A large-scale dynamic vector and raster data visualization geographic information system based on parallel map tiling

With the exponential increasing demands and uses of GIS data visualization system, such as urban planning, environment and climate change monitoring, weather simulation, hydrographic gauge and so forth, the geospatial vector and raster data visualization research, application and technology has become prevalent. However, we observe that current web GIS techniques are merely suitable for static vector and raster data where no dynamic overlaying layers. While it is desirable to enable visual explorations of large-scale dynamic vector and raster geospatial data in a web environment, improving the performance between backend datasets and the vector and raster applications remains a challenging technical issue. This dissertation is to implement these challenging and unimplemented areas: how to provide a large-scale dynamic vector and raster data visualization service with dynamic overlaying layers accessible from various client devices through a standard web browser, and how to make the large-scale dynamic vector and raster data visualization service as rapid as the static one. To accomplish these, a large-scale dynamic vector and raster data visualization geographic information system based on parallel map tiling and a comprehensive performance improvement solution are proposed, designed and implemented. They include: the quadtree-based indexing and parallel map tiling, the Legend String, the vector data visualization with dynamic layers overlaying, the vector data time series visualization, the algorithm of vector data rendering, the algorithm of raster data re-projection, the algorithm for elimination of superfluous level of detail, the algorithm for vector data gridding and re-grouping and the cluster servers side vector and raster data caching.

Environment for Future Conference Centers: Perception of Managers

Socio-cultural, economic, political, and technological trends are likely to impact the future conference center industry. This article is based on a survey of the members of the International Association of Conference Centers; it identifies the perceptions of conference center executives of future industry trends and provides them with environmental information so that they can better plan for management in the future.

The contribution of higher education to economic *development in a globalized environment

Amidst concerns about achieving high levels of technology to remain competitive in the global market without compromising economic development, national economies are experiencing a high demand for human capital. As higher education is assumed to be the main source of human capital, this analysis focused on a more specific and less explored area of the generally accepted idea that higher education contributes to economic growth. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to find whether higher education also contributes to economic development, and whether that contribution is more substantial in a globalized context. ^ Consequently, a multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to support with statistical significance the answer to the research question: Does higher education contributes to economic development in the context of globalization? The information analyzed was obtained from historical data of 91 selected countries, and the period of time of the study was 10 years (1990–2000). Some variables, however, were lagged back 5, 10 or 15 years along a 15-year timeframe (1975–1990). The resulting comparative static model was based on the Cobb-Douglas production function and the Solow model to specify economic growth as a function of physical capital, labor, technology, and productivity. Then, formal education, economic development, and globalization were added to the equation. ^ The findings of this study supported the assumption that the independent contribution of the changes in higher education completion and globalization to changes in economic growth is more substantial than the contribution of their interaction. The results also suggested that changes in higher and secondary education completion contribute much more to changes in economic growth in less developed countries than in their more developed counterparts. ^ As a conclusion, based on the results of this study, I proposed the implementation of public policy in less developed countries to promote and expand adequate secondary and higher education systems with the purpose of helping in the achievement of economic development. I also recommended further research efforts on this topic to emphasize the contribution of education to the economy, mainly in less developed countries. ^

Strategic positioning of Taiwan in the outsourcing market: Evidence from information technology services and electronic manufacturing outsourcing to China

