Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Spatially open system'

Almost all quantum systems are open; interactions with the surrounding environment generally lead to complex dissipative behaviour with a sensitive dependence on the details of the system-environment coupling. This thesis presents results from theoretical investigations into such behaviour in single and two-site quantum systems with a particular emphasis on strong system-environment coupling regimes, and also the effects of spatial correlations in the environment fluctuations. Within a weak system-environment coupling framework, it is found that an increased level of correlation is able to protect coherence shared between two spatially separated two-level quantum systems. Moreover, it is found that these correlations are in fact able to generate coherence between the two systems, and in certain regimes, cause the systems to become entangled. Using a polaron transform strong coupling master equation technique, the discussion is extended to the strong system-environment coupling or high temperature regime. To assess the validity of this approach in an experimentally relevant system, it is applied to the description of excitonic Rabi oscillations in a resonantly driven quantum dot. For most of the parameters of interest, the strong coupling theory is found to be valid over a far greater range of temperatures and coupling strengths than the standard weak-coupling theory. The coherent or incoherent nature of energy transfer dynamics is then studied by applying the strong coupling theory to a donor-acceptor pair model. Increased spatial correlations are found to extend the range of temperatures which allow coherent energy transfer to take place. Finally, a variational theory is introduced which allows for exploration of certain parameter regimes where both the weak-coupling and strong coupling theories become invalid. The variational theory is then used to investigate the ground state properties of a double two-level impurity model. High levels of spatial correlation are found to suppress the tunnelling amplitude within each impurity.

Primary goal of this thesis work is to develop and implement microscopic modeling strategies able to describe semiconductor-based nanomaterials and nanodevices, overcoming both the intrinsic limits of the semiclassical transport theory and the huge computational costs of non Markovian approaches. The progressive reduction of modern optoelectronic devices space-scales, triggered by the evolution on semiconductor heterostructures at the nanoscale, together with the decrease of the typical time-scales involved, pushes device miniaturization toward limits where the application of the traditional Boltzmann transport theory becomes questionable, and a comparison with more rigorous quantum transport approaches is imperative. In spite of the quantum-mechanical nature of electron and photon dynamics in the core region of typical solid-state nanodevices, the overall behavior of such quantum systems is often governed by a highly non-trivial interplay between phase coherence and dissipation/dephasing. To this aim, the crucial step is to adopt a quantum mechanical description of the carrier subsystem; this can be performed at different levels, ranging from phenomenological dissipation/decoherence models to quantum-kinetic treatments. However, due to their high computational cost, non-Markovian Green’ s-function as well as density-matrix approaches like quantum Monte Carlo techniques or quantum-kinetics are currently unsuitable for the design and optimization of new-generation nanodevices. On the other end, the Wigner-function technique is a widely used approach which, in principle, is well suited to describe an interplay between coherence and dissipation: in fact it can be regarded both as a phase space formulation of the electronic density matrix and a quantum equivalent of the classical distribution function. The evolution of this quasi-distribution function is governed by the Wigner-equation, which is usually solved by applying local spatial boundary conditions. However, such a scheme has recently shown some intrinsic limits. In this thesis work we analyze both the reasons for these unphysical features –pointing out the needing of different and purely quantum approaches– and the limits in which they should not appear, thus justifying why these problems had not been encountered in numerous quantum-transport simulations based on this procedure. For these reasons here we present a novel single-particle simulation strategy able to describe the interplay between coherence and dissipation/dephasing. In the presence of one- as well as two-body scattering mechanisms, we apply the mean-field approximation to the many-body Lindblad-type (hence, positive-definite) scattering superoperators provided by a recently proposed Markov approach, and we derive a closed equation of motion for the electronic single-particle density matrix. Although the resulting scattering superoperator turns out to be, at finite or high carrier densities, nonlinear and non-Lindblad, we prove that it is able to guarantee the positivity of the evolution (in striking contrast with conventional Markov approaches) independently of the scattering mechanisms, an essential prerequisite of any reliable kinetic treatment of semiconductor quantum devices; furthermore, it may be extended to the cases of quantum systems with open spatial boundaries (in this regard, it provides a formal derivation of a recently proposed Lindblad-like device-reservoir scattering superoperator). The proposed theoretical scheme is able, one the one hand, to recover the space-dependent Boltzmann equation and, on the other, to point out the regimes where a relevant role may be played by scattering-nonlocality effects, e.g. scattering-induced variations of the spatial charge-density which may not be provided by semiclassical treatments. Supplementing our analytical investigation with a number of simulated experiments in homogeneous as well as inhomogeneous GaN-based systems, we provide a rigorous treatment of scattering nonlocality in semiconductor nanostructures: in particular, we show how the scattering-nonlocality effects (i) are particularly significant in the presence of a carrier localization on the nanometric space scale, (ii) cause a speedup of the diffusion and (iii) in superlattice structures induce, with respect to scattering-free evolutions, a suppression of coherent oscillations between adjacent wells. These genuine quantum effects may be predicted also by other simplified treatments of the dissipation/decoherence like, e.g., the Relaxation Time Approximation: the latter however turns out to be, contrary to the proposed microscopic theoretical scheme, totally nonlocal, e.g. it is unable to recover the local character of the Boltzmann collision term in the semiclassical limit and it leads, especially for the case of quasielastic dissipation processes, to a significant overestimation of the diffusion speedup.

