Cluster of leading organisations in SDI for spatial planning

No legal initiatives for a national SDI framework have been taken until now. However, the Development Planning Act specifies as one of the Authority's main activities, the maintenance of a National Mapbase to facilitate its operations.peer-reviewe

Cybersecurity and Quantum Computing: friends or foes?

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Search improvement within the geospatial web in the context of spatial data infrastructures

El trabajo desarrollado en esta tesis doctoral demuestra que es posible mejorar la búsqueda en el contexto de las Infraestructuras de Datos Espaciales mediante la aplicación de técnicas y buenas prácticas de otras comunidades científicas, especialmente de las comunidades de la Web y de la Web Semántica (por ejemplo, Linked Data). El uso de las descripciones semánticas y las aproximaciones basadas en el contenido publicado por la comunidad geoespacial pueden ayudar en la búsqueda de información sobre los fenómenos geográficos, y en la búsqueda de recursos geoespaciales en general. El trabajo comienza con un análisis de una aproximación para mejorar la búsqueda de las entidades geoespaciales desde la perspectiva de geocodificación tradicional. La arquitectura de geocodificación compuesta propuesta en este trabajo asegura una mejora de los resultados de geocodificación gracias a la utilización de diferentes proveedores de información geográfica. En este enfoque, el uso de patrones estructurales de diseño y ontologías en esta aproximación permite una arquitectura avanzada en términos de extensibilidad, flexibilidad y adaptabilidad. Además, una arquitectura basada en la selección de servicio de geocodificación permite el desarrollo de una metodología de la georreferenciación de diversos tipos de información geográfica (por ejemplo, direcciones o puntos de interés). A continuación, se presentan dos aplicaciones representativas que requieren una caracterización semántica adicional de los recursos geoespaciales. El enfoque propuesto en este trabajo utiliza contenidos basados en heurísticas para el muestreo de un conjunto de recursos geopesaciales. La primera parte se dedica a la idea de la abstracción de un fenómeno geográfico de su definición espacial. La investigación muestra que las buenas prácticas de la Web Semántica se puede reutilizar en el ámbito de una Infraestructura de Datos Espaciales para describir los servicios geoespaciales estandarizados por Open Geospatial Consortium por medio de geoidentificadores (es decir, por medio de las entidades de una ontología geográfica). La segunda parte de este capítulo desglosa la aquitectura y componentes de un servicio de geoprocesamiento para la identificación automática de ortoimágenes ofrecidas a través de un servicio estándar de publicación de mapas (es decir, los servicios que siguen la especificación OGC Web Map Service). Como resultado de este trabajo se ha propuesto un método para la identificación de los mapas ofrecidos por un Web Map Service que son ortoimágenes. A continuación, el trabajo se dedica al análisis de cuestiones relacionadas con la creación de los metadatos de recursos de la Web en el contexto del dominio geográfico. Este trabajo propone una arquitectura para la generación automática de conocimiento geográfico de los recursos Web. Ha sido necesario desarrollar un método para la estimación de la cobertura geográfica de las páginas Web. Las heurísticas propuestas están basadas en el contenido publicado por os proveedores de información geográfica. El prototipo desarrollado es capaz de generar metadatos. El modelo generado contiene el conjunto mínimo recomendado de elementos requeridos por un catálogo que sigue especificación OGC Catalogue Service for the Web, el estandar recomendado por deiferentes Infraestructuras de Datos Espaciales (por ejemplo, the Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community (INSPIRE)). Además, este estudio determina algunas características de la Web Geoespacial actual. En primer lugar, ofrece algunas características del mercado de los proveedores de los recursos Web de la información geográfica. Este estudio revela algunas prácticas de la comunidad geoespacial en la producción de metadatos de las páginas Web, en particular, la falta de metadatos geográficos. Todo lo anterior es la base del estudio de la cuestión del apoyo a los usuarios no expertos en la búsqueda de recursos de la Web Geoespacial. El motor de búsqueda dedicado a la Web Geoespacial propuesto en este trabajo es capaz de usar como base un motor de búsqueda existente. Por otro lado, da soporte a la búsqueda exploratoria de los recursos geoespaciales descubiertos en la Web. El experimento sobre la precisión y la recuperación ha demostrado que el prototipo desarrollado en este trabajo es al menos tan bueno como el motor de búsqueda remoto. Un estudio dedicado a la utilidad del sistema indica que incluso los no expertos pueden realizar una tarea de búsqueda con resultados satisfactorios

Determining the Impact of Multiple Consecutive Years of Financial Reporting Quality Issues on Investment Efficiency

