Data mining for monitoring and managing systems and networks

Guest Editorial

Local spaces: open minds - inspirational ideas for managing lowland commons and other green spaces

The Chiltern commons are typical of those in the south east of England: small and numerous, but with the potential to provide important natural green space whilst contributing to environmental sustainability. In order to keep commons in good heart, they need to be managed. However, as activities such as grazing and coppicing become unviable on the commons, owners need to find sustainable roles beyond traditional agricultural and silvicultural practices. This paper examines ways of making management pay. It begins by exploring the economic, social and environmental challenges of sustainable management within the context of contemporary life. Section 2 identifies the different ways in which revenue contributions might be made towards the management of commons. Section 3 examines the relevant legal and other restrictions and Section 4 offers insights into where management proposals might offer multiple positive benefits, but also where there is the potential to cause conflict with environmental and social interests. Section 5 explores alternative funding streams for commons. Finally, Section 6 concludes with practical tips for the owners and managers of commons in the Chilterns and identifies areas for further research. Full references, links and resources are provided in the footnotes and appendix.

Dual semiosis analysis model managing customer-focused service innovation

Customers will not continue to pay for a service if it is perceived to be of poor quality, and/or of no value. With a paradigm shift towards business dependence on service orientated IS solutions [1], it is critical that alignment exists between service definition, delivery, and customer expectation, businesses are to ensure customer satisfaction. Services, and micro-service development, offer businesses a flexible structure for solution innovation, however, constant changes in technology, business and societal expectations means an iterative analysis solution is required to i) determine whether provider services adequately meet customer segment needs and expectations, and ii) to help guide business service innovation and development. In this paper, by incorporating multiple models, we propose a series of steps to help identify and prioritise service gaps. Moreover, the authors propose the Dual Semiosis Analysis Model, i.e. a tool that highlights where within the symbiotic customer / provider semiosis process, requirements misinterpretation, and/or service provision deficiencies occur. This paper offers the reader a powerful customer-centric tool, designed to help business managers highlight both what services are critical to customer quality perception, and where future innovation

Managing maize under pest species competition: is Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) maize the solution?

Transgenic crops that contain Cry genes from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have been adopted by farmers over the last 17 years. Unlike traditional broad spectrum chemical insecticides, Bt's toxicity spectrum is relatively narrow and selective, which may indirectly benefit secondary insects that may become important pests. The economic damage caused by the rise of secondary pests could offset some or all of the benefits associated with the use of Bt varieties. We develop a bioeconomic model to analyze the interactions between primary and secondary insect populations and the impact of different management options on insecticide use and economic impact over time. Results indicate that some of the benefits associated with the adoption of genetically engineered insect resistant crops may be eroded when taking into account ecological dynamics. It is suggested that secondary pests could easily become key insect pests requiring additional measures - such as insecticide applications or stacked traits – to keep their populations under the economic threshold.

Managing the complexity of information flow for construction small and medium-sized enterprises (CSMEs) using system dynamics and collaborative technologies

With the increase in e-commerce and the digitisation of design data and information,the construction sector has become reliant upon IT infrastructure and systems. The design and production process is more complex, more interconnected, and reliant upon greater information mobility, with seamless exchange of data and information in real time. Construction small and medium-sized enterprises (CSMEs), in particular,the speciality contractors, can effectively utilise cost-effective collaboration-enabling technologies, such as cloud computing, to help in the effective transfer of information and data to improve productivity. The system dynamics (SD) approach offers a perspective and tools to enable a better understanding of the dynamics of complex systems. This research focuses upon system dynamics methodology as a modelling and analysis tool in order to understand and identify the key drivers in the absorption of cloud computing for CSMEs. The aim of this paper is to determine how the use of system dynamics (SD) can improve the management of information flow through collaborative technologies leading to improved productivity. The data supporting the use of system dynamics was obtained through a pilot study consisting of questionnaires and interviews from five CSMEs in the UK house-building sector.

Pollinator conservation: the difference between managing for pollination services and preserving pollinator diversity

Our review looks at pollinator conservation and highlights the differences in approach between managing for pollination services and preserving pollinator diversity. We argue that ecosystem service management does not equal biodiversity conservation, and that maintaining species diversity is crucial in providing ecosystem resilience in the face of future environmental change. Management and policy measures therefore need to focus on species not just in human dominated landscapes but need to benefit wider diversity of species including those in specialised habitats. We argue that only by adopting a holistic ecosystem approach we can ensure the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the long-term.

