Computer-assisted navigation and the acquisition of route and survey knowledge

The incidental acquisition of spatial orientation knowledge when using a pedestrian navigation assistance system for wayfinding was compared to incidental learning during map-based wayfinding. First-time visitors to a real environment (a zoo) took a guided tour. In the navigation assistance conditions, users were provided with direction information and view-based pictures of the current intersection at each decision point, presented on a hand-held computer. In the map-based condition, participants derived route segments from a map (each segment comprising three or four intersections), and then walked the partial routes from memory. After walking, unexpected tests on route memory and survey knowledge were administered. Navigation assistance users showed good route knowledge and poor survey knowledge. In contrast, map users showed better survey knowledge and nearly perfect route knowledge. Variations of information presentation within navigation assistance conditions (auditory vs. visual direction command, additional presentation of allocentric spatial information) was not effective. Results are explained with an active encoding principle. Only information that is actually encoded, transformed, and/or memorized during the primary wayfinding activity, is incidentally learned. Since navigation assistance systems do not require users to encode, transform, and memorize spatial information, the spatial orientation knowledge of navigation assistance users is poor.     

FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL KNOWLEDGE IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CHILDREN

The work presented in the present article was carried out for the purpose of evaluating the effects of the limitations imposed on children's autonomy on their acquisition of environmental knowledge. The representation of the home-school intinerary was investigated in 8–11 year old children who travelled along the itinerary in different ways (on their own, accompanied by an adult, on foot or by car). The tasks included a sketch map of the route and drawing the route on a blank map of the neighbourhood. In order to investigate the role of autonomy in the development of a full understanding of the environment in which they live, the children were asked to use landmarks to find their way around a blank map of the quarter and to mark on it the position of significant components of their environment. The children's freedom of movement in the quarter was investigated by indirect observation.The data were analysed and discussed as a function of the children's method of mobility, their age and gender. The results confirm the importance of the type of individual—environment interaction, in particular of freedom of movement, in acquiring, processing and structuring environmental knowledge. Children going to school on their own achieved the best performances in both making a sketch map of the itinerary and in drawing their movements on a blank map of the quarter. Even when the representation of the environment in which they live is taken into account, the key role played by autonomy is confirmed.     

The relationship between spatial ability and environmental knowledge

This study examined the relationships between four standardized measures of spatial ability—the Embedded Figures Test (EFT), the Mental Rotations Test (MRT), the Differential Aptitude Spatial Relations subtest (DAT), and the Building Memory Test (BMT)—and two measures of environmental knowledge. Three hundred and fifty-three college undergraduates were administered the EFT, MRT, DAT, BMT and two measures of environmental knowledge-a landmark location (LM) and route knowledge (RK) task. The two environmental knowledge tasks were based on a slide-simulated walk through an unfamiliar urban environment. A principal components analysis of the above six measures produced two factors; one consisting of the four spatial ability tests, and the other the two environmental knowledge tasks. The correlation between the two factors was 0·37, indicating that the spatial ability factor accounted for 13·69% of the variance in the environmental knowledge factor.     

Influence of environmental street characteristics on walking route choice of elderly people

Walking is an important source of outdoor physical activity among elderly people. In order to devise measures aimed at encouraging walking among the elderly it is important to understand how the local environment influences the walking behaviour of elderly people. Here, a model describing the influence of environmental street characteristics on the walking route choice of elderly people is presented. Techniques adapted from the field of transportation research were employed within the model. Data concerning the walking route choice to specific destinations reported by 364 independently living elderly residents (55–80 years) from three Dutch urban districts were collected. Route choice was modelled within a ‘Geographic Information System’ (GIS) database by using ‘resistance factors’ to describe the resistance to walking of street sections (i.e. links) within the street network. These factors were optimized by minimizing the difference between the estimated and the reported number of trips along each link. This is, to the authors' knowledge the first time that this technique has been applied within this context. The influence of link characteristics on link resistance was investigated by multivariate linear regression. The first results of the route choice model and the influence of street characteristics on route choice are reported and discussed.     

