Andy Turner's Blog 2010-12 Web Page @ School of Geography, University of Leeds

Blog
Events:
- AGI North Meeting
  - 2010-12-09 19:00 to 21:00, Leeds, UK and Virtual.
- The 6th IEEE International Conference on e-Science
  - http://www.escience2010.org
  - 2010-12-07 to 2010-12-10, Brisbane, Australia.
- International Congress on Computer Applications and Computational Science (CACS 2010)
  - http://irast.org/conferences/CACS/2010
  - 2010-12-04 to 2010-12-06, Singapore.
- Geospatial Metadata and Spatial Data Workshop
  - http://edina.ac.uk/events/courses/geo/geospatial_metadata_and_spatial_data_workshop.html
  - 2010-12-02 Leeds, UK
- Events planning to attend/attended
  - ...
  - Geospatial Metadata and Spatial Data Workshop
    - http://edina.ac.uk/events/courses/geo/geospatial_metadata_and_spatial_data_workshop.html
    - Postponed due to poor weather/environment conditions.
    - 2010-12-02 Leeds, UK
- Events on the horizon:
  - Geocomputation 2011
    - http://standard.cege.ucl.ac.uk/workshops/Geocomputation/cfp.html
    - 2011-07-20 to 2011-07-22, London, UK.
  - Workshop on Dynamic Distributed Data-Intensive Applications, Programming Abstractions, and Systems (3DAPAS)
    - https://sites.google.com/site/3dapas/
    - To be held in conjunction with the 20th International ACM Symposium on High-Performance Parallel and Distributed Computing
      - http://www.hpdc.org/2011/
    - 2011-06-08, San Jose, California, USA.
  - The Future of Computational Social Science (JITP2011)
    - http://umass.edu/jitp/
    - 2011-05-16 to 2011-05-17, Seattle, USA.
  - Spatial Statistics 2011: Mapping Global Change
    - http://www.spatialstatisticsconference.com/
    - 2011-03-23 to 2011-03-25, Enschede, The Netherlands.
  - International Symposium on Grids and Clouds (ISGC 2011)
    - http://event.twgrid.org/isgc2011/index.html
    - In conjunction with the Open Grid Forum (OGF 31)
      - http://www.ogf.org/OGF31/
    - 2011-03-21 to 2011-03-25 Taipei, Taiwan.
  - JISC Conference 2011
    - http://www.jisc.ac.uk/jisc11
    - 2011-03-14 and 2011-03-15, Liverpool, UK.
  - DevCSI Developer Days (Dev8D 2011)
    - http://dev8d.org/
    - 2011-01-16 to 2011-01-17, London, UK.
  - DevCSI Linked Data Hackday
    - http://www.ukoln.ac.uk/events/devcsi/linked_data_hackdays/
    - 2011-01-13 to 2011-01-14, Bristol, UK.
Funding Opportunities
- IBM Smarter Cities Challenge
  - https://smartercitieschallenge.org/
  - Deadline 2010-12-31
- JISC
  - Roadmap of future grant funding 2010-08 to 2011-07
    - http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/futurecalls/grant.aspx
  - JISC Grant Funding 16/10: Rapid Digitisation
    - http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/funding_calls/2010/10/grant1610.aspx?utm_source=twitterfeed
  - JISC Grant Funding 11/10: eContent Programme
    - http://www.jisc.ac.uk/fundingopportunities/funding_calls/2010/09/grant1110.aspx?utm_source=twitterfeed
2011-01-04
2010-12-22
- Browsing
- e-Science
  - GENESIS
    - Released GENESIS 1.1 code
      - https://e-research.cs.st-andrews.ac.uk/repos/sim/projects/GENESIS
    - Demographic Modelling Brainstorm with Paul Norman
      - I arranged this meeting to help think through pregnancy rate calculations from fertility rates, but I had already done this prior to the meeting, so essentially the meeting served for me to raise awareness of what I was doing and consider further demographic model specification.
      - Some points of discussion
        
        From annual fertiliy rates to daily pregnancy rates
        
        Annual variations in fertility, pregnancy and miscarriage rates
        
        Initialising sibling relationships in population to identify twins for pregnancy probabilities of having twins...
        
        Expecting One Child Policy of China will lead to an increase in multiple birth probabilities...
        
        In order to have parity in fertility rates, if we specifiy a higher fertility rate in a particular individual, then we need to reduce fertility rates in all others and vice versa.
        
        Numerical precision and the benefits in the use of BigDecimal arithmetic for probabilities.
        
