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We developed acid-functionalized glycogen conjugates as supramolecular carriers for efficient encapsulation and inhibition of a model cationic peptide melittin─the main component of honeybee venom. For this purpose, we synthesized and characterized a set of glycogens, functionalized to various degrees by several different acid groups. These conjugates encapsulate melittin up to a certain threshold amount, beyond which they precipitate. Computer simulations showed that sufficiently functionalized conjugates electrostatically attract melittin, resulting in its efficient encapsulation in a broad pH range around the physiological pH. Hemolytic assays confirmed in vitro that the effective inhibition of melittin's hemolytic activity occurs for highly functionalized samples, whereas no inhibition is observed when using low-functionalized conjugates. It can be concluded that functional glycogens are promising carriers for cationic molecular cargos or antidotes against animal venoms under conditions, in which suitable properties such as biodegradability and biocompatibility are crucial.

The active involvement of citizens in decision-making processes via geoparticipatory spatial tools is becoming a popular research field among geographers, GIScientists, environmental psychologists, political scientists and many others. This paper presents the idea of the Index of geoparticipation – an indicator-based index divided into three dimensions (communication, participation, transparency) that helps to evaluate the state of geoparticipation among Czech municipalities. It describes the current state of geoparticipation at the municipality level in Czechia. It aims to fill the research gap in finding which components of geoparticipation at the municipality level are being used, and how their use is affected by the size of municipalities and their membership of Local Agenda 21 networks. The paper builds upon an extensive dataset collected by the authors from all Czech municipalities (n=6 258) and presents various “shades” of geoparticipation in Czechia. Highlights for public administration, management and planning: • The highest average values of the Index of geoparticipation were obtained from the regions’ capital cities, followed by statutory cities, municipalities with extended powers, municipalities which are members of the Healthy Cities of the Czech Republic (HCCZ) network and cities. • HCCZ member municipalities use geoparticipatory tools significantly more than the rest of the Czech municipalities • The communication dimension is the most widely implemented pillar of the Index of geoparticipation • There is no significant relationship between social exclusion and geoparticipation at the nationwide level

Pneumoperitoneum is a condition that refers to the presence of free air (gas) in the abdominal cavity. Differential diagnosis of the causes of pneumoperitoneum varies widely and represents varying degrees of severity. In the patients who have not recently underwent laparotomy or laparoscopy, the finding of pneumoperitoneum is usually a sign of gastrointestinal perforation that requires immediate surgical approach due to the risk of peritonitis with subsequent life-threatening sepsis. However, not all causes of pneumoperitoneum require surgery. In our case report, we present a rare case of clinically asymptomatic pneumoperitoneum that developed in a 66-year-old patient after CT colonography. In this diagnostic method, we inflate colon with carbon dioxide (CO2 ); therefore this kind of pneumoperitoneum can de facto be called capnoperitoneum. In this patient, free air (gas) in the abdominal cavity manifested itself in the so-called benign pneumoperitoneum, which is defined as asymptomatic free air in the abdominal cavity and pneumoperitoneum without peritonitis. Despite the fact that CT colonography is considered a method with a very low incidence of complications, it is necessary to take into account the presence of risk factors in its indication and to contraindicate to avoid the number of postoperative complications. The fundamental message of our case report is that extensive pneumoperitoneum after proven CT colonography can be asymptomatic and can be treated conservatively (if clinical and laboratory results are favorable).

Web-based participatory mapping technologies are being increasingly harnessed by local governments to crowdsource local knowledge and engage the public in urban planning policies as a means of increasing the transparency and legitimacy of planning processes and decisions. We refer to these technologies as “geoparticipation”. Current innovations are outpacing research into the use of geoparticipation in participatory planning practices. To address this knowledge gap, this paper investigates the objectives of web-based geoparticipation and uses empirical evidence from online survey responses related to 25 urban planning projects in nine countries across three continents (Europe, North America, and Australia). The survey adopts the objectives of the Spectrum for Public Participation that range from information empowerment, with each category specifying promises about how public input is expected to influence decision-making (IAP2, 2018). Our findings show that geoparticipation can leverage a ‘middle-ground’ of citizen participation by facilitating involvement alongside consultation and/or collaboration. This paper constitutes a pilot study as a step toward more robust and replicable empirical studies for cross-country comparisons. Empowerment (or citizen control) is not yet a normative goal or outcome for web-based geoparticipation. Our evidence also suggests that information is pursued alongside other objectives for citizen participation, and therefore functions not as a “low-hanging fruit” as portrayed in the literature, but rather as a core component of higher intensities of participation.