Learning about knowledge management for improving environmental impact assessment in a government agency: the Western Australian experience

How does knowledge management (KM) by a government agency responsible for environmental impact assessment (EIA) potentially contribute to better environmental assessment and management practice? Staff members at government agencies in charge of the EIA process are knowledge workers who perform judgement-oriented tasks highly reliant on individual expertise, but also grounded on the agency’s knowledge accumulated over the years. Part of an agency’s knowledge can be codified and stored in an organizational memory, but is subject to decay or loss if not properly managed. The EIA agency operating in Western Australia was used as a case study. Its KM initiatives were reviewed, knowledge repositories were identified and staff surveyed to gauge the utilisation and effectiveness of such repositories in enabling them to perform EIA tasks.     

Anisotropy of environmental perception caused by spatial changes during locomotion

Daily perception entails an immediate awareness of the environment surrounding the body. To explore its dynamic nature during locomotion, this study tests the hypothesis that significant changes in spatial volume induce the directional focusing (i.e., anisotropy) of environmental perception. To capture perceptual activity in its natural state, we have attempted an approach using the feeling of visual pressure (i.e., felt presence) caused by the surrounding environment. In the present experiment that uses a virtual reality setup, participants were required to continuously rate their feelings while moving along a virtual outdoor route. Their ratings were analyzed in relation to environmental measurements along the route, such as the visible area of buildings and the horizontal extent of surrounding space. The relationship between the ratings and measurements was explored by using two prediction models: with and without consideration of perceptual anisotropy. The results suggested that a consideration of anisotropy improved the prediction accuracy, thereby supporting our hypothesis.     

TWO STRATEGIES FOR LEARNING A ROUTE IN A DRIVING SIMULATOR

The study of human navigation has long been dominated by the so-called stage theory, i.e. the notion that there are three distinct types of spatial knowledge (landmark, route, and survey knowledge), that are acquired sequentially during spatial learning and development. Based on the results of a route learning experiment in a driving simulator, an alternative to the stage theory is proposed. The authors suggest that subjects follow either a visually dominated or a spatially dominated strategy to solve a route-learning problem. In the visually dominated strategy, subjects base their wayfinding decisions on visually recognizing decision points along a route; the decision points are not integrated into any kind of survey representation. In the spatially dominated strategy, on the other hand, subjects represent the environment as a survey map right from the start; that is, they do not pass through a landmark or route stage. These strategies may be subserved by different cortical areas recently characterized in neurophysiological studies of animals solving maze problems.     

THE MENTAL REPRESENTATION OF FAMILIAR, LONG-DISTANCE JOURNEYS

The memory of a familiar, long-distance journey was compared to the memory of the previous day's events by rating the clearness or vividness of memories retrieved from four equal-sized segments on the distance or time dimension. Across five experiments, the results showed stable primacy and recency effects on the spatial distance task, and recency-only on the time-of-the-day task. The serial position effects of both tasks were robust and resistant to task manipulations. The results are interpreted in terms of different mental representation formats for everyday memories of familiar journeys and for chronological memories.     

长庆气田——呼和浩特输气管道工程生态环境保护及恢复对策

针对管道工程的特点,尤其是管道工程穿越脆弱沙地生态系统的特点,在分析管道沿线生态环境现状及特点的基础上,重点从沙地生态系统的演替规律出发,分析了管道工程沙地段的主要环境问题,借鉴当地已有的生态恢复的成功经验,进一步提出了穿越脆弱沙地生态系统管道工程项目的生态保护和恢复对策。     

A phenomenographical approach to the study of pre-adolescents' use of maps in a wayfinding exercise in a suburban environment

This paper reports the investigative study, which used a phenomenographical approach, on how a group of 12-year-old students found their way around a designated suburban route by referring to a sequential listing of streets along the route and a street directory map of the suburban area. While the content of this study belongs to map use and wayfinding experience of the pre-adolescent students, the approach used is phenomenographic in that it identified the qualitatively different ways that the students experienced the suburban environment. The students' experiences were interpreted using a behaviourial matrix of their actions while they traversed the route. Qualitative variations in their approaches to wayfinding using maps were obtained from interviews which were conducted immediately after the students completed their route navigation. Four qualitatively different approaches were determined from their reflections of their own wayfinding behaviours. They are the restricted and neophytic approach; careful and sequential approach; deductive and familiarized approach; and the visualized and co-ordinated spatial approach. These approaches reflect the different behaviours and abilities of the students to: plan their route using a street directory map; plan the route street by street or a number of streets at a time; use street signs and other landmarks during the actual task; utilize local knowledge of the route; maintain their orientation; visualize spatial patterns; and use the scale on the map to help planning.     

