Social informatics

5th International Conference, SocInfo 2013, Kyoto, Japan, November 25-27, 2013, Proceedings</p

The construction of discursive difficulty: the circulation of, and resistance to, moral asymmetries in the public debate over the invasion of Iraq in 2003

This thesis examines the operation of morally asymmetrical distinctions in the discourse produced in advance of the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. It does not set out to explain the invasion's occurrence, but, based upon the analysis of media texts, parliamentary debates, and political speeches, focuses upon aspects of the processes of justification and criticism preceding invasion. It blends together aspects of the work of Michel Foucault and Niklas Luhmann, with insights drawn from various approaches to the analysis of discourse and communication, in pursuit of an understanding of how the discursive space available to contributors to debate is restricted. It pays close attention to the closely related processes of 'disclaiming' and 'ontological gerrymandering' - interventions which are concerned with controlling what is, and is not, the case - particularly in terms of the way that they are orientated towards controlling how the person making them is to be observed. It is argued that the circulation of the illegitimacy of various positions puts some contributors at risk of being observed according to the more negative side of a morally asymmetrical distinction. It is argued that this creates 'difficulty' for them, and incites their engagement in particular forms of discursive work in the attempt to avoid illegitimacy themselves. Close attention is paid to any observable regularities in the ways in which contributors attempted to avoid having their position associated with, amongst other things, 'anti-Americanism', 'appeasement', 'pacifism', 'warmongering', or a 'pro-Saddam' stance, all of which would threaten their legitimacy. A variety of techniques are identified, including the invocation of a contributor's history of positions (their 'communicative career'), as well as their use of their allegedly less legitimate context-specific allies as a contrastive foil, at the expense of whom they claim their own legitimacy

Advanced Location-Based Technologies and Services

Since the publication of the first edition in 2004, advances in mobile devices, positioning sensors, WiFi fingerprinting, and wireless communications, among others, have paved the way for developing new and advanced location-based services (LBSs). This second edition provides up-to-date information on LBSs, including WiFi fingerprinting, mobile computing, geospatial clouds, geospatial data mining, location privacy, and location-based social networking. It also includes new chapters on application areas such as LBSs for public health, indoor navigation, and advertising. In addition, the chapter on remote sensing has been revised to address advancements

Third International Symposium on Space Mission Operations and Ground Data Systems, part 1

Under the theme of 'Opportunities in Ground Data Systems for High Efficiency Operations of Space Missions,' the SpaceOps '94 symposium included presentations of more than 150 technical papers spanning five topic areas: Mission Management, Operations, Data Management, System Development, and Systems Engineering. The papers focus on improvements in the efficiency, effectiveness, productivity, and quality of data acquisition, ground systems, and mission operations. New technology, techniques, methods, and human systems are discussed. Accomplishments are also reported in the application of information systems to improve data retrieval, reporting, and archiving; the management of human factors; the use of telescience and teleoperations; and the design and implementation of logistics support for mission operations

Advances in Mechanical Systems Dynamics 2020

The fundamentals of mechanical system dynamics were established before the beginning of the industrial era. The 18th century was a very important time for science and was characterized by the development of classical mechanics. This development progressed in the 19th century, and new, important applications related to industrialization were found and studied. The development of computers in the 20th century revolutionized mechanical system dynamics owing to the development of numerical simulation. We are now in the presence of the fourth industrial revolution. Mechanical systems are increasingly integrated with electrical, fluidic, and electronic systems, and the industrial environment has become characterized by the cyber-physical systems of industry 4.0. Within this framework, the status-of-the-art has become represented by integrated mechanical systems and supported by accurate dynamic models able to predict their dynamic behavior. Therefore, mechanical systems dynamics will play a central role in forthcoming years. This Special Issue aims to disseminate the latest research findings and ideas in the field of mechanical systems dynamics, with particular emphasis on novel trends and applications

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A HOLISTIC EXPERT SYSTEM FOR INTEGRATED COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT

Coastal data and information comprise a massive and complex resource, which is vital to the practice of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), an increasingly important application. ICZM is just as complex, but uses the holistic paradigm to deal with the sophistication. The application domain and its resource require a tool of matching characteristics, which is facilitated by the current wide availability of high performance computing. An object-oriented expert system, COAMES, has been constructed to prove this concept. The application of expert systems to ICZM in particular has been flagged as a viable challenge and yet very few have taken it up. COAMES uses the Dempster- Shafer theory of evidence to reason with uncertainty and importantly introduces the power of ignorance and integration to model the holistic approach. In addition, object orientation enables a modular approach, embodied in the inference engine - knowledge base separation. Two case studies have been developed to test COAMES. In both case studies, knowledge has been successfully used to drive data and actions using metadata. Thus a holism of data, information and knowledge has been achieved. Also, a technological holism has been proved through the effective classification of landforms on the rapidly eroding Holderness coast. A holism across disciplines and CZM institutions has been effected by intelligent metadata management of a Fal Estuary dataset. Finally, the differing spatial and temporal scales that the two case studies operate at implicitly demonstrate a holism of scale, though explicit means of managing scale were suggested. In all cases the same knowledge structure was used to effectively manage and disseminate coastal data, information and knowledge

