REAL TIME INTEGRATION OF FIELD DATA INTO A GIS PLATFORM FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF HYDROLOGICAL EMERGENCIES

Abstract. A wide series of events requires immediate availability of information and field data to be provided to decision-makers. An example is the necessity of quickly transferring the information acquired from monitoring and alerting sensors or the data of the reconnaissance of damage after a disastrous event to an Emergency Operations Center. To this purpose, we developed an integrated GIS and WebGIS system to dynamically create and populate via Web a database with spatial features. In particular, this work concerns the gathering and transmission of spatial data and related information to the desktop GIS so that they can be displayed and analyzed in real time to characterize the operational scenario and to decide the rescue interventions. As basic software, we used only free and open source: QuantumGIS and Grass as Desktop GIS, Map Server with PMapper application for the Web-Gis functionality and PostGreSQL/PostGIS as Data Base Management System (DBMS). The approach has been designed, developed and successfully tested in the management of GIS-based navigation of an autonomous robot, both to map its trajectories and to assign optimal paths. This paper presents the application of our system to a simulated hydrological event that could interest the province of Catania, in Sicily. In particular, assuming that more teams draw up an inventory of the damage, we highlight the benefits of real-time transmission of the information collected from the field to headquarters

GIS APPROACH FOR PREVENTIVE EVALUATION OF ROADS LOSS OF EFFICIENCY IN HYDROGEOLOGICAL EMERGENCIES

The theme of the simulation of hydrogeological risk with GIS technology is analyzed with focus on the modeling of the architecture of a Spatial Data Base to support risk analysis and on the construction of a specialized frame with free and open source software. For this purpose a model of analysis of the vulnerability of roads developed by (Cafiso et al., 2002) has been adopted. The case of study is represented by a seismic land characterized by steep slopes and frequent instability phenomena. In detail, the area of interest is a mountainous land in Sicily with a city, Enna (about 30 000 people), that lies on the top. The access to the city is assured by few and very winding roads which are also highly vulnerable to seismic and hydrogeological hazards. The loss of efficiency of these roads for exceptional rainfall events should compromise timeliness and effectiveness of rescue operations. The data of the sample area have been implemented in the specialized GIS appositely constructed in order to forecast the possible damage to roads and the results of some simulations have been related to the effects registered after some extreme events, obtaining useful indications for the validation of the approach

Evaluating the Semantic and Representational Consistency of Interconnected Structured and Unstructured Data

In this paper we present research in progress that has the aim of developing a set of data quality metrics for two aspects of the dimension of consistency, the semantic and representational aspects. In the literature metrics for these two aspects are relatively unexplored, especially in comparison with the data integrity aspect. Our goal is to apply these data quality metrics to interconnected structured and unstructured data. Because of the prevalence of unstructured data in organizations today, many strive for “content convergence” by interconnecting structured and unstructured data. The literature offers few data quality metrics for this type of data, despite the growing recognition of its potential value. We are developing our metrics in the context of data mining, and evaluating their utility using data mining outcomes in an economic context. If our metric development is successful, a well-defined economic utility function for data quality metrics can be of direct use to managers making decisions

Miti di fondazione e cronologie in Africa occidentale. Elementi di storia locale kassena

This article deals with some aspects of the history of the Kassena, a West African people settled in Northern Ghana and Southern Burkina Faso. Among the Kassena, myths of foundation – which are here labelled “etiological tales” - tell the origins of local communities and chiefdoms, whereas no unitary and shared account is available that provides some explanation of their common origins as an ethnic group. As part of an ongoing attempt to investigate the history of this people by interpreting a corpus of etiological tales and by taking into consideration the chronologies of chiefs, this article outlines a method that might be helpful, through further developments, in order to connect different local accounts in a single frame. Questo articolo tratta alcuni aspetti della storia dei Kassena, un popolo dell’Africa occidentale stanziato nel Ghana settentrionale e nel Burkina Faso meridionale. Presso i Kassena, i miti di fondazione, che in questa sede sono etichettati come “racconti eziologici”, riportano le origini delle comunità locali e dei chiefdom, mentre non è disponibile un resoconto unitario e condiviso che spieghi le loro origini comuni come gruppo etnico. Nell’ambito di un tentativo in corso d’opera di indagare la storia di questo popolo attraverso l’interpretazione di un corpus di racconti eziologici e prendendo in considerazione le cronologie dei capi, questo articolo delinea un metodo che potrebbe essere di aiuto, attraverso sviluppi ulteriori, per connettere i diversi racconti locali in un’unica cornice

