GIS in the cloud: implementing a web map service on Google App Engine

Many producers of geographic information are now disseminating their data using open web service protocols, notably those published by the Open Geospatial Consortium. There are many challenges inherent in running robust and reliable services at reasonable cost. Cloud computing provides a new kind of scalable infrastructure that could address many of these challenges. In this study we implement a Web Map Service for raster imagery within the Google App Engine environment. We discuss the challenges of developing GIS applications within this framework and the performance characteristics of the implementation. Results show that the application scales well to multiple simultaneous users and performance will be adequate for many applications, although concerns remain over issues such as latency spikes. We discuss the feasibility of implementing services within the free usage quotas of Google App Engine and the possibility of extending the approaches in this paper to other GIS applications

The cloud hovering over the virtual campus

The Virtual Campus has been around for about 20 years. It provides an online environment that mimics the processes and services of the physical campuses and classrooms. Its adoption is almost complete in countries where Internet access has become ubiquitous. For a time seemed like the innovation in education was happening in the Virtual Campus, but this is no more. Personal Learning Environments, Life Long Learning, MOOCS, Open Educational Resources, Mobile Apps, Gamification, Social Networks, free Cloud based services... al of the above and even more hint that not all the learning today is happening at school or in the Virtual Campus.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author’s final draft

Optimum Physical-Layer Frame Size for Maximising the Application-Layer Rateless Code’s Effective Throughput

The tolerable packet-loss ratio of an Internet Protocol (IP) based wireless networks varies according to the specific services considered. File transfer for example must be error free but tolerates higher delays, whereas maintaining a low delay is typically more important in interactive Voice Over IP (VOIP) or video services. Classic Forward Error Correction (FEC) may be applied to the data to provide resilience against bit errors. A wireless IP network provides the opportunity for the inclusion of FEC at the physical, transport and application layers. The demarcation between the analogue and digital domain imposed at the Physical layer (PHY) predetermines the nature of the FEC scheme implemented at the various layers. At the PHY individual packets may be offered FEC protection, which increases the likelihood of their error-free insertion into the protocol stack. Higher layers receive packets that are error free and the purpose of a FEC scheme implemented here is to regenerate any missing packets obliterated for example by the Binary Erasure Channel (BEC) of the IP network’s routers. A rateless code may be beneficially employed at a higher Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) layer for replenishing the obliterated packets, but unless the characteristics of the channel are considered, the ultimate rate achieved by such a code may be compromised, as shown in this contribution

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT AND SERVICES TRADE: EVIDENCE FROM MALAYSIA AND SINGAPORE

Services trade is an important source of growth in Malaysia and Singapore. Both economies are export-oriented and actively court foreign direct investment (FDI) to advance their economic objectives of industrialisation and economic development. This paper examines the causal linkages between inward FDI and the country’s engagement in services trade in bi-variate and tri-variate VAR frameworks. The empirical findings for Singapore show evidence of bidirectional causality between inward FDI and the total trade volume in services (i.e. the absolute sum of payments and receipts) as well as between FDI and services imports (in the tri-variate specification). This may reflect her relative open foreign investment policy and free trade regime in services. For Malaysia, the evidence of causality is weaker and unidirectional, from inward FDI to services imports. These findings are consistent with the different stages of economic development and openness attained by the two sample countries, and they provide useful background for trade and foreign investment policies and development strategies.Causality; services trade; foreign direct investment

The reform of European securities settlement systems : Towards an integrated financial market

The European Central Bank (ECB) will offer to banks in 2013 an european shared platform for securities settlement, named TARGET 2 Securities (T2S), in order to open the national financial markets. The financial crisis did not change the ECB agenda. This paper develops a spatial competition model to understand the impact of this new organisation on european post-trading services. We analyse the incentives of the Central Securities Depositaries (CSD) to move to T2S when they become competitors in the market for settlement services and remain in a monopoly position for depository services. Settlement and depository services are complementary goods, because banks have to pay for these two services to buy or sell a security. We show that such a reform should induce a decrease in the settlement price and more generally in post-trading prices, but that prices depend strongly on market organisation. Under certain conditions, partial adhesion would make prices increase. This configuration appears as a Nash equilibrium. As CSDs are free to adhere to T2S, the ECB might be forced to regulate.Post-trading organisation; securities settlement; depositary services; compatibility

