Localization to Enhance Security and Services in Wi-Fi Networks under Privacy Constraints

Developments of seamless mobile services are faced with two broad challenges, systems security and user privacy - access to wireless systems is highly insecure due to the lack of physical boundaries and, secondly, location based services (LBS) could be used to extract highly sensitive user information. In this paper, we describe our work on developing systems which exploit location information to enhance security and services under privacy constraints. We describe two complimentary methods which we have developed to track node location information within production University Campus Networks comprising of large numbers of users. The location data is used to enhance security and services. Specifically, we describe a method for creating geographic firewalls which allows us to restrict and enhance services to individual users within a specific containment area regardless of physical association. We also report our work on LBS development to provide visualization of spatio-temporal node distribution under privacy considerations

Techniques for Representation of Regional Clusters in Geographical In-formation Systems

This paper provides an overview of visualization techniques adapted for regional clusters presentation in Geographic Information Systems. Clusters are groups of companies and insti-tutions co-located in a specific geographic region and linked by interdependencies in providing a related group of products and services. The regional clusters can be visualized by projecting the data into two-dimensional space or using parallel coordinates. Cluster membership is usually represented by different colours or by dividing clusters into several panels of a grille display. Taking into consideration regional clusters requirements and the multilevel administrative division of the Romania’s territory, I used two cartograms: NUTS2- regions and NUTS3- counties, to illustrate the tools for regional clusters representation.Geographic Information Systems, Regional Clusters, Spatial Statistics, Geographic Data Visualisation

Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology

The Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology is the principal source of earth science information for the citizens of Montana. The bureau provides extensive advisory, technical, and informational services on geologic, mineral, energy, and water resources in the state of Montana. This includes earthquake studies, environmental assessment, Geographic Information Services (GIS), geology and minerals, groundwater, mines information, coal, state mapping, and more. The publications database contains all Bureau publications as well as U.S. Geological Survey publications related to Montana geology. Educational levels: Graduate or professional, Undergraduate lower division, Undergraduate upper division

Picking the poor : indicators for geographic targeting in Peru

Geographic targeting is perhaps the most popular mechanism used to direct social programs to the poor in Latin America. The author empirically compares geographic targeting indicators available in Peru. He combines household-level information from the 1994 and 1997 Peru Living Standards Measurement Surveys and district-level information from the 1993 Peru Population and Housing Census. He then conducts a series of simulations that estimate leakage rates; concentration curves; the impact of transfers on poverty as measured by the headcount index, poverty gap, and [poverty]measures of the Foster-Greer-Thorbecke family; and nonparametric (kernal) densities when transfers are based on alternative indicators. He concludes that there is substantial potential for geographic targeting in Peru. The differences in outcomes across geographic targeting indicators are small and not statistically significant.Poverty Monitoring&Analysis,Rural Poverty Reduction,Safety Nets and Transfers,Services&Transfers to Poor,Health Economics&Finance

Technology Integration around the Geographic Information: A State of the Art

One of the elements that have popularized and facilitated the use of geographical information on a variety of computational applications has been the use of Web maps; this has opened new research challenges on different subjects, from locating places and people, the study of social behavior or the analyzing of the hidden structures of the terms used in a natural language query used for locating a place. However, the use of geographic information under technological features is not new, instead it has been part of a development and technological integration process. This paper presents a state of the art review about the application of geographic information under different approaches: its use on location based services, the collaborative user participation on it, its contextual-awareness, its use in the Semantic Web and the challenges of its use in natural languge queries. Finally, a prototype that integrates most of these areas is presented

Outsourcing and offshoring of business services: how important is ICT?

This paper considers the impact that information and communication technology (ICT) has on firms' choices over organisational form. In particular, the decision over whether to produce in-house or outsource services, and the decision over the location of activity. ICT reduces the transaction and adjustment costs of moving activity outside the firm, and of carrying it out at greater geographic distance. We find that more ICT-intensive firms purchase a greater amount of services on the market and they are more likely to purchase offshore than less ICT-intensive firms