Evaluation of Location Intelligence exploitation in capital-intensive business

As technology has developed it has increased the number of data produced and collected from business environment. Over 80% of that data includes some sort of reference to geographical location. Individuals have used that information by utilizing Google Maps or different GPS devices, however such information has remained unexploited in business. This thesis will study the use and utilization of geographically referenced data in capital-intensive business by first providing theoretical insight into how data and data-driven management enables and enhances the business and how especially geographically referenced data adds value to the company and then examining empirical case evidence how geographical information can truly be exploited in capital-intensive business and what are the value adding elements of geographical information to the business. The study contains semi-structured interviews that are used to scan attitudes and beliefs of an organization towards the geographic information and to discover fields of applications for the use of geographic information system within the case company. Additionally geographical data is tested in order to illustrate how the data could be used in practice. Finally the outcome of the thesis provides understanding from which elements the added value of geographical information in business is consisted of and how such data can be utilized in the case company and in capital-intensive business.

Automated system of seedling image analysis (SVIS) and electrical conductivity to assess sun hemp seed vigor

The development of new procedures for quickly obtaining accurate information on the physiological potential of seed lots is essential for developing quality control programs for the seed industry. In this study, the effectiveness of an automated system of seedling image analysis (Seed Vigor Imaging System - SVIS) in determining the physiological potential of sun hemp seeds and its relationship with electrical conductivity tests, were evaluated. SVIS evaluations were performed three and four days after sowing and data on the vigor index and the length and uniformity of seedling growth were collected. The electrical conductivity test was made on 50 seed replicates placed in containers with 75 mL of deionised water at 25 ºC and readings were taken after 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 hours of imbibition. Electrical conductivity measurements at 4 or 8 hours and the use of the SVIS on 3-day old seedlings can effectively detect differences in vigor between different sun hemp seed lots.

Sustainable sourcing in global supply network: assessment of geographic challenges and management methods Case: Stora Enso

The purpose of this work was to describe and compare sourcing practices and challenges in different geographies, to discuss possible options to advance sustainability of global sourcing, and to provide examples to answer why sourcing driven by sustainability principles is so challenging to implement. The focus was on comparison between Europe & Asia & South-America from the perspective of sustainability adoption. By analyzing sourcing practices of the case company it was possible to describe main differences and challenges of each continent, available sourcing options, supplier relationships and ways to foster positive chance. In this qualitative case study gathered theoretical material was compared to extensive sourcing practices of case company in a vast supplier network. Sourcing specialist were interviewed and information provided by them analyzed in order to see how different research results and theories are reflecting reality and to find answers to proposed research questions.

Utilisation de systèmes d'information géographique pour l'évaluation des risques liés à la dégradation du pergélisol. Étude de cas : Tasiujaq, Nunavik, Québec

Les régions nordiques à pergélisol seront largement affectées par l'augmentation prévue des températures. Un nombre croissant d’infrastructures qui étaient autrefois construites avec confiance sur des sols gelés en permanence commencent déjà à montrer des signes de détérioration. Les processus engendrés par la dégradation du pergélisol peuvent causer des dommages importants aux infrastructures et entrainer des coûts élevés de réparation. En conséquence, le contexte climatique actuel commande que la planification des projets dans les régions nordiques s’effectue en tenant compte des impacts potentiels de la dégradation du pergélisol. Ce mémoire porte sur l’utilisation de systèmes d’information géographique (SIG) appliqués à l’évaluation du potentiel d’aménagement des territoires situés en milieu de pergélisol. En utilisant une approche SIG, l’objectif est d’élaborer une méthodologie permettant de produire des cartes d'évaluation des risques afin d’aider les collectivités nordiques à mieux planifier leur environnement bâti. Une analyse multi-échelle du paysage est nécessaire et doit inclure l'étude des dépôts de surface, la topographie, ainsi que les conditions du pergélisol, la végétation et les conditions de drainage. La complexité de l'ensemble des interactions qui façonnent le paysage est telle qu'il est pratiquement impossible de rendre compte de chacun d'eux ou de prévoir avec certitude la réponse du système suite à des perturbations. Ce mémoire présente aussi certaines limites liées à l’utilisation des SIG dans ce contexte spécifique et explore une méthode innovatrice permettant de quantifier l'incertitude dans les cartes d'évaluation des risques.