Acquisition of spatial knowledge for routes

An important issue in the study of spatial knowledge has been the distinction between configurational and route knowledge. Route knowledge is characterized by the knowledge of sequential locations without the knowledge of general interrelationships. In contrast, configurational knowledge is characterized by the ability to generalize beyond learned routes and locate objects within a general frame of reference. These two types of knowledge are contrasted in a learning experiment, in which subjects acquire spatial information either from a map or a slide presentation. Furthermore, the structure of their spatial knowledge is derived from free-recall data using the ordered tree clustering algorithm. The results show, first, that subjects in the map condition acquired more accurate configurational knowledge. Second, we found that route knowledge can be acquired either through route presentation or map presentation. Third, there are individual differences within the slide group, such that some subjects were able to acquire configurational knowledge. And fourth, ordered trees are able to account for some of these differences, and thus identify the degree of configurational knowledge acquired by the slide subjects.     

Environmental occurrences, behavior, fate, and ecological effects of nanomaterials: an introduction to the special series

The release of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) into the biosphere will increase as industries find new and useful ways to utilize these materials. Scientists and engineers are beginning to assess the material properties that determine the fate, transport, and effects of ENMs; however, the potential impacts of released ENMs on organisms, ecosystems, and human health remain largely unknown. This special collection of four review papers and four technical papers identifies many key and emerging knowledge gaps regarding the interactions between nanomaterials and ecosystems. These critical knowledge gaps include the form, route, and mass of nanomaterials entering the environment; the transformations and ultimate fate of nanomaterials in the environment; the transport, distribution, and bioavailability of nanomaterials in environmental media; and the organismal responses to nanomaterial exposure and effects of nanomaterial inputs, on ecological communities and biogeochemical processes at relevant environmental concentrations and forms. This introductory section summarizes the state of knowledge and emerging areas of research needs identified within the special collection. Despite recent progress in understanding the transport, transformations, and fate of ENMs in model environments and organisms, there remains a large need for fundamental information regarding releases, distribution, transformations and persistence, and bioavailability of nanomaterials. Moreover, fate, transport, bioaccumulation, and ecological impacts research is needed using environmentally relevant concentrations and forms of ENMs in real field materials and with a broader range of organisms.     

Ecological animal control by habitat management

The article introduces the subject for this issue ofEnvironmental Management—traditional and alternative means of agricultural pest management based on environmental manipulations The issue is the proceedings of the eighth Tall Timbers Research Station conference on ecological animal control by habitat management.     

管道线路优化中的环境问题

石油工业干线管道的建设和运营给沿线周围环境带来了诸多不利影响。针对管道系统的主要破坏原因及其环境影响,提出在考虑环境保护前提下优选线路的经济分析模式,并推荐了环境损害的估算方法。     

番禺市民环境意识调查与评价研究

为了了解番禺市民环境意识的现状,把握市民环境意识的总体水平,探讨今后环境保护宣传教育的重点和方向,对番禺市21个镇区的市民的环境意识进行了抽样设想。从环境态度,环境行为,环境知识3个方面对市民的环境意识水平进行了评价,并对影响环境影响水平的个人因素进行了分析和综合评价。结果表明：现阶段番禺市民环境意识勉强进入中 等水平,而市民的环境态度已进入较高水平,环境知识为中等水平,环境行为为中等水平,市民的环境态度,环境行为,环境知识水平相互脱节,表现为意识先行,行为滞后。     