Spatial Data Analysis (SDA) is relatively narrower and constitutes one of the areas of Spatial Analysis. Geographic Information System (GIS) offers a potentially valuable platform for supporting SDA techniques. Integration of SDA with GIS helps SDA to benefit from the data input, storage, retrieval, data manipulation and display capabilities of GIS. Also, GIS can benefit from SDA techniques in which the integration of these techniques can increase the analysis capabilities of GIS. This integration serves for disseminating and facilitating improved understanding of spatial phenomena. How SDA techniques should be integrated with GIS arise the coupling problem. The complete integration of SDA techniques in GIS can be applied without the support of GIS vendor when the free/libre and open source software (FLOSS) development methodology is properly followed. This approach causes to interpret the coupling problem in a new way. This thesis aims to develop a fully coupled SDA with GIS in FLOSS environment. A fully coupled SDA in free GIS software as FLOSS system is developed by writing nearly 13,000 line Python code in 2.5 years. Usage of this system has reached to nearly 1600 unique visitors, 3000 visits and 8600 page views in two years. As the current status of development in GIS is considered, it is unlikely in commercial market to have full coupled SDA techniques in GIS software. However, it is expected to have more SDA developments in proprietary GIS software in the near future as there is an increasing trend for requesting more sophisticated SDA tools.

Man has always dreamed of building artificial beings, which take over tedious or dangerous tasks, with abilities of entertainment and subject to human commands. In everyday language, these artificial beings are called robots . Robots are characterized for the capability to act in the environment using a mechanical locomotion system and to interact with the objects present in the environment using a handling system , or a perceptive capacity to measure parameters relating to their internal state using proprioceptive sensors, and to measure external parameters, using exteroceptive sensors, and the capability to establish an intelligent link between perceptions and actions, using a control system that works taking into account the mechanical constraints of the robot with respect to those inside the environment.There are two fundamental aspects for mobile robotics: the estimation of the robot position in the operating environment and the robotic mapping to acquire spatial models of the physical environment.This aspect is very serious when the operating environment of the robot is unknown. The mapping problem is generally considered as one of the most important challenges in the pursuit of building truly autonomous mobile robots, because it requires the integration of information gathered by the robots sensors into a given representation. So the two central aspects in mapping are the representation of the environment and the interpretation of sensor data. To acquire a map and to estimate its position, a robot should be equipped with sensors that enable it to perceive the outside world. Common sensors usable for this task include cameras, range finders using sonar, laser, and infrared technologies, radar, tactile sensors, compasses, laser scanner and GPS for outdoor applications.The navigation of a robot in an environment for reaching a goal requires the solution of three tasks: mapping, localization, and path planning. In this PhD thesis is the management of the navigation for autonomous mobile robots in outdoor environments using geographic information systems. This technology can be seen as an extension of classical topography but uses advanced functionality for the management of any type of information as a reference spatial and temporal in software environment.The GIS environment has a layered architecture where the raster layer represents the cartographic base georeferenced with topographic algorithms. On the raster base, different vector layers are overlapped as sets of geometric primitives (points, lines, areas, surfaces and volumes) for the representation of real-world phenomena. For this reason, the core of this PhD thesis is the development of a navigation system for autonomous robots based on the GIS technology using cartography and maps geo-referenced with the rigorous approach of geomatics to analyze the satellite positioning data detected by the robot and to manage its navigation accurately. In particular the thesis exploited desktop GIS platforms and developed webGis platforms using free and open source software for optimizing and customizing these platforms. For managing the navigation of the robot and the spatial data, an external spatial DBMS (DataBase Management System) was also developed with free and open source technologies.This PhD thesis aims at developing a navigation system for autonomous robots based on the GIS technology using cartography and maps geo-referenced with the rigorous approach of geomatics to analyze the satellite positioning data detected by the robot and to manage its navigation accurately. In particular, the thesis exploits desktop GIS platforms and develops webGis platforms using free and open source software for optimizing and customizing these platforms. For managing the navigation of the robot and the spatial data, an external spatial DBMS (DataBase Management System) has been also developed with free and open source technologies.

