Automated extraction of road network from medium-and high-resolution images

This paper presents an automatic methodology for road network extraction from medium-and high-resolution aerial images. It is based on two steps. In the first step, the road seeds (i.e., road segments) are extracted using a set of four road objects and another set of connection rules among road objects. Each road object is a local representation of an approximately straight road fragment and its construction is based on a combination of polygons describing all relevant image edges, according to some rules embodying road knowledge. Each road seed is composed by a sequence of connected road objects in which each sequence of this type can be geometrically structured as a chain of contiguous quadrilaterals. In the second step, two strategies for road completion are applied in order to generate the complete road network. The first strategy is based on two basic perceptual grouping rules, i.e., proximity and collinearity rules, which allow the sequential reconstruction of gaps between every pair of disconnected road segments. This strategy does not allow the reconstruction of road crossings, but it allows the extraction of road centerlines from the contiguous quadrilaterals representing connected road segments. The second strategy for road completion aims at reconstructing road crossings. Firstly, the road centerlines are used to find reference points for road crossings, which are their approximate positions. Then these points are used to extract polygons representing the contours of road crossings. This paper presents the proposed methodology and experimental results. The text was submitted by the authors in English. Aluir Porfirio Dal Poz. Year of birth: 1960. Year of graduation/Name of the institution: 1987 (Cartographic Engineering)/Sao Paulo State University. Year in which an academic degree was awarded: M.Sc. degree in Geodetic Science at Parana Federal University: 1991. Ph.D. degree in Engineering at Sao Paulo University: 1996. Affiliation: Sao Paulo State University. Position: Associate Professor. Area of research: Digital Photogrammetry and Image Analysis. Number of publications: 5 Book Chapters, 25 in Journals, and 75 in Proceedings. Membership to academies: Scientific societies: Brazilian Society of Cartography, Brazilian Society of Applied and Computational Mathematics, and Canadian Institute of Geomatics. Editorial boards and journals: Associate Editor of the Series in Geodetic Science and member of the editorial board of Brazilian Journal of Cartography. Awards and prizes for achievements in research or applications: Scientific Beginner in Cartography (1995) and Cartographic Merit (1999), both awarded by Brazilian Society of Cartography. Rodrigo Bruno Zanin. Year of birth: 1976. Year of graduation/Name of the institution: 2000 (Mathematics)/Sao Paulo State University. Year in which an academic degree was awarded: M.Sc. degree in Cartographic Sciences at Sao Paulo State University: 2004. Affiliation: Sao Paulo State University. Position: Ph.D. Candidate. Area of research: Digital Photogrammetry and Image Analysis. Number of publications: 2 in Journals and 5 in Proceedings. Giovane Maia do Vale. Year of birth: 1969. Year of graduation/Name of the institution: 1998 (Mathematics)/Sao Paulo State University. Year in which an academic degree was awarded: M.Sc. degree in Cartographic Sciences at Sao Paulo State University: 2003. Affiliation: Sao Paulo State University. Position: Ph.D. Candidate. Area of research: Digital Photogrammetry and Image Analysis. Number of publications: 3 in Journals and 10 in Proceedings. Membership to academies: Scientific societies: Brazilian Society of Applied and Computational Mathematics.     

列车网络控制系统研究

随着世界各国经济的发展,城市规模和人口规模的扩大,城市交通变得更加拥堵,许多发达国家在多年前就着手研究如何使用轨道交通解决城市的拥堵问题,地铁已成为当今城市交通的重要组成部分,地铁列车在运营过程中如何保证其运行状态能够实时受到监控,靠的就是列车网络系统;文章介绍了海外某项目的 网络系统结构、硬件配置;阐述了列车级控制、牵引系统、车窗系统、辅助系统、制动系统、空调系统、烟火系统等子系统的关键控制功能,并对系统的故障诊断功能、PTU功能进行了介绍;本项目网络系统的设计符合预期,系统硬件的性能完全满足功能需求,系统软件的可靠性、稳定性达到了列车运行要求.     

Working in public health services in Brazil: the relationship between different rationalities

Success in a public health system is related to its ability to change its production process and to deal with general principles of the health system, such as universality and equity. The frameworks proposed by service marketing scholars have been developed primarily for private services; they focus on acceptance by the targeted client-users, and on the technical specifications of the new service delivery processes. Little attention has been given to the employees’ point of view and their activities to maintain service operations modulated by innovation. In a public health system, workers make decisions in real time related to users’ needs and the technical specifications of the process; therefore, it is very important to understand how the changes impact on employees’ activities and on the quality delivered for citizens. This article discusses how changes implemented in Sao Paulo, Brazil impact the organizational parameters and working activities for front-line workers.     

