Geoindicadores correspondem a medidas de magnitude e freqüência de processos geomorfológicos superficiais que variam num período inferior a cem anos e se baseiam em análises, diagnósticos e procedimentos para monitoramento do meio ambiente. Assim, o conceito de geoindicador foi adotado nesta pesquisa para formulação e sistematização de indicadores de processos morfodinâmicos e intervenções antropogênicas (uso e ocupação do solo) na bacia do ribeirão Pirajuçara, com 73 km2, que abrange os municípios de São Paulo, Taboão da Serra e Embu, na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo (RMSP). Sua escolha considerou a existência de áreas significativas de produção de sedimentos e o histórico de ocorrências de inundações. Os indicadores foram aplicados em três escalas de análise: bacia do ribeirão Pirajuçara (1:50.000), bacia do ribeirão Poá (afluente principal do ribeirão Pirajuçara) (1:25.000), e sub-bacias de dois afluentes de primeira ordem do córrego Poá (1:5.000). A proposta apresentada reúne 21 (vinte e um) indicadores em quatro categorias: situação de equilíbrio, intervenções antropogênicas, dinâmica das vertentes, e dinâmica fluvial, para cada uma das quais foram descritos os parâmetros de registro de cada indicador. Esse modelo poderá subsidiar a elaboração de planos de monitoramento para prevenção e controle de processos morfodinâmicos em bacias hidrográficas em áreas urbanas e/ou rurais. / Geoindicators are measures of magnitude and frequency of surface geomorphological processes that vary significantly over a period of less than 100 years and are used in environmental monitoring assessment. Geoindicators have been adopted in this research in order to select and systematize the morphodynamic processes and anthropogenic action (land use occupation) in the Pirajuçara Watershed which drains an area of 73 km2, and includes parts of São Paulo, Taboão da Serra and Embu cities, in São Paulo Metropolitan Region (RMSP). The reason for selecting this watershed was the presence of significant erosion areas and the historical records of floods. The indicators have been applied in three scales of analysis: Pirajuçara watershed (1:50.000), Poá watershed - the main subwatershed of Pirajuçara (1:25.000) and two subwatersheds of first order of Poá (1:5.000). This research presents 21 indicators in four classes: equilibrium state; anthropogenic action; hillslope dynamic and fluvial dynamic, and describes for each indicator its characteristics. This proposal may be used to support the elaboration of monitoring plans to prevent and control the morphodynamic processes for watersheds in urban and/or rural areas.

Geo-based Information Visualizations (GIV) allow people to analyze data points based on their related geographic locations. This approach is usually adopted where a large scale geo-referenced dataset is present and users are trying to find a way to examine hidden patterns within this data. One of the emerging trends in GIV is to visualize social media data to show how information flows between users of popular social networking sites. Due to its public nature and the large number of users, most of the visualizations in this area rely on conversational data from Twitter (Twitter.com). In this thesis, we design and implement a web-based interactive GIV system, AcademiaMap-GIV, to visualize online conversations among scholars on Twitter. A formal exploratory user study was also conducted on the target users. The study results demonstrated that most of the study respondents found the features of AcademiaMap-GIV effective in regards to visualizing information of their interests.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T20:00:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 4667.pdf: 8651416 bytes, checksum: 11c1d79940e77644b74e5e906a20fd5e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-09-20 / Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos / Today s administrators are increasingly adopting a river basin as a planning and management unit. A river basin consists of a physical and biogeophysiographic unit with delimited boundaries, which can extend to several spatial scales. Environmental zoning a much-used tool in environmental planning of watersheds may be defined as the compartmentalization of a given area into zones according to its most relevant attributes and dynamics. Along these lines, this study aimed to obtain an analytical (geo)environmental zoning chart of Monjolinho river basin (São Carlos, SP, Brazil) at 1:50,000 scale with the purpose of assisting planners and administrators in managing urban occupation, thereby minimizing impacts to the environment. Monjolinho river basin encompasses an area of 275km2, most of which located in the municipality of São Carlos (a smaller part of which located in the neighboring municipality of Ibaté). The 1:50,000-scale cartographic documents generated including maps and charts representing different components of the physical environment that assisted in the analytical (geo)environmental zoning of the watershed in question were: