West Nile virus has become a major risk to humans since its first appearance in New York City in 1999. Physicians and state health officials are interested in new and more efficient methods for monitoring disease spread and predicting future outbreaks. This study modeled habitat suitability for mosquitoes that carry West Nile virus. Habitat characteristics were used to derive risk maps for the entire state of Mississippi. Statistical significance tests yielded objective evidence for choosing among many habitat variables. Variables that were significantly correlated with diagnosed human cases for 2002 were combined in weighted linear algebraic models using a geographic information system (GIS). Road density, slope, and summer precipitation minus evaporation (P-E) were the most significant variables. GIS-based model results were compared with results from logistic regression models. The algebraic model was preferred when validated by 2003 human cases. If adopted, GIS-based risk models can help guide mosquito control efforts.

With increased degradation of natural resources due to land use decisions and the subsequent loss of biodiversity across large spatial scales, there is a need for a Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) which showcases the impacts of developments on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The Gap Analysis Program (GAP) and a Bayesian Belief Network (BBN) were used to assess the impacts of an impoundment in the Bienville National Forest, Smith County, Mississippi on landcovers, threatened and endangered species, species richness and fish populations. A test impoundment site was chosen on Ichusa Creek and using GAP data, landcovers, species and species richness were compared with those of Bienville National Forest, Smith County, Mississippi. For the aquatic analysis, a BBN model was developed for each fish so that population probabilities could be calculated using a given configuration of available habitats and compared to current fish population.

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Abstract. BIM (Building Information Model) and GIS (Geographic Information System) have been rapidly developed in recent years due to their respective strengths in projects. But these two systems are totally different on focus, reference systems and data storage. With the increasing discussion about integrated BIM-GIS and technologies development, application fields, solutions and challenges are continuously updated and developed. However, the actual application of BIM and GIS integration has not been better implemented because it is restricted to certain extent by different regions, different projects and certain technical constraints. To better explore the integration of BIM and GIS, this paper reviews the development progress of BIM and GIS integration, the exiting integration methods at data level, process level and application level, and the remaining integrated challenges through the studies of 43 relevant research articles, and analyzes the actual situation of integration application through the results of questionnaire. Based on the literature review and a questionnaire, there are still technical problems in BIM-GIS integration including transformation accuracy, semantic simplification and geometric information filtering and so on, and integrated BIM-GIS is currently rarely used in the AEC industry. But due to the benefits of the integration, there is no doubt that integrated BIM-GIS system can bring significant value to the AEC industry.

Inledning: Allt flera anställda inom myndigheter blir beroende av informationssystem för att utföra sina arbetsuppgifter. Flera fall har uppmärksammats i media där anställda inom myndigheter haft problem med dessa system. Därför vill vi utvärdera användarvänligheten av informationssystemen hos myndigheter utifrån anställdas perspektiv. Metod: Genom en enkätundersökning har vi samlat in svar från 149 anställda inom olika myndigheter. Slutsats: Användarvänligheten i myndigheters informationssystem är generellt verken bra eller dålig, utan medioker. Systemens egenskaper samt myndigheternas implementeringsprocesser har en statistiskt säkerställd påverkan på den upplevda användarvänligheten. Personliga egenskaper som kön och ålder har ingen påverkan på den upplevda användarvänligheten. / Introduction: An increasing number of employees within government authorities is becoming dependent on information systems in order to conduct their duties. In the media, several cases have been highlighted where employees in government authorities have had problems with using their information systems. Therefore, we want to evaluate the usability of information systems in government authorities based on the employees’ opinions.Method: Through a questionnaire, we gathered responses from 149 employees in several government authorities.Conclusion: Usability in government authorities’ information systems is, in general, neither good nor bad, but mediocre. The information systems properties and the authorities’ implementation processes has a statistically significant effect on usability. Personal characteristics such as gender and age have no impact on the perceived ease of use.

Disasters, whether natural or man-made have become an issue of mounting concern all over the world. Natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes, landslides, cyclones, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions are yearly phenomena that have devastating effect on infrastructure and property and in most cases, results in the loss of human life. Floods are amongst the most prevalent natural disasters. The frequency with which floods occur, their magnitude, extent and the cost of damage are escalating all around the globe. Accra, the capital city of Ghana experiences the occurrence of flooding events annually with dire consequences. Past studies demonstrated that remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) are very useful and effective tools in flood risk assessment and management.  This thesis research seeks to demarcate flood risk areas and create a flood risk map for the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area using remote sensing and Geographic information system. Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) is used to carry out the flood risk assessment and Sentinel-1A SAR images are used to map flood extend and to ascertain whether the resulting map from the MCA process is a close representation of the flood prone areas in the study area.  The results show that the multi-criteria analysis approach could effectively combine several criteria including elevation, slope, rainfall, drainage, land cover and soil geology to produce a flood risk map. The resulting map indicates that over 50 percent of the study area is likely to experience a high level of flood.  For SAR-based flood extent mapping, the results show that SAR data acquired immediately after the flooding event could better map flooding extent than the SAR data acquired 9 days after.  This highlights the importance of near real-time acquisition of SAR data for mapping flooding extent and damages.  All parts under the study area experience some level of flooding. The urban land cover experiences very high, and high levels of flooding and the MCA process produces a risk map that is a close depiction of flooding in the study area.  Real time flood disaster monitoring, early warning and rapid damage appraisal have greatly improved due to ameliorations in the remote sensing technology and the Geographic Information Systems.