        Fertility and mortality rates change over time
        
        What to do about observed changes?
        
        New probabilities should be applied.
        
        Model runs can be selected which produced similar probabilities.
        
        Paul cautioned about doing this, but I'm unclear as to why...
        
        What to do about simulated changes?
        
        Probably nothing...
2010-12-21
- Browsing
- e-Science
  - GENESIS
    - Demographic model adapted to handle multiple births
      - ...
2010-12-20
- Browsing
  - Bornmann L, Mutz R, Daniel H-D, 2010 A Reliability-Generalization Study of Journal Peer Reviews: A Multilevel Meta-Analysis of Inter-Rater Reliability and Its Determinants. PLoS ONE 5(12): e14331. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0014331
    - http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0014331
  - http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=who,where,why,when,how,what&year_start=1800&year_end=2008&corpus=0&smoothing=3
  - http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-12/uoc-awo121510.php
  - http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/bbcinternet/2010/12/new_bbc_site_search.html
  - http://cs.gmu.edu/~eclab/projects/mason/extensions/geomason/
  - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/this-week-in-search-121710.html
  - http://metafortrac.badc.rl.ac.uk/trac/wiki/tickets/920
  - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/under-hood-of-google-maps-50-for.html
  - http://code.google.com/p/rdfquery/
  - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/governments-shouldnt-have-monopoly-on.html
  - http://medea.mah.se/2010/12/visualization-clinic-notes-2/
  - http://zool.posterous.com/research-applications-of-social-policy-bonds
  - http://blog.dropbox.com/
  - http://openkinect.org/wiki/Main_Page
  - http://opencv.willowgarage.com/wiki/
  - http://blogs.ecs.soton.ac.uk/webteam/2010/12/17/600/
  - http://blog.delicious.com/blog/2010/12/whats-next-for-delicious.html
  - http://www.publicserviceevents.co.uk/event/programme.asp?ID=172
  - http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=47880
  - http://io9.com/5715076/non+newtonian-fluids-the-weirdest-liquids-youve-ever-seen
  - http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/2010/dec/20/open-corporates-chris-taggart
  - https://conference.archimuse.com/mw2011/workshops
  - http://www.pbs.org/idealab/2010/03/10-reasons-why-news-organizations-should-use-linked-data073.html
  - http://www.astrobio.net/exclusive/3713/how-earth%E2%80%99s-orbital-shift-shaped-the-sahara
- e-Science
  - ...
2010-12-17
- Browsing
  - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2OfQdYrHRs
- e-Science
  - Preparing Generic Math code for potential inclusion in commons Math
    - http://commons.apache.org/math/developers.html
    - Apache License, Version 2.0
      - http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
      - 2010 Andy Turner, The University of Leeds, UK Specified
        
        Copyright 2010 Andy Turner, The University of Leeds, UK
        
        Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
        
        http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
        
        Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations under the License.
  - e-ISS
    - Developer chat
      - ...
  - GENESIS
    - Preparing latest stable code release
      - ...
      - Andy Turner's GENESIS Source Code Web Page
2010-12-16
- Browsing
- Miscellanea
  - ...
  - Trying to make a splash with the release of Generic_1.0Beta1
    - Andy Turner's Generic Source Code Web Page
    - The package contains methods for raising a BigDecimal to the power of another BigDecimal and returning a new BigDecimal accurate to a decimal place precision using a RoundingMode.
    - http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t152587-p2-calculating-the-a-bigdecimal-to-the-power-of-double.html#post4167791
    - http://forums.oracle.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=2146296&stqc=true
    - http://identi.ca/notice/60543068
    - http://twitter.com/#!/agdturner/status/15438244204257281
    - Post to jakarta commons [Math]
      - http://commons.apache.org/math/
      - ...
  - SoG All School Staff Meeting
    - ...
    - How to measure the applied impact of research?
      - ...
  - Wikipedia
    - I made a modest financial contribution, five times less modest than last year, but still every bit counts...
    - I provided the following short story on what wikipedia means to me
      - I often turn to wikipedia for information for my job and also learning in general. It is a great resource and it has been exciting watching it develop. I want to do more to help develop the resource by using it, encouraging its use and supporting it financially. Such collaboration is one of the wonders of the world in this Internet age. Such open organisation of data, information and knowledge gives me hope for the future and the development of our culture.
    - I am sure that over time there is greater acceptance and contribution to the development of this resource from academia.
- e-Science
  - Cluster code development
    - Ian Turton
      - Set up a google code base
        
        https://code.google.com/p/spatial-cluster-detection/
      - And started by adopting the GeoTools process API
        