Towards a Testbed for Dynamic Vehicle Routing Algorithms

Since modern transport services are becoming more flexible, demand-responsive, and energy/cost efficient, there is a growing demand for large-scale microscopic simulation platforms in order to test sophisticated routing algorithms. Such platforms have to simulate in detail, not only the dynamically changing demand and supply of the relevant service, but also traffic flow and other relevant transport services. This paper presents the DVRP extension to the open-source MATSim simulator. The extension is designed to be highly general and customizable to simulate a wide range of dynamic rich vehicle routing problems. The extension allows plugging in of various algorithms that are responsible for continuous re-optimisation of routes in response to changes in the system. The DVRP extension has been used in many research and commercial projects dealing with simulation of electric and autonomous taxis, demand-responsive transport, personal rapid transport, free-floating car sharing and parking search

Technical Report on Deploying a highly secured OpenStack Cloud Infrastructure using BradStack as a Case Study

Cloud computing has emerged as a popular paradigm and an attractive model for providing a reliable distributed computing model.it is increasing attracting huge attention both in academic research and industrial initiatives. Cloud deployments are paramount for institution and organizations of all scales. The availability of a flexible, free open source cloud platform designed with no propriety software and the ability of its integration with legacy systems and third-party applications are fundamental. Open stack is a free and opensource software released under the terms of Apache license with a fragmented and distributed architecture making it highly flexible. This project was initiated and aimed at designing a secured cloud infrastructure called BradStack, which is built on OpenStack in the Computing Laboratory at the University of Bradford. In this report, we present and discuss the steps required in deploying a secured BradStack Multi-node cloud infrastructure and conducting Penetration testing on OpenStack Services to validate the effectiveness of the security controls on the BradStack platform. This report serves as a practical guideline, focusing on security and practical infrastructure related issues. It also serves as a reference for institutions looking at the possibilities of implementing a secured cloud solution.Comment: 38 pages, 19 figures

Entrepreneurial actions and the legitimation of free/open source software services

Free/open source software users were previously responsible for managing the challenges associated with their software themselves. Recently, a new generation of entrepreneurs seized this emerging market opportunity by positioning themselves as service providers for free/open source software users. Conceptualizing such providers as “institutional entrepreneurs,” we find that due to the nature of the free/open source software context, they exhibit a different set of legitimation actions compared with similar efforts in other contexts. Based on our empirical analysis of free/open source software service providers and drawing on prior theory, we identify two entrepreneurial actions aimed at gaining legitimacy specific to the free/open source software context, namely, product-based theorization actions and evangelization actions. We also demonstrate that institutional entrepreneurship is shaped by the nature of free/open source software products and the openness values at the core of the free/open source software movement. Our work hence underscores the importance of the context of institutional entrepreneurship

Trade polices for electronic commerce

Some countries in the World Trade Organization initially opposed WTO's decision to exempt electronic delivery of products from customs duties, out of concern for the revenue consequences. Others supported the decision as a means of securing open trading conditions. The authors argue that neither the inhibitions nor the enthusiasm is fully justified. First, even if all delivery of digitizable media products moved on-line--an unlikely prospect--the revenue loss for most countries would be small. More important, however, the prohibition of customs duties does not ensure continued open access for electronically delivered products and may even prompt recourse to inferior instruments of protection. Barrier-free electronic commerce would be more effectively secured by deepening and widening the limited cross-border trade commitments under the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), and by clarifying and strengthening certain GATS disciplines.Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Transport and Trade Logistics,Common Carriers Industry,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Transport and Trade Logistics,Trade and Services,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT