Exploring the Food Expenditure Patterns of College Students

This study explored the food expenditure patterns of college students. Information on monthly food expenditures and income from a sample of students was used to estimate the proportion of income that the average student spends on food and analyze the Engel relation between food expenditures and income. The average college student was found to spend about 30 percent of income on food. The estimated marginal share is 0.076. These findings indicate that food and related establishments that sell mostly to college students will receive very little of any potential increases in student income. However, increases in student income may be a boon for businesses that sell non-food items

Understanding the process of recovery from heroin addiction : initiating and maintaining factors

There is increasing recognition that recovery from heroin addiction is possible but there is limited understanding of the recovery process and of how services can support people in that process. At present, most of the research concerning recovery from heroin addiction comes from the United States where the treatment system is very different to that in the UK. This study aimed to gain a better understanding of the recovery process from the perspective of people who are in recovery from heroin addiction, with the aim of informing service development and delivery in the South Wales area. This study employed a grounded theory qualitative methodology to analyse data collected from ten interviews with people in recovery from heroin addiction in the South Wales area. The results revealed four core categories: i) initiating recovery, including the triggers for recovery and what helps; ii) maintaining recovery, consisting of thought changes, lifestyle changes and the role of supportive networks; iii) the reality of recovery, encompassing the process of recovery and obstacles faced; and iv) service provision, encompassing current problems, how support needs can be met and how wider needs can be addressed. The findings highlighted some important considerations for the development of services specifically designed to meet the needs of this client group, thus facilitating long term stable recovery. The findings are reviewed in relation to the wider literature regarding recovery from heroin addiction. Implications for clinical practice and service delivery are also reviewed, and suggestions provided for how services can incorporate recovery-orientated principles. Suggestions for future research are also considered.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Assessment of project solutions

ECP-2008-GEO-318007, eContentplu

Visual summaries of geographic databases by chorems

La cartographie traditionnelle est un moyen essentiel pour décrire les faits et les relations qui concernent un territoire. Elle associe à des concepts géographiques des symboles graphiques qui aident les lecteurs à comprendre immédiatement les données représentées. Les utilisateurs experts sont habituellement satisfaits du pouvoir d\u27expression de la cartographie traditionnelle, quand il s\u27agit d\u27affaires simples. Mais, dans le cas d\u27affaires complexes qui comprennent un grand nombre de données, les utilisateurs experts ont besoin d\u27une carte qui souligne les aspects les plus saillants plutôt que d\u27avoir une carte avec un haut niveau de détails. L\u27objectifs d\u27un projet de recherche, conçu par trois instituts de recherche, est de définir des solutions cartographiques capables de représenter convenablement les informations extraites d\u27une base de données géographiques. La solution proposée se fonde sur le concept de chorèmes et sur leur capacité à synthétiser des scènes qui comprennent des objets géographiques et des phénomènes spatio-temporels, en leur associant des notations visuelles schématisées. Cette thèse, née de ce projet international, propose une définition et une classification des chorèmes afin de standardiser la construction et l\u27usage. En outre, un système pour résumer visuellement le contenu des bases de données géographiques en utilisant les chorèmes a été conçu et mis en uvre. Finalement, l\u27objectif d\u27un langage de type XML multi-niveaux a été de stocker les données des chorèmes et de permettre la communication entre les modules du système proposé

Representing Topological Relationships by Using 3D Objects: an Empirical Survey

In this paper we present a survey conducted in order to understand how simple 3D objects, named geometaphors, can be composed for building a model that permits to represent topological relationships in a 3D space. The research was conducted on twenty participants who were familiar with geographical information systems (GIS) and the notion of topological relationship. The subjects participating to the survey were asked to put in relation textual labels related to topological relationships with visual compositions of geometaphors pairs. The result is an interpretation model of the visual compositions that represents an important component for the building of visual query environments compliant with the users’ mental model, contributing therefore to augment significantly the usability of such systems

First Findings in Chorem Discovery and Layout

International audienceChorems are schematized representations of territories, and so theyare a good example of data and geometric generalization processes. Until now,chorems have been produced manually by geographers using their ownknowledge of the territory. So, the information generalization andsummarization particularly in spatial data take place in this new internationalproject launched in order to automatically discover spatial patterns and layoutchorems by relying on a spatial database. After examining certain manuallyproducedchorems, guidelines are formulated. Then the architecture of aprototype system is presented based on a canonical database structure, asubsystem for spatial pattern discovery based on spatial data mining, asubsystem for chorem layout and a specialized language to represent chorems

