Open-source mapping and services for Web-based land-cover validation

Monitoring land-cover changes on sites of conservation importance allows environmental problems to be detected, solutions to be developed and the effectiveness of actions to be assessed. However, the remoteness of many sites or a lack of resources means these data are frequently not available. Remote sensing may provide a solution, but large-scale mapping and change detection may not be appropriate, necessitating site-level assessments. These need to be easy to undertake, rapid and cheap. We present an example of a Web-based solution based on free and open-source software and standards (including PostGIS, OpenLayers, Web Map Services, Web Feature Services and GeoServer) to support assessments of land-cover change (and validation of global land-cover maps). Authorised users are provided with means to assess land-cover visually and may optionally provide uncertainty information at various levels: from a general rating of their confidence in an assessment to a quantification of the proportions of land-cover types within a reference area. Versions of this tool have been developed for the TREES-3 initiative (Simonetti, Beuchle and Eva, 2011). This monitors tropical land-cover change through ground-truthing at latitude / longitude degree confluence points, and for monitoring of change within and around Important Bird Areas (IBAs) by Birdlife International and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). In this paper we present results from the second of these applications. We also present further details on the potential use of the land-cover change assessment tool on sites of recognised conservation importance, in combination with NDVI and other time series data from the eStation (a system for receiving, processing and disseminating environmental data). We show how the tool can be used to increase the usability of earth observation data by local stakeholders and experts, and assist in evaluating the impact of protection regimes on land-cover change.

City branding:can goods and services branding models be used to brand cities?

A city's branding is investigated using generic product and services branding models. Two generic branding models and tourism segmentation models guide an investigation into city branding 'as it should be' and 'as it is' using Birmingham, England as a case study. The unique characteristics of city brands are identified and Keller's Brand Report Card provides a theoretical framework for building a picture of the brand-building activity taking place in the city. Four themes emerge and are discussed: 1) the impact of a network on brand models developed for organisations; 2) segmentation of brand elements; 3) corporate branding; and 4) the political dimension. A conclusion is that city branding would be more effective if the systems and structures of generic branding models were adopted.

Software and hardware aspects of a microprocessor controlled lathe

A small lathe has been modified to work under microprocessor control to enhance the facilities which the lathe offers and provide a wider operating range with relevant economic gains. The result of these modifications give better operating system characteristics. A system of electronic circuits have been developed, utilising the latest technology, to replace the pegboard with the associated obsolete electrical components. Software for the system includes control programmes for the implementation of the original pegboard operation and several sample machine code programmes are included, covering a wide spectrum of applications, including diagnostic testing of the control system. It is concluded that it is possible to carry out a low cost retrofit on existing machine tools to enhance their range of capabilities.

The value of proprietary health and safety software to proactive health and safety management

There has been little research in health and safety management concernmg the application of information technology to the field. This thesis attempts to stimulate interest in this area by analysing the value of proprietary health and safety software to proactive health and safety management. The thesis is based upon the detailed software evaluation of seven pieces of proprietary health and safety software. It features a discussion concerning the development of information technology and health and safety management, a review of the key issues identified during the software evaluations, an analysis of the commercial market for this type of software, and a consideration of the broader issues which surround the use of this software. It also includes practical guidance for the evaluation, selection, implementation and maintenance of all health and safety management software. This includes a comprehensive software evaluation chart. The implications of the research are considered for proprietary health and safety software, the application of information technology to health and safety management, and for future research.

An investigation into enterprise structure and ERP implementations:a contribution to praxis

This professional doctoral research reports on the relationship between Enterprise Systems, specifically Enterprise Resource Planning Systems, and enterprise structures. It offers insights and guidance to practitioners on factors for consideration in the implementation of ERP systems in organisations operating in modern enterprise structures. It reports on reflective ethnographic action research conducted in a number of companies from a diverse range of industries covering supply chains for both goods and services. The primary contribution is in highlighting areas in which clients, practitioners and ERP software vendors can bring a greater awareness of internet era enterprise structures and business requirements into the ERP arena. The concepts and insights have been explored in a focus group setting, comprised of practitioners from the enterprise systems implementation and consulting fraternity and revealed limitations and constraints in the implementation of enterprise systems. However, it also showed that current systems do not have the full capabilities required to support, in use, modern era enterprise structures, as required by practitioners and decision makers.

The use of future Internet technologies in the agriculture and food sectors:integrating the supply chain

The Future Internet is expected to greatly influence how the food and agriculture sector is currently operating. In this paper, we present the specific characteristics of the agri-food sector focusing on how information management in this area will take place under a highly heterogeneous group of actors and services, based on the EU SmartAgriFood project. We also discuss how a new dynamic marketplace will be realized based on the adoption of a number of specialized software modules, called “Generic Enablers” that are currently developed in the context of the EU FI-WARE project. Thus, the paper presents the overall vision for data integration along the supply chain as well as the development and federation of Future Internet services that are expected to revolutionize the agriculture sector.

Trends, challenges and opportunities for performance engineering with modern business software

The author looks at trends in software and systems, and the current and likely implications of these trends on the discipline of performance engineering. In particular, he examines software complexity growth and its consequences for performance engineering for enhanced understanding, more efficient analysis and effective performance improvement. The pressures for adaptive and autonomous systems introduce further opportunities for performance innovation. The promise of aspect oriented software development technologies for assisting with some of these challenges is introduced.

Specification and quantitative analysis of probabilistic cloud deployment patterns

Cloud computing is a new technological paradigm offering computing infrastructure, software and platforms as a pay-as-you-go, subscription-based service. Many potential customers of cloud services require essential cost assessments to be undertaken before transitioning to the cloud. Current assessment techniques are imprecise as they rely on simplified specifications of resource requirements that fail to account for probabilistic variations in usage. In this paper, we address these problems and propose a new probabilistic pattern modelling (PPM) approach to cloud costing and resource usage verification. Our approach is based on a concise expression of probabilistic resource usage patterns translated to Markov decision processes (MDPs). Key costing and usage queries are identified and expressed in a probabilistic variant of temporal logic and calculated to a high degree of precision using quantitative verification techniques. The PPM cost assessment approach has been implemented as a Java library and validated with a case study and scalability experiments. © 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Investigation of PHY, MAC and APP layers for adaptive and cross-layer optimization in IEEE802.11 WLAN

Due to huge popularity of portable terminals based on Wireless LANs and increasing demand for multimedia services from these terminals, the earlier structures and protocols are insufficient to cover the requirements of emerging networks and communications. Most research in this field is tailored to find more efficient ways to optimize the quality of wireless LAN regarding the requirements of multimedia services. Our work is to investigate the effects of modulation modes at the physical layer, retry limits at the MAC layer and packet sizes at the application layer over the quality of media packet transmission. Interrelation among these parameters to extract a cross-layer idea will be discussed as well. We will show how these parameters from different layers jointly contribute to the performance of service delivery by the network. The results obtained could form a basis to suggest independent optimization in each layer (an adaptive approach) or optimization of a set of parameters from different layers (a cross-layer approach). Our simulation model is implemented in the NS-2 simulator. Throughput and delay (latency) of packet transmission are the quantities of our assessments. © 2010 IEEE.