The paper presents the data from the participatory emotional mapping in Prague, Czech Republic. It contains 98,364 points complemented with 30,941 comments from 5,973 respondents from across Prague (1,335,084 inhabitants according to [1]). There were eight questions/statements common for all of Prague, furthermore each Prague district (n=27) could add up to seven questions/statements. The data were collected via our own participatory mapping platform EmotionalMaps.eu from April to September 2021.

In this data description, we introduce a unique (geo)dataset with publicly available information about the municipalities focused on (geo)participatory aspects of local administration. The dataset comprises 6258 Czech municipalities linked with their respective administrative boundaries. In total, 55 attributes were prepared for each municipality. We also describe the process of data collection, processing, verification, and publication as open data. The uniqueness of the dataset is that such a complex dataset regarding geographical coverage with a high level of detail (municipalities) has never been collected in Czechia before. Besides, it could be applied in various research agendas in public participation and local administration and used thematically using selected indicators from various participation domains. The dataset is available freely in the Esri geodatabase, geospatial services using API (REST, GeoJSON), and other common non-spatial formats (MS Excel and CSV).

Multiresponsive polymers offer a wealth of possibilities to design switchable materials which respond to more than one stimulus. We describe first the response of polymers to a single external stimulus, namely to temperature, light, pH value, redox changes, and low molecular weight species, and discuss the influence of these stimuli on the polymer chain polarity. Then, we review multiresponsive homopolymers and statistical and block co-polymers. Finally, we discuss the similarity of multiresponsive synthetic polymers to biopolymers. As a conclusion, multiresponsiveness opens up a broad area for combining different properties in one system, enabling numerous possible applications.

The differences in welfare amongst European countries are especially evident in border regions, and this affects cross-border cooperation and relationships. Due to the historical development of Central and Eastern European countries over the last century, the affected countries are unique “laboratories” for geographical research. This study assesses disparities in socio-economic indicators representing socio-economic phenomena in the Czech-Polish border region, through the analysis of cross-border (spatial) continuity, using quantitative methods (multivariate statistics and socio-economic profiling), GIS analysis and cartographic visualisation. It is demonstrated how such a combination of methods is useful for the comparison and evaluation of the complex socio-economic situations in neighbouring countries. This research project identifies the most suitable common indicators for a proper evaluation of cross-border (spatial) continuity, and it reveals the spatial patterns as reflected by a cluster analysis. The greatest cross-border (spatial) continuity is apparent in the easternmost part of the borderlands, while significant differences on both sides of the border are evident in the very central part of the areas under study. The paper also describes methodological aspects of the research in order to provide a quantitative approach to borderland studies.

The applications of depleted uranium in mechanical engineering are limited by its high susceptibility to corrosion. Among various methods of corrosion protection, painting is usually considered a fast and cost-efficient method; however, organic polymer paints are sensitive to ionizing radiation, which is a limiting factor, e.g., for the fabrication of shielding containers or structural parts. The solution presented in this work is the creation of a glassy inorganic layer on top of the depleted uranium surface. Zinc lead phosphate low-melting glass was investigated for this purpose. Glass frit was obtained as an amorphous solid, as confirmed by differential scanning calorimetry and X-ray diffraction. The frit was easily ground in liquid media down to sizes suitable for spraying onto the surface of depleted uranium. When the glass powder is sprayed onto the surface of a substrate and fired at 440 °C, a partially crystallized continuous film with a complex morphology is formed, which significantly inhibits corrosion. The coating material shows resistance against high doses of γ-irradiation.

Most studies addressing heat in urban environments focus on thermal conditions and neglect the mental component of thermal comfort. This study employs mental maps to analyse thermal (dis)comfort in the medium-sized Czech cities of Olomouc and Plzeň in summer. Locations of “mental hotspots” are identified particularly on busy streets, at transport hubs, and in the city centres. The results reveal mental hotspots as highly-frequented locations in which people experience inferior thermal and environmental conditions. Slight variations in the spatial patterns of thermal discomfort for particular groups of persons are described. Mental hotspots overlap with surface temperature hotspots by less than half of their area; differences are statistically significant and spatially modulated. Overlap areas of “mental” and “real” hotspots show a promising approach towards indication of locations prone to development of heat stress in urban areas. These findings may contribute to adaptation to climate change and to urban planning, which should address not only the physical but also the subjectively-perceived issues of thermal comfort.

