Towards a Software Tool Supporting Urban Decision Makers in Locating and Sizing the Household Garbage Accumulation Points Within Cities

Locating and sizing garbage bins for the separate accumulation of household solid waste within urban areas is of primary interest for the local administrations that so far lack adequate IT support. The paper highlights the versatility of a method for solving such a problem, which involves both standard and geographic data. Implementation of the proposal, centered around a spatial database, goes in the direction of developing a supporting software tool to the officials responsible for the management of municipal solid waste. They are offered a dual-mode display of the results: one tabular (the standard format featured by relational databases) and the other based on the metaphor of geographic maps, the latter being particularly useful in capitalizing on the spatial component of the problem

Tracking Livestock Movements to Figure out Potentially Infected Farms

The concern stems from the public health and food safety aspects of animal health, but also from the economic costs that animal disease outbreaks can trigger. Very recently it has been proposed a method ([4]) devoted to discover the farms that may have been infected by an outbreak of a highly infectious disease of livestock subjected to long trips with intermediary stops. Having a reliable list of farms that may be infected is relevant to feed existing farms culling strategies (e.g., [1]). The present paper reports on an effective way to implement the method introduced in [4] based on an emerging software technology

A Proposal to Expand the Community of Users Able to Process Historical Rainfall Data by Means of the Today Available Open Source Libraries

The paper presents a software architecture based on open source technologies, implemented by the authors in an experience of processing spatio-temporal data gathered by rain gauges spread across two regions of central Italy. The interest in the automatic processing of data about precipitation is widespread, however, today only an inner circle of stakeholders can think of taking advantage of the available open source libraries because a strong programming skill is required to use them. It is opinion of the authors that the implemented software architecture is suitable for expanding the community of users able to process “by themselves” historical precipitation data. The centre of the architecture is the technology of the spatial database management systems. They offer full support for the creation and management of a spatial database suitable to store the rainfall data usually spread out in several files. Moreover, they allow adding to such a repository a large set of ad hoc “objects” oriented to carrying out spatio-temporal computations on the precipitation. The stakeholders are only required to familiarize with the database’s objects and invoke their execution. A large part of the paper is devoted to show how the adopted conceptual setting can assist nontechnical users in carrying out personalized computations on rain gauges data. The computing needs posed by the experience described in this paper are common to many other areas of high social impact that involve spatio-temporal data, hence we believe that the implemented framework can be exported to them, keeping unaltered operational effectiveness

A Technological Platform and a Process to Implement the Informative Marketing Strategy