First Findings in Chorem Discovery and Layout

International audienceChorems are schematized representations of territories, and so theyare a good example of data and geometric generalization processes. Until now,chorems have been produced manually by geographers using their ownknowledge of the territory. So, the information generalization andsummarization particularly in spatial data take place in this new internationalproject launched in order to automatically discover spatial patterns and layoutchorems by relying on a spatial database. After examining certain manuallyproducedchorems, guidelines are formulated. Then the architecture of aprototype system is presented based on a canonical database structure, asubsystem for spatial pattern discovery based on spatial data mining, asubsystem for chorem layout and a specialized language to represent chorems

A Preliminary Study of Metrics and Methods for Readable Spatial OLAP Maps: VGI4Bio Case Study

International audienceSpatial OLAP systems are GeoBusiness Intelligence systems allowing the exploration and analysis of huge volume of spatial data by means of tabular, graphic and cartographic displays. Although map readability is crucial for decision-making processes, readability of SOLAP maps has not been deeply investigated. In this paper, a initial study on readability metrics for SOLAP maps and methods to improve them are presented and discussed. The results are validated by using a real case study concerning farmland biodiversity analysis. Some open issues associated to this topic are also discussed

Synthèses visuelles des bases de données géographiques par chorèmes

La cartographie traditionnelle est un moyen essentiel pour décrire les faits et les relations qui concernent un territoire. Elle associe à des concepts géographiques des symboles graphiques qui aident les lecteurs à comprendre immédiatement les données représentées. Les utilisateurs experts sont habituellement satisfaits du pouvoir d'expression de la cartographie traditionnelle, quand il s'agit d'affaires simples. Mais, dans le cas d'affaires complexes qui comprennent un grand nombre de données, les utilisateurs experts ont besoin d'une carte qui souligne les aspects les plus saillants plutôt que d'avoir une carte avec un haut niveau de détails. L'objectifs d'un projet de recherche, conçu par trois instituts de recherche, est de définir des solutions cartographiques capables de représenter convenablement les informations extraites d'une base de données géographiques. La solution proposée se fonde sur le concept de chorèmes et sur leur capacité à synthétiser des scènes qui comprennent des objets géographiques et des phénomènes spatio-temporels, en leur associant des notations visuelles schématisées. Cette thèse, née de ce projet international, propose une définition et une classification des chorèmes afin de standardiser la construction et l'usage. En outre, un système pour résumer visuellement le contenu des bases de données géographiques en utilisant les chorèmes a été conçu et mis en œuvre. Finalement, l'objectif d'un langage de type XML multi-niveaux a été de stocker les données des chorèmes et de permettre la communication entre les modules du système proposé.Traditional cartography is a fundamental tool to visually describe facts and relationships concerning with territory. This is a well-known and well-established approach and decision makers are usually satisfied by its expressiveness when it concerns the cartography of facts. Differently, this kind of cartography may fail when dealing with scenarios referring to heterogeneous issues, such as political, economic and demographic problems, due to the large amount of complex data to represent in a map. Then, more effective solutions in supporting users to locate facts, trends and new patterns should be investigated. In this dissertation the research carried out within an international project is presented, meant to define cartographic solutions able to better represent geographic information extracted from database contents, which refer both to geographic objects and spatio-temporal phenomena. An actual support for human activity to model and analyze the reality of interest may indeed consist of an immediate synthesis of the most relevant data, disregarding details. Such a synthesis may be based on the usage of visual metaphors, which are able to capture and restitute the most salient features of a scenario. Moreover, it may represent the starting point for further processing tasks aimed to derive spatial analysis data, and to support expert users in decision making, thus bridging the gap between the complexity of the adopted applications and the need for rapid and exhaustive responses expected by domain experts. The major contribution of this work along this line has been to define a methodology to visualize geographic database summaries, expressing them through schematized representations of territories", known as chorems. In particular, two specific contributions have been produced by investigating and implementing the proposed methodology. The former consists of the formal specification of chorems in terms of visual language and structure, in order to both standardize the chorem creation and assembling process and provide a usable framework for computer systems. The latter is represented by the design and the implementation of a system which generates maps containing chorems starting from geographic database content, in a semi-automatic manner.VILLEURBANNE-DOC'INSA LYON (692662301) / SudocSudocFranceItalyFRI