GCN and VOEvent: A status report

The GRB Coordinates Network (GCN) has filled an important niche in the conduct and progress of research on GRB for more than 14 years. The methods used to collect and distribute the positions, lightcurves, spectra, and images on GRB in real time (a few seconds) will be reviewed. For the research on GRBs to continue to move forward and for other fields of transient astronomy to move forward, enhancements are needed to the GCN. VOEvents is one of those changes, and that addition will be described here. The enhanced system will be called VO‐GCN. (© 2008 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Advance hydrological studies utilizing open access internet databases

This paper introduces three web‐based databases relating to hydrological and water resources studies in the United States of America with the intention of promoting public awareness of their existence. These open access databases are the products of efforts taken by federal and state governments to make government‐owned data more accessible to the general public. The megadata sets of climate, surface water, groundwater, and water quality contained in these databases provide hydrologists and environmental scientists with unprecedented opportunities to conduct research across multiple regions and on different scales.     

Regional estimation of catchment‐scale soil properties by means of streamflow recession analysis for use in distributed hydrological models

The estimation of catchment‐scale soil properties, such as water storage capacity and hydraulic conductivity, is of primary interest for the implementation of distributed hydrological models at the regional scale. This estimation is generally performed on the basis of information provided by soil databases. However, such databases are often established for agronomic uses and generally do not document deep‐weathered rock horizons (i.e. pedologic horizons of type C and deeper), which can play a major role in water transfer and storages. Here, we define the Drainable Storage Capacity Index (DSCI), an indicator that relies on the comparison between cumulated streamflow and precipitation to assess catchment‐scale storage capacities. DSCI is found to be reliable to detect underestimation of soil storage capacities in soil databases. We also use the streamflow recession analysis methodology defined by Brutsaert and Nieber in 1977 to estimate water storage capacities and lateral saturated hydraulic conductivities of the nondocumented deep horizons. The analysis is applied to a sample of 23 catchments (0.2–291 km²) located in the Cévennes‐Vivarais region (south of France). For regionalization purposes, the obtained results are compared with the dominant catchment geology and present a clear hierarchy between the different geologies of the area. Hard crystalline rocks are found to be associated with the thickest and less conductive deep soil horizons. Schist rocks present intermediate values of thickness and of saturated hydraulic conductivity, whereas sedimentary rocks and alluvium are found to be less thick and most conductive. These results are of primary interest in view of the future set‐up of distributed hydrological models over the Cévennes‐Vivarais region. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

城市大比例尺基础空间数据库动态更新机制研究与实现

首先针对长期困扰城市大比例尺空间数据库建设的＂更新冲突＂和＂更新速度慢＂等问题进行了探讨,根据城市规划空间数据实际生产特点,建立空间数据库动态更新机制,将数据更新与实际工作业务结合起来,按需更新,事件驱动,建立了一套动态的基础空间数据库更新机制,并在生产中得到实际应用。     

基于GIS的城市犯罪行为空间分布特征及预警分析

本义利用中原某县城区土地利用现状图、道路图、社区人口统计资料,以及10年的城区犯罪案例数据等,对该县城区不同犯罪类型和不同年份的犯罪数据进行了空间分析。对该县城区犯罪及其影响因素的空间格局研究表明：①该县城区的核心区案件数量最多,其次为东关和西关较多,而边缘区案件数量相对较少;②就所有犯罪案件在城区的空间分布看,犯罪密度空间分布具明显的分区特征,其中水口路、十字街和袁山市场是犯罪密度最高的区域;东关、西关以及城北新区是犯罪密度较高的区域;城市边缘区的犯罪密度最低。研究表明城市犯罪与城市建成区的发展有关系;城市犯罪案件数与城市出行人数存在较强的线性关系。通过建立城市犯罪空间分布模型,可以模拟与预测城市犯罪未来空间分布,从而使公安部门及时准确地作出防范措施。     

Precovery of near‐Earth asteroids by a citizen‐science project of the Spanish Virtual Observatory

This article describes a citizen‐science project conducted by the Spanish Virtual Observatory (SVO) to improve the orbits of near‐Earth asteroids (NEAs) using data from astronomical archives. The list of NEAs maintained at the Minor Planet Center (MPC) is checked daily to identify new objects or changes in the orbital parameters of already catalogued objects. Using NEODyS we compute the position and magnitude of these objects at the observing epochs of the 938 046 images comprising the Eigth Data Release of the Sloan Digitised Sky Survey (SDSS). If the object lies within the image bound‐aries and the magnitude is brighter than the limiting magnitude, then the associated image is visually inspected by the project's collaborators (the citizens) to confirm or discard the presence of the NEA. If confirmed, accurate coordinates and, sometimes, magnitudes are submitted to the MPC. Using this methodology, 3226 registered users have made during the first fifteen months of the project more than 167 000 measurements which have improved the orbital elements of 551 NEAs (6% of the total number of this type of asteroids). Even more remarkable is the fact that these results have been obtained at zero cost to telescope time as NEAs were serendipitously observed while the survey was being carried out. This demonstrates the enormous scientific potential hidden in astronomical archives. The great reception of the project as well as the results obtained makes it a valuable and reliable tool for improving the orbital parameters of near‐Earth asteroids. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Genes are not information: Rendering plant genetic resources untradeable through genetic restoration practices