        http://docs.codehaus.org/display/GEOTDOC/Implementing+a+new+Process
  - GENESIS
    - Released Generics_1.0
      - Andy Turner's Generic Source Code Web Page
      - The package contains methods for raising a BigDecimal to the power of another BigDecimal and returning a new BigDecimal accurate to a decimal place precision using a RoundingMode.
2010-12-15
- Browsing
- Miscellanea
  - Joint CSAP and Citizenship and Belonging Research Cluster Meeting
    - ...
    - Documentation
      - Connected Communities
        
        http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/connectedcommunities.aspx
- Teaching
  - ...
- e-Science
  - ...
2010-12-14
- Browsing
- Miscellanea
  - Completed Reasons why academics do (not) contribute to Wikipedia survey
    - https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEZGci1icXV1bk8yV0dvX1N5ZlJDV2c6MA
    - http://www.science3point0.com/coaspedia/index.php/Polls:2010/Reasons_why_academics_do_(not)_contribute_to_Wikipedia
- e-Science
  - GENESIS
    - BigDecimal Arithmetic
      - ...
2010-12-13
- Browsing
- Miscellanea
  - SoG Newsletter Item
    - OGC TJS Standard Released
      - As part of MoSeS and the NCeSS e-Infrastructure for the Social Sciences Project funded by the ESRC which completed last year, Andy Turner helped in the development of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Georeferenced Table Joining Service (TJS) Implementation Standard. Version 1.0 of the TJS standard is now available for download via the following URL:
        
        http://www.opengeospatial.org/standards/tjs
      - The OGC press release from 2010-12-10 can be found via the following URL:
        
        http://www.opengeospatial.org/pressroom/pressreleases/1324
- e-Science
  - GENESIS
    - BigDecimal Arithmetic
2010-12-10
- Browsing
- Teaching
  - GEOG1300
    - One-to-one Meetings
      - Jen
      - Louise
  - GEOG3600
    - Charlie
      - http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/electoral_wards.asp
      - 2010 May England
        
        http://borders.edina.ac.uk/ukborders/action/restricted/check?userDirectory=151593/129198857868854806&startTime=1291988578864&
        
        http://www.leeds.gov.uk/About_Leeds/Statistics/Neighbourhood_Index.aspx
        
        http://www.election-maps.co.uk
      - Trying to find UK electoral boundaries for 2004...
      - Region names used by Leeds City Council differ to 2001 Census Wards
        
        http://www.leeds.gov.uk/Page.aspx?pageIdentifier=bb6d342a-2ba8-4eb5-8e4e-c4cb07e3062f
      - Some data provided be council might be available from ONS Neighbouhood Statistics or via data.gov.uk
        
        http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/
        
        http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadAreaSearch.do?a=7&r=1&i=1001&m=0&s=1291997516812&enc=1&areaSearchText=Leeds&areaSearchType=13&extendedList=false&searchAreas=
        
        http://www.statistics.gov.uk/about/data/default.asp
        
        http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/electoral_wards.asp
        
        http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/census_geog.asp
    - Sarah
      - Issue with getting 2001 LAD Geometry from UKBorders in preferred file format
      - CASWEB now optionally provides Boundary Data with Downloads
      - http://borders.edina.ac.uk/
      - http://casweb.mimas.ac.uk/
- e-Science
  - e-ISS
    - Developer chat
      - ...
  - GENESIS
    - Developing a BigDecimal power function
      - ...
2010-12-09
- Browsing
- e-Science
  - GENESIS
    - Developing a BigDecimal power function
2010-12-08
- Browsing
- Miscellanea
  - ...
  - Writing meeting with Livi Michael
    - ...
- Teaching
  - GEOG1300
    - One-to-one Meetings
      - Barny
      - Alex
      - Chris
      - Charlie
      - Seb
- e-Science
  - GENESIS
    - Developing a BigDecimal power function
      - ...
2010-12-07
- Browsing
- Miscellanea
  - Successful completion of First Aid At Work Refresher Course
- Teaching
  - GEOG1300
    - One-to-oneMeeting with Jo
- e-Science
  - GENESIS
    - Developing a BigDecimal power function
2010-12-06
- Browsing
- Miscellanea
  - First Aid At Work Refresher Course
- Teaching
  - GEOG3600
    - Charlie looking for 2004 electoral ward geographical regions
      - http://www.statistics.gov.uk/geography/electoral_wards.asp
2010-12-03
- Browsing
- Teaching
  - GEOG1300
    - One-to-one meeting with Laura
- e-Science
  - ...
2010-12-02
- Browsing
- Teaching
  - GEOG1300 Group Meeting 5
    - http://www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/people/a.turner/teaching/geog1300/2010/
    - Group 1
      - ...
      - News and discussion
        
        Wikileaks
        
        http://cablesearch.org/
        
        http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2010/12/the-limits-to-openness/index.htm
        
        Extra-terrestrial Life and Space Exploration
        
        http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/dec/02/nasa-bacteria-arsenic-phosphorus?CMP=twt_fd
        
        http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/index.cfm
        
        Weather snow chaos and essential services
        
        http://uksnowmap.com/
        
        Urban and rural
        
        ...
        