In outsourcing relationships with China, the Electronic Manufacturing (EM) and Information Technology Services (ITS) industry in Taiwan may possess such advantages as the continuing growth of its production value, complete manufacturing supply chain, low production cost and a large-scale Chinese market, and language and culture similarity compared to outsourcing to other countries. Nevertheless, the Council for Economic Planning and Development of Executive Yuan (CEPD) found that Taiwan's IT services outsourcing to China is subject to certain constraints and might not be as successful as the EM outsourcing (Aggarwal, 2003; CEPD, 2004a; CIER, 2003; Einhorn and Kriplani, 2003; Kumar and Zhu, 2006; Li and Gao, 2003; MIC, 2006). Some studies examined this issue, but failed to (1) provide statistical evidence about lower prevalence rates of IT services outsourcing, and (2) clearly explain the lower prevalence rates of IT services outsourcing by identifying similarities and differences between both types of outsourcing contexts. This research seeks to fill that gap and possibly provide potential strategic guidelines to ITS firms in Taiwan. This study adopts Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) as the theoretical basis. The basic premise is that different types of outsourcing activities may incur differing transaction costs and realize varying degrees of outsourcing success due to differential attributes of the transactions in the outsourcing process. Using primary data gathered from questionnaire surveys of ninety two firms, the results from exploratory analysis and binary logistic regression indicated that (1) when outsourcing to China, Taiwanese firms' ITS outsourcing tends to have higher level of asset specificity, uncertainty and technical skills relative to EM outsourcing, and these features indirectly reduce firms' outsourcing prevalence rates via their direct positive impacts on transaction costs; (2) Taiwanese firms' ITS outsourcing tends to have lower level of transaction structurability relative to EM outsourcing, and this feature indirectly increases firms' outsourcing prevalence rates via its direct negative impacts on transaction costs; (3) frequency does influence firms' transaction costs in ITS outsourcing positively, but does not bring impacts into their outsourcing prevalence rates, (4) relatedness does influence firms' transaction costs positively and prevalence rates negatively in ITS outsourcing, but its impacts on the prevalence rates are not caused by the mediation effects of transaction costs, and (5) firm size of outsourcing provider does not affect firms' transaction costs, but does affect their outsourcing prevalence rates in ITS outsourcing directly and positively. Using primary data gathered from face-to-face interviews of executives from seven firms, the results from inductive analysis indicated that (1) IT services outsourcing has lower prevalence rates than EM outsourcing, and (2) this result is mainly attributed to Taiwan's core competence in manufacturing and management and higher overall transaction costs of IT services outsourcing. Specifically, there is not much difference between both types of outsourcing context in the transaction characteristics of reputation and most aspects of overall comparison. Although there are some differences in the feature of firm size of the outsourcing provider, the difference doesn't cause apparent impacts on firms' overall transaction costs. The medium or above medium difference in the transaction characteristics of asset specificity, uncertainty, frequency, technical skills, transaction structurability, and relatedness has caused higher overall transaction costs for IT services outsourcing. This higher cost might cause lower prevalence rates for ITS outsourcing relative to EM outsourcing. Overall, the interview results are consistent with the statistical analyses and provide support to my expectation that in outsourcing to China, Taiwan's electronic manufacturing firms do have lower prevalence rates of IT services outsourcing relative to EM outsourcing due to higher transaction costs caused by certain attributes. To solve this problem, firms' management should aim at identifying alternative strategies and strive to reduce their overall transaction costs of IT services outsourcing by initiating appropriate strategies which fit their environment and needs.

The effects of mobile real-time information on rural passengers

The research described here is supported by the award made by the RCUK Digital Economy programme to the dot.rural Digital Economy Research Hub; award reference: EP/G066051/1/.

Exploring the rural passenger experience, information needs and decision making during public transport disruption

Acknowledgements The research described here is supported by the award made by the RCUK Digital Economy programme to the dot.rural Digital Economy Research Hub; award reference: EP/G066051/1. Further, we would like to acknowledge the RCUK research grant EP/J000604/2.

Information Security in the Cloud: Should We be Using a Different Approach?

Postprint

Design concept evaluation based on rough number and information entropy theory

Concept evaluation at the early phase of product development plays a crucial role in new product development. It determines the direction of the subsequent design activities. However, the evaluation information at this stage mainly comes from experts' judgments, which is subjective and imprecise. How to manage the subjectivity to reduce the evaluation bias is a big challenge in design concept evaluation. This paper proposes a comprehensive evaluation method which combines information entropy theory and rough number. Rough number is first presented to aggregate individual judgments and priorities and to manipulate the vagueness under a group decision-making environment. A rough number based information entropy method is proposed to determine the relative weights of evaluation criteria. The composite performance values based on rough number are then calculated to rank the candidate design concepts. The results from a practical case study on the concept evaluation of an industrial robot design show that the integrated evaluation model can effectively strengthen the objectivity across the decision-making processes.

Eliciting and Aggregating Forecasts When Information is Shared

Using the wisdom of crowds---combining many individual forecasts to obtain an aggregate estimate---can be an effective technique for improving forecast accuracy. When individual forecasts are drawn from independent and identical information sources, a simple average provides the optimal crowd forecast. However, correlated forecast errors greatly limit the ability of the wisdom of crowds to recover the truth. In practice, this dependence often emerges because information is shared: forecasters may to a large extent draw on the same data when formulating their responses.

To address this problem, I propose an elicitation procedure in which each respondent is asked to provide both their own best forecast and a guess of the average forecast that will be given by all other respondents. I study optimal responses in a stylized information setting and develop an aggregation method, called pivoting, which separates individual forecasts into shared and private information and then recombines these results in the optimal manner. I develop a tailored pivoting procedure for each of three information models, and introduce a simple and robust variant that outperforms the simple average across a variety of settings.

In three experiments, I investigate the method and the accuracy of the crowd forecasts. In the first study, I vary the shared and private information in a controlled environment, while the latter two studies examine forecasts in real-world contexts. Overall, the data suggest that a simple minimal pivoting procedure provides an effective aggregation technique that can significantly outperform the crowd average.