The context There is large evidence in the literature that digitalisation improves the market performance of enterprises and, as a consequence, it helps the growth of their businesses. Through digital platforms companies connect with people, improve awareness of their brands, influence consumer's attitudes, collect feedback from them, improve products and services on sale and, at last, increase their incomes. Clark et al. [2] conclude that providing basic information should be the dominant role of advertising. This typology of advertising is called Informational in [3]. The informational message strategy presents factual product/services information in clear and concrete terms. In order for an informational advertisement to become informative the message must be perceived as such by the consumers. Materials & Methods In this paper we adopt the IT-platform conceptual model given by Sun et al. (2015) [6] and the linked definition they propose. Results We instantiate the platform conceptual model proposed by by Sun et al.[6]. The website technology is the "heart" of our digital platform. There is large evidence in the literature that websites are largely used across companies all over the world [12, 13]. The cost necessary for setting up the platform is low, therefore such a technological solution is within the reach of most enterprises. Moreover, the paper describes the steps of the Informative Marketing process based on the adoption of the proposed Technological Platform. We use the adjective informative instead of informational because the advertisings about the product/service are sent to a community of ad hoc recruited stakeholders, therefore we can assume as relevant the information they receive. Conclusion The emphasis of the paper is oriented towards companies whose primary goal is selling, but it is worth notice that the proposed technological platform can be very useful, for example, to national institutes of health to promote campaigns on healthy (and sustainable) food consumption [17]. References Yogesh K. Dwivedi et al.: Setting the future of digital and social media marketing research: Perspectives and research propositions International Journal of Information Management 2020 (in press) Clark, C.K., Doraszelski, U., and Draganska, M.: The effect of advertising on brand awareness and perceived quality: An empirical investigation using panel data. Quantitative Marketing and Economics 2009 7, 207–236 DOI 10.1007/s11129-009-9066-z Puto, C.P. and Wells, W.D.: "Informational and Transformational Advertising: the Differential Effects of Time", in Advances in Consumer Research Volume 11, eds. Thomas C. Kinnear, Provo, UT, 1984 638–643. Tafesse,W. andWien, A.: Using message strategy to drive consumer behavioral engagement on social media. The Journal of Consumer Marketing 2018, 35(3), 241–253. Tiwana, A.: Platform ecosystems: Aligning architecture, governance, and strategy. Burlington, Morgan Kaufmann, 2014. Sun, R., Gregor, S., and Keating, B.: Information Technology Platforms: Conceptualisation and a Review of Emerging Research in IS Research, Australasian Conference on Information Systems, Dec. 2015, Adelaide, Australia. Parker, G.G., Van Alstyne, M.W., and Choudary, S.P. Platform revolution. W.W. Norton& company 2016. de Reuver,M., Sorensen, C.,& Basole, R. The digital platform: A research agenda. Journal of Information Technology, 2017 33(2), 124–135. Asadullah, A., Faik, I., and Kankanhalli, A. Digital Platforms: A Review and Future Directions. Twenty-Second Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems, Japan, Sept. 2018. Hein, A., Schreieck, M., Wiesche, M., Bohm,M., and Krcmar, H. The Emergence of Native Multi-Sided Platforms and Their Influence on Incumbents. Electronic Markets 2019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-019-00350-1 Hein, A., Schreieck, M., and Riasanow, T. David Soto Setzke, ManuelWiesche, Markus Bohm, and Helmut Krcmar: Digital platform ecosystems. Electronic Markets 2020 30:87–98 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-019-00377-4 Sharma, A., Sharma, S., and Chaudhary, M.: Are small travel agencies ready for digital marketing? Views of travel agency managers Tourism Management 79 2020 104078 Said, Y.B., Bragazzi, N.L. and Pyatigorskaya, N.V.: Prevalence and Perceived Effectiveness of Pharmaceutical Digital Marketing among Community Pharmacies in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Questionnaire-Based Survey Pharmacy 2020, 8, 9; doi:10.3390/pharmacy8010009 Egria, G. and Bayrakb, C.: The Role of Search Engine Optimization on Keeping the User on the Site. Procedia Computer Science 36 2014 335 – 342 doi: 10.1016/j.procs.2014.09.102 Brogia, S.: Online brand communities: a literature review. 2nd World Conference on Business, Economics and Management 2003 Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 109 2014 385–389. Mudambi, S.M., Oliva, T.A., and Thomas, E.F.: Industrial marketing firms and knowledge transfer: Toward a basic typology of community structures. Industrial Marketing Management 38 2009 181–190 doi:10.1016/j.indmarman.2008.12.006 Formoso, G. et al.: An Italian Innovative Small-Scale Approach to Promote the Conscious Consumption of Healthy Food. Applied Sciences 2020, 10, 5678; doi:10.3390/app1016567

Patient-reported impact of spondyloarthritis on work disability and working life: The ATLANTIS survey

44noopenopenRamonda, Roberta; Marchesoni, Antonio; Carletto, Antonio; Bianchi, Gerolamo; Cutolo, Maurizio; Ferraccioli, Gianfranco; Fusaro, Enrico; De Vita, Salvatore; Galeazzi, Mauro; Gerli, Roberto; Matucci-Cerinic, Marco; Minisola, Giovanni; Montecucco, Carlomaurizio; Pellerito, Raffaele; Salaffi, Fausto; Paolazzi, Giuseppe; Sarzi-Puttini, Piercarlo; Scarpa, Raffaele; Bagnato, Gianfilippo; Triolo, Giovanni; Valesini, Guido; Punzi, Leonardo; Olivieri, Ignazio; Ortolan, Augusta; Lorenzin, Mariagrazia; Frallonardo, Paola; Giollo, Alessandro; Locaputo, Antonella; Paolino, Sabrina; Simone, Davide; Quartuccio, Luca; Bartoloni, Elena; Luca, Rossella De; Bartoli, Francesca; Sensi, Felice; Caporali, Roberto; Carlo, Marco Di; Roberto, Bortolotti; Atzeni, Fabiola; Costa, Luisa; Ciccia, Francesco; Perrotta, Fabio; Gilio, Michele; ATLANTIS study groupRamonda, Roberta; Marchesoni, Antonio; Carletto, Antonio; Bianchi, Gerolamo; Cutolo, Maurizio; Ferraccioli, Gianfranco; Fusaro, Enrico; De Vita, Salvatore; Galeazzi, Mauro; Gerli, Roberto; Matucci-Cerinic, Marco; Minisola, Giovanni; Montecucco, Carlomaurizio; Pellerito, Raffaele; Salaffi, Fausto; Paolazzi, Giuseppe; Sarzi-Puttini, Piercarlo; Scarpa, Raffaele; Bagnato, Gianfilippo; Triolo, Giovanni; Valesini, Guido; Punzi, Leonardo; Olivieri, Ignazio; Ortolan, Augusta; Lorenzin, Mariagrazia; Frallonardo, Paola; Giollo, Alessandro; Locaputo, Antonella; Paolino, Sabrina; Simone, Davide; Quartuccio, Luca; Bartoloni, Elena; Luca, Rossella De; Bartoli, Francesca; Sensi, Felice; Caporali, Roberto; Carlo, Marco Di; Roberto, Bortolotti; Atzeni, Fabiola; Costa, Luisa; Ciccia, Francesco; Perrotta, Fabio; Gilio, Michele; ATLANTIS study, Grou

