Using Maps in Web Analytics to Evaluate the Impact of Web-Based Extension Programs

Maps can be a valuable addition to the Web analytics toolbox for Extension programs that use the Web to disseminate information. Extension professionals use Web analytics tools to evaluate program impacts. Maps add a unique perspective through visualization and analysis of geographic patterns and their relationships to other variables. Maps can help assess whether program goals are being met and lead to better understanding of the roadblocks to effective online information delivery. This article shows how maps can be generated using free Geographic Information System software, using the website of the Wisconsin State Cartographer\u27s Office as a case study

Communicating thematic data quality with web map services

Geospatial information of many kinds, from topographic maps to scientific data, is increasingly being made available through web mapping services. These allow georeferenced map images to be served from data stores and displayed in websites and geographic information systems, where they can be integrated with other geographic information. The Open Geospatial Consortium’s Web Map Service (WMS) standard has been widely adopted in diverse communities for sharing data in this way. However, current services typically provide little or no information about the quality or accuracy of the data they serve. In this paper we will describe the design and implementation of a new “quality-enabled” profile of WMS, which we call “WMS-Q”. This describes how information about data quality can be transmitted to the user through WMS. Such information can exist at many levels, from entire datasets to individual measurements, and includes the many different ways in which data uncertainty can be expressed. We also describe proposed extensions to the Symbology Encoding specification, which include provision for visualizing uncertainty in raster data in a number of different ways, including contours, shading and bivariate colour maps. We shall also describe new open-source implementations of the new specifications, which include both clients and servers

An Interesting Class of Porous Polymer-Revisiting the Structure of Mesoporous α-d-Polysaccharide Gels

The processes involved in the transformation of non-porous, native polysaccharides to their highly porous equivalents introduce significant molecular complexity and are not yet fully understood. In this paper, we propose that distinct changes in polysaccharide local short-range ordering promotes and directs the formation of meso- and micro-pores, which are investigated here using N2 sorption, FTIR, and solid-state 13CNMR. It is found that an increase in the overall double helical amylose content, and their local association structures, are responsible for formation of the porous polysaccharide gel phase. An exciting consequence of this local ordering change is elegantly revealed using a 19FNMR experiment, which identifies the stereochemistry-dependent diffusion of a fluorinated chiral probe molecule (1-phenyl-2,2,2-trifluoroethanol) from the meso- to the micro-pore region. This finding opens opportunities in the area of polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases and asymmetric catalyst preparation

Structural heterogeneities in starch hydrogels

Hydrogels have a complex, heterogeneous structure and organisation, making them promising candidates for advanced structural and cosmetics applications. Starch is an attractive material for producing hydrogels due to its low cost and biocompatibility, but the structural dynamics of polymer chains within starch hydrogels are not well understood, limiting their development and utilisation. We employed a range of NMR methodologies (CPSP/MAS, HR-MAS, HPDEC and WPT-CP) to probe the molecular mobility and water dynamics within starch hydrogels featuring a wide range of physical properties. The insights from these methods were related to bulk rheological, thermal (DSC) and crystalline (PXRD) properties. We have reported for the first time the presence of highly dynamic starch chains, behaving as solvated moieties existing in the liquid component of hydrogel systems. We have correlated the chains’ degree of structural mobility with macroscopic properties of the bulk systems, providing new insights into the structure-function relationships governing hydrogel assemblies

Accuracy of Spatial Databases: Annotated Bibliography (89-9)

This report was prepared for the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis in con-junction with Research Initiative No. I on the accuracy of spatial data bases. It is being distributed as an aid to research.The report consists of an annotated bibliography of articles related to the issue of spatial data base accuracy. Approximately one-half of these articles have been published in the professional literature. Conference papers account for the largest share of the remainder, which also includes technical reports, chapters of books and unpublished manuscripts.Keywords are used to identify the primary topical focus of each article. Topics were selected to reflect a set of broad issues of interest to those involved in both pure and applied research. The latter pages of the report contain a keyword index, an author index and a brief description of each keyword.Due to the usual constraints, it has been impossible to compile a thoroughly exhaustive listing of relevant articles. Readers will no doubt find that certain topics have not received the attention they deserve. Moreover, topics such as accuracy in surveying, for which a fairly mature and well-known professional literature exists, have not been dealt with in a comprehensive fashion. These shortcomings notwithstanding, the bibliography succeeds in bringing together a range of literature from a diversity of sources and should therefore prove to be a useful starting point for future research on the issue of spatial data base accuracy

Taxonomy of Error in Spatial Databases (89-12)

This report was prepared in conjunction with Research Initiative No. 1 of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA). It is being distributed as an aid to research. The report consists of a review of a body of literature focused on the issue of spatial database accuracy. The error taxonomy developed in the report organizes different dimensions of accuracy into a practical, user-oriented structure that reflects the interests of those conducting both pure and applied research. A less-detailed discussion of this same body of literature is provided in NCGIA Technical Paper 89-9