Thesis (M.S.)--Humboldt State University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 53-55). Also available via Humboldt Digital Scholar.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--York University, 2007. Graduate Programme in Earth and Space Science. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 149-159). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR38802

Thesis (M.S.) in Spatial Information Science and Engineering--University of Maine, 2009. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-96).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.B.Sc.)--Victoria University of Wellington, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 144 p. : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references.

Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on Feb 19, 2010). The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Thesis advisor: Dr. C. Mark Cowell. Includes bibliographical references.

ABSTRACT Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus (EEEV) is an alphavirus with high pathogenicity in both humans and horses. Florida continues to have the highest occurrence of human cases in the USA, with four fatalities recorded in 2010. Unlike other states, Florida supports year-round EEEV transmission. This research uses Geographic Information Science (GIS) to examine spatial patterns of documented sentinel seroconversions and horse cases in order to understand the relationships between habitat and transmission intensity of EEEV in Florida. Sentinel sites were categorized as enzootic, periodically enzootic, and negative based on the amount of chicken seroconversions to EEEV. Sentinel sites were analyzed based on land classification data d using the Kruskal-Wallis test to determine which habitats were associated with disease transmission. Cluster analyses were performed for the horse cases using density-based spatial clustering of applications with noise (DBSCAN). Ecological associations of EEEV were examined using compositional analysis and Euclidean distance analysis to determine if the proportion or proximity of certain habitats played a role in transmission. The research in these studies provides evidence of ecological associations for EEEV transmission in Florida that hasn't been previously analyzed. Furthermore, these studies provide the groundwork for better understanding of why there is a disproportionate number of horse and human cases of EEEV in Florida than in any other state.

World Water Online is a global system of hydrologic data. It is an integration of geospatial and temporal information across spatial scales: global, national, regional and local. This global water information system has no parallel, and its scope would be extended with the active participation of the global water community. Its consolidation depends on the accessibility of countries’ databases through the system. In this study, a test case using Mexican data within World Water Online is created, applying the CUAHSI framework, web services and standards. The resulting Mexican-HIS unifies the water information for the nation regardless of data provider, improving storage practices and allowing additional querying and retrieving functionalities: World Water Online is a source of information and also a supplier of web-based processing services. In the second part of this study, a precipitation-runoff analysis using the data in the system is performed. / text

In the area of indoor built environment modelling, the main focus was usually put on the accuracy of the modelled equipment within the given environment. There was not enough attention placed on the modelling of occupants inside the building, who represent the ultimate end?users and should be the most important element of an indoor built environment model. This deficiency was mainly due to the difficulties of modelling human behaviour with the traditional mathematical modelling methods usually adopted in the field. Therefore, in order to model the occupants more effectively, a more appropriate alternative approach is needed. This thesis examined the suitability of agent?based modelling and simulation (ABMS) for the indoor built environment. Philosophies of ABMS for the built environment were discussed, with the natural flow of progression stages in indoor built environment models outlined and explored, showing the need for switching a problem of simplicity to one in which a complex organised system was defined. Scenarios of single active agent case in ABMS for indoor built environment were used to demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach, with the finding that ABMS was versatile in modelling different types of occupants. It provided an illustration of the difference between people with different sensation time, and estimated energy savings between occupants with varied understanding of the environment. A classification scheme for different types of indoor built environment models with different levels of complexities was proposed and discussed. Based on the classification scheme, models with different levels of complexities were applied to the same building to explore the feasibility and practicality of the scheme. It was found that the simulation results provided insightful figures on probable energy consumption for different types of occupants and their crowd behaviour when interactions between occupants were considered. Findings included the amount of energy saved (around 10%) by a knowledgeable occupant over a less informed one, and the tendency for the majority (?66%) of occupants trying to save energy by assessing the environment themselves under different conditions. To further assist building management and the implementation of ABMS approach in built environment for simulations, the concepts of geographic information system (GIS) were modified for applications in the indoor environment, based on its similarity with ABMS for a grid?based environment. A prototype program was developed to test the applicability of the proposed concepts, with OPC connectivity for connections to real?world equipment. It was found that the idea of indoor GIS helps to solve problems such as the facility layout problem or the difficulties of information storage/retrieval in facility management, and this concept also integrated well with ABMS. With the successful modelling of different types of occupants and simulation results consistent with real data, it can be concluded from the work that ABMS is a promising approach for future generations of indoor built environment models. Also, with the inspiring framework of indoor GIS, the combination of ABMS and GIS in an integrated platform will certainly bring a powerful tool to the field. / published_or_final_version / Mechanical Engineering / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy