Modeling Of Information Systems Research Articles

Coupling GIS with Stormwater Modelling for the Location Prioritization and Hydrological Simulation of Permeable Pavements in Urban Catchments

Permeable Pavement Systems (PPS) are an alternative to conventional paving systems that allow water to filter through their layers instead of running off them. They are structural source control Sustainable Drainage System (SuDS), which can contribute to reducing increased flood risk due to the combination of two of the greatest challenges with which cities will have to deal in the future: urbanization and Climate Change. Hence, this research consisted of the design of a site selection methodology for the location prioritization of PPS in urban catchments, in order to simulate their potential to attenuate flooding caused by severe rainfall events. This was achieved through the coupling of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and stormwater models, whose combination provided a framework for both locating and characterizing PPS. The usefulness of the methodology was tested through a real case study consisting of an urban catchment located in Espoo (southern Finland), which demonstrated that PPS can make a significant difference in the amount of runoff generated in an urban catchment due to intense storms.

Urban sprawl assessment and modeling using landsat images and GIS

Nowadays, urban sprawl phenomenon have been seen in many of cities in the developing and developed countries. Urban sprawl is considered as a particular kind of urban growth which comes up with a lot of negative effects. Thus, monitoring, analyzing and modeling of this phenomenon seem to be unavoidable. This paper assess urban sprawl in Tehran Metropolis as the capital of Iran and models urban sprawl in this mega city utilizing artificial neural networks and adaptive neuro-based fuzzy inference system methods with remote sensing data and geospatial information systems spatial analyses and modeling capabilities to simulate Tehran urban growth. The results confirm that this city has experienced sprawl and sprawl has an increasing rate. Three Landsat imageries from TM and ETM+ sensors taken in 1988, 1999 and 2010 and seven predictor variables include distance to road, distance to green space, slope, elevation, distance to fault, distance to developed area and number of urban cells in 3 by 3 neighborhoods have been used for urban sprawl assessment and modeling. Relative operating characteristics (ROC) and sensitivity analyses have been used to evaluate simulation results. In this research, two evaluation steps have been implemented using ROC and on the both of them, ANFIS presented the best performance vs two different proposed ANN structures.

Evaluation criteria and models of information systems with the property of behavior

The paper focuses on the creation of enterprise management information systems with the property of behavior. Behavior of information system is considered from the standpoint of its functions targeted expansion; the need for them arises from the variability of the external and internal environment. To create a system with behavior, integrated information systems are encouraged to be used constructed from highly specialized, low functional applications. Classification criteria of information systems with behavior are proposed by a set of functions, by options of control transfer to the application, by the integration level of information system components. Classification is revealed by integration levels of information system components. Within the classification four options for structural models of information systems are suggested. The first option is based on the integration of message brokers with achieving of automatic data transfer and the launch of the relevant applications. The second option is based on an integrated database that enables applications to operate in accordance with established regulations. The third version of the integration is carried out on the level of services and gives the possibility to build structures with preliminary uncertain configuration of intern applications for the actual problem solution. The fourth option is based on integration level of the interpretation of metadata for distributed database systems and applications that interact with these databases. The system behavior comes into existence in case of new application automatically exchanges input and output data with the other components of information system and has the possibility of flexible parameter setting of functions interaction.

Biogeography and conservation of mammals from the West Sahara-Sahel: an application of ecological niche-based models and GIS

The West Sahara-Sahel is a remote region where knowledge gaps on mammal distribution have hampered accurate local biodiversity assessments and the development of optimised conservation planning in the region. Using a geographical information system and ecological niche-based modelling tools, this study combines high resolution presence data from 22 mammals and environmental factors from the West Sahara-Sahel to identify suitable areas for mammal occurrence, biogeographic affinities among taxa, and local hotspots of species richness. The maximum entropy approach was used to relate environmental factors with mammal distributions and to predict suitable areas of species’ occurrence. Biogeographic groups were defined based on the spatial similarities of predicted distributions. Ecological niches of analysed taxa were summarized through Principal Components Analyses based on topoclimatic and habitat variables. Distributions of most mammals were related with climate and/or habitat features, and some were associated with topography. Suitable areas were predicted mostly within known distributions of mammalian taxa. Low values of niche breadth were estimated for all taxa, indicating a tendency for specialization in the study area. Shared distributional ranges among taxa allowed the identification of five groups with different biogeographic affinities. Most groups occurred in the ecoregions North Saharan steppe and woodlands and Sahelian Acacia savanna, reflecting their availability and stressing the importance of these ecoregions for local mammal conservation. Predicted suitable areas were poorly represented in the current network of protected areas, especially in Mauritania. The southern Mauritanian mountains accumulated most of the studied mammals, but are largely unprotected. This study updated the current knowledge on the distribution and habitat selection patterns of the analysed mammals in the West Sahara-Sahel. The fine scale ecological niche-based models built with high resolution data can be used to identify key-areas for conservation and management, and could be applied to other remote regions and taxonomic groups worldwide.