registration map, declivity chart, map of land use and coverage, map of surface geological formations, map of unconsolidated materials, map of aquifer units, and map of primary compartmentalization units. The resulting product of this study was an analytical (geo)environmental zoning chart of Monjolinho river basin, centered on the process of urban occupation. This cartographic document compartmentalizes this basin into the following classes of appropriateness to urban occupation: suitable areas, unfavorable areas, and unsuitable areas. / Atualmente verifica-se uma tendência de os planejadores adotarem a bacia hidrográfica como unidade de planejamento e gestão. A bacia hidrográfica corresponde a uma unidade física e biogeofisiográfica com fronteiras delimitadas e que pode estender-se por várias escalas espaciais. Um instrumento que tem sido utilizado para subsidiar o planejamento ambiental de bacias hidrográficas é o zoneamento (geo)ambiental, o qual pode ser definido como sendo a compartimentação de uma área em zonas, com base na avaliação dos atributos do meio físico mais relevantes e de suas dinâmicas. Neste sentido, o presente trabalho teve como objetivo a elaboração da carta de zoneamento (geo)ambiental analítico para a bacia hidrográfica do rio do Monjolinho (São Carlos, SP) na escala de 1:50.000, a qual poderá ser utilizada por gestores e planejadores com o intuito de balizar o processo de ocupação urbana, minimizando impactos ambientais. A bacia hidrográfica do rio do Monjolinho estende-se por aproximadamente 275 km2, tendo a maior parte de sua área contida no município de São Carlos e uma pequena parcela correspondendo ao município vizinho de Ibaté. Os documentos cartográficos gerados na escala de 1:50.000, incluindo mapas e cartas representativos de diferentes componentes do meio físico, e que subsidiaram o zoneamento (geo)ambiental analítico da bacia em questão foram: Mapa Cadastral, Carta de Declividades, Mapa de Uso e Cobertura do Solo, Mapa de Formações Geológicas de Superfície, Mapa de Materiais Inconsolidados, Mapa de Unidades Aquíferas e Mapa de Unidades Básicas de Compartimentação. Como resultado do trabalho obteve-se a carta de zoneamento (geo)ambiental analítico da bacia hidrográfica do rio do Monjolinho, com foco no processo de ocupação urbana. Este documento cartográfico compartimentou a bacia nas seguintes classes de aptidão à ocupação urbana: áreas propícias, áreas pouco favoráveis e áreas impróprias.

Geoindicadores correspondem a medidas de magnitude e freqüência de processos geomorfológicos superficiais que variam num período inferior a cem anos e se baseiam em análises, diagnósticos e procedimentos para monitoramento do meio ambiente. Assim, o conceito de geoindicador foi adotado nesta pesquisa para formulação e sistematização de indicadores de processos morfodinâmicos e intervenções antropogênicas (uso e ocupação do solo) na bacia do ribeirão Pirajuçara, com 73 km2, que abrange os municípios de São Paulo, Taboão da Serra e Embu, na Região Metropolitana de São Paulo (RMSP). Sua escolha considerou a existência de áreas significativas de produção de sedimentos e o histórico de ocorrências de inundações. Os indicadores foram aplicados em três escalas de análise: bacia do ribeirão Pirajuçara (1:50.000), bacia do ribeirão Poá (afluente principal do ribeirão Pirajuçara) (1:25.000), e sub-bacias de dois afluentes de primeira ordem do córrego Poá (1:5.000). A proposta apresentada reúne 21 (vinte e um) indicadores em quatro categorias: situação de equilíbrio, intervenções antropogênicas, dinâmica das vertentes, e dinâmica fluvial, para cada uma das quais foram descritos os parâmetros de registro de cada indicador. Esse modelo poderá subsidiar a elaboração de planos de monitoramento para prevenção e controle de processos morfodinâmicos em bacias hidrográficas em áreas urbanas e/ou rurais. / Geoindicators are measures of magnitude and frequency of surface geomorphological processes that vary significantly over a period of less than 100 years and are used in environmental monitoring assessment. Geoindicators have been adopted in this research in order to select and systematize the morphodynamic processes and anthropogenic action (land use occupation) in the Pirajuçara Watershed which drains an area of 73 km2, and includes parts of São Paulo, Taboão da Serra and Embu cities, in São Paulo Metropolitan Region (RMSP). The reason for selecting this watershed was the presence of significant erosion areas and the historical records of floods. The indicators have been applied in three scales of analysis: Pirajuçara watershed (1:50.000), Poá watershed - the main subwatershed of Pirajuçara (1:25.000) and two subwatersheds of first order of Poá (1:5.000). This research presents 21 indicators in four classes: equilibrium state; anthropogenic action; hillslope dynamic and fluvial dynamic, and describes for each indicator its characteristics. This proposal may be used to support the elaboration of monitoring plans to prevent and control the morphodynamic processes for watersheds in urban and/or rural areas.

