Advanced Geographic Information Systems is a component of Encyclopedia of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The content of the Theme on Advanced Geographic Information Systems is organized with state-oc-the-art presentations covering the following aspects of the subject: Spatio-Temporal Information Systems; Interacting with GIS - From Paper Cartography to Virtual Environments; Spatial Data Management: Topic Overview; Introduction to Spatial Decision Support Systems; GIS Interoperability, from Problems to Solutions. These volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

Advanced Geographic Information Systems is a component of Encyclopedia of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The content of the Theme on Advanced Geographic Information Systems is organized with state-oc-the-art presentations covering the following aspects of the subject: Spatio-Temporal Information Systems; Interacting with GIS - From Paper Cartography to Virtual Environments; Spatial Data Management: Topic Overview; Introduction to Spatial Decision Support Systems; GIS Interoperability, from Problems to Solutions. These volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

This book elucidates how cyberGIS (that is, new-generation geographic information science and systems (GIS) based on advanced computing and cyberinfrastructure) transforms computation- and data-intensive geospatial discovery and innovation. It comprehensively addresses opportunities and challenges, roadmaps for research and development, and major progress, trends, and impacts of cyberGIS in the era of big data. The book serves as an authoritative source of information to fill the void of introducing this exciting and growing field. By providing a set of representative applications and science drivers of cyberGIS, this book demonstrates how cyberGIS has been advanced to enable cutting-edge scientific research and innovative geospatial application development. Such cyberGIS advances are contextualized as diverse but interrelated science and technology frontiers. The book also emphasizes several important social dimensions of cyberGIS such as for empowering deliberative civic engagement and enabling collaborative problem solving through structured participation. In sum, this book will be a great resource to students, academics, and geospatial professionals for leaning cutting-edge cyberGIS, geospatial data science, high-performance computing, and related applications and sciences.

Geographic Information System Skills for Foresters and Natural Resource Managers provides a resource for developing knowledge and skills concerning GIS as it applies to forestry and natural resource management. This book helps readers understand how GIS can effectively be used by professional foresters and land managers to conduct spatial analyses or address management decisions. Through topics presented, readers will improve their ability to understand GIS data sources, identify GIS data types and quality, perform common spatial analysis processes, create GIS data, produce maps, and ultimately develop the skills necessary to use GIS analysis to answer real-world questions. This book will be of great benefit to GIS users looking to directly apply techniques to real-world data or foresters and natural resource scientists who use GIS in their research. - Presents unique reflections, diversions, inspections and translations within the text to encourage readers' critical thinking skills - Includes a companion website to enhance the reflections, diversions, inspections and translations with additional resources - Designed with examples, discussions and case studies from seasoned natural resource professionals with decades of combined professional experience

Mathematical Models of Life Support Systems is a component of Encyclopedia of Mathematical Sciences in which is part of the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The Theme is organized into several topics which represent the main scientific areas of the theme: The first topic, Introduction to Mathematical Modeling discusses the foundations of mathematical modeling and computational experiments, which are formed to support new methodologies of scientific research. The succeeding topics are Mathematical Models in - Water Sciences; Climate; Environmental Pollution and Degradation; Energy Sciences; Food and Agricultural Sciences; Population; Immunology; Medical Sciences; and Control of Catastrophic Processes. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

Geography is a component of Encyclopedia of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. Geographical perceptions can be traced from very ancient cultures, although geography as a science started its development during the eighteen century, it was firmly established after the Darwinian revolution and many of its fundamentals appeared during the nineteenth century. The history of geography is closely connected with the history of human society Geography embraces both the physical and human worlds, and aims to bridge natural and human sciences. For a geographer, although the environment and its conservation is a crucial item, it is also fundamentally concerned with the living standards of humankind. Although its wide embrace may be seen as a weakness, diversification is also strength and an attraction. Approaches are multidisciplinary, exploring the complex linkages between the cultural and the natural. These favor cross-cultural communication and mutual understanding at a global scale. There is a geographical basis to most of the outstanding political problems, and geographical reasons to explain them. The subject matter of the geography theme is presented basically on how the subject matter is taught presently at the universities, and following the many paths its practitioners are following in doing research. It introduces modern subject matters and goes much further than a simple description of places and travels. The theme has been divided into four main topics: Foundations, Physical Geography, Human Geography, and Technical matters. The scope of the foundation topic is to present an overview of the basis of the geographical field, its scope, history, methods, and its importance in education. The chapters included are Main Stages of the Development, Theory and Methods, and Geographical Education. The Physical Geography topic includes the historical background of the geographical study of the Earth natural environment, and the main fields cultivated by geographers. It consists of eight chapters on basic research fields, which are Geomorphology, Climatology, Hydrology, Biogeography, Soil Geography, Coastal Systems, Ocean Geography, Mountain Geoecology, and two chapters on environmental issues: Natural Hazards and Land Degradation and Desertification. In the Human Geography topic six chapters discuss the more current fields, that is: Population, Cultural and Social, Agricultural and Rural, Industries and Transport, Economic Activities and Urban Geography. Three chapters present subjects developed more recently: Medical, Political and Tourism geographies. Finally, the Regional approach is presented as the most traditional and integrative field. These volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs.