Ecological Niche Modeling of Risk Factors for H7N9 Human Infection in China.

China was attacked by a serious influenza A (H7N9) virus in 2013. The first human infection case was confirmed in Shanghai City and soon spread across most of eastern China. Using the methods of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and ecological niche modeling (ENM), this research quantitatively analyzed the relationships between the H7N9 occurrence and the main environmental factors, including meteorological variables, human population density, bird migratory routes, wetland distribution, and live poultry farms, markets, and processing factories. Based on these relationships the probability of the presence of H7N9 was predicted. Results indicated that the distribution of live poultry processing factories, farms, and human population density were the top three most important determinants of the H7N9 human infection. The relative contributions to the model of live poultry processing factories, farms and human population density were 39.9%, 17.7% and 17.7%, respectively, while the maximum temperature of the warmest month and mean relative humidity had nearly no contribution to the model. The paper has developed an ecological niche model (ENM) that predicts the spatial distribution of H7N9 cases in China using environmental variables. The area under the curve (AUC) values of the model were greater than 0.9 (0.992 for the training samples and 0.961 for the test data). The findings indicated that most of the high risk areas were distributed in the Yangtze River Delta. These findings have important significance for the Chinese government to enhance the environmental surveillance at multiple human poultry interfaces in the high risk area.

The spatial distribution of injuries in need of surgical intervention in Nepal.

Geographic information system modelling can accurately represent the geospatial distribution of disease burdens to inform health service delivery. Given the dramatic topography of Nepal and a high prevalence of unmet surgical needs, we explored the consequences of topography on the prevalence of surgical conditions. The Nepalese Surgeons OverSeas Assessment of Surgical Need (SOSAS) is a validated, countrywide, cluster randomised survey that assesses surgical need in lowand middle-income countries; it was performed in Nepal in 2014. Data on conditions potentially affected by topography (e.g. fractures, hernias, injuries, burns) were extracted from the database. A national digital elevation model was used to determine altitude, aspect, slope steepness and curvature of the SOSAS survey sites. Forward stepwise linear regression was performed with prevalence of each surgical condition as the response variable and topographic data as explanatory variables. The highest correlation coefficient was for models predicting hernias and fractures, both explaining 21% of the variance. The model fitted to death due to fall would become significant when an outlier was excluded (P<0.001; R2=0.27). Excluding the outlier yielded a better-fitted model to burn injury (stepwise regression) without any explanatory variables. Other models trended towards a correlation, but did not have sufficient power to detect a difference. This study identified slight correlation between elevation and the prevalence of hernias and fall injuries. Further investigation on the effects of topography and geography on surgical conditions is needed to help determine if the data would be useful for directing allocation of surgical resources.

Executive Information System Modelling to Monitor Indonesian Criminal Rate

Similar to any other governments, Indonesia government has the role of protecting the security of its citizens via the established police unit. However, the executive unit is often unable to provide response in timely manner due to the huge data size. For the reason, an executive information system (EIS) is established in order to provide necessary information to leverage the decision making process. This work intends to establish and evaluate the executive information system and its support to facilitate the efforts to fight crimes in Indonesia territory. The EIS prototype is established and is evaluated on the basis of the six information system success factors where the required data are collected by means of questionnaire. The results suggest that the factors of system quality, information quality, easy-of-use, user satisfaction, and individual and organization impacts are very significant.

Temporal Dynamics and Spatial Patterns of Aedes aegypti Breeding Sites, in the Context of a Dengue Control Program in Tartagal (Salta Province, Argentina).

BackgroundSince 2009, Fundación Mundo Sano has implemented an Aedes aegypti Surveillance and Control Program in Tartagal city (Salta Province, Argentina). The purpose of this study was to analyze temporal dynamics of Ae. aegypti breeding sites spatial distribution, during five years of samplings, and the effect of control actions over vector population dynamics.Methodology/Principal FindingsSeasonal entomological (larval) samplings were conducted in 17,815 fixed sites in Tartagal urban area between 2009 and 2014. Based on information of breeding sites abundance, from satellite remote sensing data (RS), and by the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS), spatial analysis (hotspots and cluster analysis) and predictive model (MaxEnt) were performed. Spatial analysis showed a distribution pattern with the highest breeding densities registered in city outskirts. The model indicated that 75% of Ae. aegypti distribution is explained by 3 variables: bare soil coverage percentage (44.9%), urbanization coverage percentage(13.5%) and water distribution (11.6%).Conclusions/SignificanceThis results have called attention to the way entomological field data and information from geospatial origin (RS/GIS) are used to infer scenarios which could then be applied in epidemiological surveillance programs and in the determination of dengue control strategies. Predictive maps development constructed with Ae. aegypti systematic spatiotemporal data, in Tartagal city, would allow public health workers to identify and target high-risk areas with appropriate and timely control measures. These tools could help decision-makers to improve health system responses and preventive measures related to vector control.