Genetic commodification relies on methods that treat genes as information. By representing genes as information, scientists produce standardized and stable objects that are easily tradable. In this paper, I argue that a Midwestern plant conservation science institution (MPCSI) challenges genetic commodification through distinct knowledge-making and social practices. In particular, scientists at this institution treat genes not as information, but as contextual and contingent entities. By employing genetic technologies that deemphasize the code metaphor of genes, these scientists make genes unavailable to trade as information.I analyze the socionatural implications of this institution’s use of genetic technology in native ecosystem restoration. Drawing from interviews and participant observation, I focus on specific techniques used by the MPCSI’s scientists to view genes as embodied relational entities, rather than abstract information. I illustrate how these technologies allow the MPCSI to challenge the epistemologies and methodologies that are crucial to producing genetic commodities.Additionally, I illustrate how the MPCSI serves as a model for plant science institutions to reconceptualize their use of banked plant genetic resources. This model complicates the commodity speculation paradigm common to bioprospectors. At the same time, this genetic restoration approach relies on and produces different engagements with markets. I detail the MPCSI’s emerging relationship with commercial seed nurseries to illustrate how decommodification is integral to commodification. Finally, I argue that although the MPCSI’s genetic restoration strategy necessitates limited market engagements, their scientific practices and institutional relationships produce drastically different socioecological outcomes compared to institutions that treat genes as information.     

IAU Meteor Database of photographic orbits – version 2003

The IAU Meteor Data Center in Lund has acted as a central depository for meteor orbits obtained by photographic, video and radar techniques. The database of precisely reduced photographic meteors contains data on 4581 meteor orbits obtained by 17 different stations or groups in the period 1936–1996. The orbital and geophysical data are available in two separate files as well as in an alternative file with the merged data. In various studies of meteoroid streams as well as in studies of the sporadic meteor background, it is often necessary to utilize both the orbital and the geophysical data files. Since the database is a compilation of partial, not perfectly compatible catalogues from many observing stations, the merging of parameters from one data set to another may sometimes present problems. The present contribution is a note on some problems encountered in the merging procedure. Moreover, it is evident that the database includes a small amount of erroneous data – either in the observations or in the subsequent data reductions. The latter error is not surprising in view of the lack of modern computers at several stations in the past. A final, corrected version of the IAU MDC Lund photographic meteor orbits (eq. 2000.0) can now be requested through the homepage of the Astronomical Institute, Slovak Academy of Sciences (http://www.astro.sk/~ne/IAUMDC/Ph2003/database.html).     

An experiment on the elevation accuracy improvement of photogrammetrically derived DEM

This paper focuses on a topic barely considered in the literature: how to improve the accuracy of a given Digital Elevation Model (DEM) irrespective of its lineage by identifying its most suspicious values (also denoted here as outliers). Methods tailored to a specific procedure and source (contour maps, remote sensing image, etc.) exist but they are not valid for other cases. This is a problem for both the producer and end user. The results of a comparison of two methods using six DEMs intended to be representative of different landscapes are reported here. Both methods have been applied to each DEM, producing a number of height candidates to be analysed. Assuming that all candidates are wrong, their elevations have been blindly replaced by interpolated heights, simulating the behaviour of the inexperienced user. The improved (or degraded) DEMs are then compared against the ground truth, and updated accuracy figures are calculated. The RMSE can diminish by 2 to 8% of the original value by changing less than 1% of the elevations in the dataset.     

An efficient outlying trajectories mining approach based on relative distance

With a huge volume of trajectories being collected and stored in databases, more and more researchers try to discover outlying trajectories from trajectory databases. In this article, we propose a novel framework called relative distance-based trajectory outliers detection (RTOD). In RTOD, we first employed relative distances to measure the dissimilarity between trajectory segments, and then formally defined the outlying trajectories based on distance measures. In order to improve the time performance, we proposed an optimization method that employs R-tree and local feature correlation matrix to eliminate unrelated trajectory segments. Finally, we conducted extensive experiments to estimate the advantages of the proposed approach. The experimental results show that our proposed approach is more efficient and effective at identifying outlying trajectories than existing algorithms. Particularly, we analyzed the effect of each parameter in theory.