This thesis is addressing the fusion of geo-information from different data sources for time-critical geo-applications. Such geo-information is extracted from sensors that record earth observation (EO) data. In recent years the amount of sensors that provide geo-information experienced a major growth not least because of the rising market for small sensors that are nowadays integrated in smartphones or recently even in fitness wristbands that are carried at the body. The resulting flood of geo-information builds the basis for new, time-critical geo-applications that would have been inconceivable a decade ago. The real-time characteristics of geo-information, which is also getting more important for traditional sensors (e.g. remote sensors), require new methodologies and scientific investigations regarding aggregation and analysis that can be summarised under the term geo-information fusion. Thus, the main goal of this thesis is the investigation of fusing geo-information for time-critical geo-applications with the focus on the benefits as well as challenges and obstacles that appear. Three different use cases dealing with capturing, modelling and analysis of spatial information are studied. In that process, the main emphasis is on the added value and the benefits of geo-information fusion. One can speak of an “added value” if the informational content can only be derived by the combination of information from different sources, meaning that it cannot be derived from one source individually. Another goal of this thesis is the prototypical integration of the fusion approach in spatial data infrastructures (SDIs) to increase the interoperability of the developed methods. By doing so, the fusion can be provided (e.g. over the internet) and used by a multitude of users and developers. Above that, the integration is of high importance regarding systems and concepts like the Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS), the INSPIRE directive for Europe or the European monitoring system Copernicus. The results and findings of this thesis can be seen as the first advances and can be used for further research and studies in the field of geo-information fusion which will gain further importance and relevance for all spatial questions in the future.

Pour mener à bien leur mission, les satellites de télécommunications doivent rester à la verticale d'un même point de la Terre, sur une orbite dite géostationnaire, pour laquelle la période de révolution des satellites sur leur orbite est identique à la période de rotation de la Terre sur elle-même. Cependant, à cause des perturbations orbitales, les satellites tendent à s'en éloigner, et il est alors nécessaire de concevoir des stratégies de commande pour les maintenir dans un voisinage de cette position de référence. Du fait de leur grande valeur de poussée, les systèmes à propulsion chimique ont largement été utilisés, mais aujourd'hui les systèmes à propulsion électrique avec leur grande impulsion spécifique sont des alternatives viables pour réduire la masse d'ergols du satellite, et ainsi le coût au lancement, ou allonger la durée de vie du satellite, ce qui permettrait de limiter l'encombrement dans l'espace. Cependant, l'utilisation d'un tel système propulsif induit des contraintes opérationnelles issues en partie du caractère limité de la puissance électrique disponible à bord. Ces contraintes sont difficiles à prendre en compte dans la transcription du problème de maintien à poste en un problème de contrôle optimal à consommation minimale avec contraintes sur l'état et le contrôle. Ce manuscrit propose deux approches pour résoudre ce problème de commande optimale. La première, basée sur le développement et l'exploitation de conditions nécessaires d'optimalité, consiste à découper le problème initial en trois sous-problèmes pour former une méthode de résolution à trois étapes. La première étape permet de résoudre un problème de maintien à poste expurgé des contraintes opérationnelles, tandis que la deuxième, initialisée par le résultat de la première, produit une solution assurant le respect de ces dernières contraintes. La troisième étape permet d'optimiser la valeur des instants d'allumage et d'extinction des propulseurs dans le cadre du formalisme des systèmes à commutation. La seconde approche, dite " directe ", consiste à paramétrer le profil de commande par une fonction binaire et à le discrétiser sur l'horizon temporel de résolution. Les contraintes opérationnelles sont ainsi facilement transcrites en contraintes linéaires en nombres entiers. Après l'intégration numérique de la dynamique, le problème de contrôle optimal se résume à un problème linéaire en nombres entiers. Après la résolution du problème de maintien à poste sur un horizon court d'une semaine, le problème est résolu sur un horizon long d'un an par