U radu su prikazani Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) web servisi, iz aspekta serverskih i klijentskih aplikacija. Analizirani su problemi razmene prostornih podataka u složenim sistemima sa naglaskom na komunalne službe gradova. Na osnovu analize razmene podataka, predložen je model koji unapređuje komunikaciju i pospešuje napredak celokupnog sistema implementacijom distribuiranih OGC web servisa. Predloženi model distribucije prostornih podataka može se primenjivati na sve složene sisteme, ali i unutar manjih sistema kao što su kompanije koje se sastoje iz više sektora ili podsistema
The short review of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) web services have been given in this work from the perspective of server and client applications. The problems of the exchange of spatial data in the complex systems as municipal service have been analysed. Based on analysis of data exchange, the model has been proposed to improve communication and progress of the whole system by implementing OGC web services. Described model of spatial data distribution can be applied to all complex systems, but also within smaller systems such as companies which consist of more sectors or subsystems.

It is important to promote a sustainable development approach to ensure that economic, environmental and social developments are maintained in balance. Sustainable development and its implications are not just a global concern, it also affects Australia. In particular, rural Australian communities are facing various economic, environmental and social challenges. Thus, the need for sustainable development in rural regions is becoming increasingly important. To promote sustainable development, proper frameworks along with the associated tools optimised for the specific regions, need to be developed. This will ensure that the decisions made for sustainable development are evidence based, instead of subjective opinions. To address these issues, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), through an Australian Research Council (ARC) linkage grant, has initiated research into the development of a Rural Statistical Sustainability Framework (RSSF) to aid sustainable decision making in rural Queensland. This particular branch of the research developed a decision support tool that will become the integrating component of the RSSF. This tool is developed on the web-based platform to allow easy dissemination, quick maintenance and to minimise compatibility issues. The tool is developed based on MapGuide Open Source and it follows the three-tier architecture: Client tier, Web tier and the Server tier. The developed tool is interactive and behaves similar to a familiar desktop-based application. It has the capability to handle and display vector-based spatial data and can give further visual outputs using charts and tables. The data used in this tool is obtained from the QUT research team. Overall the tool implements four tasks to help in the decision-making process. These are the Locality Classification, Trend Display, Impact Assessment and Data Entry and Update. The developed tool utilises open source and freely available software and accounts for easy extensibility and long-term sustainability.

