Information sharing across multiple humanitarian organizations—a web-based information exchange platform for project reporting

This article analyzes information sharing problems in the humanitarian development sector and proposes the concept of a web-based exchange platform to face some of the technical challenges. The "Development Information Exchange System” is a mediator-wrapper-architecture that uses XML documents to loosely couple autonomous and heterogeneous information systems. Detailed project information of humanitarian organizations that resides on data provider systems can be formatted with XSL stylesheets according to the needs of the users and shared within or between organizations. The system can help to close the control loop by providing qualitative information about humanitarian projects. This makes project management more efficient. The proposed architecture solves an interface problem between the various partners and stakeholders of humanitarian projects. It is a first step towards a service-oriented architecture between humanitarian organizations. The next step could be the definition of cross-organizational business processes. These processes may be defined platform-independently with the Business Process Execution Language for Web Services. A prototype of the exchange platform is presented and evaluated in this articl

Information Exchange Between Humanitarian Organizations: Using the XML Schema IDML

This article explains challenges that arise when humanitarian organizations want to coordinate their development activities by means of distributed information systems. It focuses on information exchange based on the eXtensible Markup Language (XML) and relational databases. This piece discusses how to save hierarchical XML documents in relational databases. It introduces conversion rules to derive a relational database model from XML schemas. The rules are applied for the design of a database for the management of humanitarian development projects. The underlying schema for the database is the International Development Markup Language (IDML). This exchange standard for development-related activities is described. The article gives details on how a traditional relational database can import or export XML documents, i.e. how it can be XML-enabled

Sorption of hydrophobic organic compounds on natural sorbents and organoclays from aqueous and non-aqueous solutions: a mini-review

Renewed focus on the sorption of hydrophobic organic chemicals (HOCs) onto mineral surfaces and soil components is required due to the increased and wider range of organic pollutants being released into the environment. This mini-review examines the possibility of the contribution and mechanism of HOC sorption onto clay mineral sorbents such as kaolinite, and soil organic matter and the possible role of both in the prevention of environmental contamination by HOCs. Literature data indicates that certain siloxane surfaces can be hydrophobic. Therefore soils can retain HOCs even at low soil organic levels and the extent will depend on the structure of the pollutant and the type and concentration of clay minerals in the sorbent. Clay minerals are wettable by nonpolar solvents and so sorption of HOCs onto them from aqueous and non-aqueous solutions is possible. This is important for two reasons: firstly, the movement and remediation of soil environments will be a function of the concentration and type of clay minerals in the soil. Secondly, low-cost sorbents such as kaolinite and expandable clays can be added to soils or contaminated environments as temporary retention barriers for HOCs. Inorganic cations sorbed onto the kaolinite have a strong influence on the rate and extent of sorption of hydrophobic organic pollutants onto kaolinite. Structural sorbate classes that can be retained by the kaolinite matrix are limited by hydrogen bonding between hydroxyl groups of the octahedral alumosilicate sheet and the tetrahedral sheet with silicon. Soil organic carbon plays a key role in the sorption of HOCs onto soils, but the extent will be strongly affected by the structure of the organic soil matter and the presence of soot. Structural characterisation of soil organic matter in a particular soil should be conducted during a particular contamination event. Contamination by mining extractants and antibiotics will require renewed focus on the use of the QSAR approaches in the context of the sorption of HOCs onto clay minerals from aqueous and non-aqueous solutions

Market Analysis of Electronic Business in Switzerland and Comparisons with Europe

A representative market study was carried out to determine the penetration of electronic business in Swiss companies. A random sample was used in which companies were classified by industry and size, thus allowing a systematic extrapolation. We illustrate the importance of information technology for the electronic business by the numbers of computers in use and the corresponding expenditure on information technologies and compare these with figures for a number of other European countries and the USA. Subsequently, we discuss the use of Internet services and of websites, including objectives and success factors for electronic business as well as potential problems with projects in this field. Finally, we classify companies according to the maturity of their achievements in electronic business