Executive Information System Modelling to Monitor Indonesian Criminal Rate

Similar to any other governments, Indonesia government has the role of protecting the security of its citizens via the established police unit. However, the executive unit is often unable to provide response in timely manner due to the huge data size. For the reason, an executive information system (EIS) is established in order to provide necessary information to leverage the decision making process. This work intends to establish and evaluate the executive information system and its support to facilitate the efforts to fight crimes in Indonesia territory. The EIS prototype is established and is evaluated on the basis of the six information system success factors where the required data are collected by means of questionnaire. The results suggest that the factors of system quality, information quality, easy-of-use, user satisfaction, and individual and organization impacts are very significant.

Process-aware web programming with Jolie

We extend the Jolie programming language to capture the native modelling of process-aware web information systems, i.e., web information systems based upon the execution of business processes. Our main contribution is to offer a unifying approach for the programming of distributed architectures on the web, which can capture web servers, stateful process execution, and the composition of services via mediation. We discuss applications of this approach through a series of examples that cover, e.g., static content serving, multiparty sessions, and the evolution of web systems. Finally, we present a performance evaluation that includes a comparison of Jolie-based web systems to other frameworks and a measurement of its scalability.

Feature Selection from the Perspective of Knowledge Granulation in Dynamic Set-valued Information System.

Set-valued information systems are the generalized models of single-valued information systems. A feature set in such systems may vary dynamically over time when new information arrives, and the feature subset selected by feature selection algorithms need updating for knowledge discovery under a dynamic environment. Knowledge granulation as a feature measure is an effective way to evaluate the discernibility power of the features. But less effort has been made to investigate the feature selection issue from the perspective of knowledge granulation in dynamic conjunctive set-valued information systems. In this paper, we firstly apply the knowledge granulation for measuring features in the conjunctive set-valued information system. With the variation of a feature set in the system, an incremental approach for updating the knowledge granulation is discussed. Correspondingly, an incremental feature selection algorithm is developed when a feature set adds into and deletes from the system simultaneously. The experimental results show that the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm in comparison with existing feature selection algorithms.

Formalization of the classification pattern: survey of classification modeling in information systems engineering

Formalization is becoming more common in all stages of the development of information systems, as a better understanding of its benefits emerges. Classification systems are ubiquitous, no more so than in domain modeling. The classification pattern that underlies these systems provides a good case study of the move toward formalization in part because it illustrates some of the barriers to formalization, including the formal complexity of the pattern and the ontological issues surrounding the “one and the many.” Powersets are a way of characterizing the (complex) formal structure of the classification pattern, and their formalization has been extensively studied in mathematics since Cantor’s work in the late nineteenth century. One can use this formalization to develop a useful benchmark. There are various communities within information systems engineering (ISE) that are gradually working toward a formalization of the classification pattern. However, for most of these communities, this work is incomplete, in that they have not yet arrived at a solution with the expressiveness of the powerset benchmark. This contrasts with the early smooth adoption of powerset by other information systems communities to, for example, formalize relations. One way of understanding the varying rates of adoption is recognizing that the different communities have different historical baggage. Many conceptual modeling communities emerged from work done on database design, and this creates hurdles to the adoption of the high level of expressiveness of powersets. Another relevant factor is that these communities also often feel, particularly in the case of domain modeling, a responsibility to explain the semantics of whatever formal structures they adopt. This paper aims to make sense of the formalization of the classification pattern in ISE and surveys its history through the literature, starting from the relevant theoretical works of the mathematical literature and gradually shifting focus to the ISE literature. The literature survey follows the evolution of ISE’s understanding of how to formalize the classification pattern. The various proposals are assessed using the classical example of classification; the Linnaean taxonomy formalized using powersets as a benchmark for formal expressiveness. The broad conclusion of the survey is that (1) the ISE community is currently in the early stages of the process of understanding how to formalize the classification pattern, particularly in the requirements for expressiveness exemplified by powersets, and (2) that there is an opportunity to intervene and speed up the process of adoption by clarifying this expressiveness. Given the central place that the classification pattern has in domain modeling, this intervention has the potential to lead to significant improvements.