Prior research recognizes that there is a positive relation between financial reporting quality and investment efficiency. The primary object of this dissertation is to examine how financial reporting quality in multiple consecutive years impacts investment efficiency. I use material weaknesses in internal control (MW) as a proxy for poor financial reporting quality and I examine the impact of poor financial reporting quality in multiple consecutive years using an OLS regression model. The results indicate there is a progressively negative impact on investment efficiency tied to the number of consecutive years in which firms report MW. Additionally, I examine whether investment specific financial reporting quality issues have a greater impact on investment efficiency than all other types of financial reporting quality issues. My results suggest that investment specific financial reporting quality issues are driving the negative impact on investment efficiency. These results imply that managers can reduce investment inefficiency by focusing their resources on remediating (correcting) financial reporting quality issues (MW) associated with investment. Current internal control research identifies firms as having either strong or weak internal control dependent upon (1) the presence or absence of MW or (2) the number of MW. This research essentially treats each MW as being of equal importance, Thus, as a secondary objective of this dissertation, in Appendix B, I develop a metric for internal control using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to provide a weighting scheme for the different types of MW. Based on Audit Analytics (which separates MW into 21 different categories), I engage 18 participants in an AHP exercise to determine which types of MW have the greatest impact on the financial statements. The results indicate that auditors and managers find MW related to Personnel Weaknesses have the greatest impact on the financial statements. AHP results in weights that are then applied to the 21 different categories of MW. These weights are applied to firms based upon the types of MW reported and the sum of the weights is the measure used for the internal control metric. I then perform a simple OLS regression to test the relation between the internal control metric and stock market returns (Appendix C). I find that a positive relation exists between strong internal controls (as measured by the newly constructed metric) and stock market returns

Multi Visualization and Dynamic Query for Effective Exploration of Semantic Data

Semantic formalisms represent content in a uniform way according to ontologies. This enables manipulation and reasoning via automated means (e.g. Semantic Web services), but limits the user’s ability to explore the semantic data from a point of view that originates from knowledge representation motivations. We show how, for user consumption, a visualization of semantic data according to some easily graspable dimensions (e.g. space and time) provides effective sense-making of data. In this paper, we look holistically at the interaction between users and semantic data, and propose multiple visualization strategies and dynamic filters to support the exploration of semantic-rich data. We discuss a user evaluation and how interaction challenges could be overcome to create an effective user-centred framework for the visualization and manipulation of semantic data. The approach has been implemented and evaluated on a real company archive

Training of Crisis Mappers and Map Production from Multi-sensor Data: Vernazza Case Study (Cinque Terre National Park, Italy)

This aim of paper is to presents the development of a multidisciplinary project carried out by the cooperation between Politecnico di Torino and ITHACA (Information Technology for Humanitarian Assistance, Cooperation and Action). The goal of the project was the training in geospatial data acquiring and processing for students attending Architecture and Engineering Courses, in order to start up a team of "volunteer mappers". Indeed, the project is aimed to document the environmental and built heritage subject to disaster; the purpose is to improve the capabilities of the actors involved in the activities connected in geospatial data collection, integration and sharing. The proposed area for testing the training activities is the Cinque Terre National Park, registered in the World Heritage List since 1997. The area was affected by flood on the 25th of October 2011. According to other international experiences, the group is expected to be active after emergencies in order to upgrade maps, using data acquired by typical geomatic methods and techniques such as terrestrial and aerial Lidar, close-range and aerial photogrammetry, topographic and GNSS instruments etc.; or by non conventional systems and instruments such us UAV, mobile mapping etc. The ultimate goal is to implement a WebGIS platform to share all the data collected with local authorities and the Civil Protectio

Development of an integrated sustainable design approach for furniture design and its implementation and application perspectives

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonWith increasing demand in design, most of the industrial designers or engineering designers are facing the challenge to make timely sustainable design decisions in their design practices. For instance, designers have focused and efforts towards developing to determine the best conceptual design and demands for product design with environmental consciousness are a natural result of this trend. This PhD research aims to develop an industrial-feasible approach and tools for sustainability assessment in-process for designers in the furniture industry. The approach proposed seeks to optimize the product life cycle assessment through developing the sustainable design index (SDI). This built-in sustainable design automation which lead to comprehensive benefits of helping furniture designers directly communicate sustainability in their product design process and customers consider sustainability. In this research, it firstly begins with the overview and characterization of the sustainable furniture design. These are four key criteria as identified in this research, modular product architecture, re-configurability, using a design structure matrix (DSM) and axiomatic design (AD). The derived sustainable design index combines all these criteria into an integrated decision-making process, n ‘embedded’ integrating SDI algorithm within the CAD design environment, using built-in Visual Basic programming codes, tool to aid the design process while assessing the design sustainability as well. SDI represents, a novel methodology for integrating sustainability considerations into the design process and working within a computer aided design (CAD) environment with the designer’s interactive design interface (Graphical User Interface). To determine the relevant assessment criteria for sustainable design, preference analysis and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) were applied. It is which enables the industrial product designers to work with mainly the product’s sustainability performance strongly linking to the consumer’s satisfaction. The case studies further show the comprehensive and application perspectives of the SDI and associated tools, thus achieve the sustainable furniture design as the ultimate goal