résolutions successives sur des horizons courts d'une durée de l'ordre de la semaine. Des contraintes de fin d'horizon court doivent alors être ajoutées afin d'assurer la faisabilité de l'enchaînement des problèmes sur l'horizon court constituant le problème sur l'horizon long. / Geostationary spacecraft have to stay above a fixed point of the Earth, on a so-called geostationary Earth orbit. For this orbit, the orbital period of the spacecraft is equal to the rotation period of the Earth. Because of orbital disturbances, spacecraft drift away their station keeping position. It is therefore mandatory to create control strategies in order to make the spacecraft stay in the vicinity of the station keeping position. Due to their high thrust capabilities, chemical thrusters have been widely used. However nowadays electric propulsion based thrusters with their high specific impulse are viable alternative in order to decrease the spacecraft mass or increase its longevity. The use of such a system induce the necessity to handle operational constraints because of the limited on-board power. These operational constraints are difficult to take into account in the mathematical transcription of the station keeping problem in an optimal control problem with control and state constraints. This thesis proposed two techniques in order to solve this optimal control problem. The first one is based on the computation of first order necessary conditions and consists in decomposing the overall problem in three sub-problems, leading to a three-step decomposition method. The first step solves an optimal control problem without the operational constraints. The second steps enforces these operational constraints thanks to dedicated equivalence schemes and the third one optimises the switching times of the control profile thanks to a method borrowed from the switched systems theory. The second proposed method consists in parametrising the on-off control profile with binary functions. After a time discretisation of the station keeping horizons, the operational constraints are easily recast as linear constraints on integer variables, the dynamics is numerically integrated and the station keeping problem is recast as a mixed integer linear programming problem. After the resolution of the problem over a short time horizon of one week, the station keeping problem is solved over a long time horizon of one year. To this end, the long time horizon is split in shorter horizons over which the problem is successively solved. End-of-cycle constraints have been set up in order to ensure the feasibility of the solution one short horizon after another.

Braided rivers exhibit extremely complex and dynamic morphologies as their multiple channels are constantly re-worked. The research reported in this thesis explored a number of properties of braided river form and dynamics and some controlling factors through three individual but complementary research elements. The first research element was concerned with some of the controls on the transition between single thread and multi-thread channel patterns. Twenty-seven different flume experiments were conducted, supported by fourteen replicates. In these experiments, channel confinement (maximum possible channel width) and formative discharge were varied in a 25 x 2.9 m flume of constant slope (1%) and bed material (D50 = 1mm) with sediment supply constrained to match sediment output. As the maximum potential channel width increased, the channel pattern changed from a single channel with alternate bars, to the formation of mid-channel bars, and finally to a multi-thread braided pattern. Bed elevation frequency distributions showed distinct changes in their median, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis as channel width and discharge increased, indicating the consequences of confining braided channels and regulating discharge on their bed elevation and morphology. The second and third parts of the research use remotely sensed data sets to explored (i) the degree to which a real river shows similar characteristics to those generated in the flume experiments and (ii) the variety in braiding patterns that are found in association with different boundary conditions of slope, width, discharge, and riparian vegetation. For the second research element, a Lidar survey of a 36 km reach of the lower Tagliamento river, Italy, was investigated. Within this reach, the river shows only small variations in slope and bed material size and is subject to the same flood flows. Analysis focused on thirty-six 1 km sub-reaches and demonstrated clear associations among the median, standard deviation, kurtosis and skewness of the bed and also clear downstream trends. Measures of vegetation cover showed statistically-significant associations with the median, standard deviation, kurtosis and