The use of remotely sensed rainfall for managing drought risk: a case study of weather index insurance in Zambia

Remotely sensed rainfall is increasingly being used to manage climate-related risk in gauge sparse regions. Applications based on such data must make maximal use of the skill of the methodology in order to avoid doing harm by providing misleading information. This is especially challenging in regions, such as Africa, which lack gauge data for validation. In this study, we show how calibrated ensembles of equally likely rainfall can be used to infer uncertainty in remotely sensed rainfall estimates, and subsequently in assessment of drought. We illustrate the methodology through a case study of weather index insurance (WII) in Zambia. Unlike traditional insurance, which compensates proven agricultural losses, WII pays out in the event that a weather index is breached. As remotely sensed rainfall is used to extend WII schemes to large numbers of farmers, it is crucial to ensure that the indices being insured are skillful representations of local environmental conditions. In our study we drive a land surface model with rainfall ensembles, in order to demonstrate how aggregation of rainfall estimates in space and time results in a clearer link with soil moisture, and hence a truer representation of agricultural drought. Although our study focuses on agricultural insurance, the methodological principles for application design are widely applicable in Africa and elsewhere.

Managing enthusiasm: between ‘extremist’ volunteers and ‘rational’ professional practices in architectural conservation

Geographical research has considered enthusiasm to be a shared passion and a motivator to action. Tensions between enthusiasm as productive, and enthusiasm as negative and prohibitive. Highlights the role of emotion in volunteering with amenity societies. Highlights the presence of enthusiasm in contexts where it is actively denied.

Managing ServerHotel

This graduate study was assigned by Unisys Oy Ab. The purpose of this study was to find tools to monitor and manage servers and objects in a hosting environment and to remotely connect to the managed objects. Better solutions for promised services were also researched. Unisys provides a ServerHotel service to other businesses which do not have time or resources to manage their own network, servers or applications. Contracts are based on a Service Level Agreement where service level is agreed upon according to the customer's needs. These needs have created a demand for management tools. Unisys wanted to find the most appropriate tools for its hosting environment to fulfill the agreed service level with reasonable costs. The theory consists of literary research focusing on general agreements used in the Finnish IT business, different types of monitoring and management tools and the common protocols used inthem. The theory focuses mainly on the central elements of the above mentioned topics and on their positive and negative features. The second part of the study focuses on general hosting agreements and what management tools Unisys has selected for hosting and why. It also gives a more detailed account of the hosting environment and its features in more detail. Because of the results of the study Unisys decided to use Servers Alive to monitor network and MS applications’ services. Cacti was chosen to monitor disk spaces, which gives us an idea of future disk growth. For remote connections the Microsoft’s Remote Desktop tool was the mostappropriate when the connection was tunneled through Secure Shell (SSH). Finding proper tools for the intended purposes with cost-conscious financial resources proved challenging. This study showed that if required, it is possible to build a professional hosting environment.

Managing Seasonality in Tourism : Challenges and Opportunities for the Tourism Industry in Húsavík, Iceland

Seasonality is a common phenomenon in the tourism industry around the world. Húsavík, a town on the northern coast of Iceland, has experienced tremendous growth in tourism in recent years and is sometimes recognised as the „Whale Watching Capital of Europe‟. However, Húsavík faces extreme seasonality with high demand mainly during the summer months and limited or no demand at other times of the year. As is emphasised in the tourism literature and widely in practice, seasonality is frequently seen as a problem for the tourism industry which has to be tackled. Academic research has never before been done on seasonality in Húsavík and the aim of this thesis is to understand the nature of seasonality within the tourism industry in Húsavík and discover potential ways to reduce seasonality in Húsavík tourism. In order to fulfil the aim, qualitative semi-structured interviews were undertaken with six tourism managers in Húsavík to investigate their perceptions of seasonality and if and how it could be managed. The results confirmed that the peripheral location of the destination stimulates seasonality and it poses major economic challenges for tourism businesses in Húsavík. Managers would prefer a longer tourism season. Several recommendations were provided for how to reduce seasonality such as develop other attractions than whale watching, improve accessibility, focus marketing on seasons outside the summer, and offer winter packages for foreign and domestic tourists.