Some Efficient Representations of 3D Information based on Octress

The thesis introduced the octree and addressed the complete nature of problems encountered, while building and imaging system based on octrees. An efficient Bottom-up recursive algorithm and its iterative counterpart for the raster to octree conversion of CAT scan slices, to improve the speed of generating the octree from the slices, the possibility of utilizing the inherent parallesism in the conversion programme is explored in this thesis. The octree node, which stores the volume information in cube often stores the average density information could lead to “patchy”distribution of density during the image reconstruction. In an attempt to alleviate this problem and explored the possibility of using VQ to represent the imformation contained within a cube. Considering the ease of accommodating the process of compressing the information during the generation of octrees from CAT scan slices, proposed use of wavelet transforms to generate the compressed information in a cube. The modified algorithm for generating octrees from the slices is shown to accommodate the eavelet compression easily. Rendering the stored information in the form of octree is a complex task, necessarily because of the requirement to display the volumetric information. The reys traced from each cube in the octree, sum up the density en-route, accounting for the opacities and transparencies produced due to variations in density.

Re-engineering and Re-defining University Libraries in the context of modern Information and Communication Technologies: a study with special reference to the University Libraries in Kerala

Information and communication technologies are the tools that underpin the emerging “Knowledge Society”. Exchange of information or knowledge between people and through networks of people has always taken place. But the ICT has radically changed the magnitude of this exchange, and thus factors such as timeliness of information and information dissemination patterns have become more important than ever.Since information and knowledge are so vital for the all round human development, libraries and institutions that manage these resources are indeed invaluable. So, the Library and Information Centres have a key role in the acquisition, processing, preservation and dissemination of information and knowledge. ln the modern context, library is providing service based on different types of documents such as manuscripts, printed, digital, etc. At the same time, acquisition, access, process, service etc. of these resources have become complicated now than ever before. The lCT made instrumental to extend libraries beyond the physical walls of a building and providing assistance in navigating and analyzing tremendous amounts of knowledge with a variety of digital tools. Thus, modern libraries are increasingly being re-defined as places to get unrestricted access to information in many formats and from many sources.The research was conducted in the university libraries in Kerala State, India. lt was identified that even though the information resources are flooding world over and several technologies have emerged to manage the situation for providing effective services to its clientele, most of the university libraries in Kerala were unable to exploit these technologies at maximum level. Though the libraries have automated many of their functions, wide gap prevails between the possible services and provided services. There are many good examples world over in the application of lCTs in libraries for the maximization of services and many such libraries have adopted the principles of reengineering and re-defining as a management strategy. Hence this study was targeted to look into how effectively adopted the modern lCTs in our libraries for maximizing the efficiency of operations and services and whether the principles of re-engineering and- redefining can be applied towards this.Data‘ was collected from library users, viz; student as well as faculty users; library ,professionals and university librarians, using structured questionnaires. This has been .supplemented by-observation of working of the libraries, discussions and interviews with the different types of users and staff, review of literature, etc. Personal observation of the organization set up, management practices, functions, facilities, resources, utilization of information resources and facilities by the users, etc. of the university libraries in Kerala have been made. Statistical techniques like percentage, mean, weighted mean, standard deviation, correlation, trend analysis, etc. have been used to analyse data.All the libraries could exploit only a very few possibilities of modern lCTs and hence they could not achieve effective Universal Bibliographic Control and desired efficiency and effectiveness in services. Because of this, the users as well as professionals are dissatisfied. Functional effectiveness in acquisition, access and process of information resources in various formats, development and maintenance of OPAC and WebOPAC, digital document delivery to remote users, Web based clearing of library counter services and resources, development of full-text databases, digital libraries and institutional repositories, consortia based operations for e-journals and databases, user education and information literacy, professional development with stress on lCTs, network administration and website maintenance, marketing of information, etc. are major areas need special attention to improve the situation. Finance, knowledge level on ICTs among library staff, professional dynamism and leadership, vision and support of the administrators and policy makers, prevailing educational set up and social environment in the state, etc. are some of the major hurdles in reaping the maximum possibilities of lCTs by the university libraries in Kerala. The principles of Business Process Re-engineering are found suitable to effectively apply to re-structure and redefine the operations and service system of the libraries. Most of the conventional departments or divisions prevailing in the university libraries were functioning as watertight compartments and their existing management system was more rigid to adopt the principles of change management. Hence, a thorough re-structuring of the divisions was indicated. Consortia based activities and pooling and sharing of information resources was advocated to meet the varied needs of the users in the main campuses and off campuses of the universities, affiliated colleges and remote stations. A uniform staff policy similar to that prevailing in CSIR, DRDO, ISRO, etc. has been proposed by the study not only in the university libraries in kerala but for the entire country.Restructuring of Lis education,integrated and Planned development of school,college,research and public library systems,etc.were also justified for reaping maximum benefits of the modern ICTs.