In the current work, we study the photoluminescence and anisotropic structure of PEDOT which is obtained in the presence of ions that perturb the water structure (ions in Hofmeister series). The water content in PEDOT has been confirmed by TGA and DSC measurements. The weight loss and heat flux together provided refined information about water content in the synthesized PEDOT, and based on the characteristic energy value, we conclude that the water molecules are bonded to the PEDOT chains by hydrogen bonds. The physicochemical properties of the such prepared PEDOT have been studied, e.g. the presence of photoluminescence is observed for PEDOT in the solid-state (thin film) with the longest Stokes shift (273 nm). Similarly, photoluminescence has been detected for the aqueous PEDOT suspension with the lifetime of the excited state in the range of nanoseconds. Moreover, the PEDOT chains can undergo rearrangements under electrochemical performance with the formation of an anisotropic structure, which is confirmed by polarized microscopy and XRD measurements. The photoluminescence spectrum of the anisotropic PEDOT film contains sharp, well-resolved peaks.

Urban planning and decision-making can often be elitist and non-participatory processes. Citizens are frequently a neglected part of these activities and are usually only involved in and considered before elections, or are informed about the planned changes at the very last stage, often beyond the possibility to change anything. Nevertheless, citizens have a relevant role in the processes of town planning and administration; and this chapter describes the implementation of a web-based crowdsourcing tool for the collection and visualisation of emotion-based and subjective information on maps used in the neighbourhood planning and revitalisation. The tool was used in four case studies of neighbourhood development consultations in various locations in the Czech Republic in 2015-2018. The results presented in this chapter allow for the replication of the research methodology in other areas, both location-wise as well as topic-wise.

Community mapping and emotional cartography have close links to participatory planning in the urban environment. The case study presented in this paper describes the deployment of the Emotional Maps platform for the collection and visualisation of spatial data related to the participatory planning of public space. The results (Main Map) presented are a combination of paper-based and web-map surveys. 2117 respondents from Olomouc (2% of the city's population) marked 25,760 points, lines and polygons, and made 4801 comments. Six spatial questions were asked in the survey and four of them are presented in the attached map. The questions were related to the general attractiveness of the city, safety, satisfaction with public transport and suggestions for the future development of some areas. The outcomes of the survey served as the groundwork for the Strategic Plan of Olomouc for 2017–2023.

Mobile technology is increasingly widespread in geographic instruction, raising questions about how to integrate and analyse data from multiple users. Collector for ArcGIS allows researchers to gat...

Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) provides most commonly values of diffusion coefficients of fluorescently labeled species in a solution, especially biopolymers. A newly developed procedure for the determination of diffusion coefficient distributions applicable to polydisperse polymers or nanoparticles, based on the well-known CONTIN algorithm, is described and tested on both simulated FCS correlation functions and real experimental data. Good resolution of bimodal distributions is observed, and it is quantitatively established how the resolution depends on the level of experimental noise. Effects of incorrect calibration of the focal volume on the obtained diffusion coefficient and its distribution are described for single-focus FCS. With rapid expansion of the FCS method from biology and biochemistry into the polymer field, and recently into many other disciplines including, e.g., environmental sciences, such a technique was very much needed.

The mapping of election results has long been a popular topic among cartographers, journalists, data scientists and infographic authors. However, their work usually concludes with simple visualizations of a single election, and in most cases only the winning party is represented. Can we tell the story of a political party over two decades via maps? What were the reasons for the rise and fall of such party; in our case the Czech Social Democrats? Moreover, how were the changes in voting patterns spatially distributed and manifested? With our paper, we explore voting patterns as well as the voting history of specific parties related to the fate of Social Democrats in the Czech Republic in several national elections from 2006 to 2017. We would like to invite other political scientists to explore the election results in their countries, not just over time, but also in space, and ideally via maps.

The last part of the book is dedicated to the simulation game framework. What is meant by the simulation game within the Spationomy project will be described in the following Sect. 16.1. Conceptual thoughts, as well as the motivation and goals of the Spationomy simulation game, will be briefly introduced as well. Also, the overall theoretical framing about educational aspects of simulation games (or gamification in general) with a focus on geography or economy will be provided with the first section. After this introductory chapter, each of the Spationomy simulation game rounds will be described in detail and also original instructions assigned to the students will be presented (Sect. 16.2). The reason for this chapter is to give a chance to the reader to use, extend and employ these materials in his/her teaching activity. The last two chapters are devoted to feedback and evaluation of the simulation game. Section 16.3 is about teacher/project staff experiences during the creation of simulation game, playing the game itself, modifying it during its evolution and also about “what worked and what did not”. In the same section (Sect. 16.3), we will provide the reader with students’ feedback and evaluation. Students’ authentic commentaries and suggestion are essential for further improvements of the game, and their insights also prove that the whole idea of making spatial economy playful is highly appreciated and fruitful. The main goal of Part IV of the book is to allow anyone to adopt and replicate the simulation game framework in the learning and teaching process.