Neighbourhood effects on body constitution–A case study of Hong Kong

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has long perceived environment as an integral part of the development of body constitution, which is a personal state of health closely related to disease presence. Despite of the ever-growing studies on the clinical effectiveness of TCM and the scientific linking between body constitution and diseases, the geographical influence on body constitution has yet remained an unexplored territory. This study sought to investigate whether the neighbourhood environment is relevant to the composition of body type of a population through statistical multilevel and Geographic Information Systems modelling. The analysis comprised 3277 participants who had completed their body type assessment between 2009 and 2012 inclusive. The multilevel analysis also took simultaneous accounts of both individual-level (gender, age, BMI, type of housing) and area-level (percent greenery, percent road surface, total road intersection, sky view factor, temperature, relative humidity, rainfall and social deprivation index) characteristics to explain geographical variation by body types. Significant random or place effects (p < 0.001) were identified in the multilevel models. The spatial variation of body constitution involved the dynamic interplay between individual and environmental factors. The findings amassed the first scientific indications to back the common belief that place does play a role in the development of body constitution and is worthy of further investigation. By considering spatial and personal attributes simultaneously, the study can yield valuable insights into the patterning of area variation in body constitution and disease presence.

The Role of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) in Modeling of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

The popularity of Geographic Information System (GIS) has grown tremendously such that software developers can no longer neglect that sector when fashioning out new technologies for software development. The concept of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) has revolutionalised software development industry including the GIS and software modeling in general. This paper reveals how the concepts inherent in Object- Oriented Programming Languages (OOPLs) can be deployed to model a GIS software. Using materials from secondary sources and adopting a case study method, the paper unraveled the desirable features of GIS software with a view to determining the relevance of OOP in GIS modeling. Furthermore, current GIS Modeling software features were critically studied and were found to imbibe several OOP techniques and concepts. A GIS software, ArcGIS was used as a case study to reveal that GIS software models have close affinity with OOP implementation languages like C++, Java, C#. The paper concluded that OOP concepts indeed were very relevant in GIS modeling, even though some GIS related problems still needed to be fully tackled by existing software.

Conflitos das dinâmicas de transformação urbana e ambiental à luz da ecologia da paisagem

Atualmente, a taxa de crescimento das cidades é um desafio global para assegurar espaços para habitação, demanda por serviços e lazer, e ao mesmo tempo garantir a manutenção e preservação de áreas verdes que compõe uma paisagem sustentável. Este estudo propõe o uso das análises das métricas de paisagem para guiar decisões, buscando identificar e caracterizar os fragmentos para selecionar unidades em condição para estabelecimentos de corredores em equilíbrio com a ocupação antrópica do território. Assim, a motivação deste artigo é revisitar os princípios do uso das métricas da paisagem, com o emprego de Sistemas de Informações Geográficas (SIG) e modelos de análise espacial em geoprocessamento uma vez que os resultados indicam que as métricas de forma e distribuição espacial são muito úteis para caracterização da ocupação antrópica em comparação à cobertura vegetal. A principal contribuição do trabalho é a tabela comparativa entre as métricas aplicadas aos fragmentos de manchas urbanas e aos fragmentos de cobertura vegetal. O processo é ilustrado através de um estudo de caso em uma importante paisagem caracterizada por conflitos de interesses, demonstrado a aplicação das métricas de paisagem e análise morfológica no planejamento regional. Ao revisitar os estudos de morfometrias (Ecologia da Paisagem) inova ao aplicar suas lógicas para os estudos de áreas urbanas e manchas urbanas, apresentando uma proposta de como identificar condições de dinamismo, avaliando cada fragmento urbano segundo sua condição de expansão, potencial de influenciar transformações no território ou de estabilidade em termos de transformação.

Assessing and prioritizing environmental hazards associated with abandoned mines in Gangwon-do, South Korea: the Total Mine Hazards Index

This paper presents a new index, the Total Mine Hazards Index (TMHI), which has been developed to support reclamation planning in abandoned mining areas in Korea. The TMHI quantifies the extent of the hazards caused by mining in terms of five problem areas: (a) mine subsidence, (b) deforestation, (c) mine tailings, (d) waste rock dumps, and (e) mine water. These five mining hazards are statistically analyzed and the results are combined with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) modeling to prioritize the abandoned mines that pose the greatest hazard risk. A GIS database of mine-related information, including topographic data, land cover data, and road maps, is analyzed and used to evaluate the likely extent of mine-related pollution. As a case study, the TMHI is applied to Gangwon-do province in Korea, and the results show that the TMHI can be used to identify those mines most in need of attention and support mine reclamation planning by comprehensively quantifying the nature and extent of any hazards associated with abandoned mines.