A study of the information seeking bebavior of science and technology teachers and researchers of Cocbin University of Science and Technology and University of Kerala in the cbanged library environment

Information communication technology (IC T) has invariably brought about fundamental changes in the way in which libraries gather. preserve and disseminate information. The study was carried out with an aim to estimate and compare the information seeking behaviour (ISB) of the academics of two prominent universities of Kerala in the context of advancements achieved through ICT. The study was motivated by the fast changing scenario of libraries with the proliferation of many high tech products and services. The main purpose of the study was to identify the chief source of information of the academics, and also to examine academics preference upon the form and format of information source. The study also tries to estimate the adequacy of the resources and services currently provided by the libraries.The questionnaire was the central instrument for data collection. An almost census method was adopted for data collection engaging various methods and tools for eliciting data.The total population of the study was 957, out of which questionnaire was distributed to 859 academics. 646 academics responded to the survey, of which 564 of them were sound responses. Data was coded and analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software and also with the help of Microsofl Excel package. Various statistical techniques were engaged to analyse data. A paradigm shift is evident by the fact that academies push themselves towards information in internet i.e. they prefer electronic source to traditional source and the very shift is coupled itself with e-seeking of information. The study reveals that ISB of the academics is influenced priman'ly by personal factors and comparative analysis shows that the ISB ofthc academics is similar in both universities. The productivity of the academics was tested to dig up any relation with respect to their ISB, and it is found that productivity of the academics is extensively related with their ISB. Study also reveals that the users ofthe library are satisfied with the services provided but not with the sources and in conjunction, study also recommends ways and means to improve the existing library system.

Acquiring expert knowledge for the design of conceptual information systems

Conceptual Information Systems unfold the conceptual structure of data stored in relational databases. In the design phase of the system, conceptual hierarchies have to be created which describe different aspects of the data. In this paper, we describe two principal ways of designing such conceptual hierarchies, data driven design and theory driven design and discuss advantages and drawbacks. The central part of the paper shows how Attribute Exploration, a knowledge acquisition tool developped by B. Ganter can be applied for narrowing the gap between both approaches.

Assessing the users’ need for a spatial decision support system of smallholder farming in Kenya

Accurate data of the natural conditions and agricultural systems with a good spatial resolution are a key factor to tackle food insecurity in developing countries. A broad variety of approaches exists to achieve precise data and information about agriculture. One system, especially developed for smallholder agriculture in East Africa, is the Farm Management Handbook of Kenya. It was first published in 1982/83 and fully revised in 2012, now containing 7 volumes. The handbooks contain detailed information on climate, soils, suitable crops and soil care based on scientific research results of the last 30 years. The density of facts leads to time consuming extraction of all necessary information. In this study we analyse the user needs and necessary components of a system for decision support for smallholder farming in Kenya based on a geographical information system (GIS). Required data sources were identified, as well as essential functions of the system. We analysed the results of our survey conducted in 2012 and early 2013 among agricultural officers. The monitoring of user needs and the problem of non-adaptability of an agricultural information system on the level of extension officers in Kenya are the central objectives. The outcomes of the survey suggest the establishment of a decision support tool based on already available open source GIS components. The system should include functionalities to show general information for a specific location and should provide precise recommendations about suitable crops and management options to support agricultural guidance on farm level.

