Mismatches and matches in address information from the Census and the BSO: A longitudinal perspective 2001-2011

Accurate address information from health service providers is fundamental for the effective delivery of health care and population monitoring and screening. While it is currently used in the production of key statistics such as internal migration estimates, it will become even more important over time with the 2021 Census of UK constituent countries integrating administrative data to enhance the quality of statistical outputs. Therefore, it is beneficial to improve understanding of the accuracy of address information held by health service providers and factors that influence this. This paper builds upon previous research on the social geography of address mismatch between census and health service records in Northern Ireland. It is based on the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study; this is a large data linkage study including about 28 per cent of the Northern Ireland population, which is matched between the census (2001, 2011) and Health Card Registration System maintained by the Health and Social Care Business Service Organisation (BSO). This research compares address information from the Spring 2011 BSO download (Unique Property Reference Number, Super Output Area) with comparable geographic information from the 2011 Census. Multivariate and multilevel analyses are used to assess the individual and ecological determinants of match/mismatch between geographical information in both data sources to determine if the characteristics of the associated people and places are the same as the position observed in 2001. It is important to understand if the same people are being inaccurately geographically referenced in both Census years or if the situation is more variable.

Integration of numerical models in geographic databases: the case of Sado estuary management

Geographic information systems (GIS) are now widely applied in coastal resource management. Their ability to organise and interface information from a large range of public and private data sources, and their ability to combine this information, using management criteria, to develop a comprehensive picture of the system explains the success of GIS in this area. The use of numerical models as a tool to improve coastal management is also widespread. Less usual is a GIS-based management to ol implementing a comprehensive management model and integrating a numerical modelling system into itself. In this paper such a methodology is proposed. A GIS-based management tool based on the DPSIR model is presented. An overview of the MOHID numerical modelling system is given and the method of integrating this model in the management tool is described. This system is applied to the Sado Estuary (Portugal). Some preliminary results of the integration are presented, demonstrating the capabilities of the management system.

Assessing soil erosion due to land use change at the Alqueva reservoir surrounding area

Tese de doutoramento, Ci��ncias do Mar, da Terra e do Ambiente, Faculdade de Ci��ncias e Tecnologia, Universidade do Algarve, 2015

Desenvolvimento de ferramentas de apoio multicrit��rio �� decis��o em problemas de localiza����o

Tese de doutoramento, Estat��stica e Investiga����o Operacional (An��lise de Sistemas), Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Ci��ncias, 2014

Potential Sources of Airborne Alternaria spp. spores in South-west Spain

Fungi belonging to the genus of Alternaria are recognised as being significant plant pathogens, and Alternaria allergens are one of themost important causes of respiratory allergic diseases in Europe. This study aims to provide a detailed and original analysis of Alternaria transport dynamics in Badajoz, SW Spain. This was achieved by examining daily mean and hourly observations of airborne Alternaria spores recorded during days with high airborne concentrations of Alternaria spores (N100 s m���3) from 2009 to 2011, as well as four inventory maps of major Alternaria habitats, the overall synoptic weather situation and analysis of air mass transport using Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory model and geographic information systems. Land use calculated within a radius of 100 km from Badajoz shows that crops and grasslands are potentially the most important local sources of airborne Alternaria spores recorded at the site. The results of back trajectory analysis showthat, during the examined four episodes, the two main directions where Alternaria source areas were located were: (1) SW���W; and (2) NW���NE. Regional scale and long distance transport could therefore supplement the airborne catch recorded at Badajoz with Alternaria conidia originating from sources such as crops and orchards situated in other parts of the Iberian Peninsula.

Investigating and Predicting Atmospheric Concentrations of Allergenic Fungal Spores (Alternaria, Cladosporium, Didymella and Ganoderma)