Attitudes towards the Marine Environment and Implications for Marine Resource Management in Seward, Alaska

This research, conducted in 2006-2008, examines the ways in which various groups involved with the marine resources of Seward, Alaska construct attitudes towards the environment. Participant observation and semi-structured interviews are used to assess how commercial halibut fishers, tour boat operators, local residents and government officials understand the marine environment based on their previous experiences. This study also explores how ideologies relate to the current practices of each group. Two theories orient the analyses: The first, cultural modeling provided a theoretical and methodological framework for pursuing a more comprehensive analysis of resource management. The second, Theory of Reasoned Action (Ajzen and Fishbein 1980), guided the analysis of the ways in which each participant’s ideology towards the marine environment relates to their practice. Aside from contributing to a better understanding of a coastal community’s ideologies and practices, this dissertation sought to better understand the role of ecological ideologies and behaviors in fisheries management. The research illustrates certain domains where ideologies and practices concerning Pacific halibut and the marine environment differ among commercial fishers, government, and management officials, tour boat operators and residents of Seward, AK. These differences offer insights into how future collaborative efforts between government officials, managers and local marine resource users might better incorporate local ideology into management, and provide ecological information to local marine resource users in culturally appropriate ways.

Transformative Learning Theory and Its Relevance to Managing Group Dynamics in a Competitive Work Environment

In any environment, group dynamics would exist. How we deal with it in a competitive work environment defines who we are using transformative learning. This paper provides useful information from a number of theorists who share perspectives on the complex nature of groups.

Table 2: Age information for the analyzed cores

Five plankton groups, including diatoms, radiolarians, coccolithophores, foraminifers, and dinoflagellate cysts, were synoptically analyzed in six sediment cores and two sediment traps from the Norwegian-Greenland Sea and the North Atlantic in order to provide more detailed insights into the paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic evolution and the development of plankton assemblages of the northern North Atlantic during the last 15,000 years. Based on Q-mode factor analyses, cold, warm, transitional, and relict assemblages were calculated for each of the plankton groups. Data from the different plankton groups complement one another, although they are not always consistent. However, the multiple plankton-group data set is able to bridge intervals in which single groups lack preservation or the ability to react to changes. Synoptically interpreted, the results provide a detailed picture of the response of plankton assemblages to environmental changes during the time period investigated, which includes the B0lling/Aller0d interstadial, the Younger Dryas cold spell, Termination IB, and, in all likelihood, also the "8,200 Event", and the Hypsithermal (approximately 8-4 14C ky BP).

Building Information Modelling in UK Construction Projects: A State of the Art Review

This paper aims to present a state-of-the-art review of the scope and practical implications of the Building Information Modelling (BIM) platform in the UK construction practice. Theoretical developments suggest that BIM is an integration of both product and process innovation, not just a disparate set of software tools. BIM provides effective collaboration, visual representation and data management, which enable the smooth flow of information throughout the project’s lifecycle. The most frequently reported benefits are related to Capital Cost (capex) and Operational costs (opex) and time savings. Key challenges, however, focus on the interoperability of software, capital installation costs, in-house experience, client preference and cultural issues within design teams and within the organisation. The paper concludes with a critical commentary on the changing roles and a process required to implement BIM in UK construction projects, and suggests areas for further research.

Design of information architecture of the web site of the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Tourism of the Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de Las Villas (Cuba)

The information architecture supports information retrieval by users in Web environment. The design should be center in the information user, favoring usability. The Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Tourism of the Universidad Central "Marta Abreu" de Las Villas, lacks a site that enhances the disclosure of information to its members. Are presented as objectives of the study: 1) conduct a user survey to identify information needs of users, 2) establish guidelines for information architecture for the institution focused on users, 3) designing the information architecture for the institution and 4) designed to evaluate the proposal. Are presented as objectives of the study: 1) to realize a user study to identify the information needs of users, 2) establish guidelines for information architecture for the institution focused on users, 3) to design the information architecture for the institution and 4) to evaluate the proposal designed. To obtain results are used methods in the theoretical and empirical levels. Besides, are use techniques that favored the design and evaluation. Is designed the intranet of the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Tourism. Is evaluated the proposed design for the validation of the results.

Mobilizing capacity of environmental information: the importance of quality journalism to achieve proenvironmental attitudes

Citizens say they are very concerned about the environment, and they know the role they play in their deterioration; but there is a gap between this proclaimed interest and the mobilization against environmental problems. Several news published between 2010 and 2011 about the Spanish energy policy and Doñana have economic and social aspects, that sometimes are confused with environmental aspects. It is worthy of study, therefore, to analyze how the press reflects that citizen interest; and how a critical issue as the quality of the information can influence the attitude of citizens in issues related to the environment. If the journalistic practice does not meet quality its function, it will condition the social participation.