The fear of crime is an established research topic, not only in sociology, environmental psychology and criminology, but also in GIScience. Using spatial analysis to analyse patterns, explore hotspots and determine the significance of respective surveys is one reason for the increase in popularity of such research topics for geographers, cartographers and spatial data scientists. This paper presents the results of an intensive online map-based questionnaire with 1551 respondents from the city of Ostrava, Czech Republic. The respondents marked 3792 points associated with the fear of crime over a ten week period. The perception data were compared with recorded crime data acquired from police department records for the years 2015&ndash, 2018. This paper explores the spatial autocorrelation from perceived hotspots and from recorded crime hotspots. Our findings fit into the literature confirming results about the locations that most frequently attract fear, but there is still room for more investigations regarding the links between recorded crime and the fear of crime.

The imaging of healthy tissues and solid tumors benefits from the application of nanoparticle probes with altered pharmacokinetics, not available to low molecular weight compounds. However, the distribution and accumulation of nanoprobes in vivo typically take at least tens of hours to be efficient. For nanoprobes bearing a radioactive label, this is contradictory to the requirement of minimizing the radiation dose for patients by using as-short-as-feasible half-life radionuclides in diagnostics. Thus, we developed a two-stage diagnostic concept for monitoring long-lasting targeting effects with short-lived radioactive labels using bone-mimicking biocompatible polymer-coated and colloidally fully stabilized hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (HAP NPs) and bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals. Within the pretargeting stage, the nonlabeled nanoparticles are allowed to circulate in the blood. Afterward, 99mTc-1-hydroxyethylidene-1.1-diphosphonate (99mTc-HEDP) is administered intravenously for in situ labeling of the nanoparticles and subsequent single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) visualization. The HAP NPs, stabilized with tailored hydrophilic polymers, are not cytotoxic in vitro, as shown by several cell lines. The polymer coating prolongs the circulation of HAP NPs in the blood. The nanoparticles were successfully labeled in vivo with 99mTc-HEDP, 1 and 24 h after injection, and they were visualized by SPECT/CT over time in healthy mice.

The ability of polysuccinimide (PSI) to open the succinimide ring by nucleophilic reagents leads to the formation of various polyaspartamides under mild conditions. In the current work, amino acids, such as Nα-Boc-L-lysine, leading to the formation of exclusively α-substituted L-lysine polypeptides and L-lysine methyl ester were used as the ring-opening reagents for PSI. The formed materials possess both positively and negatively charged groups on the same repeat unit simultaneously serving as zwitterionic moieties. The chemical structure and component composition were confirmed by 1H NMR and UV/vis spectroscopies. Zwitterionic properties of the synthesized polymers were investigated by zeta potential measurements. The obtained zwitterionic polyaspartamides exhibited anti-protein adsorption properties and the ability to create hydrophilic surfaces. The zwitterionic polyaspartamide nanogels obtained by horseradish peroxidase-mediated crosslinking in inverse miniemulsions and applying different preparation strategies were analysed by dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis. The results indicated the good morphology and architecture of the nanogels. These peptide-based zwitterionic nanogels, due to their good biocompatibility and anti-protein adsorption ability, are promising materials for biomedical applications.

Many cities have prioritised the provision of bicycle infrastructure, as part of a transition to more sustainable transport. Information from the users of bicycle facilities is crucial for successful bicycle planning. The article presents a case study of Reykjavik, Iceland, where a simple ‘emotional mapping’ platform was used to enable cyclists to express their emotional reactions to routes and places. A sample of 100 users identified some 541 features - lines and points - on a map of the city, associated them with either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ emotions and wrote textual comments to elaborate on the reasons for their judgement. The results indicate clearly the importance of the natural environment for cyclists, as well as the negative feeling engendered by cycling close to car traffic or in the street with the cars. These data support the emphases found in the present bicycling plan of Reykjavik city. In general, volunteered geographical information and crowdsourcing has much potential for increasing citizen participation in urban planning. A flexible software platform for participatory mapping, such as the one used in the study, can be a valuable addition to the planner‘s toolbox.