Les chambres réverbérantes à brassage de modes (CRBM) utilisées dans l'industrie pour tester l'immunité ou la susceptibilité des systèmes électroniques embarqués (avion, automobile , smartphone,...) vis-à-vis des ondes électromagnétiques (EM) présentes dans leur environnement. Les CRBM doivent toutes répondre à un certain nombre de critères statistiques fixés par une norme internationale. Le critère principale étant l'obtention d'un champ statistiquement uniforme et isotrope autour de l'objet sous test. Afin améliorer et de mieux maîtriser les propriétés statistiques de ces systèmes pour des fréquences proches de leur fréquence minimale d'utilisation, nous proposons de les rendre chaotiques afin de profiter des propriétés statistiques universelles des résonances des cavités chaotiques. Nous commencerons par montrer comment rendre chaotique, par des modifications simples, des chambres réverbérantes conventionnelles, et comment étendre les prédictions de la théorie des matrices aléatoire appliquée (TMA) à l'hamiltonien effectif, permettant de décrire les systèmes chaotiques ouverts, au cas de systèmes décrits par des champs vectoriels. Ensuite, nous comparerons, au moyen de simulations et d’expériences, les distributions d'intensité et les fluctuations des maxima du champ EM dans une CRBM conventionnelle et dans une CR chaotique au voisinage de la fréquence minimale d’utilisation. Ce travail illustre que les propriétés statistiques spectrales et spatiales universelles des CR chaotiques permettent de mieux répondre aux critères exigés par la norme internationale pour réaliser des tests de compatibilité électromagnétiques
Mode-stirred reverberation chambers (RC) are used in the industry to test the immunity or the susceptibility of on-board electronic systems (plane, automobile, smartphone) towards the electromagnetic waves present in their environment. Mode-stirred RCs have to comply with a number of statistical criteria fixed by international standards. The chief criterion relies on a statistically uniform and isotropic field around the object under test. In order to improve and master the statistical properties of these systems for frequencies close to their lowest useable frequency, we suggest making them chaotic to take advantage of universal statistical properties of the resonances of chaotic cavities. We first show how to make chaotic RCs by simple modifications of a conventional RC and how to extend the predictions of the random matrix theory applied to the effective hamiltonien describing the open chaotic systems, to the case of vectorial fields. Then, we compare, by means of simulations and experiments, the distributions of intensity and the fluctuations of the maxima of the field in a conventional RC and in a chaotic RC close to the lowest useable frequency. This work illustrates that the universal spectral and spatial statistical properties of chaotic RCs allow to better comply with the criteria required by the international standards

International Telemetering Conference Proceedings / October 25-28, 1999 / Riviera Hotel and Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
The Air Force SEEK EAGLE Office (AFSEO) was chartered by the Secretary of the Air Force in December 1987. The mission of the AFSEO is to provide the United States Air Force increased combat capability through central management of the aircraft-stores certification process and provide in-house engineering and operations research capabilities. Additionally, the AFSEO is required to ensure the future viability of the aircraft-stores organic in-house capability with the insertion of evolving technologies. To accomplish this mission, the AFSEO employs all phases of the test process; from Digital Model and Simulation (DMS) to Open Air Range (OAR) flight tests. The AFSEO desires to prepare for the future DoD environment, and minimize the cost of developing its products that require advanced sensors and telemetry capability. For a number of years, a mainstay in the process has been instrumented aircraft. These aircraft were specially instrumented to support the mission of AFSEO. Similarly, stores were instrumented to obtain environmental data such as loads and vibration. With the rising cost of instrumentation and the national DoD trend to reduce the cost of development and maintenance of instrumentation, a new method will need to be found. Several advanced concepts in ground and airborne instrumentation at Eglin AFB are needed to support the mission of the AFSEO. These include a new generation of telemetry devices, sensors, and data acquisition components to provide rapid and cost effective instrumentation of test aircraft, stores, and suspension equipment. The new generation telemetry will provide integrated circuitry with “peel and stick” subminiature telemetry sensors. These telemetry sensors will provide flutter and structural loads data for aircraft-stores combinations. In conjunction with the telemetry sensors, advanced aircraft platform instrumentation will be needed to match precision flight mechanics to the spatial telemetry measurements for stress, strain, and dynamic activity of stores.

