Leveraging parallel spatio-temporal computing for crime analysis in large datasets: analyzing trends in near-repeat phenomenon of crime in cities

ABSTRACT

Crime often clusters in space and time. Near-repeat patterns improve understanding of crime communicability and their space–time interactions. Near-repeat analysis requires extensive computing resources for the assessment of statistical significance of space–time interactions. A computationally intensive Monte Carlo simulation-based approach is used to evaluate the statistical significance of the space-time patterns underlying near-repeat events. Currently available software for identifying near-repeat patterns is not scalable for large crime datasets. In this paper, we show how parallel spatial programming can help to leverage spatio-temporal simulation-based analysis in large datasets. A parallel near-repeat calculator was developed and a set of experiments were conducted to compare the newly developed software with an existing implementation, assess the performance gain due to parallel computation, test the scalability of the software to handle large crime datasets and assess the utility of the new software for real-world crime data analysis. Our experimental results suggest that, efficiently designed parallel algorithms that leverage high-performance computing along with performance optimization techniques could be used to develop software that are scalable with large datasets and could provide solutions for computationally intensive statistical simulation-based approaches in crime analysis.     

Clinoform architecture and along‐strike facies variability through an exhumed erosional to accretionary basin margin transition

Exhumed basin margin‐scale clinothems provide important archives for understanding process interactions and reconstructing the physiography of sedimentary basins. However, studies of coeval shelf through slope to basin‐floor deposits are rarely documented, mainly due to outcrop or subsurface dataset limitations. Unit G from the Laingsburg depocentre (Karoo Basin, South Africa) is a rare example of a complete basin margin scale clinothem (>60 km long, 200 m‐high), with >10 km of depositional strike control, which allows a quasi‐3D study of a preserved shelf‐slope‐basin floor transition over a ca. 1,200 km² area. Sand‐prone, wave‐influenced topset deposits close to the shelf‐edge rollover zone can be physically mapped down dip for ca. 10 km as they thicken and transition into heterolithic foreset/slope deposits. These deposits progressively fine and thin over tens of km farther down dip into sand‐starved bottomset/basin‐floor deposits. Only a few km along strike, the coeval foreset/slope deposits are bypass‐dominated with incisional features interpreted as minor slope conduits/gullies. The margin here is steeper, more channelized and records a stepped profile with evidence of sand‐filled intraslope topography, a preserved base‐of‐slope transition zone and sand‐rich bottomset/basin‐floor deposits. Unit G is interpreted as part of a composite depositional sequence that records a change in basin margin style from an underlying incised slope with large sand‐rich basin‐floor fans to an overlying accretion‐dominated shelf with limited sand supply to the slope and basin floor. The change in margin style is accompanied with decreased clinoform height/slope and increased shelf width. This is interpreted to reflect a transition in subsidence style from regional sag, driven by dynamic topography/inherited basement configuration, to early foreland basin flexural loading. Results of this study caution against reconstructing basin margin successions from partial datasets without accounting for temporal and spatial physiographic changes, with potential implications on predictive basin evolution models.     

社区生活圈公共服务设施配置的空间分异分析——以大连市沙河口区为例

城市公共服务设施的配置水平直接影响到居民的生活品质。论文基于高德地图获取的地图数据,使用城市网络分析工具(Urban Network Analysis Toolbox, UNA)对大连市沙河口区内的6类公共服务设施分布进行空间分异分析,并对区内90个社区的居民出行可达设施的数量及类别进行测度,最后对各个社区进行总体评价。结果表明：① 大连市沙河口区公共服务设施空间分布不均,北多南少,呈现出“一主多次”的“廾”字形的结构,主要分布在西安路商业区周边和各个街道的次级商业区;② 居民可达设施数量空间差异大,北多南少,各街道均有1或2个区域可达设施数量较多;③ 居民可达设施类型数量存在一定差异,70%以上的住宅楼中的居民可以获得全部6类公共服务设施;④ 各社区居民可达设施总体处于差异较小的均衡状态,但仍有个别社区存在内部差异较大的现象。设施的分布、地物的阻隔和社区的封闭程度对居民获取各类公共服务设施影响较大,建议构建“设施完善、便捷可达”的15 min社区生活圈。     

1983—2017年宁夏盐池县生态治理政策的类型与变化——基于政策工具视角

政策工具是政府实施政策的手段。结合盐池县1983-2017年出台的生态治理政策,运用内容分析法,从政策工具视角,对盐池县生态治理政策的类型与变化进行了分析,并深入探讨其原因。结果表明:强制型和混合型政策工具占主导地位,其中,规制、直接提供、信息与劝诫、补贴与奖励4种工具使用频率最高,自愿型工具的使用还很缺乏。政策工具的运用受到中央政策的显著影响。以后应当开发更多可利用的政策工具,并对不同政策工具进行优化组合。通过本研究可深入了解生态脆弱区地方政府生态政策的政策工具使用情况,为生态脆弱区生态保护的政策工具选择与优化组合提供参考。     

APPLICATIONS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TECHNIQUES TO REMOTE SENSING*

Remote sensing is a geographic analysis tool capable of producing large quantities of data in the spectral, temporal and spatial domains. Techniques for automating the image analysis process would be advanced by the inclusion of artificial intelligence techniques in the design of image processing systems. The remote sensing application which show promise for successful implementation of artificial intelligence techniques are intelligent onboard processing, advanced database interrogation, and the automated analysis of multispectral imagery.     

Palaeoclimatic studies in South Shetland Islands,Antarctica, based on numerous stratigraphic variables in lake sediments

The hitherto longest found lake sediment sequence on Byers Peninsula, Livingston Island, South Shetland Islands, was analysed with respect to lithology, chronology, diatoms, Pediastrum, pollen and spores, mosses, mineralogy, and sediment chemistry. During the ca. 5000 year long development the sediments were influenced by frequent tephra fall-outs. This volcanic impact played a major role in the lake's history during two periods, 4700–4600 and 2800–2500 BP, but was of importance during the lake's entire history with considerable influence on many of the palaeoenvironmentally significant indicators. The large and complex data set was analysed and zonated with different types of multivariate analysis. This resulted in a subdivision of the sequence into 8 time periods and 21 variables. Redundancy analysis (RDA) of this data set, both without and with the tephra periods, and with 4–6 of the variables as explanatory environmental variables, reveal that climatic/environmental signals are detectable. The palaeoclimatic picture that emerged out of the tephra noise suggests that the first 100 years were characterized by mild, humid conditions. This was followed by a less mild and humid climate until ca. 4000 BP when a gradual warming seems to have started, coupled with increased humidity. These mild and humid conditions seem to have reached an optimum slightly after 3000 BP. At ca. 2500 BP a distinct climatic deterioration occurred with colder and drier conditions and long seasons with ice cover. This arid, cold phase probably reached its optimum conditions at ca. 1500 BP, when slightly warmer conditions might have prevailed for a while. Except for the modern sample with rather mild climate, the last 1400 years seem to have been fairly arid and cold, and the effects of the frequent volcanic activity during this period is only vaguely seen in the records.     

Determination of the fault plane using a single near-field seismic station with a finite-dimension source model

We explore the possibility of determining the actual fault plane of an earthquake from the inversion of near-source displacement seismograms of one station when a finite-dimension source is used instead of a point source model and when the complete displacement is taken into account, including near-field waves. Tests on synthetic seismograms and real data recorded at local distances show that this is possible even with a single, three-component station. A single accelerogram available for the Erzincan, Turkey, 1992 March 13, M _s = 6.8 earthquake is inverted and the solution found is compatible with other seismological studies and with the mechanism expected for the North Anatolian Fault.