ACCESS: An agent-based model to explore job accessibility inequalities

This paper presents ACCESS, an agent-based model for exploring job accessibility inequalities among different social groups. ACCESS allows for investigation on the impact of public transport and land use policies on the residential location of the working population and their accessibility to job opportunities. ACCESS can be adapted to different realities, allowing to represent societies with diverse socioeconomic disparities. A utility function composed of job accessibility and neighborhood status is maximized by agents during the residential location choice process. The model outputs include Lorenz curves considering the accessibility dimension, as well as Gini metrics to support the analysis of interventions impacts on accessibility inequalities. An empirical case study is performed on the municipality of Sao Paulo, which is characterized by high levels of inequality. Five experiments were simulated considering three different socio-occupational groups. The first experiment includes (i) new public mass rail transport lines, and the other four experiments consider the new transport infrastructure from the first experiment and add (ii) new social housing location strategies; (iii) new job locations; (iv) new jobs and different social housing supplies and location strategies; and (v) provision of social housing based on a government housing program. The results show that ACCESS allowed the residential location of different social status groups to be depicted with a high correlation to the observed situation. Regarding the case study, the results indicate that only having interventions on transport system is insufficient to provide a significant change in terms of inequality. Better results that impact inequality are reached with public mass rail transport interventions associated with land use policies with different social housing and job location programs.     

NOAA-AVHRR data processing for the mapping of vegetation cover

The NOAA-AVHRR images have been widely used for global studies due to their low cost, suitable wavebands and high temporal resolution. Data from the AVHRR sensor (Bands 1 and 2) transformed to the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) are the most common product used in global land cover studies. The purpose of this Letter is to present the vegetation, soil, and shade fraction images derived from AVHRR, in addition to NDVI, to monitor land cover. Six AVHRR images from the period of 21 to 26 June 1993 were composed and used to obtain the above mentioned products over Sa o Paulo State, in the south-east of Brazil. Vegetation fraction component values were strongly correlated with NDVI values ( r 0.95; n 60). Also, the fraction image presented a good agreement with the available global vegetation map of Sao Paulo State derived from Landsat TM images.     

Age replacement policy in a random environment using systemability

Preventive maintenance is a group of maintenance policies based on preventive actions in order to predate the failure of a component or a system. Usually, these policies are designed using a series of data related to the studied units. All policies do not consider the effect of the environment where the components or systems operate. In this article, one of the most used policies, the age replacement policy, is also discussed taking into consideration the environmental effects using an innovative concept, introduced by Pham, called systemability. Several numerical examples are carried out in order to illustrate the aim of this work. The importance of environmental factors is also demonstrated thanks to the application to a real case.     

On building with reusable software: Democratization of information systems automation through software reuse

Software reuse is an important emerging technology. It allows consumption of reusable information, which, in turn, can contribute to democratization of information systems automation. I introduce software reuse concepts and discuss current reuse approaches, issues of economics of reuse, and currently used metaphors as they apply to the reuse consumer. The discussion should give those who have not yet began to exploit consumption of information reuse a starting point for their considerations.Some sections of this paper were presented, in brief, during the Third International Conference for Systems Integration held in Sao Paulo City, Brazil, July 30 to August 6th, 1994.     

Analyzing the Trade-off Between Investing in Service Channels and Satisfying the Targeted User Service for Brazilian Internet Service Providers

The computer connection to the Internet is provided by firms known as internet service providers (ISPs). The simplest mode of physical connection is when the user connects to an ISP's service channel by an ordinary telephone line (dial-up). Finding an available channel may not be an easy task, especially during the peak hours of many Brazilian ISPs. This results in a problem for the ISPs, which is how to achieve the most appropriate trade-off between investing in capacity and satisfying the target user service level. This paper analyzes this trade-off based on a three-step approach: (i) determine user arrival and service processes in chosen periods, (ii) select an appropriate queueing model using some simplifying assumptions, and (iii) generate trade-off curves between system performance measures. To illustrate the application of this approach, some results derived from a case study performed at an ISP in Sao Paulo state are given.     

The study of ERS-1 SAR and Landsat TM synergism for land use classification

This work presents a comparative analysis of ERS-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM) images used for land use classification. The study area of 361 km² is located in the City of Campinas, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, and contains several classes of land use, including urban, agricultural and forests. The TM and SAR images were registered and transformed using the principal components transformation. SAR images were also filtered using an average filter. The principal components derived from SAR filtered, SAR, TM and coregistered TM/SAR and TM/SAR filtered images were classified using the maximum likelihood approach. Tests of 'goodness of fit' were also made to assess the statistical properties of the images. The results, confirmed by Kappa statistics, show a significant improvement when classifying the principal components of filtered SAR and TM images for urban, pasture and forest classes.     

