sub-daily weather to multi-centennial trends and beyond1, 2. State-of-the-art palaeoclimatic methods routinely use hydroclimatic proxies to reconstruct temperature (for example, refs 3, 4), possibly blurring differences in the variability continuum of temperature and precipitation before the instrumental period. Here, we assess the spectral characteristics of temperature and precipitation fluctuations in observations, model simulations and proxy records across the globe. We find that whereas an ensemble of different general circulation models represents patterns captured in instrumental measurements, such as land–ocean contrasts and enhanced low-frequency tropical variability, the tree-ring-dominated proxy collection does not. The observed dominance of inter-annual precipitation fluctuations is not reflected in the annually resolved hydroclimatic proxy records. Likewise, temperature-sensitive proxies overestimate, on average, the ratio of low- to high-frequency variability. These spectral biases in the proxy records seem to propagate into multi-proxy climate reconstructions for which we observe an overestimation of low-frequency signals. Thus, a proper representation of the high- to low-frequency spectrum in proxy records is needed to reduce uncertainties in climate reconstruction efforts.

Sheaf representations of MV-algebras and lattice-ordered abelian groups via duality

We study representations of MV-algebras -- equivalently, unital lattice-ordered abelian groups -- through the lens of Stone-Priestley duality, using canonical extensions as an essential tool. Specifically, the theory of canonical extensions implies that the (Stone-Priestley) dual spaces of MV-algebras carry the structure of topological partial commutative ordered semigroups. We use this structure to obtain two different decompositions of such spaces, one indexed over the prime MV-spectrum, the other over the maximal MV-spectrum. These decompositions yield sheaf representations of MV-algebras, using a new and purely duality-theoretic result that relates certain sheaf representations of distributive lattices to decompositions of their dual spaces. Importantly, the proofs of the MV-algebraic representation theorems that we obtain in this way are distinguished from the existing work on this topic by the following features: (1) we use only basic algebraic facts about MV-algebras; (2) we show that the two aforementioned sheaf representations are special cases of a common result, with potential for generalizations; and (3) we show that these results are strongly related to the structure of the Stone-Priestley duals of MV-algebras. In addition, using our analysis of these decompositions, we prove that MV-algebras with isomorphic underlying lattices have homeomorphic maximal MV-spectra. This result is an MV-algebraic generalization of a classical theorem by Kaplansky stating that two compact Hausdorff spaces are homeomorphic if, and only if, the lattices of continuous [0, 1]-valued functions on the spaces are isomorphic.

Prometheus Framework for Fuzzy Information Retrieval in Semantic Spaces

This paper introduces a novel vision for further enhanced Internet of Things services. Based on a variety of data (such as location data, ontology-backed search queries, in- and outdoor conditions) the Prometheus framework is intended to support users with helpful recommendations and information preceding a search for context-aware data. Adapted from artificial intelligence concepts, Prometheus proposes user-readjusted answers on umpteen conditions. A number of potential Prometheus framework applications are illustrated. Added value and possible future studies are discussed in the conclusion.

Differential optical densities of intraretinal spaces

PURPOSE: To test the hypothesis that hyporeflective spaces in the neuroretina found on optical coherence tomography (OCT) examination have different optical reflectivities according to whether they are associated with exudation or degeneration. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of eyes with idiopathic perifoveal telangiectasia (IPT), diabetic macular edema (DME), idiopathic central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC), retinitis pigmentosa (RP), or cone dystrophy (CD) and eyes of healthy control subjects. OCT scans were performed. Raw scan data were exported and used to calculate light reflectivity profiles. Reflectivity data were acquired by projecting three rectangular boxes, each 50 pixels long and 5 pixels wide, into the intraretinal cystoid spaces, centrally onto unaffected peripheral RPE, and onto the prefoveolar vitreous. Light reflectivity in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), vitreous, and intraretinal spaces for the different retinal conditions and control subjects were compared. RESULTS: Reflectivities of the vitreous and the RPE were similar among the groups. Hyporeflective spaces in eyes with exudation (DME, RP, and CSC) had higher reflectivity compared with the mean reflectivity of the vitreous, whereas the cystoid spaces in the maculae of the eyes without exudation (CD and IPT) had a lower reflectivity than did the normal vitreous. CONCLUSIONS: Analysis of the light reflectivity profiles may be a tool to determine whether the density of hyporeflective spaces in the macula is greater or less than that of the vitreous, and may be a way to differentiate degenerative from exudative macular disease.

Shifted Coupling of EEG Driving Frequencies and fMRI Resting State Networks in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders

INTRODUCTION: The cerebral resting state in schizophrenia is altered, as has been demonstrated separately by electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) resting state networks (RSNs). Previous simultaneous EEG/fMRI findings in healthy controls suggest that a consistent spatiotemporal coupling between neural oscillations (EEG frequency correlates) and RSN activity is necessary to organize cognitive processes optimally. We hypothesized that this coupling is disorganized in schizophrenia and related psychotic disorders, in particular regarding higher cognitive RSNs such as the default-mode (DMN) and left-working-memory network (LWMN). METHODS: Resting state was investigated in eleven patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (n = 11) and matched healthy controls (n = 11) using simultaneous EEG/fMRI. The temporal association of each RSN to topographic spectral changes in the EEG was assessed by creating Covariance Maps. Group differences within, and group similarities across frequencies were estimated for the Covariance Maps. RESULTS: The coupling of EEG frequency bands to the DMN and the LWMN respectively, displayed significant similarities that were shifted towards lower EEG frequencies in patients compared to healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS: By combining EEG and fMRI, each measuring different properties of the same pathophysiology, an aberrant relationship between EEG frequencies and altered RSNs was observed in patients. RSNs of patients were related to lower EEG frequencies, indicating functional alterations of the spatiotemporal coupling. SIGNIFICANCE: The finding of a deviant and shifted coupling between RSNs and related EEG frequencies in patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder is significant, as it might indicate how failures in the processing of internal and external stimuli, as commonly seen during this symptomatology (i.e. thought disorders, hallucinations), arise.