Mass media and environmental knowledge of secondary school students in Hong Kong

A postal survey on a random cluster sample of 1032 secondary school students in Hong Kong was conducted to investigate what and how much students know about the environment and how their knowledge is related to use of mass media. Results indicated that students were very knowledgeable on general and local environmental issues. The average score for environmental knowledge was 60.7 on a 100-point scale. There was some indications that students' environmental knowledge was shaped and limited by the reporting of environmental news in Hong Kong. Television news viewership had positive correlation with students' environmental knowledge while Chinese newspaper readership had a positive but weak correlation. Male students and students in higher forms were more knowledgeable about the environment. The study established a comprehensive measure for both general and local environmental knowledge with an acceptable level of internal consistency for subsequent studies.     

Integrating local and scientific knowledge for environmental management

This paper evaluates the processes and mechanisms available for integrating different types of knowledge for environmental management. Following a review of the challenges associated with knowledge integration, we present a series of questions for identifying, engaging, evaluating and applying different knowledges during project design and delivery. These questions are used as a basis to compare three environmental management projects that aimed to integrate knowledge from different sources in the United Kingdom, Solomon Islands and Australia. Comparative results indicate that integrating different types of knowledge is inherently complex – classification of knowledge is arbitrary and knowledge integration perspectives are qualitatively very different. We argue that there is no single optimum approach for integrating local and scientific knowledge and encourage a shift in science from the development of knowledge integration products to the development of problem-focussed, knowledge integration processes. These processes need to be systematic, reflexive and cyclic so that multiple views and multiple methods are considered in relation to an environmental management problem. The results have implications for the way in which researchers and environmental managers undertake and evaluate knowledge integration projects.     

重庆市水环境功能区划

运用GIS技术和方法，以1：25万数字地图为基础，通过对重庆市环境现状的调查，结合重庆市的实际情况，提出了水环境功能区划分的原则、工作程序和技术路线，科学地划分了重庆市水环境功能区，并对水环境功能区划中的几个问题作了分析和探讨，提出了合理化建议，对加强环境管理，保护河流水质具有十分重要的意义。     

Managing environmental knowledge through unlearning in Spanish hospitality companies

The Spanish hospitality industry is facing environmental challenges which require organizations and individuals to learn new skills and practices and create new environmental knowledge. Understanding the nature and role of prior knowledge for sustainable development is a necessary step towards understanding if new environmental practices will be adopted successfully. This research focuses on unlearning and its impact on environmental knowledge by carrying out an empirical investigation of the unlearning context in 127 Spanish hospitality companies. The findings indicate that a process for consolidating emergent understandings would appear to be an intermediary step between the forgetting of old knowledge and the application of new environmental knowledge. Consequently, it is important that managers provide an appropriate unlearning context to support the openness of individuals to new ideas and environmental awareness. Otherwise, individuals may be fearful of or confused by the prospect of unlearning old habits and routines.     

HYDROLOGIC STAGE PERIODICITY OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER BEFORE AND AFTER SYSTEMATIC CHANNEL MODIFICATIONS1

ABSTRACT: Periodic flood disturbance is a well known controlling factor of in channel and floodplain ecosystem function. However, channel manipulations during the last century have potentially altered hydrologic fluctuations, and thus ecosystem function. We examined temporal river stage hydrology, through autocorrelation analysis, at seven gauges along the Mississippi River to quantify flow periodicity and effects of systematic channel modifications on flow periodicity. Intraannual variation follows a strong one‐year cycle of six months higher flow and six months lower flow for the entire Mississippi River drainage, with precipitation as a driving force. Interannual hydrologic variation differs between the upper and lower river segments. A clear quasi‐biennial oscillation pattern was evident throughout the lower river section. The effect of channel alterations was a decreased magnitude of differences between lower and higher flows. The upper section, however, suggests a 12‐to 14‐year periodicity prior to alterations and a decreased duration of lower flow years following systematic modifications. Interannual variograms clearly depict very different temporal hydrology between the upper Mississippi River and the lower Mississippi River, suggesting the simple transfer of knowledge from one segment to the other oversimplifies the complexity of a large river system.