skewness of the bed, particularly when only the 32 truly braided reaches were analysed. The measures of vegetation cover also showed downstream trends that corresponded with the trends in bed morphology. Overall, variations in bed morphology showed similar characteristics to those observed in the laboratory flume, but also they showed correspondence with riparian vegetation cover, indicating a topographic signature of vegetation on the bed morphology. The downstream trends appear to be associated with the changing vigour of the riparian vegetation and possibly variations in river baseflow characteristics associated with varying groundwater levels in the alluvial aquifer. The most mature patches of vegetation within the braid plain of the most downstream part of the 36 km reach appear to occur on remnants of braid plain isolated by river bed incision. The third and final research element considered the morphology of six European braided rivers of different slope, width, discharge and riparian vegetation type. Information extracted from Google Earth and other aerial imagery, and gauged river flow data supported an analysis of changes in braided river characteristics through time, and among the six European river sites. Four traditional planform indices were used to characterise the braiding pattern (Bi – braiding index, Ai and Ai2 –anastomosing indices; Si – main channel sinuosity) were combined with measures of stream power and its component variables (width, Q10, and slope). Robust data for bed material calibre was not available. Statistical analysis of the entire data set revealed a potential influence of riparian vegetation type on the relationship between unit stream power and braid channel width; and a trend of increasing Bi, Ai, Ai2, and Si with decreasing unit stream power. However, a larger and more complete data set is needed to confirm these general trends and to fully explore transitional rivers. This research has illustrated the morphological consequences of confining braided rivers and the dependence of the braiding pattern on stream power. It has also illustrated the role of vegetation in contributing to the morphological complexity of braided rivers and the potential role of riparian vegetation in constraining the relationship between stream power and braided river width.

E-handeln inom Europa växer explosionsartat och tillgång till varor och tjänster är i dagsläget endast några få knapptryck bort. Eftersom åtkomsten till internet är global kan hemsidor och webbshoppar få en enorm internationell spridning. Näringsidkare som bedriver fysisk handel kan enkelt anpassa sig till lagar, språk, valuta mm. i landet där deras verksamhet är placerad, men anpassningen på internet, i cybervärlden, är svårare. Geolokalisering är en teknik som gör det möjligt för näringsidkare att kunna anpassa sig, genom att lokalisera och fastställa var internetanvändare befinner sig. När en internetanvändares geografiska placering är fastställd, kan näringsidkaren anpassa utbud, reklam, språk och valuta på hemsidan som denne bedriver. Möjligheten att kunna lokalisera internetanvändare på detta sätt, är ur ett affärsmässigt perspektiv mycket lönsamt för en näringsidkare. Geolokaliseringen ger även näringsidkaren en möjlighet till att geoblockera internetanvändare från dennes hemsida, genom att exempelvis helt blockera åtkomst, anpassa vilka produkter internetanvändaren får åtkomst till eller omdirigera internetanvändare från en version av hemsidan till en annan. Geoblockering kan därför underlätta det för en näringsidkare att följa regler och lagar i de olika länderna där dennes hemsida är tillgänglig. Immaterialrätter är i regel skyddade inom olika territorium. Med immaterialrätter följer ensamrätt till användande av rättigheten inom skyddsområdet. En näringsidkare som säljer varor på sin e-handels hemsida, som är eller kan vara omfattade av andra innehavares rättighetsskydd, kan använda geoblockering som ett verktyg för att helt undvika eller anpassa sig till de olika immaterialrättsliga skyddsområdena. Kommissionen har meddelat att ett av EU:s mål är att skapa en digital inre marknad och förhindra diskriminering mot konsumenter baserat på nationalitet, bostadsort eller geografisk placering. Diskrimineringen kan utgöras av exempelvis olika begränsningar för en konsument som vill få tillgång till ett innehåll eller köpa varor på internet. En sådan begränsning kan vara geoblockering. Den 25 maj 2016 lade Kommissionen fram ett förordningsförslag, som syftar till att förbjuda omotiverad geoblockering. I november 2016 enades Rådet om ett utkast till förordningen. Förordningsförhandlingarna förväntas påbörja så snart som Europaparlamentet enats om sin ståndpunkt. Frågan är hur ett förbud mot geoblockering kan komma att påverka näringsidkare inom e-handeln, ur ett immaterialrättsligt perspektiv.