Photonic entanglement sources are nowadays of central interest in the scientific landscape for their demonstrated applications in quantum information, computation and communication. Required features for a real implementation are obviously high brigthness and purity, but also a precise control of decoherence processes during propagation and the use of many degrees of freedom to enhance the amount of information carried. We developed a new photonic entangled source based on parametric down-conversion within two type-I crystals in a non collinear configuration. A first peculiarity of such source is the very broad angular and spectral distribution exploited. In this way we obtained high brightness even using low pump power. A second peculiarity is the coupling of the source with a Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) allowing the compensation of intrinsic phase term which naturally reduces the state purity till about 0.5. Coupling 10 mrad on both channel, we obtained a purity of about 0.97 with a spectrum of 10 nm, and a purity around 0.90 with more than 60 nm. Starting from such purified source we also realized multi-qubit cluster states exploiting the angular degree of freedom (d.o.f.) of the photons. Here the SLM acts as a C-phase gate entangling polarization and momentum qubits. Furthermore we exploited signal-idler angular correlation to demonstrate the ghost imaging of a pure phase object and we realized a new cryptographic protocol based on non-local phase objects superposition. Our source has also paved the way in simulating system-environment interaction since the SLM allows precise decoherence control. We observed different dynamics of the system entanglement (polarization d.o.f.) modulating the environment spectrum (angular distribution). Then studying the trace distance evolution we demonstrated initial system-environment correlation.

Tese de mestrado em Engenharia Geográfica, apresentada à Universidade de Lisboa, através da Faculdade de Ciências, 2014
A informação geográfica está cada vez mais presente em diversas áreas de conhecimento, sendo que cerca de 80 % das bases das bases de dados inclui informação espacial. Processos de visualização de informação geográfica e aplicação de algoritmos com componente geográfica são já comuns no dia-a-dia de qualquer utilizador da internet. O acentuado desenvolvimento das tecnologias de informação e comunicação tem resultado no aparecimento de tecnologias cada vez mais eficientes, e com capacidade de lidar com grandes volumes de dados com componente geoespacial. Apesar dos esforços dos últimos anos no desenvolvimento das tecnologias de código aberto e licença livre (open source) relacionados com esta área, são ainda escassas as opções que não impliquem instalação de software e que sejam acessíveis a diversos públicos. Os Censos em Portugal representam a maior fonte de informação sobre população, família e habitação disponível, tendo esta um carácter espacial muito definido e compreendendo informação com potencial interesse para diversos tema de investigação. Assim, o que se propõem neste projecto é a criação de um protótipo de plataforma na web que permita ao utilizador fazer análise espacial sobre os seus dados e/ou um conjunto de dados dos censos disponibilizado pela plataforma. Os métodos incluem visualização, análise de autocorrelação espacial e criação de modelos de regressão espacial com base nos dados mencionados. Além da evidente funcionalidade a atingir, pretende-se ainda fazer um levantamento das tecnologias (software e ferramentas) Open Source disponíveis para a construção de um Web Sig (desde a base de dados, ao sevidor de dados espaciais e disponibilização e análise dos mesmos), bem como das suas potencialidades e limitações actualmente. Finalmente, pretende-se fazer uma integração de três elementos: uma compreensão dos métodos estatísticos de análise espacial referidos, uma exploração das tecnologias (ao nível de software) Open Source disponíveis para os fins definidos e a definição de estruturas de arquitectura de acordo com a finalidade proposta.
Geographic information is increasingly more present in several areas of knowledge, resulting in the fact that around 80% (Zhang et al., 2010) of the databases include spatial information. Processes of visualization and application of algorithms to spatial data are already common in the daily routine of any internet user. The accentuated development of information and communication technologies have resulted in the appearance of increasingly more efficient technologies with the capacity of dealing with big data volumes with a geospatial component. Despite the effort over the last years in the development of Open source technologies related with this area, options that do not require the installation of software and that are accessible to a diverse range of publics are still lacking. In Portugal, Census represent the biggest source of information about population, family, housing available having a defined spatial character and comprehending information with potential interest in a wide range of investigation themes. As a result of the above, what is proposed in this project is the creation of a platform on the internet that allows the users to perform spatial analysis over their and/or a default data set from Census made available by the platform. The methods to be applied include visualization, spatial autocorrelation analysis and building spatial regression models over a defined dataset. Besides the evident functionality to achieve it is also pretended to gather an overview over the open source technologies available for the construction of a Web Gis (from the database to the geospatial data server and the display and analysis of the mentioned data) as well as their potentialities and limitations at the moment. Finally it is aimed to integrate three elements: an understanding of spatial analysis methods to be applied to geospatial data in areal sections, an exploration of the technologies available for the proposed goals mainly within the Open Source software area and the definition of system architectures according to the proposed objectives.