Air quality is an increasing concern of the European Union, local authorities, scientists and most of all inhabitants that become more aware of the quality of the surrounding environment. Bioaerosols may be consisted of various elements, and the most important are pollen grains, fungal spores, bacteria, viruses. More than 100 genera of fungal spores have been identified as potential allergens that cause immunological response in susceptible individuals. Alternaria and Cladosporium have been recognised as the most important fungal species responsible for respiratory tract diseases, such as asthma, eczema, rhinitis and chronic sinusitis. While a lot of attention has been given to these fungal species, a limited number of studies can be found on Didymella and Ganoderma, although their allergenic properties were proved clinically. Monitoring of allergenic fungal spore concentration in the air is therefore very important, and in particular at densely populated areas like Worcester, UK. In this thesis a five year spore data set was presented, which was collected using a 7-day volumetric spore trap, analysed with the aid of light microscopy, statistical tests and geographic information system techniques. Although Kruskal-Wallis test detected statistically significant differences between annual concentrations of all examined fungal spore types, specific patterns in their distribution were also found. Alternaria spores were present in the air between mid-May/mid-June until September-October with peak occurring in August. Cladosporium sporulated between mid-May and October, with maximum concentration recorded in July. Didymella spores were seen from June/July up to September, while peaks were found in August. Ganoderma produced spores for 6 months (May-October), and maximum concentration could be found in September. With respect to diurnal fluctuations, Alternaria peaked between 22:00h and 23:00h, Cladosporium 13:00-15:00h, Didymella 04:00-05:00h and 22:00h-23:00h and Ganoderma from 03:00h to 06:00h. Spatial analysis showed that sources of all fungal species were located in England, and there was no evidence for a long distance transport from the continent. The maximum concentration of spores was found several hours delayed in comparison to the approximate time of the spore release from the crops. This was in agreement with diurnal profiles of the spore concentration recorded in Worcester, UK. Spores of Alternaria, Didymella and Ganoderma revealed a regional origin, in contrast to Cladosporium, which sources were situated locally. Hence, the weather conditions registered locally did not exhibit strong statistically significant correlations with fungal spore concentrations. This has had also an impact on the performance of the forecasting models. The best model was obtained for Cladosporium with 66% of the accuracy.

Desenvolvimento de uma plataforma SIG para apoio ao controlo da seguran��a das grandes barragens portuguesas

Trabalho Final de Mestrado elaborado no Laborat��rio Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC) para a obten����o do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil pelo Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa no ��mbito do protocolo de coopera����o entre o ISEL e o LNEC

Desenvolvimento de uma plataforma SIG para apoio ao estudo da sismicidade em Portugal

Trabalho Final de Mestrado elaborado no Laborat��rio Nacional de Engenharia Civil (LNEC) para a obten����o do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil pelo Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa no ��mbito do protocolo de coopera����o entre o ISEL e o LNEC

An��lise da sustentabilidade do uso agro-florestal no concelho de Alcoutim

Disserta����o de Mestrado, Gest��o e Conserva����o da Natureza, 20 de Outubro de 2015, Universidade dos A��ores.

Avalia����o geol��gica e geot��cnica do maci��o da Pedreira de S. Domingos n.�� 2 (Armamar)

Neste trabalho, apresentam-se e discutem-se os resultados da aplica����o da t��cnica de amostragem linear de descontinuidades em faces expostas do maci��o rochoso da pedreira gran��tica de S. Domingos N�� 2 (Fontelo, Armamar; N de Portugal). ��, igualmente, utilizada informa����o sobre a rede de fractura����o regional, obtida atrav��s da an��lise morfoestrutural de mapas topogr��ficos e mapas geol��gicos. S��o ainda referidos os m��todos utilizados no tratamento dos dados de terreno com o objectivo de definir as fam��lias de descontinuidades e de caracterizar estat��sticamente a sua atitude, espa��amento e extens��o. Os resultados obtidos s��o comparados, �� mega escala e macro-escala, no sentido de averiguar a presen��a de um padr��o de fractura����o com dimens��o multiescala. Esta abordagem foi refinada atrav��s da aplica����o de Sistemas de Informa����o Geogr��fica. A aplica����o desta t��cnica para a caracteriza����o da compartimenta����o do maci��o poder�� contribuir para aperfei��oar a gest��o sustent��vel do georrecurso da pedreira de S. Domingos N�� 2 (Fontelo). O controlo geomec��nico do desmonte do maci��o rochoso �� salientado com o intuito de uma abordagem de geo-engenharia integrada dos maci��os rochosos.

Implementa����o de um sistema de gest��o municipal com recurso a sistemas de informa����o geogr��fica

Disserta����o para obten����o do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil na ��rea de Especializa����o em Vias de Comunica����o e Transportes