        Definitions and geographical map based visualisation
        
        Examinations
        
        Preparation and essay references
        
        Andy to ask for an example of a good exam essay
        
        Skills Portfolio Workbook
        
        Handed in FAO Katy Roucoux
        
        Turnitin
        
        Seemed to be set up, but the service was not available...
        
        Lecture Feedback
        
        Simon Lewis lecture content heavy
        
        Need to prepare for his lectures in advance...
        
        Nancy Worth Disability lecture was good
        
        Graham Clarke Lectures good
        
        Disrutpion in Alan Grainger's lecture
        
        Active Learning Groups
        
        1 hour per week
        
        Some issues with regard diligence of fellow students
      - One-to-One end of term meetings
        
        https://leedsforlife.leeds.ac.uk
        
        Come prepared to tell me about
        
        Assessed marks and your evaluation of academic progress
        
        Aspirations in terms of skills development and career
        
        Problems and feedback
        
        Tentative Meeting Dates
        
        ...
        
        2011-12-08 10:10 Louise
        
        2011-12-07 11:10 Chris
        
        2011-12-06 11:15 Dan
    - Group 2
      - News and discussion
        
        Wikileaks
        
        http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2010/12/the-limits-to-openness/index.htm
        
        Weather snow chaos and essential services
        
        http://uksnowmap.com/
        
        Examinations
        
        There are some for some modules at the end of this semester in January...
        
        Skills Portfolio Workbook
        
        Handed in FAO Katy Roucoux
        
        Turnitin
        
        I explained the set up for the first two assignments...
        
        Lecture Feedback
        
        Simon Lewis lecture content heavy
        
        Need to prepare for his lectures in advance...
        
        Graham Clarke Lectures good
        
        Active Learning Groups
        
        1 hour per week
        
        Some issues with regard diligence of fellow students
      - One-to-One end of term meetings
        
        Come prepared to tell me about
        
        https://leedsforlife.leeds.ac.uk
        
        Assessed marks and your evaluation of academic progress
        
        Aspirations in terms of skills development and career
        
        Problems and feedback
        
        Tentative Meeting Dates
        
        ...
        
        2011-12-07 12-2 Charlie, Laura, Will
        
        2011-12-06 anytime Amy
      - Campus and library opening times and policy on book recalls
        
        http://iss.leeds.ac.uk/info/291/computer_clusters/808/latest_cluster_opening_hours_christmas_vacation_2010
        
        http://lib41.leeds.ac.uk/openinghours/year.asp
        
        http://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/200203/using_the_library/248/using_the_library
        
        http://lib.leeds.ac.uk/screens/explain_books.html
- e-Science
  - e-ISS
    - Developer Summit
  - GENESIS
    - Code tidying and debugging
      - ...
2010-12-01
- Browsing
- Miscellanea
  - Emailed REF form to Calum
  - Solar energy collector from the moon and earth form and function futuristic thoughts
    - I expect these are not new ideas, but for some reason I thought it was time for me to write them down and to share...
    - An infrastructure for distributing space probe solar energy collectors can be initially trailed out in the wake of both earth's solar orbit and the moon's earth orbit some of which might be collected on subsequent orbits or used to power the development of space.
    - Some important things to consider outwith the costs
      - Taking account of all celestial objects in collision avoidance/disruption to positioning of the probes.
      - If the effects on the gravity balance and effects of shaddow become significant.
      - All other risks...
    - What infrastructure might be needed?
      - Some form of efficient space elevators
      - Probe and energy collection stations or vehicles.
    - One last thought on form is that the moon could be evolved into a space vehicle and the earth could become a stretched out torus orbting the sun.
    - If such a thing develops we will already have genesis on other planets and moons in this solar system.
- Teaching
  - Turnitin training
    - Cancelled
- e-Science
  - GENESIS
    - Coded output simulated mortality and fertility for Demographic Model
      - ...
2010-11-30