No
In this paper we investigate the use of general topological spaces in connection with a generalised variant of membrane systems. We provide an approach which produces a fine grain description of local operations occurring simultaneously in sets of compartments of the system by restricting the interactions between objects. This restriction is given by open sets of a topology and multisets of objects associated with them, which dynamically change during the functioning of the system and which together define a notion of vicinity for the objects taking part in the interactions.
The first, the second, and the third authors were partially supported under the Royal Society International Exchanges Scheme (ref. IE110369). The second author was also partially supported by the project MuVet, Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research (CNCS – UEFISCDI) grant number PNII- ID-PCE-2011-3-0688. This work was partially completed whilst the third author was a visiting fellow at the Isaac Newton Institute for the Mathematical Sciences in the programme ‘Semantics & Syntax: A Legacy of Alan Turing’. The work of the first and the fourth author was also supported in part by the Hungarian Scientific Research Fund (OTKA), Grant no. K75952. The fourth author was supported by the European Union through the T´AMOP-4.2.2.C-11/1/KONV-2012-0001 project which is co-financed by the European Social Fund.

Magister Scientiae (Biodiversity and Conservation Biology)
This thesis looks at aspects relating to vegetated open space in the quaternary catchment of the Lourens River, Cape Town, South Africa in 2005 and at GoogleEarth as a source of imagery for research. The research questions were: “Is GoogleEarth a suitable source of imagery for spatial analysis of landscapes?”; “What was the potential access (proximity) to vegetated open space of at least 900 m2 in the Lourens River quaternary catchment in 2005?”; “How many vegetated open spaces with an area of at least 900 m2 were present in the Lourens River quaternary catchment in 2005?” and “What spaces within the urban edge in the Lourens River quaternary catchment can be said to have some protection from development?” Open space has multiple benefits for humans in terms of health and social interaction.In urban areas, it is also important for biodiversity conservation. In Cape Town, this is critical since the city has critically endangered national vegetation types that only occur within its boundaries and 319 IUCN Red List species within its boundaries.Proximity does not reflect use of open space which is affected by the size of the open space, quality of the open space, neighbourhood attributes and individual and collective perceptions of the open space. Quality of vegetated open space is dependent on its facilities and maintenance which are largely determined by its management. In Cape Town, open space management is mainly mowing/brush cutting all spaces which has a negative impact on biodiversity retention. Mowing is continued because of popular demand so action needs to be taken to change popular perceptions.Google Earth is readily available and widely used. It is used for research in diverse disciplines. Local Internet connection problems complicated this study. Alignment and projection problems were encountered in this study. Thus Google Earth geospatial issues make it a poor choice of imagery source for large scale spatial analysis of landscapes.Open space was digitized in Google Earth and transferred to a propriety GIS for editing. Vegetated spaces with a minimum of 900 m2 and a width of at least 15 m were selected from the approximately 1025 digitised spaces. Google Earth imagery was used because it is readily available. Euclidean distances of 300 m, 500 m, 800 m and 900 m (taken from literature) were used to buffer the digitized vegetated open spaces and other data on schools, train stations, bus routes and taxi routes in and within 900 m of the catchment. Buffer analysis was carried out. Data from the City of Cape Town and a schools layer were used to determine the number of cemeteries,community parks, nature reserves and school grounds – space regarded as having some protection from development - within the urban edge of the city and what area they covered.Within or partially within the Lourens River quaternary catchment, 593 vegetated open spaces of at least 900 m2 were identified. The analysis showed that only two houses were beyond 300 m from a vegetated open space. There was vegetated open space within 300 m of all the schools, stations, bus and taxi routes within the catchment and in close proximity to the catchment. Within the urban edge, only 124 spaces were found to be protected, of which only one was a nature reserve.Most of the open spaces are not formally designated as open space and are vulnerable to development. Much development has taken place since 2005 in the Lourens River quaternary catchment so action is needed to ensure proximity to vegetated open space remains a positive feature of the area.Expanding the present research to cover a larger area would provide additional baseline data. Further research could consider the loss of open space over time and the impact of management on the quality of designated open space.