Life on the boundary: Environmental factors as drivers of habitat distribution in the littoral zone

The boundary between land and sea, i.e. the littoral zone, is home to a large number of habitats whose distribution is primarily driven by the distance to the sea level but also by other environmental factors such as littoral's geomorphological features, wave exposure, water temperature or orientation. Here we explore the relative importance of those major environmental factors that drive the presence of littoral rocky habitats along 1100 Km of Catalonia's shoreline (Spain, NW Mediterranean) by using Geographic Information Systems and Generalized Linear Models. The distribution of mediolittoral and upper infralittoral habitats responded to different environmental factors. Mediolittoral habitats showed regional differences drawn by sea-water temperature and substrate type. Wave exposure (hydrodynamism), slope and geological features were only relevant to those mediolittoral habitats with specific environmental needs. We did not find any regional pattern of distribution in upper infralittoral habitats, and selected factors only played a moderate role in habitat distribution at the local scale. This study shows for the first time that environmental factors determining habitat distribution differ within the mediolittoral and the upper infralittoral zones and provides the basis for further development of models oriented at predicting the distribution of littoral marine habitats.

A CASE BASED REASONING ARCHITECTURE AND COMPONENT BASED MODEL FOR GREEN IS IMPLEMENTATION AND DIFFUSION IN ORGANISATION

Green Information Systems (IS) offers promise for IS scholars to make significant contribution in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, achieve sustainability and reducing the effects of global climate change. Green IS has therefore become one of the latest considerations to improve organization’s environmental sustainability whilst reducing the cost of IT processes. Due to recent research centered on sustainability, a few number of Green IS models and frameworks have been developed for addressing environmental sustainability, however there is still problem relating to provision of adequate data that can train, educate and support practitioner in diffusing and implementing Green IS in organisations. Thus after reviewing existing research of Green IS, this paper proposed a Case Based Reasoning (CBR) architecture for Green IS Implementation in organisations to train, educate and support practitioner in implementing Green IS in their organisation and a Component Based Model to support Practitioners in diffusing and achieving Eco-Sustainability goal. Contribution from this paper can also be used as a guide for future research in this domain.

GIS based spatial noise impact analysis (SNIA) of the broadening of national highway in Sikkim Himalayas: a case study

Mountainous areas create a complex and challenging environment to conduct noise impact analysis of development projects. This paper presents a noise impact analysis methodology using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Traffic Noise Model (FHWA TNM 2.5) to portray spatial distribution of noise due to the broadening of the national highway in the mountainous terrain of East Sikkim. Two noise level indices viz., Hourly Equivalent Sound Level (Leq(H)) and Day and Night Average Sound Level (Ldn) were calculated for the year 2004 as pre-project scenario, 2014 as project implementation scenario and 2039 as post-project scenario. The overall trend shows that the proportion of area under adverse noise level decreases from pre-project scenario to project implementation scenario. Over the time the adverse noise impact in the post-project scenario reaches very close to pre-project scenario in case of both the noise indices. Overlay analysis of noise based landuse maps over actual landuse map show that non-compliance of noise based landuse will show similar trend. This trend is mainly attributed to traffic composition and highway broadening induced-traffic volume. The study shows that TNM and spatial interpolation of noise data using Empirical Bayesian Kriging (EBK) are reliable tools to perform noise impact analysis in mountainous areas. Multiple regression analysis show that, radial distance and elevation difference of noise receivers from the nearest point in the highway are significant predictors of Leq(H) and Ldn at lower percentage of heavy trucks in traffic composition.

Incremental knowledge discovering in interval-valued decision information system with the dynamic data

With the development of information technology and the rapid updating of data sets, the object sets in an information system may evolve in time when new information arrives and redundancy information leaves in real life. Interval-valued decision information systems are important type of data decision tables and generalized models of single-valued information systems. Fast updating the lower and upper approximations is the core technology of knowledge discovery that is based rough set theory in dynamic data environment. Consequently, in this paper we focus on incremental approaches updating approximations with dynamic data sets in interval-valued decision system. Firstly, we define an interval similarity degree by which a binary relation can be constructed, followed a rough set model be established. Then, incremental approaches for updating approximations are proposed and the incremental algorithms are shown. At last, comparative experiments on several UCI data sets show the proposed incremental updating methods are efficient and effective for dynamic data sets, namely, these approaches significantly outperform the classical methods with a dramatic reduction in the computational time.