Modeling and Identification of an Open-frame Underwater Vehicle: The Yaw Motion Dynamics

A semi-autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV), named LAURS, is being developed at the Laboratory of Sensors and Actuators at the University of Sao Paulo. The vehicle has been designed to provide inspection and intervention capabilities in specific missions of deep water oil fields. In this work, a method of modeling and identification of yaw motion dynamic system model of an open-frame underwater vehicle is presented. Using an on-board low cost magnetic compass sensor the method is based on the utilization of an uncoupled 1-DOF (degree of freedom) dynamic system equation and the application of the integral method which is the classical least squares algorithm applied to the integral form of the dynamic system equations. Experimental trials with the actual vehicle have been performed in a test tank and diving pool. During these experiments, thrusters responsible for yaw motion are driven by sinusoidal voltage signal profiles. An assessment of the feasibility of the method reveals that estimated dynamic system models are more reliable when considering slow and small sinusoidal voltage signal profiles, i.e. with larger periods and with relatively small amplitude and offset.     

Prevention of accidents and injuries in Brazil

After the Second World War, Brazil went through a process of rapid industrialization: industries increased in size and new factories were built. Agriculture, started to diversify, and hand tools were replaced by machinery. As a result, a large number of new workers were needed. As their work tasks were unfamiliar and their training not good, work accidents and injuries at work increased. Statistical records of industrial accidents were started in 1969 and disclosed that in 1970 nearly 18% of industrial workers suffered accidents. A high proportion led to orthopaedic problems, 74-76% being back problems. Statistics for agricultural workers were not available, but a sample study in the state of Sao Paulo disclosed that 9-22% of workers suffered accidents, 54-65% by those working on sugar cane plantations. Preventive measures imposed by legislation were able to reduce these numbers and in 1984 the percentage of industrial workers suffering accidents fell to 3-84%. Legislation regarding the protection of workers from accidents is discussed and examples of the adopted preventive measures are presented.     

ISO 14001: the green standard

ISO 14001 is a comprehensive Environmental Management System (EMS) that, when adopted, enables organizations to formulate corporate objectives in the context of environmentally oriented legislative requirements and general environmental concerns. ISO 14001 helps control the environmental effects of an organization's activities by helping each complying organization clearly define its environmental policies. The ISO 14001 system encompasses the organizational structure, responsibilities, and means of implementing environmental management. But it does not establish pollution control standards; instead, it offers a system to help companies prevent and control pollution in the context of applicable standards. The ISO 14001 system can be tailored to fit each company's particular needs and operational conditions. As a series of recommendations, not a series of requirements, ISO 14001 basically measures a firm's conformance to its own environmental policy, not its environmental impact. Although the ISO 14001 standard is broadly defined and very flexible, its strength as a standard is its requirement that a company strive for constant improvement in environmental effects. As the best formalized standard for environmental friendliness the world has yet seen, ISO 14001 will likely serve to distinguish one company from another in the global marketplace     

上证指数短期预测的数学模型

本文通过对上证指数K-线图、准备金率、CPI、宏观政策等进行分析,得到一些对上证指数有影响的因子,利用人工神经网络与粗糙集理论的优势,先采用粗糙集对数据进行处理,然后利用人工神经网络构造出上证指数短期预测模型,并以此模型进行分析,最后应用于股票市场,在股票的交易中取得了很好的效果。     

Systems capacity expansion planning: Novel approach for environmental and energy policy change analysis

Planning for power systems generation expansion follows environmental policies incorporating technologies based on renewables to reduce CO₂ emissions. These policies are susceptible to unpredictable changes, given dynamic economic and political contexts. This paper analyzes the impact of changes in energy policies, motivated by different environmental objectives. The analysis is done through a novel approach coupling Dynamic Programming and Multi-objective programming to generate several energy policy scenarios and their trade-offs, representing plausible policy changes in the different stages of the planning horizon. The results indicate a clear Pareto front and that energy policy scenarios with abrupt changes should be avoided in favor of scenarios with gradual changes. “Greener” energy policies in a given planning stage are not necessarily the best ones considering the full planning horizon, considering the unfolding impacts of current decisions into the future. The approach is useful in improving planners' future vision from myopic into a perspicacious one.     