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.
Health is an indispensable attribute of human life. In modern age, utilizing technologies for health is one of the emergent concepts in several applied fields. Computer science, (geographic) information systems are some of the interdisciplinary fields which motivates this thesis. Inspiring idea of the study is originated from a rhetorical disease DbHd: Database Hugging Disorder, defined by Hans Rosling at World Bank Open Data speech in May 2010. The cure of this disease can be offered as linked open data, which contains ontologies for health science, diseases, genes, drugs, GEO species etc. LOD-Linked Open Data provides the systematic application of information by publishing and connecting structured data on the Web. In the context of this study we aimed to reduce boundaries between semantic web and geo web. For this reason a use case data is studied from Valencia CSISP- Research Center of Public Health in which the mortality rates for particular diseases are represented spatio-temporally. Use case data is divided into three conceptual domains (health, spatial, statistical), enhanced with semantic relations and descriptions by following Linked Data Principles. Finally in order to convey complex health-related information, we offer an infrastructure integrating geo web and semantic web. Based on the established outcome, user access methods are introduced and future researches/studies are outlined.

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.
Air pollution is a critical issue in contemporary times. For this reason, officials and environmental managers are in need of suitable tools for visualization, manipulation and analysis of environmental data. Environmental concerns in Europe have encouraged the European Environmental Agency (EEA) to create the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register (E-PRTR). The E-PRTR is vital and valuable because society will benefit if the data are used to improve monitoring and consequently advance environmental management. However, the data are not accessible in an interoperable way, which complicates their use and does not allow for a contribution to environmental monitoring. This paper describes a Web GIS system developed for the monitoring of industrial emissions using environmental data released by the EEA. Four research objectives are addressed: (1) design and create an interoperable spatial database to store environmental data, (2) develop a Web GIS to manipulate the spatial database, facilitate air pollution monitoring and enhance risk assessment, (3) implement OGC standards to provide data interoperability and integration into a Web GIS, (4) create a model to simulate distribution of air pollutants and assess a population’s exposure to industrial emissions. The proposed approach towards interoperability is an adoption of servicebased architecture for implementation of a three-tier Web GIS application. This system’s prototype is developed using open source tools for the Valencian Community of Spain.

Dissertação apresentada como requisito parcial para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Ciência e Sistemas de Informação Geográfica
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are now considered a valuable and essential tool to epidemiology. Spatial analysis through visualization, exploration and modelling allow for a deeper comprehension of the spatial and temporal dynamics of diseases and may be used to suggest and support epidemiologic hypotheses. The Internet is nowadays the preferred means for the electronic sharing of data and it still evolving. Its advent has also pushed for the development of powerful proprietary and Open Source (OS) technologies to provide a standard platform for the management, visualization and analysis of spatial epidemiologic data. (...)

Dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Geospatial Technologies.
In the Ethiopian rural region of Amhara, variable atmospheric conditions and climate change are affecting the agricultural productivity and the consequences might be irreversible. However, scientific and technological advances nowadays can be more and more helpful to improve the situation. The purpose of the present work is to build the effective strategies that permit the utilization and integration of GIS technologies in the institutional and humanitarian works that are being carried out in the region. Our challenge will be to raise the geographical awareness and optimize the use of resources and tools in the region, involving the farmer communities as key stakeholders in the whole process. The work explains the first steps taken regarding the necessity of building GIS capacity for risk mapping, the data collection related to food security and the use of GIS technologies, being the training of the local staff the key point that leads to further steps such as the implementation of the mechanisms to share spatial information known as Spatial Data Infrastructures. By using SDI, combined with GIS software to access and manage the information, we may improve the understanding and interoperable utilization of geo-spatial data, and therefore contribute to the development of such a needy nation. All that, developed under the umbrella of an Inter-University Cooperation Program.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse and interpret the existent and future needs of the people and environment of the mission station, Kwasizabantu,to ensure settlement growth that will enhance the social, economical and environmental aspects of the settlement. This will result in a development framework of the whole site, a master plan for the lifespan of the settlement and detailed design of the heart of the settlement.
Dissertation (ML(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2009.
Architecture
unrestricted