The 'direct costs' of livestock disease: The development of a system of models for the analysis of 30 endemic livestock diseases in Great Britain

The 'direct costs' attributable to 30 different endemic diseases of farm animals in Great Britain are estimated using a standardised method to construct a simple model for each disease that includes consideration of disease prevention and treatment costs. The models so far developed provide a basis for further analyses including cost-benefit analyses for the economic assessment of disease control options. The approach used reflects the inherent livestock disease information constraints, which limit the application of other economic analytical methods. It is a practical and transparent approach that is relatively easily communicated to veterinary scientists and policy makers. The next step is to develop the approach by incorporating wider economic considerations into the analyses in a way that will demonstrate to policy makers and others the importance of an economic perspective to livestock disease issues.

The Spanish system of food controls - its administration and enforcement

Following a number of major food safety problems in Europe, including in particular the issues of BSE and dioxin, consumers have become increasingly concerned about food safety. This has led authorities in Europe to revise their systems of food control. The establishment of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is one of the main structural changes made at the moment within the European Union, and similar action at national level has been or is being taken by many EU member states. In Spain a law creating the Spanish Agency of Food Safety has been approved. This has general objectives that include the promotion of food security and offering guarantees and the provision of objective information to consumers and food businesses in the Spanish agrifood sector. This paper reviews the general structure of the current food control system in Spain. At a national level this involves three different Ministries. Spain however also has a devolved system involving Autonomous Communities the paper considers Castilla y Leon as an example. In conclusion the paper recognises that Spain has a complex system for food control. and considers that it will take time before a full evaluation of the new system is possible. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preliminary results from a real time control system using optical information

Successful results from training an adaptive controller to use optical information to balance an inverted pendulum are presented in comparison to the training requirements using traditional controller inputs. Results from research into the psychology of the sense of balance in humans are presented as the motivation for the investigation of this new type of controller. The simulated model of the inverted pendulum and the virtual reality environments used to provide the optical input are described The successful introduction of optical information is found to require the preservation of at least two of the traditional input types and entail increased training time for the adaptive controller and reduced performance (measured as the time the pendulum remains upright).

Robustness of mutual information to inter-subject variability for automatic artefact removal from EEG

The externally recorded electroencephalogram (EEG) is contaminated with signals that do not originate from the brain, collectively known as artefacts. Thus, EEG signals must be cleaned prior to any further analysis. In particular, if the EEG is to be used in online applications such as Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCIs) the removal of artefacts must be performed in an automatic manner. This paper investigates the robustness of Mutual Information based features to inter-subject variability for use in an automatic artefact removal system. The system is based on the separation of EEG recordings into independent components using a temporal ICA method, RADICAL, and the utilisation of a Support Vector Machine for classification of the components into EEG and artefact signals. High accuracy and robustness to inter-subject variability is achieved.

A practical approach for training dynamic recurrent neural networks: use of Apriori information

Presents a technique for incorporating a priori knowledge from a state space system into a neural network training algorithm. The training algorithm considered is that of chemotaxis and the networks being trained are recurrent neural networks. Incorporation of the a priori knowledge ensures that the resultant network has behaviour similar to the system which it is modelling.

A Web Map Service implementation for the visualization of multidimensional gridded environmental data

We describe ncWMS, an implementation of the Open Geospatial Consortium’s Web Map Service (WMS) specification for multidimensional gridded environmental data. ncWMS can read data in a large number of common scientific data formats – notably the NetCDF format with the Climate and Forecast conventions – then efficiently generate map imagery in thousands of different coordinate reference systems. It is designed to require minimal configuration from the system administrator and, when used in conjunction with a suitable client tool, provides end users with an interactive means for visualizing data without the need to download large files or interpret complex metadata. It is also used as a “bridging” tool providing interoperability between the environmental science community and users of geographic information systems. ncWMS implements a number of extensions to the WMS standard in order to fulfil some common scientific requirements, including the ability to generate plots representing timeseries and vertical sections. We discuss these extensions and their impact upon present and future interoperability. We discuss the conceptual mapping between the WMS data model and the data models used by gridded data formats, highlighting areas in which the mapping is incomplete or ambiguous. We discuss the architecture of the system and particular technical innovations of note, including the algorithms used for fast data reading and image generation. ncWMS has been widely adopted within the environmental data community and we discuss some of the ways in which the software is integrated within data infrastructures and portals.