Two Approaches to Imputation and Adjustment of Air Quality Data from a Composite Monitoring Network

An analysis of air quality data is provided for the municipal area of Taranto characterized by high environmental risks, due to the massive presence of industrial sites with elevated environmental impact activities. The present study is focused on particulate matter as measured by PM10 concentrations. Preliminary analysis involved addressing several data problems, mainly: (i) an imputation techniques were considered to cope with the large number of missing data, due to both different working periods for groups of monitoring stations and occasional malfunction of PM10 sensors; (ii) due to the use of different validation techniques for each of the three monitoring networks, a calibration procedure was devised to allow for data comparability. Missing data imputation and calibration were addressed by three alternative procedures sharing a leave-one-out type mechanism and based on {\it ad hoc} exploratory tools and on the recursive Bayesian estimation and prediction of spatial linear mixed effects models. The three procedures are introduced by motivating issues and compared in terms of performance

Two Approaches to Imputation and Adjustment of Air Quality Data from a Composite Monitoring Network

An analysis of air quality data is provided for the municipal area of Taranto characterized by high environmental risks, due to the massive presence of industrial sites with elevated environmental impact activities. The present study is focused on particulate matter as measured by PM10 concentrations. Preliminary analysis involved addressing several data problems, mainly: (i) an imputation techniques were considered to cope with the large number of missing data, due to both different working periods for groups of monitoring stations and occasional malfunction of PM10 sensors; (ii) due to the use of different validation techniques for each of the three monitoring networks, a calibration procedure was devised to allow for data comparability. Missing data imputation and calibration were addressed by three alternative procedures sharing a leave-one-out type mechanism and based on {\it ad hoc} exploratory tools and on the recursive Bayesian estimation and prediction of spatial linear mixed effects models. The three procedures are introduced by motivating issues and compared in terms of performance

Integrated Navigation System: Not a Sum of Its Parts

Similar to the evolutionary process for living organisms, marine navigation systems are becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated. Both by design and function, shipboard and shore-based navigation systems are no longer individual equipment components operating independently. Instead, the trend is toward integration, data fusion and synergy. One example of this are new Performance Standards being considered by IMO to achieve a “harmonized” presentation of all navigation-related information on the display of an integrated navigation system (INS). Unlike a dedicated display for ECDIS or radar, the new INS displays will be a task-oriented composite presentations that enable the mariner to configure the display for an operational situation by selecting specific chart, radar, radar plotting aids (ARPA) and AIS information that is required for the task-at-hand. This paper gives a brief overview of the trend toward the development of INS. In addition to a brief summary of IMO performance standards for navigation equipment/systems, specific mention is made about a BSH (Germany) report on the “Functional Scope and Model of INS.” A discussion is provided about the challenges of providing navigation safety information that goes beyond traditional boundaries of products and services. Currently, many agencies continue to produce individual products and services on a component basis. Hydrographic offices grapple with trying to provide multiple products and services for paper charts, raster navigational charts (RNCs) and electronic navigational charts (ENCs) while a same time, Coast Guard and Maritime Safety agencies focus on improving Aids-to-Navigation (AtoN), Vessel Traffic Services (VTS), AIS networks -- and more recently, port security. In some respects, the continued concentration on separate products and services represents an organizational reluctance to change. This in turn, results in a fragmented, sub-optimal approach to the safety-of-navigation caused by the inability to provide mariners with “seamless” information at reasonable cost. In particular, hydrographic offices must be willing to recognize that chart information can no longer be considered to be separate, individual products. When it comes to the provision and use of chart-related information for use in an INS, the focus needs to shift to what information is actually desired, how it will be provided, what other information it will be used with, and whether it is truly up-todate

Understanding and profiling user requirements to support the conceptual design of an integrated land monitoring system

Acquiring and organizing knowledge and information elements can be essential not only to understand, but also to eliminate, reduce and control complexity and uncertainty. An integration of tools from different disciplines could systematically help in the construction of an agreed framework for problem formulation, above all when the situation is "new". An application was de-veloped in relation to an industrial project, in order to propose profiles of the potential users of an innovative system and of their requirements, and to for-mally develop models that can orient analysis, decision and action. Some ele-ments and results of this integrated application of "soft" and "hard" decision aid tools are here proposed as steps of an organizational learning cycle, which is a basic element of each innovation proces

Governing by internet architecture

In the past thirty years, the exponential rise in the number of Internet users around the word and the intensive use of the digital networks have brought to light crucial political issues. Internet is now the object of regulations. Namely, it is a policy domain. Yet, its own architecture represents a new regulative structure, one deeply affecting politics and everyday life. This article considers some of the main transformations of the Internet induced by privatization and militarization processes, as well as their consequences on societies and human beings.En los últimos treinta años ha crecido de manera exponencial el número de usuarios de Internet alrededor del mundo y el uso intensivo de conexiones digitales ha traído a la luz cuestiones políticas cruciales. Internet es ahora objeto de regulaciones. Es decir, es un ámbito de la política. Aún su propia arquitectura representa una nueva estructura reguladora, que afecta profundamente la política y la vida cotidiana. Este artículo considera algunas de las principales transformaciones de Internet inducida por procesos de privatización y militarización, como también sus consecuencias en las sociedades y en los seres humanos

Military Procurement and Technology Development

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that military and defense related research and procurement have been a major source of commercial technology development across a broad spectrum of industries that account for an important share of United States industrial production. I discuss the development of five general purpose technologies: (1) military and commercial aircraft, (2) nuclear energy and electric power, (3) computers and semiconductors, (4) the Internet, and (5) the space industries. The defense industrial base has become a smaller share of the industrial sector which is itself a declining sector in the U.S. economy. It is doubtful that military and defense related procurement will again become an important source of new general purpose technologies. When the history of U.S. technology development for the next half century is eventually written it will almost certainly be written within the context of slower productivity growth than the relatively high rates that prevailed in the U.S through the 1960's and during the information technology bubble that began in the early 1990's.Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Steering Capital: Optimizing Financial Support for Innovation in Public Education

Examines efforts to align capital to education innovation and calls for clarity and agreement on problems, goals, and metrics; an effective R&D system; an evidence-based culture of continuous improvement; and transparent, comparable, and useful data