An Open Source BI Approach: Concept Proof Tracking Fleet

�� poss��vel assistir nos dias de hoje, a um processo tecnol��gico evolutivo acentuado por toda a parte do globo. No caso das empresas, quer as pequenas, m��dias ou de grandes dimens��es, est��o cada vez mais dependentes dos sistemas informatizados para realizar os seus processos de neg��cio, e consequentemente �� gera����o de informa����o referente aos neg��cios e onde, muitas das vezes, os dados n��o t��m qualquer relacionamento entre si. A maioria dos sistemas convencionais inform��ticos n��o s��o projetados para gerir e armazenar informa����es estrat��gicas, impossibilitando assim que esta sirva de apoio como recurso estrat��gico. Portanto, as decis��es s��o tomadas com base na experi��ncia dos administradores, quando poderiam serem baseadas em factos hist��ricos armazenados pelos diversos sistemas. Genericamente, as organiza����es possuem muitos dados, mas na maioria dos casos extraem pouca informa����o, o que �� um problema em termos de mercados competitivos. Como as organiza����es procuram evoluir e superar a concorr��ncia nas tomadas de decis��o, surge neste contexto o termo Business Intelligence(BI). A GisGeo Information Systems �� uma empresa que desenvolve software baseado em SIG (sistemas de informa����o geogr��fica) recorrendo a uma filosofia de ferramentas open-source. O seu principal produto baseia-se na localiza����o geogr��fica dos v��rios tipos de viaturas, na recolha de dados, e consequentemente a sua an��lise (quil��metros percorridos, dura����o de uma viagem entre dois pontos definidos, consumo de combust��vel, etc.). Neste ��mbito surge o tema deste projeto que tem objetivo de dar uma perspetiva diferente aos dados existentes, cruzando os conceitos BI com o sistema implementado na empresa de acordo com a sua filosofia. Neste projeto s��o abordados alguns dos conceitos mais importantes adjacentes a BI como, por exemplo, modelo dimensional, data Warehouse, o processo ETL e OLAP, seguindo a metodologia de Ralph Kimball. S��o tamb��m estudadas algumas das principais ferramentas open-source existentes no mercado, assim como quais as suas vantagens/desvantagens relativamente entre elas. Em conclus��o, �� ent��o apresentada a solu����o desenvolvida de acordo com os crit��rios enumerados pela empresa como prova de conceito da aplicabilidade da ��rea Business Intelligence ao ramo de Sistemas de informa����o Geogr��fica (SIG), recorrendo a uma ferramenta open-source que suporte visualiza����o dos dados atrav��s de dashboards.

From the portolan chart of the mediterranean to the latitude chart of the atlantic

Thesis submitted to the Instituto Superior de Estat��stica e Gest��o de Informa����o da Universidade Nova de Lisboa in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Management ��� Geographic Information Systems

Predicting the impacts of climate change on the distribution and conservation of endemic forest land snails of Madeira Island

Climate change is emerging as one of the major threats to natural communities of the world���s ecosystems; and biodiversity hotspots, such as Madeira Island, might face a challenging future in the conservation of endangered land snails��� species. With this thesis, progresses have been made in order to properly understand the impact of climate on these vulnerable taxa; and species distribution models coupled with GIS and climate change scenarios have become crucial to understand the relations between species distribution and environmental conditions, identifying threats and determining biodiversity vulnerability. With the use of MaxEnt, important changes in the species suitable areas were obtained. Laurel forest species, highly dependent on precipitation and relative humidity, may face major losses on their future suitable areas, leading to the possible extinction of several endangered species, such as Leiostyla heterodon. Despite the complexity of the biological systems, the intrinsic uncertainty of species distribution models and the lack of information about land snails��� functional traits, this analysis contributed to a pioneer study on the impacts of climate change on endemic species of Madeira Island. The future inclusion of predictions of the effect of climate change on species distribution as part of IUCN assessments could contribute to species prioritizing, promoting specific management actions and maximizing conservation investment.

The use of analytical hierarchy process in spatial decision support system for land use management

Geographic information systems give us the possibility to analyze, produce, and edit geographic information. Furthermore, these systems fall short on the analysis and support of complex spatial problems. Therefore, when a spatial problem, like land use management, requires a multi-criteria perspective, multi-criteria decision analysis is placed into spatial decision support systems. The analytic hierarchy process is one of many multi-criteria decision analysis methods that can be used to support these complex problems. Using its capabilities we try to develop a spatial decision support system, to help land use management. Land use management can undertake a broad spectrum of spatial decision problems. The developed decision support system had to accept as input, various formats and types of data, raster or vector format, and the vector could be polygon line or point type. The support system was designed to perform its analysis for the Zambezi river Valley in Mozambique, the study area. The possible solutions for the emerging problems had to cover the entire region. This required the system to process large sets of data, and constantly adjust to new problems��� needs. The developed decision support system, is able to process thousands of alternatives using the analytical hierarchy process, and produce an output suitability map for the problems faced.