From mourning to environmentalism: a Sicilian controversy about children's deaths, political apathy and leukemia

From a political ecology perspective, anthropogenic threats to the environment can be understood in terms of a lack of power by local people. By analysing discourses about the spread of leukemia in rural Eastern Sicily, the connection between 'toxic environments' and 'damage to human health' is mediated by a concern about democracy, meaning a condition that is to be attained and refreshed continuously through the active participation of citizens. In this case study, I argue that leukemia becomes a socio-political disease that stems from political apathy. Keywords: Leukemia, Sicily, environment, apathy, childre

Tra <em>duces</em> e <em>milites</em>. Forme di comunicazione politica al tramonto della Repubblica

Il volume che esce per secondo nella serie storica della collana Polymnia e sviluppa il tema delle forme assunte dalla comunicazione politica nel corso della cosiddetta “rivoluzione romana”. Il progetto prevede che si esplorino le modalità e le occasioni in cui i vertici al potere dialogarono al loro interno e quelle in cui si rapportarono con i ceti subalterni seguendo profili innovativi rispetto alla prassi consuetudinaria, in un periodo storico connotato da profonde lacerazioni e da incisivi mutamenti istituzionali, che non solo favorirono l’affermazione di nuovi soggetti politici ma anche la sperimentazione di strumenti di comunicazione alternativi. Consapevole della vivacità dell’odierno dibattito sulla cosiddetta «Demokratie in Rom», il contributo di Rita Mangiameli pone al centro dell’indagine il rapporto instauratosi fra duces e milites nelle fasi conclusive della repubblica. Applicati gli opportuni filtri interpretativi alle fonti storiografiche e coniugandone le risultanze con gli apporti della numismatica e dell’epigrafia emergono dall’analisi i soggetti implicati nel dialogo sia diretto che a distanza, i vettori assunti dallo scambio informativo, gli slogans elaborati, i mezzi adottati per la loro divulgazione, la progettualità politica formulata dai leaders e le istanze avanzate dalle basi, ovvero dai cosiddetti “senatori caligati”, il modello relazionale alle base dei rispettivi processi comportamentali

The clouds of the paramount chief

In the chiefdom of Paga (Upper East Region of Ghana), the local word for rainwater (doa) is taboo for the members of the chief’s lineage. This article aims to provide the ethnographic scenario and the conceptual tools for understanding such a taboo. Drawing on an understanding of life processes as co-constructed by humans and non-humans, it will be argued that the taboo of rainwater is related to the idea, inscribed in local practices and discourses, according to which human beings cannot claim a leading role in shaping the world. The case of Paga casts light on how human institutions can be willing to get non-humans involved in the never-ending process through which the world is constructed and inhabited.Dans la chefferie de Paga (région nord-est du Ghana), le mot local pour désigner la pluie (doa) est tabou pour les membres du lignage du chef. Le but de cet article est de fournir le scénario ethnographique et les outils conceptuels pour comprendre ce tabou. En dégageant une conception du monde où la vie est un processus co‑produit par les humains et les non‑humains, on mettra en évidence que le tabou de l’eau de pluie est lié à l’idée, inscrite dans les pratiques et les discours locaux, que les êtres humains ne peuvent pas avoir un rôle de premier plan dans la construction du monde. Le cas de Paga montre au grand jour la manière dont les institutions humaines peuvent être disposées à associer les non-humains au processus infini à travers lequel le monde est construit et habité