Green Economy and Sustainable Development

Considering the importance of the challenges for sustainable development, this Book is intended to disseminate the results of cutting-edge research and broadcast the opinions of scientists from around the world, providing technological breakthroughs in green energy and urbanism, recycling and modernization of basic industries, conducting fundamental research on the economic problems of the transition to sustainable development

Housing quality and lost (public) space in Croatia

IN ENGLISH: In the post-socialist period and within the current social transition context, urban and rural Croatia has, just like other transition countries, experienced many changes in the social structure and space. One example is the housing quality which is a replica of the situation in the Croatian society and has also undergone some major changes. Socially oriented housing construction co-financed by the state and the cities is in an unfavourable position compared to private housing construction. In the last twenty years the amount of the social housing construction has been only a minor part of the total contruction work in the country. For instance, out of nine newly planned residential housing developments in Zagreb, the capital city, only three have been completed and the work on the rest of them has stopped and is unlikely to continue. Private construction work prevails especially on the edge of the city and is characterised by high density housing. This type of housing construction doesn't benefit the majority of citizens in search of accommodation (price per square meter is too high, low-quality building). There is also a big problem of the community facilities (primary and secondary infrastructure, schools, kindergartens, playgrounds, green areas, sidewalks, public transport etc.). The existing globalisation-transition circumstances of the Croatian society corroborate the fact which experts of various profiles often point out: ignoring the process of (urban) planning will irreparably damage the space. The city transformation shows the absence of comprehensive urban planning which results in an ever increasing number of random buildings which do not fit in the surroundings. This leads up to yet another important issue – the shrinking and, in some cases, disappearance of public space which becomes the “lost space“. In recent years there has been a lot of building in the city core and on the edge which does not quite fit in the existing urban structure, image or the skyline of the city. The current situation in the process of planning can be characterized as a conflict and imbalance between the powerful actors (mostly political and economic) and less powerful actors (mostly professional and civil). The actors who have the political power and influence and the ones who possess the capital are forming an “alliance” between two important layers of the social structure. The lack of civil and professional actors, “lost spatial actors”, and therefore of civic aggregation is also present and that is also the cause of public space “disappearance” and undermined process of public participation. --------------- IN CROATIAN: U postsocijalističkom razdoblju i trenutnom tranzicijskom kontekstu urbana i ruralna Hrvatska su, kao i ostale tranzicijske zemlje, doživjele mnoge promjene u društvenoj strukturi i samom prostoru. Na primjeru kvalitete stanovanja kao replike stanja u hrvatskom društvu mogu se vidjeti značajne promjene. Društveno usmjerena stambena izgradnja sufinancirana od strane države i gradova je stoga rjeđa i u nepovoljnijoj je situaciji prema privatnoj stanogradnji. Zadnjih dvadeset godina udjel socijalne stambene gradnje je zanemariv u ukupnoj izgradnji na razini zemlje. Primjerice, od devet planiranih stambenih naselja izgrađenih po modelu POS-a u Zagrebu samo su tri i završena. Na ostalima je proces gradnje zastao i ne čini se da će se privesti kraju. Privatna je gradnje prisutnija, posebno na rubovima grada, a obilježava je visoka gustoća gradnje. Ovakav tip gradnje ne odgovara većini stanovnika koji su u procesu potražnje stambene nekretnine (visoka cijena kvadratnog metra, a slaba kvaliteta gradnje). Postoji također i problem nedostatne opremljenosti susjedstva (primarna i sekundarna infrastruktura, škole, vrtići, igrališta, zelene površine, pješačke staze, javni transport itd.). Navedene globalizacijsko-tranzicijske okolnosti hrvatskog društva potvrđuju ono što eksperti različitih profila ističu, a to je da će ignoriranje procesa (urbanog) planiranja nepovratno uništiti prostor gradova. Ovakve transformacije pokazuju nedostatak sustavnog urbanog planiranja što rezultira sve većim brojem zgrada koje se ne uklapaju u neposrednu okolinu. To nadalje dovodi do drugog važnog aspekta – smanjivanja i u nekim slučajevima, nestanka javnog prostora koji postaje „izgubljeni prostor“. Posljednjih je godina izgrađen velik broj zgrada, i u središtu i na rubovima grada, koje se ne uklapaju u postojeću urbanu strukturu, izgled ili vizuru grada. Ovakvu situaciju obilježavaju sukob i neravnoteža između moćnijih društvenih aktera (većinom političkih i ekonomskih) i onih manje moćnih (većinom profesionalnih i civilnih). Politički i ekonomski akteri se često povezuju u „savez“ dvaju najjačih u društvenoj strukturi. S druge strane nedostatak utjecaja civilnih i profesionalnih aktera kao „izgubljenih prostornih aktera“ dovodi do „nestanka“ javnih prostora te smanjenja važnosti procesa participacije (sudjelovanja javnosti)