Ingeniero Civil Industrial / Chile es uno de los países con mayor crecimiento de dispositivos móviles, pasando de ser un 52% en marzo del 2014 a 64% de conexiones a marzo del 2015. Más aun, informes de la subsecretaría de telecomunicaciones indican que cerca del 77% de las conexiones totales a internet del país se realizan efectivamente a través de teléfonos celulares. Lo anterior configura un escenario propicio para que las compañías busquen este canal de comunicación para interactuar de manera más directa con los usuarios y, para de esta forma conseguir un mayor alcance y presencia en el mercado nacional. Izit es una compañía pionera en el país, cuya competencia central es el envío de promociones exclusivas en el lugar adecuado y en el momento justo. Haciendo unos de tecnologías GPS/Bluetooth, la empresa busca disminuir la percepción de invasividad del general de las empresas de avisaje enviando estímulos basados en la localización de los usuarios. La interacción del usuario con la aplicación pasa por 4 hitos principales: envío, apertura, aceptación y canje de la promoción. Sin embargo, la compañía no posee claridad respecto al comportamiento de los usuarios en las distintas fases de decisión de estos, por lo que el presente estudio tiene como propósito el determinar qué factores moderan la apertura de envíos y en qué medida lo hacen. Para el desarrollo del proyecto se utilizó un enfoque de modelos de elección discreta, en particular los modelos logit heterogéneos y jerárquicos bayesianos. Dichos modelos consideran, en primera instancia, solo información relacionada a la bandeja de entrada de los usuarios, para luego incluir el efecto de la distancia de estos a los fences al recibir una promoción. Las principales conclusiones del estudio apuntan a que uno de los factores más importantes en cuanto a la apertura de promociones es el historial de envíos y aperturas que el usuario almacena a lo largo de su interacción con la aplicación, además de la importancia que tienen los mensajes asociados al club de fidelización de la compañía. El estudio logra identificar dos clases latentes: un segmento leal que prefiere envíos asociados a centros comerciales con poca sensibilidad ante la acumulación de envíos/aperturas previas y otro con mayor sensibilidad ante las métricas anteriores que prefieren recibir estímulos asociados a centros nocturnos y lugares de dispersión. Finalmente, un estudio aproximado de la distancia entre los usuarios y los fences revela que existe heterogeneidad en cuanto a las preferencias de los usuarios por dicha métrica, existiendo usuarios que no son del todo sensible a la geo localización.

Master of Arts / Department of Geography / John A. Harrington Jr / A question exists on how cultural backgrounds influence the paths students take to understand cultural geography and construct mental maps of their communities. This thesis draws on the interconnections among student multiculturalism, geo-progressions (learning trajectories in geography), and perception of the environment at the community scale. As a result of the Road Map for 21st Century Geography Education, geo-progressions have received increased attention by geography education researchers. The majority of the effort to-date has focused on the first theme of the National Geography Standards: the world in spatial terms (Standards 1-3). This study attempts to deconstruct and rethink a geo-progression by considering multiple paths to learning Geography Standard Six, "how culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions." The study incorporates the concept of community, a major theme for third grade as indicated in the Kansas Standards for History, Government, and Social Studies. During this longitudinal study, students were asked to make mental maps and talk about their community-based sense of place twice during part of the 2015-2016 school year. Third-grade classrooms from four demographically distinct areas of Kansas were surveyed: Manhattan, Garden City, Horton, and Junction City. The first session was conducted in September 2015. In January 2016, the same students were asked to perform the same tasks to assess any temporal differences. Mental maps and interviews were coded and analyzed to assess the spectrum of how students perceive a spatial sense of community over time. Interviews with teachers helped document classroom-to-classroom differences in how the concept of community was incorporated into the teaching effort.