Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Correction: Using Participatory Design To Develop (Public) Health Decision Support Systems Through Gis, S. Michelle Driedger, Anita Kothari, Jason Morrison, Michael Sawada, Eric J. Crighton, Ian D. Graham

Anita Kothari

Background: Organizations that collect substantial data for decision-making purposes are often characterized as being 'data rich' but 'information poor'. Maps and mapping tools can be very useful for research transfer in converting locally collected data into information. Challenges involved in incorporating GIS applications into the decision-making process within the non-profit (public) health sector include a lack of financial resources for software acquisition and training for nonspecialists to use such tools. This on-going project has two primary phases. This paper critically reflects on Phase 1: the participatory design (PD) process of developing a collaborative web-based GIS tool.

Methods: A case study …

Dialogue Television: The Climate Engineers, James Fleming

James R. Fleming

The problem of global warming is getting massive public attention. This comes forty years after the first major government report outlining the problem. But there is considerable disagreement over what steps should be taken to mitigate the problem and some scientist fear that politicians are not displaying sufficient urgency. James Fleming describes the technological quick fixes proposed by some scientists and the problems they might create.

Land Cover Classification And Economic Assessment Of Citrus Groves Using Remote Sensing, Jennifer Gebelein

Jennifer Gebelein

The citrus industry has the second largest impact on Florida's economy, following tourism. Estimation of citrus area coverage and annual forecasts of Florida's citrus production are currently dependent on labor-intensive interpretation of aerial photographs. Remotely sensed data from satellites has been widely applied in agricultural yield estimation and cropland management. Satellite data can potentially be obtained throughout the year, making it especially suitable for the detection of land cover change in agriculture and ...

The Impact Of Grey Literature In Advancing Global Karst Research: An Information Needs Assessment For A Globally Distributed Interdisciplinary Community, Todd A. Chavez, Anna H. Perrault, Pete Reehling, Courtney Crummett

Anna H. Perrault

A survey of the global karst community was conducted in 2006. The survey was distributed via the World Wide Web to known karst researchers. The instrument was designed to generate an initial inventory of core grey information types, to assess levels of usage of grey information by the respondents, and to gauge the karst community’s willingness to participate in building and expanding both this collection and the associated controlled vocabularies.

The Impact Of Grey Literature In Advancing Global Karst Research: An Information Needs Assessment For A Globally Distributed Interdisciplinary Community, Todd A. Chavez, Anna H. Perrault, Pete Reehling, Courtney Crummett

Todd A. Chavez

A survey of the global karst community was conducted in 2006. The survey was distributed via the World Wide Web to known karst researchers. The instrument was designed to generate an initial inventory of core grey information types, to assess levels of usage of grey information by the respondents, and to gauge the karst community’s willingness to participate in building and expanding both this collection and the associated controlled vocabularies.

The Climate Engineers: Playing God To Save The Planet, James Fleming

James R. Fleming

As alarm over global warming spreads, a radical idea is gaining momentum. Forget cuts in greenhouse-gas emissions, some scientists argue. Find a technological fix. Bounce sunlight back into space by pumping reflective nanoparticles into the atmosphere. Launch mirrors into orbit around the earth. Create a “planetary thermostat.” But what sounds like science fiction is actually an old story. For more than a century, scientists, soldiers, and charlatans have hatched schemes to manipulate the weather and climate. Like them, today’s aspiring climate engineers wildly exaggerate what is possible, and they scarcely consider political, military, and ethical implications of attempting to manage …