City planning, decision-making and participation in local administration can be sometimes elitist, closed to the public and non-participatory processes. Citizens are frequently a neglected part of these activities and are usually only involved and considered prior to elections. Yet citizens have a relevant role in the processes of town planning and administration. This paper describes the implementation of a web-based crowdsourcing tool for the collection and visualisation of emotion-based and subjective information on maps. The tool was used in a case study of neighbourhood development consultation in the city of Príbram, the Czech Republic. Visual, textual and statistical analyses showed a similar spatial distribution of some topics within the Križáky neighbourhood and provide results, combining qualitative and quantitative approaches in the process of e-participation in urban e-planning. The results presented in this paper allow replication of the research methodology in other areas as well as its implementation.

Ever since behavioural geographers started working with place perception; and Peter Gould and Kevin Lynch used mental maps to explore city visualization and spatial preferences, participation has become an integral part of geographical research. Later, when Robert Chambers and others introduced maps into Participatory Rural Appraisal, Participatory GIS and Public Participation GIS were also recognized by quantitative geographers as research methods and visualization tools. In the era of smartphones and global Internet coverage, applications such as FixMyStreet, ArcGIS Online, CartoDB and Maptioannaire allow users to cross the technology gap and become neocartographers without the need for GIS knowledge. GeoParticipation based on using spatial tools in order to involve citizens in community participation can be the future development of Public Participation GIS as it provides an easy-to-use environment and social engagement while creating the feeling of belonging to a certain social group or community. The...

Maps always have and always will have blank spots, but maps are no longer the privilege of paper; they have been moved to the digital environment. How can digital maps fill the empty spaces in the current online and crowdsourcing mapping era? In this paper the authors pose several questions and in the same breath they are aware that some of those questions may not be answered. The paper presents the research note with use of visual comparison method, that may not provide concrete results, but merely a glipse of the situation Who does cover certain areas better – OpenStreetMap or commercial providers? And what does “better” coverage actually mean? Mapping the unmapped is not only a question of spatial literacy, but also part of the GeoParticipation and democratisation process taking place within the digital spatial industry of today. The authors focus their research on three areas (Kibera, Minsk and North Korea). The research covers 18 months of data for three major commercial providers and for one collaborative platform – OpenStreetMap.

Participatory mapping techniques and social surveys are combined with spatial statistics to examine resident senses of place in a gentrifying neighborhood. Whereas recent debates on gentrification describe how physical displacement need not occur for an area's sense of place to change, there are few tools that test this presumption. Attitudes of current residents toward features of a gentrifying neighborhood are captured using polygons drawn in Collector for ArcGIS. The results were aggregated according to the social characteristics of the respondents (length of residency, education, and housing status). After testing for randomness, it was proven that highly educated newcomers have significantly different attitudes toward their neighborhood when compared to long-term residents. This study supports concerns that the emotional geographies of a gentrifying neighborhood can be disrupted without physical displacement of long-term residents and provides a novel combination of methods for evaluating between-group differences in a sense of place.

Community participation has entered the 21st century and the era of e-participation, e-government and e-planning. With the opportunity to use Public Participation Support Systems, Computer-Aided Web Interviews and crowdsourcing mapping platforms, citizens are equipped with the tools to have their voices heard. This paper presents a case study of the deployment of such an online mapping platform in Jeseník, Czech Republic. In total, 533 respondents took part in the online mapping survey, which included six spatial questions. Respondents marked 4,714 points and added 1,538 comments to these points. The main aim of the research was to find whether there were any significant differences in the answers from selected groups (age, gender, home location) of respondents. The results show largest differences in answers of various (below 20 and above 20 year) age groups. Nevertheless further statistical examination would be needed to confirm the visual comparison.

Public participation and civic engagement in the urban planning process are societal trends that stretch across countries, cultures, and classes. After decades of communist regimes in the Eastern Bloc, where there was basically no civic participation, civic society in the Czech Republic began to engage in discussions with the authorities, and citizens became more active in local planning. In 1994 eleven municipalities started the Network of Healthy Cities of the Czech Republic as a platform for sharing good practices in sustainable development and local participation. In the last three years, members of the Network have used emotional mapping activities to facilitate and improve the process of participatory planning. This paper describes the timeline of development and the deployment of an emotional mapping methodology in various workshops in the Healthy Cities network. A total of forty-six emotional mapping workshops were organised in thirty-five municipalities of the Czech Republic. The paper presents the change from crayon-based maps to digital web-mapping platforms; and presents a case study of the Prague 12 district, where emotional mapping workshops were used to explore the perception of safety, among other issues.