Ranking of Illegal Buildings Close to Rivers: A Proposal, Its Implementation and Preliminary Validation

Illegal buildings (IBs) are a dramatic problem in developing countries due to the population explosion, but, at the same time, they represent an unsolved issue in several states usually called advanced (as, for instance, Italy). To protect the environment, and hence, people, land authorities must respond to the challenge of IBs by demolishing them. However, in countries where the phenomenon is extended, it is indispensable to provide those figures with an IT tool that returns to them an order of demolition. Through remote sensing methods, suspicious buildings can be identified with a good approximation, but they are all ex aequo. The research summarized in this paper formalizes a two-steps method to deal with a specific category of IBs, namely, those that are close to rivers. These buildings are of special interest to land authorities because people living or simply working inside them are exposed to the flood hazard that each year claims many victims all over the world. The first step of the method computes the census of the IBs located close to rivers, while the second step computes the ranking of these buildings. The ranking may be used as the IBs demolition order. In the paper, it is also proposed the structure of a Spatial DataBase (briefly, SDB) that is suitable to store the input data necessary to solve the problem, as well as the final ranking. Spatial SQL queries against the SDB implement the proposed two-steps method. A real case study was carried out to make a preliminary validation of the method

Ranking of Assets with Respect to Their Exposure to the Landslide Hazard: A GIS Proposal

The need to protect critical infrastructures (for short called assets within this paper) arises because of the hazards they are exposed to. In this article, the hazard is represented by the landslides. The first part of the paper proposes a scientifically robust method for the identification of the top-N assets that can be modeled as “points” (mainly buildings). The developed method takes into account the slope of the terrain, the runout distance of the landslide and its trajectory. The latter is roughly estimated through the notion of linear regression line. The method is applied to a real case to carry out a preliminary validation of it. In the second part of the paper, it is formalized the problem of computing the ranking of assets that can be modeled as “lines” (e.g., highways, power lines, pipelines, railway lines, and so on, that cross a given territory). The problem is solved in three steps: (a) Segmentation (it “cuts” each route in segments), (b) Sampling (it extracts points from each segment), and (c) Calculation (it associates an exposure value to each extracted point and, then, computes the exposure of the various segments composing the routes). The computation of the exposure for the points is carried out by applying the method of the first part of the paper. Both rankings can be used by the local administrators as a conceptual tool for narrowing down a global problem to smaller, higher exposure, geographic areas where the management of the hazard is crucial

A Citizen-Sensing-Based Digital Service for the Analysis of On-Site Post-Earthquake Messages

The effectiveness of disaster response depends on the correctness and timeliness of data regarding the location and the impact of the event. These two issues are critical when the data come from citizens’ tweets, since the automatic classification of disaster-related tweets suffers from many shortcomings. In this paper, we explore an approach based on participatory sensing (i.e., a subset of mobile crowdsourcing that emphasizes the active and intentional participation of citizens to collect data from the place where they live or work). We operate with the hypothesis of a “friendly world”, that is by assuming that after a calamitous event, in the survivors prevails the feeling of helping those who suffer. The extraction, from the Twitter repository, of the few tweets relevant to the event of interest has a long processing time. With the aggravating circumstance in the phase that follows a severe earthquake, the elaboration of tweets clashes with the need to act promptly. Our proposal allows a huge reduction of the processing time. This goal is reached by introducing a service and a mobile app, the latter is an intermediate tool between Twitter and the citizens, suitable to assist them to write structured messages that act as surrogates of tweets. The article describes the architecture of the software service and the steps involved in the retrieval, from the Twitter server, of the messages coming from citizens living in the places hit by the earthquake; moreover, it details the storage of those messages into a geographical database and their processing using SQL

Cardinal Directions between Spatial Objects: the Pairwise-Consistency Problem

The paper formalizes an open-problem (called by the authors the pairwise-consistency problem) which is relevant in the context of cardinal directions among extended objects, proposes an ecient algorithmic solution for it, discusses the implementation of the algorithm and briey reports the numerical results obtained by running the code