An optimization-model-based interactive decision support system for regional energy management systems planning under uncertainty

In this study, an interactive decision support system (UREM-IDSS) has been developed based on an inexact optimization model (UREM, University of Regina Energy Model) to aid decision makers in planning energy management systems. Optimization modeling, scenario development, user interaction, policy analysis and visual display are seamlessly integrated into the UREM-IDSS. Uncertainties in energy-related parameters are effectively addressed through the interval linear programming (ILP) approach, improving the robustness of the UREM-IDSS for real-world applications. Thus, it can be used as an efficient tool for analyzing and visualizing impacts of energy and environmental policies, regional/community sustainable development strategies, emission reduction measures and climate change in an interactive, flexible and dynamic context. The Region of Waterloo has been selected to demonstrate the applicability and capability of the UREM-IDSS. A variety of scenarios (including a reference case) have been identified based on different energy management policies and sustainable development strategies for in-depth analysis of interactions existing among energy, socio-economy, and environment in the Region. Useful solutions for the planning of energy management systems have been generated, reflecting complex tradeoffs among energy-related, environmental and economic considerations. Results indicate that the UREM-IDSS can be successfully used for evaluating and analyzing not only the effects of an individual policy scenario, but also the variations between different scenarios compared with a reference case. Also, the UREM-IDSS can help tackle dynamic and interactive characteristics of the energy management system in the Region of Waterloo, and can address issues concerning cost-effective allocation of energy resources and services. Thus, it can be used by decision makers as an effective technique in examining and visualizing impacts of energy and environmental policies, regional/community development strategies, emission reduction measures, and climate change within an integrated and dynamic framework.     

Coupled human and natural systems: A multi-agent-based approach

A major force affecting many forest ecosystems is the encroachment of residential, commercial and industrial development. Analysis of the complex interactions between development decisions and ecosystems, and how the environmental consequences of these decisions influence human values and subsequent decisions will lead to a better understanding of the environmental consequences of private choices and public policies. Determining conditions of the interactions between human decisions and natural systems that lead to long-term sustainability of forest ecosystems is one goal of this work. Interactions between human stakeholders are represented using multi-agent models that act on forest landscape models in the form of land-use change. Feedback on the effects of these actions is received through ecological habitat metrics and hydrological responses. Results are presented on the dynamics of land-use change under different growth management strategies based on an area of the Dallas–Fort Worth (Texas, U.S.A.) region facing intense residential development.     

Towards Better Computational Tools for Effective Environmental Policy Planning

Computational Economics - Effective environmental policies have to be based on robust information taking into consideration the existing trends. The objective of this paper is to facilitate...     

Modelling sustainability

The article presents a general classification of the models being developed in the area of sustainability arguing that the existing models represent the historical conceptualisation of sustainability starting from environmental constraints and moving towards economic valuation and social behaviour and policies. Coupled with computer power, sophisticated models with a varying levels of complexity have also been developed (static/dynamic; local/global; specific/general). However as any model is a simplification of the complex reality, the main purpose of any sustainability modelling (and the newly emerging area of sustainometrics) should be to allow dynamic representation, including the co-evolution of the sustainability systems and the role of humans as sustainability guardians.     

The MILESTONES modeling framework: An integrated analysis of national bioenergy strategies and their global environmental impacts

Bioenergy policies affect both the environment and biomass availability for food, feed, and fiber on a national and international scale. To support policy makers, knowledge and methods from different scientific disciplines in the form of integrated assessments is necessary. Therefore we developed the MILESTONES framework which models the links between the national bioenergy system and the global land-use system as an integrated modeling approach. It builds on a set of three well-tested models (MAGNET, LandSHIFT and BENSIM). The prototype's functionality was demonstrated by assessing the environmental impacts of future German bioenergy strategies on a global level and along the entire biomass provision chain. The results from the case study show that, on the one hand, German bioenergy strategies have little effect on international market prices, but on the other hand land-use policies on an international level strongly influence the environmental performance of any German bioenergy strategy.     

Periodic and sequential preventive maintenance policies over a finite planning horizon with a dynamic failure law

The purpose of this study is to propose and model periodic and sequential preventive maintenance policies for a system that performs various missions over a finite planning horizon. Each mission can have different characteristics that depend on operational and environmental conditions. These proposed preventive maintenance policies are defined and modeled mathematically. The study of these two policies is based on a dynamic system failure law that takes into account the different missions performed. The first step is to determine the optimal business plan to achieve, i.e. the set of missions to perform in order to maximize the profit of missions minus maintenance costs. Thus, for each plan, we determine the maintenance planning considering two policies. The first preventive maintenance policy is periodic and the objective is to determine the optimal number of preventive maintenance to achieve. For the second policy, namely sequential, we calculate the optimal number of preventive maintenance intervals and the duration of these different intervals.