Hydrological Systems Modeling is a component of Encyclopedia of Water Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. This 2-volume set contains several chapters, each of size 5000-30000 words, with perspectives, applications and extensive illustrations. It carries state-of-the-art knowledge in the fields of Hydrological Systems Modeling and is aimed, by virtue of the several applications, at the following five major target audiences: University and College Students, Educators, Professional Practitioners, Research Personnel and Policy Analysts, Managers, and Decision Makers and NGOs.

The subject “Systems sciences and cybernetics” is the outcome of the convergence of a number of trends in a larger current of thought devoted to the growing complexity of (primarily social) objects and arising in response to the need for globalized treatment of such objects. This has been magnified by the proliferation and publication of all manner of quantitative scientific data on such objects, advances in the theories on their inter-relations, the enormous computational capacity provided by IT hardware and software and the critical revisiting of subject-object interaction, not to mention the urgent need to control the efficiency of complex systems, where “efficiency” is understood to mean the ability to find a solution to many social problems, including those posed on a planetary scale. The result has been the forging of a new, academically consolidated scientific trend going by the name of Systems Theory and Cybernetics, with a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary focus and therefore apt for understanding realities still regarded to be inescapably chaotic. This subject entry is subdivided into four sections. The first, an introduction to systemic theories, addresses the historic development of the most commonly used systemic approaches, from new concepts such as the so-called “geometry of thinking” or the systemic treatment of “non-systemic identities” to the taxonomic, entropic, axiological and ethical problems deriving from a general “systemic-cybernetic” conceit. Hence, the focus in this section is on the historic and philosophical aspects of the subject. Moreover, it may be asserted today that, beyond a shadow of a doubt, problems, in particular problems deriving from human interaction but in general any problem regardless of its nature, must be posed from a systemic perspective, for otherwise the obstacles to their solution are insurmountable. Reaching such a perspective requires taking at least the following well-known steps: a) statement of the problem from the determinant variables or phenomena; b) adoption of theoretical models showing the interrelationships among such variables; c) use of the maximum amount of – wherever possible quantitative – information available on each; d) placement of the set of variables in an environment that inevitably pre-determines the problem. That epistemology would explain the substantial development of the systemic-cybernetic approach in recent decades. The articles in the second section deal in particular with the different methodological approaches developed when confronting real problems, from issues that affect humanity as a whole to minor but specific questions arising in human organizations. Certain sub-themes are discussed by the various authors – always from a didactic vantage –, including: problem discovery and diagnosis and development of the respective critical theory; the design of ad hoc strategies and methodologies; the implementation of both qualitative (soft system methodologies) and formal and quantitative (such as the “General System Problem Solver” or the “axiological-operational” perspective) approaches; cross-disciplinary integration; and suitable methods for broaching psychological, cultural and socio-political dynamisms. The third section is devoted to cybernetics in the present dual meaning of the term: on the one hand, control of the effectiveness of communication and actions, and on the other, the processes of self-production of knowledge through reflection and the relationship between the observing subject and the observed object when the latter is also observer and the former observed. Known as “second order cybernetics”, this provides an avenue for rethinking the validity of knowledge, such as for instance when viewed through what is known as “bipolar feedback”: processes through which interactions create novelty, complexity and diversity. Finally, the fourth section centres around artificial and computational intelligence, addressing sub-themes such as “neural networks”, the “simulated annealing” that ranges from statistical thermodynamics to combinatory problem-solving, such as in the explanation of the role of adaptive systems, or when discussing the relationship between biological and computational intelligence.

Telecommunication Systems and Technologies theme is a component of Encyclopedia of Physical Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. Telecommunication systems are emerging as the most important infrastructure asset to enable business, economic opportunities, information distribution, culture dissemination and cross-fertilization, and social relationships. As any crucial infrastructure, its design, exploitation, maintenance, and evolution require multi-faceted know-how and multi-disciplinary vision skills. The theme is structured in four main topics: Fundamentals of Communication and Telecommunication Networks; Telecommunication Technologies; Management of Telecommunication Systems/Services; Cross-Layer Organizational Aspects of Telecommunications, which are then expanded into multiple subtopics, each as a chapter. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers and NGOs