A Bayesian-Based Approach for Public Sentiment Modeling

Public sentiment is a direct public-centric indicator for the success of effective action planning. Despite its importance, systematic modeling of public sentiment remains untapped in previous studies. This research aims to develop a Bayesian-based approach for quantitative public sentiment modeling, which is capable of incorporating uncertainty and guiding the selection of public sentiment measures. This study comprises three steps: (1) quantifying prior sentiment information and new sentiment observations with Dirichlet distribution and multinomial distribution respectively; (2) deriving the posterior distribution of sentiment probabilities through incorporating the Dirichlet distribution and multinomial distribution via Bayesian inference; and (3) measuring public sentiment through aggregating sampled sets of sentiment probabilities with an application-based measure. A case study on Hurricane Harvey is provided to demonstrate the feasibility and applicability of the proposed approach. The developed approach also has the potential to be generalized to model various types of probability-based measures

empathi: An ontology for Emergency Managing and Planning about Hazard Crisis

In the domain of emergency management during hazard crises, having sufficient situational awareness information is critical. It requires capturing and integrating information from sources such as satellite images, local sensors and social media content generated by local people. A bold obstacle to capturing, representing and integrating such heterogeneous and diverse information is lack of a proper ontology which properly conceptualizes this domain, aggregates and unifies datasets. Thus, in this paper, we introduce empathi ontology which conceptualizes the core concepts concerning with the domain of emergency managing and planning of hazard crises. Although empathi has a coarse-grained view, it considers the necessary concepts and relations being essential in this domain. This ontology is available at https://w3id.org/empathi/

Performance Measures to Assess Resiliency and Efficiency of Transit Systems

Transit agencies are interested in assessing the short-, mid-, and long-term performance of infrastructure with the objective of enhancing resiliency and efficiency. This report addresses three distinct aspects of New Jersey’s Transit System: 1) resiliency of bridge infrastructure, 2) resiliency of public transit systems, and 3) efficiency of transit systems with an emphasis on paratransit service. This project proposed a conceptual framework to assess the performance and resiliency for bridge structures in a transit network before and after disasters utilizing structural health monitoring (SHM), finite element (FE) modeling and remote sensing using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). The public transit systems in NY/NJ were analyzed based on their vulnerability, resiliency, and efficiency in recovery following a major natural disaster

Regional and global hydrology and water resources issues: The role of international and national programs

This paper presents an overview of water resources issues in the context of world population growth, climate change, and variability, and provides examples of how these issues affect local and regional water policy concerns. Also discussed is the associated research of the international scientific community in regard to physically-based modeling of the hydrological cycle, with special focus on the Global Energy and Water cycle EXperiment (GEWEX) Programme. The critical role of precipitation measurements for climate model accuracy is emphasized, with a review of several satellite methods and strategies for improving precipitation measurements. Finally, the impact of semiarid regions on global hydrologic issues is underscored with a review of research conducted by SAHRA, the National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center dedicated to Sustainability of semi-Add Hydrology and Riparian Areas

GLOBE: Science and Education

This article provides a brief overview of the GLOBE Program and describes its benefits to scientists, teachers, and students. The program itself is designed to use environmental research as a means to improve student achievement in basic science, mathematics, geography, and use of technology. Linking of students and scientists as collaborators is seen as a fundamental part of the process. GLOBE trains teachers to teach students how to take measurements of environmental parameters at quality levels acceptable for scientific research. Teacher training emphasizes a hands-on, inquiry-based methodology. Student-collected GLOBE data are universally accessible through the Web. An annual review over the past six years indicates that GLOBE has had a positive impact on students' abilities to use scientific data in decision-making and on students' scientifically informed awareness of the environment. Educational levels: Graduate or professional

Geoprocessing Web Services

Since 2003, Critech has performed research on web based geoprocessing. This was before OGC started work on the Web Processing Service standards. While continuously evaluating the benefits and drawbacks of existing (open-source and commercial) GIS software packages, the operational benefits of an ESRI site license drove the development in this area. Early work focused on scripting technologies. In 2007, Critech exploited the Application Program Interfaces (APIs) of ESRI software, in particular ESRI SDE. With the (stable) release of ESRI ArcGIS Server, web geoprocessing becomes an integral part of the software. This new technology will be used by Critech in 2008. This document reports on the status of the work.JRC.G.2-Support to external securit

Innovating Pedagogy 2017: Exploring new forms of teaching, learning and assessment, to guide educators and policy makers. Open University Innovation Report 6

This series of reports explores new forms of teaching, learning and assessment for an interactive world, to guide teachers and policy makers in productive innovation. This sixth report proposes ten innovations that are already in currency but have not yet had a profound influence on education. To produce it, a group of academics at the Institute of Educational Technology in The Open University collaborated with researchers from the Learning In a NetworKed Society (LINKS) Israeli Center of Research Excellence (I-CORE). Themes: • Big-data inquiry: thinking with data • Learners making science • Navigating post-truth societies • Immersive learning • Learning with internal values • Student-led analytics • Intergroup empathy • Humanistic knowledge-building communities • Open Textbooks • Spaced Learnin